Luke 19 (Part 2)

Luke chapter 19. We're finishing the chapter, Lord willing, here this morning. I never know exactly how long I'm going to get or how far I'm going to get. Depends on how fast you guys listen. But we're picking it up in verse 11. But we're going to start with prayer, if we could. All right? Heavenly Father, as we pause here before our time in the Word, it is our prayer that You would do a work to awaken our hearts to Your voice, to the meaning of the words, and then the application of the Scripture to our lives. We pray that You would speak to us today and bring wisdom and insight from Your Word. We confess to You, Lord, our dependence on Your Spirit to do that work. We ask it in Jesus name, amen. All right. Verse 11. Look with me in your Bible. It says,

(ESV) And I want to stop you just there for a moment because a couple of quick things. First of all, parables are stories that are meant to give us insight into things related to reality and what the Scripture teaches. But we're going to talk here as we get into this parable a little bit further about some of the dangers that might be associated with parables. Parables are usually very simple stories. And they usually have a very simple meaning. And you'll notice that Luke even tells us why Jesus told this parable. It was a fairly simple thing. It was because he wanted to communicate a correction to the common Jewish thought, that the kingdom of God was going to come suddenly.

And you can imagine, people are walking along, there's a huge crowd following Jesus, as He's making His way to Jerusalem for the last time. And these people are talking, and they're excited, and they're discussing what's probably going to happen. Or what they think is going to happen in Jerusalem when He gets there. Because, you see, many people believe that the Messiah, or at least they had an expectation, that the Messiah was going to usher in the kingdom right away by establishing His throne in Jerusalem. And He was going to rule from there. And in fact, rule the whole world. And they believed that He would do this by defeating their enemies. Which of course was Rome right now. Which had conquered them and was controlling them in every sort of a way. The reason the Jews believed those things is because they're biblical. That's exactly what the Bible said the Messiah would do. But not yet. You see, the things that the Jews believed Jesus would do then, and immediately, are the things that you and I know are connected to His second coming. And what the Jews who were traveling with Jesus, and this crowd that was going along with Him didn't realize, is that God had a plan to establish His kingdom differently than what they supposed. They had received a physical covenant from God. And therefore they expected God to establish a physical kingdom very quickly and very early on. And what God instead determined to do was to establish a spiritual kingdom. And He would do this through the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Messiah. But that wasn't on their radar. They didn't think about it in terms of a spiritual kingdom. They only thought in physical terms. And they knew nothing about the this thing that God was going to usher in called the Church Age. The Jews didn't know anything about that. That was, again, that wasn't on their radar. But which, by the way, we're still in the Church Age today. And at the end of the Church Age, then Jesus, the Bible tells us, is going to come for His Church. He's going to receive His Church in an event that we call the Rapture. And then, I believe, that after the Rapture takes place, this world is going to be plunged into a very horrible time called the Great Tribulation, during which God is going to pour out His wrath upon unbelieving mankind. And after that period of time known as the Great Tribulation, then we're told, that Jesus will physically return to the earth. When he comes for the Church, He doesn't return to the earth. The Rapture is when He comes for the Church. And Paul makes it

--- very clear in Thessalonians chapter, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, that we will meet the Lord in the air. But then, after the Tribulation period, Jesus returns to the earth where He fights for Israel against the amassing nations that come to destroy her. He establishes His throne on Mount Zion. And He rules there for a period of 1,000 years, in a period of time that we refer to as the Millennial Kingdom. And this is all last day's stuff. But you see, the Jews missed a great chunk of that period that is referred to as the Church Age. And here's why the Jews missed it. It's because God didn't reveal it to them. There were things in the Old Testament God didn't reveal to the Jews. In fact, this is an interesting point, but there's nothing in the Old Testament about the Church. The Church doesn't appear in the Old Testament even prophetically. The Gospel appears in the Old Testament prophetically. But not the Church. The Church is a mystery. That's the biblical term that Paul uses for the Church. Because remember the Church is an amalgamation of Jew and Gentile coming together as one. Where the dividing wall of hostility has been completely taken away. And now Jew and Gentile are together as the body of Christ. You say where does Paul talk about this? He talks about it in his letter to the Ephesians. I'll put it up on the screen so we can look at it together. Here's how it goes. Ephesians 3:2-6 (ESV)

