It's a privilege to be back with you this morning. I count this a great privilege to share the Word of God with you today. We're going to be in Luke chapter 12. If you would turn there for our text. Luke chapter 12, we will begin reading in verse 35. Luke 12 35 Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning and you yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding that when he cometh and knocketh they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching. Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them to sit down to me. and will come forth and serve them. And if he come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the good man had the house, had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also, for the Son of Man cometh at an hour when ye think not. Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? The Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But, and if that servant say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken, the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant which knew his Lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required, and to whom men have committed much of him they will ask the more. Let's pray. Our gracious Father, we come to you this morning as beggars at the door of grace, as impotent folk at the pool of Siloam, and we ask, O God, for the moving of the water today. We ask, O God, that you might move among us today by your Holy Ghost. We ask, O God, to meet with us in a way that we would say to ourselves, it's good for us to have been together today. We ask, Father, do for us what we can't do for ourselves. We pray, Father, that it might be like when the disciples walked upon the road of Emmaus, that their hearts did burn within them as Your Word was made life to them. Help us now, we pray. We look to You for utterance. We look to You for assistance. For Christ's sake. Amen. Our main emphasis this morning is this character that we have read about, this servant that says in his heart, my Lord delays His coming. Not only does the Lord teach us by giving us positive examples to follow, He also teaches us by setting before us characters that we should run from, characters that we should not follow. Just like Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt, and the Lord Jesus tells us, remember Lot's wife. In other words, don't act like Lot's wife. Don't follow her footsteps. And so the Lord Jesus tells us about this servant, this good servant, this faithful servant that is ready for his master's return. And in contrast to that, he sets forth before us this servant that casts off his faith, casts off his love, casts off his responsibility, and the Lord Jesus would teach us both by positive and negative examples the way that you and I are to walk in, the path that we are to walk in. Now chapter 12 of Luke, from just about the first verse to the last verse, can be summed up in three words. Live for eternity. You can read the whole chapter. There's a few deviations from that theme, but the striking emphasis of the chapter is, as I think it was Ravenhill said, let eternity be stamped on your eyelids to see everything, to weigh everything, to make every decision and choice in life in the light that we're not going to be here for long. And the choices and the way we live our lives now will impact us for ages and ages and ages to come. And so the Lord Jesus would tell us, live for the eternity. The title of my message this morning is, The Person You Don't Want to Be. This is the person you don't want to be. This is the kind of person you don't want to His principle you don't want to implement in your life. This is the example you don't want to follow. This is the guy that you don't want to be your role model. The person you don't want to be. So we have in this parable Servants that are watching for their Lord's coming, expecting His coming, hoping, joyfully expecting and waiting for the Lord's coming. And then you have this unfaithful servant who is putting it as far off as he can. He's putting it out of his mind. He's casting it out of his thoughts. My Lord delays His coming. Now, you can possibly apply the servants of the Lord, those who are looking for Him and those who are not looking for Him. You can possibly broadly apply that to all humanity because all things were created by Christ and for Christ. And in a great broad way, all people are the servants of God in some way or another. whether vessels of wrath fitted to destruction or vessels of mercy to obtain eternal glory. All men will be used by God for some purpose. But you and I want to be on the mercy side, on the grace side, on the faithful side, on the patiently awaiting side for the Lord's coming. But for our purposes today, I don't want to focus so much upon the Lord using all people as servants, even Pharaoh and Cyrus and all people used as his servants. We want to focus upon the servants of God as those who have professed faith in Christ, at least made a profession, at least called themselves Christian, at least call themselves by the name of Christ. Would not claim to be close followers, but at least they fly the flag of Christianity. Maybe