 Today we're in Luke chapter 16. We're gonna be looking at a parable that Jesus gives here and we're gonna read verses one through 13 together and then get into this parable, but we're actually gonna go up to verse 17. It's the parable of the unjust steward. Let's begin reading together at verse one here in Luke chapter 16. I'll read verses one to 13. We'll get into our study, the unjust steward. Luke writes in chapter 16 verse one. He also said to his disciples, there was a certain rich man who had a steward and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. So I called him and said to him, what is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship for you can no longer be steward. Then the steward said within himself, what shall I do? For my master has taken the stewardship away from me and can I dig? I'm ashamed to beg. I have resolved what to do that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of his master's debtors to him and said to the first, how much do you owe my master? He said a hundred measures of oil. So he said to him, take your bill and sit down quickly and write 50. Then he said to another, and how much do you owe? He said a hundred measures of wheat. Then he said to him, take your bill and write 80. So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. And he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. Therefore, if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own? No servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And so the heart of this parable, the parable of the unjust steward. As we begin, I'll just share with you its heart. The heart is how we use our earthly goods. It's really a parable that relates to proper stewardship. And that's because in a very real sense, nothing truly belongs entirely to us. Actually, we know everything created belongs to the one who created all things. And so we simply are stewards. We are house managers, that's what a steward is. We are house managers over someone else's belongings and the belongings that we are managing belong to God. The Bible tells us in Psalm 24 verse one, the earth is the Lord's and everything in it. David said, King David said in first Chronicles 29, 14, who am I and who are my people that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you and we have given you only what comes from your hand. And so stewardship is simply a principle that relates to us managing the goods of someone else. God owns all things. He gives to us the responsibility of managing his affairs. Paul spoke concerning this in 1 Corinthians chapter four, verse two, and he said there's a major requirement for being a steward and he said it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. And so God who owns all things has entrusted to us stewardship, management. We have the obligation to handle the affairs of the Lord in a legitimate and proper fashion. And so what we see in this particular parable here is that we all must give an account of our stewardship. God requires full disclosure concerning how we managed his property. That's what Jesus is speaking about here in Luke chapter 16. You see in Romans 14, Paul tells us at verse 12, each of us will give an account of himself to God. And so each one of us will one day stand before the Lord accounting for those things that he's given to us and how we manage them. And so as we look at this parable, that's what we're looking at. It relates to our usage of earthly goods. It relates to proper stewardship because nothing truly belongs to us. Everything belongs to the Lord. And the question is how do I manage that which has been entrusted to me? And so as we look at this parable in the first two verses, Jesus begins by speaking of a certain rich man who had a steward and an accusation has been brought to this rich man concerning the steward. So notice with me as we begin here that the man is accused of financial mismanagement. It would seem that an audit has been conducted in financial irregularities. Something's been found wrong there. Irregularities were discovered. And so what has happened is the manager has been fired because he's been embezzling. That's what's taken place here. And so as he is losing his stewardship, he's greatly concerned. And so he now goes into a survival mode. What am I going to do? What is it that I can do to survive? He's saying my master's taken my stewardship away from me. Now I want you to see something here. Notice how it says in verse three, the steward said within himself, what shall I do? My master's taken away the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig. I'm ashamed to beg. He doesn't go into anything like repentance. There's no sense of personal grief whatsoever. There's no indication of regret for what he's done. The response that Jesus wants us to see is that the man has a complete self-centered concern. He says, I cannot dig, I'm ashamed to beg. I'm not gonna humble myself to become a common day laborer and I'm too proud to beg. Now interestingly enough, both of these ways of obtaining money were at least honest, but instead of doing something honest to provide for himself, he comes up with a scheme. You see, in the years of his stewardship, he had lived a very comfortable life and he doesn't wanna change the life that he's been living. Using his master's goods had