Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the necessity of recognizing our unfaithfulness as Christians and the importance of seeking God's grace to address our spiritual needs. He reflects on the parable in Luke 16, illustrating how the unfaithful steward took action upon realizing his shortcomings, urging believers to acknowledge their need for Christ. The sermon highlights that true faithfulness comes from understanding our dependence on Jesus, who is the ultimate faithful servant. Beach encourages the congregation to repent and turn to God, recognizing that only through His grace can we fulfill our purpose and live a life that reflects Christ.

We are so aware, Lord, of our utter need for you, and yet we're not aware of it. There's more growth, Lord. We must grow more. We thank you, Lord, for where you have brought us, and, O Lord, how we know that it is you alone and your grace that has brought us thus far. But, Lord, there's more. There's more depths that you want to bring us into. There's more depths of light that you want us to walk in. We serve a big Christ, a great Christ, and, Lord, we do pray that you would enable us to continue to experience the grace that will lead us on, lead us on to where we can more and more and more experience a life that is utter for you. Utter, Lord. Lord, we know that only you can do this, and we look to you, O God, for this. We look to you. Please, Lord, help us today. Help us today, Lord, we pray. Luke chapter 16. We are not in the intense rush that we normally are because there's an event occurring here this morning, so we're not under that pressure to wrap things up real, real quickly. Luke chapter 16. We read this for the past two weeks now, and let's bow our hearts for a moment, Father. We are very much in need of your grace. We're very much in need of your help. We're very much in need, Lord, of your provision this morning. We only want to hear you. We only want to know what you're saying to us, Lord. We want to know, Lord, and understand your word. We want your word, Lord, to be a living word to our hearts, and so we acknowledge, Lord, that our need today is that we would hear you, that we would understand exactly what you're saying to us now, Lord, at this moment. Please, Lord, we ask for the help of the Holy Spirit, who alone is able to show us the things of Christ, and who alone is able to open up the heart and enable us to understand. Thank you, Father. Thank you, Father. We just want to stand in agreement with all that you say, Lord. Give us that kind of a heart this morning, Lord, a heart that agrees with your word. We pray for Jesus' sake. Amen. I'm going to read part of this parable just to help us remember. Remember, the key verse is Luke 16, 8. That's the key verse of this parable. And the Lord commended the unjust store because he had done wisely. That's the key thought here. This is what the Lord is trying to get us to understand in this parable. And as our sister Joan rightfully commented, this parable follows a whole train of thought that Jesus is trying to communicate. He actually begins, and if we have time, we're going to get into this. He actually begins back in Luke 14, and his thought continues. The same thought of the Holy Spirit continues in Luke 14, Luke 15, and on through to Luke 16. He's trying to, with the most deepest compassion that is possible, he's trying to help people who were not aware of their true condition to see it. Because as Joan said, he was the embodiment of grace. But does grace help us if we don't see our need? No. Grace is only good for who? Sinners. People who realize their need. See, grace is the gateway that leads us to Christ, and Christ is good for sinners. So Jesus' ministry here and now is twofold. He's continuously seeking by love, because it's love that moves him. He's continuously seeking to get us to see our need. But that can be devastating. But it's only one side. Remember, always remember that. It's always the one side. The other side is He. He is the answer to our need. And so He has to devastate us in order to awaken us to our need, and in our devastation, He comes and embraces us and says, I love you. Now, I'm the answer. I will help you. I will become your life. I will be for you what you've just discovered because of my grace you don't have. I will be what you don't have. That's the message of the gospel, and it's a wonderful message. And so when we read this, we have to pray, oh God, open up my eyes and help me to see. Listen, don't be afraid of the Lord's dealings in your life that cause you to see your need. Don't be afraid of your need. When Jesus approached fishermen who had been fishing all night, what was the first question He asked them? Do you remember in the gospels? It's exactly what He, what was He trying to do? Tough, professional fishermen. What'd you catch? Nothing. Can you imagine? Tough, strong, professional fishermen. All night they were fishing. All night they were trying. And Jesus comes on the scene, and the first thing He does, first thing He does to these tough, professional fishermen, is He comes on the scene and He requires that they come empty. He didn't want to hear about all their techniques. He didn't want to hear about all the problems. He didn't want to hear about why they didn't catch anything. He wanted to simply hear them say, I didn't catch anything. He exposed their need. That's what He constantly does. He's constantly wanting us to see our need so that He can, as our shepherd, point our hearts toward the answer to our need, and that is Him. He's the answer to our need. And so when we see this in Luke chapter 16, we're dealing with a very, very loving, but yet firm message to our hearts. He said to His disciples, there was a certain rich man which had a steward, and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his goods. And He called him and said, How is it that I hear of this? Give an account of your stewardship, that you may for you may no longer be stored. And then the store said within himself, What shall I do? My Lord has taken away from me the stewardship I cannot dig, and to beg I am ashamed. And then