Matthew chapter 25. My subject tonight is the parable
of the talents. Frankly, I don't know when I
have studied a passage of scripture or prepared a message that spoke
more plainly to my heart than this one. I needed what I'm about
to preach to you. I pray that God will give me
your attention and give me the ability to declare to you what
I have this day observed from his word. Let's read together
beginning at verse 14. The kingdom of heaven is as a
man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and
delivered unto them his And unto one he gave five talents, to
another two, to another one. And every man according to his,
to every man according to his several ability, and straightway
took his journey. Then he that had received the
five talents went and traded with the same, and made them
other five talents. And likewise, he that had received
two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one
went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After
a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoned
with them. And so he that had received five
talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, deliverest
unto me five talents. 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.' 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, 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. Then he which had received one
talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown,
and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid,
and sent 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 would 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, and cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Now this parable, like so many
of our Lord's parables, clearly teaches us that in this world,
the church and kingdom of God is a mixed multitude. There are
many among the professed people of God who have been baptized
in the name of Christ, many who have a very confident assurance
that they have a saving interest in Christ, who in reality do
not know Christ at all. This parable, like that of the
ten virgins that precedes it, demonstrates this fact clearly.
In the parable of the ten virgins, we read that five were foolish
and five were wise. In this parable, we read of two
faithful servants and one slothful, wicked servant of our Lord. But
in both parables, the indication is clear, it is obvious. There
is, in the visible church, in congregations like this one,
whether they be large or small, whether the doctrine be true
or false, there is in the visible Church many who profess faith
in Christ who do not know Christ. Among those who even profess
the truth of God, there are many who intellectually, in theory,
hold to the things of God and profess faith in Jesus Christ
the Lord, but do not know Him. And this parable is sounded to
give warning that the day is coming When the Lord God will
make manifest all things, and he will make manifest and will
judge us and reckon with us according to the grounds of strict justice,
and in that day the wicked shall be exposed for their wickedness,
and the righteous shall enter into the glory and joy of their
Lord." Now, these warnings are not to be taken lightly. They
are not to be looked upon as though somehow they don't apply
to us. I have recently heard so many times, and I hear it
from some who ought to know better, I know so-and-so saved, I know
I'm saved because, and we look back to this thing or that, and
we have placed for ourselves, we have built for ourselves a
refuge of lies. Now, I love you dearly. You're my friends, my church
family, my dearest friends I've got on this earth. But if you're
hiding in a false refuge, I want to expose you. I'm going to,
if God will enable me, show you what your refuge of lies is and
tear it down. I pray that God will graciously
tear it down so that you may seek a better refuge. The warnings
of Scripture are given so that we will heed them. Let's look
at a few of them. They're not obscure. They're not just here and there,
but they're scattered literally throughout the Scriptures, especially
they are scattered throughout the four Gospels by our Lord
Jesus Christ himself. Look in Matthew chapter 7 and
verse 21. Matthew 7 and verse 21. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord. That is, not everyone who says
Jesus Christ is Lord. I know no man can confess that
Christ is Lord but by the Holy Ghost. But he's talking about
a heart confession. He's talking about a heart knowledge.
He's talking about a genuine confession. It doesn't take anything
to say Christ is my Lord. It doesn't take anything to say
Jesus is my Savior. Not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Is that plain enough? Many will
say unto me, In that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? Didn't that do in the will of
God? And in thy name have cast out devils? Surely that's doing
the will of God. And in thy name have done many
wonderful, good, good works. Surely that's doing the will
of God. No, no. And then will I profess unto
them, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work Any man, any woman who looks
to anything done by himself, no matter how noble, how spiritual,
or how good it appears to be, looks to himself as his own Savior,
and self-salvation is but working iniquity. To do the will of God
is to trust Jesus Christ alone as Lord and Savior. And I'm going
to tell you something. That is utterly impossible for
human flesh. Utterly impossible. Hardest thing
on this earth to do is the easiest thing on the earth to do. Hardest
thing on this earth to do, as far as the man is concerned,
is the easiest thing there is for a believer to do. And that
is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now I'm telling
you, I'm telling you. I'm not telling you. I'll quit
using that kind of language. If I'm telling you, you don't
need to pay any attention to it. This book is telling you. The
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, God Almighty, God the Holy
Spirit is declaring to you, if you're looking to something in
yourself for your assurance and your peace and your hope before
God, you've missed Christ altogether. Missed Him altogether. Why do
you hope to go to heaven when you die? When that thought crosses
your mind. I wish you would honestly answer
this question for yourself. What do you think of? I remember. You've missed it. I was there. You've missed it.
