Would you turn in your Bibles
with me to the book of Matthew and chapter 25? The reading of the scripture
in Romans chapter nine will help us, I believe, in not only today's
message but through our whole lives to see the gospel and our
salvation. What effect it has on us when
we hear God's word, God's own word read to us and we find ourselves
utterly without claim on God except but that he would have
mercy on us in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's exactly where
we have to be. The Lord brings us there by his
grace, so be thankful that our salvation is all of God because
if it were up to anyone but him, they would neither save us nor
could they save us. They wouldn't want to and they
wouldn't be able to. So we certainly cannot save ourselves. So anyway, I want to refer to
that text of scripture as we go through the message today. Now, I've entitled today's message,
Ready for Christ's Return. How are we to be ready for Christ's
return? And we wanna look at this in
the parable of the talents. In Matthew chapter 25, And verse
13, the Lord Jesus said, watch therefore, for you know neither
the day nor hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. Now, this
is the same thing Jesus said in the previous chapter in Matthew
24. He repeats it here and he gives
parables that we might watch and be ready when the Son of
Man cometh. Now, I don't know about you,
but in my life, I have heard preachers preach out of these
texts in a way that left me without hope, because they left me to
think that all of it really ultimately came down to me. And so that's
what I wanna look at this with you today. As we read through
this parable beginning in verse 14, as we read about the three
servants here, we're going to see in these three servants,
all people. And the first and second servants,
and then the third servant, the third servant, we're going to
see someone that we can identify with. And because we can identify
with him and because of what the Lord Jesus Christ himself
in the day of judgment will say to that servant, it causes us
much terror. But God's word was not given
to terrify his people, it was given to comfort them and to
save them. And so that's why when we read
this, we want to ask the Lord himself as Brad prayed, he would
enable us not to stumble at Christ. He was given to his people, but
to the unbelieving, he was given as a stumbling stone. So let's
read this together, beginning at verse 14, and I want to read
through verse 30. He says, the Lord Jesus to his
disciples and to us, for the kingdom of heaven is as a man
traveling 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
received the five talents went and traded with the same, and
made them other five talents. And likewise, he that had received
two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one
went and digged 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 beside
them five talents more. His Lord said to 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 thy 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 to 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 thy
Lord. Then he which had received the
one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee. that thou art an
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 unto
him, thou wicked and slothful, lazy servant, thou knewest that
I reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not strawed.
Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers
and there, then at my coming, I should have received mine own
with usury or with interest. Take therefore the talent from
him and give it to 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 ye the unprofitable
servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Now I've heard this sermon preached
as the talent being God's gifts to us to serve Him insofar as
the church is concerned. For example, if you have the
gift of singing, that's your talent and you need to use it.
I've heard preachers actually use those kinds of words to,
I don't know if you would say exhort, but to strong-arm people
into doing things in the church they might have otherwise been
reluctant to do and make them feel guilty that if they don't,
they're going to lose their talents. Maybe you've heard something
like that, or maybe you've thought that on your own. But whatever
the case, that is not what the Lord is teaching here. He's talking
about being ready for his return. Notice back in chapter 25 verse
14, he says, the kingdom of heaven is as a man. So he's comparing
the kingdom of heaven to this, a man traveling into a far country. The man traveling into a far
country is the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he came from the Father,
sent by God the Father into this world, he came to do his father's
will. And upon completing his father's
will, and as both God and man, God made him the ruler over all,
he traveled back, he went back to his father. He returned to
his father, a far country from this earth, who called his own
servants. And he delivered unto them his
goods, he says here in verse 14. So his own servants, these
that Christ called were his servants. Notice that the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Lord of all men, all people. Everyone is his. All things belong
