This morning we return once again to Luke's Gospel, if you will take your Bibles and turn there, Luke chapter 19. We're looking at our Lord's parable in verses 11 through 27, under the heading "Kingdom Delay and Future Rewards," and this is actually part two of what we examined last week, I'm sure you're like me, I'm longing for heaven. I'm waiting eagerly, as Paul said, "the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ." I believe in First Corinthians one spoke of that. And my goal this morning, is to help you long all the more for heaven, and also to make sure that you're going there because of God's grace. And also to clarify some of your eschatology, your understanding of the prophetic Scriptures, to know that one day we shall be like Him. Right? When he appears, we shall see him just as he is. And John says that everyone who has this hope, fixed on him purifies himself, just as he is pure. So that's what we want this morning.

Now. Let me set the context again. Here, Jesus proclaims an amazing parable that again, clarifies some of the eschatology of his disciples and the early saints that were with him, and down through the centuries helps us understand as well. But also in this parable, we not only learn more about the establishment of his kingdom and his second coming, but we learn more of how we should live; the type of worldview that we need to have as believers. So Jesus has performed many miracles by this time, he is traveling to Jerusalem for the last time, where he will offer himself as the Lamb of God. He is traveling with his disciples and a large group of pilgrims as they all make their way for the Passover celebration. And the air is absolutely electric with messianic expectations. Because they know what Jesus has done. He has actually raised Lazarus from the dead. He's healed the blind, and they've seen these things. And they're thinking, "Ah, this is it. The king is about to establish his kingdom, no more Rome. Everything's going to be wonderful. And he is going to present himself to Israel as the Messiah of Old Testament prophecy." And at first, you see all of this is leading up to the triumphant entry, right? At first they're going to celebrate him. And within a week, they're going to cry out for his crucifixion. So, messianic expectations are running high. It's the Passover season. It's the time where they look back on how God delivered the people from Egyptian bondage some 1400 years earlier. And while Jesus was in Jericho, he has healed to blind man, Jericho is on the road now going up going to Jerusalem. He has healed a couple of blind men where once again he established his messianic credentials, his supernatural power, that He is God, very God. But it also is a great illustration of the miracle of regeneration where he gives spiritual sight to the spiritually blind and he did this with a corrupt tax collector, a guy by the name of Zacchaeus. And Jesus even invited himself into Zacchaeus his home. And as we read that whole story, we see that by his grace, the Lord saved Zacchaeus. And he began to preach a sermon to him. We have just a little bit of the subject matter in Luke 19 and verse 10. Jesus said, "'For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.'" And so we don't know everything that he said, but this was the topic of his sermon to them.

And in that context, we come to our passage; the parable that Jesus gives to the people, especially his disciples, beginning in Luke 19, verse 11, let me read the passage. "While they were listening to these things, Jesus went on to tell a parable, because He was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately. So He said, "A nobleman who went to a distant country to receive a kingdom for himself and then return. And he called 10 of his slaves and gave them 10 minas and said to them, "Do business with this until I come back.' But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.' When he returned, after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that the slaves, to whom he had given the money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. The first appeared saying, 'Master, your mina has made 10 minas more.' and he said to him, 'Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing you were to be in authority over 10 cities.' The second came saying, 'Your mina, master, has made five minas.' And he said to him also, 'And you are to be over five cities.' Another came saying, 'Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you because you are an exacting man; you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow.' He said to him, 'By your own words, I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man, taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?' Then he said to the bystanders, 'Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the 10 minas.' And they said to him, 'Master, he has 10 minas already.' I tell you, that everyone who has more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.'"

Now again, by way of review, so that we maintain the context here to better understand what Jesus is saying, Jesus parable resembles the historical account of one of Herod's sons, Herod Archelaus a barbaric, vile ruler that the Jews despised, and like other rulers before him, Archelaus has had to travel to Rome, in order to receive authority from Caesar to have rulership over the kingdom. And we know historically that when he went, there was a deputation of Jews who contested his promotion that followed behind him. And they actually successfully persuaded Caesar to only allow him to rule half of his father's kingdom.