even been baptized. Maybe even done some witnesses. Maybe even done some good works for the Lord. Everybody that professes faith in Christ, that's the target of my message this morning. Servants. faithful and unfaithful. Peter asked the Lord Jesus, who are you talking about? Are you talking about us apostles or are you talking about everybody? And the Lord Jesus says, as I think I heard R.C. Sproul, he answers a question with a question, a typical Jewish rabbi, and so he doesn't outright answer the question, but his general answer seems to be, you need to watch. Everyone under the sound of my voice needs to be ready. Everybody under the sound of my voice, everybody that knows that I'm returning again must prepare to meet their savior, must prepare to meet their judge of all the earth. Everyone must be ready. Now, this unfaithful servant He says, My Lord delaying His coming. He says, My Lord is putting it far off. Now, in order for this man to live for His lust like we will see He's going to, he must mentally think that the coming of Christ is a long way away. Because if you think that Christ's coming is soon, Reason would have you prepare for that coming. But he puts it a long way away. This is nothing new. There's nothing new under the sun. You can read in the book of Ezekiel. Ezekiel is prophesying of the judgments coming upon the nation of Israel. And the people hearing his vision, hearing his prophecies, they interpret it and say his vision is talking about way down the line. He's prophesying of something in the way distant future. And the Lord says no, no, no. I'm talking about now. I'm talking about something that is not far off, something that is imminent, something that is at your door. The same thing in the book of Amos. It says, Woe to them that are at ease in Zion. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion. And it skips down a few verses. It says, Ye that put far off the evil day and cause the seat of violence to draw near. And let me just read that. You don't have to turn because there's some striking similarities between These people who are at ease in Zion and this foolish servant, this unfaithful servant. There are some very striking similarities between the two. Amos 6. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria. On down it says, Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seed of violence to come near, that lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat lambs out of the flock, and it goes on. That chant to the sound of the vial, and invent them instruments of music like David that drink wine in bowls and anoint themselves with chief ointments. So they put off far the day of judgment. They put it a long way away the day of reckoning. And then they began to live for themselves and live for their lusts, live for their own selfish pursuits. This is the same thing that the evil woman in Proverbs chapter 7 says to the young man she is seeking to seduce. She says to him, the good man has gone a long journey. She puts far away the day of reckoning, puts far away the day of accountability. And so that's what this servant does. He says, my Lord delayeth his confidence. He loses confidence in God's faithfulness and he himself becomes truly unfaithful. He casts off his confidence in God and his behavior spirals down. Salvation comes by faith in Christ and backsliding begins at that strategic point. When our faith begins to dwindle, our behavior follows suit. Now this unfaithful servant, he has been given a great privilege. He's been given a great opportunity. He has been given He has been the recipient of great potential. He has been given a place, a position of authority, a position of usefulness. He has been given a position to bless others. And He does not fill that position. He does not occupy that position as He should. He begins to think, my Lord delays His coming. I'm missing out on what all these other people are getting in on. I am coming up short where all these other people are enjoying their lives. Now, everyone here has been given a work by Christ to do. Everyone here who calls themselves by the name of the Lord has been given a work for him to do. You can read that in Mark chapter 13, talking about Christ. Christ says, I'm as a man taking a far journey and giving to every man his work and commanded the porter to watch. Everyone has a work here to do. Everyone here is a privileged person. Everyone here has been the recipient of the truth as it is in Jesus. Everyone here has been the beneficiary and the blessed of hearing sound truth. And we have a glorious responsibility A wonderful responsibility, but it is a weighty responsibility to act upon the truth and light that we all have. As followers of Jesus Christ, we should be more and more conformed to the likeness of Christ. The sin margin in our life should be continually narrowing. But with this unfaithful servant that says, my Lord delays His coming, the sin margin in his life becomes wider and wider and wider as he casts off his faith, his responsibility, his duty, as he lives less and less for others and for Christ and more and more engulfed in satisfying his own desires. Now, If we could