Back to Matthew 25. The title of the message is the Parable
of the Talents. Parable of the Talents. And the
subject of this parable is the necessity of faithfulness. In the previous parable that
we looked at last week, we saw the wise and foolish virgin And
the lesson taught is to be ready or to live in a state of expectancy,
expecting the Lord to return. In this parable, we are taught
to be about our Father's business while we wait. These two parables
teach vigilance and diligence. That's what our Lord is teaching
in these two parables. Now in verse 1, the man traveling
is our Lord Jesus Christ. Over in Luke 19, we have this
same story, except he's called the nobleman. And truly, the
Lord Jesus Christ is a nobleman above all men. He is a man that
is God, the God-man. This is a man that knew no sin.
And over in Luke 19, it says he's going into a far country
to receive a kingdom. And that's what he's doing. Right
now, he's receiving his kingdom. Every day, week, month, and year,
his kingdom is being brought together. The children of his
kingdom, the subjects of his kingdom are being brought together.
And here he's said to be a man traveling into a far country. Our Lord is about to go to the
cross. He's about to die. These are
His last words as He walks on this earth. Now, not His last
words as far as His disciples are concerned and preaching to
His disciples in the manner that He has been doing. These are
His last words speaking to them. This sermon here on the Mount
of Olives. Because He's about to go to the
grave and then He's going to rise from the dead He's going
to go back to paradise, to heaven, which in the Scriptures is portrayed
as a far country. He's going to go in there and
he's going to receive a kingdom. And as the mediator, all things
have been put into his hands. All things are his to give. And
he calls his servants, his servants here, And these are not only
pastors and teachers, but this is everyone. This is everyone
who has made a confession of Christ. They have confessed Him
in baptism. They take the Lord's table. They
come in among the church and they confess to be His. These are His servants. But He's
going to show us that not all who make a confession, who are
baptized, are His. That's what we will learn in
this parable. That's what we learned in the
last parable. There were five foolish virgins and there were
five wise. That was the lesson. And this
is what our Lord is teaching His disciples and He's teaching
us. So He calls His servants. And
he gives them their talents. In this case, it's money. But
all that we have, he's given us. Whatever talent we have,
and this is not a talent contest when he's calling these servants
to give account. But this is the use of what he's
given. This has to do with the use of
what he's given his servants. And He's given us all that we
have, whether it be a natural talent, what we call a natural
talent, gifts, abilities, whatever it is we possess, He's given
it to us. It belongs to Him. He has the
right to it. And He has the right to call
us to accountability. He has the right to call His
service to accountability. You know, I own the business
for fifteen years. And I employed several men over
those years. And I had the right to call those
men to accountability every day. Because their wages, I paid them
their wages and they performed the work. But I had the right
as the owner of that place to call them to account. And our
Lord who owns all and gives to all, And really, all are His
servants, good or bad. He has the right to call everyone
to account. And He's going to show us here
that in time, He does so. He does so. So He gives them
their talents. And He gives it to them to use,
to trade with, while He is away. And some are given more, some
are given less. And He gives it as He wills.
He gives some more abilities, some more gifts to use, and some
less. And He does that according to
His will. Now, notice this. This is not
speaking here, let me point this out. This is not speaking here
of an inward work of grace. It's speaking of the use of what
God has given every one of us. And speaking of the use of what
God's given to every one of us, for His glory, the good of His
kingdom, His church, till He comes. Till He comes. What we have, our Lord has given
to us to use. Now, we use some of it for ourselves,
as we use for His gospel, His church, His kingdom, till He
comes. Now, I want you to remember this
as we go through this. A parable is an earthly illustration that
conveys a heavenly meaning. That's what it is. Someone said
this, don't try to make a parable stand on all four legs. It's
not going to do it. It's just not going to do it.
We do not build doctrine on parables. We learn lessons. from parables. We do not build doctrine on parables. We build doctrine on the whole
Word of God. It's what the whole Word of God
teaches us concerning the doctrines. The fall, redemption. You know,
it's what the whole Word of God teaches. But now a parable is
an earthly illustration to convey a heavenly meaning, a lesson.
And that's what we have here. Now, it's evident by these two
parables that our Lord is giving here, that many who profess,
who confess to believe the gospel, who are even baptized, some even
attempt to preach, as we heard this morning. Some even attempt
to preach. But not all of them, our Lord
is saying this, not all of them have an interest, a saving interest,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not all of them. And we'll see
this as we go. Now the first thing we have in
verse 15 is a trust committed. This man who is the Lord is going
to a far country. He's going back to paradise.
