Matthew chapter 25 this morning,
if you'd turn in your Bibles with me to Matthew 25, our Lord
tells a second parable in this chapter to teach what he's been
teaching since the beginning of chapter 24. When he spoke
to his disciples about the destruction of that temple and all of the
beautiful buildings and furnishings of religion, And they asked him
concerning the timing of that and also when the end of the
world would be, when he would come back. And in answering that,
as we've seen, the Lord has told them not what they wanted to
hear. What men want to know is the
date and hour. Still do. But what he told them
is what they needed to know. To be watchful. to pray, to be
wise and faithful, to be diligent, to be real, true, genuine stewards
of his grace while we're here. The night cometh when no man
can work. He said, I'll work while it's
day, while I'm here. And he taught us to do the same.
Be watchful, wise, faithful. Let's look at verses 14 through
30 of our chapter. And this is the parable that
we'll look at this morning. For the kingdom of heaven is
as a man traveling into a far country. And he's just told this
parable of the five wise and the five foolish virgins. And
now The kingdom of heaven also is like this. It's like 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, to another one, to every man according to his
several ability. And by the way, I won't mention
this again, so I'll just mention it now. The Lord is also the
one that gives us our several ability. If you read Paul's writings
concerning that, the Lord gives grace in measure unto his people,
different measure unto different ones of us, different gifts,
different abilities. And he gave means to each one. Those whom he gives ability to,
he gives means. He prepares them, he gifts them,
and he strengthens them, gives them wisdom, gives them what
they need, gives them light according to what business he's given them
to do for him in this world. And it's various. And by degrees,
by his own wisdom and discretion. And so he gave five and two and
one according to their several ability, not that they were born
with. We know better than that. All right. And then straightway
he took his journey. And then he that had received
the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them
other five talents. And likewise, he that hath 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." Seems like
a long time, doesn't it? Many are saying, where is the
promise of his coming? Scoffing. It's not a long time
to him. But it is to us, and he acknowledges
that. It's a long time. But he come and reckons with
them. The day of reckoning is approaching. And so he that had received five
talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou
deliverest unto me five talents. And notice right away, he gives
the glory where it's due. You gave me five. You gave me,
I wouldn't have any now if you hadn't given me what you gave
me. And behold, I have gained beside
them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful
over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. And he also that had received
two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents.
Behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord
said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast
been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. Then he which had received the
one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art in
hard man. Didn't say anything about what
the Lord had given him and done for him and how the Lord had
blessed him. He's wanting to tell what he knows about the
Lord. Turns out he was wrong. 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. Sounds like
Adam before the Lord forgave him. I was afraid. When he had lost God's favor,
when he had lost God's communion and blessing, what did Adam say? I was afraid and I hid myself.
I was afraid 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 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
then, at my coming, I should have received mine own with usury. Take, therefore, the talent from
him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every
one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance.
But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which
he hath." Notice he said, everyone that hath. How did they have
anything? God gave it to him. He said to
those will be given more. Where'd the other five talents
come from that they gained? That came from him too. The other
two. It's all his and he gives it
to whomsoever he will. And cast ye the unprofitable
servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Now we'll see some common error and why it's error.
and see some key truths here. It's going to be impossible this
morning to go word by word through this. There's so many things
that this teaches, I'm sure, that we won't see this morning.
But by God's grace, that which is vital, where we got what we
have and why, the glory of Him that gives it, the grace of Him,
the love of Him that gives it. I suppose that The first thing
that we should look at here is this, and remember now, he used
the word faithful in this parable. I don't want us to forget the
context. He said, you good and faithful servant, you've been
wise, you've been faithful over a few things. I'll make you ruler
over many things. Same word he used before he began
these parables when he said to them, who then, seeing that I
am coming, you don't know when, it doesn't matter when, But you
know I'm coming back and there's gonna be a reckoning. You know
that you have a limited amount of time here on this earth. You
know what I've sent you to do. You know what is necessary. I
want my household to be fed. That's what your business is.
Same thing that he did while he was here. And that's who he's
telling, I want you to feed him, my sheep. Feed my sheep, Peter.
