#116 Lu. 12:41-48 JUDGMENT WHEN THE LORD RETURNS Introduction: In recent texts Jesus used two parables to teach us to watch and ready at His return to earth. The first parable was about a householder who went away for his wedding and would return home that same night. His servants were to be watching and waiting for his return. In like manner Jesus Himself would go away and men should be waiting and watching and ready when He returns. The second parable was about a householder whose home had been burglarized. Jesus said that if the man had known at what hour the thief would come he would have been waiting and watching and would not have allowed had his house to be broken into and his goods stolen. Jesus likewise used this parable as an illustration to teach that men should be watching and ready at any time for His return. In our text today Jesus uses a third parable to teach that men should be ready when He returns to earth. I. A question by Simon Peter V. 41, "Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all?" It is apparent by the question that Simon Peter asked that Jesus gave these parables at a time when other than the disciples were present. It is also apparent by the subject matter in the parables that they were primarily intended for His disciples. They were intended to teach His disciples to be watching for His return and to be faithful to Him as they wait for Him to return. However, since people other than the disciples were present when the parables were given, Peter wondered if they were not also intended for all men. Since he was in doubt, he went to the right source to ask. There is no better person to ask about spiritual matters than the Lord, Himself. Actually, Jesus did not give Simon Peter a direct answer to his question. He did not tell him whether the parables were intended just for the disciples alone or whether they were also intended for all people. Instead Jesus spoke a third parable and used this third parable to answer Peter's question. This time Jesus gives a parable of a householder who is gone from his estate for an extended period of time. When he finally returns from his journey he richly rewards the servant who has faithfully served him in his absence, but he severely punishes that servant who has neglected to do his work and has misbehaved in his master's absence. In this parable Jesus teaches that God is Supreme above all men and that all men are obligated to serve Him. He teaches that even the unsaved are under God's jurisdiction and that all men must give account to God. The saved will be richly rewarded for their service to God, but the unsaved will be severely punished because of their rebellion. II. The faithful servant in this third parable V. 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?" This question is used to introduce to us a servant who has, because of his faithful service to the householder, already been promoted to a higher position. He has been placed in charge of seeing to the meals for all people in the household. He is to see that the needed supplies are on hand for cooking the meals. He is to plan the menu. He is to see that the cooking is properly done and the meals are prepared and served on time. He is to see that the serving is done in a pleasant and courteous manner. He is to see that the pots and pans and bowls and dishes are all washed and put away and ready for the next meal. I think you ladies will all agree that in a large household which not only includes the master and his wife and their children, but also all the servants and their children, that this was no small responsibility. It was no gravy train. To do the job properly would require a great deal of his time and a great deal of energy. In the parable it is assumed that the servant who is appointed to this position would work hard and try to do a good job as long as he was under the watchful eye of the householder. At least as long as the master of the house is at home, the steward in charge of meals would do a good job. But the test comes when the householder is away for an extended period of time. The test is increased all the more when the servants do not really know when their master will return. Almost any servant would continue to do a good job for a little while after the master is gone, but it took a servant who was really conscientious about his work to continue to do his best day after day, week after week and month after month. The greatest strain would be put on the servant if by chance the master's absence began to stretch into years. Only the most loyal and faithful servant would continue to be faithful to give his best even after such a prolonged absence. Jesus does not tell us in this parable how long the master was gone, but He indicates that it was a long time. When the master does return, he is very much pleased by the faithful and loyal work of at least one of his servants. V. 43- 44, "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath." In the parable, the master of the house is so pleased with this man's work that he now promotes him to be in charge over all of his affairs. He is no longer in charge of merely the preparation of meals, but he is in charge of all of the property and all of the business of the master. Now, of course, the master of the house in the parable represents our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus is the one who organized the church and He did it during His personal ministry here on earth. Jesus then went away back to heaven and many like churches were organized throughout the world. Each and every Scriptural church belongs to Jesus. This church, the Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church, belongs to Jesus. He is the owner. He has all rights to determine the work and the affairs of each New Testament church. The whole Kingdom of God belongs to Him. He is the King. The whole world belongs to Him. Even the whole universe belongs to Him. He created it all. But after His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus went away and left His disciples in charge of His affairs. He promised to return some day, and He will. But He did not say when He would return. He did give them some signs so that if they are watching, they can tell by the signs that His coming is drawing near. But He did not give enough information in the signs that anybody would be able to know in advance the time of His arrival. The parable illustrates that one of the things that Jesus will do after He returns to the world will be to reward those servants who have been loyal and faithful to Him while He was gone. In the parable the faithful servant is promoted to the very top position. He is exalted from a position in which he was in charge of only one small part of the master's affairs to a position in which he is in charge of all that his master owns. This is intended to teach not only that He will reward those who are faithful to Him, but that He will reward them in a most fabulous way. He will reward the faithful beyond their wildest dreams. The parable tells of only one man being promoted, but quite obviously there were other promotions. Somebody else was promoted to be in charge