x-ray this man's mind, if we could somehow read his thoughts, he says, my Lord's delaying his coming. He hasn't said it to anybody yet. He hasn't come out with it yet. But his inward thought is, there's no reckoning coming. There's no day of reckoning coming. All these gifts and abilities that I've been entrusted with, his coming's way off. And because he thinks that Christ's coming is a way off, his behavior deteriorates. Now, this fellow has an awful end, right? A terrible end. We'll get to that end in a little bit. and the true Christian, the true child of God, someone who has been truly bought by the blood of Christ. What does John 10 tell us? My sheep shall never perish. Paul says, Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Corinthians 1 tells us that He's going to confirm His people all the way to the end. But though God's true people will not fully and finally perish, we can succumb to the symptoms of this man's disease. Though God's people will not die and perish from this disease, we can all contract the symptoms of that disease. And we should not wait until cancer is stage 4 to go to the doctor and get it seen about. We must take heed, brethren. Is that not what the Apostle Paul tells us, or the writer to the Hebrews tells us in Hebrews 3? Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God, but to exhort one another. We can succumb to the symptoms of this man's fatal disease. And we should be in the business of exhorting and watching out, not only over our own selves, but watching out for one another, lest we should see slippage taking place and see one another straying away from God. Don't we read in chapter 73 of the book of Psalms, Asaph, He says, God is good to Israel, even to them that are of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped, for I was envious at the foolish when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. Asaph, you can read that psalm, it's kind of like what this man... Asaph's kind of like what this man would have... Asaph would have been this man, but for the grace of God. Asaph can point at this foolish servant and say, there go I, but for the grace of God. Because Asaph says, my steps had well nigh slipped. His faith was about gone, and his love for God had about gone. But it has a joyful end to that chapter. And he ends up saying, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And there's none on earth that I desire but beside thee. His faith is restored. His love for God is restored. And we should pray that God would keep us and preserve us and deliver us from the temptation of falling into the snares of this foolish servant. Now these warnings are sprinkled throughout Scripture to help keep us on the right path, to help keep us, to guard us from going astray. Ecclesiastes 12 tells us that the words of the wise are as goads. keep pricking us on like an ox goad to keep the animal moving, to keep the animal going. And so, the words of the Scripture, the words of the Lord Jesus are as pricks. The warnings of Scripture are as pricks to keep the child of God from becoming at ease in Zion and from losing their faith in God and going astray. The words of the wise are as goads. This foolish servant should be eagerly awaiting his master's coming. He should be expecting his master's coming. He should be selflessly discharging his duty. But rather than that, he is withholding good to whom it is due. He is withholding his services that are due to those he has influence over. Rather than selflessly discharging his duty, he is living for himself. His doubt has robbed him of any sense of danger. He says, like our culture, I'm good. I'm good. Even though he's so into the flesh and is going to reap corruption, he is at ease in Zion. The Apostle Paul gives us an MRI of this man. We have, by the words of the Lord Jesus, His inward thought and His outward action. The Apostle Paul gives us a little more detail about what's going on in this guy's mind. Philippians chapter 3 tells us about the end of this man. His end's destruction. The Apostle Paul tells us what his God is, what his little God is, little g. His God is his belly. Paul tells us what he's proud of, what he boasts about. His glory is in his shame. And the Apostle Paul tells us what he thinks about. He's thinking about earthly things. He's thinking about things that are passing away. He's thinking about things that will please his five senses. whose end is destruction, whose God is his belly, whose glory is in his shame, who mines earthly things. Paul's talking about enemies of the cross. He's talking about religious folks who have put down the cross. They still may call themselves Christians, they may still play lip service to Christianity, but for all intents and purposes, selfless love is not part of their lives. Living for Christ is not what they're about. On the contrary, Paul says our conversation is in heaven. From whence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall transform this vile body that it might be made like unto His glorious body. Paul says we're not hung up on the here and now. Our conversation, our citizenship is in heaven. We're expecting, we're looking for, we're