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270.
And shall we see thy face? And.
Hear thy heavenly voice.
Will Grace.
Will make our hearts rejoice.
Where the name?
Worship Divine.
No God, no distance there shall hide.
Lord, is that themselves growing?
Fraud of my boneless love.
That gave the.
For us.
For Earth we shall with the.
And we'll all be lost more.
He now.
Here Lord, I sorrow and my cross record.
What makes us no day near?
Way.
To save the Lord here.
Within our hearts.
Thou dwell in love and afford.
The joy that love imparts.
Yes, all the way for the day.
All our heart.
With I precious word on our laps and to be open give us a fresh spirit of dependence.
On the leading and direction of the Holy Spirit.
And Lord Jesus again we look to these the head of the church, let us know our needs and now that are pleased to minister by those joints and bands of supply those gifts that thou has given that thy people might be nourished and built up and edified. And we pray that we might receive without us have for us this afternoon. We thank thee for thy precious word. We thank thee for the light that it sheds on our path and the.
Of our hearts that perhaps need more illumination.
That thy word would find its way there. And our God and our Father, that we might have hearts ready and willing to receive and to hear and to do what thou let's bring before us for my precious word. And so, our God and our Father, again we thank thee for thy beloved Son. We thank thee for thy eternal counseling.
00:05:08
Purpose in Him and how we have been brought in by sovereign grace. Help us to walk in the enjoyment of it and in the enjoyment of it to receive Thy word this afternoon. So we ask this, our God and Father, and the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.
But once again, for those that have just perhaps gotten here, I do see a few faces that weren't here this morning. We've been looking at Luke 12.
Would it be OK to go on with verse 41? Is that does that seem about right?
Luke's Gospel chapter 12 and verse 41. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? The Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise Stuart, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say it to you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath.
Button, If that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the men, servants and maidservants, 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, in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him asunder, and will point him his portion with the unbelievers. 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 under whomsoever much is given, of whom shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much of him, they will ask the more. I am come to send fire on the earth, and what will I if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straightened till it be accomplished? Suppose you that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you nay, but rather division.
For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided 3 against two and two against three. The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father, the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother, the mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.
And he said also to the people, When you see a cloud rise out of the West, straightway you say there cometh a shower. And so it is. And when you see the South wind blow, you say there will be heat, and it cometh to pass. Ye hypocrites, you can discern the face of the sky of the earth, but how is it that you do not discern this time? Yeah, and why even of yourselves judging not what is right, When thou goest with thine adversary to the magistrate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou mayst be delivered from him.
Lest he hail thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the officer caste into prison, I tell thee thou shalt not depart thence till thou pay the very last might.
I.
What's very interesting and instructive for us here?
As we remarked earlier on in the chapter, the Lord has a crowd of people around him. As Bruce was bringing out in one of the earlier readings, they were.
Treading one upon another. There were so many people there. And yet the Lord begins the chapter by saying in verse four. And I say unto you, my friends.
00:10:04
And so the Lord is really speaking to his own in this chapter. But then Peter wants to know, Lord, is this for everybody or just for us? What what about this, what you're telling us?
And it's nice to see here how the Lord brings it down, not merely to his friends, but right to the individual level.
And that's where it all starts, doesn't it? If you and I are going to live and walk for the Lord and to please Him, it has to start with us as individuals. I say this very kindly, but.
Sometimes, and it's not all bad, but sometimes we tend to look at our brethren in our local assembly, our local gathering, and say, well, those who are older and those who take the lead.
They ought to provide a nice atmosphere for everything to work smoothly and things to grow nicely, and for us younger ones to get teaching and food for our souls. And from the vantage point of those of us that are older, that ought to be a real exercise. But what does the Lord say to Peter here?
He says in verse 42, 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.
And maybe if you're a young person here and allow me, if I can, to speak to you for a moment, because like Bruce Conrad, I can remember when I was young and sat where you are and.
Everyone of us.
Not only has a work for the Lord that he has given us to do, but the gift to do it. And as Peter reminds us, and well, let's turn to it and it's in first Peter, let's let's read the verse because it's important. Peter remembered what the Lord had told him here.
And in first Peter chapter 4.
And verse 10, First Peter Four and verse 10.
Peter says as every man, notice that every man, not just some older brothers and sisters, every man hath received the gift.