...assuming that (he writes) you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you, how (And notice here) the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly. When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was (and here's the description which was) not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. (Look what he says.) This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. This is a fascinating passage. You'll notice that three times in that passage, Paul uses the word mystery. And then he tells you that mystery is something that had not been revealed to previous generations. But was now being revealed through the apostles and prophets. And then he describes that mystery. It's the coming together of Jew and Gentile into one family, one people of God, meaning, the Church. And he's referring to the Church Age, which we are in, as a mystery. And again, mystery, biblically speaking, means something previously withheld, but now disclosed. Alright? Jesus, is going to tell this parable that He's launching into, to help prepare their hearts, meaning the Jews, for what is to come. If you look with me now, beginning in verse 12,

Now I want you to notice these are interesting statements that He makes at the beginning of this parable. He says, there was a nobleman who went into a far country, not a near country. In other words, He's talking about going a long distance. And the point of this is to communicate a period of time. And He says this nobleman goes into this far country and the purpose is to receive a kingdom. All right? And this is the first part of the parable, setting the stage for the Jews to understand, that He, the Messiah, is going to go away. And He's talking about His coming ascension to the right hand of the Father. And the period of time that there's going to be there before He returns as, Lord of all the earth, and Lord of everything. He goes on. Verse 13.

And of course, the word until is a time word. And again, He's preparing them for a sense of understanding that there's a time delay between the going away and the return. And He says, here's a mina. And you are to engage in business. And I think this is a very interesting, insightful, picture that we get in this passage about how you and I are supposed to live our lives in this interim period --- between the comings of the Lord. We have His first advent that we just celebrated in Christmas. And then we have His second advent, which is going to be coming at His second coming. But what are we supposed to do in the meantime, while we're living in this Church Age? Well, He says, and this is the picture: that God has given you things to invest. And this mina is a picture of the gifts that the Lord has given to each of His people. And I believe that God has given a gift to everyone. And Paul talks about this in his letter to the Corinthians. Let me put this on the screen for you, wherein 1 Corinthians he writes, chapter 12:7 and 11.

To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, (look at this) who apportions to each one individually as he wills. God has apportioned to each one... And that means to everyone in the body of Christ, according to the purpose of His will, a gift, if you will, a mina. And by the way, that's not the correct pronunciation of that coin, that mina. It's very different. But I'm an American and we ruin everything. That's just the way we do things. It's like mina (Pastor Paul pronounces mina correctly) is how it's actually pronounced. But we say mina and you know what I mean. The point is, it's a picture. It's a picture of the gift. The gifts that... Or gifts that you have been given. And what does God want you to do with those? I like frankly, how the Old King James says that we are to occupy until He returns. But it actually means here, to do business. To carry on business. In other words, to take what you've been given and to invest it. To use it for God's purposes, for God's kingdom, and so forth. All right? Now it goes on in verse 14, and it says, "But his citizens hated him..." And this is different. This is not the same people as his servants. We're talking about a different group of people now.

It says, "his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, 'We do not want this man to reign over us.'" So, they sent a delegation to whoever was going to crown this man as Lord of this kingdom that he was going to receive. And they went to take this delegation to say, we don't want this man. We reject this man's leadership over us. And I believe that this is a picture of all those who reject Jesus Christ, and His Lordship over their lives. But this is largely a picture of the Jewish people because you'll notice it says these were "his citizens." And in a very literal sense, the Jews were His citizens. And this is a picture of just the rejecting population of the Jews. The vast majority of the people of Israel who rejected their own Messiah. Notice what they say about him, we don't want him to reign over us. And of course, that's not just the Jews. There's a lot of Gentiles who have that same attitude. "We don't want Him to reign over us. You know what we say today in our culture, nobody's going to tell me how to live, or tell me what to do. I don't... No God is going to tell me how to live. Well, it's the same thing that's being said here. We don't want this man to reign over us. We reject his rulership. All right. Now notice what happens in verse 15. "When he returned,.. (Now we've got the coming of the Lord again.) having received the kingdom, he ordered these servants to whom he had given the money to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by doing business." Now notice he doesn't first call the citizens to account. He calls his servants to account first. All right? And he says, I want to know what you've done with what I gave you. I gave you that mina... Which represents the gifts that the Holy Spirit has distributed to everyone in the body of Christ. And he wants to know what has been done with those things. In other words, this is a calling to account. And what are we seeing here? Well, this best reflects what we call the judgment of believers, which is a rewards judgment. It's a judgment to settle accounts with believers. To say, here's what I gave you. What did you do with it? It's what we call the Bema Seat Judgment. And it is not a judgment of sins. I have the toughest time convincing Christians that they're not going to stand before God and be judged for their sin. I really do. I run into so many Christians, or people who call themselves Christians, who want to know about when they're going to be judged for their sin. And I'm like, when are you going to be judged for your sin? Well, the Bible says, that we all have to stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ. Yeah, that's right. You're, but you're going to be judged according to how you invested in the kingdom. You are not going to be judged for your sins. They're like, I'm not? It's like, what did you think Jesus did? Did you think He got up on the cross just for something fun to do? He hung on the cross to die for your sins. He was judged for your sins! Christians. And after He was finished being judged on the cross for your sins, He said, it is finished. It is done. It is paid in full. If you are judged for even one sin, Christians, then Jesus lied on the cross when He said, "It is finished."

