Untitled Sermon (29)

Call to Worship

Reading of Scripture

Pray

Announcements

Don’t forget that tonight being the 3rd Sunday we have our time of fellowship beginning at 6:30. The teens have something special planned so please show up for that and bring snacks for afterwards.

Today at 4 is our meeting with Chaplain Babcock and our Church prison meeting after that.

Also right after Church today we have a members only meeting to go over some financial information.

Worship time

Frank or myself on devotional

Fellowship time

Call back

Intro

Well last week we had the blessed opportunity to study the idea of the Judgment seat of Christ and what that looks like for the Christian believer.

And while I did try to get all the way through the message, there were a few topics and questions left unanswered for a few of you.

Because of that, I thought it best that we would spend today examining another passage of Scripture that is often times associated with the Judgment seat of Christ.

I know that a few people had approached me and asked about how we should understand this passage since we discussed the Judgment seat of Christ last week.

So please know that if you approached me with this text it will be our little secret unless you tell someone. :)

With that in mind, please turn with me to .

Read:

Authorized Version Chapter 12

41 Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? 42 And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? 43 Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. 44 Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. 45 But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; 46 The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cutc him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. 47 And that servant, which knew his lord’s will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. 48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more.

Pray

Well as we begin to look at this passage, some background of this passage is in order.

As we often do, many of us would like to read this passage and take it by itself without thinking of the Scripture that is all around it.

Now we don’t do this on purpose.

None of us do.

But one characteristic that applies to us as human beings is that we will often find a passage of Scripture that we either love or are scared by and we will focus only upon that portion of the text.

It’s just what we do.

Each of us at some point need a reminder of the surrounding context at times to keep our hearts in check.

And because of that, I will add that this small portion of Scripture should actually be taken as a whole from verse 33 all the way through verse 50.

Jesus finishes his discussion concerning those who are coveting people and in verse 33 He tells his hearers to sell their possessions and to give to the poor.

He tells them to store up for themselves treasures in heaven which will last for all of eternity.

To have a purse that will never wear out and which will store as much as one may place inside it.

Because where you treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Now you should know this concerning the passages we’re talking about.

They have for countless many years stirred up controversy within the Church.

Some have read this text to say that they must sell all that they have so that those without could have some material goods.

Yet when you consider the whole of Christ’ teaching in other places, you see that He didn’t actually you to literally sell everything that you had to give to the poor.

Instead, Christ in the verses prior to the ones that we’re looking at today had spoken to those whose heart was set only upon the pursuit of wealth.

In fact, one could argue pretty easily from the context that what Christ was addressing was a people who were infatuated with the things of this world and the treasures all around them.

And because of that, what you see is Christ weaving into this discussion a sense of urgency.

An urgency that called those who were hearing Him speak to have a heart examination because where their treasure is, there also is where their heart will be.

And as Christ moves on from talking about where your heart is and what treasures you’re seeking after;

Christ begins very quickly discussing the urgency of a person being prepared.

Christ begins this conversation which is geared toward drawing those who hear Him speak into a mindset which says that they are ready.

Now you might be asking the question, ready for what?

What in the world would these people need to be so ready for?

To be found by God, always in a state of readiness for the coming of their Messiah.

To be ready for this one who was promised long ago in the prophets of Old.

Now remember, we have this habit that is both good and bad.

We read Scripture in light of the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.

And that’s not always a bad thing.

To understand Scripture in light of the redemptive work of Christ Jesus where He who knew no sin became sin so that we could have His righteousness is absolutely beautiful.

But not all of Scripture is designed for us to read it this way.

Let me explain a little bit further what I mean here.

This passage, this is Christ prior to His going to the Cross.

This is prior to His dying for the forgiveness of sin.

And Christ is talking to a people who are born into Jewish families.

He is talking to a people who have been awaiting this one which was foretold many generations back.

I know this comment might be hard for us to understand but you’ll hear me say it time and time again.