And to look once again, just at the big picture of the parable, we see that the purpose of the parable is to correct the erroneous supposition that the kingdom of God was going to appear immediately, instead of appearing at a future time, after the nobleman's departure to gain authority and then return as king. And we can see that the nobleman, for example, in verse 12, represents Christ who is not yet reigning, but who travels to a distant country, referring to heaven, to receive a kingdom. In other words, to receive official authority to reign and then he returns to rule over the that kingdom. And biblically as we studied last week, Jesus authority is linked to his resurrection and to his ascension. For example, in Matthew 28, in verse 13, Jesus said, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." And Acts three verse 21, also states, quote, heaven must "receive Jesus as until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient time."

Moreover, as we look at this parable, we see two classes of people that Jesus described slaves and citizens that hated him, which is a reference primarily to Israel, but to all who hate him. The slaves are those that professed allegiance to the nobleman, his loyal subjects. And as we will see, they represent all who profess to be faithful servants of Christ. Some truly were, others were only loyal to themselves. And of course, the citizens that hated him, certainly speaks, as I say of Israel, that was actually united, and their repudiation of the nobleman, his regal claim to be their king. We see in verse 14, "'But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.''" And again, we know that in a few days, they will scream "Away with Him! Away with Him! Crucify Him!" Pilate will say to them, "Shall I crucify your King?" The chief priests answered, "We have no king, but Caesar," John 19, verse 15. We also see in the parable that Jesus gives an equal amount of money 10 minas, which is about three months wages, to each of the 10 slaves, and he commands them to "do business with this until I come." So he expects them to be good stewards, faithful stewards, to manage his estate well; to do something profitable, and something productive with the funds entrusted to them. And we see that each slave accepted the responsibility. And the implication is that when the nobleman returns as the king, every slave must give an account and be rewarded or punished accordingly.

And then we also see that after receiving his kingdom authority from heaven, the nobleman returns to the earth. And He rules over a domain over a territory over a realm with subjects living in it. And this represents, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ when He returns as King of kings and establishes His earthly kingdom that will last for 1000 years. And then we also say that the first thing the king does when he returns, the first, shall we say, regal action, is to judge his slaves who were entrusted with the money while he was gone, and then reward them according to their faithfulness in stewarding the resources that were given to them. And when the nobleman returns as king, we also see that he executes judgments on both the disloyal slaves, as well as the citizens that hated him. And of course, this represents two groups. The disloyal slaves are those that profess Christ, but they do not possess him. They are phony Christians, they are Christian in name only, they have no real love for the king. They live as if the king does not exist, they live only for themselves. And then the citizens that hated him, as I say, represents Israel, and all other unbelievers who reject His sovereign authority to reign over them.

And then finally, as we look at the big picture of the parable, we see that an interval of time takes place between the nobleman's departure and his return as king and that time is unspecified. And, of course, what we see from that is every generation needs to be watchful. So there you have, once again, a general summary of the Lord's parable. Now, let's look at it more carefully. And as I said the last time, we're doing so under three headings. Number one, the enemies of the king; that's what we looked at last week. And today we'll look primarily at the secondly, the loyal subjects of the king, and finally, disloyal subjects of the king.

By way of review, enemies of the king again, verse 14, citizens hated him. They sent a delegation after him, we do not want this man to reign over us. And he says in verse 27, "'these enemies of mine who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.'" And we know that Jesus loved the people. He provided for them. He healed them. And yet He said in John 15, verse 24, "'They have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well. But they have done this to fulfill the word that is written in their law. They hated Me without a cause.'" And that, of course, comes out of the psalter, Psalm 69 and verse four that was written some 1000 years earlier. And why did they hate Jesus? Why does the world hate Jesus today? Jesus answers this in John seven in verse seven, "'The world.'" he says, "'hates Me because I testify of it, and it's deeds are evil.'" Unbelievers have no fear of God. They despise any thought of being accused of being guilty before a holy God. The thought of divine judgment, the thought of hell is absolutely repulsive to them, because they are spiritually dead. They cannot see things. They're spiritually blind, we know. Double blinded by Satan, "the god of this world," as Second Corinthians four four tells us "has blinded the minds of the unbelieving." And First, John five and verse 19, says "that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one."

Now may I remind you, dear friends, that all authority has been given to Jesus to judge his subjects. May I read from Matthew 25, verse 31. "'But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne, all the nations will be gathered before Him. And He will separate them one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right, 'Come, you who are blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.'" And then in verse 41, Jesus goes on to say, "'Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me accursed ones, into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.'" And finally, in verse 46, he says, "'These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal death.'" So you can see the parallel with the parable, that the nobleman, when he returns as King, has been given authority to judge his subjects. But he also, as King has authority to slay his enemies. And we know biblically that this is going to happen to a small, except for a small remnant of Israel who will be saved. But then all others who reject and mock Christ, all of those who are indifferent towards him, all of those who hate him, will be judged. Revelation 19 is one of the primary passages on that. Let me read you another one. The apostle Paul says in Second Thessalonians, one, beginning in verse seven, "when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels in flaming fire," here's what he's gonna do, he will deal out "retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who believed."