contributed to a level of luxury that he wasn't about to give up easily and so he makes a resolution. It's found in verses four through seven. I'm resolved what to do. That when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses and so he comes up with a plan. He remembers people that he was in the habit of doing business with. And so in order to secure a place this day after he's fired, he begins to ingratiate himself to some of the merchants. Proverbs 26-16 says, the lazy man is wiser in his own eyes than seven men who can answer sensibly. This guy is basically coming up with a scheme and the scheme relates to survival. And so what he does is he says, how much do you owe my master? And then he says, you can pay him off with less. In doing so, he ends up ingratiating himself to those people and they're gonna welcome him now into their homes and care for him because he treated them in that manner. Now as this is taking place, here we get to the heart of the parable because in verse eight, it says the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. And then Jesus says something very interesting here. He says, the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. Now what an interesting thing to say, the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. Now is Jesus saying that it is permissible to steal from other people in order that we might live luxuriously? Well, of course not because that would obviously violate everything we know in scripture because lying and scheming and stealing are never commended. So we immediately can know that he is not commending what this man has done in terms of how he got things done. So what would Jesus be commending? Because I want you to see that in verse eight, the master commended. So the question has to be asked if we're gonna understand what Jesus wants us to understand. We have to ask the question, then what is he commending? What is it that he says is a good thing? And what he's commending is his single-mindedness to take care of himself. He's saying that this guy knew how to take care of himself. That is something that is common to the sons of this world. They know how to take care of themselves. They know how to make sure that they get exactly what they want and they are in the world willing to do anything to obtain it. Anything to obtain it. We see that all the time. I mean, I don't even have to really illustrate that. I'm fascinated by some of the things that I see. Sometimes greatly disturbed, many times greatly grieved in our political situation that we have now and I'm not gonna go into politics, so don't worry about it, but I watch it. And I say, you set the rules in Michigan and Florida and now you violate them, why? Because you didn't get what you want and then you'll find ways to get around the original things that you were saying interesting. We see it, it's called hypocrisy and duplicity. It's Republican, it's Democrat, it's really human because when you want something bad enough, you will work overtime to get it. You will do anything in your power if you want it bad enough. And when it comes to survival, that's exactly what Jesus is talking about. You see, the sons of this age, the sons of this world know what it is that they want and this is what Jesus is saying. The sons of this world know what it is that they want and they go for it, 100%. That's why he says the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light because they provide for their here and now more than believers provide for their eternity. They make sure they have the things that they want right now and they'll go after whatever it is that they want and sometimes they're willing to lose everything that they have for that one thing that they really want. They're willing to lose the governorship of New York for the one thing that they want. That's just the way it is. I don't know how people can get caught up in sin that they know is gonna someday be, it's gonna be exposed. You can't get away with it. You can't get away with it and you know it when you begin. There are guys who use company computers to go on the web and check out pornography when they know that there's somebody there who monitors the use of that computer. They know it. They know somebody who's got records of every place that they've gone. They know that and yet they think they can get away with it and it amazes me when you want something you are willing to lose everything if you can have that one thing. There's no doubt about that. They will provide for themselves and they hear and then now. And if it's something that will keep them alive they most definitely will do everything they can to make sure they stay alive. And so Jesus is speaking concerning the fact that this unjust steward knew what it is that he wanted to the degree that he pursued it and he's not commending the lying. He's not commending the stealing. He's simply pointing out that this guy is shrewd because he made sure that he had a place to sleep and some food to eat and that's how he went about doing that. And he says they know what they want in this generation and they are wiser because the children of light have not been providing for eternity. That's the point he's making. Now as a minister of the gospel I've had opportunity over the years to travel and to see many, many countries and many