Though this passage of Scripture has application in our lives today.

Jesus here was not speaking to us as an individual.

He was speaking to His disciples.

Born Jews following this man whom many of them believed to be the long awaited Messiah but truly had very little understanding of what that meant.

And because of that, we need to look at this Scripture in light of that.

I know the desire of our heart would be that we see Christ talking to us individually in this passage because that is how our brains are wired to think.

But for a moment, for this moment as we examine this passage of Scripture, we need to be seeing it in light of a pre-cross Messiah speaking to His disciples.

Disciples who were born into a national “salvation” and not all there by faith.

That’s why you find passages of Scripture like Verses 35-37 which speak very clearly concerning the urgency of the coming of the Lord.

I believe the Authorized Version says “Let you loins be girded.”

Most of you probably know this already but the reason why that passage says to “Let your loins be girded” was because in this period of time, servants in wealthy homes didn’t wear pants.

Whether male or female it didn’t matter.

Instead what they wore were these long flowing robes that were designed as something to be worn that was beautiful.

Yet because of their long flowing design, they weren’t functional at all.

Anytime they would need to be ready to move they would put a belt around their waist and move their robe out of the way so that they could be ready for anything.

I mean most of you ladies in here can relate.

I know my wife can.

She’s so short that every time she wears a dress she is constantly stepping on, running over and getting annoyed with her dress because it is always getting in her way.

It’s not practical.

If she needed to be ready to move quickly or run she would need to ready herself by grabbing hold of a part of the dress to keep it away from her feet and tripping her up.

Well Christ here was telling the Disciples to be ready.

To always have their loins girded and ready.

So as you continue through this whole context, what you find is Christ emphasizing to His disciples the need for readiness.

The urgency of the situation.

Yet this is far from being the only place where you find this sense of urgency being laid out.

Yet this is far from being the only place where you find this sense of

When you read through the Gospel according to Mark the one word that shows up the most is the word immediately or at once.

So Christ here is not saying anything different from what we see in other places of Scripture.

But what He is saying here is very profound and each of should take note.

There is not one second that goes by that we don’t inch closer to the return of Christ.

There is no time for anyone to waste because there is coming a time when all that we know right before us will be changed in the blink of an eye.

We will see the Lord return and not one single person in this room knows the day nor the hour.

Not Harold Camping back in 2010.

Not the group a few months ago who said Christ was returning and even gave the day.

There is not one person on the face of the earth today that knows the day nor the hour.

And because of this, Christ is emphasizing the reality of the situation to His disciples.

Now granted they didn’t know when it would be either.

They didn’t realize that Christ came the first time which by the way, I believe that to apply to this passage here as well.

But there is coming a time when the Lord shall return and on that day, when things are not set in order, it will be too late.

Nothing will be able to be changed.

Now you might be thinking, come on now Cory, get with the program, what does that have to do with the Judgment seat of Christ and this passage of Scripture.

Well let me show you.

There are some who believe this passage to be referencing believers who because of their sinful lives, will one day be cast into the outer-darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

They believe this passage to be in reference to the reward and the punishment that the person receives on the day that they stand before the Bema Seat of Christ.

Well, issue number one is that the focus of this passage isn’t concerning punishment.

If you read through the passage in its context, the focus is on being ready.

Living your life with your loins girded if you will knowing that at any time, the Lord could return and you should have a desire to be found doing His will.

Believers should desire to have everything so set in place and taken care of that if at any moment, the Lord returns, they will have left no stone unturned.

We should live out our days expecting the return of the Lord to be at any moment, yet also knowing that we don’t have the ability to know when that shall be.

And because of that, we should be ready.

We should be ready.

Yet that doesn’t answer the question that many of you might have.

You look at this passage of Scripture and you say something like this;

“But it says very clearly that the Lord’s servant, because of his drunkenness and his treatment of others will be cut in two and given his place among the unbelievers.”