So there you have some of the primary themes related to the enemies of the king, as discussed in the parable. Now let's look closely at the loyal subjects of the king. Luke 19, verse 15. "'When he returned after receiving the kingdom, he ordered that the slaves to whom he had given money, be called to him so that he might know what business they had done. The first appeared saying, 'Master, your mina has made 10 minas more.' And he said to him, 'Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful in a very little thing you were to be an authority over 10 cities.' The second came saying, 'Your mina, master, has made five minas.' And he said to him also, 'You are to be over five cities.' Now this represents genuine, true believers who were faithful and stewarding the resources that God gave to them during the church age until the Lord returns and rewards his saints. And we know for example, in 1 Peter four verses one through 10. We read how that that each one of us as believers have received a special gift to serve one another and put the glory of Christ on display. And as we look at those gifts in Scripture, and I'm not going to get into all of the details, but they fall in two primary categories speaking gifts and serving gifts, and the application in the parable is that every believer should be faithful in making use of his or her gifts, of his or her opportunities, of his or her resources, all that God has given to us, to serve one another, to edify one another to bring glory to Christ until He comes. You must ask yourself, "Does this describe me? Am I a faithful, loyal subject of the coming King? Or do I just live for myself?" Because, dear friends, we will all give an account. In First Corinthians, a few thoughts out of First Corinthians 12 and verse one, the apostle Paul says "Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware," and hear Paul quotes the Corinthians who use the term "pneumatikon" from "pneumatikos," which means spiritual. And the word "gifts," you'll notice is in italics, it's been added. However, what's interesting in verses four 9,28 30 and 31, Paul uses the term "charismata," from charisma, which is the Greek word for grace, referring to a gift that has been given as a sign of beneficent favor, if I can put it that way. So he doesn't call it a spiritual gift, he calls it a grace gift. Isn't that interesting? What a humbling distinction. And of course, he does that for a purpose. The Corinthians were talking about spiritual gifts. And Paul is talking about grace gifts. In other words, gifts that God has given to believers, by his grace. And this casts a totally different light on the subject, does it not? What a gentle way of, of squelching their pride and reminding them that whatever gift God has given them, it was given to them according to his sovereign grace alone. Verse 11, First Corinthians 12, "But one in the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually, just as He wills." And Paul makes it clear in this passage and others, that like the human body, every member has been given a gift to function within that body, within that spiritual organism. And we are therefore mutually dependent upon one another. I need you, you need me, we need each other. And God distributes these gifts as he pleases. And if you have a human body, or some of the organs, or some of the cells decide they just don't want to do what they're supposed to do, you know what happens. And unfortunately, that's what happens in the body of Christ very often. And the diversity of spiritual gifts that God has distributed to each one of us is for the purpose of unifying the body of Christ; making it function the way it's supposed to, not dividing it. And of course that was what was going on with the Corinthians. They were looking for showy gifts to somehow show off. And we still see that today, especially in charismatic and Pentecostal systems. And that the Holy Spirit's work and power is for the common good of the church. It therefore is to promote oneness in the body, and therefore, each diverse member in the body of Christ must recognize, really, how they can serve, how they can edify and use their gifts appropriately. And this ties in to the idea of the nobleman, giving to his loyal subjects, a gift that they are to use to be productive, and so forth. And we have to ask ourselves," Am I faithful in exercising my spiritual gift or gifts as it may be?"

