Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.
The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist
Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us
or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look
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message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.
Proverbs Chapter 11. And if you were a guest this
evening, boy, what a time to pop in Stewardship Sunday.
How about that? To be able to come and visit us
this evening. You know, I'm thankful though,
that the principles of stewardship go far beyond money.
They go far beyond our local church.
And really, it's all about our lives, isn't it?
About making sure that we are who we're supposed to be in the
light of all that God has done for us.
And we started a message this morning from Proverbs chapter
#11 called How Much. Does.
How Much land, rather, does a Man Need?
And it's based on the title on a short story by the author Leo
Tolstoy titled How Much Land Does a Man Need?
And we said that the story was about a man named Payham, a
Russian peasant who heard a debate about town life versus
farm life and thought if I had plenty of land I shouldn't fear
the devil and pay. Hum eventually gained land and
he became greedy and quarreled with his neighbors and
eventually moving to ever larger plots but get growing
frustrated. But then he heard of a land rich
area called the Baskers or the people that lived there were the
Baskers and he sought a cheap deal for even more land and for
1000 rubles they offered. They offered him as much land as
he could circle in one day marking the perimeter with his
spade. The deal was if he returned by
sunset and picked up the cap that he left on the ground when
he first started then he would receive all of that land that he
had walked around in the day. However, if he wasn't back in
time to pick up his hat and put it on his head, then he would
lose his thousand rubles and would get nothing.
And so we asked the question this morning, how much land does
a man need? And while it may seem like that
has nothing to do with your life and my life, we looked at the
thought process from Proverbs Chapter 11.
That really the idea of how much does a person need has to deal
with all of our lives, doesn't it?
The thought process that every single one of us have to live
our lives with. This idea of how much is
appropriate for me to have and how much even more so is
appropriate for me to use. And really we saw that is
understanding that everything that we received came from God
and that everything that we have received belongs to him.
That whether it's our treasures, as we often think of with
stewardship, right, that it deals with our wallets, with our
pocketbooks, but it's our treasure, our time and our
talents, really our whole lives that they belong to him.
If you have something that you earned without God's help, you
can spend however you want. The problem is everything we
have has come from him, hasn't it?
And so we're to be the right types of stewards.
And so this morning we saw the paradox of stewardship that you
have to be able to give to receive.
We saw the principle of giving that the liberal soul shall be
made fat. One of my favorite verses in the
Bible that the liberal soul shall be made fat.
The public reaction to givers, that everybody loves a giver,
but people are not happy when someone is a hoarder.
And so we have the thought process that we love it when
people give, but yet we don't always have that same zeal to
give within our own lives. We like others to give not as
much ourselves. And then the procuring of favor
that we saw that when you do right, that when you invest
right, when you when you know what's right and when you know
what's wrong and invest in the right and avoid the wrong, that
God will protect you and God will help you and God will give
you what you need. And we even ended the message
this morning by looking at a man named Scotty Scheffler, who
probably the US Open or the British Open's about done right
now. I don't know whether he won or
not, but he's won $150 million. And just this last year in
playing golf, he just the last few days in playing golf, he
mentioned that I don't even know what the point of all of this
is. I win, it's not a big deal, and
then I move on. But he says I can't stop.
I just keep going. And we saw that's a lot of how
life is, isn't it, That we have this thought process, we live
for life, that if we reckon things incorrectly, that all of
a sudden life doesn't have the meaning that it ought to have,
that truly the stewardship life is a life of meaning.
It's a life of grace. It's a life of joy.
And that's what God desires for each and every one of us.
So we're going to continue this thought process in the text that
we did not finish this morning. I wanted to cover the 1st 4
verses this morning. We'll cover the last four verses
this evening. So if you would for the reading
of God's Word, would you stand? If you're physically able to
read Psalm, or rather Proverbs chapter #11 and we'll start from
our text this morning in verse #24 we'll work through the rest
of the chapter. It says there is that scattereth
and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than his
meat, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made
fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.
He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but
blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.
He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor.
He that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.
Now next 4 verses are what we'll be covering specifically this
evening. He that trusteth in his riches
shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.
He that troubled his own house shall inherit the wind, and the
fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that
winneth souls is wise. Behold, the righteous shall be
recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the center.
Why don't we be seated as we pray together this evening and
we look at this thought process of stewardship and how much land
does a man need? Heavenly Father, do pray that
you be with us this evening. Thank you for your word and
thank you for what it means to us, that it is our authority for
faith and practice. There is no greater authority
than your word. And I pray that it would teach
us tonight. Help us, exhort us, correct us.
