VBC SERVICE 1/19/25 BROTHER CURTIS

MATTHEW CHAPTER 25

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Amen. If you want to be turning in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 25, I'll meet you there in a moment. We are in the middle of a conversation about stewardship. I mean, if you were here today and hadn't been here the last couple weeks, I'm going to catch you up quickly and kind of recap. But I want to first start by saying many times in the church, when we hear the word stewardship, we think, oh, they're going to preach about tithing or financial giving. And guys, it's not a secret. I'm not afraid to talk about finances. Here's the deal: money is a tool that we need, right? It's kind of hard to pay your bills without money. It's hard to buy groceries. I mean, it's a tool you have in life. And the same thing is true at the church. So many times people say the church ought to do this. The church ought to care for people. Well, guess what? The church doesn't have any money without people. It's just like the government. The government ought to do that. Well, you know where they get their money, right? They remind you every Friday. The church is the same way. And so, yes, that's part of it, but but the key is this, and we've talked about this those last couple weeks. The Bible says in Matthew chapter 6, where your treasure is, your heart will be. And we talked last week. If you want your heart to move, one of the greatest ways to do it is move your treasure, move what you value, and man, your heart will follow it. But we've given you a couple principles. And if you're uh here today and haven't been here the last week or two, we'll catch you up quickly. The first principle is this uh you've got to figure out where it comes from. Uh, you know, understanding this, where do blessings come from? The Bible says every good and perfect gift comes from above. And the reality is this money is the number one competitor for lordship in our life with Christ. That's just a fact. Uh scripture bears it out, our our our lifestyle bears it out, our priorities bear it out. And so we we kind of challenge this. There's two parts to your finances. Number one, figuring out his part. His part is he owns it all. Amen. Not complicated, but God owns it all. Our part is very simply to obey him. And uh it all it's all his. And so uh to understand, we talked about this whole concept that there needs to be a transfer of ownership because we believe there was. We believe that it's all ours, and we need to know it's all his. And so we got to give back to him what was rightfully his. And I cautioned you, and I know this is kind of a strange thing for me to say, uh, but please, whatever you do, don't trust the Lord with your finances till you trust him with your soul. And I say that because it's the thing, biblical principles work, and he'll bless you if you do what's what the Bible says. And so many people, I think, trust him with some area of their life, and you may trust him with your finances and see some blessings that come from that and be mistakenly led to believe that you must be right with the Lord because he's allowed some blessings to happen in your life. So I say, don't follow with your finances until you've trust him with your soul. Because the most dangerous place you can be is in a place where you see some blessings of God. The Bible says it rains on the just and the unjust. And just because you've seen some good come your way doesn't mean that you've reconciled your soul to Christ. And so this morning we want to talk about this idea of good stewardship. The first thing you better steward is your soul. We're gonna come back to that at the end. It all belongs to Him, and so we've got to be careful with that. Number two is this, uh, not only where it comes from, but where it'll take you. And then we talked a lot last week about this. What you do with what God entrusts to you will determine your destiny. There again, your soul, what you do with what God's given you will determine your destiny. That's true in your finances. You make foolish decisions, guess what? You're gonna up at a bad destination. It's not complicated, right? Keep making foolish decisions. How did we get here? And the people around you are going, you've been on that track for a long time. It's not hard to see, right? Where you, the decisions you make, what you do with what God's entrusted you, will determine your destination. That's true financially, it's true relationally, it's also true spiritually. Where your treasure is, your heart will be. There's a trajectory there. If you want to change your trajectory, you better move what you value. And we talked about a lot of that last week, and we talked about debt, and we talked about how Haggai uh presents to us, he says, and if you weren't here, man, that one of the passages that I think you just, if you if you don't identify with this, maybe you're just in an extremely blessed place this morning. But Haggai says in chapter one, if it feels like you're earning wages to put it in a bag full of holes, he says, you need to consider your ways. Like that's not how God wants it to be. God's people should be blessed. Amen. And I'm not talking about some prosperity gospel. I'm talking about God will bless you. Again, his principles work. In James chapter four, we talked about we need to include God in our plans. GJ's done a great job teaching our church that if your plans don't include God, your plans are not of God. It's not complicated. James doesn't say don't go build a tower. It says, Hey, before you do it, say, hey, if God will, we will do these things. And so we talked about there's a paradox there. We've got to include God in our plans. But the thing that Jesus valued more than anything was people. And man, we need to we need to be reminded that in Matthew chapter 6, we talked about not laying up for ourselves treasures on earth. Lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth grow up, and thieves don't break through and steal. For your treasure is your heart will be. And man, yesterday we had a great reminder of