How Much Land Does a Man Need? (Part 2) | July 20, 2025 PM

Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives.

The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist

Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us

or contact us at my libertybaptist.org or just look

us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this

message from God's Word will be a blessing to you.

Proverbs Chapter 11. And if you were a guest this

Proverbs 11 · chapter mention

evening, boy, what a time to pop in Stewardship Sunday.

How about that? To be able to come and visit us

this evening. You know, I'm thankful though,

that the principles of stewardship go far beyond money.

They go far beyond our local church.

And really, it's all about our lives, isn't it?

About making sure that we are who we're supposed to be in the

light of all that God has done for us.

And we started a message this morning from Proverbs chapter

#11 called How Much. Does.

How Much land, rather, does a Man Need?

And it's based on the title on a short story by the author Leo

Tolstoy titled How Much Land Does a Man Need?

And we said that the story was about a man named Payham, a

Russian peasant who heard a debate about town life versus

farm life and thought if I had plenty of land I shouldn't fear

the devil and pay. Hum eventually gained land and

he became greedy and quarreled with his neighbors and

eventually moving to ever larger plots but get growing

frustrated. But then he heard of a land rich

area called the Baskers or the people that lived there were the

Baskers and he sought a cheap deal for even more land and for

1000 rubles they offered. They offered him as much land as

he could circle in one day marking the perimeter with his

spade. The deal was if he returned by

sunset and picked up the cap that he left on the ground when

he first started then he would receive all of that land that he

had walked around in the day. However, if he wasn't back in

time to pick up his hat and put it on his head, then he would

lose his thousand rubles and would get nothing.

And so we asked the question this morning, how much land does

a man need? And while it may seem like that

has nothing to do with your life and my life, we looked at the

thought process from Proverbs Chapter 11.

Proverbs 11 · chapter mention

That really the idea of how much does a person need has to deal

with all of our lives, doesn't it?

The thought process that every single one of us have to live

our lives with. This idea of how much is

appropriate for me to have and how much even more so is

appropriate for me to use. And really we saw that is

understanding that everything that we received came from God

and that everything that we have received belongs to him.

That whether it's our treasures, as we often think of with

stewardship, right, that it deals with our wallets, with our

pocketbooks, but it's our treasure, our time and our

talents, really our whole lives that they belong to him.

If you have something that you earned without God's help, you

can spend however you want. The problem is everything we

have has come from him, hasn't it?

And so we're to be the right types of stewards.

And so this morning we saw the paradox of stewardship that you

have to be able to give to receive.

We saw the principle of giving that the liberal soul shall be

made fat. One of my favorite verses in the

Bible that the liberal soul shall be made fat.

The public reaction to givers, that everybody loves a giver,

but people are not happy when someone is a hoarder.

And so we have the thought process that we love it when

people give, but yet we don't always have that same zeal to

give within our own lives. We like others to give not as

much ourselves. And then the procuring of favor

that we saw that when you do right, that when you invest

right, when you when you know what's right and when you know

what's wrong and invest in the right and avoid the wrong, that

God will protect you and God will help you and God will give

you what you need. And we even ended the message

this morning by looking at a man named Scotty Scheffler, who

probably the US Open or the British Open's about done right

now. I don't know whether he won or

not, but he's won $150 million. And just this last year in

playing golf, he just the last few days in playing golf, he

mentioned that I don't even know what the point of all of this

is. I win, it's not a big deal, and

then I move on. But he says I can't stop.

I just keep going. And we saw that's a lot of how

life is, isn't it, That we have this thought process, we live

for life, that if we reckon things incorrectly, that all of

a sudden life doesn't have the meaning that it ought to have,

that truly the stewardship life is a life of meaning.

It's a life of grace. It's a life of joy.

And that's what God desires for each and every one of us.

So we're going to continue this thought process in the text that

we did not finish this morning. I wanted to cover the 1st 4

verses this morning. We'll cover the last four verses

this evening. So if you would for the reading

of God's Word, would you stand? If you're physically able to

read Psalm, or rather Proverbs chapter #11 and we'll start from

our text this morning in verse #24 we'll work through the rest

of the chapter. It says there is that scattereth

and yet increaseth, and there is that withholdeth more than his

meat, but it tendeth to poverty. The liberal soul shall be made

fat, and he that watereth shall be watered also himself.

He that withholdeth corn, the people shall curse him, but

blessing shall be upon the head of him that selleth it.

He that diligently seeketh good procureth favor.

He that seeketh mischief, it shall come unto him.

Now next 4 verses are what we'll be covering specifically this

evening. He that trusteth in his riches

shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.