Encourage us whatever our need is tonight, through your Holy
Spirit, I pray that you would do the work that is needed in every
heart and every life, including myself here tonight, that we may
all humbly receive Your word and that we may leave this building
better than which He came. And we do ask it all in Jesus
name, Amen. Picking up in verse #28 we see
the prospects of the righteous this evening.
Verse #28 teaches us the prospects of the righteous.
Look at it again. It says he that trusteth in his
riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a
branch. This verse tells us that the
prospects of the righteous are bright, but those who trust in
their wealth will not have the same prospects.
And listen, understand that it's nothing wrong with being able to
invest and there's nothing wrong with being able to save, to have
an S stag, to have an emergency fund.
Those things are good and right. In fact, I'd say there's
something very prudent about all of those things.
But that's not what this verse is talking about.
There's some that believe that their security in life comes
from that which they possess. There are some that believe all
of their comfort, all their security, that all that they are
in this life all comes down to what they are and what they own.
And the Bible says that that could not be further from the
truth. You know, wealth can shield us
from many problems. I think of when we were young
and we had, like I said this morning, we lived on love and
ramen noodles, and that's out about all that we had when we
were young. I think about all of those types
of things. I'm thankful in many ways for
those times because wealth can shield you from problems.
But listen, wealth can also create a lot of new problems
too, can't it? Oh sure, wealth can help you
with certain things, but it also creates new problems as well.
The old saying more money means more problems.
And there's a lot of truth to that.
And we need to look no further than Hollywood to get the idea
of of names of Hollywood stars or even look to the sports
arenas and find the name of sports stars and realize that
they have more money than many of us can even comprehend.
But yet while they have been saved from some of the problems
like you and I have, like what are we going to do with our
groceries this week? Or how is this bill going to get
paid? Or how is this credit card going
to be taken care of it? They don't have to worry about
those problems in some ways, but they have so many more problems
in return. I more money, more problems.
I think of names like Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston or OJ
Simpson or Daryl Strawberry. And those are just names from
the past, from entertainment and from sports people who had more
money. And the more money they
accumulated, the more problems that they had.
In fact, I was just reading the testimony.
Darryl Strawberry, some of you might know the baseball player
for the New York Mets in the 1980s, a very gifted athlete.
He and many other players for the New York Mets, like Doc
Gooden and Keith Hernandez, A lot of those men in the 1980s
got involved in the drug scene and a lot of them got involved
into some very bad business to the plate place that Darryl
Strawberry particularly and Doc Gooden left the league because
they just could not play because of the bad choices they have
made in their life. Well, I'm thankful over the last
few years that Darrell Strawberry has a testimony of
coming to Jesus Christ and actually has become a Baptist
minister. Of what stripe?
I couldn't tell you, but it's just the fact that he realized,
you know, I have all this money, but it hasn't protected me the
way I thought it would. I have all of these means I have
all of these goods, but it's really not helping me at all.
And he's trusting his riches, but it says those who trust in
the riches shall fall. So we wealth can shield you from
some problems, but it creates new problems.
But wealth can shield from certain problems.
But I will tell you this just in the same vein.
Wealth can never shield you from all your problems.
I think of Kobe Bryant, the incredible basketball player who
played for the Los Angeles Lakers.
He retired then back in 2020, in the height of the pandemic, he
was in a helicopter with his daughter and a few other people.
And there's Kobe Bryant just taking a helicopter ride from
one place to another there in Los Angeles.
The helicopter crashed and they died.
And I say this not to try to make some sort of larger
application or to say something about Kobe Bryant's life
specifically, because I can't say this tonight, but I will say
this, that if you're in a crash, if there's great calamity, if
there's disease, if there's some sort of cancer, that it doesn't
matter how much money you have, it doesn't matter what's in the
bank. There is no protection that is
afforded in those situations. Oh sure you can trust in wealth,
but not all who trust in wealth will be saved.
In fact, the evidence is quite the opposite.
One of the richest men, whoever lives?
Steve Jobs, who created Apple from his garage, ended up having
cancer back in the early 2000s and received treatment and got
alternate treatments and doctors and bills and all kinds of
stuff. Probably accumulated enough
bills that. You and I couldn't even pay if
we had a whole lifetime to be able to pay him.
