Turn your Bibles to Matthew 25, verses 14-30. As we have looked at the Galatians
Church, one of the things that has been seriously clear, I guess,
is the operations of the false teachers. They come They don't
come with blatant disregard for the scripture or open rebellion
towards God. They come with stealth and they
creep in and it's the subtleties that do the damage. They come
in a sense proclaiming salvation by grace, but it's not until
you see the operations and the things that they add to that
proclamation that you realise that they undo. everything that
grace stands for. And it should be no surprise
to us. We've seen Satan in Luke 4 tempt the Lord Jesus, and he
did so with scripture. When the Lord rebuked the Pharisees
in John 8, he says, you're of your father, the devil. And Paul
in 2 Corinthians 11 describes these Satan's ministers as those
who would transform themselves into ministers of righteousness.
Is it any different today? We've heard this parable, the
parable of the Talons, a number of us who have been involved
with free will, works, righteous religion. We've heard it preached
to promote a legalism, a works righteousness based salvation. Basically what they say is the
Lord gave us gifts. He gave us the ability to overcome
our sin, the ability to perform religious duties, the ability
to evangelise, the ability to tithe and to do all these other
things that we associate with religious activities. Basically
what they say is those that perform well, earn their way to Heaven
or they earn rewards from the Lord and those that don't perform
ultimately fail and fall and end up in Hell. It raises two
questions for me. One, how good is good enough?
And two, where do we draw the line between good enough to just
scrape through or bad performance and entering Hell? Basically
what they do in contorting or perverting or distorting these
passages is they contradict the Biblical reality of every one
of these passages in this book. We must read the Scriptures through
the lens of the Gospel. So I'd like to read the passage.
I'd like to make a few comments and expose the lies that they
attach to this passage. and then I'd like to look at
the passage for what it really is. So we'll begin at verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is
as a man travelling into a far country who called his own servants
and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents,
to another two, and to another one, to every man according to
his several ability, and straightway took his journey. Then he that
had received five talents went and traded with the same, and
made them other five talents. And likewise he that received
two, he also gained another two. But he that had received one
went and digged it in the earth, and hid his Lord's money. After
a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth
with them, And so he that had received five talents came and
brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me
five talents. Behold, I have gained besides
these five talents more. His Lord said unto him, Well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful
over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of the
Lord. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord,
thou deliverest unto me two talents. Behold, I have gained two other
talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, Well
done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over
a few things. I will make thee ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of the
Lord. Then he which had received the
one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee, that thou art a
hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering
where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid, and went and
hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast that is thine. His Lord answered and said to
him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I
reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not strawed.
Thou oughtest therefore to have put thy money to the exchanges,
and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from
him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every
one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.
but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which
he hath, and cast you, the unprofitable servant, into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth." Now it's easy to read this carnally and to see a performance
based salvation presented, but it's not what this passage
is saying and Lord willing it's not what the Lord is imprinting
on the hearts of his people. So they get some things right.
The man that travels, that leaves for a far country and returns
is the Lord Jesus Christ. His goods, he gives his goods
to his servants in verse 14. That's correct. There is a spiritual
connotation when he speaks of a good and faithful servant or
a wicked and slothful servant. There is eternal consequences
when he speaks of entering into the joy of the Lord or being
cast into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing
of teeth. What's not so obvious is the subtleties of the lies
that these false teachers attach to this passage through the assumption
of carnal understanding. They distort They pervert and
they invert the scriptures and ultimately they suggest that
the entering of the Kingdom of Heaven is based on the works
righteous activities of men. The first subtle lie they tell
is these goods. The Lord distributed His goods
and in fact if we look a little closer we will see that these
goods are represented by treasure. But these false teachers would
suggest that those goods are the moral abilities of men, the
ability to purge our sin and to perform righteous activities.