of the countries that I've traveled into are deeply impoverished. I've seen extreme poverty in Mexico and in Colombia, in the Philippines and in India and other places and it has left tremendous impact on me. And it amazes me as impoverished as some of the countries are that I've been into. India comes to mind. The Philippines comes to mind. Incredible poverty. Poverty that I'd never seen anywhere in my life. I mean, when you fly into Bombay and you get off the plane and you go into a sealed airport, it's sealed the area that you go into, you can still smell the decay, the rot of trash and sewage in this major city. I mean, you've got over 16 million people living in that city with many millions living on the streets. I mean, you'll get in the bus that they take you to your hotel and you'll go through the medians as you're driving down the street and on the median, there are cardboard houses. People actually are living on traffic islands. We were driving in one location in India. We were driving in a van and it's very hot. It was in the 90s close to 100 degrees. And so the windows are down because there's no air conditioning in this van. And as you're looking, you can see a lake. At least I thought it was a lake. It was a large enough to water ski on. It was as far as I thought it was a lake but as we drew closer to it, it turns out it was a lake of sewage. Never have seen anything like that or encountered anything like that. We had to close those windows immediately, I have to tell you. It was absolutely unbelievable. There are children that actually have people that basically own them because the parents are so poor, they sell their children to somebody who uses the children to beg so that anything the child gets will bring it back to the person who owns them. And that's how this child makes a living. Some of these people have taken babies four and five years of age, have broken their arms and let them heal in a broken fashion so the child will walk up to the American tourist or the European tourist and just lift their little arm up at you and they'll stick their hand out. I am telling you, by the ninth day, the first time I went to India was their 16 days. By the ninth day, I couldn't take it anymore. I actually called home and wept on the phone to Marie. I said, I have never been around such pain, such tragedy. In one of the cities in Calcutta, there is a place called the Women in Cages. It's called the Women in Cages and they'll say, do you want to go to see the Women in Cages? And they'll take missionaries there and what it is is women who literally live in cages that are stacked and they have their babies and what it is is these are prostitutes and they, men will walk through and see them and point to them and then that's the one that they're gonna have. Some of them having babies there because they have children through these relations and that's how they make their living. Guys, if you've never seen that, I know it's hard to believe. And I've seen that. I've been around that and it leaves an impact on you that you cannot believe, that you will never believe. To see cities like that, to be in Manila, Philippines and to see on the sidewalk which is in a normal neighborhood on the sidewalk, cardboard houses lining the sidewalks in the community there because they have no place to live. To go into a McDonald's in the Philippines and see a little girl standing in the front begging because one of the guys tells us this little girl here is begging, obviously doesn't have any money but McDonald's is in this neighborhood is a very nice restaurant. They have armed guards with the M16 standing at gates there when you go in and out at the McDonald's because of all the crime. It just amazes me. I've seen the poverty in so many areas and it has left an amazing mark on my spirit. And yet in all of that poverty, there are countries, these countries, India and Mexico and all the rest have been saturated, saturated by American and foreign business. And these businesses are making money off of them. Advertising is everywhere and our products, American products are sold throughout the world in the economically stable as well as the financially unstable. You will go in and you'll see American cigarettes. You'll see Pepsi Cola and Coca Cola. You'll see McDonald's everywhere. I have to my shame, eaten at McDonald's in Paris, in Munich, in Santiago, in Kowloon, China, in Jerusalem and Manila. They're everywhere. And every once in a while, I'm sick enough to wanna eat a McDonald's hamburger. Burger King, a place where, in India, a place where they worship cows, they have Burger King. And there are people there who are scarfing them up. We've eaten at Hard Rock Cafe in Tel Aviv and Madrid. I mean, they're all over. American corporations and businesses you know are everywhere. I've eaten KFC and Starbucks and Al Torrito in Tokyo. Domino's Pizza, Lay's Potato Chips. You see Levi's, Lee Jean's, you see American hair products, American beers and wines, American cars and televisions. You see Nike's and Reebok. You see T-shirts and sweatshirts with company logos marketed in impoverished nations. You will see people walking wearing these logos. Yeah, they may be knock-offs but they're American products and you see that. It's everywhere. And American corporation and people who are after