Until He Comes

Verse number 11, where the Bible says this, And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable,! Because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought the kingdom of God should immediately appear.

He said, Therefore, a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

But his citizens hated him. And he sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded the servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man hath gained by trading.

Then came the first, in verse 16, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.

And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And he came, saying, And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin.

For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man, and thou takest up that thou layest not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant.

Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up what I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore, then gavest thou not my money into the bank, that it might at my coming have acquired, I have required mine own with usury.

And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. Verse 25, And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.

For I say unto you, Jesus said, that unto everyone which hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me.

So Jesus is going to give us this very kind of intense parable. And we're going to see exactly what he's talking about. But he really wants to remind us, there's a job to do until he comes. The call of the Christian life is not, hang on until Jesus shows up.

Here's what it is. Occupy till I come. There's a job to do, and there's a calling that we must all follow. And that's what we're going to see here this morning. Let's ask him to bless our reading. Father, thank you for the word of God.

Thankful that we have a copy. We can hold it in our own hands. We can even carry it in our pocket on our phones. It's so accessible to us. But Lord, I pray that our familiarity with the word of God would not hinder it from getting into our heart, into our lives.

And I pray that you would do that this morning. That you would help us to see the truth and the reminder that you have called us all to be in your service. We are to occupy until you come. But I pray that there is someone here that doesn't know you, that today would be that day.

And we ask this in your son's precious name. Amen. Thank you so much for standing. You may be seated. I try not to think back to my days in school very often because that means I have to go back to school in my mind.

And I don't want to be there. You know, because it was one of those things. But I remember, like you did, the teacher would say this, and this was very dangerous. I need to step out of the class for just a few minutes and I'll be right back.

Nobody get out of your seat. Nobody talk. Anybody remember that? But in every class you ever went, everybody just stayed quiet and stayed still and did absolutely what they were told. No.

I mean, as soon as the door closed, I mean, you're like watching her walk to the door and you're like waiting for the door to close and you kind of hear her feet maybe walking down the hallway and as soon as that happens, somebody starts talking, somebody's turning around.

I mean, it's an all-out spitwad fight or whatever it may be and somebody's walking across the classroom. I cannot confirm or deny, I juggled scissors. I just learned to juggle.

And I thought, this is a great opportunity to show my classmates this unique skill. But just like in all the situations you experienced, as soon as I was juggling them, the door opened. And here comes the teacher and just like she promised, she would come back and what everybody was doing up to that point suddenly mattered.

Why? Because the authority's back in the classroom now. The teacher's there as she's promised and we're reminded of that little illustration that just because the teacher left, it doesn't mean that the assignment disappeared.

It doesn't mean that her instruction disappeared and it certainly didn't mean that she wasn't coming back. And as we come to Luke chapter 19 in this lengthy passage of scripture that we read just a moment ago, Jesus is dealing with something far more serious than a teacher leaving a classroom.

Really what he's reminding them is he knows things they don't know. And now he's tried to explain it a couple of times, but they didn't want to hear it and they were missing it that Jesus was coming not to set up a kingdom, but he was coming and he was marching towards a cross.

And by the time we're here in Luke chapter 19, we're about a week or so away from the arrest and the betrayal and the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. And see, he knows that he's about to leave them for a time.

It'd be in this time frame coming up very closely in John's gospel where he goes to the upper room and they're gonna celebrate Passover. We're gonna see that here in a moment, but he tells them, hey, I'm going away. And they're troubled by that.

And that's where he gave them that famous verse in John 14, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. If I go away, I'm gonna come again. That's what he reminds them here. But before he goes, he's reminding his disciples and in turn reminding us that you're not just to hide up and hole up and hang out until I come.

No, there's a job to be done. That God wants us to be involved in the work and he gives them something to do and he says, here's what I want you to do and I want to remind you, I am coming back.

I love that it is well. The third verse is probably my favorite, but the fourth is right up with it. And we're reminded of that great truth that Jesus Christ is coming back. We look at our world and we think he's forgot about us.

No, he has not. You think, well, why hasn't he come back? Why is he tearing his coming? Here's why. Because God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son. And he's there.