Back when I was a boy, or this morning, or today, you've missed
it. You've missed it. To look to
yourself for any grounds of hope before God is to work iniquity. Our hope before God is Christ
alone. Alone. Feelings come and feelings
go, and feelings are deceiving. I trust the ever-living Word
of God, nor else is worth believing. And this is what God declares.
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. Look in
Matthew chapter 13. Matthew chapter 13. Verse 18, Hear ye therefore the parable
of the sower? When any one heareth the word
of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked
one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is
he that receiveth the seed by the wayside. But he that receiveth
the seed in this stone, he placeth the same as he that heareth the
word, and amen with joy receiveth it. He hears the word, and without
thought for this, without any consideration, without any real
understanding, without any real experience of grace in his heart,
he's informed of it! I believe that. The majority
receives it. Yet, hath he not good in himself,
but dureth for a while. A plant without roots won't last
long. A plant without roots will soon
be uprooted. I will soon wither and die. And
the man who is without any root of grace in his soul won't last
long in this thing called Christianity. He hath not root in himself,
but dureth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution arises
because of the word, just as soon as he meets with some opposition
because of his professed faith, by and by he's offended. Well,
I didn't really need that after all. That wasn't nearly as important
as I thought it was. He also that receiveth the seed
among thorns. He saith that heareth the word,
and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches,
choke the word. He becometh unfruitful. But there is one among the four
who receiveth the seed into good ground. And it is he that heareth
the word, and understandeth it, which also beareth fruit, and
bringeth forth some a hundredfold, and some sixtyfold, and some
thirty." That's the teaching of our Lord. Look at Matthew
22. Matthew 22, verse 14. Our Lord Jesus tells
us of this one who came in not having on a wedding garment.
and he asked him, How camest thou in hither, not having a
wedding garment? And the man was speechless, and
he cast him out. And in verse 14 he gives this
for the reason, Many are called outwardly. Many
come by an outward call, by an outward persuasion, by the preacher's
eloquence, or by a story, or because of some tragedy in life,
and they're persuaded to make a profession of faith. Many are
called outwardly, and come to profess faith in Christ. But
among the many who are called, few are chosen. Few are called
of God. Few are called by the Spirit.
Few are born again by God's grace. Look in Luke chapter 13. Luke
chapter 13, verse 23. Then said one unto him, Lord,
are there few that be saved? Are there few that be saved?
And he said unto them, strive to enter in at the straight gate.
For many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not
be able. When once the master of the house
is risen up, and hath shut the door, and ye begin to stand without,
and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us, and
he shall answer, and say unto you, I know you not, which are
ye? And they shall be cast into Look
in chapter 17 of Luke, verse 32, our Lord is now speaking
to his disciples particularly and distinctly. And he says to
them in verse 32, remember Lot's wife. What a warning, what a
warning. The parable we're going to look
at in just a moment in this picture of Lot's wife tells us plainly
that gifts and opportunities and privileges will not do your
soul one bit of good without Christ. Not one bit. Lot's wife
was a lady with rare, rare opportunities. Rare, rare privileges. Rare,
rare blessings. She was married to one of God's
saints. She was daughter-in-law, or rather a niece of Abraham,
God's servant. She had the servants of God,
the angels of God themselves, to come and take up a dwelling
under her roof. Indeed, the pre-incarnate Christ
came to Lot's wife." She saw it. She saw it. That one that
Abraham saw who went on down to Sodom and entered into Lot's
house was himself described as the angel of the Lord and one
whom Abraham worshipped. He was Jesus Christ the Lord.
