Turn back to Matthew chapter
25. What our Lord is dealing with
here is still His second coming. Back in chapter 24, they said,
when shall these things be? 23, when shall these things be?
He's talking about the destruction of the temple and His second coming. They wanted
to know when shall all this be? When is all this going to happen?
Over in Luke 19, we have this parable and it is said, They thought that the kingdom
was going to be set up immediately. And so the Lord gives this parable
as he did the parable of the ten virgins we looked at last
week. And this parable here is still
dealing with the visible church on earth. It's like the visible
church here, those who believe the gospel. And that's what it's
dealing with. And what He's going to say here
and teach us here, and this is, I can't tell you how sobering
this parable is. Because He's going to teach us
just like He did about the ten virgins. There was five wise
and five foolish. And really it comes down to this,
that not all who make a profession, who confess, not all really possess
Christ. Not all really possess saving
faith. Not all of them. And as I studied
this, I thought, boy, this is a sobering message, parable. But I tell you what, our Lord,
He didn't sugarcoat anything, did He? He spoke the truth. And I tell you, there's nothing
more that I want given to me and that I want to give to you
is the truth. Tell me the truth no matter how
much it hurts. Tell me the truth. And that's
what our Lord does. And what we had in the 10 virgins
that we looked at a week ago, we had the lesson of vigilance. The Lord was teaching vigilance.
Be ready, watchful, watchful. In this parable of the talents,
it's about diligence. be about our Father's business
until He comes. We're not to just stand and look
out the window and sit idly by and wait until He comes. We're
to be about our Father's business. You know, it says over in Luke
19.13 concerning this parable, it says, He called His ten servants
and delivered unto them ten pounds, which here is called talents.
And He said unto them, Occupy till I come." Trade. Be busy
with what I've given you till I come. Now here in verse 14, this man
traveling over in Luke 19, he's called the nobleman, and it says
he's going away into a far country to receive a kingdom and then
come back. And this traveling man here is the Lord Jesus Christ. It's speaking of the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's risen and gone back to heaven. He is seated at God's
right hand. And He's receiving a kingdom.
As the ages go by, all of those subjects for whom He died are
being brought into His kingdom as He saves them. And this man
is the Lord Jesus Christ. And He calls His own servants.
Notice here in verse 14, For the kingdom of heaven is as a
man traveling into a far country who called his own servants.
These are the ones who have made a profession. These are the ones
who have confessed Christ, they've been baptized, and they claim
to be His. And so he says he calls his own
servants and delivered unto them His goods, not just goods, His. Everything belongs to the Lord
Jesus Christ. We looked at Psalm 24, "...the earth is the Lord's,
the fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein, all are His."
Nothing's mine, really, of this material things. It all belongs
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it says in verse 15, or we
see in verse 15, we see our Lord's sovereignty. We see our Lord's
sovereignty here. He gives as He will to whom He
will. He calls His servants and He
gives them the talents. And all the goods are His. And
we know this, He gives as best serves His glory in the good
of His church. A trust is committed unto them.
But anyway here, what our Lord does here and given them these
talents, a trust is committed to them. And he says in verse
15, And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and
to another one, to every man according to his several abilities.
In other words, according to the abilities that that person
has, that God has enabled him to have, in a straight way, he
took his journey. He took off and he left, he goes
into this far country, which is our Lord risen and gone back
to glory. And what are these five talents?
And what are these two talents? And what's this one talent? Here's
what J.C. Ryle said, and I agree with this.
I don't think he's speaking here so much of the ministry as a
gift that I have like in preaching the gospel, and that may be included
in it. But here it is, and I think this
is it. Anything whereby we may glorify
God is a talent. Anything that God's given you,
put into your hands. It's not just talking about me
as a preacher. This is talking about everyone here who has confessed
Christ. Everything that you have that
God's given you is a talent. Our gifts, our influence, our
money, our knowledge, our health, our strength, our time, our senses,
our reason, our intellect, our memory, our affections, our privileges
as members of Christ's church. These are advantages and these
are to be used for the glory of God. Everything He's given
to us, everything you have, you who have confessed Christ, everything
you have, everything I have is to be used. to glorify the Lord
Jesus Christ. Our advantages as possessors
of the Bible, these all are our talents. Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians,
what do you have that you didn't receive? Everything we have. Our intelligence. The level of
our intelligence has been given to us. Everything we have, our
homes and property, whatever it is. We know that all things
come of God. But all those who confess Christ,
everything they have is of God and is to be used for His glory."
And then he says here in verse 16, now, "...then he that had
received the five talents, he went and traded with the same."
