The Exaltation of the Saints

"The Exaltation of the Saints" – Luke 19:17 Knowing the Lord seeks no excuse to be cold, lukewarm, or mediocre. Daniel announces that they that be wise shall shine, and that they that turn many to righteousness shall shine as the stars for ever and ever: a blessing for everyone who teaches others the way of truth, even those who are not preachers, because each one teaches his children, his spouse, and whoever is near. The problem is that we live planted in this earth, when what the Scriptures show is the exaltation that awaits the saints. It is in your hands to multiply what God has given you.

I. They that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever (Daniel 12:3).

A. It is a general blessing for those who teach others the way of truth and of virtue.

1. That virtue is the habitual and firm disposition to do good: capacity, power, faculty, strength, integrity, and stability. It includes understanding what is good and discerning when deceit comes, because deceit is found everywhere.

2. No one is left out: the one who is not a preacher still teaches his children, his wife, his husband, and whoever is near. It is something that flows and emanates from a person.

3. The greater part of our conversations are empty: they edify neither the one speaking nor the one listening. They are about arguing, about pretending, or about who knows more, and in them time is lost.

4. We must give importance to what deserves it, because what does not deserve it should not exist. A problem carried and rehearsed aloud steals sleep and steals the smile.

5. The day one is converted, one becomes a holy person, and wherever one works that atmosphere of holiness goes along.

B. Knowledge of the Scriptures sustains the believer in the test.

1. The day reading the Scriptures becomes a desire in you, you will never let them go; and the day you do not read them, you will feel guilty.

2. When the struggle, the problem, or the temptation comes, the one who is grounded according to the knowledge of the Scriptures will not have his way disturbed.

3. Be careful who teaches you and who gives opinions: there are those who vandalize the Scriptures and vandalize the ears of those who listen to what they ought not to learn.

II. Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities (Luke 19:17).

A. The master praised the servant for having been faithful in little.

1. Neither did he give him so much that it could not be done. So God does with us: He gives, and it is in our hands to multiply what He gave.

2. To multiply is a spiritual life, a life of seeking, a life of loving the Scriptures, and of worshiping each day with better quality.

3. Many minas have been given to us; the question is whether we have multiplied them. The one who learns and surpasses what he has brings a splendid worship, one that moves us to lift our hands and stirs our whole being.

4. Whoever enters the service to worship and to bless, leaving everything else outside, goes out of the church edified.

B. The first work of our life is to die to self.

1. We must die so that Christ may grow; if one does not die to the flesh, one is purely a failure, because nothing good comes out of oneself.

2. Nothing can be placed in the hands of the one who continues in the flesh, because he will not be able to administer it. As long as one holds on to the flesh, one will never do a work for the Lord.

3. What the Lord says about our work must matter to us above all, not what others think or say.

4. The measure in which a disciple will govern is determined by the measure of his devotion and of his own surrender; as the surrender was, so it will be. Which of the twelve had the greatest surrender, only Jesus knows.

III. Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire (1 Corinthians 3:12-15).

A. The fire tests the work, not salvation.

1. If the work abides, he shall receive a reward; if it is burned, he shall suffer loss, though he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire.

2. The fire one passes through is not a punishment God sends; the punishment will come later. It is about how much the work one did weighs, or whether one labored and lived purely in vain.

3. It is easier to live in vain than to be able to love God above all things. Life is not light: heaven sees everything and everything is written.

4. Just as the punishments will not be the same for everyone, neither will the rewards. Here is shown the highest degree of glory for the faithful in heaven.

IV. Ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28).

A. The reward for faithful service is tied to government in the kingdom of Christ.

1. The regeneration is to renew and to restore: the future reign of Jesus Christ upon the earth, when the Son of Man shall sit on the throne of His glory. It will happen after the seven years of tribulation, in the thousand years of the millennium.

2. In the millennium there will still be mortals on the earth, and those mortals will not escape the judgments, because the twelve thrones of the disciples will be there. The wall of the city has twelve foundations with the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (Revelation 21:14).

3. The Scriptures teach that believers will reign with Christ upon the earth when He comes with power and glory, and that matters of judging will be entrusted to them, even judging the fallen angels (1 Corinthians 6).

4. No tribunal has jurisdiction over the church of Christ: the church of Christ is defended by Christ, and if there is anything to settle or to punish, it is He who does it.

B. To him that overcometh it is promised that he will share the glory of the throne of Christ (Revelation 3:21; 5:10).

1. Those who follow Him in humility, in the rejections that may come to us, and in the sufferings, will also follow Him in glory. These are places of great honor.

2. Beyond redemption, the Lord has made believers kings and priests: those who sanctify themselves, who pray, and who separate themselves from the world; those who do not speak whatever their mind pleases nor feel whatever a wandering heart cries out.

3. Whoever takes that position is not seen by God as a mere mortal, but as a king and priest to worship Him, to bear witness of Him, and to reign with Him on the millennial earth.

4. Lukewarmness is to be nothing, neither here nor there. Do not think so much about this earth for yourself; think about what heaven thinks of you, because heaven is watching us and the angels write down even our sighs and even our intentions.

5. The Jesus we say we serve is a living Jesus, who never grows weary and who is at the right hand of the Father interceding for us. That is the Jesus we love, and for Him we sanctify ourselves. Amen.