We are here to share the gospel and he's saying, this is what I want you to do. Occupy, get to work, do what I've called you to do. And I love hearing the gospel of Luke.

He's done it a couple of times and it makes somewhat my job a little easier as I study the passage. Verse number 11, Jesus tells us exactly why he's telling this parable. Like, why did Jesus tell this story?

Did it just come to the top of his head? No, he tells us that they're getting close to Jerusalem. They've been working their way there, but Jericho's very close. About 17 miles, you know, just a good 17 mile hike up the road to Jerusalem.

But in those days, that's pretty close. And he's moving his way towards there and the excitement is building at the end of chapter number 18. There on the way to Jericho, he saw a blind man on the side of the road and his name was Bartimaeus.

And he cried out and said, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus healed the blind man. Of course, the frenzy begins to build. He gets into the town and he sees a chief publican, a very rich man, a notorious sinner, the kingpin of Jericho named Zacchaeus, who's been extorting his own people.

And he's up in a sycamore tree and Jesus comes to him and says, hey, I'm going to go to your house today. And Jesus completely changed Zacchaeus' life. And really the idea is there's just this buzz going around.

Hey, did you hear that Bartimaeus can see? Did you hear that Zacchaeus got saved? I mean, what is going on here? And really they believe and they're beginning to see kind of from a skewed view that Jesus is the Messiah.

And he is the Messiah. But they're thinking he's a political savior. And really the thought is they're kind of conversing amongst themselves. And you read the other gospel accounts, the disciples begin to argue who's the greatest and who's actually going to sit next to him when he sets his throne up in Jerusalem.

And that's what they're talking about. And so the idea is they're just thinking, man, this is it. I mean, this is what we signed up for. Hey, this is why we left our boats. This is why I left my tax booth, Matthew may have thought.

This is why we're following this man. Rome is going down. Jerusalem, Israel is going to be in its rightful place. And everything we thought was going to happen, it's here. But verse 11 says, Jesus said, I think you got your times wrong.

Your calendar, your dates are off. Because what they did not understand that he was going away. And really from Luke 17, even to this spot, he's showing us this tension that we live in.

The already, but the not yet. That the king had come. And Jesus Christ was the king. He already was. Don't misunderstand that. But he's coming again. So the question and the opportunity Jesus wants you to see is what are we going to do in that in between?

How are we going to live for him while he's gone? Because while he's gone, we see here in this parable that he entrusts his servants with great responsibility. That he expects them to do something.

See, they were so fixated on when the kingdom will come. And really, we're kind of the same way. We get so focused on that today that we forget that the actual real thought of the text is how do we live until he comes again?

That's what he wants us to see. That's where he wants us to understand. And so here's the big idea I want us to kind of get a hold of in this passage is that the king will return. He is coming back and so we must faithfully use what he has entrusted to us until he comes.

That is the main thought of this passage that we see. So here's the question I want us to answer as we walk through it. How should we live until the king returns? The first thing we see is this, number one, that we should live under the king's authority.

We should live under the king's authority. Verse number 12 in our text this morning, he said, therefore, a certain nobleman went to a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return.

Now to us, it just seems like the start of a story. But really, to the original audience and to those hearers right there in Jericho, I mean, their mind would have immediately understood what he was talking about.

Because really what Jesus is doing here is he's kind of taking a front page news article and applying it to their life. Because I don't want to bore you with history, but just to give an idea of what's going on here, about 30 years prior to this account, there was a man named Herod the Great.

And he was not great. He was a horrible guy. You probably know him from the Christmas story. This would have been the Herod that would have ordered all of the babies two years and younger to be murdered.

So he was the ruler of Judea at that time. And he was trying to stamp out Jesus Christ as a young child. Well, one of his sons, Archiralius, is now, became the ruler after Herod the Great died.

You see that in Matthew chapter 2 when they come back, when Joseph and Mary and Jesus come back from Egypt, they hear that Herod's son's ruling so they go to Nazareth. So really, this man, what he did is when a ruler would take over a new area in this situation, they would have to go to Rome and they would have to be kind of confirmed by Caesar to make sure they would be in control.