And he's given them his goods. And for us, it's the gospel.
We've been given the gospel. We've been given the best thing.
He's given it to us. And it's been entrusted to us.
Paul says this over in 1 Timothy. Turn over to 1 Timothy chapter
1. 1 Timothy chapter 1. We'll look in verse 11. Paul
says, According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which
was committed to my trust, put in my care. Responsible. God made me responsible, he said,
for this gospel. The gospel of his glory. Think
of that. This is the gospel of his glory. And we are responsible
for how we handle it. We're responsible for it. Peter
said this in 1 Peter 14, he says, we are stewards of the manifold
grace of God. And the qualifications for a
steward is to be found faithful, diligent, to be at our Father's
business, to take care of it. Now here he gives five talents
to one, two talents to one, and one talent to one of his servants.
And now notice this, the talents that he gives belong to him.
The ability for me to preach, to stand here and preach, the
ability to pastor, is God-given. It's not natural ability. It's
not natural. Not if it's of God. Not if it's
of God and God is using it and God enables me to do this. This
is God-given. Some of you have the ability
to give more than others. Some pray. I mean, there's many
different gifts, but they are His, and He gives them to us.
If you notice, He gave them, and He gave them as He will. And they were given to them,
and they were to be diligent with them. And the first one
and the second one that He gave these talents to, His money,
the five talents, they say it was around $5,000. In our day,
it was probably a lot more than that. It depends, you know, that
talent then was either silver or gold, so it depends on what
it was given. But the first one and the second one, when they
were given the talent. They immediately went to work
with them. They immediately put it to use,
which shows the gratefulness they have and the thoughts they
have of their Lord. The high thoughts they had of
him. They immediately went to work.
And as soon as our Lord gave them the talents, they began
to use them. They began to use them for His
kingdom, for His glory. They began to express their appreciation
and their love for their Lord, their Master, by the way they
used the money that was given to them. It was money that was
given. And they expressed their gratitude, their attitude, toward
their Lord in the way they used what He gave them. When doors were opened, they
went through them. When He opened a door, they didn't
say, well, I don't know if I want to go through that one or not.
You know, that could be a difficult situation. No, they put it to
work. They put it to work. God blessed
their efforts. What was the charge that Satan
brought against Job? He said, you have blessed the
work of his hands. Job was not a lazy man. Job was
a man that got up every morning and used what God gave him and
God blessed him. And it just kept multiplying. The work of grace in them was
evidenced by their conduct. It was evidenced by the way they
used what God gave them, the work of grace in them. We ought to be diligent in prayer.
We ought to be diligent in study, in preaching. In my case, preaching. I need to spend much time in
study and prayer and doing this. But in whatever position God
has put us, wherever He's put us and whatever He's given us,
to be about it. To be diligent with it. That's
what our Lord's teaching here. Look over in Mark chapter 14. You say, well, I don't have much. I don't have much talent or ability.
You know, I don't. I have the ability to stand here
and preach. But I tell you what, I can't
sing. I mean, there's a lot of things I cannot do. Others of
you can do. But I tell you what. If I just do with what he's given
me, that'll be enough. Now look at verse 6. And Jesus
said, Let her alone. Why trouble ye her? She hath
wrought a good work on me. For ye have the poor with you
always. See, that's complaining about her wasting this ointment on Him. We never
waste anything on Him. He said, You have the poor with
you always, and whensoever ye will. You may do them good, but
you have not But me, you have not always. Now listen, verse
8. She hath done what she could. She's come aforehand to anoint
my body to the burial. She didn't have much. This woman
didn't have much. But this woman had a little bit
of ointment. And she came and she used it on him. They said,
don't waste it like that. You could take it to the market,
sell it, and give it to the poor. He said, no, she's done what
she could. Whatever little talent He's given us, let's do what
we can with it. That's what He's saying. Just
do what you can. Do what you're given to do with
it. But there's a bad apple in every bushel. And it's what our
Lord's teaching. The servant, in verse 18, the
servant who was given one talent. He was given one. You say, well,
I don't have I mean, he's not going to do one thing. Well,
this servant was given one talent and he took it. And he digged
a hole in the earth and he hid. He hid his master's talent. You know, James says this, faith
without works is dead. He just hid it. He hid it. This is the hypocrite. This is
the empty professor. This is the one who has no grace
in his heart, no thankfulness to his master, no concern for
the lost. And I believe this. I believe
he's jealous. I believe this one was jealous
of the other two who started out with more than what he had.
