Now would you turn in your Bibles
to the book of Matthew chapter 25. This morning we are going
to return to a parable that our Lord taught His disciples. The
parable of the talents is what it is commonly known as. It begins
at verse 14 of Matthew chapter 25. The parable of the talents.
Talent back then was money basically. This is not talking about money,
it's talking about the gifts and graces that God gives His
people to serve and to minister in the Kingdom of God, in the
Kingdom of Heaven, preaching, teaching, living the gospel,
being witnesses, testimonies, walking testimonies of grace,
helping each other, loving each other, promoting in the sense
of edification, building up the church, all of these things.
That's what it's talking about. So, it's talking basically about
the faithfulness of God's people. Being faithful to His Word, being
faithful to Him, and so I've entitled it the parable, A Parable
on Faithfulness. This is the second part of that.
Last week I spent a lot of time dealing with the very basic truth
of God's grace in this matter, because most people have no foundation
when they go into things like this and they think about gifts
and graces and talents. They don't know what the Scripture
actually teaches on it. But when we speak of faithfulness,
the Apostle Paul in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 4 wrote
this. Verse 1, he says, let a man so
account of us as the ministers of Christ and stewards of the
mysteries of God. What we're talking about is stewardship.
You know what a steward is? A steward is someone who's been
given a great responsibility for something that he does not
own and did not earn. But he's a steward of a boss
or a master, and he's been given the responsibility to make good
use of what the Master has given him. And so we are often called
stewards of the grace of God, we who believe the gospel. We
have been given a great responsibility. And it's a responsibility that
is awesome. It's one, Paul said this, he
said, who's sufficient for these things? I'm not. Paul wasn't. But he said, our
sufficiency is of God. In other words, it's not by our
own power. It's not because of our own goodness or graces, but
it's of God. And so he says in verse 2 of
1 Corinthians 4, he says, moreover, it is required in stewards that
a man be found faithful. In other words, this faithfulness
is not an option. It's a requirement. It is a requirement. But now, as I preached last week,
we need to understand first before we get into that. that our faithfulness
to God, our faithfulness to Christ and His truth and His people
is not the cause or the ground of our salvation. The cause and
ground of our salvation is His faithfulness to us and to His
Father, the faithfulness of Christ. Salvation is not by works, not
even our faithfulness. It's by His works, His faithfulness. And we're going to see that right
in the opening of this parable. But if, as I said last week,
we're going to learn to think biblically, and that's what the
Lord is doing to His disciples. He's teaching them. He's discipling
them. Training them to think scripturally,
to think in terms of grace. That's what we need to do. We
need hearts established with grace before we ever get into
the issue of obedience and worth. We need hearts that think towards
the glory of God. That's what we're here for, the
scripture says. Every time I hear somebody talk
about the old catechisms or the old statements of faith, that's
where it starts. We're here for the glory of God.
That's where the Bible starts. We're here for the glory of God.
And we'll talk about that. But we want to think in terms
of the Scripture. That's what our Lord's doing.
He's not just telling you a story that makes you feel warm and
fuzzy inside. In fact, I don't see how many
of these parables could make you feel warm and fuzzy inside,
to be honest with you, because a lot of them in, to cast them
out, there'll be gnashing of teeth and wailing. That doesn't
make you feel warm and fuzzy, I hope. And they're not children's stories. I've said that a lot. These are
parables, the wisdom of Christ given for believers. And here he's holding us accountable
and responsible to be faithful in all things. We know we don't
have that in us by nature. It's only by the grace of God
we're going to see that. But this is the issue on this
parable on faithfulness. Now, let's get into the details
of this parable. And I'm not planning on finishing
the whole thing, but I want you to see these foundational truths
that are laid out here, because if you miss them, you miss the
whole thing. You miss the whole thing. But look at verse 14 of
Matthew 25. Now, the first thing that he
brings forth here is the sovereignty and mercy of God in giving gifts
and graces. That's the first thing you've
got to see. in this matter of giving gifts and graces. Now,
we see that in salvation. Look at verse 14. He says, "...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."
Now, underline that word, his, there. Whose goods did he give? His goods. And you know what? When he gave them, they didn't
stop being his. I'll show you that in a moment.