The same word, he said, who then is a wise and faithful servant. And so he tells this parable
describing those who are wise and faithful. And the first thing
I think we need to understand here is what is it that we're
trusted with? He gave five to some, two to
one, two to another, and one to another. And so he trusted
us with something. He gave us something to use,
to do something with. God didn't save us and leave
us here now. He didn't have to go on a journey
at all. Did you know that? He could just save us and take
us home to be with him immediately, as soon as we're saved, if that
was his will. And Paul prayed, you know, he
said, I would rather be with him, but it's more needful now
for me to be where I am. The Lord Jesus Christ, when he
prayed his high priestly prayer in John chapter 17, he prayed
unto the Father, I don't pray that you take him out of the
world. but that you keep them in your love and care while they're
here. And so we're here to be his wise and faithful stewards. Didn't have to be that way, but
he did it deliberately for his glory. And we'll see that in
this context too. So what did he give us while
we're here to leave with us, to trust us with? And I guarantee
you this, it isn't money. He didn't leave us here to make
money for him. We know that. You'd think religion
seems to think that, don't they? Let's raise money for Jesus.
He don't need that. It was all his to begin with.
He gave it to you. Of course, we render back unto
him what was his. David said, of thine own have
we given thee. But that doesn't increase him.
That's not what this is about. He didn't save us and leave us
here to make money for it. All the money is already hid
before he gave it to us. Now he mentions, as I said in
chapter 24, verse 45, that the business of a wise and faithful
steward is to give meat to his household. That's what we're
here to do. And so this, whatever this is,
it's the same thing as that. Different picture, but the same
thing. That's what we're here to do.
to feed his sheep, to give meat to his household, to provide
for his house what they need. He said, go and preach. And that's
the same thing because his household feeds upon his word, his gospel,
Christ, who is the word. He asked Peter, do you love me?
And Peter said, yeah, Lord. And he said, feed my sheep, feed
my sheep, give meat to my household. And we know what that means.
We know how that happens by what he told us to do, go and preach.
That's how his sheep are fed. And so whatever this is, it's
going to have to line up with that, isn't it? Because that's
already been established. And here in our parable, this
is likened to dealing with money. That is the picture, doing business
in this world in a profitable way. We know that our business,
just like his kingdom is not of this world, his business is
not of this world and neither is ours. but it is profitable
in a different way. It has to do with what we do
with what God has given us. What are we stewards of under
our Lord's authority? He's the one that gave the means,
and he's the one that had and transferred the authority. So
under his authority, what are we stewards of? We have to look
at that 1 Peter chapter 4. Let's look at it together. And
this is taught in many places, by the way. This is not in doubt.
This is not speculation. It's not in question. This is
it right here, 1 Peter 4, verse 7. And you keep in mind now as
we read this that Peter, the Apostle Peter, was standing there
as our Lord told this parable in our text. He's standing there
listening to it. and learning. And he knew the
context in which it was told. It was told in the context of
our Lord's second coming and the end of this world, that we
have a limited time here. And he's telling us what to do
with our time here. Not giving us a date and an hour,
but telling us, look, however long it is till I come back,
here's what you need to be doing. And Peter's standing there listening
to that. And Peter, some years later, wrote this, 1 Peter 4,
So keep that in mind. He said the end of all things
is at hand You see now who's talking here be there for sober
and watch under prayer. That's what our Lord taught us
He stood right there face to face with me and taught me that
And let me tell you let me encourage you. Let me exhort you be sober
and watch Under prayer now watch and pray lest you enter into
temptation. That's what he told him in the garden And above all
things, have fervent love among yourself. Didn't the Lord say
that in those last days too, while Peter was standing there
listening to him? He said, I'm going to prepare a place for
you, and I have a commandment for you. I'm not gonna be with
you long, I'm gonna go from here. But I have a commandment for
you, love one another the way I've loved you. All right, you
see where Peter got this from. And where he's coming from, the
Lord had taught him some things. For love shall cover the multitude
of sins. Didn't the Lord say many are
going to betray one another? They're going to come to hate
one another and betray one another and turn on one another? Peter
said, oh, if we do what he said to do, if we love one another,
then we won't betray one another. Love will cover our sins. Use hospitality one to another
without grudging, as every man hath received some talents, received
the gift. Even so, minister the same one
to another as good, what? Who is a wise and faithful servant? Who is a genuine and diligent
steward? as good stewards of what? The
manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak
as the oracles of God. It better be what God said. If
any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God
giveth. You see that there? He gave to
every man according to his ability. Well, where did he get the ability?