Lot's wife was taken out of Sodom by the hand of an angel. I never even heard tell of anybody
thinking about an experience like that. She was taken out
of Sodom by the hand of an angel. She looked back, and Sodom was
being consumed under the wrath of God with fire and brimstone
falling out of heaven. And as Lot's wife looked back,
she became a pillar of Sodom. She made a good start. She made
a good start. She left Sodom. And she left
her home. She left all of her possessions
and all of her goods, and she was snatched out of Sodom. Lot's
wife left at least, at least two daughters, probably grandchildren,
down in Sodom. Because Lot could not persuade
his sons-in-law to come out with him. But she left them. She left
them all following the command of God. But Lot's wife made one
mistake. She left her heart down in Sodom
too. Our Lord God commands us, my
son, give me your heart. And he'll either have our hearts,
or he'll have nothing of us. He'll either have our hearts,
or he'll have nothing of us. And if he has our hearts, he
has all of us. Therefore the apostle Paul urges
us, examine yourself. Examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Know ye not your own selves?
Have it, you be in Jesus Christ, and Christ is in you, lest you
be reprobate. Look at 2 Corinthians chapter
13. 2 Corinthians chapter 13, verse 5. Examine yourselves, whether you
be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know you
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
you be reprobates. Jesus Christ in you, and prove
it. Prove it. Jesus Christ in you,
and you in Christ. Prove it. Prove you're into faith.
How? Not by something you do, but
rather by faith in Christ the Lord, clinging to Him, Tenaciously
with a heart committed to Him as Lord. Committed to Him as
Lord. Someone asked me recently about
the Lordship controversy. And I responded by saying I wouldn't
spend five minutes trying to prove that Jesus Christ is Lord.
That's nonsense. She responded to me, she said,
well, don't you think that the Lordship of Christ is important?
Oh, that's another story. That's another story altogether.
Either Jesus Christ is your Lord and your Master, or He's not
your Savior. Either He is my Lord and my Master. I mean by that, either we voluntarily,
willingly, bow to Christ the Lord and yield our lives to Him
to take rule over us in all things, or else He is not our Savior
at all. Now, without question, the passage that we have before
us here in Matthew, this parable of the talents, is applicable
particularly to those who are pastors, preachers, and teachers
in the church of God. All of them have their gifts
from Jesus Christ according to his will, and they all have responsibility
to use those gifts and talents for the glory of God and the
good of his people. They are all set in their place
according to the decree of God and the appointment of Jesus
Christ our Lord as he will. So that some are given greater
gifts and some less. Some are given greater opportunities
and some less. And even those who prove to be
unfaithful servants yet are under the rule and dominion of the
Lord Jesus Christ and they are responsible for what they profess
even if they don't possess it. The servant of God who is faithful,
faithful over two talents, or the servant of God who is faithful
over five talents, receives the same reward and enters into the
same joy of his Lord, because the joy of the Lord and the acceptability
of the servant is not in what he does or what he produces with
what God gives him, but rather, his acceptance with God and his
joy in the Lord is found in Jesus Christ the Lord, and that servant
is received as the faithful servant of God, and the Lord says to
him, And God will speak those words
to every genuine servant of his in this world. Because God's
servants are faithful men. They're faithful men. Now that's going to tell everything
about your pastor. Everything. I don't take that
lightly. It requires, too, that a man
be found faithful. God doesn't require me to preach
well just to preach faithfully. He doesn't require me to be smart.
He doesn't require me to be influential. He doesn't require me to be successful.
He doesn't require me to learn. He requires that I be found faithful
in the study and declaration of His Word. We read in the scriptures
of a woman over in Mark chapter 14. A woman who is held up for
us as an example, that we are to imitate in all things. This
woman brought an alabaster box of ointment, and she anointed
the Lord Jesus for his burial. And folks began to deride her
and said, why wasn't this ointment sold and the money given to the
poor? The problem wasn't that they cared for the poor. That
wasn't it at all. This woman did what they wouldn't do. She
did what she could. And this is what our Master says.
He says in verse 6, Jesus said, Let her alone, why trouble ye
her? She hath wrought a good work
on thee. Then in verse 8, he says,
She hath done what she could. What does God expect me to do?