to him. It says in verse 15, 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. When the Lord Jesus Christ went
to glory, when he ascended, he rose from the dead, having accomplished
his father's will, he ascended back into glory, he took his
way on his journey, but before he left, he gave to his apostles,
he gave them gifts, it says in Ephesians 4. He descended first,
then he ascended, and he gave gifts unto men, Ephesians chapter
4. The gifts that he gave to his
church were the gifts of the gospel, the ability of men by
the Spirit of God to preach the gospel of Christ and his sin-atoning
work and his triumph over our sin and Satan and his enthronement,
his exaltation by God the Father, having put all authority under
the hand of him who is our mediator, both God and man. He is the man
who came and returned on his journey and gave gifts to his
people. And so it says that he gave to
each one as it seemed good to him. Notice he says, to one he
gave five, to another two, to another one. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the one who determined who should have how much and what
kind of a gift to every man according to his several ability. Now,
their ability obviously was an ability that they must have received
from God. And so whatever measure God has
given to us, that's what God determines right and he gives
to us as it pleases him. I think it's called the Bill
of Rights in the United States. I think it says that all men
were created equal. Is that true? I know some people
are a lot smarter than I am. Some people in the eyes of men
are a lot more important than I am. They have a much wider
influence and authority over others than I do. Some people
have many more possessions than I have. Some people are much
poorer than I am, some people are much sicker than I am, and
not as strong as I am, and some people are stronger than I am.
So in that regard, whether it be our own personal wisdom or
strength, or what we possess, possess our riches, all of those
things, God says, they're not equal, are they? Jesus said,
the poor you always have with you. and then there are rich
people. So in this life, everyone doesn't
get the same things, do they? And that's the case also in a
spiritual way. All of us don't have the same
spiritual gifts. We all don't have the same measure
of faith. So in all these things, we see
that it's the Lord who determines who gets what. And as we read
in Romans chapter nine, God has mercy on whom he will have mercy. He has compassion on whom he
will have compassion. And he also hardens whom he will. And we might say, well then,
as a question is even raised in Romans chapter nine, why does
he find fault then? Who can resist his will? Is God
unrighteous in doing these things? We know that's a valid question,
We know that what he claimed that he has mercy on whom he
will and hardens whom he will is a valid conclusion because
the question is raised. Is God unrighteous? Can we resist
his will? Why does he find fault with us?
Why does he hold us accountable if it's not our fault? God is
sovereign and he does whatever he wants. We know he is sovereign,
and this, in fact, is our only hope. We have no claims of our
own. We have nothing in ourselves
by which we can make a claim on God. And so he has to be sovereign,
otherwise we would have no hope, no hope of being saved. And because
he is the God who has mercy according to his own will and holiness,
then we do have hope. But let's go on in the text of
scripture here. So the Lord Jesus in verse 15
took his journey after leaving these servants with these different
talents. In verse 16, then he that had
received five talents went and traded with the same and made
them other five talents. Likewise, he that had received
two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one
went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. Now
in all cases, the money belonged to the Lord. It was the Lord's
money. And the reason that they were
able, the first two, the five gaining five more, and the two,
talent man, gaining two more, was because the Lord's money
gained. The Lord's money doubled. The
Lord gave the increase. The Lord made it fruitful. The
Lord made his own prosper according to his own will. Okay, so then
how can you explain this last man who had one talent and didn't
earn anything? Well, let's read on. Verse 19,
after a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth
with them. In other words, in the end of
time, all people will be gathered before the Lord. And he says
as much at the end of this parable, beginning at verse 31, that when
the Son of Man comes, he will separate his sheep from his goats. The sheep he will gather on his
right hand, the side of his favor and blessing, and the goats on
the left hand. And then he will speak to those
two groups. So this is the end of time. Jesus
is the Lord. Jesus is the judge. He's the
one everyone must reckon with. They must give an accounting
to him. Notice in verse 20. 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 beside
them five talents more. He's surprised. He's surprised. Amazing. Your five talents have
gained an additional five. They've doubled. A talent is
around 40 pounds, I think I calculated one time in the past. It's a