that. Because you better be real careful where you invest your life, because it's a vapor. Peers for a moment, then it's gone. And God has entrusted to us the free gift of salvation. So it's not just our finances, it's also what we do with everything. The gospel and all these things. And we talked about last week in closing, and I'm not, I said last week, I'm not, or Wednesday night or Sunday, it doesn't matter. Somewhere in the last week I've preached this, my brain's a blur. But not, and I and I, and I was hesitant, it was last Sunday morning to use the illustration, but I told you guys, when we sat down at my dad's table Tuesday morning, there were some things on the table that he had unwrapped for Christmas, but he had yet to unpack. And I think there's too many Christians, they've accepted Christ, they've sort of unwrapped the gift, but you've never unpacked it. This idea of stewardship is letting God permeate, letting Christ into your life. Let his love not only be in you, we claim to have the Spirit of God in us. Amen? Three of us. That's awesome. We're Christians this morning. The Spirit of God is in us. And if he's in us, he ought to live through us. Like the love of Christ in us, living to others. And we talked about this week, even to my dad. I'm like, what was so exceptional about him? And I'm and to be honest with you, I can't put my finger on him. But if God is love and God's in you and he's living through you, hey, we ought to love people. Amen. Hey, there it is. That'll change your life. That'll change the lives of the people around you. That's what good stewardship looks like. If you want to change, you know, your heart needs to be in the right place. You love the right things, you value the right things. And so this morning we come to principle number three, and I'm gonna try to move quickly, but I got a whole lot of notes. So for those of you that think I talk too fast, there's got to be balance for those of those that don't want to stay till about two. So we're gonna move quickly today, okay? Here's principle number three. What you spend will always be more important than what you make. Some of you are like, yeah, I need to make more. Well, hold on. If you don't do, the Bible says if you can't be entrusted with a little bit, why would he entrust you with more? And at the same time, if you're not faithful over a little bit, you won't be faithful no matter how much God gives you. And so there's this principle about that. But the Bible talks, as we've talked about, in the area of finances, that poverty and shame cometh to him or shall be to him. This is Proverbs 13, 18, that refuseth instruction. But he that regardeth reproof shall be honored. There will be, there will be blessing that comes to those that learn in life. Let me just say this: uh just a challenge completely seems off topic, but it's not one of the uh mentors that God's placed in my life, one of the teachers that I've had the privilege to sit under. I was listening to just some um teaching this week, and and he made this statement says, It amazes me how many people go to they graduate from college and never read another book.

unknown 7:50

Right?

SPEAKER_00 7:50

I mean, if you want to continue learning, y'all do understand how fast the world's moving. Like if you think you know it all, you may have known it all two days ago, but the world has changed in the last two days. You may have known it 20 years ago, but I got news for you. The world's changed in the last 20 years. We've got to continue to study, amen? The Bible says study to show yourself approved unto God. Like we we need to pay attention, we need to regard reproof and invite the word of God into our lives. And and so there's a there's a concept about being teachable, and you've probably heard it said that the only person that you can't teach anything is the person who knows it all, right? You ever know anybody like that? Anybody got a person in mind? I do. When I say every time I say that phrase, there's an individual comes to mind. I'm like, he was a just a guy I worked with, and he was that dude. It was like I tried and tried and tried to point, but he just he already knew it all. And there were some people that they'll show up and they'll they'll let you know uh while you're teaching that they're not listening. Right, Jeremy? DJ, there's some people they'll show up and while you're leading worship, they're gonna let you know I'm not worshiping. Not happening, not today. Hey, and we've all had those days, just to be fair, okay? But if it's a prolonged period of time where you refuse to worship, that's an issue that you need to address. At the same time, there's those that you teach and they're not gonna they're not gonna listen. And we've all we all know what that looks like, but we're all responsible for what we do with the truth, right? You know those people that that love to speak truth but refuse to receive counsel? You ever have those? And they always want to give advice, never want to receive it. Foolish with what God's given us. There's a concept Dave Ramage teaches about, which I think is pretty profound. And he's talking about finances, of course, that's what he does, but he says, you know, there's a there's an American proverb that says many of us that grew up, and maybe maybe you didn't have this privilege of growing up financially tight. Um my parents grew up in a world where things were a lot tighter. Most of us have never been hungry. But there's a generation of y'all that say, no, no, no, we we were. And that generation, because things were tight, they taught us to eat everything on our plate. Come on, anybody had to do your mom and dad, you gotta clean your plate. You gotta eat everything on your plate. Here's what Dave Ramsey says financially. You it's not wise to eat everything on your plate. Some of us could could do with leaving a little bit on the plate. Can I get amen right there? It's true, it like for real. This is true in terms of dieting, right? It'd be good to leave a little on your plate. And you'll see more success. It's also true in your finances, by the way. If