What I can. What I can. What I can with the
gifts and talents and abilities He's given me. What does God
expect you to do? What you can. What you can with
the gifts and talents, abilities, and opportunities He's given
you. No more, no less. God expects faithfulness. And
God rewards the faithfulness of the servant who has but two
talents, as well as the servant who has ten. He rewards the faithfulness
of that servant, a woman who just gives a cup of cold water
in the name of a disciple, just as he does the faithfulness of
an Apostle Paul who writes the books of inspiration. Do you
understand that? Now, having said that, it would
be a terrible mistake to apply this parable to none but those
who are responsible for the teaching and preaching of the Word of
God. This parable speaks to us all. God the Holy Spirit has
recorded our Lord's words here to teach us certain truths concerning
our responsibilities before God and the nature of his kingdom
and of his grace. Now, I have gone through this
passage and picked out seven things. I'm certain that as you
meditate on it, as you study, you'll find other things that
are equally important. But get these seven things, seven
lessons taught by our Lord in the parable of the talents. The
first one is this. This parable shows us how readily
religious men and women rest the scriptures to their own destruction. Look at verse 24. Then he that
had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee. What presumption. I knew thee.
What arrogance. I knew thee. What rebellion.
I knew thee. He uses the word Lord. But he
speaks to the Lord as though the Lord were his servant. I
knew you. I knew you. I knew thee that thou art a hard
man. Oh no, not our God. But this
is all this man presumed. Thou art a hard man, reaping
where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not
strawed. And I was afraid, and went and
hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there it is, There is that
that is thine. There thou hast that is thine. This wicked servant described
in this parable twisted the master's sovereignty into a doctrine that
represented him as a hard man. He twisted the master's sovereignty
into a doctrine that represented him as a cruel tyrant, like the
taskmasters in Egypt who required the children of Israel to make
bricks, but gave them no straw to make the bricks wet. And so
this cruel tyrant is looked upon now as one who has absolute austerity,
and no less of it, a hard man. A hard man who demands from men
what they have no, what he will not give them to work with. And
this man takes the doctrine of God's sovereignty, the character
of this master's absolute dominion, and uses it as an excuse to cover
his sin. He uses it as an excuse for his
ungodliness. He uses it as an excuse to cover
up his own wickedness and his own absolute uselessness covering
the ground of his master. This is exactly what Adam did
in the garden. Man always seeks to turn the
tables. We want to blame God. We try to blame this, that, and
everything. Blame this person, blame that person. None of us
likes to assume blame for anything. You remember Aaron when he was
confronted by Moses about the golden calves. Aaron couldn't
very well defend what he had done. You know what he said? He said, it's the flame's fault.
I just threw in the gold and out came these calves. In other
words, God providentially brought them out. He wasn't blaming the
flame, he was blaming God who controls the flame. Adam in the
garden, when God conferred him with his sin, Adam looked God
square in the face and said, it wasn't my fault, it's your
fault. It's your fault. Here's the woman you gave me.
Here's the woman you gave me. And that's every man's nature.
Men will attempt to turn the very character of God as a justification
for doing evil. Sometimes I hear men talk about
evil they've committed, and they say, well, The Lord predestined
it or it wouldn't have happened. That's true. I fully grant that. I fully grant that. But the man
who finds an excuse for saying that doesn't know God. Just doesn't
know God. The believer does not seek to
clothe his wickedness behind the doctrine of God's sovereignty
or the character of God, and he certainly does not insult
God by speaking of him as though he's a hard master who demands
what he will not give, who demands that which he will not supply
us with the ability to perform. Many are attempting to justify
doctrines of their own making. Doctrines that are clearly contrary
to the Scriptures. Take this passage of Scripture,
and they twist it to deny the very message of Holy Scripture.
They take this parable, and they would tell us that God's grace,
after all, can be lost. The salvation, after all, can
be lost, because here's this man to whom talents are given. This man to whom God has given
his grace, and now he takes it away from him. They would tell
us that believers, by the diligent use of that which God puts in
their hands, are now able to improve themselves and make themselves
more holy and more acceptable to God, and gain for themselves
a greater degree of reward and a greater degree of joy in heaven.