Even so, minister the same one to another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.
In Scripture were stewards not only of material things, but also of spiritual things.
The only difference is if I share my material things with someone else. If I do what we have earlier in this chapter and sell that I have and give alms.
I quite naturally am that much poorer materially than I was before if I share what the Lord gives you and me spiritually, either in gift or in the manifold, as it says here.
In Peter, the manifold grace of God if I share something spiritually.
I'm not any poorer afterward, am I? I'm richer because I have shared it with someone else. And so I believe Peter learned a real lesson here, that here he as an individual had a responsibility. And the Lord, as what we're saying, don't worry about anybody else, Peter. I'm speaking to each one of you individually, and you are stewards.
Of the things that I have given you.
And of course, the steward is one who has responsibility for things that essentially don't belong to him, but he is given the responsibility of.
Giving them out according to the mind of the one who has entrusted him with them.
And what a wonderful thing that is. So if you and I, everyone of us, have something of the Lord that we have learned.
The Lord says I want you to look for an opportunity to share that, to be a good steward of what I have given you and what a privilege that is.
00:15:07
In Mark chapter 13 and verse 34 in connection with what Bill is just saying.
We have this.
Account that the Lord speaks of, he says, for the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey.
Who left his house, and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the Porter to watch?
Well, once again, this is.
Taking up Christ's interests in this world, isn't it? And what is, if we could say it this way, His primary interest? His people.
And so you get that same expression in Acts 20. Maybe it's been referred to already. I know we did refer to Acts 20, but it's worth reading this verse.
It's often struck home to my own soul. Acts 20 and verse 28.
Take heed, therefore, under yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers. Now this is a little different line of truth, because these were elders in the Ephesian assembly. We're not all overseers.
But the principle is the same, to feed the Church of God, and here in our King James it reads, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Again, I like the J&D translation which he hath purchased.
With the blood of his own, the blood of his own, that's how much he values his people. That's how much he values each one of us. And each one can be an encouragement to the other as being a steward of what we have been given.
A faithful and wise steward to give out meat in due season. Now you and I aren't Peters and John's and Paul's and others that were laying the foundation of the church, but the Lord gives us each act which is of Christ, and He wants us to use it as a faithful and wise steward. Now there are warnings here. We're going to come to them, warnings about what can happen if that servant says my Lord delayeth his coming and so on.
But first of all, there's encouragement.
Verse 43 Blessed is that servant whom is Lord, when he cometh shall find so doing. And what a what a privilege that is. And again I say it's a privilege you won't have in the glory. We won't have the privilege of serving him in the place where he was rejected. Will we serve him? We had that in the last meeting. Definitely we will. But the service that is rendered under difficult circumstances.
Is especially precious to Christ.
It's possible for us to be.
So conscious of our collective privileges and the collective aspects of Christianity that we give a short shrift or we don't pay attention as much as we should to our individual responsibilities and our individual privileges.
00:20:03
Speak of the body of Christ, we speak of the Church of God, we speak of the assembly. But it says in, I think it's Second Corinthians 5, if any man be in Christ, there is a new creation.
And really, in new creation, we are individuals and.
I was just thinking, Bill, of what you were saying about in the assembly. You know, sometimes the younger ones can mumble and grumble a little bit. Well, I'm not, you know, we don't have that great teaching where I live and all of that kind of thing. I know when I was saved and gathered to the Lord's name in a very small assembly, the brethren got along so wonderfully and sweetly. But the older ones were saved later in life. But it didn't hinder our enjoyment, our fellowship, the worship.
Was real.
And precious.
The teaching, there wasn't so much of it, but we're responsible ourselves.
To lay hold of the truth as individuals and if we get some good teaching in the Assembly, it's a bonus, is the way I look upon it. At the end of where we didn't read in Colossians there. I think it's the end of the first chapter.
Yes, Colossians one verse 28 Speaking of Christ in you the hope of glory verse 28 whom we preach warning.
All no warning every man individual warning every man and teaching all no every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. So whether it's the children in our family, we are wise to seek to understand the bent of our each particular child because.
As it says, raise up a child according to the tenor of his way.
And the children are all different.