He didn't add to it. Do you notice that? He didn't
add to it. It's not like I take a little... the money He gave me, and then
I take my money. No, my money is His money. Everything I have
is His. That's why it says here, He likewise,
and He received two talents, He went and He traded with the
same. The five and the two, they traded with the same talents
that they were given. There was nothing added to it.
If you'll notice here, the ones who used what their Lord gave
them increased. As I said to you earlier, Whatever
we do in the name of Christ, for the glory of Christ, whatever
we do with the right heart towards His glory increases. It's always gain. It's always
gain. You say, well, if I give this, I don't have that much.
I don't have enough. Henry said one time, you can't
afford not to give. If you had two pennies, if you
had two dollars, It all belongs to Him. He says,
you can't afford not to give unto the Lord. And here He says,
they doubled. In other words, it wasn't just
they got 10% back, it just doubled. Has God not doubled His blessings
to you and me? I can look back over 64 years
and I can say the Lord has doubled. He's doubled all that He's blessed
me. She has received, what it says in Isaiah, she has received
double. from the Lord over in Isaiah, she's received double
from the Lord. Our labor in the kingdom of God is never, never
in vain. Now I do know this, I know false
religion abuses this, but now keep it in its proper place.
God bless us. God bless us. No one, no child
of God, and I'm not using this in the way false religion uses
it, but you cannot outgive God. You can't do it. You can't outdo
Him. When God gives us what we have, they will be used for His
glory, and He will bless. I'm telling you, He tells us
right here, He will bless. And then we come to this wicked
servant. Verse 18, "...but he that had received one went and
digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money." See, the first
two, the one that received five, the one that received two, immediately,
immediately, they went and took what their Lord had given them
and they put it to use. They did so too because they
loved Him. They loved their Master. This one didn't. You'll see this.
This one didn't. He digged in the earth and hid
his Lord's money. This is the man. Now listen,
this is the man who made a profession. He's like Simon Magus. He was
baptized, made a profession. And Peter said to Simon Magus,
your heart's not right with God. When he tried to buy the gifts
of the Holy Spirit, he said, your heart's not right with God.
You perish with your money. And this is that wicked servant.
He's a man who just made a profession. It's evident this servant was
given a talent, but he had no respect. He had no respect for
his Lord and what he was given. He had no respect for Him whatsoever. He's like Esau who despised his
birthright. Remember Esau despised his birthright,
and when he wanted a bowl of soup, and he said, what's this
birthright going to do me? If I die, what good is this birthright? And he just, you know, let Jacob
have it. This is this professor here. And I think also he was probably
jealous of the other two who were given more. When God blesses his children,
if God blesses you, that ought to make me happy. If God gives
you a better job than I have, That ought to make me happy.
Really, it ought to make me. When God blesses any of his children,
the other children should be happy. Should be. And I think this man, he has
one talent, the other one had five, that's more to work with. I think he was jealous. I think
his thought was, one measly talent, what can I do with one talent?
What can you buy with a penny? I think that was part of his
attitude. And here's another thing he did. This man ignored
all opportunities to serve Christ. Instead, he served himself. Let's say he had a good job. That falls into this talent. He took what he made at that
job and he spent it on himself. Everything he had, he spent it
on himself. He didn't, what it says here,
he hid the one talent in the earth, in this cursed earth,
he hid that one talent. He had no interest in doing anything
with it. Here's what he had, he has an
interest in not going to hell, but he has no interest in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what salvation is.
It's a real interest in the Son of God. It's a real relationship
with God in Christ. He had no real interest in it.
And he buried it because he had better things to do. He had better
things to do. No real interest in the Lord.
We find these, and this is what the Lord is teaching, we find
these in every true local church. There's a Simon Magus, there's
a Demas. Remember this. Remember at one
time Paul recommended Demas? He recommended him. And then
later on he wrote this, Demas hath forsaken me, having loved
this present world. Well, a day of reckoning comes.
Our Lord teaching this, that there is a day of reckoning.
And He says here in verse 19, After a long time, The Lord of
those servants cometh and reckoneth with them." It may seem like a long time,
but Christ will return. And when He does, He says here
He's going to call all His servants, and this has to do with all those
who confess Him, they're going to give account for what they've
been given. Now let's notice something here,
verse 20 and 23. And so he that had received five talents came
and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest
unto me five talents. These talents that I have, you
gave me. I didn't come up with them. You
gave me. This is the language of grace.