the dollar because that's the bottom line now, isn't it? Have a tendency of selling their product everywhere throughout the world with no conscience whatsoever whether it's good or bad for that country, of course. As long as we have our bottom line. That's what I've seen. You want business, you market. You advertise. You do everything you can in order to get it done. You know Mickey Mouse? There's a 91% recognition of Mickey Mouse by American school children. And the image of Disney has been sold as the most fun place in the world when in many ways I would have to say as a Christian and as a pastor, what is behind the scenes is much more perverted than fun. But you see that. The world has the funds and the world has the physical resources to market their product. If I were to ask this congregation, which I'm not that rhetorically, if I were to say who is the greatest TV evangelist, you might think for a while and you might say something, well there are Billy Graham is still the best known evangelist on TV. I'd say Billy Graham, even if he's not doing live crusades anymore, you might say well, there are guys like Luis Palau and Greg Laurie's getting a lot of attention now. If I said what is the number one TV evangelist, we have a tendency of thinking of Christians and have a tendency of thinking of those whom I just mentioned. But the greatest TV evangelists are ABC, CBS and NBC. They're brainwashing America 24 hours a day. 24 hours a day. And commercials are constantly going, constantly you're being fed commercial after commercial after commercial. And so that makes sense to me when I read verse eight and Jesus says the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. The world pulls out all of the stops to advertise what it believes in. There's a system, it's a system that generates billions and billions of dollars for cosmetics, for fast foods, for entertainment and they sell one thing to you every time you hear one of their commercials. You are never happy until you have what we sell you and what they sell you has to be new and improved every couple of years. But they are constantly saying that to us, aren't they? You will never be satisfied until you wear this product, until you eat this food, until you drive this car, until you've gone to this location. You will never be satisfied. You cannot die happy if you've never eaten you know at El Pollo local. I mean that's how it is. It amazes me. Now, the thing that's interesting to me and found in verse one here in chapter 16 of Luke's gospel is there's an accusation that this man was wasting his goods. So when you see that Jesus is speaking about someone who wasted goods you have to ask the question how do children of light waste God's possessions? If the world is shrewd in their generation and uses their means to do what they want to get what they want, then how do we as children of light waste the things that God has given to us? Well we do so by failing to prioritize. We don't put his kingdom first very often. Sadly we don't. And we don't budget accordingly. Very often believers actually admire the materialist and the materialist is the one who ignores eternity. The Bible in Psalm 49 verses 16 and 17 says do not be afraid when one becomes rich when the glory of his house is increased for when he dies he shall carry nothing away. His glory shall not descend after him. The Christian answer or understanding would be found in 1st Timothy chapter six verse six where Paul says godliness with contentment is great gain. As Christians what we do is we pray. We pray that the Lord increases our vision for eternity because if I have a vision for eternity I prepare for the future. If I believe with all of my heart that God has given to me his resources to use to expand the kingdom of God then I pull out all the stops in order to do that. To be a witness for Jesus Christ. To use the things that he's given to me to further the gospel of Jesus. That's why Jesus in Matthew chapter six verses 19 through 21 said this. He said do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal for where your treasure is there your heart will be also. And so an eternal vision is intended to motivate the people of God to use our resources properly. Eternity and the knowledge of it that it's before us should motivate people to serve God and invest in his kingdom. Jesus wanted to teach his disciples that it's found in John chapter four verses 35 and 36. When he said to them do you not say four months more and then the harvest? I tell you open your eyes and look at the fields. They are ripe for harvest. Even now the reaper draws his wages. Even now he harvest the crop for eternal life so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together. It's not four months from now Jesus said you have to have eyes to see it's now. So here's the question for us as believers as we look at this parable that is pointed towards our heart. Am I more shrewd than someone who lives in darkness as a child of light? Am I using the resources that God gives to me properly? You see in verse nine he says I say into you make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon that when you fail they may receive you into an everlasting home. In other words use your finances wisely even though it more often than not is used selfishly. Rather than trusting riches