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Transcript 432A — The Parable of the Servants [Lu 12:45-49]
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Yes, Brother Camping. Could you please speak on Luke 12:45-49?
HC: Luke 12:45-49. Let's see. Where it speaks about the parable of the servant that thinks that the Lord has been delayed, and he's beating the menservants and maidservants?
CALLER: Correct. I'm interested in the severity of the beatings, what the Bible is trying to get across by the different beatings.
HC: All right. Fine. In Luke 12 God has given us a very interesting parable, in which He's speaking about a master and his servants. And this master has gone away on a journey. And then the servant says in his heart, "My lord delayeth his coming, and therefore he shall begin to beat the menservants and maidservants, and to eat and drink and be drunken. The lord of that servant will come in a day when he cometh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant which knew his lord's will and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required. And to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more."
Now you see, God here is giving us a parable to illustrate the fact that it is a very serious matter when we have a knowledge of the Gospel and we do not surrender our wills to that Gospel. If we are an unsaved person and we have never heard about the Lord Jesus Christ, we never became acquainted with the Bible, we did not grow up in a Christian home or in the presence of a Christian church, and yet because we are sinners we are under the wrath of God and we will endure hell, well, that is like the servant who knew not and did commit things worthy of stripes. He shall be beaten with few stripes. In other words, hell is still there, but there will be a lesser punishment for such a one.
On the other hand, if we know the way of salvation, if we've been brought up in a Christian family, we have attended church very regularly, we know the things of the Word of God, we know about what God says about sin and about judgment and about the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet we die without becoming born again, then our judgment will be far more severe. We are like someone who is saying, "Well, I have lots of time. I don't have to become born again just yet. I'll live my own life the way I want to live," which is really what everyone is doing who has not become born again.
We may still try to live a decent moral life, but in God's sight our sins still stand out, because they have not been covered by Christ's blood. And so such a person, when Christ comes, is going to stand for judgment and will be beaten with many stripes. That is, his condemnation will be much more severe.
You see, hell is payment for sin. And the more the sin, the more grievous the punishment. We must pay the penalty that God demands for our sins. And any single sin can send us eternally to hell. But if our sins are more and more, and particularly if we deny the Lord Jesus Christ when we have been given all of this information, then our penalty will be even more severe than ever.