I said, well, he's got more to work with. He's got $5,000. I
got $1,000. The other one had $2,500. And I guarantee you, this man
was jealous over the talents, the talents that the others were
given. And he just thought so highly of himself, he thought
he ought to have more. So what he did with it, instead
of using it, instead of being grateful, you don't, listen,
we don't deserve one. I don't, I do not deserve one
gift from God. That's some. Not one. And this man received one. He's
jealous and he's envious of those others too. He thinks he ought
to have been given more. And he's worldly. I have no doubt
the world's set in his heart. Demas! Paul said, hath forsaken
me, having loved this present world. Well, one time Demas was
with Paul. Go look that up. Demas went with
Paul one time. But Demas, Love the world. Demas hath forsaken
me, having loved this present world. The world was set in his
heart. And then this man was lazy in spiritual matters. You have to have a real interest
in Christ to be able to sit down and study this book. I mean to
really enjoy it. To really get something out of
it. You have to have a real interest in the Lord Jesus Christ to enjoy
His words. I'm sure some of you, I know
people that they like certain authors. You know, if an author
writes a book, a certain author writes a book, people buy it
up because they like that author. Because they like his writings.
You know, they enjoy him. They get something out of him.
If you like, love the author of this book, you'll be in this
book. You'll study this book. If you
love the author of it, you'll love his words. You'll love what
he has to say. But if you do not love the author
of this book, you won't find anything in here for you. Not
at all. He's lazy in spiritual matters.
He had a Bible, but he didn't read it. He'd go to worship services
once in a while. I'm sure he went steady for a
while, and then he'd go to once in a while. He used his abilities. Now our Lord's teaching it. He
used his abilities to satisfy himself. Let me read you something
over here in Daniel. Over here in Daniel chapter 5. This is the story Daniel is going
to interpret the handwriting on the wall to Belshazzar, I
believe it is. This is the son of Nebuchadnezzar. And he says here in verse 22,
he rehearses what God did with his father. And he says, And
thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though
thou knewest all this, you knew all that God did to your father,
but hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of heaven. And they
have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou and
thy lords, thy wives, thy concubines have drunk wine in them. And
thou hast praised the gods of silver and gold, of brass and
iron, wood and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know. And the God in whose hand thy
breath is, and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified."
That's this servant. He said, you knew these things.
You knew what God did to your father. You witnessed it. You
grew up in that house. You know what he did to Nebuchadnezzar
and put him out to pasture and brought him back and established
his kingdom. He said, you know this. that you didn't glorify God with
what He gave you. He inherited His Father's kingdom.
And, of course, the writing on the wall was, Thou have let weight
in the balance and found wanting. That's this servant. He really
did not believe that his Lord would return because He was gone
for a long time. Time proves out a lot of things,
doesn't it? Bruce had a lot of things. He didn't return as he
had promised. Christ was not real to him. He
was more concerned with himself than he was his master. Like
the church over there in Revelations, he had a name to live by but
was dead. Spiritually dead. No broken heart,
no contrite spirit. Well, the Day of Judgment comes.
It's coming, and it comes here. That's what our Lord is saying.
The Day of Judgment finally arrived. Verses 19-30. Everyone, He says,
is going to give account for what they have been given, good
or bad. It says over in 2 Corinthians
5-10 that everyone shall appear before the judgment seat of Christ.
And when our Lord comes, there will be a great day of reckoning
with God. That's what He's teaching here.
The true believer receives abundant joy. I read to you there. He said, enter into the joy of
thy Lord. Is that not our reward? I'm not
talking about rewards. But our great reward is God Himself. Our great reward is our Lord
and He is our joy. And we are going to enter into
that joy, enter into the joy of thy Lord. As I said before,
joy enters into us now. But in that day, we will enter
into joy, full joy. Our Lord gave them these sayings.
They were thankful. They were humbled. And they used
what God gave them. And He called them, He said,
good and faithful servants. Good, He made them so. In Christ
we are the righteousness of God in Him. And they were faithful
over a few things. He said, I'll make you ruler
over many things. Give you more responsibility. Enter thou to
the joy of the Lord. But the unbelieving servant comes
now. He's brought before the judge
of heaven and earth. He's brought before his Lord.
He's confessed him. He confessed Him in baptism. He partook of
the Lord's table. He claimed to be one of His.
And now He comes. He has spent all His time on
Himself. He has buried His talent. He has buried what God gave Him.
He buried it. He did not use it at all for
the glory of God. To this person, to this servant,
Christ is not real to him. He's not real. He's not a real
living person. He's more of a historical figure,
but he's not a real living person. Death is not real to him. Judgment
is not real to him. Eternity is not real to him.