use the material things God has given you for his glory. Invest in his kingdom. He's saying God shall admit you if you make faithful use of his gifts and his graces. It's interesting how he says in verse 10 he who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. It's interesting to me because financial faithfulness is basic to the Christian life and Jesus regards that as being the very least. The very least. If you're faithful in your finances he says that is being faithful and that which is really the least. Now when you are faithful to the Lord one of the things that has amazed me is how he is such a blessing God. The Lord is a blessing God. And the scripture points that out we all know that Malachi chapter three verse 10 where the Lord says bring the whole tithe into the storehouse that there may be food in my house. Test me in this says the Lord almighty see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it. I believe that the Lord is a blessing God and that's all that Jesus is speaking about. He's saying listen if you're faithful in the small thing God will give you something greater but in many ways we're not even faithful in the small things and that's the point he's making. He says in verse 11 therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous man who will commit to your trust the true riches and if you have not been faithful in what is another man's who will give you what is your own. So if you do not faithfully steward God's resources he's not gonna give you what has true value. God has given us material things as stewards. So we're faithful to do so but if we're not faithful in the material why would he trust us with the true riches which are heavenly riches? So he says you begin in the small things and God will give you the greater. Verse 13 no servant can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God in mammon. The word mammon is earthly riches that's what it means earthly riches. It's impossible to serve money and God simultaneously. That's why the writer of Proverbs in Proverbs 23 verses four and five said do not wear yourself out to get rich. Have the wisdom to show restraint. Cast but a glance at riches they're gone for they will surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle. Just look at them but don't covet after them. Don't pursue them, pursue them because they give you false promises. Riches give you false promises. They give you a promise of happiness and joy. They give you a promise that you're gonna be satisfied. But I guess I'm speaking to a group of people that understand that's just not true. There's a God shaped hole in every human heart. And when you try and fill that space with anything other than the Lord it just doesn't work. It just doesn't work, it doesn't. I know I've been young and now I am old. I know through experience, I know. I know that when I was young I was thinking man if I only had that, if I only had this, I'd be happy if I only had it. Sometimes I was glad that I couldn't have it because I'd be miserable wishing I had it and it was just something like a goal in my life. Boy if I had that. But I've been around it long enough to know that there's only one thing that really gives you peace and that's a relationship with the Lord. That's the truth. There's only one thing that can bring you real joy and that's a relationship with the Lord. There's only one thing that can give you love and that's a relationship with the Lord because you may enjoy that car and who's to say you shouldn't? I mean cars are fun to have and who's to say we should be walking everywhere? Well there are some who think we should but I don't think so. I think driving's cool, I enjoy it. Nice cars, great to have. Good sound systems, love it. I don't have a problem with that. But that isn't my God. That isn't my God. My possessions don't possess me. They're not the motivations of my life and I've learned that through just growing up I guess and I've learned that through studying the word of God and asking the Lord can you help me to have a pure vision, can you help me to have a proper vision and it all comes down to the bottom line of relationship with God and relationship with people. I promise you. I mean as I've shared before when you watch somebody that you love going to be with the Lord, their things aren't the things that you want. You don't want the inheritance, what you want is the person. You want that person. You don't want the things that they have. You want them because that's all that really matters. Them, you don't cry for things. You have great loss when that person that you're in love with is left when they're gone. I was talking to a friend of mine, a pastor who's been pastoring for his church for as long as we've had ours, about 27 years. I've known him for a long time and I saw him yesterday and was talking to him and I asked him how are you? And he wasn't looking very good to be honest with you so I asked him how are you? And he says, well, he says if you want to really know, I said yeah, how are you? He says I'm not doing that well right now. He says my wife went home to be with the Lord eight months ago and I'm surviving, I'm surviving. She was his high school sweetheart. They've been married 34 years. She had cancer and she died. And he honestly said I'm not doing well. You see it all boils