All right? Understand, your price has been paid. Your penalty has been borne. "It is finished." I have to believe that's some of the reason why some Christians have such a hard time praising God. Have you ever noticed that there's some Christians that just... They're just like, oh! Praise just comes so quickly. And others... They struggle with praise. And I have to wonder if there's something behind that difficulty to praise God. Where they're still laboring under this idea somehow that their sin is going to be judged by God. And they really don't have a true biblical picture of what it means for Jesus to have suffered on the cross with their sin. And the fact that it is done. It's finished. It's paid for. Anyway, this is a judgment of rewards. And it says in verse 16, if you look with me there, "The first came before him, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made ten minas more.'" That's quite a multiplication of what had been given. Right? Ten times what had been given he returns to the Lord. And I want you to notice in verse 17 the response of the Master. It says, "And he said to him 'Well done, good servant! Because you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.'" The reason I love that so much is because he doesn't say, hey, good job. You were really skillful. Or, you were really smart. Or, you were really wise..., necessarily. He says, you were faithful. You were faithful. And guys, we can all be faithful. Because faithfulness doesn't necessarily have a quantity attached to it. Rather it has a quality attached to it. Faithfulness. Being faithful. Just be faithful. Just be faithful with what you've got. Right? Whatever you got, just be faithful with it. It doesn't mean you have to be, brilliant. If you are... Great! But God is looking for His people to be faithful. Notice the response here, "...you have been faithful in a very little, you shall have authority over ten cities." That's pretty gracious. He gives him authority to rule, in a sense, over some of the kingdom that this king, or this individual now rules over. And by the way, that may literally be true. I mean, parables are very symbolic. But there's reason biblically, to believe that may have a more literal sort of a meaning. Because there's this interesting song that we hear being sung in the Book of Revelation in chapter 5. And it says something very interesting. Let me put it on the screen for you. Here's how it goes. I wish I knew the tune. But it says,