And while he was going, obviously the people didn't care for him. They didn't like his dad. His dad was a murderer. He used the Jews. This man, when he kind of got control, he kind of killed about 2,000 or 3,000 Jews according to the historians just to kind of let them know, hey, I'm in charge.

So obviously, they weren't real keen on this man ruling. So as he made his way to Rome, the people here in Judea sent a delegation and said, hey, we don't want this guy ruling over us.

And we can see this throughout history. But what Jesus is doing is he's using this political situation that would have piqued their interest because Archiraglius would have ruled right in the area of Jericho.

So this wasn't some long-distance story. Many of these people would have been alive that heard this story. And they would have recognized it, but he's teaching them a much bigger truth that he's not liking himself to this wicked ruler, but he's reminding, hey, the king is going to go away.

And he's going to return and he is going to rule and what are we going to do there in the meantime? But we see in verse number 14 that the citizens of this parable wanted nothing to do with the king.

They simply don't just dislike certain things he does. They reject his authority altogether. Notice what they say in verse number 14. We will not have this man to reign over us.

And I would submit to you that that's still the attitude of the world in general towards Jesus Christ. There's a lot of people that will agree with you that Jesus Christ was a great teacher.

He was a good moral teacher. I mean, you look at the Beatitudes and you look at the Sermon on the Mount and you look at certain things that Jesus taught. I mean, they will agree with that and say, man, these are really good ways to live by. I mean, we should really employ the golden rule in our life.

They may appreciate his compassion and his care for the poor and those in need. And they may even quote some of his words. But the reality is when it comes to the authority of Jesus Christ, when it comes to his right to rule, when it comes to his right to tell us and to command us how to live, the majority still cries today, we will not have this man rule on our lives.

And really, he's making this point and he's showing them this truth that he's even experiencing to this point and is continuing until today. That rejecting the king, it does not remove the king.

They would have understood this. They would have been living under the rule of Herod and Archalias and they would have understood these difficult things and just because they didn't like him doesn't mean that he wasn't the king.

And Jesus is making a much deeper spiritual application that people may refuse his authority and they still do today. But let me just remind you, refusing his authority does not cancel his authority.

That he is still in control and his physical presence, his physical absence, I should say, does not cancel it either. Yes, we don't see Jesus physically on this earth anymore, but we will one day.

He is going to come back, he's going to set foot on the Mount of Olives and he is going to set up a kingdom on this earth. But I just want to remind you that he's still in control, that he still is the king and he still calls us to live under his authority.

You say, well, what's his authority? It's right here. It's his word. It's what he's called us to live by. And let me just remind you, when he comes, Revelation chapter 19, verse 16 reminds us, he's coming with this name, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

When he was crucified and buried and he rose again, he didn't lose that title. He always was, he always is, and he always will be. And we must live under that authority.

But that creates a question. If he is going away and they're dealing with, this is the disciples who are thinking, this is not how I thought it was going to go, but if he is going away, what are we supposed to do?

I think the question still applies to us today. Since Jesus isn't here, we know he's coming again. Scripture makes that plain throughout the New Testament. What are we to do while he's gone?

I think we see this. Number two, we are to invest what the king has entrusted to us. We're to invest what he has entrusted to us.

I mean, verse number 13 is a very simple command. Jesus calls his servants, and really, I mean, this man calls his servants, this noble man, and delivered unto them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

Now, we may hear the word occupy, and we may think, well, that means just to sit there. You are occupying your chair. I mean, some of you, you even occupy it when you're not here. You leave a blanket, and you leave your Bible.

You're like, I'm coming back tonight, and this is my seat. I'm occupying this seat. You know, like nobody touches my stuff. You occupy is hold your place. You ever been in a parking lot, and you're trying to find a really good parking spot, and one opens up, somebody jumps out of the car, and they go and stand in that parking spot for that other person?

That's wrong. They're occupying that spot. We might think of it as waiting, but that's not what Jesus means here. The idea here to occupy till I come has this thought.

Do business. Get to work. Use what I have entrusted to you. Do the work of the Lord, and as believers, I mentioned already, we're not called just to hold on until Jesus comes.

No, it's pretty simple. We are to occupy till He comes. We are to get to work until He comes, and we see here in verse 13 that each of these servants receives 10 pounds or a mina.

Maybe your Bible says the parable of the 10 minas, and really what it is, is it's a significant amount of money. Three months wages. I think we'd all sign up and say, hey, if you're going to give me three months wages, go ahead and do that.

I'm for that. I want us to understand, it's not like He said, I'll be back tomorrow. No, it's a very significant amount of money that He entrusted with them, and He entrusted all of them with the same amount, by the way.

This is not the parable of the talents. This is different than that. Now, some of us have different talents and different things and we use them for the Lord, but this particular thing that Jesus is showing us is we all have the same amount and what are we going to do with it?

And the emphasis is very clear in verse number 13 that He entrusted them to do something with what He gave them. They had a job to do. And I want to just remind us that ultimately, everything that you have in your life, everything that I have in my life, has been entrusted to me by God.

Everything. Your time. I know in Brother Caleb's Sunday school class, they're going through stewarding your life and it's just a reminder that we aren't just to steward our finances. We think of that just as money and this parable has to deal with money.

No, but we are called to steward our time, our resources, our opportunities to share the gospel at school and at work or wherever God may allow us to do so.

We are to steward the influence that He's given us. We may have relationships that we can speak into. I have opportunities to share. We have relationships that we are to steward or our spouses and our children and our coworkers and our friends and here's what we are to do.

We are to use everything God has given for Him and not for us. Because here's what we're prone to do. Here's what I'm prone to do. Hey, this is my stuff and I'm going to do what I want to do with it.

Okay, I'm making sure I'm not the only one. You know, I worked hard for this. Hey, I deserve this. And listen, isn't that a different mess for a different night? God's not against you doing things and having nice stuff. But He wants us to understand that everything we have, every good gift and every perfect gift is from above.

And it comes down from the Father of lights and He gives us this opportunity. But most importantly what He gives us is the gospel itself. I mean, what a joy.

I mean, I keep going back to it because it just makes my heart want to burst. But singing it as well, the fact I can sing that song and know it's true in my life is an amazing thing.

What a joy to know who Jesus is and what He's done. What a joy it is to experience His love and His mercy every single day.

You don't have to come to church and just feel the mercy of God. No, I love what the psalmist says, daily He loadeth me down with benefits. I mean, we're so blessed we don't even realize how blessed we are. And the fact that we know that and the fact that we experience that and we know that message changed our life from darkness to light.

We were on a road and we had no hope and life was falling apart but somehow, in some way, somebody invited you to church, somebody shared the gospel and it changed everything. The fact you know that is a wonderful thing.

But here's the question. What are you doing with it? It is the most precious thing that you've ever experienced in your life. Jesus says, you better not put it in a napkin. You better not hide it.

No, you better, you better, sorry that bothered me right there. You better, you better do something with it. See, Jesus didn't say, preserve until I come.

Sometimes I think our church has become like a little history museum. Look at all the things God used to do. Man, remember when God did this and God did that? Listen, I'm so thankful God's done some great things in Central Baptist Church throughout the years.

But we're not here to be a museum in Cook County. No, no, we're here not to preserve until Jesus comes. We're here to occupy. We're here to put to work what God has given us whether it is resources or it is time or it is prayer or it is the gospel in every situation.

Simply put, here's what he's saying in verse 13. Use what the king has placed in your hand for the interest of the king. Not for your self-interest. Not for your own gain.

Not for those things. And that's the difference between ownership and stewardship. I mean, an owner says, hey, this is mine. What do I want to do with it? But a steward says this, hey, this belongs to him.

What does he want me to do with it? How does he want me to use it? Where does he want me to invest it? And that's why the wording is so important in verse number 16. Notice what the first servant says.

Then came the first saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained 10 pounds. You know what we see here? The servant was in possession. The master gave it to him before he left.

He said, here, I'm giving you these 10 pounds. I'm giving you this money. I want you to use it. I want you to occupy. And when he comes back, he didn't say, hey, Lord, look what I did with all my money. He said, thy pound, thy money, what you entrusted to me, I have used it for you.