you spend everything you earn, you're probably not gonna get ahead. You're always gonna be at zero. We talked about a couple weeks ago. If you spend more than you earn, like the average American, eight to ten percent more than you earn, you're spending every year, you better wake up because you're fixing to hit a wall that you can't recover from. But this same principle applies in so many areas. Our finances, both personally and corporately, as the church, as individuals, as families. But guys, we say, and I think we're even convinced, man, if I had more, I could save more. The Bible says that's not true. It says if you're not faithful with that which is little, you won't be faithful in that which is much. And so we come to Matthew 25 this morning, and there is so much here. We're gonna try to dig in and we're gonna try to get through really the whole thing. And there's there's multiple passages here that I've spent multiple weeks preaching individual sermons on, but we're gonna try to digest the whole thing quickly. So I'm gonna have to summarize part of it, but I want to encourage you to go back and read it in its entirety. But it says this in verse 1, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Verse 2 says, Five of them were wise, five were foolish. Verse 3, they were they were foolish. Those that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took of their vessels, uh took oil in their vessels with their lamps, and while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, and behold, the bridegroom cometh and said, Go out to meet him. And then all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, in verse number eight, are you with me? Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. Now, just a just a note here on reality. Foolish people are always saying to wise people, give me some of yours. Now, I don't have time to unpack all this, but this morning, if you find yourself regularly in that camp, hey, I give me of yours, give me of yours, give me of yours. Here's the deal. They they want, and I say this all the time. It amazes me how many people want my life, but they don't want my scars. Give me what you have. Give us of your oil for our land. And I want you to see, this is not my opinion this morning. We're reading scripture, amen? They've not made wise decisions. Well, you have. You bought extra oil, and we're gonna read it, but I want to tell you what, just get ahead of this. They had gone out, they had bought extra oil. These others did not, but they want you to give them part of what you bought. I want to benefit from you, and if you don't give me what I want, I'm gonna blame you. Because I didn't do what you did. We talked about last week. We're to be gracious, amen. God's people are to be generous, we're to be gracious. But there's this concept that, again, just the way DJ phrased it one day in our conversation. He says, Too many times we want to rob people of their Egypt. That's the image in my brain. Like the children of Israel made some bad decisions, they went down into Egypt, and it cost them. Parents, our kids go through hard times. You know what we want to do? We want to bail them out. We want to rob them of their Egypt. Sometimes people are suffering the consequence of their sin, and we want to come in and we want to we want to fix it. Psychology calls that enabling, is the word you may recognize it as. Spiritually, I think it's robbing them of their Egypt. There's some lessons they need to learn, and if they don't learn them, guess what? They're gonna stay on that cycle. They want us to come in and bail them out. They want the wise to bail out the foolish. They want you to give them what you've spent your life wisely gaining, and they haven't done it. Guys, here's the deal. We're supposed to be gracious. But not rob them, and so there's this balance, just like last week. There's this sort of, it seems like a paradox, it's dynamic tension between these two principles, and how do we resolve that? As there's times when people are going through hard times, and sometimes we just have to prayerfully let them. And by that I don't mean this morning that we give up on people, that's not what I'm talking about. But I heard another guy teaching on this just recently, and I'm gonna share with you some principles that I learned from him. He said, Listen, it's not a matter of giving up on people, but there's a time you have to give people up to God. And he said this: he said, There's five people that you can't help. Five kinds of people, not just five people. That would be awesome, right? If it's just five. Read your notes, Curtis quits. Okay, so here's the five kinds of people. Number one, people who don't think they need help. You know what salvation requires? The Bible says we confess with our mouth. You have to ask for help. If people don't think they need it, Ryan gave the illustration in Sunday school this morning. If someone's drowning, and you come to them, you know what they're gonna do? They're gonna fight you and they're probably gonna drown you. Second type of person this morning, I told you you gotta move quickly. People who know they need help, but they don't want it. How many times in scriptures Jesus walk up to somebody? I always go to the pool at Bethesda. Two principals there. Here's a guy, been laying there like 30 some years, right? I can't remember the 30 and years, whatever it was. And Jesus goes, Do you want to be made whole? That's a weird question, to be honest. It seems insulting. Do you even want to be made whole? Now, here's the weird part about it. If you've ever heard me teach this in the last probably 20 years, I saw something years ago that I've never I can't unsee. The Bible says there's a multitude of sick, infinite folk laying around this pool. Jesus heals one and walks out the gate. What if any other person would have asked him for help? There's never a time in scripture somebody asks Jesus for help, he doesn't help him. Do you even want help? Because you can't help somebody that knows they need it but but doesn't want it. The Bible says where there's no vision, the people