God gave it to him, Peter said. the ability which God giveth,
that God in all things, and here's the point of it all, here's the
purpose of it all, not for you to gain a crown with extra jewels
in it in heaven, that God in all things may be glorified.
That's what's going to be the result of this. Through Jesus
Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen. You see who's saying this,
and this is the one that our Lord was teaching right there
face to face, and us too now. Himself and through Peter now.
And he's telling us to be good stewards of what? His grace. The light that he has shed abroad
in our hearts. Stewards of his gospel that he has revealed to us. Turn
to 1 Timothy 1. I think this is important that
we establish this in the beginning, don't you think? What is he given? What is he trusted with? And
then let's find out what we're going to do with it. I believe
that that'll cover. That'll cover the basics this
morning. If we find out what the Lord has trusted us with
and find out what he's told us to do with it. And then maybe
someday we'll go back and look at the rest of it. Some of the
details of it. 1 Timothy 1, verse 8. But we know that the law is good
if a man use it lawfully, knowing this, that the law is not made
for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient,
for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers
of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for whoremongers,
for them that defile themselves with mankind, for men-stealers,
for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing
that is contrary to sound doctrine, according to the glorious gospel
of the blessed God which was committed to my trust. Be stewards of his gospel now.
Be stewards of his grace. He's committed his word, his
truth, his grace, his light, his revelation to us. He's trusted us with it. And
he said, I thank Christ Jesus, verse 12, our Lord, who hath
enabled me for that he counted me faithful. He made me faithful
and counted me faithful. He gave me what I have. and gave
the increase, and counted us faithful, putting me into the
ministry who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious,
but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief.
And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith
and love, which is in Christ Jesus. There's that word grace
again now. He's bestowed grace upon us in revealing the gospel
to us. And this is what he's trusted us with. This is a faithful
saying, verse 15, and worthy of all acceptation. That Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief.
Albeit for this cause, I obtained mercy. that in me first Jesus
Christ might show forth all longsuffering for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. In other words,
if he saves you, he's going to save you just like he saved me
by his mercy. He's going to find one on the
road to hell fighting and spitting and hating God and his people
and determined to bust hell wide open. And he's going to knock
him off of his high horse and blind him and then open his eyes
and reveal unto him the glories of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to see him as one
born out of due time, just like Paul. And he's going to reveal
his gospel. He's going to say to us like
he did Paul, I've chosen you and I'm sending you. Is that
what he did for us? He's chosen us. He sent us. And
now we're here to do what he sent us to do. And then he said,
now unto the king eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God. And here again, this is the point
of it all. I'm not just reading a little
bit further because it's there. This is the point of it. This
is what happens in our parable. Unto him, the only wise God,
be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. We're not doing this
for our gain. We already have Christ. You can't
add to Him. You can't take away from Him. All of this has to do with glory
for God. God doesn't need any more money
and He doesn't need anything for that matter, but I'll tell
you what He's worthy of. I'll tell you what He desires
and demands and what's due unto Him who gave us all we have. Glory. That's what we're going
to render to Him. Glory. And this is what we're
in this for, not rewards for us. That's not what this is about. It's about glory unto Him. Did
you notice that all of the resources in this parable are all His? Clearly He gave what they began
with. Whatever we're given is His free
gift to us. He gave five to one, two to another,
one to another. could have given 10 to one, could
have given 100. He gave what he pleased because
it was his. He gave it to whom he pleased
because they were his. It's not a reward for our service.