large amount of money. I heard someone say that a talent
was equivalent to about 20 years wages for one man, a lot of money. So this man had five, it was
like 100 years wages given to him and it doubled. That's a
significant return on the investment. Now, what this is teaching us
is, first of all, is that the Lord will not invest His money
without receiving what He expects from it. He's going to get return
on His investment according to His will, according to His sovereign
rule, according to His power. But He gave these five talents
to the first man and two to the second man, and He blessed them. They were given to these two
men, but they received them, and in their care, the talents
doubled. And so he says in verse 21, notice,
well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful
over a few things. I will make you ruler over many
things. Enter into the joy of thy Lord. Now here's something
fantastic. Both of these servants had a
different amount. But the Lord says the same thing
to both of them. One had five and ended up with
10. One had two and ended up with four. It was the Lord's
money. The Lord made it fruitful. He
increased it. He blessed it. And he got back
what he intended from it. But he commended them both equally. They both received the same commendation. And that's something to take
note of here. It was the Lord's money, and they both received
commendation from the Lord. And he tells them now, enter
into the joy of thy Lord. We would think, well, they're
running around with this sure and confident and boastful attitude. Look at me, five talents, I doubled
it, two, I've doubled it. I'm such a faithful servant.
That's not it at all. He said, you enter into the joy
of your Lord. It was the Lord's joy they were
to enter into. All right? So the same thing
is said in verse 22 and verse 23 to the man who had only two
talents. So these two first men are treated
equally, except in regards to the fact that Christ gave to
them a different amount. They both had They were both
blessed, and they both were commended, and they both were told to enter
into the joy of their Lord. So what do these two men represent? Well, in this parable, we see
both a positive and a negative instruction by Christ into how
we are to be ready for His return. How are we to be ready? Positively,
the first two servants. Negatively, the last servant. And this helps us to understand
this. So that when we see the first
two servants, we're seeing all of God's people who enter into
heaven at last. Because this is the kingdom of
heaven. And if you look towards the end
of our reading here in verse 30, cast the unprofitable servant
into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
That doesn't describe a Christian who was unfaithful with their
gifts in the church, and who was left bankrupt, and yet was
saved. No. No, this man was cast into
outer darkness, where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth.
He was lost. So the two different groups,
the first two on the one hand, and the last man on the other
hand, are representative of all of God's sheep on the first part
and those who are unbelieving on the last man, the last man
who had only one talent. He was an unbeliever. He didn't have God's gift of
grace to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And this helps
us to understand the difference between these two cases. Now,
I wanna consider a few scriptures with you here. First of all,
learn this as we look at this parable. Everything has been
given to Christ. All of it is his. It says in
Hebrews chapter one, he is the heir of all things. Jesus said
in John 3, 35, the father loveth the son and has put all things
into his hand. Everything is delivered to his
son. Just like Joseph in Egypt, Pharaoh gave everything into
Joseph's hand and everyone had to go to Joseph to get food for
life. And whatever Joseph said, they
were obligated to that. Or like in the book of Esther,
God gave to Mordecai and to Esther, you write as it pleases you.
And everything that you write, I'll put my seal to and it will
be done. Everything was put into the hands
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And not to his hands alone, but
into his hands with his church. If you look at Ephesians chapter
1, I'll show you this. So that all is Christ and all
is given to him for himself with his people. Look at this in Ephesians
chapter 1. Verse 22, it says, speaking of
what God has done, he has put all things under his feet and
gave him, the Lord Jesus, to be the head over all things,
notice, to the church. Everything given to Christ was
for his people, which is his body. The church is Christ's
own body. That means they are joined to
Him, they are inseparably one with Him, and there's such a
union between they and Him, Him and them, that they are in Him
and He dwells in them. And as it says in chapter 5 of
Ephesians, he that loveth his wife loveth himself, Christ loves
his people, he's loving himself. They're joined to him. Notice
also here, in Ephesians 1.23, his body, the fullness of him
that filleth all in all. They are his completion as the
God-man mediator. Not as the son of God, because
as son of God, he's self-created. self-existent, self-sustaining.
