And as we cannot be our own master, if we refuse to take Christ as our Ruler, there is nothing left for us but to have Satan as our master.  These are the only two masters we can have.  We must make our choice between them.  If Jesus is not our Master, Satan must be.  If Jesus is our Master here, he will share his glory with us hereafter.  If we serve Satan here, we must share his punishment hereafter.  This is one of the solemn lessons that Jesus taught on Olivet.  He is speaking of the day of judgment.  He represents himself as on the judgment-seat.  Two great companies are before him.  On his right hand are those who took him for their Master.  To them he says—­“Come, ye blessed children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, from the foundation of the world,” St. Matt, xxv:  34.

On his left are those who took Satan for their master.  The awful words he speaks to them are:—­“Depart from, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”  St. Matt. xxv:  41.

This is our first lesson from Olivet—­the lesson about the Master.

The second lesson from Olivet is the lesson about—­THE SERVANTS.

We are told that before this nobleman went away to the far country, he called to him “his own servants.”  The nobleman here spoken of means Jesus, our blessed Master.  And now the question is—­who are meant by “his own servants?” He has three kinds of servants.  The first kind is made up of those who serve him ignorantly.  This takes in all those things that have no knowledge or understanding.  There, for instance are the sun,—­the moon,—­the stars,—­the mountains,—­the hills,—­the plains,—­the valleys,—­the rivers,—­the seas,—­the wind that blows,—­the rains that descend,—­and the dews that distil; these all serve God, without knowing it.  He made them to serve him, and they do it; but they do it ignorantly.  “His kingdom ruleth over all,” and it makes all these things his servants.  They do exactly what they were made for, but they do it ignorantly.

And there is another class of our Lord’s creatures who serve him unwillingly.  This is a very large class.  It takes in all the wicked men, and the wicked spirits who are to be found anywhere.  They do not wish to serve God, and yet, in spite of themselves, they are obliged to do it.  We see this illustrated, when we think of the way in which the crucifixion of our blessed Saviour was brought about.  Satan stirred up the Jews to take Jesus and put him to death.  God allowed them to do it.  They did it of their own choice—­as freely, and as voluntarily, as they ever did anything in their lives.  They did it because they hated him, and wished to get him out of their way.  So they nailed him to the cross in their malice and their rage.  This was the very thing God had determined should be done, that he might save and bless the world.  He allowed Satan, and the Jews, to do just what their wicked hearts prompted them to do; and then he overruled it for good.  And, in this way, as David says, he “makes the wrath of man to praise him, and the remainder of it he restrains.”  And thus we see how evil men, and evil spirits, are God’s servants unwillingly.