we know in verses four and five and six, He said, I know what I'll do. I'll go to my master's debtors, and I'll ask them how much they owe my master, and then I'll take some of their debt away so that I'll make friends with my master's debtors. So that when I am kicked out of my stewardship, and I become homeless, and I have nowhere to go, I can go knock on the doors of my master's debtors and say, Hi, remember me? And they'll say, Yeah, you were the guy that cut my debt in half. I appreciate it, brother. How can I help you? Well, it's funny you should say that. I don't have a job. I don't want to go into a reason why. But I do need a place to stay. And if you have anything that you can, I mean, I'll do anything for you, you know, whatever. Okay, sure. So see what he did? Huh? Now watch what Jesus said. Watch this. Now watch. Verse eight, The Lord commanded the unjust store, because he had done wisely. For the children of this world in their generation are wiser than the children of light. What's Jesus getting at here? What is he trying to do here? He's trying to show us the thing that Jesus commended this unjust store for was not the fact that he was unfaithful in his stewardship, and that he had wasted his master's goods. He wasn't commending him for that. And he wasn't even necessarily commending him for going to his master's debtors and canceling the debt. That might have been dishonest. He probably didn't have the right to do that. They owed him and they probably should have paid their debt. That's not even the point. The point that Jesus is making here is this. The unfaithful store, as we mentioned last week, he accepted the fact that he had been unfaithful. And number two, he took action. He took action. He did something. And that brings us to the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. Verse 10. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant can serve two masters. Now see, he's getting to the heart of the matter right now. Now listen. When this unfaithful store found out he had been serving two masters and he was being unfaithful to one, wasn't he? Which one was he being unfaithful to? His boss. See, he was being unfaithful to one and he was being faithful to another. Which one was he being faithful to? Himself. Exactly. See, he was serving two masters. Now when this fellow found out he was unfaithful, he took action. He did something. But Jesus is now standing not only before Israel, but he's standing before us today in spirit and he's telling us we've been unfaithful. We've been unfaithful. There's only one man that's ever been faithful as the true store of God, Jesus, the faithful man, the one who was faithful in all his house, Hebrew says. He's the only one that's faithful. Now watch what Jesus says here. No man can serve two masters for either he will hate the one and love the other or else he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. And the Pharisees also who were covetous heard all these things and they derided him and he said unto them, You are they which justify yourselves before men or you are they which say we have not been unfaithful. We have not been unfaithful. We're not in that condition, but God knows your hearts. For that which is highly esteemed among men is what detestable before God. Now, do you see what's happening here? Do you see how Jesus, in the way that only he can do, is exposing the depths of our heart before him? You see what he's doing here? In another place, he said a house divided against itself cannot stand. How can two walk together except what? They be in agreement. And then, of course, verse 16, that wonderful scripture that we mentioned last week, for the law and the prophets were until John. Since that time, the kingdom of God is preached and every man presses into it, or the kingdom of God suffers violence and every man enters in violently. And we saw last week that this scripture here speaks of Titus chapter 2. The grace of God comes to our life and teaches us to deny, teaches us to disown, teaches us to say no to anything that would constitute an allegiance to something other than the Lord's interests. That's what the grace of God does. The grace of God throws us into a warfare, beloved, a warfare where we realize that our heart has been saved and set aside for the Lord himself. And then he wants to take our hearts and he wants to teach us how to look to him. So we have this condition that set before us. We have an unfaithful servant. Now, I'd like to invite you to turn your Bibles to Luke. Luke, just going to read here some scriptures. Luke chapter 12, verse 35, beginning in verse 35. Let your loins be girded about and your lights burning and you yourselves liken unto men that wait for their Lord when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knock, they may open unto him immediately. You see what we're looking at here? Being ready, being prepared when he comes opening up immediately, immediately. Recently, I received a letter from a man who has been a minister for probably 60 years, and he said the Lord's been telling him lately that it's not full-time ministry that's important. It's full-time obedience, ready when he speaks. Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he comes, shall find watching. Verily I say unto you that he shall gird himself and make them sit down to eat meat and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch or come in the third watch and find them, so blessed are those servants. And this know, that if the good man of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and have not suffered his house to be broken through. Be therefore also ready, for the Son of Man comes in an hour when you think not. Verse 41, Then Peter said unto him, Lord, are you speaking this parable to us or to everyone? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise store, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Of a truth I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. Now I wonder who that blessed and faithful servant is? Because Jesus just got done telling us in Luke chapter 16 that we're unjust, that we have been unfaithful, that we have wasted the goods. And now he speaks about this just and faithful servant. Here's the danger. Here's where we go wrong. We read that and we say, I wonder who this is. Maybe it's Robert. Maybe it's Bill. I bet it's David Wilkerson. He's got to be the just and faithful servant, right? Because boy, I tell you, he's really been faithful in preaching, hasn't he? Has he? Who's the faithful and just servant? The Lord Jesus. Is anybody here going to presume to stand up and say that Jesus along with you? Now you need to hold steady, brothers and sisters, because I know it's hard when the axe comes and takes every bit of our goodness away, because we've got to stand on something. There's got to be something that we could take credit for in this Christian journey. There's got to be some kind of faithfulness that I can lay hold of and say that I've been faithful. Now watch what Jesus says here. Verse 45. Now who has been made ruler over all that God has? You keep your finger in Luke there. John chapter 13. You know, one thing about the Holy Spirit is I have learned that the Holy Spirit makes much of one person, the Lord Jesus, and puts all of us in our rightful place. Loved? Absolutely. Adored? Most definitely. But unfaithful. Verse 1 chapter 13. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come and that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Now watch. Verse 3. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands. Matthew 28. What a beautiful testimony the Holy Spirit always gives of the Lord Jesus Christ. I love the Holy Spirit's ministry. Matthew chapter 28. Verse number 18. And Jesus came and spoke unto them saying what? All power is given unto who? Me. Who's talking here? Jesus. All power is given unto me in both heaven and in earth. And so we see that that's only two scriptures, but there's an abundance of scriptures in the in the Bible that teaches this, that Jesus is the faithful store. Jesus is the faithful son. Jesus is the one who never ever turned aside from his mission. And what was his mission? To come down to earth and to get something for himself? To come down to earth and live a self-centered lifestyle? To come down to earth and find something down here that he could put his heart on? No. His entire mission was to live a life that revealed to everybody the beauty and glory and character of his Father in heaven. That's the stewardship that God has given, that he gave to Israel, and they miserably failed, didn't they? But then who did he pass that stewardship on to? He said when he wept for Jerusalem, I say to you, you don't know the hour of your visitation, therefore your house is left desolate to you. And he says, I'm going to give the stewardship to a people who weren't even seeking me. Who's he talking about? You and I, the Gentile nations. But now that we have the stewardship, the Lord comes into our midst and says the same thing to us that he says to Israel. You've been unfaithful, unfaithful in the stewardship. What stewardship? Being entrusted with Christ and living lives together that reveal Jesus. What does a Christian life look like? Jesus. That's what a Christian life is supposed to look like. It's not rules or regulations. The Christian life is Christ being expressed through a redeemed people. That's what the Christian life is. It's Christ in all of his beauty, just like the life of Jesus was an expression of his father. Okay. But now verse 45, we're still in Luke, right? Chapter 12. But if that servant say in his heart, my Lord delayeth his coming and shall begin to beat the men servants and maidens and to eat and drink and to be drunken. And the Lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him and in an hour when he is not aware and will cut him asunder and will appoint him his portion with unbelievers. And that servant which knew his Lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will. You see here, prepared not himself. What was it that the unjust steward did when he found out he had been unfaithful? He prepared himself. See, and here's a servant who knows the Lord's will and hasn't prepared himself. So see what Jesus is after is what are we doing? What are we going to do? What is our heart response in recognizing that God says that we're unfaithful without his help, without his grace. We're unfaithful standing on our own. We're unfaithful shall be beaten with many stripes. Verse 48 and he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes front to whomsoever much is given of him shall much be required. And to whom men have committed much of him, they shall ask the more. And so we have a stewardship that we've been given, and the Lord is saying, listen, what will the children of light do? What will we do when we discover that we've been unfaithful? What will we do? What can we do? Now listen, I want to just read one more scripture in Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon chapter five. The scripture says in Luke 12 that we just read that the unfaithful servant says this. The first thing the unfaithful servant says, the Lord delays his coming. And so what that means is the servant lives without the view of his master coming. Remember about a month ago we ministered in second Peter chapter three. What are the scoffers and the mockers saying? Where is the promise of his coming? Unfaithful servants are those who begin to live life without him in view, without his imminent coming in view. But now watch what happens. Listen, it says that the servant began to what? Be his men's servants and maidservants. Now in Song of Solomon chapter five, I just want to show you this. This is the fourth song. This is a journey of the bride of Christ, and she here now is hearing her beloved. Verse two, chapter five, I sleep but my heart wakens. It is the voice of my beloved that knocketh saying, open to me my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled one, for my head is filled with dew and my locks with the drops of the night. This is her now. I've put off my coat. How shall I put it on? She's hearing his voice, but she's having a hard time obeying. She's sleeping, but she's listening. You