perish. That's that's that same principle. Number three, people who people want help. Uh you can't help people who want help but they don't want it yet. I know that's a weird nuance, but again, the image in my brain is Moses. Old traveling musician used to come by the church when we were kids, and he had this song, he'd sing one more night with the frogs. It's a weird concept. You remember Pharaoh in Egypt? That plague comes through, frogs everywhere. Moses comes in and says, Listen, if you'll repent, God will take the frogs away. And he goes, you know what? Take them away in the morning. Like that's just a dumb statement. Like I want to, one more, I want to sleep with these frogs. The Bible says it's in their ovens, it's in their houses, it's in their beds. That's just crazy. Right? But you ever known somebody? Like, yeah, I'm gonna get my life right. I'm gonna get straight. I know, I mean, you guys, I'm just can I meddle for a second? I know I need to stop. But I'm gonna play with it a little longer. I'm gonna play with them a little longer. I know I shouldn't be doing this, but and I'm gonna stop, Brother Curtis. I just want one more night with the frog. Or with him, or with her, or with it. It doesn't make any sense. It's no more, it's not, it's just as foolish when we do as it was when Pharaoh did it. And we can laugh at him and it's like, man, how how crazy. And how many times have I had that conversation? I want help, I just don't want it yet, right? And then you can't help people who don't want help from you. They may want help, they just don't want it from you. Parents, you know this is true. How many times? You told your kids you tell them and you tell them and you tell them, you tell them, and then they come home, they're like, hey, so-and-so said this. Like, I've told you that a hundred times. They didn't want help from you. Your mom, your dad, you're irrelevant. Y'all know that as parents, right? Your word becomes irrelevant. That's why we have youth pastors in the church. We can preach it. Someone come along. Some, if you can get a peer to echo it to a teenager, it's revolutionary. If an adult says it, it doesn't matter. And the same thing's true as preaching. I can't tell you how many times people have come up within the last six months. Had somebody come up, Brother Curtis, you're never gonna believe this. I heard a guy teaching on the radio and he made he taught this principle. Man, it changed my life. I mean, I've been, it's like my eyes were opened. I'm like, I preached that Sunday morning. You were on the, well, I won't say which row you were on. You were right there, right there. And I preached the same thing. And they, but somebody else said it, and you know what? Hey, it doesn't matter. Some plant, some water, God gives increase. Amen. We all do it. They want help, they just don't want it from you. And then lastly, guys, people who aren't willing to do what it takes to get help. I already said it. If they want your life, they don't want your scars. Jesus says, take up your cross and follow me. You gotta want it bad enough. If you're one of those that says, Yeah, I want to get right, but you know what keeps you one more night? Is you don't want it bad enough. Remember when Jesus sent Peter fishing? He says, Hey, go down the shore, catch a fish, we've got to pay our taxes, catch a fish, he's got a coin in his mouth. Peter could have said, That's just no, no. That didn't make sense. But he had to trust Christ. You remember another time when Jesus shows up on the seashore? One of my favorite scenes in scripture, Jesus comes, this is the resurrected Son of God. Has been he's conquered death, hell, and a grave. The boys have gone back fishing. Jesus is just strolling down the seashore. Y'all catching any? Which is just hilarious. That's an inside joke, by the way. Jesus had a sense of humor. They've already done this once. They're like, no, man, we fished all night, nothing. Hey, maybe I'll try the other side. They don't even know who they're talking to. It's maybe it's the morning haze off the water. And I just picture my mind, the disciples going, hey, you remember that time that Jesus told dudes and we did that? Hey, just for old time's sake. Except the first time he said, cast down the nets, and they only let down one partial obedience, and the net broke, and it was this whole thing, and people had to come help them. This time the Bible says they threw out the net, they catch 153 fish, the net doesn't break, they drag them to shore. Right? Oh, I love that scene. The old hymn come and dying. Except what I love even better about that is when they get to shore, they drag the, because you know Peter was a real man, by the way. The Bible says Peter drags the net to shore with 153 fish. That's a grown man, okay? I don't care if they're like perched, that's that's a lot. And then come and dine. Oh, Jesus has bread and fish on the fire, the Bible tells us. And then the disciples do what most Christians do. They want to belly up free buffet. And Jesus goes, uh uh. You bring the fish you caught. I know it runs the hymn, guys. But Jesus didn't put those fish in your net for nothing. Like there's some work still to be done. Yes, he'll bless you, but at the same time, what are you gonna do with what God's blessed you with? Oh, I want the free buffet. No, no, no, you bring in the fish you caught. You gotta want it. You've got to want what Jesus has. You you've got to be willing to do what it takes to go back to those fish and fillet them and get them ready and bring them to the fire and wait on it and cook them. And sometimes we just don't, we just want instant process. Amen. And thank God salvation is a moment in time. But Ryan said in Sunday school, sanctification's a process. This idea of becoming like Christ. And I gotta hurry, verse 9 says this. Those are the five kinds of people you can't help. The foolish said, give me what you got. And the wise answered and said, Not so. I know this doesn't sound like your typical sermon in a normal church, but we're still just reading the Bible, right? Unless there be not enough for us, you