So look here, this man, this man did not do what the others
did, and therefore he suffers great loss and great misery.
But in teaching such things, they totally pervert the Scriptures.
I'm emphasizing this point for this reason. If we're going to
deal honestly with the Word of God, and we must deal honestly
with the Word of God, we do not build our doctrine upon parables. We do not build our doctrine
upon obscure passages of Scripture. Doctrine is built upon the plain
statements of Holy Scripture, not upon parables, not upon illustration,
not even upon types, and certainly not upon obscure passages. Let
me illustrate what I'm saying. Any honest man, any honest man,
will build his doctrine not by piecing together phrases or verses
of Scripture, sewing them all together so that it looks like
the Bible says what it does not say. But rather he will build
his doctrine upon thus saith the Lord. The plain, clear, open,
unhidden statements of Holy Scripture. And they're set forth very clearly.
The clear, obvious message of the Bible is this. We won't look
at all the passages, but you know them well. By grace He is
saved through faith, not according to our work, but according to
His mercy He saved us. The Scriptures declare we're
justified not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to His mercy. We're justified not by our works,
but by faith in Jesus Christ. And Christ alone is our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Now wherever
there appears to be a conflict, when you're reading the Bible,
as you read the scriptures, whenever there appears to be, I use the
word appears and underline it, write it out in bold letters,
whenever there appears to be a conflict between the plain
statement of scriptures and the obscure passages or a parable
or a tithe, mark it down. you interpret the scriptures
by the plain statements of scripture. Only dishonest men will ignore
the obvious, plain statements of holy scripture, and interpret
the scriptures by pointing to imaginary proof text found by
diligently searching out the concordance, having to dig deep
to find some hidden meaning in the Hebrew grammar and the Greek
text, and by finding these things out, now we can prove this is
so. That's utter dishonesty. That
is utter dishonesty. If I can't show you, now let
me put it real clearly, you everyone have the Word of God in your
laps. Everyone of you does. You've got the word of God in
your laps, in your language. In your language. It'd do you
no more good for me to preach to you from the Spanish Bible,
or from the Greek Bible, the Greek New Testament, than it
would for me to preach to you from the Spanish. Wouldn't do you one
bit more good. You're not Greeks, you don't
speak Greek. God has given you his word in your language. Now, if I'm faithful to the Word
of God, I can go to the Word of God, which God has given you
in your language, and show you what the Scriptures teach. And
if I can't show it to you right there in English, right there
in black and white, plain as the nose on your face, it's because
I haven't found it in the Word of God. I found it somewhere
else. You understand that? I often say to men, folks ask
me questions about baptism, I often say to them, No one would ever,
ever, ever imagine that baptism would be performed by any means
except in mercy. No one would ever dream of infant
baptism who just read the scriptures and interpreted the Bible in
the light of scriptures alone. Why? Because it's no where in
between. It's not even remotely, faintly,
here and there that baptism might be performed by throwing a little
water in your face. It's not even faintly hinted
at that we might baptize babies who do not believe on Christ.
Why, that nonsense began with pagans who don't know God. And
we have just simply—we haven't, but most of you—just simply incorporated
those things into religious confessions, and their authority for what
they believe is their creed, their confession, their catechism,
their liturgy, or the traditions of being passed on in some other
way. Our only authority is the Word of God. Now, if I can't
show you what we believe, what I believe and preach and teach
to you from the Word of God, don't you believe it? Don't submit
to it, to the law and to the testimony. If they speak not
according to the words and the prophecy of this book, it's because
there is no light in them. Secondly, we are here taught
that the Lord Jesus is the sovereign master of all things. that all
men are his servants, and all things are his possessions. Look
at verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is
as a man traveling into a far country. You see how our Lord
describes himself in his sorrows, his sufferings, his death, that
he must endure as our substitute. It says the man whose long journey
began back in eternity, in covenant grace, And he is continuing it
now, it's just about, it's just about at its climax. He's about
to go down to the grave, but it's a journey that he's determined
to make. And when he goes on this long
journey, he will ascend up into heaven for two thousand years,
and be gone to what seems to be a service to be a long, long
time, and then he'll come again. But he speaks of it with absolute
calmness, because he understood what he was doing. He understood
what was taking place. It was necessary for our redemption,
and for the glory of God, and for his exaltation and glory.