ever have that? You're here, but you're sleeping. What happened to all the virgins? How many were sleeping and how many were awake? They all slept. All slept. What about the ones that had the oil, that had the Holy Ghost? Did they sleep? Yeah, they did. They all slept. See, this is right on through Genesis to Revelation. Do you know why God's bringing us so low? Do you know why he's wounding us? Do you know why he won't let us breathe without telling us we're unfaithful? You know why? Because he loves us too much not to tell us the truth. And he also knows that the only way, listen carefully, the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ can be seen in these mortal bodies. The only way the faithfulness of Christ can be seen in these mortal bodies is if we come to realize that without him we are in fact totally unfaithful. Now watch what she's saying. We're going to close here. I know we're running out of time. Watch what she's saying. I'm having a hard time, Lord. I put, I just took off my coat. I've washed my feet. How shall I defile them? Lord, I'm nice and comfortable. Nice and comfortable. Verse four, my beloved put in his hand by the hole of the door and my bowels removed for him. This is wonderful truth here. We can't get into it, but I rose up to open to my beloved and my hands dropped with myrrh and my fingers with sweet smelling myrrh upon the handles of the lock. I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had withdrawn himself and was gone. So she hesitated. She hesitated and the Lord withdrew himself. Now watch what happens here. This is very important for us to understand. My soul failed when he spoke. I saw him, but I could not find him. I called him, but he gave me no answer. Watch. The watchmen that went about the city found me and what did they do? They smote me and wounded me and took away my veil. They smote me, they wounded me, and they took away my veil. Now what does the Bible say in Luke chapter 14, the unfaithful stuart does? My Lord delays his coming and shall begin to beat the men's servants and the maidservants. Here's what the Lord showed me. This bride had a heart for God. God had given her a heart. Sure. She was being chastened by the Lord because when he spoke, she didn't respond quickly. Okay. Then she went out looking for her Lord. Here she was lovesick. She had realized what she had done. She realized that she had missed the Lord and that her heart had not responded quickly. And she went out looking and she went out asking and she made herself vulnerable to everyone. Oh, have you seen my Lord? Have you seen my Lord? I'm lovesick. I don't know what to do. And she met some people here. And what did they do in response to what she was saying? They beat her. And here's what the Lord showed me. The servants who say in their heart, my Lord delays his coming, respond to a heart that is crying after God in a manner where it appears like they beat and they whip them. The quality that Jesus is here trying to teach us is this. The unfaithful servant scorns the cry of this woman who's running through the city after the Lord. She's repented. She's repented. She's acknowledged her need and she's looking for her Lord with all her heart. But those who were not living in that manner saw that kind of a heart and they beat her and they scorned her and they mocked her. And so what Jesus is saying is this. The unfaithful heart is characterized by scorning and mocking a heart and lifestyle that is holy after God. Oh yes, there's failure, isn't there? She failed. She didn't respond to the Lord. She didn't quickly obey. But there's repentance and there's a turning back to the Lord and there's a crying after him and there's a vulnerability where she goes and she tells everybody that she's after her Lord. So we see this horrible quality that the unfaithful servant has. And now brothers and sisters as we close, here's the facts. Here's the facts. Jesus is standing in our midst. He's standing in our homes. He's with us all the time and he is the faithful servant. He's the faithful store. He's the faithful son. He's the loving Savior. He died for our sins and he so longs to show us that the purpose of our existence is to know him, to love him and to make an exchange. Our life for his, our interests for his interests, our righteousness for his. But he cannot do that unless we are subject to his grace and his spirit and his work and his dealings in our life so that we can see more and more and more. It's not just about getting saved. It's about coming into salvation and entering into the full purpose of God in our lives. So he can't do that unless he gets us to see the depths of our need for him. And this morning he tells us in his word, what will we do when he shows us that we've been unfaithful? What is it that we can do? Repent. Come to him. Acknowledge our need. Oh Lord, help me. Oh Lord, come to me. Oh Lord, I am that unfaithful. Not only am I that unfaithful servant, Lord, but I, in being unfaithful, resent any attempt, any attempt, Lord. I resent this idea of being utter for God. It's offensive to me, Lord. It's threatening to me without your help, without your grace. Now, I know if we want to hold on to our own goodness and our own righteousness, then we say, well, I'm utter for God, but I'm not. But I know one who is. His name is Jesus. And I know that I can find mercy and grace at his throne if I come by faith and trust him. And I come with an honest heart. An honest heart is a heart that says, yes, Lord, your word is true. You're the faithful one, and you alone can help me. Let's bow our hearts. Father, we just want to acknowledge that we are thankful that you died for us, that you love us, and Lord, we want you to come and help us and teach us. Teach us, Lord, how to trust you. Most importantly, Lord, teach us to see Jesus more and more and to learn from him and to be taught by him. Lord, here we are. Do with us, Lord, what you would like. Fill our hearts, Lord, with more and more of a dependency and trust in our wonderful Savior and Lord. We look to him, Lord, for all that we have need of today. Thank you, Lord, for Jesus' sake. Amen.