He needs nothing and nothing can be added to him. But as the
man God made our mediator, everything was put into his hands. So that's
the first thing we notice here. Everything is his. Then also
in 1 Corinthians 3, I want to read this to you. 1 Corinthians
3 and verse 21, you get there. He says, notice, this is to the
church. Remember, all things are Christ, given by God to him
in reward for his obedience and triumph over our sins in doing
the will of God and conquering our enemies and glorifying God,
verse 21 of Ephesians 3. I'm sorry, 1 Corinthians chapter
3, verse 21. Therefore let no man glory in
men. Not in Paul, not in Apollos,
not in Peter, none, no men. For all things are yours. Do
you see that? There's nothing left out there.
Everything is yours. He's talking about the church,
whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death. or things present or things to
come, all are yours. Notice how he doesn't just leave
the word all undefined here, he makes sure we understand it's
all inclusive. It doesn't matter if it's your
life or your death, things past, things present, things to come,
everything is yours because you are Christ's and Christ is God's. Everything belongs to God, he
gave it to Christ and he gave it to his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ for his people. He gave it to Christ, all things
are put under his feet to the church, as it said in Ephesians
1, verse 22. That's the first thing to observe
here. Everything that belongs to God has been given to Christ
and given to him for his people. Now that is incomprehensibly,
indescribably beyond our ability to appreciate, isn't it? Everything
that is God's. Is it even true? Is it? Well,
we just read that it is. But in Colossians 2 and verse
9 it says, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in the Lord Jesus
Christ in His body. God in all of His fullness, nothing
lacking, all that God is, Christ is. And we are complete in Him. Now that's beyond anything that
we could possibly comprehend. And yet it therefore must be
entirely by God's grace. And that's the second thing.
Not only is everything Christ's, and not only is it given to him
for the church so that it is theirs in him, but it's all of
grace. Look at Romans chapter 4. In
Romans chapter 4 and verse 4, we see a very fundamental principle
here that we often forget. It says in verse four of Romans
four, now to him that worketh, that's laboring. If we were to
think that the parable in Matthew 25 about the three servants with
these different talents meant that one worked and the other
one didn't. in a way to earn from God, we
would be mistaken. Because it says here, to him
that worketh is the reward, or the compensation, not reckoned
of grace, but debt. If we labor, this is what it's
saying, if we labor in order to make ourselves pleasing to
God according to His requirements of us, we're only going to make
ourselves debtors. We're not going to get anything.
Because what follows, look, verse 5, but to him that worketh not,
does not work, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. A believer looks to Christ only
because that's the only place there's any acceptance with God. He alone is pleasing to God,
and in him alone is God well pleased with his people. He alone
kept all that God required and did the will of God. He's the
one who worked. And we do not work in order to
gain this salvation. We look to Him and ascribe all
to be His. And our only hope is that it
is ours in Him. Now that's what faith means and
that's what it means not to work. And this is saying here that
we're justified. and we're justified not by what
we do, but by what He did, His righteousness is counted ours.
God considers, God made all that Christ did what we did, so that
we did it. He did it, but God says, we did
it, God made it so that we did it. So then in 1 Corinthians
1.30, of him, of God, are you made in Christ, wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. All right, this is something
that's fabulous, fantastic. incomprehensibly wonderful that
all that God requires of me, the sinner, in spite of my sin
and bankruptcy of spirit, he has provided and received from
Christ and received me in his work, in himself. It's all of
grace. Look at Romans chapter 11 also. It must be so. In Romans chapter
11 and Following what we heard Brad read in Romans 9, he asked
this question in verse 1, I say, has God cast away his people?
Is it possible that God cast away his people? No, God forbid,
for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe
of Benjamin. God has not cast away his people
which he foreknew. Known unto God are all his works
from the foundation of the world. Does God love a person? Then
he loved him before time. Did he love him before time?