down to relationship. He wouldn't have been that sad when I have a flat tire, I promise you. I've got a, my car was smashed. He wouldn't have been that mad. There's always another car. You can always change the tire. It's all relationship guys. And it begins with the Lord and it extends to people. And God has given to us things not so that the things can control our lives but that we can use those things to enjoy life but also to be a blessing to somebody else. But unfortunately, most of our young life is in the pursuit of acquiring things. And then when we get wiser in our older age we realize that was empty pursuit all along because the water that we've been drinking has been salty. It didn't quench our thirst. It only provoked us to want something else. Maybe this'll work. This relationship will be better than the last one. Or this house is gonna be nicer than the last one. And this degree will take me further than the last one. I mean, you can just do that over and over and you can just figure it out whatever it is that you're pursuing. And so God gives to us His things so that we as believers can faithfully manage them. And we can see that I can be a blessing to others. And rather than hoarding it for myself I need an eternal vision. I have to make a choice though because I can't serve two masters. I can only be passionately in love with and serve one. Which one's it gonna be? And that's what Jesus says. No servant can serve two masters. He either will hate the one and love the other or also be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Now, verse 14, the Pharisees who were lovers of money also heard all these things and they derided Him. So as they're listening and they've been listening to Jesus more than likely since He began teaching as we've been looking in chapter 15 here to chapter 16. I'm certain that because this is continuing teaching that they've been listening to Him as He's been speaking and so they hear Him speaking about money and all and they just begin to mock Jesus. They begin to laugh at Him for what He just said. See, they're greedy men. And because they're greedy, they begin to just mock Him. The Bible tells us about them in Matthew 23, 14. Jesus speaking says, woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You devour widow's houses and for a pretense make long prayers. You're gonna receive greater condemnation. He said, you're greedy. You will pray for them because they give you large gifts. You see, what happened is these were people who thought that righteousness was gonna be evidenced by the finances they have. And so in verse 15, He said to them, you are those who justify yourselves before men but God knows your hearts for what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God. And so what Jesus does here is He begins to address the sin of hypocrisy. This is what moves them to cover it up. Notice He says what is highly esteemed among men is an abomination. You see, as I said a moment ago, Pharisees thought riches were the product of their faithfulness and revealed their righteousness because the law in Deuteronomy 29 verse nine said, keep the words of this covenant. Do them that you may prosper and all that you do. And they thought they were keeping God's law. In Deuteronomy 30 verse five, the Lord your God will bring you to the land that your father's possessed and you shall possess it. He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. So they're looking at Jesus and Jesus is poor. So in contrast to them, they're thinking God obviously is not working in honoring Him but He is honoring us. And so they loved money and Jesus speaks to them. He says, you work to be admired by men but the more you work to be admired by men the more disgusted God is with you. Proverbs 29, 23 says a man's pride will bring him lobe but the humble in spirit will retain honor. And so he's saying what you think is good God has a problem with. He has a problem with your greed and he has a problem with your pride. They made fun of Jesus because they believed that they were righteous keeping the law and being blessed financially. Jesus says what you esteem highly God hates because what especially is hateful to the Lord is the arrogance of your heart. He says in verse 16, the law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone is pressing into it. It's easier for, and it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. So he says the law and the prophets were until John. John in other words, John the Baptist was the last prophet and he's the one who tied together the Old Testament with the new work that was done through Jesus Christ. And so he says that up to John, John being the last prophet, the word of God has been speaking concerning the Messiah who is to come which is of course Jesus Christ. He says in verse 16, the kingdom of God has been preached and everyone's pressing into it. To enter into heaven requires self-denial and discipline and an earnest desire. And that is the result of hearing the gospel and it's called a discipleship. He says in verse 17, it's easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail. Now, when he says one tittle, in another passage he speaks of one jot and one tittle, a tittle is a mark. When you're writing in Hebrew, it's an accent mark. It would be similar to lines that differentiate