But he was able to pay it literally out of pocket because
the amount of money that he had, the best of doctors, the best of
care, the best of everything, and he died from pancreatic
cancer. Why?
Because money can't. Cure all issues of life.
And so we're the Bible's telling us that when we get to the place
where we are so holding on to that which we have because we
believe it Shields us or we believe it serves us in some
specific way, that we need to remember that when we get to
that place where we hold on to it that tightly, that's more of
a worship of money than it is a worship of God.
Because trust is being placed in riches.
Trust is being placed in things. Trust is being placed in items
instead of our ultimate trust being in God and God alone.
Listen, God is the giver of life.
God is the protector of life. God is the healer of the body.
God is the healer of the soul. And listen, I'm not saying
there's anything wrong with money.
I heard a preacher once say that money is the root of all evil.
That's not what the Bible says. It doesn't say money is the root
of all evil. It says the love of money is the
root of all evil. We have our priorities in the
wrong place when our emphasis is in the wrong place.
But know this tonight, that no matter what you try to hoard, no
matter what you try to hold on to, to be able to save yourself,
there's only one who could save save you from the issues of this
life, and there's only one who can save you the issues of life
to come, and that's Jesus Christ and Christ alone.
The steward understands he has to trust in God, not in his
riches. First Corinthians 4/2 Moreover,
it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.
A steward is faithful God, and he is as healthy and flourishes
as a branch. It says there at the end of
verse #28 that when our trust is placed in the right place, there
is a flourishing that takes place, that there is a health,
there is a vitality that comes to the heart, that comes to the
soul. Oh, don't hold on to that what
you have, whether it's your wallet.
Don't hold on to that what you have, whether it's your talents.
Don't hold on to that what you have, whether it's your
calendar, your time, your schedule.
No be liberal and how you give to God.
Be liberal and how you give to your neighbor.
Be liberal and how you give to your friends.
Be liberal how you give to your family, to your spouse.
Be liberal in all of these things.
And the liberal soul shall be made fat.
Remember, there shall be blessings and bounty and
healthfulness that comes when we do that which God has called us
to do. That's the prospects of the
righteous. But we also see verse #29
there's the problems of the fool, the problems of the fool.
Verse #29 he that troubled his own house shall inherit the
wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.
Now again, verse #29 might seem unrelated, kind of like we had
looked at verse #27 a little bit earlier in the morning and
thought that maybe that was unrelated to what we're looking
at too. But I would suggest to you this
evening that verse #29 fits very well in that which we're talking
about, those so far, the idea that troubling your own house
mouse shall inherit the wind. What is an inheritance?
An inheritance is something that is accumulated from someone else
and it's passed on to someone else.
Now, there's a lot of different types of inheritances that are
out there, aren't there? You can inherit money, you can
inherit land, you can inherit cars, you can inherit any number
of different things, real tangible things.
But you can't inherit wind. Why?
Because the wind is there one moment and gone the next.
It's not something you can box up, bottle up, save up and be
able to pass it on to someone else.
Well, well, what? What did I, what did I get in
the will? Dad?
What? What did grandpa leave me in the
will? Well, it says here he left you a
box of wind. Well, that would be awkward,
wouldn't it? That wouldn't be very helpful,
would it? If that was the case?
No, it wouldn't be at all. But we see that that when one
troubles his own house, it's like inheriting the wind.
It seems like something is there and it's there for a moment and
it's gone the next. I looked with some hilarity and
sadness, as many of you did, of the viral video.
You know what I'm talking about, a viral video, something that's
gone and all over the Internet and people are seeing it
everywhere. And this spread like wildfire
over the Internet. That happened right in our
backyard right at Foxboro just a few days ago of a concert that
was taking place at Gillette State.
Some of you smile because you already know what I'm talking
about, aren't you? Because it's all over the
Internet of of a concert that was taking place and they were
kind of going through with a camera and showing people on the
big screen. And all of a sudden, right there
on the big screen was a man and a woman that were kind of slang
with the music enjoying themselves until they saw
themselves on the screen. And both of them split.
And one of the band members who was I guess, watching what was
happening on the camera, and he said this, he said either
they're really shy or they're having an affair.
And that seems really funny. Until you realize the news was
it was actually the second. It was a married man and a woman
who was recently divorced. They're thinking that.
No one would ever know. In a sea of 70,000 people who
would ever know that these two were together until they were
plastered on ATV. That was about 100 feet by 100
feet. And not only did all in the
stadium know, people who took videos of the concert started
uploading it online, and all the world knows it was viewed over
70 million times in the last few days.