Then he loved him in Christ. And did he love him in Christ
before time? Then he loved him to the end.
There's no change in God. There's no influence over him. He does what he will do and he
doesn't change. And so he says here in verse
5 of Romans 11, even so then, at this present time also, just
as there was a remnant in Elijah's day, there is a remnant according
to, notice these words carefully, the election of grace. Some people don't like election. If you don't like election, then
you don't like salvation. If you don't like salvation by
election, then you don't like the God of grace and salvation
who saves by election. That's what he's saying here,
the election of grace. Do you despise God's grace? Then
you despise God. Do you? Do we hate God's election? It is because we want to be on
the throne. We think that if somehow we could
influence God, our salvation would be more secure. What a
wicked thought. What an accusing thought of God
and of Christ of injustice that He would save by His grace alone
instead of our will and our work. Notice then, verse 6, and if
by grace, in case you weren't paying attention, then is it
no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be
of works, then is it no more grace. If you want to come to
God on the basis of your works, then you cannot come on the basis
of His grace, you will come by works alone. So in other words,
the way you come to God, whether it be by grace or by works, is
the way God will meet you. Do you come as the last servant
did, saying, I knew that you were a hard man. And I knew that
you take up what you didn't lay down. You reap what you didn't
sow. You gather what you didn't straw.
You're sovereign. You're almighty. Therefore, I
was afraid. And I hid your talent. You wicked
servant. You came thinking that all depended
on you, and guess what? You utterly failed. You are a
wicked and a slothful servant, a lazy servant. Why does he call
him lazy? Because this is the work that
God has, that God, what does it say in John chapter six, verse
29? This is the work of God. that
you believe on him whom he has sent. Isn't that what it says?
Doesn't it also say in Hebrews chapter four, let us labor therefore
to do what? To enter into his rest. For he that hath entered into
his rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did
from his. So that our laboring is not a
work as we would traditionally think in order to accomplish
things for God. but as a work of laboring to
lay aside our own merit. to divest ourselves of anything
of ourselves and to see that all must be ours only in Christ
and what he did. Everything, all glory and credit
and all of our boasting must be in his accomplishments by
the will of God and the grace of God, given to us freely without
any merit on our part. In fact, in spite of all that
we are, all of our sin. Okay. So now we've seen something
about this. The matter is that everything
belongs to Christ. God gave it to him because of
his work, not ours. He labored, not us. And we look
to him, and that is the work that God has given us, to look
to Christ. And he's sovereign. He's almighty.
He can make even the dead rise and give them life. And he does
do so. Yes, he's sovereign, but it's
not because, well, we're going to get to this in a second. Everything
is by grace. He does what pleases him and
it's a good thing he does or there would be no hope for us.
No man can earn from God. So those are things that we've
established here from scripture. Now, here's the other thing we
must understand. That in Romans 11, in verse 29,
it says this also. that the gifts and callings of
God are without repentance. We give and take back. God doesn't. If God gives grace, if he gives
life, then it's eternal life. It's grace that will never be
retracted, never called back. God's gifts didn't arise because
he found something, didn't arise in the motive because he found
something in us. He didn't say, well, look, there's
a really good young man. I'm gonna bless him so that the
rest of his life he'll be blessed. Let that thought condemn you
for your legalistic attitude that God would somehow be able
to consider you and reward you No, God's gifts are given to
us out of pure grace, uninfluenced, uninfluenceable, and unchanging
and unchangeable because God himself is the one who gives
them. And yet there's a one servant here who was given a talent and
the Lord cast him into outer darkness, told him to depart,
called him wicked and lazy, slothful. So how do we handle that? Well,
Every believer is given salvation and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ
because he was the servant who did God's work. But every unbeliever
in the day of judgment will be shown to have taken the things
God has given to him and wasted them. And what is that? God has created all of us out
of nothing. Creation proves a few things.