Here's the language of grace, always, always. Lord, you gave
this to me. You gave this. Remember, we'll
see in the latter part of this verse, Lord willing, next week,
I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, naked, and
you clothed me. And the church said, when did we ever see you
hungry and naked in prison? Sick. You know, grace, when it is experienced
in the heart, never sees its works as the Lord sees them. The Lord said, thou good and
faithful servant. I don't think any believer here
is going to go around popping their suspenders saying, I am
a good and faithful servant. Do you know that? Let me tell
you about it. No, it's like over in the latter
part of this chapter, when did we ever see you sick and hungry
and fed you? And he said, as much as you did
it unto the least of these my brethren, you did it to me. Well,
this wicked servant, the one with the one talent, he never
opened his home up. He was never gracious to anybody
else. He never helped anybody. You know, over the years, I've
traveled a lot. Before I came here as a pastor, I traveled
a lot. I stayed in a lot of homes. I've
stayed in a lot of homes across this country. There have been
a lot of homes opened up to me, and people fed me and took care
of me. You'd think I was royalty. Well, I am the king's son, if
you look at it that way. And that's the way they took
care of me. They took care of me like that. But this man, this
man, he was never hospitable. You know, the scripture teaches
us over in the epistles to show hospitality, doesn't it? To show
hospitality. He said, Thou deliverest unto
me five talents, and behold, I have gained beside them five
talents more. And like I said, there's always
gain in the service of Christ. And his Lord said unto him, Well
done, thou good and faithful servant. I want you to notice
what he commends here. Faithfulness. That's the one thing that will
separate the sheep from the goats. Faithfulness. Faithfulness to
being kind, to loving. Faithfulness to being here and
worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ. Faithfulness identifies God's
people. It identifies His true servants. Thou hast been faithful
over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many
things. You notice how the Lord here, the things that we have
to be faithful over are really just few things, aren't they?
When you consider the greatness of God's creation, When you consider all of that,
the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth
his handiwork. What little bit I have, what
I have been given, I am to be faithful with. I've been entrusted
with it. Paul said that God entrusted
him with the gospel. I've been entrusted with the
gospel. Stand here week after week and preach the gospel to
you. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Thou hast been faithful over
a few things. I'll make thee ruler over many things. And here's
the reward, if you want to call it that. Enter thou into the
joy of thy Lord. No, it's not a bigger house up
on the hill. It's joy. Enter into the joy of your Lord. You know what real joy is? It's being with the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's knowing Him, fellowship
with Him. That's real joy. And he also that had received
two talents came and said, Lord, Thou deliverest unto me two talents.
Behold! It's like he's surprised. He's
like, surprised. He's not bragging. Now, these
two guys aren't bragging. They're just like, look what
has happened. I've used what you've given me.
And it's doubled. It's doubled. You know, you've
given me a talent. I knew a man years ago, yeah, years ago, 20
years ago, a wealthy man. This man was wealthy. And he
retired and he came back out of retirement. And he said to
me one day, after he came back out of retirement, and I'd never
heard anybody say this before or since, but he said to me,
he said, you know, God has given me a gift of making money. He said, I just don't feel like
it's right to lay that gift down. He used, I'm telling you, this
man used that money. He helped people. A lot of people. A lot of God's children he helped.
He helped heavily support missionaries. He helped people that didn't
believe anything. I know some people he helped.
He bought one man a car. He was just poor. I mean, the
man was just poor. He felt for him and bought him a vehicle.
He used these talents. He used what God gave him and
was a blessing. The man could spit and it would
turn into a hundred dollars and would hit the ground. I'm telling you, he had a gift
to make money. And God gave him a heart to use
it. And that's what these two men represent. These two men
represent those born of God. These two are believers. They
are genuine believers. And they've taken whatever they
have, whether it be the jobs that they have, the property
they have, the vehicle they have, the house they have, and they've
used it for God's glory along the way. And he says, Here, behold, I
have gained two other talents beside them. And his Lord said
to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You know why he calls him good?
Because in Christ he is. Outside of Christ, there's none
good, no, not one. In Christ, you're holy. In Christ,
you are righteous. The steps of a good man are ordered
by the Lord. Well done, good and faithful
servant. Thou hast been faithful over
a few things. That's all we are to be, faithful. over what God's
given us. I'll make thee ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord." Same. Same thing. The joy of the Lord. Enter into
the joy of the Lord. The same one that had five, and
the one that had two, they got the same thing. Joy. God said
to Abraham, Abraham, I am thy exceeding great reward. Now if
you're looking for rewards in heaven, you're going to be disappointed.