He that troubled his own house shall inherit the wind, and the

fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he that

winneth souls is wise. Behold, the righteous shall be

recompensed in the earth, much more the wicked and the center.

Why don't we be seated as we pray together this evening and

we look at this thought process of stewardship and how much land

does a man need? Heavenly Father, do pray that

you be with us this evening. Thank you for your word and

thank you for what it means to us, that it is our authority for

faith and practice. There is no greater authority

than your word. And I pray that it would teach

us tonight. Help us, exhort us, correct us.

Encourage us whatever our need is tonight, through your Holy

Spirit, I pray that you would do the work that is needed in every

heart and every life, including myself here tonight, that we may

all humbly receive Your word and that we may leave this building

better than which He came. And we do ask it all in Jesus

name, Amen. Picking up in verse #28 we see

the prospects of the righteous this evening.

Verse #28 teaches us the prospects of the righteous.

Look at it again. It says he that trusteth in his

riches shall fall, but the righteous shall flourish as a

branch. This verse tells us that the

prospects of the righteous are bright, but those who trust in

their wealth will not have the same prospects.

And listen, understand that it's nothing wrong with being able to

invest and there's nothing wrong with being able to save, to have

an S stag, to have an emergency fund.

Those things are good and right. In fact, I'd say there's

something very prudent about all of those things.

But that's not what this verse is talking about.

There's some that believe that their security in life comes

from that which they possess. There are some that believe all

of their comfort, all their security, that all that they are

in this life all comes down to what they are and what they own.

And the Bible says that that could not be further from the

truth. You know, wealth can shield us

from many problems. I think of when we were young

and we had, like I said this morning, we lived on love and

ramen noodles, and that's out about all that we had when we

were young. I think about all of those types

of things. I'm thankful in many ways for

those times because wealth can shield you from problems.

But listen, wealth can also create a lot of new problems

too, can't it? Oh sure, wealth can help you

with certain things, but it also creates new problems as well.

The old saying more money means more problems.

And there's a lot of truth to that.

And we need to look no further than Hollywood to get the idea

of of names of Hollywood stars or even look to the sports

arenas and find the name of sports stars and realize that

they have more money than many of us can even comprehend.

But yet while they have been saved from some of the problems

like you and I have, like what are we going to do with our

groceries this week? Or how is this bill going to get

paid? Or how is this credit card going

to be taken care of it? They don't have to worry about

those problems in some ways, but they have so many more problems

in return. I more money, more problems.

I think of names like Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston or OJ

Simpson or Daryl Strawberry. And those are just names from

the past, from entertainment and from sports people who had more

money. And the more money they

accumulated, the more problems that they had.

In fact, I was just reading the testimony.

Darryl Strawberry, some of you might know the baseball player

for the New York Mets in the 1980s, a very gifted athlete.

He and many other players for the New York Mets, like Doc

Gooden and Keith Hernandez, A lot of those men in the 1980s

got involved in the drug scene and a lot of them got involved

into some very bad business to the plate place that Darryl

Strawberry particularly and Doc Gooden left the league because

they just could not play because of the bad choices they have

made in their life. Well, I'm thankful over the last

few years that Darrell Strawberry has a testimony of

coming to Jesus Christ and actually has become a Baptist

minister. Of what stripe?

I couldn't tell you, but it's just the fact that he realized,

you know, I have all this money, but it hasn't protected me the

way I thought it would. I have all of these means I have

all of these goods, but it's really not helping me at all.

And he's trusting his riches, but it says those who trust in

the riches shall fall. So we wealth can shield you from

some problems, but it creates new problems.

But wealth can shield from certain problems.

But I will tell you this just in the same vein.

Wealth can never shield you from all your problems.

I think of Kobe Bryant, the incredible basketball player who

played for the Los Angeles Lakers.

He retired then back in 2020, in the height of the pandemic, he

was in a helicopter with his daughter and a few other people.

And there's Kobe Bryant just taking a helicopter ride from

one place to another there in Los Angeles.

The helicopter crashed and they died.

And I say this not to try to make some sort of larger

application or to say something about Kobe Bryant's life

specifically, because I can't say this tonight, but I will say

this, that if you're in a crash, if there's great calamity, if

there's disease, if there's some sort of cancer, that it doesn't

matter how much money you have, it doesn't matter what's in the

bank. There is no protection that is

afforded in those situations. Oh sure you can trust in wealth,

but not all who trust in wealth will be saved.

In fact, the evidence is quite the opposite.

One of the richest men, whoever lives?