And there's a couple different thoughts I have about this, by
the way. First of all, the Bible says be
sure your sin will find you out, and that's a biblical truth.
The second is this, aren't you glad your sins aren't plastered
on a Jumbotron? I'm glad my life's worst
mistakes have been placed on a Jumbotron for everyone else to
see and for 70 million people to see.
No, I don't feel sorry for them. I'm just saying we ought to be
careful before we get too much pleasure out of these things,
before we realize we could be found in the same position
within the sins of our own heart.
But God has grace has not made it.
So that's the case in our own lives.
But you know, I said a lot of people got humor out of this.
And although there is that humorous thought of, wow, look
at them, they got caught. There's the sadness of there are
two families involved, children who were involved, who for the
rest of their life will be saddled with the fact that their
dad, their mom were on that viral video in 2025.
Oh, that video. And people will immediately
know. You know what happens when you
sow to the wind? You reap the whirlwind, and so
we as stewards need to make sure that we're investing in the
right things. If you're as if your
unrighteousness is on display, you may have riches, but that
may be all that you have. You know that man has as much
money today as he did at the beginning of the week.
Do you think he's happier now or worse off?
I'd say he's in a much worse spot than he was a week ago,
wasn't he? His wallet is exactly the same.
Why? Because there's more to life
than riches. Because there's more to life
than what you can count on the bank account, than what's in
your checkbook or what your debit card has on it.
There's so much more. The problems.
Of the Fool, and we must be careful of our own selves it.
And maybe he would say faster, I mean.
That's a very extreme example. I mean, I would never do
something like that. I can't imagine being in that
situation. I can't be imagine being in that
type of concert and listening that kind of music and do it
all. I can't.
I can't even imagine. I can't even fathom that anyway,
So surely this doesn't apply to me.
What? We don't have to be as foolhardy
as the most foolish to still exhibit the foolish behavior and
tendencies within our own life as well.
What happens when we ignore? The preached word.
What happens when we don't open our Bibles and read them every
day as we should? Or we open them and read them,
but we're reading it just to get it done for the day because I
want to be a good Christian? What happens when we ignore the
pleas of a Christian brother or sister who says please don't go
this way, please don't do this? What do we do?
We ignore the counsel of the pastor who lovingly says, I've
seen other people go this way before, but please don't go this
way. There is a better way.
There's the Bible way. What happens?
We can be just as much of the fool as the fool that we see
here in verse #29 Oh, we must be careful of the problems.
Of the fool, the number 30. I see verse #30 rather we see
before that the prospects of the righteous, the problems of the
fool. But in verse #30 I see the
propagation of the steward, the propagation of the steward.
It says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and
he that winneth souls is wise. Now, most of the verses we've
covered so far come from the future.
If you do this, this will happen in the future.
If you make this decision, you'll receive this later on.
If you forsake this in your life, then you will have
something negative that happens in your future.
That's everything that we've seen so far.
There is a cause and effect, A cause and effect, and the cause
is now and the effect will come later.
But here in verse #30 we see a little bit of a tonal shift.
We see a little bit of a shift in the verbiage that we have
here where it's not necessarily talking about something that
will happen in the future. It's talking about something
that you will receive live in your life now when you live the
stewarding life that God has called you to live.
The fruit of the righteous is a tree of the life.
He that when the souls is wise, when you invest in the right
things, when you invest in that which God has called you to
invest in, it's not just that there will be something in your
future that will be a blessing and a help.
But listen, you live the stewarding life.
It's a good life now. It's not just that it will be
later on. I'm just going to soldier
through. I mean, this life should be
pretty miserable if I be a steward.
But eventually I guess it'll be good.
And maybe it won't even be good in this life, but at least it'll
be good at the judgement seat of Christ.
And it will be good at the judgement seat of Christ.
Amen. That when you live the life that
God wants you to live, that there'll be gold and silver and
precious stones that we cast in the fire that will come out only
the Finder. And that we'll be able to lay
those at the feet of our Savior to be able to say thank you for
all that He's done for us. It will be worth it all like the
Him says. It will be worth it all when we
see Jesus. It is true, but I would submit
to you tonight, it's not just going to be worth it when we
live the life that God has called us to live.
It's worth it right now. It's worth it right here right
now where we live. It is worth it for you to serve
God now. It's worth it for you to be the
steward that God has called you to be now.
The fruit of righteous is a tree of life.