Ideally, they have a different response from us, a different way of teaching and handling them. So, so it is. There's a side of the individual blessing that we ought not to lose sight of. We're chosen as individuals. We're called. It's a narrow door. We come through 1 by 1.
We have an individual and personal relationship with the Lord and even though our collective blessings are wonderful.
We ought not to just eclipse that other side of things. I believe some of the encouragements to the seven church through the Angel of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. Some of those rewards that are held out are very personal. I will give him a new name that no man knows, and he that receive it, he'll he feed on the hidden mana. And those things are just, they are precious. And if the Lord tarries and I don't expect him to.
But as things go, more and more of us will be find ourselves going along literally with two or three.
And we again, we ought to have the spiritual courage.
For a very short time to continue on in that way because we're going to be ushered into into the sphere of glory where.
You'll see the many, many songs that he will have been brought home to glory.
And it's not enough to hold the doctrine of the Lord's coming.
Because in verse 45 he says in his heart.
He might not say it out loud.
But the servant, it's an individual who says in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming.
And it's one thing to hold the doctrine of a pre tribulation rapture. You say, yeah, where I go we hold that. But is it a reality in my heart and in my life that I'm expecting the Lord?
And if we don't, what happens? As was read in Mark 13, we have it in our 45th verse. If we say in our hearts, My Lord delayeth his coming, what happens? The practical life, the moral side of life, deteriorates.
Happened with Israel in the last prophets and Agai and Malachi. They gave up the enjoyment of the promises that they had, and down they went. And it manifested in the abuse of marriage, the abuse of their brethren, and all the rest. And so it can be with us to beat the men, servants and maidservants, unrighteousness towards others, to eat and drink with the drunken.
00:25:10
As you pointed out in verse 47, it says in that servant which knew his Lord's will, he knew.
Makes him all the more culpable.
Well, there is very real warning here and very real encouragement, isn't there?
Just think of it in verse 44, which we didn't talk about.
He will make him ruler over all that he had.
Isn't that wonderful? And as was remarked this morning, the Lord not only gives us the work in our souls, not only starts the work in our souls as we get in Philippians 2.
He provides that which is needed to will and to do of His good pleasure, and then He turns around and rewards us for it. Will it be worth it all in that day when He takes His rightful place and there we are associated with Him?
We can't, we can't conceive of what that will be like.
Yes, rewards are never the motive for faithfulness to Christ.
The only motive that Scripture knows for being faithful to Christ is the love of Christ constraineth us. Second Corinthians chapter 5. The love of Christ constraineth us. That's the only motive that Scripture knows for service to him. For rewards are an encouragement, and what an encouragement the Lord gives us here. He will make him ruler all that he have over all that he has.
But then there are the warnings. The warnings. And it's another case in Scripture where in its primary meaning, the warning is directed at an unbeliever. The Lord knew that under the umbrella of Christianity there would be those who were rank unbelievers who would take the place of being overseers and shepherds and stewards and all the rest of it. And you and I don't have to look very far.
To see where it has happened and where those who have taken the leadership among believers, sometimes believers, sometimes unbelievers have abused things and lined their own pockets with money and done everything that is spoken about here, but it ends up being with an unbeliever. The end of verse 46 will appoint him as portion with the unbelievers. But can a believer go down that road? Sadly, he can.
Sadly we can, if we get away from the Lord, a believer can go down that same Rd. because the flesh and the believer is no better than that in an unbeliever. And if it starts to act, this is a warning to all of us, isn't it? But what can happen?
You can see the difference between what we had earlier.
With those that were watching and waiting, loins girded, lights burning. And now what we're taking up.
There it's it's affection, watching and waiting.
Their their affections are engaged, they're looking, they're waiting. And what are they introduced to? A display of affection on the Lord's side towards them, and a wonderful enjoyment of it. Is there any bound of time connected with it? Doesn't seem to be.
But now we come down and he introduces his coming as Son of Man. Well, we look for him as the bridegroom, don't we, properly speaking, as the church.
Well, they also look for His coming, a Son of man, to take his rightful place. And that's the time of manifestation of faithfulness and of reward for faithfulness and service. And so that's what we get now in this part of the chapter.
00:30:07
So you see the distinction between the two, I don't want to say the ones, the rapture and the other coming in power and glory, so much as two aspects of His coming, one that's in connection with affection and the other that's in connection with faithfulness for service. Well, certainly we see faithfulness with those watching and waiting earlier, but I think the large emphasis is really on the affection part. And now we get that, which is for service. But how has the Church been?