It was always the master's. It was never his. It never belonged to him. And that changes the way we look at a lot of things in our life.

That's not your paycheck. That's not your children. I know that's tough for us to hear. No, they're just gifts from God that he has entrusted us to use them for the furtherance of his kingdom.

And what we notice in verse number 16 is this servant had simply just been faithful with what he'd been given. And one day, he's going to ask us what he did with it, what we did with it.

How we used it for his glory. We see in verse number 18, the second comes. And he said, likewise unto him. He said, be thou over five cities. He invested what God had given him.

And here's the point of these first two servants. That faithfulness matters. It really does. I mean, think about people God has used in your life.

They're probably going to have this characteristic. They were just faithful to God. Wasn't some flash in the pan thing. No, they were there every time you went to Sunday school. They were there teaching that class. They were there in children's church.

Your parents were there and you had that opportunity. Maybe the bus came and picked you up. It was just people that God placed in your life and they weren't flashy and they weren't about themselves. They were just faithful. They couldn't do a whole lot but they just did what God wanted them to do.

And that's all he requires. And what we see is not only does faithfulness matter but it's rewarded. In both of these situations the nobleman says, hey, because you're faithful I'm going to put you in charge of ten cities.

That's a pretty good return on investment. Ten pounds, three months wages. Now you're in control of all these cities. The idea is this. Sometimes we think faithfulness only counts if it looks impressive.

Faithfulness doesn't, a large ministry doesn't mean faithfulness. Great influence, a lot of followers, got all these followers on TikTok and Instagram, that doesn't mean you're faithful.

Faithfulness is not something that everybody notices. Faithfulness is what God notices. Faithfulness is doing what God has called you to do. Where he has placed you to serve.

Notice what Jesus says in verse 17. Look at this little phrase. Because thou hast been faithful in very little. I love that.

Don't despise the little things that God has put in your hands. You know, I think sometimes we can get so frustrated. Well, God, if you just give me more I'd be faithful.

Lord, I mean, I can't do much with this. No, here's what you can do. You can be faithful. That's what he's called you to do. Maybe you don't have the opportunity to do certain things, but maybe it's just that conversation with somebody who's seeking Jesus.

It can be had over lunch at work just multiple weeks. Somebody asking for the truth. Maybe it's that child you're raising. Listen, that's kingdom work. You are called to instill the truth of the word of God into their life.

Listen, not everybody gets to see it, but the Lord knows. The Lord's watching. We have some teachers in here, whether you're a Sunday school teacher or a school teacher, having the opportunity to speak truth into people's lives.

Listen, God sees that. Maybe God's giving you an opportunity to disciple somebody. Maybe he's giving you some resources that you quietly use for the kingdom of God. And God sees just those ordinary days that you live faithfully to him.

And you think, is any of this making a difference? Let me remind you, he sees it. And he's going to tell us one day we've been faithful. You've been faithful with very little. Look what you have. Welcome.

Well done, thou good and faithful servant. I'm so thankful that the king sees faithfulness. That's what he calls us to do. And that's important as we await the return of Christ because we don't have to, we shouldn't have to dread it.

We shouldn't dread that the king is coming back. I know some people start looking at the book of Revelation and they get scared. They think, I don't want to be, I don't want to see. No, I want to be here when Jesus comes back.

I want to be like, I want to be like the apostle Paul. He thought he was going to be alive when Jesus came back. I hope when the Lord takes us up to be in the air, I'm no longer afraid of heights. That's got to go away, right?

I mean, I can't find anybody like, Lord, please. I mean, I've prayed that once or twice. I'm like, I hope I'm not afraid of heights. I'll just pass out on the way up and miss everything. That would be awful. Listen, don't dread the return of the king.

But you know why you can dread it sometimes even as Christians? Because you know you're not investing what he's invested in you. There was times growing up, I wasn't super keen on my parents coming back because I didn't do anything they asked me to do while they were gone.

Because they'll say, hey, when I come back I want your room picked up and I want the kitchen cleaned up. I'm like, alright. And then I hear the garage, I'm like, uh-oh. You know why I dreaded it? Because I wasn't doing what they had asked me to do.