They're still His. That's why we're stewards of
the grace of God, stewards of the mystery of God. I'm not preaching
Bill Parker's gospel. I'm preaching God's gospel. Paul
said that in Romans chapter 1. This is the gospel of God. I didn't think it up. It's not
original with me. This is a message from heaven.
It's His gospel. I'm just the voice. John the
Baptist said that. I'm the voice of one who crieth
in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
I'm not the Messiah. Christ is the Messiah. I'm not
the Savior. I can't save you. I baptize you
in water. But he said, I can't birth you
again. There's one coming who has the
power to baptize in the Holy Spirit. That's the new birth.
He has power to save. I can't make you righteous. Christ
can. That's right. I can't even save
myself. John said, I'm not the Messiah.
He is. I'm not the light. He is. He
said, I'm not even worthy to untie his shoes. Well, now, you
would think, and I want to tell you something. That's not just
poetry that John's saying there. That's not just putting on a,
as they said down south, putting on the dog. That's not just putting
on the dog. John the Baptist meant it. He
was speaking by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Now, you'd think
Christ said there's nobody greater born of women than John the Baptist. And John the Baptist said of
himself, he said, I'm not even worthy to tie that person's shoes. You'd think at least John would
be worthy of that. But he says as far as worthiness
in himself, he had none. That's what he meant. And that's
what we ought to say, too. That's our state, too. And then
he said, he, Christ, must increase, I must decrease. So he delivered
unto them his goods. Look at verse 15. It says, unto
one he gave five talents. And as I said, that talent usually
measured in gold or silver. And this is not talking about
your financial statement or your investment portfolio here. And
you'd be amazed. You might laugh at that, but
you'd be amazed at how many preachers today go into this seed sowing
business and they'll use this one as a proof text. You know, you give a hundred,
God will give it back double or whatever. That's not what
this is talking about. This talent here is a symbol. It's an earthly symbol of a spiritual
truth. And these talents here represent
the gifts and graces of ministry and service that he gives to
every one of his people. And I want to tell you something,
he even gives them to the world, and I'll show you what I mean
by that. You say, well, I don't have any gifts or graces. Well,
yes you do. And sometimes you may not recognize
it, but the people of God will. But listen to it. He says he
gave to one five, to another two. So he gave five to one,
and to another he gave two, and to another one. So here's three
different people. One he gave five talents, one
he gave two, one he gave one, to every man according to his
several or different ability. And then it says straightway,
or immediately, he took his journey. This master took his journey.
So there is the first thing you need to understand. Here is the
sovereignty of God in giving gifts and graces, His mercy. Now He says the Kingdom of Heaven,
remember this Kingdom of Heaven is the realm and rule of Christ
as He applies salvation and all that salvation involves to His
people here on earth and And, listen, as he disposes and uses
all things for the glory of God and the good of his people, even
the things of this world that he controls, he says all things
work together for good to them that love God who are called
according to his purpose. And then he says there is a man
traveling into a far country. This is the Master. This man
traveling into a far country is none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Savior and King, who, after having done His great
work of redemption, after having been faithful to all that the
Father gave Him to do, as He came to this earth in human flesh
without sin, as He walked this earth in obedience to the law
perfectly, and as He went to the cross of Calvary Having the
sins of his people laid upon him, and he died, he shed his
precious blood unto death, and drank damnation dry, and he was
buried and rose again the third day, and he walked on this earth
for a little while, and then he went away. He went to the
Father. And that's what this represents.
This man traveling into a far country, Christ went to his Heavenly
Father. Now, this is the foundation of
everything else in salvation. He is going away. Let me show
you what I'm talking about. Turn to John chapter 14. John chapter 14. Now, you know,
in his earthly walk, he had his disciples with him, and he preached the gospel to
them, and they were brought to faith in the gospel, but they
were men. Weak vessels like all of us.
They had their misgivings. They had their fears. They had
their anxieties. We all do. They had that all
the way up through. And they were totally dependent
upon the Lord for their well-being, and still are, aren't we? But
they didn't want Him to go away. He told them He had to go away.