Has she been faithful? Have those individuals responsible and have been faithful? If we've been faithful, well, there's reward for faithfulness. And that more seems to be bound by the sphere and time of the Kingdom when it will be set up that there will be a place of responsibility in that sphere of ruling in his Kingdom, though that's not maybe specifically exactly mentioned.
But I think that's more the content.
That in connection with the servant that says My Lord delayeth his coming, that's not an expression of disappointment.
That's an expression of a sigh of relief, because he doesn't want him to come.
And so he says, I don't want him to come, must be he's not coming. And you know, the doctrines that teach and deny the any moment expectation of the Lord's return for his Saints really feed into the.
Desire.
Of that which is false and Christianity that does not want to see his coming.
It really lines up with that spirit of things that doesn't want to see him come. I'm happy down here. I've got a good down here. I really don't want that disturbed. I want to go on in my own way. Well, it's already been remarked that has a decline as well. It's not. Again, it's not an expression of disappointment, you might say. It's like he's not coming. Good. Now I can go do what I want to do. I don't have to worry about looking over my shoulder.
And without wanting to revisit the subject in detail, that is one of the tenets of so-called covenant theology. In essence, it destroys the hope of the immediate return of our Lord Jesus Christ at any moment.
Most of the time the Lord's coming is not outright denied, but it is put way off to the side without it being as Bruce was, bringing out a present living daily hope. Maybe the Lord will come today. It's put off to one side and getting this world ready for the so-called Kingdom is what occupies the heart. And that is not what the Lord left us with. He left us with the.
Present living hope of his coming at any moment.
And that already has been discussed. And as you were bringing out Brother Steve, it's connected far more with affection than with a knowledge of truth and so on. Yes, we need a knowledge of the truth and we need responsibility, but it's connected mainly with affection. But here we're getting responsibility now, which is connected with his appearing. And what are we doing?
View of that day, how is what I do today and how I live going to stack up when the Lord comes back with us. Well, we know, of course, that some of the reward will be as we get here, positions of public honor and administration of the Kingdom as we get in Luke 19 have the authority over 10 cities or five cities or something like that. There will be other rewards that it will be more private.
But there will be rewards. That will be the Lord's public recognition of faithfulness down here, and that will all come out of his appearing wanted. And so there is a warning here about there's an encouragement for faithfulness, but also a solemn warning for unfaithfulness.
00:35:23
Bill, could you tell us if he says?
The Lord delayeth his coming. How would that be when they're handing out the rewards?
That would have to be, I can see it would be if he was coming for the Saints, which I don't know that this does that.
Thing he delays is coming, but how could he that be a sigh of relief because that doesn't come until the Lord comes back in judgment. Is that understand my question? No, not completely. Brother Steve brought that out. Maybe you better ask him that question.
Yeah, it will. It's not. This is if this is rewards, then how? What? What's he saying here?
So the Lord delayeth. He's coming. He's not looking for a rapture.
Is he? I would say he's not looking for the Lord to come at all.
And, and maybe it's just a good reminder, there are only two comings of Christ. The first one's already taken place. The next one is yet to come. Yes, it does have two installments, which isn't the subject of this chapter. That he's going to take his own first.
To be with him and then return with them in power and glory. But that's all one coming. That's the second coming. There isn't 3 coming. So he's not expecting the coming at all. Whether it would be a servant that had been taught the rapture or not. He's not expecting him to come. He doesn't want him to come. And so he says, oh, he's delaying is coming. It's really it's, it's never going to happen. Not in my life time anyways.
You know, so I can do what I want to do. But that's been the attitude of the church. I said as a queen and I'm no widow is its ultimate expression. I, I'm at the top, I'm, I'm ruling, I'm reigning, I do what I want. There's no one going to come and hold me accountable. And so it it's going to have its full expression, I think, as we see the Falls Church and Revelation.
Gentile Church is pictured in Vashti in the book of Esther, and she gets so infatuated with herself as being the head of all the women.
That she forgets that her glory is to be the glory of the man and that that comes to full, it ripens into fullness as we read in the Book of Revelations with the false church saying I sit as queen and am no widow. I've got everything, everything is good. And so as, as one of the writers put it, the wish is parent to the thought and the wish is for delay, as Steven said, and it gives.