Read on. This man called to himself his
servants. He's one who called his own servants,
the good ones and the bad ones. The ones that were faithful,
and the one that was unfaithful. The ones that were righteous,
and the one that is wicked. He called himself and his own
servants, and delivered unto them his goods." The servants are his, both the
bad and the good. Over in 1 Peter, or 2 Peter chapter
2, the apostle Peter speaks of these false prophets. There were false prophets, also
among the people even as there shall be false teachers among
you who privately shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying
the Lord that bought them." Now the word Lord there is the word
from which we would get our word desperate, not the word that
is commonly used, but the one who has the sovereign right to
dispose of you as he will, because he bought that right. And the
Lord Jesus is that one who has the sovereign right to dispose
of all men as he will, because he bought the right to rule over
all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as the
Father has given him. And so he takes these servants,
both the righteous and the wicked, are his. And the goods are all
his. In other words, all the strength,
all the abilities, all the talents, all the gifts, All the things
that men possess, all the things that men use in this world, both
for the glory of God and in rebellion against God, are his. All of
it. He delivered to them his goods.
And he does this that they may use his goods for his glory,
because the kingdom is his. This kingdom of heaven belongs
to this certain man. who possesses these servants,
servants in his kingdom. And he gives them these goods
with which to serve him and his kingdom. Now thirdly, the parable
teaches us that all men have received certain talents from
the Lord. Certain talents with which to
serve him. Verse 15, into one he gave five talents, to another
two, to another one, to every man according to his several
ability, and straightway took his journey. Now anything given
to us by which we may glorify God is a talent, a talent given
for us to use for Him. We use the word talent when we
talk about Julius singing a talent. We talk about that young fellow
who was over here playing piano a couple of weeks ago, a man
who's gifted in talent. That's not the way the word's used here.
The word talent here simply refers to anything God gives you. Anything. It means that that's
everything. That's everything. To some he
gives more, to some he gives less. He gives men strength,
some more, some less. He gives men health, some more,
some less. He gives men financial wealth,
some more, some less. He gives men power and ability
of mind and knowledge, understanding, some more, some less. He gives
us life and breath and all things to use for Him. I have one wife and one daughter. family given to my hands, a family
given to my care, a family for whom I am responsible, a family
with which God requires that I serve him. That's it. And what he's given
us, Bob, he's just given us on loan. We're going to have to
drop it, sir. We're going to have to drop it,
whatever it is. Now, he's given us these talents.
to be used according to his ability for his glory. Notice the text
here in verse 15. He gave to every man according
to his several ability, not according to the man's ability. It's not
as though somehow the Lord looks at us and sees, now Don's going
to be kind of weak, but Rod, he'll be strong. Don's going
to be faithful, but Mark, he won't be so faithful. So he gives
this man talents according to his ability and this man according
to his ability. No, no, no, no, no. It is his gift that brings
the ability. He bestows the talents according
to his ability with which he would have us to serve him. So
that God Almighty has given me, and gives me in his providence,
everything that I now have, have ever had, or shall have, to use
for him. Everything. Everything. But little is used for him. So fourthly, our Lord shows us
that many who professed to be his servants, terribly abused
his talents. In verse 18, we read about this
fellow who received one talent. He that had received one went
and dug a hole in the ground and hid his Lord's money. This man represents many in the
visible church. who do not use their talents
for evil. They're not adulterers, or fornicators,
or murderers, or riotous folks. They simply hide their talents, stick them in the grave, and use them for nothing. Rather
than using their opportunities for God, rather than using them
to know, worship, serve, and glorify God, and serve His kingdom,
They neglect them. I sometimes hear somebody say,
well, I don't do anybody any harm. That's a compliment to
a rock, not to a man. Man sat here to do somebody good.