hoping in and waiting for the coming of our master from heaven. So, if this fellow's problem is casting off his faith in God, shouldn't you and I be about the business of earnestly contending to maintain and to feed our faith in the living God? If this fellow's root problem is lack of confidence and faith in God, shouldn't we be doing everything that we can do to maintain a strong, vibrant faith in God. So how are we to do that? How are we to maintain faith in God in a world that says it won't matter? It really doesn't matter. Well, Romans 10 tells us, the very familiar glorious verse, Romans 10 tells us that faith cometh by hearing the word of God. as we feed our souls upon the Word of God, as we continually look upon truth that feeds our faith in God. Nothing seems to feed my faith in God more than looking on the prophecies of Scripture fulfilled. The prophecies of Scripture that have been fulfilled. Remember God promised Abraham a land? He brought his people into that promised land some 400 years later. And it says toward the end of the book of Joshua. that the Lord gave the land that He promised to give unto the fathers. And they possessed it and dwelt therein. And the last verse of that chapter, it says there failed not ought of any good thing that God had promised to the people of Israel all came to pass. It all happened. God promised it and it happened. Check. It happened. The Scripture is so full of fulfilled prophecies. Things that God said and they happened. This is the argument Peter says in the book of 2 Peter in chapter 3. in responding to the scoffers, responding to those who say that Christ is never coming back. Peter points back to the great worldwide flood and he says, God drowned this world once. He told Noah a hundred and something years before that he was going to drown the world. He drowned it. And to this day we have mountains and valleys of evidence that God drowned the world. And this same God that promised to drown the world and did drown the world, except Noah and his family, is going to destroy this world by fire. God said he was going to flood the world. God did flood the world. God said he's coming again. God said he's going to burn all this world up. He's going to do that too. I have a concordance at home, an exhaustive concordance, and at the end of that concordance it has a list of the prophecies that Christ Jesus our Lord fulfilled. It's a long list. Pages and pages of prophecies that the Lord Jesus fulfilled. In the book of Micah, it tells us he's going to be born in Bethlehem. Check. In the book of Isaiah 7, it says he's going to be virgin born. Check. And you can go on down through the life of the Lord Jesus. He's going to go into Egypt and come back. Yeah, he did that. Yeah, he's going to grow up in the city of Nazareth. He did that. on down, page after page, God said and He did. God prophesied, He foretold, and He accomplished it. This is a great source to me of building up myself in faith and confirming and affirming my confidence in God. Another way that the Lord uses to strengthen our faith in God is going boldly to the throne of grace. Is that not what Jude tells us? But ye, beloved, in contrast to the mockers, those who are living for their flesh, the false teachers, in contrast to that, but ye, beloved, building up yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. Don't we see prayer as a vital means of strengthening our faith in God. You can read all through the Psalms and so many of the Psalms. The psalmist will start out on rock bottom. The psalmist will start out with no light in the dark at the bottom. And he's telling the Lord all about it. He's pouring out his soul to the Lord. And by the end of the psalm, he's got hope. He's got confidence. He's got his trust back in the Lord. His faith has been built up through prayer. Another way that the Lord uses to build up our faith and to maintain our faith and confidence in God is through the fellowship of other like-minded believers. It is a great way to stimulate, to edify, and to build up one another. It is by fellowship with one another. You can read about that in the book of 1 Samuel. David's been running from Saul. Saul's looking for David every day, trying to kill him. And it says that Jonathan goes to Saul in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. How did he do that? It says that Jonathan reminded David someday you're going to be king over Israel. That's what Samuel had told him back in Bethlehem when he anointed him with oil. Samuel had told him he's going to be king someday. Jonathan was reminding David of the promises of God, of the faithfulness of God, that the God who promised you that you would be king, he's going to keep his promise to you. So you have building up ourselves in faith by hearing the word of God, reading it, by prayer and by fellowship of the saints. Yea, I could say all means of grace serve to feed our faith in God. The faith of the child of God is not at all a leap in the dark, but the confident step of the child of God upon the rock of certainty. We don't have to try to believe that Christ is coming again. We don't have to conjure up some faith of our own that Christ is coming again. We're just taking God at His word, the God who has a mountain of evidence behind Him that He is a God who keeps His word, that Christ who has been prophesied to come will come and will not tarry. Isn't that what the writer to the Hebrews exhorts us in chapter 10? For yet a little while. He says cast not away therefore your confidence which hath great recompense of reward. He says for yet a little while he that shall come will come and will not tarry. That comes out of the book of Habakkuk. He that shall come will come and will not delay. He's coming again. And we want to be among those faithful servants who have our lamps trimmed. who are being about the master's business, who are not living for ourselves, but living for the one who died for us and rose again and is coming again for us. Did not he say, I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place, I will come again to receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Faith is not a leaf in the dark, but the confident step of the child of God on the rock of certainty. Faith is the present certainty of a future reality. A present certainty of a future reality. So we see that this man's faith dwindles away. Not only does his faith dwindle away, but also his love dwindles away. Faith is kind of like the mainspring. And if the mainspring is broke, then everything else is going to follow. His faith goes and his love dwindles. His love goes. For the child of God, we should be like Paul exhorts the Thessalonians in chapter 4. He exhorts them that they increase in love more and more, more and more. Love is something that we can all use improvement in. It is something that you and I all have stand in need of growing in. See the increase more and more. It is sinful and dangerous not to endeavor to maintain a sweetheart love for Jesus Christ. This man's love for his master, love for his fellow servants is gone, is going and gone. Jesus said to Peter, the resurrection, he said, Peter, do you love me? You know that conversation, Peter, do you love me? And what responsibility did Jesus give Peter to show that love? Was it not to feed the sheep? Wasn't that the way, the simple way, the straightforward way that Peter could exhibit his love for Jesus was by taking care of his fellow servants? And so, this slothful servant, this servant that says, my lord delays his coming, rather than taking care of his fellow servants, rather than helping his fellow servants, he begins to tear down, begins to bring havoc, begins to destroy. at the end of our Lord Jesus' earthly ministry, in the upper room, in his discourse to his disciples. After Judas has left, only the eleven apostles are there, the Lord Jesus begins to tell his disciples three times over, a new commandment, give I unto you, that ye love one another. That's in chapter 13, he tells them. In chapter 15, he tells them again, two times. He exhorts them to love one another as I have loved you. This slothful, unbelieving servant, rather than loving each other, rather than building up his fellow men, rather than being used to edify He begins to beat the fellow servants and he begins to eat and drink himself and to be drunken. He begins to live for himself. He feels like he's missed out on enough. He feels like his master is going to let him down and he's going to come up short that he's going to miss out on what's really fun. And he begins to, rather than building up, he begins to tear down his fellow servants. Rather than helping, He begins to hinder. Rather than adding to, He begins to take away. So I think each one of us should read the 13th chapter of Corinthians like our young children just memorized. And to endeavor by God's grace to let love be continually on the increase in our lives. That we might learn to suffer long and be kind. To be patient. to not fail each other. That the love of God might be shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost. That we might be growing in love for God and each other rather than our love be ebbing away. It's a whole lot easier to find fault than it is to minister to. It's a whole lot easier to see each other's weaknesses, see each other's flaws, see each other's where we all come up short rather than to endeavor to help that person from where they are to where they need to be. It's really easy for us to spot what someone else needs to do rather than helping them, praying for them, exhorting them to grow out of where they're at to where they need to be. It takes a selfish person to criticize. It takes a selfless person to minister to and to build up each other. Isn't that true? Anybody can find fault. Anybody can criticize. Anybody can point out what someone else ought to be doing. But only the person that is willing to pray for that person. Willing to talk to that person. Willing to help that person. Selfless person is the person that's going to. Only a selfless person can help. bring lasting change to the faults that they see. There was a man that told D.L. Moody, he said, I don't like your method. He said, I don't like your method. D.L. Moody said, what's your method? He said, I don't. He didn't like D.L. Moody's method, but he wasn't