Its offspring.
Is these thoughts that Oh well, he's not coming soon anyway. That's really underneath, under the surface of it, the wish.
Though she set aside.
Then answer your question, Brother Burn. Yes, it does, yeah.
I think that's the real key to it, the way Steve put it, that the rapture and the Lord's hearing are often merged together in Scripture. Yes, separate as to time, but they're really one coming, one to take his own home to be with himself, and one to come back in judgment. But in this chapter that distinction is is not particularly emphasized because the full truth of all of that wasn't going to be.
Really manifest until Paul's ministry and so.
I think Bruce put it well a few days ago. We're looking back at this chapter from the vantage point of having known and appreciated Paul's ministry. But what the Lord was giving out here was to those who hadn't had the benefit of that yet. And so perhaps things would seem to our minds to be a little blurred into one another, but they're not really.
He was speaking to a Jewish audience and he was speaking to those who at the same time were.
Going to be part of the church. And So what he gives them is what was suitable for that time and place. But then everything kind of becomes more clear as we get further light given to us later on in the in the epistles.
00:40:10
Bill, I have a question. This portion would seem to me to become very important to the tribulation Saints. They will read this and they will see that there there are believers in the tribulation and we know the remnant then comes. But there we've been going through revelation in our assembly and we see the different Saints that are martyred and and they're there in glory. But there are there are believers on this earth who.
Believe the preaching of the 144,000 they there are people who are preaching the gospel of the Kingdom. I would say that they will be preaching this these passages from the Scriptures that these will have great value to them. Those who are faithful servants of God preaching at that time and they will consider these things and you know they should know if they read the Scriptures they should be able to mark down pretty close to when the Lord's coming is. But if you don't pay attention.
Just like we have so many nowadays, they don't believe it. There is no so many in evangelical Christendom. They they are not expecting the Lord's coming. As you said, they put it aside and they have other beliefs. But if you do pay attention, I would say that there be preachers preaching right out of this text right here at someday in the future during the tribulation to the remnant, to those who are believers of that time. Would that be accurate?
I personally believe so, yes. And I believe they will actually know these scriptures and other scriptures like Matthew 24 and various ones that refer to this time, and it will give them real intelligence as to what's going on, yes.
In fact, there was an older sister in our local assembly and she went to be with the Lord when I was still in grade school at the age of 95. She could well remember sitting on JN Darby's lap and she was a little girl.
And.
I didn't get this from her, but my mother told me that she always, when she wore out a Bible, she put it away very carefully. She said, I trust that someday the godly remnant will pick up those Bibles and read them and get the truth of what they need to learn. And I thought that that was something, really something for that older sister to do.
Didn't lose the importance of it and the message to ourselves in Matthew 24 and 25. This falls. It can be those chapters can divide it into three parts. You have first of all to Israel and then the Lord turns as it were and addresses his disciples and it's no longer the Son of man coming, but now it is.
The Lord has made him ruler of his household and it speaks of the household of faith and then we have 3 militaries given and then.
What reverts back to the return of the Son of Man and taking up with the nations? This.
Parallel portion in Matthew occurs in the middle section, which speaks to us now. It's really faithful faithfulness in the Lord's absence. And it says there, it speaks of this one. If that evil servant shall say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming and so on. In verse 50 of Matthew 24, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him. That's not our expectation, but that evil servant that will be.
His end, the Lord will come in a day when he doesn't expect it. The church gave up the the hope of the Lord's coming as a something that it could occur at any time very early in its history. So much so that there will be those that will insist there's no mention of it in the church fathers. And Mr. Darby just invented this because they put it on him. It wasn't him at all. He didn't come up with it. It's scripture. And there were, I believe, multiple ones that the Lord LED.
To recognize, as we have in Matthew 25, at midnight there was a crime made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh at midnight cry. And there was a recognition that the Lord was going to return for his own.
The portion that we have before us, it's interesting in verse 2047.
J&D translation says, but that bondsman who knew his own Lord's will.
00:45:02
And had not prepared himself, nor done his will shall be beaten with many stripes. There are many that taken that place within the fold of Christianity throughout its history that claim to be his own, but in denying the Lord's coming.