letters for us in the English language. Say you've got the letter L, you make the capital L and you have the letter T, you have your lines there. So the letter T, they're both lines, but one has like a leg, we'll say one has a top. Well, that's like a tittle, that's what he's speaking about. What he's speaking about relating to that is that God's word is for sure. It's a sure word and every letter of it is inspired by him and all prophecy will be fulfilled and so he's saying that God's word is true. Now, when you study the word of God you discover in the Old Testament there are over 300 specific prophecies that relate to Messiah. That's why when you study the gospels you'll find that there are purposes and reasons for the writing of those gospels. You will, for example, look at the Gospel of Mark and you know that the Gospel of Mark is a gospel, a message that was really to the Romans. So when you study Mark it was written to Gentile, to Romans and Jesus in the Gospel of Mark is presented as the servant because in the Roman mentality a servant was the highest thing to be a servant of Rome. So Jesus is presented there as the servant of Rome but when you look into the Gospel of Luke as we are you see that Jesus Christ is presented as a perfect man. He's the ideal man. When you look into the Gospel of John you see that Jesus is presented as Messiah but when you get into Matthew you know that Matthew is an apologetic, it was written to Jews. That's why from the very beginning to the end you'll see Matthew say this was written in order that it might fulfill that which was written by the prophet who said. And so you see in the Old Testament over 300 specific prophecies that related to Messiah. So Jesus is simply saying that the Old Testament is summed up as the last prophet has come John and the Old Testament prophecies are sure. And so if you wanna have a relationship with God he was telling these Pharisees and all who were listening to him you need to trust in the law or not the law, in the word of God and understand that the law of God was intended by God to be a school master bringing you to faith in Christ because one of the things about the law of Moses and there's several things you could point out about it but one of the things about the law of Moses very simply put is this, is that it reveals to me that I'm a sinner and that I need help, that's what it does. I don't know what it means to covet until the law says thou shalt not covet, Paul says and then it awakens in me all manner of covetousness and I now am able to identify the things that are passions and I think are normal that God says I'm not right, they're sinful and what happens is I get to the point where I say God, you say I shouldn't lie, you say I shouldn't steal, you say I shouldn't be an alcoholic, you say that I shouldn't be going out and doing these things that I'm doing and all of that. What am I gonna do? I'm a miserable person because these things are making me miserable and now I understand what's wrong with me. It's an issue of sin and not just my upbringing or not having money or an education. What can I do? And the gospel presents to us Jesus Christ and the law brings us to Jesus because it awoke in me a need for a savior, I need help and that's basically what Jesus is pointing to. He's saying God's word is fulfilled in Messiah. John the Baptist came preaching a message of repentance the last Old Testament prophet, pointing you to Messiah and so rather than you being a lover of money and thinking that your blessings are coming because you think you're keeping the law, you need to understand that the law was actually bringing you to a place of need so that you could accept salvation through Messiah Jesus who is here teaching you that you're a steward of the things of God but because you like to accumulate wealth into yourself and you're not generous towards God or man, you ultimately stand to receive greater judgment because you're really a child of the darkness and not a child of the light because a child of the light has eternity in view and pursues the things of God so that they might be blessings to others whereas a child of darkness doesn't do that at all and child of the darkness just accumulates things for themselves and gets the most out of life now because they don't have a hope for eternity. So this parable is a very powerful question really for me I guess for us as we read it and that is which is me, which do I wanna be? For me as I read this and as I've studied this and as I've prepared this, I would say I don't wanna be a lover of money. I wanna be a lover of God. I wanna understand that I can't trust in deceitful riches because they're gonna fail. You know like we saw with the dot com millionaires putting all their money into that and then losing it or people who are trying to become very wealthy by purchasing homes and keeping them and selling them and ending up losing everything because of that, because we thought that that bubble would last and it didn't. When we put all of our hope in material things they're gonna let us down. But when we put all of our hope in the Lord and we live reasonably and budget accordingly and put the kingdom of God first, we're safe. We're safe. So it's a choice I have to make. It's a choice we all make. It's a choice that Jesus calls us to.