But when we are doing what God has asked us to do, when we're faithful in the little things, we can look forward to his return. Listen, faithfulness gives us a reason to anticipate the king, not fear him. So here's a question for you.

Are you using what Christ has entrusted to you? Are you just trying to preserve it? Are you investing what he's invested in you? Are you using your life for his interest?

For his kingdom? For his cause? See, we see the first two servants, they were very active. They took what the master gave them and they put it to work.

But here in these closing verses, in verses 20 through 27, we see another servant that wasn't as proactive. And it brings us to this final reminder in these verses.

Number three is this. is that we should expect to give an account. We should expect to give an account. Look at verse number 20. And another came saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound which I have kept laid up in a napkin.

I think he was very enthusiastic, at least in the way he said it. He was trying to kind of, you know, put lipstick on a pig, so to speak. Lord, look what I did. I kept it all pretty and shiny.

Nobody even knew it was here. I mean, at first glance, it doesn't sound terrible. He still has it. He didn't spend it. He didn't lose it. But when we keep reading here and we notice that the master, the nobleman, was not pleased at all.

Why? Because this truth that's running through this text is that preservation is not the same as faithfulness. The master did not give this man money to keep it safe. He gave him money to use it, to invest it, to move the business along further.

In verse number 21, the servant explains why he did this. He said, For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man. We don't use that word a lot, but it carries this idea of stern and exacting and harsh.

Really what we see here is this man's inactivity. It really reveals his view of the master. That he sees his nobleman, he sees this king through fear and suspicion.

He's essentially saying this, Well, I didn't really trust you. I feel like I'm better with my things than you are. Ever thought that with the Lord?

Lord, I know how to invest this money. I watched a YouTube video. I mean, sometimes that's how we think in our life. I didn't really trust you. He's thinking, Well, I thought you were harsh and I was afraid what might happen so I did nothing.

But nothing in this parable suggests that the master actually deserves this description. In fact, we just saw the generosity of this master. He gave 10 pounds and they did what they were supposed to.

He gave him 10 cities. He gave him 5 cities. That's the type of master we serve. One that is loving and kind and rewards far beyond what any of us deserve. So the servant's view here is not based in reality.

And let me just remind you, a wrong view of the king, it produces an unfaithful life. A.W. Tozer said it like this, Nothing twists and deforms the soul more than a low or unworthy conception of God.

God doesn't respond and act and treat us and do business like somebody we know. No, he's perfect and holy and just and he knows what he's doing and he's given us the opportunity and that's exactly what we see here is this servant's view of the master affected how he lived while the master was away.

And we have to be careful not to fall in that trap. That we know who God is. The Bible makes it very clear that he is high and he's holy and he's all these things and before we rush to judgment, we must make sure that the same does not happen to us.

If you see God as only harsh and distant and impossible to please, you're probably going to spend your life hiding instead of actually serving. And if we forget his goodness and we forget his grace and generosity and his faithfulness, we can begin treating obedience like a burden instead of a privilege.

Listen, it's a privilege to obey God. It is a privilege to serve. It is a privilege to do the work that the Lord has called us to do. And in verse 22 and verse 23, we notice the master's response.

And he said unto him, Out of thy own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Really what he's saying in these verses, we won't take time to read them for the sake of time, but what the king is saying here is if you really believe what you just said, why didn't you just at least put it in the bank?

I could have at least got some interest when I showed back up. Really what he's saying is your own words are exposing how you're living. They don't even hold up. It's a terrible excuse.

And in verse 24 and verse 25, the king takes his money, the one pound that he had, the one mina that he had, and gives it to the servant that had ten. And you hear the gasp in the crowd say, you can't do that.

He can do anything he wants. He's the king. But we've seen throughout this that he's not there just to keep his thumb on us. No, he's a loving king.

He cares. He wants us to be involved. He's given us an opportunity to be involved in the work. And then he gives us this great principle in verse 26, for I say unto you that unto everyone which hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.

Here's what Jesus is saying as he closes out this parable. is that when we're faithful it leads to greater stewardship. The more that we're faithful with the things that God gives us, he's going to give us more opportunities.