And of course the second lie is that they enter the Kingdom
of Heaven based on a good performance. They enter Hell based on a poor
performance. All scripture, as I said before,
must be read through the lens of the Gospel. We are taught
three things when we meet the Lord in saving grace. The Holy
Spirit, according to John 16.8, convicts us of sin, of righteousness
and of judgement. He convinces us of sin, that
man has absolutely no ability to perform anything, anything that can win him merit
before the Lord, especially in regard to the entry to heaven. The second thing we are convinced
of is righteousness. There is just one righteousness
in this world and it is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that is the only basis of any entry into Heaven. And thirdly,
the Holy Spirit convinces us of judgement. He convinces us
that our judgement has passed in our Saviour, that we have
been represented, chosen in eternity and represented by the Lord Jesus
Christ, saved by grace alone. Now there are three things, three
foundational things that we know and there are three things that
we are encouraged in 1 Thessalonians 5 to use to test all things. We need to test the false teachers. We need to test our pastor and
anyone who stands in this pulpit. We need to test one another.
So this is a lens by which we read spiritual truth. So what does this passage really
say to us? As I said, this is a passage
that is rightly interpreted as a means or a way that men enter
into the Kingdom of God. That man, that Lord, is our Lord
Jesus Christ who has ascended and he's entrusted his goods
to his people and he will return and he will gather his children
to himself. But these goods, if you look
at the passage, are likened to talents. They're likened to money. So it's a treasure that we're
talking about. It's the riches, riches of His glory. In Matthew
13 the Kingdom of Heaven is likened to a pearl of great choice. But the best example we have
is in 2 Corinthians 4 verse 7 where Paul says we have this treasure
in earthen vessels. And if you look at the verses
prior to it, you see that that treasure is the declaration of
the glory of God in the face of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus
Christ. This treasure, these goods that
have been committed to men, is the Gospel, the witness of God's
glory in the salvation of His people. And this witness that we have
is the power to salvation. In verse 15, the Lord gives to
each man according to his several ability. To some he gives five,
to some he gives two, and to some he gives one. In Ephesians
4.7 we read, Unto every one of us grace is given according to
the measure of the gift of Christ. And these gifts are for the edification
of the body of Christ and they are effective gifts. If we look
in verses 16 and 17, those who had five talents earned five
talents. Those who had two earned two. All of salvation is of grace.
We don't witness unless the Lord gives us and sustains a witness,
unless He creates opportunities, unless He moves us to witness.
Not one part of salvation relies on the abilities of men. It's
all of grace. The Lord says those whom the
Father has given Him will come. But what of this other man in
verse 18, this one that was given one talent? He's the one that's
highlighted by the false teachers to use to motivate us to be more
diligent in our religious activities. If you notice there, he digged
the goods into the earth. It's a great illustration. We
are just dust. It's a great illustration of
the dust of carnal unbelief. Ultimately he was given goods. He was given a witness. He was
given something that he knew intellectually to be true and
yet rather than like the other two men going straight out and
trading based on his faith in that witness, he buried it in
unbelief. And if you notice in verse 25,
he didn't even dig it up to give back to the Lord. He says at
the end of verse 25, there thou hast that is thine. So in verse 19 the Lord returns
to collect the profits of his goods. He comes, as we know,
or will come, to gather his children to himself. They're described
as his jewels in Isaiah. That is the prophet of the Gospel,
the faith children of God, and it's in those faith children
that the Lord has his glory. In verses 20 to 23 the Lord reckons
with them and we see that the Gospel did profit And the Lord's description of
his people is amazing, good and faithful servants. And there
is an entry into the kingdom, but it's not based on their performance
as we'll see. In verse 24, the man that has
one talent, he says he knows that the Lord
is a hard man. Until we meet the Lord in grace,
the Lord is an inflexible judge. How often have I met people that
say that they hold to the doctrines of grace and yet they're fearful
of a meeting with the Lord. They're fearful to consider their
position before the Lord. They haven't been given faith.