It reminds me of Psalm chapter 1, where it talks about those
who are not, those who were standing in the midst of the
sinners and in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he
meditate day and night. We see He shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth His fruit
and his season. His leaf shall also shall not
wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
So we come to the realization that when we live the life that
God has wanted us to live, we are green, we are fertile, We
are. We are the tree that has life
and vitality on it, not the gnarled up dry tree that is just
one step close to death, though that we can be that which God
has called us to be and even more.
In fact, in the Book of Revelation, it says that the
tree of life that is there is for the healing of the nations.
And I'm not saying that you will become the tree of life.
That's not what I'm preaching here tonight.
What I'm saying is that in the tree there is life and innate
right type of tree that has growth.
There is life. And where does that life come
from? Well, we're to be abiding in the
branches. He is the vine, we are the
branches, and this is what God has called for us in our life.
So what do we do that the steward is to be able to invest
in that which is right. But that word propagation, there
I said it's the propagation of the steward.
You know, to propagate is to live and to continue to bring
life. A tree that is healthy should in
essence bring forth more trees that are healthy.
They bear acorns. They bear fruit that has seeds.
And what does it do? A healthy tree should bring
forth more healthy trees. And you know that you and I, as
being the tree that God has called us to be, we should be
able to bring forth others as well into the Kingdom.
I love the second-half of that verse.
It's often quoted when we talk about soul winning.
We talk about telling other people about Jesus Christ.
He that winneth souls is wise. We've talked a lot about wisdom,
haven't we? In First Corinthians chapter #1
about what is wise and what's foolish.
We've been talking about that a lot on Wednesday nights here at
Liberty Baptist Church. For those of you who are guests,
we've been talking about it quite a bit.
If you want to know what real wisdom is, real wisdom is
recognizing who real wisdom is and telling someone else who
real wisdom is. That's what wisdom is.
Wisdom is looked at in so many other ways in the world.
Wisdom is looked at in so many other facets in this world.
But we have to get to the place that we understand Wisdom isn't
necessarily in a thing. Wisdom is in an entity, God
himself. He doesn't just embody wisdom.
He is wisdom. He is truth.
And those who are truly wise will tell other people, hey, you
need to know him like I know him.
You know, there's so many things that when we're convinced of it,
or so many things that when we're impressed by it, we want
to tell other people about it. If you ever bought a a certain
product or you've ever bought something that that was was
really helpful. To you that you wanted.
To tell other people about it. And I was talking with someone
recently about buying a car and I said, well, listen, I like our
car. We bought our car a year ago and
I went through all the reasons why I like our Kia.
Now, you don't have to like Kia's, that's OK, But I like it.
I like the car, how it drives, how it handles.
And I was very, in glowing terms, telling somebody about
how this Kia drove because I like it.
I think you'll like it too. I remember the first time I ever
saw an iPhone, I thought, how is someone going to make a call?
There's no buttons on it. That doesn't even make any
sense. There's a web browser on this
thing. How are you going to see
anything on the web browser? Because I was just used to
scrolling on a screen and that's the way that it works.
And I remember someone that I knew came up to me and they and
they started pointing at it and they started pinching it and
dragging it and expanding it. And it's like some of you are
young enough that you think that's no big deal.
This was a big deal. And I thought, this is
incredible. And he was showing everybody and
people were gathering around. People were visibly gasping over
this. Look at that web page.
I can read, I can make it larger, I can make it smaller.
And then the buttons appear and then you can call and then you
can you can listen to music and you can do all these things on
it. And people were saying, look at
this, you got to see this. Now listen, by now we're like,
not that impressed anymore, are we?
In fact, there's a lot of times you just kind of want to with it
because there's smartphones. But I feel like they made us
Dumber in a lot of ways. Can I tell you that if we can
get that excited about a product, if we can get that
excited about an experience, if we can get that excited about
any other entity of life, how much more?
Should we be ambassadors of Christ when He is wisdom?
The wisest thing you could ever do is tell someone else, hey, He
is wisdom. Need to trust in Him as your
Lord and Savior. There's nothing great, by the
way. We get tired of these things.
You get to know Him the more you know him.
You don't get tired of him the more you know Him, the more you
want to know Him. The more you read of Him, the
more you want to read to him, of him.
The more you pray, the more you'll want to pray, the more
you'll worship Him. The more you want to worship
Him. It's not the well.
The closer you get, the more I'll tell you it's it, it's
just, you're not going to like it.