go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. In other words, we already went and spent. We we bought ourselves, we planned ahead. While they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut, and afterwards there came also other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, which tells This is more than about a marriage. This is about the Lord. And he answered and said, Verily I send you, I know you not. Those verses ring familiar to anybody when there's like good, I'm going to use lowercase Christian people standing in eternity before Jesus, saying, We deserve to get in. And he says, I know you not. I know you were religious. He doesn't argue with them about their resume. They're trying to tell him all these things he did. He said, Yeah, but I don't know you. Again, not giving up on people, but giving them up to God. There's these ten virgins that prepared for this wedding. Five wise, five foolish, five ready to meet the groom, and the other half weren't. It's that simple. Jesus is telling us that this is what heaven's like. You better be ready. Again, guys, this rings awful heavy today in my life. You better be ready for heaven. You better be ready to meet your eternity. We're singing about it this morning. When I stand before the throne, hey, are you ready to stand before your creator? And then in verse 13, we get the parable of the talents, which again we teach these separately, but I'm going to try to get it all in this morning. So again, I've got to summarize, I've got to paraphrase some things, but get this. He says in verse 13, watch therefore for you, neither know the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. And he says, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man who travels into far country. And he gives in verse 15, he gives five talents to one, two to one, and one to another. And he basically entrusts them. This is financial talents. We hear that word and we think about abilities and all this. In the Bible words, it means it was a financial denomination, okay? He gives them talents, this financial ability. Gives one five, one, two, and one one. And uh verse 15, are you there with me this morning? I know it's on the screen, but I love you to write your Bibles. Mark this down, underline it, write this in the in the margin. Again, we say so many things in church that sound good, they're just not true. God doesn't need your ability, He just needs your availability. You heard that? Sounds good, but I've told you before, if you have zero talent and you're available, still kind of useless, let's be honest. And I don't care how good your ability is, if you're not available, you're still useless. So it takes the two together, right? And I love one of the things my dad had in his journal yesterday. And God equips, he doesn't, you know, call the equipped, he equips the called. And then if you read the bulletin yesterday, it says he equips the call when they when they finally are ready. When they desire it, God will equip you. I think there's people sitting all in this room this morning, he's called you. You just don't desire it. You're just waiting for him to magically equip you and make you great at it, guys. Sometimes you just got to get up and start walking in obedience. And here's what happens: these five talents. You know why he gave one five, one, two, and one one? Read it. According to their he didn't give you your ability for nothing. We are to use our ability for him, not just our financial ability, but our mental ability, our capability. God gave you these blessings to use what he's gonna give you. And yes, part of it's financial. And the one with five goes out and works and invests it and multiplies it, makes five more, and the one with two makes two more, and the one with one doesn't do anything. He sits on it, he buries it. And the master shows back up. And to the one with five, he says in verse, I think it's 21, he says, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You've taken what I've given you and you've done what you should have done. Like you went, you used it, and you multiplied it. To the one with two in verse 23, well done. You did what you should have done. You've been faithful over a little, I'll make you ruler over many things. Verse 24 and 25, the one with one, he comes and he says, You didn't do anything with what I gave you. Well, I was I was afraid. I have all these excuses. As Jesus is not okay with your poor excuses or your poor stewardship. We we need to get our hearts around that. He's not okay with your excuses or your poor stewardship. Verse 30, to cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. Again, a clear indication. This is talking more than about just some money. He's talking about spiritual reality. And it addresses what we do with our talents. And it is our finances, but it's also our time and the gospel and our focus and our testimony. Don't waste it on things that you can't change. The Bible says, lay up for yourselves treasure in heaven. And then the next verse is shift again. Shifts from monetary things from the talents to the use of our talents, the use of our finances, the use of what God's blessed you with. God gives you, again, He blesses you not to increase your standard of living, but your standard of giving. I think sometimes I know you're not supposed to let your left hand know what your right hand's doing, and I think sometimes we're so afraid to talk about blessing in the church that we don't share the fact that God blesses people. He's faithful. But as I thought about this last week, guys, God has God has blessed. I I remember times as a kid, I would see what my parents were giving to the church, to missions, and I'm thinking, hey, we're broke. I mean, like there's things I need. There's a whole lot of stuff I want. And I watched God bless two of the most faithful people I've ever seen. They gave more than probably. And I can honestly say this, anybody I know. And I've also seen God bless them more than almost anybody I know. This is not disconnected. This is not some weird theory, it's not some guy on TV promising