He told him that. And look at John chapter 14 and
verse 1. He says, Let not your heart be
troubled. You believed in God, believe also in me. Now, do you
know that when he says this, we usually read this at funerals,
but I think it's good for any time. I know it is. But you know,
he said this right after he revealed to Peter that Peter, he said,
you're going to deny me three times. Could you imagine how
troubling that would be? What if the Lord came to you?
and said, Cliff, tonight you're going to deny me before men three
times. Well, that would trouble you,
wouldn't it? How troubling that would be. That would be troubling
to every one of us. But listen to what he says. He
says, Ryan, let not your heart be troubled. He said, you believe
in God, believe also in me. He said in verse 2, in my Father's
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go. to prepare a place for you. Now, He's going somewhere. But He's not abandoning them.
He's not leaving them to themselves. He's going to do something. Well,
He's going to prepare a place. How's He going to do it? Well,
the first step in the preparation of that place is going to the
cross. In order for me to be saved,
or you to be saved, Christ must have died. Out of his death comes
life. Sin demands death. I'm a sinner,
and in myself I deserve nothing but death. I need someone to
stand in my place and go the way that I must go if I'm on
my own. He must go for me." And that's
what he was doing. I go to prepare a place. I'm
going to bear away all the sins of all of his sheep, he said.
The Good Shepherd giveth His life for the sheep. He must redeem
us from sin. Our justification before God
is totally dependent upon what He was going away to do, die
on the cross and establish righteousness for us. He was made sin, the
Scripture says, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. That is our only hope. There is no salvation without
His going away. And there's no gifts and graces
of ministry and service except he goes away, except he finishes
the work, except he's faithful to do what he agreed and promised
to do. So if Christ had not died on
the cross, that's it. But he did. And so he said to
his disciples here, he said, And if I go to prepare a place
for you, I will come again, verse 3, and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may also be. And whether I go, you
know, and the way you know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whether thou goest, and how can we know the way?
And Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me." Now those are the
comforting words of sinners who need mercy and grace in Christ.
And then look at John chapter 16. He says in verse 5, now it's
about the same thing, He's telling His disciples that He's going
away. He's told them over and over
again, but again, they're sinful men. He said, it was for this
reason I came into this world, to go and die, and to go unto
the Father. And He says in verse 5, He says,
but now I go my way to Him that sent me. Now He tells you exactly
where He's going, He's going to the Father. How's he going
to go? The way of the cross. His death,
burial, and resurrection. His great, sovereign, efficacious,
powerful, redemptive work to save his people from their sins.
And he says, and none of you asketh me whither thou goest,
or whither goest thou, but because I have said these things unto
you, sorrow hath filled your heart. And I can understand that,
those men. I mean, like I said, we're all
weak vessels. But look at verse 7. He says,
nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you
that I go away. That word expedient means it's
necessary. It must happen. It is necessary
for you that I go away. And then he says, for if I go
not away, if I don't go to the cross and do my work, die and
be buried and raised again the third day and ascend unto the
Father, he says, the Comforter will not come unto you. Now,
that's the Holy Spirit. He says, but if I depart, I will
send him unto you. It is by the Spirit that God
gives his people life, regeneration, ruined by the fall, redeemed
by the blood, regenerated by the Spirit. You must be born
again. And it is by the Spirit that
God gives all the gifts and graces of ministry and service, the
talents. Now, Christ says, if I don't
go away and do my work, the Spirit will not come. And you know why? Because if Christ doesn't die
on the cross, if He's not buried and raised again the third day
for our justification, there's no life to give. It's all death. If Christ does not do His great
work, if He's not faithful to do His work, then there's no
ministry, there's no gifts or graces of ministry. It's all
for nothing. If Christ be not risen, we're
of all men most miserable and our faith is in vain. We have
no reason even to exist. So He said, I must go away. Now
go back to the parable. That's what it means. This man
went into a far country. Our Lord went unto the Father. And He sent His Spirit to give
life to the dead. That's what regeneration is. Life from the dead. Spiritual
life. He's given us ears to hear, eyes
to see, hearts and minds to know and love and receive Him by faith. The gift of faith. Even faith
is the gift of God. You have the talent of faith,
God gave it to you. You didn't have it by nature.
You didn't get it by your own free will. That's right. You're no better than any other
person. You're no better in yourself. I'm no better in myself than
an unbeliever. And I'll show you what I mean.
Now, look here. This whole thing, it says he
called his own servants. Look at verse 14. His own servants. Now, in essence, and ultimately,
all men are servants of Christ as He owns the whole world. Lock,
stock, and barrel. You believe that? You say, well,
some people don't act like servants. You're exactly right, they don't.