And we'll see that this man in a moment turns in verse 25 and
he's afraid. He's afraid because of his unbelief. But he says he knew that the
Lord reaped where he had not sown and gathered where he had
not strawed. He was aware that salvation is
by grace. He was aware intellectually,
but he wasn't given the grace to embrace it by faith and therefore
he buried it in the dust of his carnality. In John 9 where the Lord rebukes
the Pharisees after he healed the blind man, he said, You claim
to see and therefore your sin remains. There is a judgment,
a greater judgment upon those that claim to see, those that
elevate themselves to teaching positions. Now this man said he knew that
the Lord was able to benefit even without reaping and sowing
and he said that was his reason that he was afraid and his reason
that he hid it. But the Lord says to him, you
knew, therefore you should have invested my money. See that's the saints in faith,
trust in the power of the Gospel to be salvation. We don't trust
in the activities of men, the schemes and the scams and the
clever evangelistic things that men go on with. We just trust
the power of the Gospel. Our obligation by God's grace
is just to declare the truth. And what is that truth? It's
a witness of the operations of God in our lives, a witness of
experience. And this man, whether he had
one talent or ten talents, the Lord expected some profit. And it's often the case that
we consider those that are great evangelists, those that are doing
great, large and many activities to be better in some way than
us. But there's nothing that we have
that hasn't been given to us. and whether or not we have great
works or small works, the children of faith do glorify God. No matter how gifted we are or
not, we glorify the Lord. We praise Him for His grace in
our lives. We acknowledge Him by our dependence
and our prayer and we honour Him in our worship. He is glorified
in his faith children. So as we come to a conclusion
in this passage, it's not what the false teachers think. It's
not what they preach. It's not a passage about great
gain based on our own works, righteous activities. It's a
passage like so many others that contrast faith and unbelief. the great obedience of the scriptures,
if you like. This man was conscious. He had
a conscious intellectual knowledge of religious things, but what he had was taken from
him. The faithful servants or those that were described
as faithful from the Lord, are, like all of us, unprofitable
at best. But they receive the promises
of God by faith. Therefore they receive the blessings
of God. Therefore as joint heirs with
Christ himself they receive the inheritance. And if you have
looked there in verse 29, whether they started out with five talents,
or two talents, or ten, or one, they each have the same reward,
abundance. There is no degrees of heaven,
no levels of reward for those that perform better here on earth.
There is one reward. and the greatest reward of Heaven
is union with our Great Father for eternity. Those that would see and teach
this passage encouraging works righteous obligation and requirements
of men of any sort for salvation are those that have buried the
Blessed Gospel in the carnal dust of unbelief. Those that
continue to proclaim the Gospel, trusting through faith that the
Lord is the only righteousness and Saviour of men. Those that
trust the power of the Gospel alone in the finished work of
Christ as the only merit or commodity in the Kingdom of Heaven. They
are those who will receive all the promises, all the blessings,
all the love and mercy of God. In Galatians these false teachers
would have them leave their first love, that purity of Gospel salvation. What for? For a temporal morality. And the way they do it is to
pervert the precious truth of the Scriptures. And today there
are many that would have us leave the assurance, security, the
liberty that we have of the Gospel by faith. To return to what? To return again to trusting in
the unbelief of our own wisdom, our own strength and our own
abilities. And they do it the same way,
the same way as the false teachers did in Galatians, the same way
as Satan tried to with the Lord. they pervert the same precious
truths today. This passage has been a passage
about faith versus unbelief, not religious performance versus
religious disobedience. May our God keep us resting in
the finished work of our great Saviour for all our needs, both
here on this earth and for all eternity. May He keep us from
the dangerous influences of the false teachers. May He sustain
His witness amongst us. May He cause us to uphold the
Gospel of the free and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ
in the salvation of His people. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we
are, pray all sheep, It's a great miracle to think of what you've
done in the hearts of your people and amongst us in this church.
I don't know how long we've been together, Heavenly Father, but
it is just amazing that no matter how much Satan and this world
buffets us, no matter how much our own flesh buffets us, you
have sustained your Gospel in our midst. Please, Father, make
that Gospel witness a powerful and effective witness to us week
in and week out. Help us to be people that go
away from here today and every time we meet Heavenly Father,
having our eyes set upon our Saviour, being reminded that
all of salvation, every facet of it, no matter how much you
use meaning in it Heavenly Father, all of it must be attributed
to the finished work of our great Saviour and King. Father, I just
pray that in your mercy you would protect us and you would shield
us from the errors that we saw our brother Peter make and are
so often the case with us, being led somehow by carnal understanding
back into error again. Father, thank you that you are
a faithful God and that no matter how much we fall, no matter how
often your children stray, You will work all things to draw
us back to Yourself. Thank Heavenly Father that even
in the greatest trials You use them mightily to purge us of
that unbelief that troubles us so much. We pray in Your grace
Heavenly Father that You would just continue to keep us set
upon our Saviour, that You would lift Him up in our midst, You
would keep us thinking on Him and the beauty that it is to
have been your son and to have saved your people. Help us to
be focused on that today, Heavenly Father. We just thank you for
your grace in Christ's precious name. Amen.