Steve Jobs, who created Apple from his garage, ended up having

cancer back in the early 2000s and received treatment and got

alternate treatments and doctors and bills and all kinds of

stuff. Probably accumulated enough

bills that. You and I couldn't even pay if

we had a whole lifetime to be able to pay him.

But he was able to pay it literally out of pocket because

the amount of money that he had, the best of doctors, the best of

care, the best of everything, and he died from pancreatic

cancer. Why?

Because money can't. Cure all issues of life.

And so we're the Bible's telling us that when we get to the place

where we are so holding on to that which we have because we

believe it Shields us or we believe it serves us in some

specific way, that we need to remember that when we get to

that place where we hold on to it that tightly, that's more of

a worship of money than it is a worship of God.

Because trust is being placed in riches.

Trust is being placed in things. Trust is being placed in items

instead of our ultimate trust being in God and God alone.

Listen, God is the giver of life.

God is the protector of life. God is the healer of the body.

God is the healer of the soul. And listen, I'm not saying

there's anything wrong with money.

I heard a preacher once say that money is the root of all evil.

That's not what the Bible says. It doesn't say money is the root

of all evil. It says the love of money is the

root of all evil. We have our priorities in the

wrong place when our emphasis is in the wrong place.

But know this tonight, that no matter what you try to hoard, no

matter what you try to hold on to, to be able to save yourself,

there's only one who could save save you from the issues of this

life, and there's only one who can save you the issues of life

to come, and that's Jesus Christ and Christ alone.

The steward understands he has to trust in God, not in his

riches. First Corinthians 4/2 Moreover,

it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful.

A steward is faithful God, and he is as healthy and flourishes

as a branch. It says there at the end of

verse #28 that when our trust is placed in the right place, there

is a flourishing that takes place, that there is a health,

there is a vitality that comes to the heart, that comes to the

soul. Oh, don't hold on to that what

you have, whether it's your wallet.

Don't hold on to that what you have, whether it's your talents.

Don't hold on to that what you have, whether it's your

calendar, your time, your schedule.

No be liberal and how you give to God.

Be liberal and how you give to your neighbor.

Be liberal and how you give to your friends.

Be liberal how you give to your family, to your spouse.

Be liberal in all of these things.

And the liberal soul shall be made fat.

Remember, there shall be blessings and bounty and

healthfulness that comes when we do that which God has called us

to do. That's the prospects of the

righteous. But we also see verse #29

there's the problems of the fool, the problems of the fool.

Verse #29 he that troubled his own house shall inherit the

wind, and the fool shall be servant to the wise of heart.

Now again, verse #29 might seem unrelated, kind of like we had

looked at verse #27 a little bit earlier in the morning and

thought that maybe that was unrelated to what we're looking

at too. But I would suggest to you this

evening that verse #29 fits very well in that which we're talking

about, those so far, the idea that troubling your own house

mouse shall inherit the wind. What is an inheritance?

An inheritance is something that is accumulated from someone else

and it's passed on to someone else.

Now, there's a lot of different types of inheritances that are

out there, aren't there? You can inherit money, you can

inherit land, you can inherit cars, you can inherit any number

of different things, real tangible things.

But you can't inherit wind. Why?

Because the wind is there one moment and gone the next.

It's not something you can box up, bottle up, save up and be

able to pass it on to someone else.

Well, well, what? What did I, what did I get in

the will? Dad?

What? What did grandpa leave me in the

will? Well, it says here he left you a

box of wind. Well, that would be awkward,

wouldn't it? That wouldn't be very helpful,

would it? If that was the case?

No, it wouldn't be at all. But we see that that when one

troubles his own house, it's like inheriting the wind.

It seems like something is there and it's there for a moment and

it's gone the next. I looked with some hilarity and

sadness, as many of you did, of the viral video.

You know what I'm talking about, a viral video, something that's

gone and all over the Internet and people are seeing it

everywhere. And this spread like wildfire

over the Internet. That happened right in our

backyard right at Foxboro just a few days ago of a concert that

was taking place at Gillette State.

Some of you smile because you already know what I'm talking

about, aren't you? Because it's all over the

Internet of of a concert that was taking place and they were

kind of going through with a camera and showing people on the

big screen. And all of a sudden, right there

on the big screen was a man and a woman that were kind of slang

with the music enjoying themselves until they saw

themselves on the screen. And both of them split.

And one of the band members who was I guess, watching what was

happening on the camera, and he said this, he said either

they're really shy or they're having an affair.

And that seems really funny. Until you realize the news was

it was actually the second. It was a married man and a woman

who was recently divorced. They're thinking that.