And again, they typically fall into two categories: speaking and serving gifts. Romans 12, First Corinthians 12, lists a lot of them, their representative and they're like different colors on an artist's palette that can be mixed together to make all kinds of beautiful colors. But if we look at those, there's really eight different representative categories of what we would call permanent, edifying gifts. They are teaching, exhortation, evangelism, Pastor, teacher, helps, giving, administration and mercy. And I'm not going to get into all of that. But you'd want to ask yourself, and this is really the thrust of what Jesus is saying in the parable, am I functioning the way God has designed me to function? Am I using my spiritual gifts to edify the body of Christ? And a lot of times, people will say, Well, how do I know what my gift is? Well get involved in the church, start serving the church, and where you find yourself being affirmed by the rest of the body, that's what will be your spiritual gift. Your spiritual gift isn't just something that you like to do. I've known poor guys that absolutely love to teach, and they love to preach. And my goodness, when you listen to some of them, it's like, watching paint dry. And it's terrible. So just because you like to do something doesn't mean that's your gift. Or you can have, oh, my, I can think of all kinds of things here, but a soloist, you know, I mean, Mama and Aunt Maude thinks she's wonderful, but the rest of the body is cringing. I can remember many times where somebody gets up to sing. And I know it's going to really be bad, because the first thing Nancy does is reaches over and grabs my arm and start squeezing it real tight. And we're just trying to hang on, right? But the point with all of this is, is God in his infinite mercy and grace has equipped us all to function within the body of Christ. And we need to be functioning consistent with the way God has designed us. And Christ will reward our faithfulness. Think of Second Corinthians chapter five and verse 10. The apostle Paul says, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." Whether worthless, of poor quality or low standard; not bad in the sense of evil. But by the way, Jude 24 tells us that Christ is the one who "will make you stand in the presence of His glory," what? "blameless with great joy." I'm thankful for that. I remember when I was a little boy hearing on several occasions, and one of these days, you know, they're going to have this projector, and they're going to show your life up there. And everybody's going to see what you've done. You know, that really had a profound effect on me, I straightened up real quick on a lot of things, because I thought on that's going to be horribly embarrassing. But folks, that's not biblical, and I'm so thankful it's not, right? But we are going to have to give an account, appear before the judgment seat of Christ. We know that we can do that because Christ has paid the penalty for our sins. In fact, Psalm 103, verse 12, "As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us."

But indeed, we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. In fact, the apostle Paul told Timothy in Second Timothy chapter four and verse eight, "In the future,"" he said, there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing." Likewise, in Romans, chapter 14, verse 10, we will "all stand before the judgment seat of God." And by the way, since God has-- God the Father--has granted all judgment to the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, that's a reference to Christ, John five and verse 22.

Now, the Greek word for judgment is "bema," a raised platform that they would use an athletic events, or even in political arenas where an authority figure would be elevated to a bema, to judge competitions and award the winners or in legal cases where like, when Pilate judged Jesus, he did that from a bema seat, as we read in Matthew 27:19. There the judge would render decisions. And if we look at First Corinthians chapter three, and verse 10, and through 17, we're not going to look at all of this, but just a little of it for a moment. There we see that Paul gives further explanation concerning Christ's evaluation of good and bad, in other words, worthless deeds that we will do. He says in verse 12, "Now if any man builds on the foundation," referring to if any believer builds upon the foundation of Christ, "with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay straw, each man's work," verse 13, "will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." And here we see that all believers are continuing to build upon the one foundation that was established by the apostles, namely, the gospel that was originally laid by the apostles. There are no more apostles today, the foundation has been laid. In verse 10, says, "But each man must be careful how he builds on it." Verse 13, "each man's work will become evident." And isn't it a marvelous reality, dear friends, that we are all part of the church. We're all building upon the foundation of the gospel first laid by the apostles. I marvel at that thought. And if the gospel is not the absolute foundation of everything that you are building in your life, then you have no foundation and your life is going to fall apart, it will eventually collapse in a heap of ruin.

In Luke six, verse 49, you will be Jesus said, "'Like a man who built a house on the ground without any foundation; and the torrent burst against it, and immediately it collapsed, and the ruin of that house was great.'" So believers are the builders in Paul's analogy. But notice something else. The good works are the materials, now be careful, we're not saved by good works. We're saved by grace alone. Good works do not earn our salvation, good works do not sustain our salvation. Good works prove our salvation. Every believer according to Ephesians, chapter two and verse 10, "has been created in Christ Jesus," for what? "For good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." And according to Colossians 1:10, we are to bear quote, "fruit in every good work."