“How is that not some form of punishment for the Christian?”

Well let me answer that in a few different ways.

That question presumes that everyone whom is a servant of the Lord is a redeemed follower in Christ.

So with that logic, I could also make the statement which says that there is not a single unconverted pastor in the world and you would have to agree with me.

Logically you would have to agree but I think we all know better than that don’t we?

And by your

I bet that if we we’re honest, we would agree that there are many within the Church who promote themselves to be Christians and who are serving as pastors, yet they do not know the Lord.

There are probably more unconverted pastors than what any of us would like to even consider.

Yet does this mean that they aren’t the servant of the Lord?

Was Pharoah used as a servant of the Lord when he took in Joseph?

You bet he was.

But Pharoah was an unconverted man, at least from all that we can find about the man.

Think about Moses and the Exodus out of Egypt.

tells us that even this Pharoah was a servant of the Lord.

“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”

Not everyone who is referred to in Scripture as a servant is a regenerate servant.

Think about this for a second.

Broad is the road but narrow is the gate and few there be that find it.

Lord, did we not cast out demons in your name?

Did we not tell all of the world about you?

Look at all that we’ve done in your name Lord.

Yet what is His response?

I never knew you: Depart from me ye that work inequity.

Not everyone who says they are redeemed are truly redeemed.

Many are redeemed and have no idea that they are even unconverted.

If so there would no place for those who tell Christ on that fatefu

Many others know and do not care.

Yet both groups of people are unconverted.

And heres the plain truth of this passage, unconverted people will eventually reveal themselves as such.

They will live like those who are spoken of in Verse 45.

If they are leaders in the Church they will treat the people of God poorly.

They will overtime show themselves to not have any care concerning the will of the Lord as they begin to mistreat and abuse the people of God.

They will begin to abuse the position of authority that the Lord has placed them in and they will no longer have a care for the Lord but they will have a desire for themselves.

A desire to do what brings themselves glory and honor.

And because of this, they will prove themselves not to be of the house of God’s redeemed and they will stand before the Great white throne Judgment.

And on that day when Christ will see who’s name is in the Lamb’s book of life, their name will not be found.

And they will have their part with those who had no faith in the Lord.

They will find themselves cast into outer darkness forever where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Another common objection would be this;

Okay but Cory it speaks of the servant who knew and one who didn’t know and how one was beaten more and the other less.

Think back to last week.

Do you remember us talking about how there will be those with much reward and those with little reward?

Do you not think that there will be levels of punishment in Hell?

Think about this for a moment.

Which person deserves a greater punishment;

The person who lived in the remotest part of the world and who never heard the Gospel, or the person who heard the full Gospel 100 times and rejected it every-time?

The greater the knowledge, the greater the punishment.

In the same way that there are different levels of reward for the redeemed, there are different levels of punishment for the unredeemed.

Or the person who heard the full Gospel 100 times and rejected it everytime?

J.C. Ryle said it like this concerning these verses, “The greater a man’s religious light is, the greater is his guilt if he is not converted.”

Now, another argument that a person could make is that everyone we’ve spoken of so far is not someone who is going to know the will of the Lord.

Only Christians can know the will of the Lord right?

I don’t believe that would be a fair assessment.

I mean look at Judas.

Judas walked with Christ, knew what the Lord expected and yet he still rejected it.

He actually didn’t only reject the wills Lord, He sold Christ out for some worldly gain.

So all of that ties back to this one point here concerning these passages.

This passage is not referencing the judgment seat of Christ and the believers punishment.

Number one is that it can’t be.

Yes Scripture speaks much about our eternal destination, yet not

All punishment that ever needed to be paid for the sin of a believer was dealt with at Calvary.

Not just your justification.

But all sin.

That is the mystery and beauty of the Cross!

We don’t don’t deserve it but because of our sin, Christ died upon Calvary to offer forgiveness to all who would believe.

That is final.