We were to serve the good of men, here to serve the glory
of God, not to just do nothing. This man represents anyone who
has a Bible but doesn't read it. has opportunity to hear the
word of God, but chooses not to, who uses his powers and abilities
and talents for everything other than the glory of God. This man had a talent given to
him. But the fact that he had a talent
given to him doesn't mean he knew God, and doesn't He was
known of God. If this man's behavior represents
you, it doesn't matter what talents
you have. Daniel's words to Belshazzar
must be addressed to you as to him. The God in whose hand thy
breath is, and whose are all thy ways, Hast thou not glorified? And if we don't use what God's
put in our hands to use for Him, then every day we rob God. Every
day. Every day. If Judith Estes, working over here
at the bank, were to start taking a little money, just a little
now and then. I need something to eat, go get
something to eat. Well, Bobby needs a little something.
The bank will understand if I go get that. Well, my grandchildren,
you know, they need a little something. The bank will understand
if I go get that. You know, my neighbors sure wouldn't
think I was a good person if I was to buy them a little something.
The bank will understand if I go do that. Not long they wouldn't. Not long they wouldn't. It's
called stealing. Let me tell you something. God
helped you to hear me. Everything God Almighty has put
in your hands and mine. Every opportunity. Every strength. Every possession we've had. We call them possessions. Kind
of like trying to hold on to a cloud. possessions. Mine! Oh, no. They're God's. Put them in your hands and in
my hands. And if we use them for our pleasure, for our saviors,
for our purposes, without regard to His glory and His kingdom
and His honor and His cause, we rob God. We rob just as much
as if it were possible to stick a gun in the face of God Almighty
and steal what's His. It's not an option. God's people
are His servants who gladly yield their lives to Christ to be ruled
by Him for His glory. Fifthly, we are again taught
that every Every man, every woman will one
day meet Christ in judgment. When he comes again, there'll
be a day of reckoning. Look in verse 19, I think it
is. Yeah, verse 19. After a long
time, the Lord of those servants cometh
and reckoneth with them. he reckoned with them on the
grounds of strict righteousness, thorough justice, he reckoned
with them. And one day he will reckon with
us according to righteousness and justice, and it will be demonstrated
clearly whether we are faithful servants who have used by God's
grace what he's put in our hands for his glory, or whether, rather,
we are wicked profitable service. Sixthly, this parable shows us
that in the Day of Judgment, all true believers will receive
the same joyful, abundant reward from their Master. Look at verse
21. His Lord said unto him, Well done. Down in verse 23, His Lord
said unto him, Well done. He said in verse 21, Thou good
and faithful servant. Verse 23, He said, good and faithful
servant. He said, Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I'll
make you Lord over many, make you ruler over many. That's exactly
what he said to the man down in verse 23. He said, Enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord. It's his joy, he bought it. It's
his kingdom, he earned it. And he gives it to you by a matter
of free grace. You're his servant. And he accepts
what you give him because of his own merit. But he accepts
it as though you yourself had served God He accepts faithful
resolution of the heart as though it were itself perfect obedience
through the perfect obedience of Christ our Lord. And then
lastly, our Lord once more shows us that
in the great and terrible day of reckoning, every unprofitable
servant will be cast away and condemned by the Son of God. Verse 26, His Lord answered unto
him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou newest. Some of you sitting here know,
you know every word I preach to you. Every word I declare
to you, son. You know it. You know it. Maybe someday you intend to,
but not now. When you meet God in judgment,
you'll say, you knew. You knew. And you'll say, I knew without
excuse. Verse 28, 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 that He
shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken
away even that which he hath." Obviously, the text means he'll
even lose what he appears to have. And cast you the unprofitable
servant, for unprofitable servants must be cast into outer darkness. There should be weeping. The message of that parable deserves
to be preached better than I can preach it. But the message of
the parable in essence is this. We're stewards of God. Like it
or not, we're his stewards. We're his servants in this world.
And it's our responsibility faithfully to serve him. God give us grace
to do so. In our capacities, where we are,
for the glory of his Son, and the good of his people. Amen. Our Father, bless your word now
to the hearts of these who have heard it, and make us faithful to you. Give us faith to trust the Son
of God, trusting teach us to be faithful. For Christ's sake I pray, Amen. God bless you, you're dismissed.