Now, it's interesting how Paul describes the two different categories of building materials. Gold, silver, precious stones, in other words, valuable noncombustible material materials that will stand the test of fire versus wood, hay and straw. These are less valuable materials, combustible materials that will not stand the test of fire. And I might add that because the dwellings in ancient Mediterranean cities were primarily thatched roof structures made of clay, combined with wood and hay, which is grass and stubble, which is straw. And because the climate was hot, and dry, fire was always a very dangerous possibility, a dangerous threat. And this analogy that Paul is using here may well have been quite vivid in the minds of the Corinthians because in 146 BC, much of that city was destroyed as a result of the Roman conquest, destroyed by fire. And in about 44 BC, Julius Caesar rebuilt it. And it is likely that many of these ruins were still evident when Paul was speaking to them, because you would have certain parts of the city that were just burned, they were just ashes and all they would do would reveal the noncombustible materials that remained. And the wealthy homes, government buildings, pagan temples, they would have a combination of both combustible and noncombustible materials. And many would have, you know, things like marble and, and granite and even gold and silver and jewels embedded in the walls. And Paul's point is simply this--some of our works will have lasting value, and will endure the testing of fire and divine judgment. Some won't. If I can put it this way, there's a big difference between God serving service or I should say God-centered service and man-centered service.

God-centered service in the body of Christ is offered in the strength of the Holy Spirit for the glory of Christ, and will be of great value. But man-centered service offered in the strength of the flesh, for your glory, will be of no value. He goes on to say in verse 13, again, "each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it has to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work." And even as fire is used to purify metal, it is a symbol of testing in Scripture. The consuming fire of divine omniscience and divine holiness will one day test the purity and the value of your service and my service to Christ. When the nobleman returns as king, right? That's the point. And anything we do in our service to Christ, that is done in the flesh, based upon man's wisdom will be of no value. God wants us to build with the very best materials. And I might put it this way--He wants us to do our very best for him, in whatever we do. And he wants us to give it our all, if I can put it that way. Not take short cuts, not use cheap imitations. No cutting of corners, no winging it in Christian service. No lazy, who cares attitude. He wants us to build things right, with quality workmanship, according to the divine standard of Scripture and the standard of the church. He wants us to use, therefore, our gifts, our opportunities to serve and love him and others with the right motives. In fact, at the bema, he's not only going to evaluate what we did for his glory, but why we did it. Boy now that puts a whole different light on it, does it not? Matters that I can't even discern for myself. Sometimes I think my motives are pure, but how do I know in my, in my flesh, right? In fact, Paul said this in First Corinthians four beginning of verse four, "For I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted, for the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore, do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will bring both to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men's hearts; and then each man's praise will come to him from God."

So my friends, to be sure anything that we do, that is motivated by self-promotion, by self-interest, by self-gain, seeking applause, lacking in love, is wood, hay and stubble. And Paul goes on in First Corinthians three to describe Christ granting the rewards verse 14, "If any man's work which is built on it remains, he will receive a reward," verse 15, "If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." And here, Paul describes two kinds of workers in the church, those who build with quality materials and those who build with inferior materials. Those who build includes every believer, they're going to be rewarded for what they did and why they did it. And they will receive a reward. We don't know what all those rewards will be, but they will be magnificent beyond words. And perhaps it's a reference to those who came to Christ as a result of our service in the church. And by the way, that's not just speaking of somebody who's like the pastor preaching the gospel. It includes the nursery workers, it includes the people that clean the church. It includes everybody that's a part of the church, because this is a body, we need each other. We cannot function apart from each other. And perhaps those that come to faith in Christ because of what we did for his glory, will be what Second Corinthians 1:14 is called "the crown of exaltation." In fact, Paul said in First Thessalonians, two beginning of verse 19, "For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy." Won't it be something, someday, when we come into the Lord's presence, when we enter into glory, and we meet people that came to faith in Christ through something that we together have done as a body. So again, we can't be sure what all these rewards are, but we know that they will be magnificent blessings that will all redound to His glory. Our works done in the flesh, works done based upon errant doctrine will not survive. "He will suffer loss but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire." In other words, he will escape the fire of judgment like someone who is pulled out of the fire. The phrase "so through fire" was probably a metaphor like a "Brand plucked from the burning," as we read in Amos 4:11. Comparable to what we might say, "saved by the skin of your teeth," type of thing. And since we all stand in the presence of his glory blameless with great joy, evidently we'll not experience any remorse over our loss of reward. Nevertheless, we should all do all we can to use the very best materials, because again, the nobleman has given to us resources so that we can be productive, and to be fruitful until he returns. First John two 28, "Now little children abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence," I love that. So we "may have confidence and not shrink away from him, in shame at His coming." Second John, verse eight, "Watch yourselves that you do not lose what we have accomplished, that you may receive a full reward."