No one would ever know. In a sea of 70,000 people who

would ever know that these two were together until they were

plastered on ATV. That was about 100 feet by 100

feet. And not only did all in the

stadium know, people who took videos of the concert started

uploading it online, and all the world knows it was viewed over

70 million times in the last few days.

And there's a couple different thoughts I have about this, by

the way. First of all, the Bible says be

sure your sin will find you out, and that's a biblical truth.

The second is this, aren't you glad your sins aren't plastered

on a Jumbotron? I'm glad my life's worst

mistakes have been placed on a Jumbotron for everyone else to

see and for 70 million people to see.

No, I don't feel sorry for them. I'm just saying we ought to be

careful before we get too much pleasure out of these things,

before we realize we could be found in the same position

within the sins of our own heart.

But God has grace has not made it.

So that's the case in our own lives.

But you know, I said a lot of people got humor out of this.

And although there is that humorous thought of, wow, look

at them, they got caught. There's the sadness of there are

two families involved, children who were involved, who for the

rest of their life will be saddled with the fact that their

dad, their mom were on that viral video in 2025.

Oh, that video. And people will immediately

know. You know what happens when you

sow to the wind? You reap the whirlwind, and so

we as stewards need to make sure that we're investing in the

right things. If you're as if your

unrighteousness is on display, you may have riches, but that

may be all that you have. You know that man has as much

money today as he did at the beginning of the week.

Do you think he's happier now or worse off?

I'd say he's in a much worse spot than he was a week ago,

wasn't he? His wallet is exactly the same.

Why? Because there's more to life

than riches. Because there's more to life

than what you can count on the bank account, than what's in

your checkbook or what your debit card has on it.

There's so much more. The problems.

Of the Fool, and we must be careful of our own selves it.

And maybe he would say faster, I mean.

That's a very extreme example. I mean, I would never do

something like that. I can't imagine being in that

situation. I can't be imagine being in that

type of concert and listening that kind of music and do it

all. I can't.

I can't even imagine. I can't even fathom that anyway,

So surely this doesn't apply to me.

What? We don't have to be as foolhardy

as the most foolish to still exhibit the foolish behavior and

tendencies within our own life as well.

What happens when we ignore? The preached word.

What happens when we don't open our Bibles and read them every

day as we should? Or we open them and read them,

but we're reading it just to get it done for the day because I

want to be a good Christian? What happens when we ignore the

pleas of a Christian brother or sister who says please don't go

this way, please don't do this? What do we do?

We ignore the counsel of the pastor who lovingly says, I've

seen other people go this way before, but please don't go this

way. There is a better way.

There's the Bible way. What happens?

We can be just as much of the fool as the fool that we see

here in verse #29 Oh, we must be careful of the problems.

Of the fool, the number 30. I see verse #30 rather we see

before that the prospects of the righteous, the problems of the

fool. But in verse #30 I see the

propagation of the steward, the propagation of the steward.

It says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and

he that winneth souls is wise. Now, most of the verses we've

covered so far come from the future.

If you do this, this will happen in the future.

If you make this decision, you'll receive this later on.

If you forsake this in your life, then you will have

something negative that happens in your future.

That's everything that we've seen so far.

There is a cause and effect, A cause and effect, and the cause

is now and the effect will come later.

But here in verse #30 we see a little bit of a tonal shift.

We see a little bit of a shift in the verbiage that we have

here where it's not necessarily talking about something that

will happen in the future. It's talking about something

that you will receive live in your life now when you live the

stewarding life that God has called you to live.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of the life.

He that when the souls is wise, when you invest in the right

things, when you invest in that which God has called you to

invest in, it's not just that there will be something in your

future that will be a blessing and a help.

But listen, you live the stewarding life.

It's a good life now. It's not just that it will be

later on. I'm just going to soldier

through. I mean, this life should be

pretty miserable if I be a steward.

But eventually I guess it'll be good.

And maybe it won't even be good in this life, but at least it'll

be good at the judgement seat of Christ.

And it will be good at the judgement seat of Christ.

Amen. That when you live the life that

God wants you to live, that there'll be gold and silver and

precious stones that we cast in the fire that will come out only

the Finder. And that we'll be able to lay

those at the feet of our Savior to be able to say thank you for

all that He's done for us. It will be worth it all like the

Him says. It will be worth it all when we

see Jesus. It is true, but I would submit

to you tonight, it's not just going to be worth it when we

live the life that God has called us to live.

It's worth it right now. It's worth it right here right

now where we live. It is worth it for you to serve

God now. It's worth it for you to be the

steward that God has called you to be now.