you stuff that's not in the Bible, guys. This is real. So verse 31, he says, listen, then when the Son of Man, again he's talking about real, when the Son of Man, when Christ comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all the nations. I've already asked you, are you ready for this? The Bible says every knee will bow and every tongue will confess. In verse 32 and following, it says they shall be gathered all the nations, and he shall separate them one from the other. And this is where it gets problematic. Not everybody is staying in heaven. I think it's a great witness and tool people want to believe everybody goes to heaven. Well, the being in heaven means you're in the presence of Christ in eternity. I believe everybody goes to heaven for a moment. The question is, how long you stay? Everybody's gonna bow, everybody's gonna confess, and the vast majority are gonna hear, depart from me. And I said this last week, and I don't have time to completely repreach that sermon, but if you end up in hell, it will not be his fault. Because he came and he paid the price and he shed his blood and he did everything necessary for you to receive salvation, and he offers it to you like a free gift. And some of you haven't even unwrapped it. Some of you have unwrapped it, but you haven't unpacked it. And this is what it looks like to unpack it, these following verses. Guys, understand, Jesus takes how you treat other people seriously. As you read this passage, and again, I'm gonna summarize, I don't encourage you to read it this week, this whole chapter, one chapter of the Bible. Surely you can pull that off this week. Go back and focus on this. But verse 33, he says, he says, the sheep on the right and the goats on the left. Sheep are in this context, sheep are good, goats are bad. That's why he's talking about this. They understood that. And the king shall say to those on the right, Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you for the world, for the foundation of the world. And then he begins to talk to him in the next verse. He says, Because I was hungry and you gave me to eat. And when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink, and I was in prison, you came and you visited me. Like you you did what you were supposed to do with the things I gave you, like you actually ministered to people. And their response, guys, get this, is this. And they they come up in verse number 39. And they say, When? Like, when did we do that to you? And Jesus says, Every time you did it to somebody else. Like when you stewarded your life, I was watching. And I saw it and it mattered. And I care about how you treat one another, and I care about how you live your life, and I care about what you do with what I gave you. Everything from the financial blessings that allowed you to buy the bread to what you did with the bread once you bought it. You bought the bread and you ate it all. Or you saw somebody in need and you shared. Again, the rich young ruler that comes to Christ, he just says, Hey, take what I've given you and share it with the people around you. And he wasn't willing to do it and went away sad. And these people are like, When did we even get it right? Like, I don't, I don't even remember getting it right. And he says, Oh, inherit the kingdom. Then he shall say, verse 40 to them that are on the left, or verse 41, to them that are on the left apart from me. Because I was hungry and you didn't give me to eat and I was thirsty and you didn't give me to drink, and I was, man, I was in prison, you didn't visit me. I was a stranger and you didn't take me naked and you didn't clothe me sick. And I want you to, and I know I've preached this before, but guys, verse 44 is one of the most shocking verses in all of scripture. You know what the response is? When did we not get it right? Like, when have I never gotten it right? Like, when did I not get it right? Like, I am the shining example. Can you like, who's arrogant enough to say that? Again, he's talking about spiritual reality, people standing in eternity before Jesus. Not me and you fronting on a Sunday morning at church, pretending we're good. That's not what this is people standing before Christ in eternity, reading their resume. Look here, I got it right. I cast out devils and I did all these wonderful works in your name. Man, I when did we not take care of everybody? Like, man, I and he says, when you did it not, under the least of these. If you think you've always gotten it right, verse 44, you're pretty arrogant. Can we just be honest? That's a shocking answer to me. But in verse 39, if you're here this morning and you think, man, I Brother Cardis, I've rarely gotten it right. God sees your humility. So the question for us is this morning, he says in verse 45, then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I send you in as much as you did it not, to the least of these that you did it unto me. And these, the ones that there's a word we use in culture that is called self-righteousness. Like, when did I not get it right? I'm good enough. Like, I'm a generous person. I'm a good old boy, a good old girl, I'm a good lower case Christian. I don't cuss out loud. I'm gonna get my life, I mean I'd have every intention to get my right my life right one of these days. And Jesus says, no, I take it personally. And he says, go away into everlasting punishment. But the righteous is under life eternal. He said, How to get righteous? It's not by giving somebody something to eat. It's not by that that's not that's not how you get righteousness. He says, You did it unto me. And guys, the only way that every good and perfect gift the Bible says comes through love. The only possible way we have to get anything right is if we first get right. And by get right, I don't mean you, you know, stop doing the wrong things. I don't mean you, we ought to do all that. But it's not some rules we follow, it's not some religious hurdles we jump over or jump through, or some ritual we partake in. The Bible says there's one name given among men whereby we must be saved, and it's the name