Now back to Jesus parable. The reward for faithful stewardship of those gifts, and opportunities, and resources given, we know will primarily centered around the authority to reign in his millennial kingdom. And then beyond that, we're not sure. But he even speaks here of specific regions called cities. And we know from Scripture like in Revelation 3:21, that believers are going to be granted the right to rule in Jesus Davidic kingdom to rule the nations with him, Revelation 2:26 and seven. And so we can see from this parable and other passages, that faithfulness, and so serving Christ and edifying the body and bringing glory to Christ, that faithful service in this age, affects our position in the coming kingdom with Jesus. It's an amazing thought. And again, that's what we see here in the parable in Luke 19.

You will recall in that dark eve of Christ's crucifixion, Jesus reaffirmed the certainty of the kingdom and the regal role that his disciples would play in that kingdom. Because they're confused, they're thinking the kingdom is coming, he's talking about dying, they don't understand what's going on. And so he says to them in Luke 22, beginning in verse 28, "'You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father has granted me a kingdom, I grant that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and you will sit on thrones, judging the 12 tribes of Israel.'" An amazing promise. First Corinthians six verse two, Paul says, "Do you not know that the saints will judge the world?" Indeed, according to Romans 8:17, we are joint "heirs with Christ," we are destined to reign with him. Second Timothy two and verse 12, says that "If we endure, we will also reign with Him." Revelation two verse 26, as I mentioned earlier, he overcomes, referring to Christians, "He who overcomes and he who keeps My deeds until the end, to him, I will give authority over the nations and he shall rule them with a rod of iron as the vessels of the potter are broken to pieces, as I also have received authority from My Father." And the promise concerning the way saints will rule in the millennial kingdom is taken from Psalm two, beginning in verse seven, There we read, "I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: he said to Me, 'You are My Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of Me and I will surely give you the nations as Your inheritance and the very ends of the earth as Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall shatter them, like earthenware.'"

Oh, dear friends, what a magnificent promise. Think about this. All we have to do is turn on the news and we see these pompous dictators, corrupt politicians. We see oligarchy and Ayatollah is terrorizing, terrorizing and terrorizing the nations. And we see in our country these leftist woke tards, you know, trying to cram their stuff down all of our throats. All of these people doing these wicked things. And you must understand that a day is coming when God is going to judge all of that, when the King returns. In fact in Psalm two beginning in verse one. We read, "Why are the nations in an uproar and the people devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and it gets to his anointed, saying, 'Let us tear their fetters apart, and cast away their cords from us!' And my, don't we see that today? Let's do everything we can to utterly eviscerate the gospel of Jesus Christ from the public square. Let's get rid of Christians so that we can do our thing. "Let us tear their fetters apart and cast away their cords from us." And then we read, "He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury, saying, 'But as for Me, I have installed My King upon Zion, My holy mountain.'" And to think that all who truly love Christ will rule with Him.

Revelation five and verse 10, "You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." And then in verse 17, He will say to them, well done back to the parable, "'Well done, good slave, because you have been faithful, in a very little thing, you are to be an authority over 10 cities.'" And this, of course, speaks of that day when the Lord returns and he renovates the earth. He returns it to Edenic splendor, in his millennial reign. And he will finally transform everything in this planet, into conformity with the perfect will of God and the universal kingdom. And that will be an intermediate kingdom between his Second Coming and the final consummation of all things in the eternal state. And in that transition, the kingdom of the Father will be given to the Son and it says in First Corinthians 15:28. This is when, "the Son himself also will be subjected to the One who subjected all things to Him, so that God may be all in all." Beloved in the final mediatorial kingdom, when Christ reigns upon the earth, also known as the millennial reign of Christ or the messianic kingdom, that will be the consummating bridge between human history and the eternal state. And we will be reigning with Him in that day. As Michael Block asserts, "The Bible story line demands a future earthly reign of the last Adam and Messiah Jesus upon the earth. Jesus and those who belong to Him must successfully reign from, and over the realm, Earth, were the first Adam was tasked to rule but failed. This kingdom of the Messiah must occur before the eternal state begins; when Jesus hands his successful mediatorial kingdom reign to God the Father." And we read this in First Corinthians 15, for example. And of course, all of this is consistent with God's covenantal promises that we read in the Old Testament. His covenantal promises to Noah, to Abraham, to David to the New Covenant.