Not only is that final, but to think in terms of a punishment for sin afterwards is to downgrade the efficacy of Christ.

We cannot pay for it.

We couldn’t make things right in the garden after the fall of man which is why God slaughtered for us an animal and clothed us in a robe not our own.

We couldn’t pay for it in the Old Covenant where the best of the flock was laid out as an offering for sin.

We couldn’t pay for our sin then and we most assuredly won’t be able to pay for it in all of eternity.

To think that we will endure some form of punishment is to create some form of purgatory.

It’s to downgrade every work of Christ on your behalf because somehow, you now in outer darkness can pay for your sin.

There doesn’t need to be an atonement made once a year for your sin.

So that leaves us with only one question.

He doesn’

If this isn’t speaking in terms of a believers punishment after salvation, what are we to take away from this passage?

I’ll offer two thoughts and we’ll close with them.

The first has already been stated.

None of us know when the day shall be that the Lord will return, and because of that we know not how much time we have left.

And because we don’t know the day nor the hour, we should always be ready.

That is quite simple really.

If we live like the return of Christ could be at any moment than we will always find ourselves doing the will of the Lord.

Think about this.

If I knew the day and the hour, I could put off everything like crazy right up until the perfect moment and then rush through the Lord’s work.

Boy that would be great for me.

Procrastinators unite tomorrow right?

I mean I am horrible about this.

I’ll know that I’ve got a paper do at the end of the semester and I’ll put that bad boy off until the very last day and then crunch through the paper.

But if my professor told me to be ready because he could require it of me at any time, I would have it completed and in hand ready for him to take.

I wouldn’t want to be caught off guard so I’d have it ready.

So one way that we can apply this passage of Scripture is to heed Christ’ original intent.

I mean how many of us put o

That each of be found doing the will of the Lord.

That we don’t spend our time that has been allotted to us doing things that are worthless but that we live our lives thinking in light of eternity.

We spend our time getting to know our Lord.

Checking our hearts to know that we are of the faith and not merely deceiving ourselves.

Spending our time seeking out and making disciples.

This is what the Lord has called us towards.

To live our lives with eternity on our minds.

And to be honest, we should live like this anyway.

I mean we surely don’t know the day the Lord will return and we also rarely know when we are soon to be called home.

So what would your life look like if you heeded the words of Christ here?

If you spent your time seeking to live with eternity in mind?

I can promise you this much, we wouldn’t waste near the time that we do.

We would make every moment of our lives matter.

We would spend more time teaching our children the ways of the Lord.

We wouldn’t be so concerned with the little things and we would just be joyous for the moment.

We would strive to make every moment count, because that moment may be our last.

The second way we can apply this is to those who don’t know Christ or who maybe are deceived into believing themselves to be redeemed.

If that’s you, let me say this as straight forward and as clear as possible.

If today, at this very moment, you don’t know or are unsure of what the Lord would say to you when you stood before Him, this is your chance to be ready.

You will not be able to say you didn’t know that you were a sinner in need of forgiveness.

Instead the Lord will point to this very moment and tell you that you are without excuse.

So are you ready for that?

Are you ready for that day that the Lord would tell you to turn from Him because He never knew you?

Nobody in their right mind would say yes to that.

Listen to me, today, this very day the Lord is calling you to repent of your sin and to ask for forgiveness in Christ.

Everything that you shall ever need to be forgiven has already been done in the person and the work of Christ.

Use this day to be ready to stand before Him.

Use this day to beg the Lord to forgive you through Christ Jesus so that you may be ready on that day when He returns or calls you home.

Beloved there will be a day when every knee shall bow before Christ and it will either bow willingly or it will forced to bow.

Today is the day that you can gird up your loins and be ready.

Let’s pray.

Blessed is the person who upon the Lord’s return find him doing the will of the Lord.

That person shall receive their reward.

There are places in Holy Scripture where we are n

Yet what we have here before