The fruit of righteous is a tree of life.

It reminds me of Psalm chapter 1, where it talks about those

Psalms 1 · chapter mention

who are not, those who were standing in the midst of the

sinners and in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law doth he

meditate day and night. We see He shall be like a tree

planted by the rivers of water that bringeth forth His fruit

and his season. His leaf shall also shall not

wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

So we come to the realization that when we live the life that

God has wanted us to live, we are green, we are fertile, We

are. We are the tree that has life

and vitality on it, not the gnarled up dry tree that is just

one step close to death, though that we can be that which God

has called us to be and even more.

In fact, in the Book of Revelation, it says that the

tree of life that is there is for the healing of the nations.

And I'm not saying that you will become the tree of life.

That's not what I'm preaching here tonight.

What I'm saying is that in the tree there is life and innate

right type of tree that has growth.

There is life. And where does that life come

from? Well, we're to be abiding in the

branches. He is the vine, we are the

branches, and this is what God has called for us in our life.

So what do we do that the steward is to be able to invest

in that which is right. But that word propagation, there

I said it's the propagation of the steward.

You know, to propagate is to live and to continue to bring

life. A tree that is healthy should in

essence bring forth more trees that are healthy.

They bear acorns. They bear fruit that has seeds.

And what does it do? A healthy tree should bring

forth more healthy trees. And you know that you and I, as

being the tree that God has called us to be, we should be

able to bring forth others as well into the Kingdom.

I love the second-half of that verse.

It's often quoted when we talk about soul winning.

We talk about telling other people about Jesus Christ.

He that winneth souls is wise. We've talked a lot about wisdom,

haven't we? In First Corinthians chapter #1

about what is wise and what's foolish.

We've been talking about that a lot on Wednesday nights here at

Liberty Baptist Church. For those of you who are guests,

we've been talking about it quite a bit.

If you want to know what real wisdom is, real wisdom is

recognizing who real wisdom is and telling someone else who

real wisdom is. That's what wisdom is.

Wisdom is looked at in so many other ways in the world.

Wisdom is looked at in so many other facets in this world.

But we have to get to the place that we understand Wisdom isn't

necessarily in a thing. Wisdom is in an entity, God

himself. He doesn't just embody wisdom.

He is wisdom. He is truth.

And those who are truly wise will tell other people, hey, you

need to know him like I know him.

You know, there's so many things that when we're convinced of it,

or so many things that when we're impressed by it, we want

to tell other people about it. If you ever bought a a certain

product or you've ever bought something that that was was

really helpful. To you that you wanted.

To tell other people about it. And I was talking with someone

recently about buying a car and I said, well, listen, I like our

car. We bought our car a year ago and

I went through all the reasons why I like our Kia.

Now, you don't have to like Kia's, that's OK, But I like it.

I like the car, how it drives, how it handles.

And I was very, in glowing terms, telling somebody about

how this Kia drove because I like it.

I think you'll like it too. I remember the first time I ever

saw an iPhone, I thought, how is someone going to make a call?

There's no buttons on it. That doesn't even make any

sense. There's a web browser on this

thing. How are you going to see

anything on the web browser? Because I was just used to

scrolling on a screen and that's the way that it works.

And I remember someone that I knew came up to me and they and

they started pointing at it and they started pinching it and

dragging it and expanding it. And it's like some of you are

young enough that you think that's no big deal.

This was a big deal. And I thought, this is

incredible. And he was showing everybody and

people were gathering around. People were visibly gasping over

this. Look at that web page.

I can read, I can make it larger, I can make it smaller.

And then the buttons appear and then you can call and then you

can you can listen to music and you can do all these things on

it. And people were saying, look at

this, you got to see this. Now listen, by now we're like,

not that impressed anymore, are we?

In fact, there's a lot of times you just kind of want to with it

because there's smartphones. But I feel like they made us

Dumber in a lot of ways. Can I tell you that if we can

get that excited about a product, if we can get that

excited about an experience, if we can get that excited about

any other entity of life, how much more?

Should we be ambassadors of Christ when He is wisdom?

The wisest thing you could ever do is tell someone else, hey, He

is wisdom. Need to trust in Him as your

Lord and Savior. There's nothing great, by the

way. We get tired of these things.

You get to know Him the more you know him.

You don't get tired of him the more you know Him, the more you

want to know Him. The more you read of Him, the

more you want to read to him, of him.

The more you pray, the more you'll want to pray, the more

you'll worship Him. The more you want to worship

Him. It's not the well.