This is not some wealth, health, and prosperity gospel. That's not what Jesus is saying. But he is saying if you're faithful with things, God's going to give faithful people opportunities to serve. But when we're faithless, when we're fruitless, here's what it does, it leads to loss.

God's not going to keep giving us things if we're not using it. He didn't give you all those gifts we talked about earlier for you to hoard them, to save them, to store them. He gave them to you to use them.

You know, I see people that buy all these shoes and some of you may be sneakerheads. They buy all these awesome shoes and they put them in boxes with lights and they put them in their closet. I was like, that's cool, but I thought you were supposed to wear shoes.

We can't wear these shoes because they're super cool and they're super expensive. What's the point of a shoe then? Set in a box? Listen, I don't know how Christians live their life. They got the coolest thing in the world but they're just going to sit in a box in their closet and they're going to put it under their arm when they come to church on Sunday.

It's the only time they ever use it. They only wear shoes on special occasions. We can only use this on special occasions. No, we need to live it every single day of our life. See, I want to remind us this is not just a fictional story.

It keeps coming up over and over again and Jesus reminds us that one day the king's going to ask us what we did with it. He asked all of his servants, what'd you do? He's not going to ask you what does somebody else do?

Sometimes we get kind of cornered and we say, well, they didn't do it. You're not going to give an account for them. You're going to give an account for your life and what you've done with what God has given you. I mean, is there anything in your life that you're leaving unused for him?

A relationship, an opportunity, some time, the gospel? But the parable doesn't just end with the servants. Look at verse number 27. This is a tough verse to read. But those mine enemies which would not that I should reign over them bring hither and slay them before me.

That sounds really severe and Jesus intends for it to sound severe. Because the return of the king, when Jesus comes again, he's not just coming to bring a reward, it will also bring judgment.

What kind of God would do that? The same kind of God that would send his only son the first time and to die on the cross for my sin and for your sin. Because the Bible is clear that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

See, the first time we already saw in Luke chapter 19, verse 10, here's why he came, to seek and to save that which was lost. So there will be no excuse. He has made a way. He has paid the debt.

All of the things have been taken care of. That's the king that we serve. But some are going to outright reject that king. But it does not change the truth that he is the king. And because he is just, he will have to punish sin even though he took the debt on his own body in that tree as the apostle Paul reminds us, that there is going to be severe judgment.

And those that reject his rule will answer to him. So this parable is not just, well, we need to use our talents better. I think the thrust of this entire parable is this, what are you doing with the king?

Some reject him altogether. Some claim to serve him but really waste what he's entrusted to them. And others faithfully serve him looking forward to his return.

So as we close this morning, I just want to ask you this, what attitude characterizes your life? The king is coming. He will come again. You don't have to dread it.

You can look forward to it. In fact, you should. I love what John says at the end of Revelation. Even so, come quickly. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. See, we started there in verse number 11.

And the people thought the question was when is the kingdom going to appear? But what Jesus does in this text is he redirects their attention. And it should be the same for us.

Yes, the king has gone away. He's been away for a while now and the world mocks and he's been gone 2,000 years. But he's given us a great responsibility. Go ye therefore into all the world and preach the gospel.

That's why we're having a missions month. That's why we brought missionaries in. That's why we want to take the gospel to Hong Kong and check via. That's why Brother Zach and Miss Cherish are taking the gospel to Nakona and to see opportunities there for people to know the Lord.

And so the big question I want you to answer this morning that we must answer in our heart, what am I doing until he comes again? That's really where he's pulling us to. But because until he comes there is work to do.

There are people that need the gospel. There are opportunities that he is placing in front of your life right now. You have some at school tomorrow. You have some at the lunch table at work. Hey, around the water cooler tomorrow.

There are resources God has called you to steward. And he invites you. There's cards in your chair back in front of me. We'll talk about it next week a little more. But faith promise. Just get involved in getting the gospel across the world.

There are people to love. There's a church to serve. There's a king to obey. And he just reminds us over and over. And I'll leave you with this thought. Until he comes be faithful with what he has placed in your hands.

Because he is coming again. And would he find us occupying, serving, doing the work when he comes again. Would you stand with your heads bowed and with your hands?