of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, I am John 14, you know, the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. Some people say that's brother, that's that's awful exclusive, Curtis. I agree. I didn't write it. It's above my pay grade. Jesus said, There's one way. Guys, this thing is stewarding our lives. Just like I told you, man, please, please don't just practice biblical financial principles before you trust him with your soul. Please don't get caught trying to be a good person before you ever trust Christ. Because what you'll do is you'll buy into the satanic trap of, hey, I'm a good person. I carry the groceries for my neighbor, I'm a good guy, I'm a good person, I'm generous, I give to charity, I do all these things. Amen. When I get to heaven, I'm gonna, I deserve for a holy, perfect, sinless God to allow me into his spotless kingdom. Think that through. It's perfect, it's sinless, it's spotless. We don't have any part in that. Because we got this sin problem that we don't know what to do with. In every one of these passages, as Jesus is talking, he says, this is what the kingdom of heaven is like. And the question is, how do we prepare? In Matthew 16, if you'll turn there with me, I'm gonna read one more passage and we'll be done. God will bless you if you follow Him, He'll bless you if you practice. But he'll again, financial stewardship works. Wisdom is wisdom, whether you're saved or whether you're lost, whether you're prepared for eternity or not, being a good person is helpful, whether you're saved or whether you're lost. But please don't try to be a good enough person to earn your way into heaven. Because Jesus said, I'm the way. He didn't say you're the way. He didn't say get all this stuff right. That's what religion teaches us. It's what man has come up with. Every religion of the world is us trying hard enough, working harder, trying to jump high enough, give enough, do enough, be enough to somehow please a holy God. And it's us climbing this ladder that we know we don't have the ability to climb. Christianity, true biblical Christianity, is Christ coming down to us. He says, You guys can never do it, but you know what? I'll come to you. I'll meet you there. The Bible says he came, he was born of a virgin, he lived a sinless life. So he could shed his blood. Like the actual substance of all those symbols, all those lambs that were, the Bible says it was never possible for the blood of bulls and ghosts to forgive sin. But one day there was a lamb coming. When Jesus shows up, John the Baptist tells his disciples, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. That's the guy, that's the one. And Jesus lives out perfection in front of humanity and then dies, sheds his blood, perfect blood, to pay for our guilt. Back to Matthew 16, Jesus says it this way. Talking about the stewardship of our lives, guys? This is it. Again, it's not my opinion, but the very thing that we've kind of been working toward this morning, here's how Jesus phrases it. In Matthew 16, he says, So whatsoever, or for whoso, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Seems backward. And whosoever loses life for my sake shall find it. Remember, I told you at the beginning, what you what you save will always be more important than what you spend. We're gonna spend our lives on this earth. The Bible says, like a vapor. It's here and it's gone. We're spending our life right now, one breath, one moment, one hour at a time. This hour that we've spent here, you'll never get back. Some of y'all like the hours up when the curse, I'm hurrying. But this time, I don't know about you guys, man, time is such an oppression. It's one of the things that I get like even now, just the shortness of time, the brevity of life, it's it's part of the curse. It's as much a part of the curse as pain and sorrow and weakness and sickness and sin. They were created as eternal beings, but sin broke this thing and put us under the curse of time. And Jesus says this whosoever shall save his life shall lose it. And then he asked, and if you're kind of having a hard time understanding verse 25, that's why he kept talking in verse 26. He clarifies it very clearly. And he asks this question What has a man profited if he gained the whole world? I asked you last week, man, what are you chasing? What are you spending your life on? What if you get it all? What if you obtain every goal you wrote down this year? You man, you actually accomplish every New Year's resolution, you obtain everything that's on your wish list. Jesus says, What good does it do you if you gain the whole world and lose your own soul? Or what would you give in exchange for his soul? This idea of stewardship, guys. It's not about finances, it's about everything. It's not about one part of your life, it's about every part of your life. And again, this thing of getting right with God is it's not a matter of I'm gonna try harder, I'm gonna work harder, I'm gonna be more. And I know we've got some guests in the house, but I've told you I'm a visual thinker. And I was talking with somebody just in just in recent weeks, and and they God was drawing them towards salvation, and I was talking to him, I said, listen, that's what religion does. And I said, I know it's a weird image, but the old progressive ad or the old man and the waiters with the dollar bill on the end of the fishing pole, and he's just like, every time they he's just I'm like, if that's your view of God, you should be ticked. Like, that's religion. Jump higher, work harder, do more, but you're never gonna get it. That's not God. God's the one who said, Hey, I'm gonna I'm gonna bring salvation to you. I'm gonna come, I'm gonna pay the price. Some of you here this morning, you've never done that. Can I tell you, if you gain everything else, but you die without Christ, you will lose everything. And again, if you end up in hell, it won't be his fault. He did all the work. The Bible says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. It's not complicated, it's not difficult. Call upon the name of the Lord for salvation. Let me be