First of all, it proves that God doesn't need us. He was content
as God without us. He made us out of nothing. We
certainly weren't there to influence him, were we? Therefore, creation
is all of God. And it's all of His motive, all
of His power, all for His purpose, and all for His pleasure. In
Colossians 1.16, it says concerning the Lord Jesus Christ that He
made all things for himself and for his pleasure. All things
were created by him and for him and for his pleasure they are
and were created. This is the testimony of scripture.
Therefore creation teaches us God's sovereignty. The creator
is absolute sovereign. We don't influence him, we can't
change him. He does what he will and all
that he does, he looks at and he says, very good. So that's
the first thing. The second thing is our life,
the daily life that we experience, called God's providence. In our
life, do we make ourselves alive? Do we keep ourselves alive? Is
our breath and life in our hands? In Daniel chapter five, verse
23, Daniel told Abraham, Nebuchadnezzar's son, Belshazzar, he said, speaking
about God, in whose hands thy, your breath is, and whose are
all your ways. So our life is in God's hands.
All things were created by him, and by him all things consist,
or subsist. So not only is creation, but
our life in this world teaches us God is sovereign, gives as
he wills, and all that we have we owe to him. Every person therefore
on earth knows by God's showing it to them. They know this from
birth innately because God declared it to them. God is God. He has
all power, and you are in His hands, and your life, and your
breath, and everything you have is from Him. You owe Him worship. You ought to be thankful. You
ought to fall on your face every moment in your heart, and with
your thoughts, and your motives, and your words, and your deeds,
and you ought to give yourself to Him because you are His. And
in this parable, we see that we are actually Christ's servants. Jesus said in John 17, verse
2, in prayer to his Father, he says, Father, as you have given
me power over all flesh, You see, we're His in order that
He, the Son of God, our mediator, might give eternal life to as
many as you have given to Him. So everything is Christ. We belong
to Him. We owe our life and breath and
our energies and our goals, our plans, everything. We belong
and owe to the Lord Jesus Christ. And when the gospel is preached
to us, We owe it to God. We owe it to Him to believe Him. If we don't believe the gospel,
if we don't submit to His righteousness, what will we do? We call Him
a liar. We say He's unjust, unfair. We
accuse Him in our hearts. And so unbelief is a wicked thing. And so God has given us creation. He's given all of us providence.
He's made all of us know the things that can be known of God.
But what happened to each one of us by nature? Well, we preferred
not to hold God in our knowledge. We didn't like what we knew about
Him. And we held it down and suppressed
it and put it out of our minds so that we could say, I don't
believe God. Well, are we supposed to admire
you for that obstinate, willful, self-serving, proud, deceitful
thought? Are we supposed to honor people
for having an independent mind and saying there is no God or
that the world evolved or something like this, that man created himself?
Of course not. That would be to acknowledge
wickedness is right. We don't think that way. So this
man was given much, but what he wasn't given was the one thing
needful, which was what? He didn't have grace. He wasn't
given the grace that Brad read about in Romans chapter nine. God didn't have the mercy upon
him to deliver him from his own wickedness and grace to save
him from it because he was content. just to remain hostile to the
Lord Jesus Christ, content to trust himself in all these things. What should we do about such
a person? Well, let's read about what he
said here, 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 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. And so every man will appear
before God. Those who come before the Lord Jesus Christ, most people,
most people ever living on this earth will appear before Christ
and they will present to Him what He gave to them and they'll
say, it didn't increase. I was afraid of you because you're
sovereign. Because you can do whatever you
want, I was afraid of you. He excused his wickedness because
of Christ's sovereignty. He excused his unbelief because
the Lord Jesus Christ gives as it pleases Him out of grace entirely. He acknowledged that the Lord
could do what he wants and that he was almighty and yet he never
took the gift of life given to him to the almighty sovereign
who has grace and commit himself entirely into his hand. He went
about to establish his own righteousness. He refused to submit to the righteousness
of Christ. He was given the gospel in his
ears, but not in his heart, and so he took that gospel unmixed
with faith, and he turned it as an accusation to find fault
with his judge, with the only Savior. He opposed his own salvation. He was afraid. He said, you are
a hard man. He judged his judge. He tried
to put him in the place of the accused. And so this is the way
we are by nature. And so he hid it in the earth
and left to ourselves, we will remain that way. And so we learn
from this that God has grace and saves whom he will and blesses
his own talents. And that all that we have, we
have only in Christ. How then can I be ready? How
then can I be one of these first two servants? Well, again, this
last servant was slothful. The Lord said, you wicked and
slothful servant. He was slothful in the interpretation
given by the gospel and that he didn't look to Christ for
all. He took up the work as something he had to perform. He didn't
admire Christ's work. He wasn't appreciative of it. He didn't stand in amazement
at it. It didn't endear Christ to him. It didn't make him thankful.