Their relationship.
With.
With the master has been out of place and as a result, their relationship with their brethren is being out of place. But Christendom is full of individuals that have that fit this description. We're not just looking forward to a future future time. We could look at the what we call the dock ages and how the church ruled with a rod of iron enriched herself and still the church if you speak of it and like for example, the Roman Catholic Church is is is rich.
We've been going through Revelation 2 and we have those descriptions.
In the is it the 18th chapter?
Where we get maybe the fullness of it brought out in a head, the 17th and 18th chapter. But we shouldn't imagine that these things haven't been going on. You know, there's two individuals W Cotton Court who are responsible for.
Much of the scholarship that goes into modern Bible translations. They were contemporaries of J&D and William Kelly. I don't remember which one that wrote it, but.
Suggested that you know any coming of the Lord including Thessalonians 4 was nothing but what he called a spiritual theophany. In other words, just a spiritual experience that we can go through and these were churchmen that were looked up and admired but the effect of this doctrine on the church to lose sight of the fact that the Lord could come for us at any moment it was absolutely devastating it's.
And and likewise we we can.
Get discouraged. You can't. I'm not saying we can lose our salvation, but.
There are plenty that take their number amongst Christianity.
Call the Lord their own and yet.
They're not real. They're they're they're unbelievers. And we can be easily misled if we're if.
We lose sight of the Lord's coming. I don't know that I put that very well.
You think it'd be right to say with the many and few stripes that you get a contrast between the responsibility of professing Christianity even world Absolutely. That's why I think it says in verse 47 you his own Lord's will they take their place amongst the ranks of Christianity. They're baptized they they're they're in high positions.
And they will be considered very responsible a.
And then ignorance we find here, you know, ignorance is not an excuse, but there is less responsibility and they will be beaten with less stripes.
It's important to recognize that ignorance is not an excuse, but there is degrees of responsibility.
Just to add to that, I would suggest that the end of verse 48, beginning with the word. For unto whomsoever much is given of Him shall be much required, and to him to whom men have committed much, much of Him they will ask the more.
That perhaps is directed more to believers now.
It has an effect on an unbeliever too, but the church and the individuals in the church are never going to be beaten with stripes for being unfaithful. That's a wrong thought. That's clearly an unbeliever that is in view there but for you and for me that know the Lord for you and for me.
There are degrees of understanding and knowledge and spiritual maturity among believers.
And also there are degrees of, shall we say, material prosperity among believers. And it bears on what Brother Bruce said. I think it was in the first reading meeting that when if we could say it this way.
00:50:03
Those in perhaps countries where they don't have as much as we do, perhaps look over at those in Western Europe and North America and get, they say, oh, very rich countries, you've got so much and so on.
Maybe you could repeat it Bruce, but the way I've looked at it.
I don't tend to become either defensive or apologetic about that. I say to them, if they're believers, I say you pray for us because we are going to be held far more responsible for what the Lord has given us, whether it's in material things or spiritual things. So you pray for us because this, and I quote this Scripture to them, the Lord is going to hold us very, very responsible.
Did I get that right, Bruce? Is that what you were saying? Yes.
You know, sometimes I hear men that I used to work with say, well, money is the root of all evil. And I have to say it's the love of money that's the root of all evil. And a person that has very little of this world's goods can be dominated in their character by the love of money. And a person who happens to have much like many of the brethren associated with the recovery of the truth in the 19th century.
Where people of great tremendous means and they plowed it under, they used it for the Lord and it resulted in tremendous blessing around the entire world. So they had money, but it wasn't their object and they they used it like it says of the of the it's such an interesting parable of the unjust steward of that without turning to the parable, he used a temporary position.
For his future benefit. And so the council there that we get from the parable is to use their temporary situation and resources that we have in light of eternity.
So what is the many stripes and the few stripes?
Well, I would suggest Virgil that it really is a way of referring to degrees of punishment in hell.
The Lord by his Spirit often uses something that we can all understand. And in the days when this was written, that was what was meted out to people as punishment. You, you got, you got a dose of Roman scourging and it was something else and.
I believe the Lord is simply showing us that there will just as there will be degrees of reward in heaven, there will be degrees of punishment in hell. It's an awful thing to think about, but the Lord will meet out the punishment in hell according to the responsibility and knowledge that individuals have had, I believe.