But he owns them anyway. You believe that? I do. And I'll
tell you what, there are times some of his bond slaves, some
of his children don't act like it. Isn't that right? But he
owns you anyway. Some are obedient servants, and
in this parable that is represented as the saved. Others are disobedient
servants, and that in this parable represents unbelievers. Christ
is the sovereign master of all things, and all men are His servants,
even the unbeliever, even though the unbeliever will not acknowledge
it. They all identified with Him. Back in the parable of the ten
virgins, you have five wise virgins and five foolish virgins. They
all had a profession of faith. They all outwardly identified
with him. They had a profession. Here on
earth, there are true disciples and there are false disciples.
For example, just because Judas Iscariot was a disciple did not
mean he was saved. Christ told His disciples in
John 8 and verse 31, "...then said Jesus to those Jews which
believed on Him." In other words, they claim to believe on Him.
If you continue in My Word, then are you My disciples indeed.
They persevere. Now again, we know that our perseverance
is the product and the fruit and the result of His preservation.
If God didn't preserve us, none of us would persevere. But look
over at Psalm 119. Now, if you're not familiar with
the scriptures, don't get scared when you look at Psalm 119. I'm
not going to read the whole thing. Psalm 119 actually is a compilation
of a lot of psalms. But I want you to turn to verse
89. Psalm 119, verse 89. I want you to listen to these
words. Verse 89. It says, Forever, O Lord, thy
word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all
generations. You know what that means? That
means God keeps his word. God is true. He means what he
says, and he says what he means. He's not like us. God is faithful. And he says, Thou hast established
the earth, and it abideth. God established this world, and
it continues. They continue this day according
to thine ordinances." That is, according to God's commands.
That Psalm 31 that Brother Joe read, it speaks of that. How the sun rises and goes down,
the moon comes up, the seasons. That's all according to God's
faithfulness. That's a living testimony to
God's faithfulness, to God's power and to God's wisdom. And
he says in verse 91, they continue this day according to thine ordinances
for all are thy servants. All are thy servants. Even nature
serves God. Even the bright sunny day that
we all thank Him for. But even the tornado that whips
through serves God's purpose. It may be His purpose of mercy.
It may be His purpose of justice. But it serves his purpose. And
let me tell you something. Ultimately, so will you. You'll
either do it willingly, as a bond-slave of Christ, saved by the grace
of God, washed in His blood, clothed in His righteousness,
and regenerated by the Spirit, with a love for God, fighting
the warfare of the flesh and the spirit, or you'll do it unwillingly,
but you'll submit. Every knee is going to bow. Every
tongue confess. that Jesus Christ is Lord. So
all men are servants in a sense, but the saved, the saved, this
is back in Matthew 25 now, the saved are bond slaves of Christ. What's a bond slave? It's a willing,
loving servant. And slave is not a bad thing
in this context. We think of slavery as being
something that's forced. We think of the master being
mean and harsh. That's not what it's talking
about. A bond slave is one who serves his master because he
loves his master. His master's been gracious to
him and merciful, and his master loves him, and he's drawn out
the love of the slave towards himself. It's one who serves
not to pay a debt. You know, a lot of times back
then they had a system where if a person got indebted to another
person, if he couldn't pay his debt, then he became a slave. And he had to serve for so many
years. And when that time was up, he could go free if he wanted
to. But if the time was up and he'd paid his debt and he didn't
want to go free, but he loved his master, he and his family
could stay right there and serve his master. And that's a great
picture of how God saves sinners and makes us bond slaves of Christ.