The closer you get, the more I'll tell you it's it, it's

just, you're not going to like it.

I feel like that's the way with a lot of human entities.

They say, well, you know, when you're on the outside,

everything looks good. But the closer you get inside,

you, you see what it's really like and it's not as impressive.

You, you see the, you see the emperor behind the curtain, and

it's just not what you want it to be.

It's just not what you would expect it to be.

No, no. The more I see him, the more I

want to see him. So why wouldn't I tell someone

else so that they can live the stewarding life like I live the

stewarding life, but I can't do that unless I'm living the life

that God wants me to live. And by the way, soul winning is

all about stewardship. It's about realizing I have time

to reach these people for Christ.

Because what do we often say? I don't have time for it.

I don't have time to give them a track.

I don't have time to go to outreach.

I don't have time to be able to tell other people.

I, I, I, I want, I desire, I, I'd rather do someone else.

I'm not comfortable with it and saying no no.

I can't use those. My life belongs to Him, my time

belongs to Him, my missions money belongs to Him, and I want

to steward right so other people can be saved.

And the naked steward as well. The propagation of the steward.

So we see in verse #28 The prospects of the righteous Now

verse #29 the problems of the fool.

Verse #30 The propagation of the steward in verse #31 The payment

to the steward. The payment to the steward.

It says, Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the

earth much more than the wicked and the Sinner.

Much Behold, the righteous shall be recompensed in the earth,

much more the wicked and the Sinner.

That word recompense there means to compensate, to make return of

an equivalent for any given thing done or suffered, as to

recompense a person for services, for fidelity, or

sacrifices of time, for loss or damages.

Now listen if you are being the steward that God has called you

to be, you will not just gain. I believe that this verse tells

us you will literally be repaid by God for that what you do.

Now listen, if I asked you, hey, can you spot me $20 and by.

The way can you spot me $20? No, never mind.

Can you imagine if I asked you spot me $20?

Can I borrow it for a week? You may have reasonable

expectation that I will pay you back, but you know.

It could be that I have a downturn, it could be that I

just forget. It could be any number of

different things that take place.

And maybe I don't recompense you the way that I ought.

But do you realize when you live the stewarding life, when you

live the life that God wants you to live, that He will pay you

back every single time? And I'll put it to you this way,

He'll pay you back with interest.

That doesn't mean, like I said this morning, that if you give

10, you get 20. That doesn't mean if you give

100, you'll get 1000. It just means this.

He will so bless you and he will so give to you that you you

can't out give God if you give the way that God wants you to

give. If you have a heart that just

wants to help others and to serve others and to live for

others and to love others far beyond your capacity, that God

will put into your bosom far greater than you can ever

imagine. That's what we looked at this

morning that Jesus said, press down shaken shall men give unto

your bosom running over. There'll be a recompense,

there'll be a payment that will be made to you, and God will

repay you in this life, and God will repay you in the life to

come. We do this when you turn to

Matthew chapter 25. I believe this is illustrated

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

very vividly for us by Jesus Christ in the parable, Matthew

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

chapter 25. Likely you're familiar with it

This Evening in verse #14 Matthew 2514.

Here's a parable of stewardship. There's some servants that are

here, and it says this, for the Kingdom of heaven is that a man

traveling into a foreign country called his own servants and

delivered unto them his goods. So we know these are stewards

because whatever these servants have does what they have belong

to them. The answer is no.

He says he had some goods and he gave them to the servants.

So this is important. And he gave to one the five.

Talents. To another two and to another

one to every man according to a several ability and straightway

took his journey. Now when we see that word

talents there, it's not talking about talents like you can sing

or, or you can speak well or you have hospitality.

Although certainly I think we can make some applications

there. We're just talking about literal

amounts of money. The talent that's what would be

given one received 5 talents, an amount of five talents, 1-2 and

another one one. And it's interesting that it's

said by Jesus US that he gave everyone according to his

ability. Now I'll just say this, this

isn't the thrust of my message this evening, but I will say

this, believe it or not, there are other people who have more

money than you, more goods than you, more talents than you, more

abilities than you, more everything than you.

There are people that have more than you.

I don't think that's a surprise anyone tonight is there, but you

know the. Bible says that God gives to

everyone as he desires, according to his ability.

Listen, don't get upset at God by what you have or what you

don't have. May I remind you that there may

be someone that likely could look at you and think about how

much you have in the same way as you're looking up at someone

else at how much they have. There's always someone that has

more than us. And listen, there's always

someone who has less than us. Leave that to God.

Comparing ourselves among ourselves.