I feel like that's the way with a lot of human entities.
They say, well, you know, when you're on the outside,
everything looks good. But the closer you get inside,
you, you see what it's really like and it's not as impressive.
You, you see the, you see the emperor behind the curtain, and
it's just not what you want it to be.
It's just not what you would expect it to be.
No, no. The more I see him, the more I
want to see him. So why wouldn't I tell someone
else so that they can live the stewarding life like I live the
stewarding life, but I can't do that unless I'm living the life
that God wants me to live. And by the way, soul winning is
all about stewardship. It's about realizing I have time
to reach these people for Christ.
Because what do we often say? I don't have time for it.
I don't have time to give them a track.
I don't have time to go to outreach.
I don't have time to be able to tell other people.
I, I, I, I want, I desire, I, I'd rather do someone else.
I'm not comfortable with it and saying no no.
I can't use those. My life belongs to Him, my time
belongs to Him, my missions money belongs to Him, and I want
to steward right so other people can be saved.
And the naked steward as well. The propagation of the steward.
So we see in verse #28 The prospects of the righteous Now
verse #29 the problems of the fool.
Verse #30 The propagation of the steward in verse #31 The payment
to the steward. The payment to the steward.
It says, Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the
earth much more than the wicked and the Sinner.
Much Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth,
much more the wicked and the Sinner.
That word recompense there means to compensate, to make return of
an equivalent for any given thing done or suffered, as to
recompense a person for services, for fidelity, or
sacrifices of time, for loss or damages.
Now listen if you are being the steward that God has called you
to be, you will not just gain. I believe that this verse tells
us you will literally be repaid by God for that what you do.
Now listen, if I asked you, hey, can you spot me $20 and by.
The way can you spot me $20? No, never mind.
Can you imagine if I asked you spot me $20?
Can I borrow it for a week? You may have reasonable
expectation that I will pay you back, but you know.
It could be that I have a downturn, it could be that I
just forget. It could be any number of
different things that take place.
And maybe I don't recompense you the way that I ought.
But do you realize when you live the stewarding life, when you
live the life that God wants you to live, that He will pay you
back every single time? And I'll put it to you this way,
He'll pay you back with interest.
That doesn't mean, like I said this morning, that if you give
10, you get 20. That doesn't mean if you give
100, you'll get 1000. It just means this.
He will so bless you and he will so give to you that you you
can't out give God if you give the way that God wants you to
give. If you have a heart that just
wants to help others and to serve others and to live for
others and to love others far beyond your capacity, that God
will put into your bosom far greater than you can ever
imagine. That's what we looked at this
morning that Jesus said, press down shaken shall men give unto
your bosom running over. There'll be a recompense,
there'll be a payment that will be made to you, and God will
repay you in this life, and God will repay you in the life to
come. We do this when you turn to
Matthew chapter 25. I believe this is illustrated
very vividly for us by Jesus Christ in the parable, Matthew
chapter 25. Likely you're familiar with it
This Evening in verse #14 Matthew 2514.
Here's a parable of stewardship. There's some servants that are
here, and it says this, for the Kingdom of heaven is that a man
traveling into a foreign country called his own servants and
delivered unto them his goods. So we know these are stewards
because whatever these servants have does what they have belong
to them. The answer is no.
He says he had some goods and he gave them to the servants.
So this is important. And he gave to one the five.
Talents. To another two and to another
one to every man according to a several ability and straightway
took his journey. Now when we see that word
talents there, it's not talking about talents like you can sing
or, or you can speak well or you have hospitality.
Although certainly I think we can make some applications
there. We're just talking about literal
amounts of money. The talent that's what would be
given one received 5 talents, an amount of five talents, 1-2 and
another one one. And it's interesting that it's
said by Jesus US that he gave everyone according to his
ability. Now I'll just say this, this
isn't the thrust of my message this evening, but I will say
this, believe it or not, there are other people who have more
money than you, more goods than you, more talents than you, more
abilities than you, more everything than you.
There are people that have more than you.
I don't think that's a surprise anyone tonight is there, but you
know the. Bible says that God gives to
everyone as he desires, according to his ability.
Listen, don't get upset at God by what you have or what you
don't have. May I remind you that there may
be someone that likely could look at you and think about how
much you have in the same way as you're looking up at someone
else at how much they have. There's always someone that has
more than us. And listen, there's always
someone who has less than us. Leave that to God.
Comparing ourselves among ourselves.