We're not serving to pay a debt. We're not serving to earn our
keep or our reward. We're serving out of grace. and love and gratitude. And that's
the difference. That's the difference. This parable is an encouragement
and a warning for those who profess Christ and identify with Him
to be such, to be faithful. Notice here in verse 14, it says,
He delivered unto them His goods. The goods are His to give. Again,
these are gifts for ministry and for service given by God
sovereignly. Now in verse 15, when he says
he gave five talents to one, he gave two talents to another,
and one talent to another fellow, that's not speaking of salvation
here. It's not speaking of blessings
of grace in Christ. I read in Ephesians chapter 1
there in the opening of our service, Ephesians 1, 3, it says, Blessed
be the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who hath
blessed us, who's the us there, all sinners saved by grace, who
hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus in
heavenly places." When it comes to salvations and the blessings
of grace, we are all equal in the sight of God in Christ. That
is right. There is not one person here
who is more righteous than me, and I am not more righteous than
any of you. I am righteous in Christ. Our
holiness is in Christ. Our salvation is in Christ. We're
all, if we're in Christ, we're all equally saved, equally justified,
equally sanctified, equally certain for heaven and entitled to heaven's
glory in Christ. That's grace, you see. And there's
no one who is more saved than another. There may be some of
you who are closer to heaven in age, in time, The saints in
glory are happier than all of us, but they are no more sure
in their standing before God than we who are in Christ here
on this earth. That's right. So that's not speaking
of salvation. It's speaking of gifts for ministry
and grace. Five talents, two talents, one
talent. That's what it's talking about,
ministry and service. And in that, not everybody is
equal. Some people have more talents than others. Some people
have more gifts for ministry and service than others. You
may have just one, but I know you have at least one. Somebody
else may have five. Somebody else may have ten. We
don't know. Time tells. It reveals itself. But here's the point. It is God's
sovereign right to give what He wills to whom He wills. Why
does he give this gift or that many gifts to this person and
less to another person? Well, let me tell you something.
It is not because the one who has many gifts is better, or as the old boy said, gooder, or more worthy. It has nothing to do with the
worthiness of the object of the gift or the power of the object
of the gift. Let me show you that. Turn to
Jeremiah chapter 9. In other words, what I'm telling
you is this. Telling myself this. If I have
any gifts for ministry and service, I still don't have anything to
be proud of. That's what I mean. Look at Jeremiah 9 and verse
23. Now there's some believers whom
God has given more wisdom than other believers. That's true. You know, it's that
way in any family. But there's some believers that
God has given more wisdom to discern things, to give advice,
to hear things, But listen to what he says in verse 23, Thus
saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom. Now certainly that would pertain
to worldly wisdom. But I want to tell you something,
it also pertains to spiritual. We're not to glory in the fact
that God has given us the gift of wisdom. Now there are others
who have abilities, powers, strengths to do certain tasks. Somebody
talks about, listen, you don't have to have a college degree
to be a smart person because the guy with the PhD who can't
even get in and out the door most of the time, if his car
goes wrong and he can't fix it, the fellow who can fix that car
is the genius that day. Am I right? And men who have those talents
to fix things, to do things, the power to do things, the knowledge
and the will, I tell you what, I don't have it. I can hammer
a nail pretty straight. But you men who work with your
hands, ladies too, cooking, things like that, but other jobs, other
tasks, I mean, those are gifts from God. But he says here, neither
let the mighty man glory in his mind. That's what would be included
there. And then there's people who are gifted with money. It
takes money to keep the lights on, to take care of this building,
to put the gospel out, our television program. I'll tell you what,
I mean, it's not cheap. I wish they'd give us that time
free, but they just won't do it. But God has gifted people with
the ability to give, some more than others, but all to give. But he says, let not the rich
man glory in his riches. You don't have anything to be
proud of, you see, as if you're better than somebody else. But
he says, verse 24, let him that glorieth glory in this, that
he understandeth and knoweth me. Now there's something to
glory. You know what that means? That means glory in God. He says that I am the Lord which
exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
That's speaking of our standing before God in Christ. That's
how God showed His loving kindness, how He exercised His judgment
and righteousness in the earth, on Christ, on Calvary, at the
cross, at the cross. He says, for in these things
I delight, saith the Lord. And look over at 1 Corinthians
chapter 1. Paul used that verse out of Jeremiah in dealing with
the Corinthians, the church at Corinth. Now, the church at Corinth
was a large church. It was a very gifted church.