Going to say that and Bruce says not Miss Bruce, the other Bruce writes about that.
And I have a lot of difficult trying to wrap my mind around that and understand that because.
How can hell be any more than hell than what it is? I mean how if you end up in a lost eternity and it's described by the Lord and many of the gospels tied hand and foot in outer darkness?
Tormented day and night.
You.
Wailing and gnashing of teeth. And the wailing is the fact that you will remember for all eternity the opportunity that you had to be saved. And you brushed it aside. And the gnash in your teeth is your enmity and hatred will never cease. Is that correct? Yes.
How can there be any?
Worse than our certain I mean what do they turn up the heat or something? I, I, I don't mean that derogatory, but I'm just saying I can't understand how there can be.
Different degrees of hell and where you're in hell, and it can't get any worse than that.
I don't understand it either, Virgil, but I guess we just have to fall back on scripture and say here it is and how it'll all pan out. We don't know. I don't know unless someone else has a better answer than that, but.
00:55:02
I would say because God is just and we believe that that if someone like Hitler.
Is going to receive something different than some lost heathen out of the jungles of Africa or South America that has rejected whatever presentation God gave to him much differently? Because God is just. That's where I rest.
I don't understand it, but he says that he's just and he's going to be just and how he dispenses punishment.
It also says of hell where the worm dieth not. What did you say? But it also says of hell where the worm dieth not. And so, you know, Hitler's conscience is not going to be, you know, he, he's not going to forget what he did. He's going to remember that for all eternity. So there's that side of it too. That's sort of a maybe a passive punishment that they'll endure. He'll never forget what he inflicted.
And and of course, the man less responsible won't have.
That conscience to bear.
But Lemoyne had a verse that I think perhaps is helpful to.
You want to read it? Revelation 20.
Verse 13.
Says in the sea gave up the dead which were in it.
Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their work.
Even that have been mentioned will be they have had the gospel of creation, haven't they? No matter what else is lacking to them.
Creation itself, the heavens testified.
That can be rejected.
Here they're judged every man according to their works.
In a broader way to.
Word of the severest judgments fall in the tribulation.
They fall where the greatest responsibility was, whether it be the Jews.
Have the oracles of God committed to them, or the church have the testimony of Christ? And I think the greatest and severest judgment seemed to fall on that which had the testimony of Christ.
Western world is punished first as the Lord comes out of heaven. He punishes the Western world where the gospel has been preached, not not to, not the Far East, whether in idolatry.
Maybe somebody could read Matthew 2314?
You said Matthew 2314.
Woe unto ye scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, we devour widows houses, and for pretense make long prayer. Therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
Not in the new translation for some reason.
Well, as we were saying a few minutes ago, our time is going here. But the end of verse 48 ought to be really exercising to us, all of us. I.
Under whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required, and of him and to whom men have committed much of him will they ask the more? And of course we understand this in natural things. Those who have been given more and more responsibility will be held more responsible, even in a natural way. You work for a big company and.
Someone at the lower end of the ladder makes a mistake or.
Does something wrong? He won't be held as responsible as someone in management who ought to have known better and who ought to have been able to foresee what the consequences were of what he did or did not do. And I would only say this, that, and we want to be careful how we say it, that those of us who have had the privilege of being gathered to the Lord's name.
01:00:28
Need to pay attention to this.
As one brother has said years ago in our written ministry, he said if we have more than other believers, we can use it in one of two ways. We can use it to attempt to accredit and distinguish ourselves collectively, or we can seek to use it for the blessing and up building of the whole body of Christ.
Now I would hasten to say that.
Reaching out to the whole body of Christ ought to be in our hearts. It's not always possible. Someone who was a true believer said of William Kelly. That man.
Excuse me, that man has a mind made for the universe, but it's a pity that he restricted his usefulness to so few.
Well, William Kelly didn't restrict his usefulness to so few. His ministry was well made, very much available to anybody who wanted to avail him or herself ever.
But he wouldn't go and preach in the Episcopal Church or something like that to compromise the place that he took outside of all that. And so I just say that it ought to be in our hearts that if we have more than others do, let's seek to use it for the whole body of Christ now does that. And I'll go one step further. Does that mean that we want them all to be gathered to the Lord's name?