And whoever takes this passage of scripture and teaches rewards
in heaven for those who earn them has completely missed the
point of this parable and has completely missed the point of
this entire book of God. It's all about his glory. He gives us what we have and
then says whoever has will be given more. That's grace. That's great. He does teach us
here to be wise and faithful because he's worthy of it. He
gives us the wisdom and the faithfulness and exhorts us to be wise and
faithful. He trusted us with something
now and we have to look at it that way. We have to see it that
way. We have to see it for the privilege
that it is, for the sobering and weighty privilege that it
is. And it must be used for His glory,
not for our gain. Our reward is Him, His favor,
His approval, His presence. And we see that now in this parable.
The reward, if you want to call it that, is not what is gained.
It's not the usury. You look at that with me. We're
going to look at it. This is just what we're trusted with.
And the Lord does give each of us varying and unique responsibilities
in this thing, in his kingdom. He gives different gifts in the
gospel. He gives varying amounts of light
to different ones. Five to one, two to another.
But look at verse 27. again back in the parable. Now
he's talking to the one who just had the one talent and hit it
out of fear. He said what you should have
done was put my money to the exchangers and then at my coming
I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the
talent from him and give it unto him which have ten talents. Did
you notice there that what he gave them to begin with and what
was gained, he said, that's all mine. Anybody that knows anything
about business knows that. You don't take the company's
money and go make money on that and then keep the profits or
any part of it. You take what's given to you,
what the boss decides and you agree with up front. That's not
even mentioned here. Did you notice that? Everything
that's gained on the money given to begin with goes back to the
owner. He said, I would have received
mine and the usury. Rightly so, it's all his. But
the workman's worthy of his hire. So what do we receive? We don't
get the extra five talents that were made, nor the two. That
all clearly, right there, verse 27, it goes back to him. And
rightly so, it's his. So what does he give us? What
do we receive? What does the steward have for
his efforts? Which he's given the ability
to render and perform anyway. It's God that worketh in you
both to will and to do of his good pleasure. God don't need
anybody. He don't find good stewards.
He makes good stewards. Did you know that? Wise and faithful
stewards. And then rewards them for being
wise and faithful. That's great. It's all grace.
It's all grace. So what does the steward receive?
The one talent is given to the one who had ten. But that's just
given so he can go ahead and invest it again along with the
ten. That's how business works. That's just basic business. He
was wise and faithful. And so he gets what was given
to the one that wasn't wise and faithful. And he goes and invests
it again. That's not his reward. That still belongs to the one
who sent them to begin with and gave them what they have. The
only thing that belongs to the stewards here is what? The favor
and approval of the one who gave them what they have. Or the anger
and wrath of him. Oh, and one other thing. His faithful stewards get to
be with Him. Because what did He say to that
unfaithful one who was slothful? Get away from me. Cast him into
outer darkness. The other ones, He said what?
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. There's our pay. Can you beat that? Can you top
that? Can you add anything to that?
Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. He said, Father, I will
that those that you've given me be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory. That's heaven. That's what glory
is for us to be with him. That's just clear here now. People
talk about, well, the one that he gave five to, he earned five
and now he's got five. No, that all goes back to him.
The glory is all his. Our reward is to get to behold
his glory. If that doesn't seem like reward
to you, then it won't be. It won't be. What is heaven to you? The difference
here is enter thou into the joy of thy Lord or cast him into
outer darkness. And not about toys and baubles
and shiny things in heaven for you. So what has God given us? We're
about to bring him increase in glory. Well, whatever it is, he's given
some of it to people who will ultimately be cast into outer
darkness. Did you notice that in the parable? He's given some
of that to them. And we know that that's right
because we're talking about light. We're talking about some revelation.