We're not wise. Listen, it's not up to the
steward to complain how much was put in his hand, it's up to the
steward to only use that which was given to him.
And so it says that there was given to his ability and
straightway took his journey. Then he that received the five
talents went and traded with the same and made another 5 talents.
And likewise he that received two, he also gained other two.
But he that received one went and dig to the earth and hid his
Lord's money. After a long time.
The Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.
Is that word reckon? Remember we saw that this
morning. That's not a coincidence that
we're looking at that here to reckon not, I reckon.
I never would have thought that there'd be people who get that
this morning, this evening. But I reckon like I reckon we're
going to. I reckon we'll go to that church
on a Sunday night, you know. Not that we're talking about
Reckon as in an accounting. The man came and was ready to
make an accounting, and it says this.
And so he that received 5 talents came and brought other
five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me 5 talents.
Behold, I've gained beside them five talents more.
And the Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful
servant, thou has been faithful over a few things.
I will make thee ruler over many things.
Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.
What happened? He received a recompense because
he was a good steward, he says. You had five, now you have 10.
Enter into the joy of the Lord. You will now receive far more
than you could have imagined. But he continues on to the one
that had two. And it says, And he that
received 2 talents came and said, Lord, thou delivers unto
me two talents. Behold, I've gained two other
talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well
done, good and faithful servant, thou has been faithful over a
few things. I will make the ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of the
Lord. Now listen.
One had a return of five, the other only had a return of two,
but they both received the same blessing.
Do you realize that tonight? Well, I may not be the biggest
tither in the church. I might not be able to give as
much. I don't feel like I have as much
to offer to the church. I don't feel like I can help
other people the way I want to because of my job situation or
my, my life situation where I am right now.
Well, listen, don't worry about what you can't do.
Just concern yourself with what you can do with what God has put
into your hand because the five talent man and the two talent
man both had an increase by what they had and God commended them
both both the exact same way. Well, I can't help, I can't
serve the Lord now I'm, I'm too young.
Listen, you can especially serve the Lord when you're young.
Well, I can't do all the things older folks can do and I can't
do all the things that that those who have experience can
do. And you might be an elder who
says, well, I can't do as many things as I used to do.
And I used to be able to do a whole lot, but now I can't do as
much as I used to do because my knees are aching, my back is
aching, my, my body is not what it ought to be.
Listen, don't worry about what you can't do.
Concern yourself with what you can do for God in his work.
And the five talent man, the two talent man both had the same
commendation. They both received the same
recompense. But then it says verse #24, then
he which had received the one talent.
Came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man,
reaping where thou has not sown, and gathering where thou hast
not strawed. I was afraid.
I went and hid thy talent in the earth, and lo, thou that thou
hast, that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto
him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I
reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed.
Thou oughtest therefore to put my money the exchangers, and
then at my coming I should have taken or should receive mine own
with usury. Take therefore the talent from
him, and give it unto him to have 10 talents.
For everyone that hath shall be given, and he that has shall
have abundance. But from him that shall not have
shall be taken away even that which he hath.
And he cast ye and Cassie the unprofitable servant.
In the outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of
teeth. The one that had one says I
can't lose it, I'm going to hide it in the Earth.
But he said something that was very revealing.
He said, I don't know if you caught this.
He said in verse #24 Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard
man. This was an unfaithful steward.
This is a man who did not do what his Lord had called him to
do. And I believe the fundamental
problem with this man was this. He didn't truly know the nature
of his master, said you're a hard man.
So I was afraid and so I hid it. You realize the other two knew
the same man. The other two knew his same
characteristics. But because they truly knew him
for who he was and they trusted who he was, it compelled them to
be stewards. I want to say this, and I don't
want to be unkind tonight, Liberty Baptist Church
especially, I want you to listen to me.
If you're not willing to live the stewardship life, if you're
not willing to trust the Lord in ties and in offerings, if you're
not willing to trust the Lord and that which He has told you
to trust Him and listen, it is indicative of a heart that truly
doesn't know the nature of God. That sounds harsh, but that's
the reality because the ones who knew him said we know that when
we give, we know that when you give to us and then we give in
return, that there will be a recompense.
And so we trusted you. We trusted the system that you'd
take care of us. And when we hold on because
we're just trying to make things work.
When we hold on because we're just trying to balance the
budget. When we hold on just because our
time is our time. And I need me time because me
needs me time. Now listen, there's nothing
wrong with having a little me time here and there.