We're not wise. Listen, it's not up to the

steward to complain how much was put in his hand, it's up to the

steward to only use that which was given to him.

And so it says that there was given to his ability and

straightway took his journey. Then he that received the five

talents went and traded with the same and made another 5 talents.

And likewise he that received two, he also gained other two.

But he that received one went and dig to the earth and hid his

Lord's money. After a long time.

The Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.

Is that word reckon? Remember we saw that this

morning. That's not a coincidence that

we're looking at that here to reckon not, I reckon.

I never would have thought that there'd be people who get that

this morning, this evening. But I reckon like I reckon we're

going to. I reckon we'll go to that church

on a Sunday night, you know. Not that we're talking about

Reckon as in an accounting. The man came and was ready to

make an accounting, and it says this.

And so he that received 5 talents came and brought other

five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me 5 talents.

Behold, I've gained beside them five talents more.

And the Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful

servant, thou has been faithful over a few things.

I will make thee ruler over many things.

Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.

What happened? He received a recompense because

he was a good steward, he says. You had five, now you have 10.

Enter into the joy of the Lord. You will now receive far more

than you could have imagined. But he continues on to the one

that had two. And it says, And he that

received 2 talents came and said, Lord, thou delivers unto

me two talents. Behold, I've gained two other

talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well

done, good and faithful servant, thou has been faithful over a

few things. I will make the ruler over many

things. Enter thou into the joy of the

Lord. Now listen.

One had a return of five, the other only had a return of two,

but they both received the same blessing.

Do you realize that tonight? Well, I may not be the biggest

tither in the church. I might not be able to give as

much. I don't feel like I have as much

to offer to the church. I don't feel like I can help

other people the way I want to because of my job situation or

my, my life situation where I am right now.

Well, listen, don't worry about what you can't do.

Just concern yourself with what you can do with what God has put

into your hand because the five talent man and the two talent

man both had an increase by what they had and God commended them

both both the exact same way. Well, I can't help, I can't

serve the Lord now I'm, I'm too young.

Listen, you can especially serve the Lord when you're young.

Well, I can't do all the things older folks can do and I can't

do all the things that that those who have experience can

do. And you might be an elder who

says, well, I can't do as many things as I used to do.

And I used to be able to do a whole lot, but now I can't do as

much as I used to do because my knees are aching, my back is

aching, my, my body is not what it ought to be.

Listen, don't worry about what you can't do.

Concern yourself with what you can do for God in his work.

And the five talent man, the two talent man both had the same

commendation. They both received the same

recompense. But then it says verse #24, then

he which had received the one talent.

Came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man,

reaping where thou has not sown, and gathering where thou hast

not strawed. I was afraid.

I went and hid thy talent in the earth, and lo, thou that thou

hast, that is thine. His Lord answered and said unto

him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I

reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed.

Thou oughtest therefore to put my money the exchangers, and

then at my coming I should have taken or should receive mine own

with usury. Take therefore the talent from

him, and give it unto him to have 10 talents.

For everyone that hath shall be given, and he that has shall

have abundance. But from him that shall not have

shall be taken away even that which he hath.

And he cast ye and Cassie the unprofitable servant.

In the outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of

teeth. The one that had one says I

can't lose it, I'm going to hide it in the Earth.

But he said something that was very revealing.

He said, I don't know if you caught this.

He said in verse #24 Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard

man. This was an unfaithful steward.

This is a man who did not do what his Lord had called him to

do. And I believe the fundamental

problem with this man was this. He didn't truly know the nature

of his master, said you're a hard man.

So I was afraid and so I hid it. You realize the other two knew

the same man. The other two knew his same

characteristics. But because they truly knew him

for who he was and they trusted who he was, it compelled them to

be stewards. I want to say this, and I don't

want to be unkind tonight, Liberty Baptist Church

especially, I want you to listen to me.

If you're not willing to live the stewardship life, if you're

not willing to trust the Lord in ties and in offerings, if you're

not willing to trust the Lord and that which He has told you

to trust Him and listen, it is indicative of a heart that truly

doesn't know the nature of God. That sounds harsh, but that's

the reality because the ones who knew him said we know that when

we give, we know that when you give to us and then we give in

return, that there will be a recompense.

And so we trusted you. We trusted the system that you'd

take care of us. And when we hold on because

we're just trying to make things work.

When we hold on because we're just trying to balance the

budget. When we hold on just because our

time is our time. And I need me time because me

needs me time. Now listen, there's nothing

wrong with having a little me time here and there.