going to do anything himself. He didn't have any way to improve D.L. Moody's method, but he was going to criticize what he was doing. And so it is a whole lot easier to find fault. It's easy to sit on the sidelines and see what someone else ought to be doing rather than enabling and helping and ministering to build up. John Bunyan in Pilgrim's Progress tells us the steps of apostasy, the steps that this man temporary took to go away from religion, to go away from Christianity. It gives us a picture of what this looked like in this man temporary's everyday life. It says, They begin to cast off, okay, they draw off their thoughts, all that they may from the remembrance of God, death, and judgment to come. They cast off by degrees private duties as closet prayer, curbing their lusts, watching sorrow for sin and the like. Then they shun the company of the lively and warm Christians. After that, they grow cold to public duty as hearing, reading, and godly conference and the like. Next thing they do, then they begin to pick holes, as we say, in the coats of some that are godly. Bunyan says that's one of the marks of apostasy. Picking holes in each other. Criticizing. Being unnecessarily and unrighteously critical. Unhelpfully critical one another. begin to pick holes in the coats, as we say, of some that are godly. Then they begin to adhere and associate themselves with carnal and loose and wanton men. Then they give way to carnal and wanton discourses in secret, and glad are they if they see such that are counted honest, acting the same way. They begin to play with little sins. And then, being hardened, they show themselves as they are, thus being launched again into the gulf of misery, unless the grace of God prevent it, they will everlasting perish in their own deceivings. So may that not be once named among us, brothers. May God keep us and preserve us. As he says in the book of 1 Samuel, he keepeth the feet of his saints. May the Lord keep our feet from slipping. May the Lord keep us from going the path of this unfaithful servant that says my Lord's delaying is coming and he begins to eat drink and to live for himself, to be drunken, begins to tear down his fellow servants. What's his end? What's his end? It's an awful end. It's an absolutely horrific end. The Lord Jesus who spoke such nice things. The Lord Jesus who spoke such pleasant things. What's going to be the end of this unfaithful servant? It says when the Lord that servant comes again, he's going to cut him up. He's going to cut him in pieces and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. Now this is how ancient kings treated their enemies. This is what Samuel did to King Agag, the king of the Amalekites. He chopped him up. This is what David did when he defeated the Ammonites. He sawed them up. Almighty God will do to every person that names the name of Christ, but refuses to depart from iniquity, that calls themselves Christians, but refuses to live for God, refuses to take up the cross and follow the Master. This is what God will do to every churchgoer that has not been transformed inwardly, and their life does not match their profession. He will chop them in pieces, signifying the indignation, the wrath of Almighty God. For people who play around with his son's name, who call themselves by the name of Christ, who fly the flag of Christianity, but their heart is a heart of a rebel. May God help us that we would not contract any of the symptoms of this fellow. The symptoms of this fellow should be avoided. We should go to the great physician when we detect any of the symptoms of this fellow. Isn't Christ the great physician? Especially of soul sickness in this day and time, He's going to take care of God's people's physical sickness is completely in the by and by. But he's the great physician. The gift of his physician being the physician has not ceased. He's still the great physician today to restore our faith, to restore our love for God and for our fellow men. The temptation of this man was to fall out with his fellow servants, to be hateful to his fellow servants, to treat his fellow servants unkindly. There's an interesting phrase in Genesis 45 when Joseph has been made known to his brethren. Joseph, who his brethren haven't seen in years, I think maybe 13 years Joseph hasn't seen his brethren. So they see their brother. Truly they've wronged this brother and truly I'm sure they're very embarrassed that they've had an encounter with Joseph. But they do have good news that Joseph is alive and well. And Joseph sends them back to tell daddy at home that your son, your boy that you've grown white-headed over, your boy that you've sorrowed almost to the grave, your boy that you've missed so much, your boy is still alive and he's second in command in Egypt. And Joseph gives his brothers an interesting instruction when he sends them back home to tell Jacob that your boy is still alive. He says, see that you've fallen out on the way home. See that you fall not out on the way home. Don't have a quarrel. Don't get crossways with each other on the way home. These boys had good news to tell daddy at home. These boys had wonderful, happy news