of meals and somebody was promoted to take that man's place, whatever he did, and so on. this is intended to teach us that all who are faithful to the Lord will one day be rewarded. The parable was not intended to give us the details of the reward, but only to teach us that the reward would be sure and that the reward would be great. III. The unfaithful servant in the third parable On the other hand, the parable also speaks of a servant who is not loyal to his master and who is not faithful to do the work that he was assigned to do. V. 45-46, "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; 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 cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers." Now in the parable, the unfaithful servant not only fails to do the work that he is expected to do, but he is downright wicked. He is mean and cruel to his fellow servants. He takes advantage of his master's delay in returning home and he takes advantage of his fellow servants who are weaker than himself. He beats them up and it is to be presumed that a fellow who would do that will take advantage of them in any other way that he can. He also has this weakness. He drinks a lot and frequently gets drunk. He does all manner of sinful things that go along with drunkenness. You can only imagine what all he would do. He would likely curse and steal and commit adultery and all manner of evil. What is more he seemed to get by will all the wrong that he was doing. I say that he seemed to be getting by with it........, but he wasn't. It is said in the parable that when the master returned he cut that servant in sunder. If the parable was speaking literally, it means that he cut his body into two pieces. If the language is used figuratively here, it still means that he was dealt with very severely. This was the same severe treatment that all of the unfaithful servants received at the hand of the master. What the parable teaches is that there are a lot of unsaved people in this world who ought to repent of their sin and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and serve the Lord, but they don't. They take advantage of the Lord's delay in returning back to the earth and they do all manner of evil. They rob, they seal, they fight, they treat people around them with cruelty, they curse, they get drunk, they commit adultery. They are mean wicked people and they do all manner of wickedness. What is more---they seem to be getting by with all the great wickedness they do, but they are not. When our Lord returns He will deal with those wicked people in a severe way. He will not take an ax like the master in the parable and chop them half in two, but He will appoint them their portion with all the others who are unbelievers. They will stand before Him in judgment after the millennium is over when all of the unsaved are resurrected and judged and He will sentence them to the Lake of Fire and Brimstone. I will tell you that in their wildest imagination they never dreamed that anything could be so horrible. But it will be horrible and it will be real and it will be forever that they will suffer in those flames. IV. Punishment in keeping with one's awareness of his master's will V. 47-48, "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. 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." In the parable we see a distinction in the severity of the punishment which the master brings upon those servants who are unfaithful. The unfaithful servant who had full knowledge that he was doing wrong he beats with many stripes. But those who were not aware of the master's will in the matter were beaten with only a few stripes. All the guilty are punished, but the ones who unknowingly did wrong get off lighter than those who knowingly and willfully rebelled against the master's will. The question is: What is Jesus teaching us here concerning those who are unsaved? He teaches us that when one knows the will of God and does not do it, there is a greater punishment. For instance, one who has heard the gospel preached and knows how to get saved, but never turns to the Lord for salvation will suffer much greater in hell than those who never really understood what the gospel is all about. Those who know that what they are about to do is a sin, but do it anyway will suffer much greater in hell then those who are not aware that what they are doing is sin. One who commits premeditated murder will be punished with a much greater punishment in hell than one who commits murder without intending to. One who commits premeditated adultery will suffer much more severely than someone who never intended to do it, but was caught up under the pressure of temptation. One who commits any kind of premeditated sin will be punished more severely than others who commit the same sin without deliberately planning to do so. Now let me hasten on to say that this does not mean that hell is going to be easy for anybody. The torments of hell are going to be terrible on everybody who goes there. But it does mean that it is going to be a lot worse on those who know to do right, but don't do it. Frankly, I would hate to go there under any circumstances. Wouldn't you? Now let me get personal with those of you who are unsaved. I think it is safe to say that if there is anyone here today who is unsaved that you know you need to get saved. Perhaps you have intended to do so, but you just keep putting it off. You know that you cannot get saved by your own good works. You know that what you need to do is to turn to God in repentance and trust His Son Jesus Christ to save your soul, but you haven't done it. This parable teaches that if you remain unsaved and go to hell that after your judgment before the Lord you will suffer greater punishment than those who did not put it off very long. V. Simon Peter's question answered But let us get back to the question that Simon Peter asked. Simon Peter asked if the message of the parables were intended only for the disciples of Jesus or if they were meant for everybody. Now we have our answer. The Lord Jesus wants everybody who is saved to be faithful to watch for His return. He wants them to live right. He wants them to serve Him faithfully. But He also wants all who are unsaved to know that they, too, ought to be saved and start serving the Lord. Jesus wants the saved to know that they will not serve Him for naught. He will richly reward them for everything they do for Him. And He wants the unsaved to know that if they keep on putting off the salvation of their soul that He will deal with them most severely when He returns to this world. Nobody can rebel against God and get by. Conclusion: Listen, if you are saved and you sincerely want to be a better servant of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and you will come to Him and commit yourself to Him to serve Him, then I am going to ask you to do so right now while we sing the invitation hymn. If you know that you are lost or if you fear that you are lost I am going to ask you to turn to God in an awareness of your sin and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to save you from your sin and keep you out of hell.