The present is all that's real to him. That's all that's real. And notice what this servant
says about his Lord. Then he which had received the
one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard
man, a hard man, reaping where thou
hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed. He said,
you're a hard man. Well, it's evident to me. It's
evident to me this man did not know Christ. The Scripture says
he's meek and lowly. This man receives sinners and
he eats with them. It's evident the work of grace
had never been accomplished in his heart. Because everyone who
knows Christ knows this, he's not a hard man. He's a gracious
man. He delights to show mercy. He
delights to show mercy. This man did not know Him. He
knew about Him. And he took the hard view. He's
probably a legalist. Because he took the hard view
of Him. You're a hard man. The last servant had a distorted
view of Christ. as one who was hard and austere,
mean, mean. And our Lord said, well, I'll
tell you what, if that's the way you see me, thou knewest,
He said, thou knewest this. This is the way you say that
I am. And I'll tell you what, if you're going to deal with
God strictly on the basis of justice, that's what you're going
to deal with. You're going to deal with somebody
that's severe and strict. outside of Christ. Then why didn't you give my money
to the bank? Why didn't you put it in the
ground? Why didn't you dig a hole and hide it over in Lucas as
he hid it under a napkin? Why did you do that? The least
you could have done was put it in the bank and it would have
drawn interest. This man did absolutely nothing with it. He
had no interest in gaining anything. Now listen, he had zero interest
in gaining anything for his master, his Lord. He just dug a hole,
put in the ground and just took off and did his own thing. And our Lord says in verse 28,
take away all that he has. You give it to that one that's
diligent. But you take away all that he All that he has, all
that I've given him, take it away. The meaning is this, his profession
could not save him from total ruin. It is a possession of Christ
that saves, not just a profession of him. One writer said this,
the name of a Christian is not the same as the nature
of a Christian. You can carry the name, but the
nature is totally different. J.C. Rowell said this, let us
not talk about religion, but act upon it. Let us not be content
with the profession of Christianity, but practice it. What is the service charge? What's the charge against this
servant? Here's the charge. He did nothing. That's it. He did nothing. Dug a hole, put the money in
the ground, covered it up, and went his way. And our Lord says
here in verse 29, for unto everyone that hath shall be given. Of course, I know false religion
just misuses this stuff, but I tell you what, Those who use
what God gives them, I mean, what talents and gifts and abilities
and whatever He's given us, when it's truly used for His glory,
more be given. More be given. That's what He
says. More be given. But for him that hath not, hath
not grace, hath not Christ, hath not a new heart. shall be taken away even that
which he hath." In other places it says, taken away even that
which he seemeth to have. The Scripture says this, walk
in the light and you'll what? Have more light. You want more
light? Walk in the light you have and
you'll have more light. Use it. More joy, more peace. Walk in it. And here's what happens. to all these types of servants.
This is what happened. He was cast out into outer darkness
where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. This man
was never saved. This man had never tasted of
the grace of God. This man had a false refuge.
This man made a false profession. He never knew the Lord. Never
loved Him. Never loved Him. Never. Because he doesn't cast off his
own. does not cast off his children. How terrible to go from light
to absolute darkness, to go from friends to foe. As he said, there'll
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. To go from laughter to weeping,
to go from joy to gnashing of teeth. How unimaginable will
that day be? What is the lesson of this parable?
I'll give it to you quickly. What is the lesson here in this
parable? First of all, the Lord will come
to judge the earth. He will come and judge His servants. All belong to Him. All belong
to Him. All shall give account to the
penny. He said in one place that every
idle word will be brought into judgment. You know, I remember reading
a story of a guy that owned Walmart. What's his name? Sam Walton. When he first went, started going
bigger, the banks came in that he borrowed the money from. They
came into his business. They kept a person there. And
they made every penny count because he was so heavily indebted before
he went public. He was so heavily indebted, they
sent a banker into his business, and he had to give account for
every penny he spent. Every penny. Well, our Lord,
someday, will come. And every person on this earth
will give account for every penny. Every opportunity, every situation.
He says he'll bring them into account. And then all who confess
Christ are not saved. That's what He said. You know those first two? They
just immediately, they used it. They used what they had for His
glory. But that one used nothing he was given for God's glory.
Even though he confessed to be saved. And then last of all,
watch. Our Lord is teaching here, watch
and be diligent. Be faithful. Till I come. You take what I've given you,
you be diligent with it, till I come. Okay, Mike.