There were men and women there who had great gifts of ministry
and service. Did you know what they did? They
abused them. A lot of them did. They abused
them to promote themselves, to put down other people, to divide
the church, and to cause factions. And Paul said that ought not
be. That's fleshly. That's carnal, he said. You're
acting carnally. But look here. He says in verse
27, In 1 Corinthians 1 he says, But
God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty. and base things of the world,
and things which are despised have God chosen, yea, and the
things which are not, to bring to nothing things that are, that
no flesh should glory in his presence, but of him, of God
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, that according
as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord." Look back at the parable, Matthew
25. Listen to me. Realize even our
faith is the gift of God. For by grace are you saved through
faith, and that's not of yourself. It's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast. We're His workmanship. God made
us what we are spiritually in salvation. created in Christ
Jesus. In other words, what I am as
a saved sinner is not the result of my family heritage. We're
so proud of our family heritage, and we ought to be ashamed. I'm
talking about all of us. You can trace it back all the
way to Adam. By one man's sin entered into
the world. There's your heritage, physically. There's your pedigree. our pedigree,
our heritage. Is there anything to be proud
of? By one man, sin entered in. He was the best of men. He was
a perfect man, in a sense. And yet, by his one act of disobedience,
he brought the whole world into sin and condemnation. Now, what
are we going to do? Give him the key to the city?
Brag on him? That sinful, fallen nature which
we all still have. You see, we don't have anything to glory
in or boast in. Even our faith is the gift of
God. We really cannot say we did anything to make ourselves
different. Now, we're so proud of our differences,
and we glory in our differences. But we really, ultimately, cannot
say that we've done anything of our own power or worthiness
to make ourselves different. You could say, for example, say,
well, I went to school and got a degree, but he didn't. Well,
let me tell you something. All God has to do is take away
your mind. Who gave you that mind? Who gave
you that desire? Who gave you that gumption? God
did. Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter
4 and verse 7, who maketh thee to differ? If you have a gift
of ministry. Listen, but if you're saved,
who maketh you to differ? I did. I walked that aisle. I
made that decision. I got baptized. Is that your
glory? You're in a mess. God makes us to differ in salvation
and in everything. Who gave you that gift? God dispenses His gifts severally. And it says here in verse 14,
He says He delivered unto them His goods. And verse 15, He took
the five and gave it to one fellow, two, gave it to another, one.
And it says, to every man according to his several ability. Now,
some say they don't like that, to think that it's according
to our abilities. So they'll say, well, it's not
according to our ability, but God's ability. so that the talent
he gives determines our ability. In other words, it's not our
ability, but it's God's ability to give. But I don't believe
that's what it's saying. I believe it's saying exactly what it says.
It's saying that he gives it according to their ability. But
here's the point. It's not saying, well, now, God
looked down and he said, now, Joe, he has more ability in this
area of music, so I'm going to give him this gift of music.
That's not what that means at all. Because I want to tell you
something. It was God who gave you that
ability, Jeff. That's right. Who gave you the
ability in the first place? There are some people in here
who couldn't hit a note if it was a bass fiddle swung against
a barn door. Now, why didn't God give them
the ability? I know why. It seemed good in his sight. Whatever ability you have in
your mind, in your emotions, in your hands, your thinking,
God's the one who gave it to you. Who determined that you'd
be born in the United States of America under this particular
family, in this particular place, with these opportunities and
these abilities? God did. What if you had been
born mentally retarded? What if you had been born physically
handicapped? Who determines those things?
What if you'd been born in Ethiopia, laying in a dirt floor tent,
starving to death? Did God come and ask you, now
Al, where do you want to be born and how do you want to be? No.
He didn't do that. He's sovereignly determined.
So this ability here doesn't mean our worthiness, our power,
our goodness. It means God gives as He sees
fit. As He sees fit. Now, some people
say, well, ability, we're not able to do anything. Oh, yes,
we are. Oh, yes, we are. The Bible says we are. 1 Corinthians
10, 13, There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common
to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be
tempted above that ye are Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3, 5, "...not
that we are sufficient to ourselves to think anything of ourselves,
but our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers
of the New Testament, not of the latter, but of the Spirit."
Ephesians 6, 11 says, "...put on the whole armor of God, that
ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil." Either
way, God gives the ability, God gives the talents, it is all
of grace. Now remember, this parable is
illustrating not how God saves sinners, but it's illustrating
how saved sinners prove or evidence the grace of God in their lives.
That's what it's talking about, our faithfulness to Him. It's
not a parable about what we earn from God by our faithfulness,
but what our faithfulness says about us, what it reveals about
us. I'll close there and pick up
next week with that, but I hope that's helpful to you.