But if you're looking for that one great reward, which is God
Himself, you'll not be disappointed. Now I want you to notice something
here. The first one given the most talents was the one first
reckoned with. Scripture says to whom much is
given, much is required. He's called on first. And both
of these two servants give ownership of the talents to their Lord.
You gave these to Me. He didn't say, look here, I took
what was mine, look what I've done for you with it. No. I took
what was yours, and look what you've done with it. As I said, we know that any gain,
any work done in the kingdom of God is gain. Listen to this,
1 Corinthians 3.7, So then, neither is he that planteth anything,
neither he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. If it's doubled, if it's tripled,
if the Lord has blessed me, God gave the increase. God gave it. And the Lord here, their Lord
recognizes them as good and faithful servants. First of all, the good part I've already mentioned, but Christ's perfect obedience
We got to start here. We got to start here. Christ's
perfect obedience is my perfect obedience. That's my righteousness. His obedience is my righteousness.
We have to understand that first. Secondly, all good works is done by the Spirit of God
working in us. Listen to Philippians 2.13, For
it is God which worketh in you both the will and do of His good
pleasure. Listen to Isaiah 26.12, Lord,
thou wilt ordain peace for us. Now listen, for thou also hast
wrought all our works in us. It's the Spirit of God working
in us. And every child of God here will
hear their Lord say, Our Lord, enter in thou good and faithful
servant. These two right here represent
all sinners saved by grace. And they acknowledge that what
they have, they've been given, and the Lord is blessed. He's
the one who's given the increase. Now comes the wicked servant.
In verse 24, "...then he which had received the one talent came
and said, Lord..." He calls Him the same. He acknowledged Him
to be Lord. "...I knew thee that thou art
a hard man, harsh, austere, reaping where thou hast not sown, and
gathering where thou hast not strawed." Let me ask you something. Is
that the way you see God? I see God, and you see God. Every child of God here sees
God as loving Father, merciful, gracious, kind, long-suffering. That's how we see God. But this
one, this is the reason he made his profession. He made a profession
out of a wrong fear. He made a profession out of fear
of hell, fire, and brimstone. I sat under that when I was a
young kid growing up. Just this hell, fire, and brimstone
preaching. You know what the Scripture says
it is that leads a man to repentance? The Word of God says it's the
goodness of God. It's the goodness of God. It's
not the preaching of hell. It's the preaching of Jesus Christ
dying as a substitute. That's what leads to repentance.
The Scripture says they will mourn when they look on Him whom
they've pierced. It's not they will mourn when
they see a film called Burning Hell. They ought to hang those
guys that show that. When you dupe children into making
a profession because you scared them out of their wits. Christ said what? If I be lifted
up. I'll draw all men to me. Not
if you scare them to death. You cannot scare anybody into
salvation. But God by His goodness can sure lead them into it. He
can sure bring them into it. When we see the mercy of God,
the grace of God, the kindness of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
that'll break your heart. That'll break your heart. What a harsh view he had of his
Master. Religion, without the inward
work of grace, leaves a man hard. It leaves a man with hard views
of God. Over in Ezekiel 18.25 it says
this, the Lord says, "'Yet you say the way of the Lord is not
fair. Not fair. Here now, O house of Israel,
is my way not fair, or your way is not fair? You're the one that's
not fair." This servant here, this servant
made a profession. He was baptized, he joined the
church, but he knew nothing of faith, hope, and love in the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he went out and he spent
all his living, he spent all his living on himself. And when the opportunity came
along for him to be a blessing, he checked out. He checked out. When I was looking at this last
night, I was thinking of that rich man. Remember that rich
man that went to hell? Lazarus, poor Lazarus, laying
at the rich man's gate, the dog's licking his sores. What an opportunity
that man had to be a blessing. And I guarantee you, he complained
every day. I can't believe that man laid
on my gate again. God laid him there. You know,
God on purpose brings opportunities by. Pray that God give us the
wisdom to recognize his hand in it and give us the heart to
meet the opportunity. Pray that the preparation of
grace in the heart meets the opportunity that God brings our
way. to be a blessing. This servant made a profession,
baptized, joined the church, but knew nothing of faith, hope,
and love. And there's one scripture that fits this man. It's over
in the book of James. Faith without works is dead,
being alone. We are never, ever, ever, ever
saved by our works, but works are the evidence of the work
of grace going on in the heart. It's the evidence of it. And
he says here, I was afraid. I was afraid. You know, Scripture
says this, Perfect love casts out fear. He never loved his
master. And now he's coming back, and
he knows, he knows he's in trouble. I was afraid, and went and hid
thy talent in the earth. Adam, Adam, where are you? What
did he say? I heard your voice, and I was
afraid." For the first time, Adam had hard views of God. Before
that, he never. No child of God in this room
has a hard view of God. You don't have a hard view of
God at all. You know that God is merciful and kind in Christ.