There is not. But when our life is consumed

with me time and when our life is consumed with all of our

other things and our stuff and Kingdom type things are put off

to the side, friend, it shows us that you fundamentally do not

understand the nature of who God is.

I'm not saying you're not saved. I didn't say that.

But it seems very clear that this man did not know the master

the way he said he did. I'm sure he offered platitudes.

Sure, he talked a good game, but you know where the evidence was,

The evidence that he didn't know God was buried in the dirt,

because if he knew God, he would have taken that money out of the

dirt and he would have given it to others.

I say this not to chastise anyone tonight because I didn't

know who to chastise. And I don't know why I would

chastise you. I don't know what your heart is

and I don't know what you're giving is.

I do know this. Trust the Master that he can

recompense you. Trust the Master.

That he can take care of you. Listen, listen better than you

can take care of yourself. He can trust you, you can trust

him, and he can take care of you better than you can take care of

yourself. Because in the end, how much

man, doesn't it? How much land does a man need?

You may have thought I forgot about that.

I've been, you know, dangling that since about 11:30 this

morning, haven't I? How does the story end well?

This man pay him, goes out in the morning.

He's pretty happy. I mean, he's excited, he's

walking along, he's thrilled with his prospects and he knows

that he's going to get a large amount of land for a rock bottom

deal of 1000 rubles. But as he goes before he makes

that first turn, he convinced himself, he go a little bit

further and a little bit further, and he gets right about

to the place where he's going to take his first right turn.

And he realizes, and there's a bog just ahead in that bog.

I can grow flax in that bog. I can make a great deal of

money. I probably should just go beyond

that blog, that bog. And he does so and finally makes

his right turn. It's a little bit after lunch

and he realizes that he probably needs to pick up his pace a

little bit. But at the same time, listen,

he'll have the whole rest of his life to be able to enjoy this.

So why not just enjoy a little bit of it today?

So he sits down and rests for a few moments and then eventually

gets back up. And as he's walking, he realizes

I'm going to actually have to quicken my pace if I'm going to

make it back because I'm not even really halfway there, as

the story goes, and it's not a very long story.

We're not talking War and Peace here.

Literally, we're not talking War and Peace by Tolstoy.

You read War and Peace. I bet you have, Dave.

No, you haven't. All right, we'll work on that by

next week. All right, That's your book

report this week. He realizes he's not going to

make it because he's gone far too far in his thirst and his

quench and his desire, rather, for as much lane as possible.

He went way too far and he's never going to make it back.

He breaks out into a run and those last few moments he is

running at a breakneck. Pace, I'll let Tolstoy finish

himself. There's plenty of land thought.

Pay him. But will God ever let me live on

it? I've lost my life.

I've lost my life. I shall never reach that spot

again. Payham remembered his dream.

He uttered a cry. His legs gave way beneath him.

He fell forward. And reached the cap with his

hands. Ah, what a fine fellow,

exclaimed the chief. He has gained much land.

Payham servant came running up and tried to raise him from the

ground but saw that blood was flowing from his mouth.

Payham was dead. The people clicked their tongues

to show their pity. His servant picked up the spade

and dug a grave long enough for Payham to lie in, and he buried

him in. Six feet from his head to his

heels was all the land that he needed.

You know what his recompense was?

6 feet for all that he desired and all that he wanted.

Now listen, I'm not a expositor of Russian literature.

I'm a preacher of the gospel. And I do know this, while it may

not seem like that has a lot to do with us, it has everything to

do with us. Listen, don't reach for those

things that will not last for eternity.

God does allow us to have some things in our life, and isn't He

good? He doesn't just give us our

needs, He also gives us some of our wants too, doesn't he?

Isn't he so good like that? I mean, God could just literally

give us the bread and water that we need and sustain us, the

housing that we need to sustain us, and that's it.

But we have good food, we have good houses, many of us have

cars that are able to take us from here and there.

We have enough money not just for our needs, but also our

wants and our desires. We serve a good God, but pay

him. Realized he needed a lot less

than he really did. First Timothy verse chapter 6

verse 7 says for we brought nothing into this world and it

is certain we can carry nothing out.

You know you need much less than you think and others need much

more than you may notice. God has called us to be a

steward. He's not a hard man.

No, He's the most gracious and loving and just God you could

ever have. If you know Him, you will desire

to live the stewarding life. Thank you for listening to the

sermon from the pulpit of Liberty Baptist Church.

If this message was a blessing to you, or if there's any way we

can serve you, please let us know by contacting us at

[email protected]. Or you can visit us this Sunday

at 800 Washington St. in Easton, MA.

May the Lord bless you as you grow in His Word.