It didn't make him fall on his face and say, Lord, you saved
me by your grace. None of that happened because
he didn't have faith. And it was his fault, because
he held this attitude toward God. I didn't like him. He's
a hard man. And he put him from his thoughts.
And he went on with his life, with all that God gave him in
life, until the end. And then he had to give an account.
And so, how are we to be ready? But we're to go to the Lord Jesus
Christ, the giver of life, the sovereign God of all grace. And we're to put ourselves, bring
what he has given to us back to him. Lord, if faith comes
from you, I come, give me this faith. If you've given me life,
Lord, make this life to your glory. Take away my sins and
receive us graciously. Isn't that what it says in Hosea
chapter 14? We have destroyed ourselves, but in you is our
help found. Hosea 13 verse 9. All these things
are taught to us from this parable. The way to be ready is to be
what? Found in Christ. Not having my own righteousness,
but that which gives joy to God, the joy of the Lord, as he said,
enter into that. The Lord Jesus Christ found joy
in laying his life down, and that is our joy, that he accomplished
our salvation. What great grace this is, isn't
it? That the Lord would do this for us. We are ready when we
find all of the work God requires of us in the Lord Jesus Christ. What a wonderful salvation. And doesn't this make you pray,
Lord, whatever it takes, Don't leave me to myself. Doesn't it? Lord, don't leave me to myself.
Don't leave me in my hostile, unbelieving heart that accuses
you in your sovereignty and your almighty power for being unjust
and unfair towards me. I deserve, I'm the sinner. Isn't
that what the public can pray? God be merciful to me, the sinner. Look upon your own son, the one
you made the propitiation for my sins. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your great
mercy that you would exalt the Lord Jesus Christ to be a prince
and a savior to give repentance to your promised elect people,
the Israel of God. Thank you that this grace comes
to us in spite of our sin, without any conditions upon our own merit
or our own work. The faith we need to receive
it is itself the gift of your grace. All is of God. All things are of God. And we
know that you accomplished in your son all of your will, and
have given all things to him in reward for his obedience and
his love and his faith. Let us find all in Him. Let us
claim nothing for ourselves, but let us rejoice in His salvation. And let us worship our God and
Savior all of our days and be surprised, be amazed in the day
of judgment that you, Lord Jesus, multiplied and made fruitful
the grace you gave to us. And be surprised that you would
commend us and call us good and faithful because of you yourself. The work that you did counted
ours. What wisdom from God, what holiness
and righteousness and justice and truth and grace and mercy
to save sinners in such a way. Help us to always remain and
continue in this grace of the faith that you give. Let us never
seek salvation apart from Christ. Let us never boast in ourselves
or take glory to ourselves. Let us, with the Apostle Paul,
say, though we labored, it was by the grace of God laboring
in us. We can do nothing, Lord, to merit
anything. It all must be given to us freely,
and because freely, because of Christ, that we know you've given
us all things with him. Amazing love. In Jesus' name
we pray, amen.