Yes and no.
But I don't like to keep repeating Jay and Darby, others have two. But he had a way of putting things, he said. I have never in my life asked anyone to come among brethren.
Categorically, he said that, he said. My thought has rather been what does the soul need?
What does this soul need? And then to seek to minister according to the need at that time. If souls are gathered through that ministry, that is well and good, but it has never been my object. I repeat that because.
It was a big help to me to see how that we ought to be willing to use what the Lord has given us to any believer anywhere, or for that matter, to an unbeliever who needs the gospel without any reference necessarily to thinking. Well, ultimately I want them to gather to the Lord's name. Yes, we should want to see that, but that's the Lord's work, not yours and mine. We present the truth as it is needed.
Remember meetings of Christians at one time, and I had a burning desire to see them gather to the Lord's name.
But they were all mixed up on eternal security and things like baptism and so on. They needed more fundamental things.
And we had to start from.
First principles, if you like. And so I just mentioned that. I think it's very important that we look at it in that way, and I believe this verse plays into that thought for those of us that perhaps have had more of the precious truth of God than others might have had.
I've enjoyed Acts 28 and verse 30, and Paul dwelt two whole years in his own hired house, and received all that came in unto him, preaching the Kingdom of God and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, no man forbidding him.
Confidence in the truth and that it's God's work.
We can't go out and twist anybody's arm to come in to receive Paul's doctrine, but he receives all that come, so to speak. It's got to be God's work, and we have to be willing to minister the truth of God and whatever capacity and ability he's given with believers where we find them as the opportunity is, and let the work be the Lord's to bring them in.
01:05:18
Has been given to each believer is not for just the gathered Saints. It is for the church at large and when when people come across your path as brother Bill was saying whatever their need is. If you can do something about that need do it. You will honor your Lord and what I have noticed right now at our brother Bernie Breck back in Marengo has a Bible study.
And all the people in there are from all different kinds of backgrounds and different levels of understanding of the word of God. Most of them are the Lords. Sometimes they bring people in that are not saved. And so then you focus on the gospel. But it didn't take long before they will say something like, how do you guys know this stuff?
Have you been to seminary?
Oh, where did you learn these things?
How do you know these things? And I've had that experience over the years. We'll come and see.
Sometimes I'll answer well from farmers who open the word of God.
Boy, did I benefit from that, from the Campbells and the renos and the the the Buchanans, the farmers that knew the word of God back and forward and would open up and maybe in simple ways express those things.
How much they learned over the years. Listen to those. And Dan Anderson and Charles Whittaker, They were farmers for a while. They had been missionaries. They've been in Africa and some of their stories on the farm, learning from them, That's all. I learned a lot of these things, My father, the farmer.
Simple men, often who weren't so simple when it came to the Word of God and when they expressed that people notice and then they'll they'll come and see.
And then the Lord does his work. As our brother Bill was saying, he's the one that draws men to himself. The Lord Jesus gathers people around himself, not us.
We sing #13 in the appendix.
Soon shall close thine earthly mission.
Soon shall pass thy Pilgrim days. Hope shall change to glad fruition, faith to sight, and prayer to praise.
I love God by Christ salvation.
Rise or sin, and fear and joy to fly in every station.
Something to do or bear?
My favorite girls were made in me playing what I found.
Glory armed my grace, and bring my prayer.
And he turned away.
Sunshine, what a thine earthly mission soon shall pass, thought I Pilgrim.
All shall change to look like fruition.
Make you sight and have prayer to praise.
01:10:32
Thanks.
God and our Father, we just would thank Thee for the readings that we enjoyed so much.
He just would like to thank me, those of us who leave, and my dear Son our Lord Jesus, that we don't have to go to hell. We thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for dying on the cross to save us from our sins. He thank Thee for the future that awaits us. Soon we will be with thee in the glory, Lord Jesus, to be with thee, to light, thee to be like thee, to enjoy thy company and the wonderful blessing for all eternity.
And now, as we have these few moments to reflect with one another on my goodness to us.
We pray that we might be an encouragement to one another to go on faithfully. A little time that's left. We give thanks again. Lord Jesus, my goodness to us, Our God and Father, we thank thee for thy beloved Son. We pray in his wonderful name, Amen. Amen.