to tell their papa at home. And Joseph tells them, don't fall out on the way home. And should it not be within the body of Christ, we who have the good news of Jesus Christ, we who know how a man can be brought from death to life, we who have the everlasting gospel at our fingertips, should not we not fall out on our way home? I'm telling you, Brother Tommy Walz, he knows how a man can be forgiven of all his sins no matter how many they are. Brother Michael Seawald knows how a person can be right with God. Brother Drew knows how we can put away sin and live for God. Brothers we have the good news of Jesus Christ that he died and rose again. He ascended to his father's hand from thence he shall come to receive his people unto himself. That where he is there they may be also. A good news from first to last. And should not we see to it that we don't act like this servant who begins to nitpick and to tear down his fellow servants and seek to live to help and minister to and to discharge our duties to our great master faithfully. Now, I'd like us all to turn to Isaiah 25 and verse 6. Before our text, the Lord Jesus had described coming forth and serving his own faithful servants. He has described the marriage supper of the Lamb for us. He has described that great day in which God's people will be with their Savior and he shall minister to them that great feast, that wedding supper of the Lamb. Isaiah chapter 25 and verse 6. And in this mountain shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people, Isaiah 25 6, make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the leaves, of fat things full of morrow, of wines on the leaves well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away tears. from off all faces. And the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken it, and it shall be said in that day. Who's going to say this? Who's going to verbalize this to the coming prince? Who's going to say this? The good and faithful servants. The people who waited for their master. The people who didn't cast off their faith in their master. The people who maintained love for the master and patiently waited for the master. As James says, we count them happy that endure. Who is it that says this to the Master? In verse 9 it says, And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God. We have waited for Him and He will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited for Him. We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation. Won't that day be worth it all? Won't the mortification of sin be worth it at that point? Won't being a good and faithful servant be worth it at that point? When we look into our Savior's face, that glorious face, That face that changed us when we were rebel sinners. When we heard and saw the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That face that picked us up out of the miry clay and set us upon the rock of ages. That glorious face. When we look him in the face and say, Lo, this is our God. We waited for him. We didn't follow the example of this unfaithful servant who cast off faith and started living for himself. We waited for him. As you remember in John Bunyan's book there was the man passion and there was the man patience. One man was willing to wait for his good things to come. One man wanted all his good things now. Passion and patience. Bunyan says the parable that a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush is of more weight with them than all the promises of God or something to that effect. by the God's grace, I want to be in this clan. I want to be among this number. I know a lot of people that aren't in this number. I know some people that have been baptized. I went to church with a lot of people in my life, in my short life, and they're not going to church today. They're living just like the foolish man is who cast off his faith, who cast off his love for the brethren. They're living for themselves, their flesh. They're living for everything that they can get out of life rather than living for the Savior of sinners and living for the body of Christ. You know people like this. It's going to be a sad day on Judgment Day if those people aren't reconciled to God, if those people are not restored, if those backsliders don't come back to the shepherd and bishop of their soul. It's going to be an awful day on Judgment Day. May the Lord keep us, keep our feet from falling that we might say, Lo, this is our God. when he checks off that promise of his second coming, when he checks off the last promise made to his people. And all his promises are yea and amen. He that shall come will come and will not tarry. Let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. May the Lord give us the grace to patiently wait for Christ's return for yet a little while. He that shall come will come. May we be fervent in spirit serving the Lord. May we be occupying the position and doing what we can do doing our several abilities that the Lord has given us that when he comes we might be found watching, waiting, expecting, hoping, longing for his appearing. God bless you. Father, we come to you in the name of the Lord Jesus and ask you, O Father,