And you've experienced it. This man, he was afraid, he said,
he said, Here I went and hid thy talent in the earth, lo,
there thou hast that is thine. He took care of his own interest
in his lifetime, throughout his life. Now he's come time to die. He's come time to die. Wrecked him. And he realizes
he spent his whole time on himself. Now let me say this, there's
a right fear of God that comes from a reverence and an awe that's
born of God in the new creation. You have a real right reverence
and respect and a right fear of God. The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of wisdom. There's a right fear of God.
It's awe and respect. It's like the fear a child has
to its parents. It's not a slavish fear. It's
not a fear of punishment. But this man had a fear of punishment.
He said, you're a hard man. And I was afraid if I used it
and lost it, I'd be in trouble. I mean, I'm sure he had a lot
of excuses here. There, hidden in the earth, you
have your talent. I didn't lose it. I didn't do
anything with it. I didn't lose it. It's still
yours. Trying to commend himself. Here he is trying to commend
himself. And now, I want you to notice
here how this servant is identified by the Lord. He says, "...Thou
wicked and slothful, you lazy servant." The first two he called
good and faithful. This one he's lazy, he's wicked.
The Lord answered him, "...Thou wicked and slothful servant.
Thou knewest, or it is you confess, you're confessing with your own
mouth, that I reap where I sow not and gather where I straw
not. This was an excuse for being negligent and lazy. We had no
excuse. He blamed his master for being too hard. I want you to know this and understand
this. God deals with men, men and women, on the grounds they
come to Him. If you come to Him on the grounds
of mercy, forgiveness, If you come to Him on the grounds of
the Lord Jesus Christ, His blood and righteousness, God has saved
you. But if you're like that rich
young ruler, remember he came and said, Lord, what must I do to inherit
eternal life? Well, the Lord made him on the
grounds he came on. What must I do? Well, keep the commandments.
He said, which one? All of them. All of them. And what did he do? He went away
sorrowful. He was rich and the Lord said, well, go sell all
you have and give it to the poor and come back and follow me.
He didn't realize the covetousness that was in His heart was breaking
the law. Thou shalt not covet. I tell you what, come to Him
on the grounds of mercy, come to Him on the grounds as a needy
sinner, I tell you what, God save you. But this one came to Him on the
grounds that you're hard, you're mean. They said, well, if that's
the way you want to deal with me, that's what you're going
to get. Because outside of Christ, God is a consuming fire. He is
a consuming fire. He says, Thou oughtest therefore
to have put my money to the exchangers, bankers, and then at my coming
I could have received mine own with usury. Here's what you ought
to have done. You ought to have given it to
those who could have done something with it. He knew that. He knew that. He's
a slothful servant. And the Lord says, and I'll close,
take away the talent and give it to one with the ten talents.
Take therefore the talent from him. This shows it was not special
grace. This shows that he did not have
faith because God doesn't take faith away from where He gives
it. The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Has
God granted you faith and repentance? He will not take that back. He didn't take away the special
grace which was intended to be used in these talents that was
given. But it says here in verse 29,
"...for unto everyone that hath shall be given." Do you have
grace? Listen now, if God has given
you grace, you know what's going to happen? He's going to give
you more grace. He's going to give you more grace.
More of the spiritual blessings. More of love and faith and hope. That's just going to grow. But
to those who have not, they pretend to have, but they don't have
it. He's going to take away what they have. They're going to lose
everything. They're going to lose their life. And he says here, this is how
I know this man was lost. It was just a false profession.
He said, "'Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness.
There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" This man was never
saved. Now, there's one thing I want
to say about a parable. Don't try to make a parable stand on
all four legs. Henry's told us that many times
over the years back home. A parable is meant to convey
a story that gives a heavenly truth. And he's not saying here,
and some have tried to build a doctrine on, you can be saved
and lost, saved and lost. No. No, you can't. This man never
had it. He was a hypocrite. He never
had it. And his life proved it. His life
proved it. This wicked servant is no more
than a hypocrite dressed in sheep's clothing. He talks about the
gospel of grace, but has not the work of grace in his soul.
But those that do, Those that do, He says to them, enter in,
thou good and faithful. Every child of God in this room
will hear Him say, enter in, thou good and faithful servant.
Enter into the joy of thy Lord. And we'll see, Lord, when we
finish this chapter, we'll see the final separation at His coming. All right.