There is not. But when our life is consumed
with me time and when our life is consumed with all of our
other things and our stuff and Kingdom type things are put off
to the side, friend, it shows us that you fundamentally do not
understand the nature of who God is.
I'm not saying you're not saved. I didn't say that.
But it seems very clear that this man did not know the master
the way he said he did. I'm sure he offered platitudes.
Sure, he talked a good game, but you know where the evidence was,
The evidence that he didn't know God was buried in the dirt,
because if he knew God, he would have taken that money out of the
dirt and he would have given it to others.
I say this not to chastise anyone tonight because I didn't
know who to chastise. And I don't know why I would
chastise you. I don't know what your heart is
and I don't know what you're giving is.
I do know this. Trust the Master that he can
recompense you. Trust the Master.
That he can take care of you. Listen, listen better than you
can take care of yourself. He can trust you, you can trust
him, and he can take care of you better than you can take care of
yourself. Because in the end, how much
man, doesn't it? How much land does a man need?
You may have thought I forgot about that.
I've been, you know, dangling that since about 11:30 this
morning, haven't I? How does the story end well?
This man pay him, goes out in the morning.
He's pretty happy. I mean, he's excited, he's
walking along, he's thrilled with his prospects and he knows
that he's going to get a large amount of land for a rock bottom
deal of 1000 rubles. But as he goes before he makes
that first turn, he convinced himself, he go a little bit
further and a little bit further, and he gets right about
to the place where he's going to take his first right turn.
And he realizes, and there's a bog just ahead in that bog.
I can grow flax in that bog. I can make a great deal of
money. I probably should just go beyond
that blog, that bog. And he does so and finally makes
his right turn. It's a little bit after lunch
and he realizes that he probably needs to pick up his pace a
little bit. But at the same time, listen,
he'll have the whole rest of his life to be able to enjoy this.
So why not just enjoy a little bit of it today?
So he sits down and rests for a few moments and then eventually
gets back up. And as he's walking, he realizes
I'm going to actually have to quicken my pace if I'm going to
make it back because I'm not even really halfway there, as
the story goes, and it's not a very long story.
We're not talking War and Peace here.
Literally, we're not talking War and Peace by Tolstoy.
You read War and Peace. I bet you have, Dave.
No, you haven't. All right, we'll work on that by
next week. All right, That's your book
report this week. He realizes he's not going to
make it because he's gone far too far in his thirst and his
quench and his desire, rather, for as much lane as possible.
He went way too far and he's never going to make it back.
He breaks out into a run and those last few moments he is
running at a breakneck. Pace, I'll let Tolstoy finish
himself. There's plenty of land thought.
Pay him. But will God ever let me live on
it? I've lost my life.
I shall never reach that spot
again. Payham remembered his dream.
He uttered a cry. His legs gave way beneath him.
He fell forward. And reached the cap with his
hands. Ah, what a fine fellow,
exclaimed the chief. He has gained much land.
Payham servant came running up and tried to raise him from the
ground but saw that blood was flowing from his mouth.
Payham was dead. The people clicked their tongues
to show their pity. His servant picked up the spade
and dug a grave long enough for Payham to lie in, and he buried
him in. Six feet from his head to his
heels was all the land that he needed.
You know what his recompense was?
6 feet for all that he desired and all that he wanted.
Now listen, I'm not a expositor of Russian literature.
I'm a preacher of the gospel. And I do know this, while it may
not seem like that has a lot to do with us, it has everything to
do with us. Listen, don't reach for those
things that will not last for eternity.
God does allow us to have some things in our life, and isn't He
good? He doesn't just give us our
needs, He also gives us some of our wants too, doesn't he?
Isn't he so good like that? I mean, God could just literally
give us the bread and water that we need and sustain us, the
housing that we need to sustain us, and that's it.
But we have good food, we have good houses, many of us have
cars that are able to take us from here and there.
We have enough money not just for our needs, but also our
wants and our desires. We serve a good God, but pay
him. Realized he needed a lot less
than he really did. First Timothy verse chapter 6
verse 7 says for we brought nothing into this world and it
is certain we can carry nothing out.
You know you need much less than you think and others need much
more than you may notice. God has called us to be a
steward. He's not a hard man.
No, He's the most gracious and loving and just God you could
ever have. If you know Him, you will desire
to live the stewarding life. Thank you for listening to the
sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.
If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we
can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at
info@mylibertybaptist.org. Or you can visit us this Sunday
at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.
May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.