And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, (And then look at this) and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, (And then this last line.) and they shall reign on the earth. Isn't that interesting? That those who have been redeemed have been made a kingdom. And they will actually reign on the earth. Now how that's going to play out, I don't know. I have no idea. But I just wanted you to know that's an interesting correlation to this parable that Jesus is telling. Where the reward to this faithful servant is to rule over ten cities. He goes on, verse 18, "And the second came, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made five minas. 19 And he said to him, 'And you are to be over five cities.'" You'll notice that the reward is proportionate to the level of faithfulness that is extended by the servant. And "20 Then another came,..." And He doesn't go through all ten of the servants, only three. And another servant came "saying, Lord, here is your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief, 21 for I was afraid of you, because you are a severe man. You take what you did not deposit, and (you) reap what you did not sow. (And) 22 He said to him, 'I will condemn you with your own words, you wicked servant! You knew that I was a severe man, taking what I did not deposit and reaping what I did not sow? 23 Why then did you not put my money in the bank, and at my coming I might have collected it with interest?" Now let's stop there for a moment. Let's talk about what's going on here. Because this is an interesting sort of a situation. Where we've got this now, unfaithful servant. And he makes all kinds of excuses as to why he was unfaithful. And you'll notice that the Master exposes his ridiculous excuses. Because the excuse was, well, I knew that you were a cruel and heartless man who took what didn't belong to him. So, here I put this thing in a handkerchief and here it is. And he's like, that doesn't make any sense. If you really, truly, believed that I was a man who was heartless and cruel and took what I didn't deserve, then you probably would have at least put my money in the bank. I mean, you don't even have to work. You just have to invest it in the bank. And then when I come back, at least you can show me the interest that the money would have earned at the bank. Nobody wants to go before a cruel and heartless person empty handed. You just don't do that. You want to have something to show to a cruel person. Because you don't want their cruelty to come lashing out at you. And the last thing you'd think of is to show up empty handed. I mean, that would be ridiculously dumb. And that's why in the parable the Master says, I will condemn you with your own words. In other words, what you've said to me doesn't make any sense. Right? But it reveals what's really going on here. Notice that the Master refers to this person as a wicked servant. That's what's really going on. It wasn't that the Master was wicked. The servant, in fact, was the wicked one. He completely ignored the command that the Master gave when he gave out the minas in the first place. He completely ignored... And then he blamed his lack of faithfulness on some character flaws of the Master. And yet we see the opposite when what we see in this parable is, that when the Master sees what his servants have done, he rewards them generously. Lavishly, as a matter of fact. Not a cruel man, a very gracious man, and so forth.

And now the Master is going to deal with this particular servant. "And he (says in verse 24) to those who stood by, 'Take the mina from him, and give it to the one who has ten minas. 25' And they said to him, 'Lord, he has ten minas!” And then Jesus passed along this spiritual principle. This is very important in verse 26. "I tell you that to everyone who has, (In other words, who has gained fruitfulness in their lives with the ministries that God has given in the giftings,) more will be given." In other words, to those who show up to that Bema Seat Judgment, with an investment to show to the Lord, more will be given. But from the one who has not... In other words, who has nothing to show for what has been given them, not even what he, or excuse me, even what he has will be taken away. Now I want you to stop there for just a minute. And I want you to give me your attention. Because this is an important thing that we need to discuss for just a moment here. Because the inclusion of this unfaithful servant in this parable, presents us with a bit of a problem. And that is: How are we supposed to look at this guy? Who is he? I mean are there really going to be wicked, lazy servants at the Bema Seat judgment? Is Jesus, at the Bema Seat, really going to say to people, you wicked servant? Personally, I don't believe that's the case. And I don't believe that Christians are going to be judged or rejected by the Lord, in terms of their salvation, by the fact that they didn't produce. In other words, what I'm saying to you is, I don't believe that this parable is teaching that we're saved through the death of Jesus, but we're kept saved by being good Christians and producing in the kingdom with the gifts that we've been given. I don't think that's what it's saying here. It always gets a little bit challenging when we try to press every single detail of a parable into some doctrinal uniformity. In other words, parables don't always perfectly line up with doctrine. They're not intended to. Jesus didn't tell parables to teach doctrine. He told parables to convey an idea. An illustration that He wants you and I to understand. A point, if you will. A parable is trying to make a statement. And usually it's a very simple statement. It's usually not a complex sort of a statement. What is Jesus saying here, as it relates to this wicked, lazy servant? I think He's picturing a large group of people who were listening to Him at that very time. And that is essentially the legalistic Jews of His day.