We're talking about his gospel. And we know from the book of
God that that's true of those who never truly honor him in
it, who never truly hear with ears and with hearts that have
understanding before God. God has given all men though
some knowledge of himself. Romans chapter 1 Paul said you're
without excuse. And I want to read you part of
that in John 1 9 turn to Romans 1 18 we'll look at this again
now. And let me mention this in John
1 9 we know that John speaks of that light which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world. That's the Lord
Jesus Christ. He sheds light upon every man
that comes into this world. Romans 1.18, For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold what in unrighteousness? What did he give them? What did
he trust them with? Paul said where we read a while
ago, he was trusted with the glorious gospel of the blessed
God. And these here, they have a talent too, don't they? They
have a talent in their hand. The truth. But they hold it in
unrighteousness. Because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them, for God hath showed it unto them,
but his wrath is gonna be revealed against them nonetheless. For
the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are
clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
because that when they knew God, they did what? What have we been
talking about all morning? What does God desire? What does
He demand from His creatures? What are we to render unto Him
in all of this? They glorified Him not as God. The first thing out of the mouths
of those ones with the five and two was, Lord, you gave me. Look
what you gave me. The first thing out of that other
one was, I knew. I knew. They glorified him not
as God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their imaginations
and their foolish heart was darkened. What did the foolish
man in our parable do with the talent that God gave him? He
buried it. What did God say? The Lord Jesus
Christ preached to us in Matthew 5 verses 13 through 16. I was
going to have you turn there, but I won't. You know, as soon
as I mentioned it, you'll remember it. He said the light that you
have, you don't hide that under a bushel. Don't bury it. Set it on a hill. That men may
see your good works and do what? Glorify your father, which is
in heaven. What is this all about? And here's
what I know for sure. I know this. This man with the
one talent, he wasn't honestly wrong. He was willfully rebellious. How in the world, where'd you
get that in this parable, Chris? Where I got it from was the whole
word of God. Adam didn't misunderstand God. He willfully sinned against God.
He willfully rebelled. Cain didn't make a mistake about
what to bring before God in order to have favor with him. He didn't
make a mistake. He defied God is what he did.
And that's what this man is here. He knew what the right thing
was to do. The bottom line is this, this
man brought no glory to his master in these what we call good works. And so the glory that the master
will receive with regard to this man with the one talent, he's
going to get glory. But what glory is he going to receive?
By casting him into outer darkness. He's going to show that he's
not a master to be trafficked with. He's going to show his
holiness and his justice in him. He's going to get glory one way
or the other. You see that here? All right. It's going to glorify
him in a different way than his dealings with the other two stewards,
but he will be glorified. And look what these wise and
faithful stewards did, and we'll be through this morning. They
just took what God had given them to a place where they knew
that it would prosper. They took it to the exchangers.
And everybody knows that you can do that, right? that you
can gain interest on money. They took what God had given.
They took it to a place where they knew that it would prosper. They didn't do anything more
physically really than the other man did when it comes right down
to it. They just did something entirely different. What's harder to do? To take
some money down to a bank and invest it or dig a hole in your
backyard? I'd rather go to the bank, wouldn't
you, than dig a hole? As far as physical things are
concerned. And Paul said, they have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge. He didn't know. He said, I know, I know. But he didn't glorify God. And where is this place now in
spiritual terms where the wise ones took their Lord's money. Well, I'll tell you this, and
as I said, I'll be through. If you look up the word exchangers
in verse 27, you'll find that it means a broker or a banker.
They took it to a place where they knew it would gain usury,
as our Lord said, or interest on it. where that money would
prosper. In other words, when our Lord
says you should have taken it to the exchangers, what he's
saying there is you should have invested it. But let me, let
me, let me say this too. If you look at the root word
that had come to mean broker or banker, you know how human
language works. There can be a word that means
one thing, but it comes to mean something else because of the
way that it's used. If you look up the root word
there that had come to mean broker or banker, you'll find that the
root word means a table on which food is placed, an eating place. And I'll leave it to you to decide
whether that's a coincidence or not. But let me tell you what
I know. The means of God giving more
light to those who already have some light is the preaching of
the gospel. And I know this, I know what
gives glory to God is the preaching of the gospel, and his sheep
to feed on the gospel, and the glory in his gospel, and to praise
him for his gospel, to be committed to his gospel, to be faithful
in his gospel. And that's what we've seen all
through this. How do you feed goat sheep? How do you give meat
to his household? This is where his stewards come
and give glory to him who have received glory from him. And
when they bring glory to him here, they receive more means
and more graces and more strength and more light by which to bring
him more glory. Is that what God's doing on this
earth? That's what it's all about. His
glory. His glory. How are you going
to give Him glory? By doing what He gave us to do. What's that,
what we're doing right now? May He make us wise and faithful
stewards of His grace for His glory. Let's pray together.