Well, finally, in closing, we see him addressing the disloyal subjects. Verse 20, "Another came saying, 'Master, here's your mina, which I kept put away and a handkerchief." Now, this is very interesting, the original language, you can't see it in English, but the term "another" is not the typical, or one term that can be used, I should say in Greek, which is "allos," which means another of the same kind. But instead, he uses "heteros," which is another of a different kind. So another of a different kind came saying, "Master, here's your mina which, I put away in a handkerchief." This is what the Lord is saying is, this guy didn't do anything with what I gave him. He didn't invest it. He didn't even care for it properly. No safekeeping. We know that the Talmud required that you bury your treasures, that you hide them in a safe place, you would never put them in a handkerchief. So this is a guy that has no desire to honor the king. This is a guy that just lives for himself. A guy that is indifferent, wastes his opportunity and then shifts the blame onto the Lord. Verse 21, "For I was afraid of you because you're an exacting man; and you take up what you did not lay down and reap what you did not sow." We believe this is a proverbial expression for gaining profit through the efforts of other people that was used back in that day. And then to cover his selfishness, he actually attacks the character of the king. There's the blasphemy of it all. Describing him as a man who is taking advantage of other people, and taking an unfair portion of what others have produced, and making profit from what others have done, essentially calling him a thief. Verse 22, he says to him, "'By your own words, I will judge you, you worthless slave. Did you know that I am an exacting man taking up what I did not lay down and reaping what I did not sow? Then why did you not put my money in the bank? And having come, I would have collected it with interest?'" And of course, the answer is, he had absolutely no care or love for the king. And again, dear friends, and I say this to you solemnly, because this is always a burden of my heart. This represents unbelievers who have attached themselves to the church, who have professed Christ, but they just live for themselves. They have no desire to honor him. They're just superficial Christians in name only. They keep the treasure that God has given them in a handkerchief, so to speak. Jesus calls them the tears amongst the wheat. They are the goats with the sheep. Matthew 7:21, Jesus said, "'Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord' will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my Father, who is in heaven will enter,'" verse 23, "'who says, and then I will declare to them, I never knew you, depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.'"

And finally, Jesus says to the bystanders, in verse 24, "'Take the mina away from him, give it to the one who has 10 minas.' And they said to him, 'Master, he has 10 minutes already.'" He says, "'I tell you to everyone who has more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have, shall be taken away.'" Again, another proverbial expression, we see it used in Luke eight and verse 18. So the point here is real simple-- faithful believers are going to bear more and more fruit over the course of their life. Beloved, please hear this, no matter how small the gift, no matter how insignificant you think you might be in the body of Christ, if you use what God has given you faithfully to the praise of his glory, God will multiply your effectiveness and he will honor you. As stewards we are to be found successful, right? No, we are to be found faithful, right? Didn't mean to trick you. But I want you to remember that. You know, physically, there's an old saying, use it or same thing spiritually. Use it or lose it. And how sad to witness spiritual couch potatoes. People that just live for themselves and call themselves Christians; phony believers, like the wicked slave, lazy slave, the unfaithful slave in Matthew 25. Jesus says "they will be cast into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

I close with a quote from John MacArthur. He said, "The lesson of the story is very clear. There will be rewards for Christ's faithful followers. Rejection for the false followers and retribution for his foes. Every person falls into one of these three categories. The faithful followers are rewarded and lavished with spiritual graces privileges forever. The day will come when the false followers will be unmasked, and all their flimsy pretenses will be unveiled and discounted. The Lord will reject them and sentence them to perish eternally with his enemies."

Dear friends, please examine your heart. Do not allow your pride to deceive you. Do not allow the ways of the world to shape you into its image because the king is coming and we will all stand before Him. And let's do so blameless with great joy all because of his grace. Amen. Let's pray together. Father, we are so thankful for your word. It speaks so directly to us. And as our Lord said at the end of Revelation, "Behold, I'm coming quickly. And my reward is with me to render to every man according to what he has done." O, may the truths of these words motivate us to live to the praise of your glory. And for those who may not know you, those who have never truly come to you and saving faith crying out for undeserved mercy, those who have never truly been born again, Lord, I pray that you will speak to their hearts and that today will be the day that they repent and trust in the only hope of their salvation. Our Savior, our Lord are coming King, for it's in his name that I pray. Amen.