clear, it doesn't mean anybody that's ever expressed the phrase, oh God, gets to go to heaven. That's not what he means. So, what does it mean to call upon the name of the Lord? It means to admit your sin and have this glory. He says there's an exchange that needs to take place. His blood for your sin. Have you ever done that this morning? Has there ever been a time? I'm talking about like a time, this is not a process, like I've tried to be good. No, no, no. Has there ever been a time, a moment in time, that you can go back to you where say, I brought my sin to Jesus? And I quit saying, I'm gonna try to do more, and I'm gonna try to work harder, I'm gonna try, and you realize I'm never gonna do enough. It's not gonna happen. Christ, all I can do is bring you the mess. The Bible says that our when Christ when God looks at those that have trusted Christ, he sees the blood of Christ, the perfect, sinless blood of Christ instead of your mess. Because he treated his son like we ought to be treated, so that we could be treated like his son. Has ever been that exchange happened in your life? Because guys, here's the deal. We've been confronted this week with the brevity of life. What would you give in exchange for your soul? And then secondly, maybe you've made that exchange, maybe you've accepted Christ and you know that heaven is your home, and that's good, you're to be commended for that. You've unwrapped the gift, but back to that image. Have you ever unpacked it? That last part of Matthew 25 is that passage. What's it look like to unpack it, Brother Curtis? To share the love of Christ with the people around you. Take what he's given you and love on other people. Steward not only your finances, but your life and your passion and your compassion and your abilities and your talent and help those in need and understand that he blesses you to be a blessing. And so many of us as Americans, we're like, I'm blessed, and it's all mine, and God's going, well, then I'll just have to give the rest to somebody else because you're kind of storing it up there. And I gave it for you to give it out. Or maybe you're here this morning and you didn't even get past the first illustration of men. There were five wise and five foolish, and Brother Curtis said, I know which one of those I fit in. I'm constantly asking other people to bail me out or to fix my problem or to say, hey, perhaps we should figure out the problem. Amen. Can I tell you this? The stewardship of life, what you save will always be more important.

unknown 43:11

Right?

SPEAKER_00 43:11

What you spend. You're spending your life. But have you taken care of your soul this morning? If you save your life, you lose it. But if you give your life away, you'll save it. Again, that's not works for salvation. That's what happens once God saved you. Once the Holy Spirit lives within you, remember we started talking about that? Once he lives within you, once you've made that glorious exchange, hey, you'll begin to spend your life for those around you. The love of God will flow through you. You'll begin to do all those things that you were trying to do before, but you couldn't pull off. Because you didn't have the means to do it. And so this morning, here's how I want to close the circuit. I'm gonna ask some musicians, come, we have a time of invitation. And I'm gonna ask you to stand to your feet with your heads bowed and your eyes closed. And it's very simple this morning. The stewardship of our lives. You're here this morning and you're chasing everything else. And Jesus asked the question. What if you get all of it? But you don't get me. What if you get all of it but you don't get heaven? What if you get all of it that you're separated from God and you've loved Christ for all of eternity in a place called hell? What good did that? And he says, I so don't want you to end up there that the Bible says, God so loved the world, and he gave his own young son. Christ gave his life for you. That's what he's asking us to do. So first off, he gave his life for you. Have you ever received his sacrifice? And if you have, he gave his life for you. That means his life is in you and ought to be flown through you. I'm gonna ask you today how you do it on that scale with stewardship of spending your life for others. You may be here this morning and say, Man, cover something. You got a lot of room for improvement. Can I say you're probably a good company? When did I ever get a cry? Let me get around the whole time. But if you're here to crap that says, When am I not gonna cry? That's a dangerous place to stay. That's what hypocrisy is what believes, that's what arrogants believe. That's what Satan wants you to believe is you're fine without Jesus. Jesus says, What would you give? In exchange for your soul. If you're here this morning, you can't go back to a place in time where you trust in Christ. Your sin problem. Or maybe you're curious about it, or you've got questions or how you could possibly know. The Bible says today is the day of salvation. So I'm gonna pray for you. We're gonna have something. Need somebody to pray for you. Or maybe you just need to come this morning and grab something clear. You need the salvation that will be Christoph, just completely praying. So we have to pray. Lord Jesus, we thank you for your love, we thank you for your goodness. We thank you most of all for the shipwork for the perfect land of God that takes away the sins of the world. We try every other thing to find satisfaction to find salvation. Yet you just make it so simple you're the way. No way to talk about you. There's no other way. There's no other way to join, there's no way to peace. So many other things. We've got this one up right now, you would turn our hearts toward Jesus. We would move what we value, we would change what we treasure so that our hearts might be. They're unsure. If they were to die, they would have spend it for God. Give them the courage to come and ask. Let them see for themselves how they need to come. Well, thank you for doing that in our past, which all you in the name of Jesus. We pray for thank you.