--- Because this is essentially how they saw God. They saw the Lord as difficult, and hard to please, ready to lash out, whenever the smallest disobedience was uncovered. Because that's basically what legalism does. It sees God in a very harsh light. And the description in the parable that this man gives of the master, wrongly, the wrong description. But the description he gives, I knew you were a hard man that's basically how legalistic people see God. They see Him as hard. Hard to please. He's a taskmaster. In fact he's next door to a monster sometimes. And if you don't do things just right, He's liable to lop your head off. And it's sad to me how many people go through life with that sort of a picture of God. Jesus closes this parable with these words. Verse 27. "But as for these enemies of mine, (and now he's referring to this other group of people who didn't want him to be Lord over them, or to rule over them,) who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me." And this, of course, is a picture of judgment that is coming upon those who reject the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and want nothing to do with God. They will essentially get their wish. Verse 28. "And when he had said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. (And) "29 When he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany, at the mount that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples, 30 saying, 'Go into the village in front of you, where on entering you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever yet sat. Untie it and bring it here. 31 If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' you shall say this: "The Lord has need of it." 32 So those who were sent went away and found it just as he had told them. 33 And as they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, 'Why are you untying the colt?" 34 And they said, "The Lord has need of it." 35 And they brought it to Jesus, and throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. 36 And as he rode along, they spread their cloaks on the road." Now remember people, this is the Sunday before the Resurrection. The Sunday before the Crucifixion. And this is referred to, of course, as the Triumphal Entry. That time when Jesus rode into the city on the colt of a donkey, fulfilling Old Testament prophetic Scripture, saying that it would happen just that way. Verse 37 says that, "As he was drawing near - already on the way down the Mount of Olives - the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, 38 saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" Now what they're doing is they're reciting a portion of Psalm 118. And that psalm is very clearly messianic. And the Jewish religious leaders, the Pharisees, knew that it was a Messianic Psalm that they were quoting. And that's what bothered them so much. It says in verse 39 that, "...39 some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples." And "40 He answered, "I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out." Almost makes you wish they would have been silent so you could have seen what it was like to hear rocks sing. How cool would that be? What Jesus is saying is, that heaven has ordained that the song of Psalm 118 be sung at this very time, this very moment in history. And if these guys don't sing, the rocks are going to sing. Because God has ordained it. It will happen one way or another. And Jesus is allowing His followers for the very first time in His ministry, to publicly proclaim Him, as the Messiah. Verse 41, "And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, (And this is a very tender scene. By the way, the word that is translated here "wept" does not refer to a soft, gentle cry. In fact, it could be rendered "wailed." That would be more correct to the word. That when Jesus came down the Mount of Olives and beheld the city, He began to sob over the city. And this is such an incredible reflection of the heart of God for you and I to see. This is how God sees destruction. And we learn from this passage, that even when judgment is determined and deserved, God still weeps. The heart of God still weeps over it. It's never... That kind of judgment is never carried out with joy from the Lord. We've looked at a passage from Ezekiel before. It's germane to our study, so we'll look at it again.

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--- Cast away from you, (the Lord says through Ezekiel) all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? (Look at this.) For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live. And this is the heart of God. I have no pleasure, I take no pleasure in the death of anyone. And here's what Jerusalem, or rather Jesus says over Jerusalem. Verse 42. Jesus says, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” Notice Jesus says, "had you known on this day..." This day when their Messiah comes to them. And He goes on to speak prophetically.

And what Jesus is doing is, He is looking ahead to the invasion of Jerusalem which would take place some 30 to 35 years from that point. And on A.D. 70, when the Roman army would surround the city of Jerusalem, break through the walls, tear down and burn the city. And destroy the temple with it. And all because, as Jesus said, the Jews did not know the time of their visitation. They didn't recognize the time of their visitation. When the Lord visited them. And the chapter ends this way.

And in these final verses, we see Jesus coming into the temple precincts, driving out those who are buying and selling. This was happening in the outer courts of the temple. You have to understand that there were many people, Gentiles back in those days, who, put their faith in the God of Israel.

And they were basically called God-fearing Gentiles. This was the only place they could come in the temple to worship and to pray. They weren't allowed any further in than just the outer courts. But over time, the Jews had begun to take over the outer courts and give it to buying and selling. And it wasn't just like they were having a flea market. They were selling animals for people to sacrifice. Because you see, during feast times, the pilgrims would come from all over the known world at that time to celebrate things like, Passover. And that's what's going on here, getting ready for Passover. And it was just not practical to travel with their sacrificial animals. In other words, if you had to travel a long distance to bring an animal with you to sacrifice, was just not a practical thing. They would bring money instead. But of course that money was a foreign currency. One of the things that happened in the temple outer courts was, they had money changers. And they had to convert the foreign currency of these people, these pilgrims, into the local Jewish, Hebrew currency, so that they could then take that money and they could buy a sacrificial animal and so forth. But of course, over a period of time, all that buying and selling became the primary purpose for what was going on in the outer courts. And it no longer was a place of prayer. People were being cheated. And Jesus referred to it as a den of thieves. And I love how this chapter ends by saying that after running the merchants out of the temple, Jesus spent the next day’s teaching there. And right there in the temple, He continued to share the Word of God. ---