Would you turn with me to the
25th chapter of the book of Matthew? While you're turning there, after
the services, if some men could put up eight tables we're going
to have for the lunch tomorrow, and put up chairs, that would
be helpful. If you want to know how it's
supposed to be done, ask Elaine. I think she said she wanted it in a U-shape
or something like that. Matthew chapter 25, beginning
in verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is
as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants
and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents,
to another two, and to another one, 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, also he that 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 reckoneth
with them. And so he that had received five
talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou
deliverest unto me five talents. Behold, I've gained beside them
five talents more. His Lord said unto him, well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou has 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've gained two other talents beside them. His Lord
said unto him, well done, good and faithful servant. Thou has
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 an
hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering
where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid, and I went
and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, here 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 which that hath not, 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. The parable of the 10 virgins
and the parable of the talents that I just read, are given to
show us the difference between sheep and goats, between the
saved and the lost, between those who believe and those who do
not. Now, this is a description of
people who are a part of the visible church. These are people
who hear the same message. the same gospel. These are not
people who are part of a false religious assembly where salvation
by works are preached. These are people who sit and
hear the truth, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in verse 14 of our text,
the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country
who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. Now that Lord, the Lord is the
man traveling into the far country. He's ascended back to heaven
and he'll one day return. And every man is his servant. And whatever we have, whatever
goods we possess, he gave them to us. Whatever you have, whatever
I have, physically, mentally, materially, spiritually, whatever
we have, He gave us. And Luke's account says, occupy
till I come. Busy yourself till I come. So whatever you have, this is
talking to everybody in this room. What about the people outside
of this room? We don't need to worry about
them right now, do we? We're just talking about the people
here tonight. Everyone here, beginning here, has been given
goods and said by the master, occupy till I come. Verse 15.
And to one, he gave five talents, to another two, and to another
one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway
he took his journey." Now, what are these talents? We generally
think of talents like musical ability, or artistic ability,
or athletic ability, and those things are included, but it means
much more than that. If you had the strength to walk
in here tonight, you have a talent that God has given you. You have
a brain to think with and reason with. You have a talent that
God has given you. You have ears to hear. You have
eyes to see. You have a talent that the Lord
has given you. You have a job. That's a talent. You have time. That's a talent. You have money. That's a talent. Now, The fact that we're here
tonight says we have talents to be used for the glory of God. Everybody in here has talents.
Now, all men are created equal, I realize that, but there's a
sense in which that's true and there's a sense in which that's
not true. You know that as well as I do. There are some men who
have more talents, more ability, more intelligence, the way they're
born. No, not all men are, all men are created equal in a very
real sense. All have certain, quote, unalienable rights. I
realize that, but all men are not created equal. Some have
five talents, some have two talents, and some have one talent. But
however many or few we have, it's what he gave. Not earned,
but given. And remember, to whom much is
given, of him shall much be required. Five talents, two talents, and
one talent verse 16. Now he that had received the
five talents went and traded with the same and made them other
five talents. Now this man that was given five
talents, you know what he was? He was a sinner saved by grace. And I want to take the time to
say what that means. He was a sinner. Sinner is the one who commits
the sin. He was a sinner. A sinner, according to the scriptures,
is somebody who in and of themselves, that's all they are, is sin.
This man realized that. He believed that. But he was
a sinner saved by the grace of God. God did the saving. He was saved from his sins. Thou
shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. Saved from the penalty of sin, no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus. Saved from the power of sin,
there was a time when he couldn't believe. He does now. There was
a time when he had no love for God, but he does now because
he's been saved from the power of sin. And one of these days,
he's going to be saved from the very presence of sin. This man
was a sinner saved by the grace of God, and he'd been given five
talents. He had a good job. He sought
to be a witness of the Lord Jesus Christ by example and by word.
He had a good income and he was generous with that income. He
had a disposition to be an encouragement, and he was an encouragement. He sought to be faithful in every
area. Didn't the Lord say, well done,
thou good and faithful servant? He desired to grow in grace and
the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, and he
did grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. He was given five talents, and
he traded and made five others so that he had 10 talents. Verse
17, and likewise, he that had received two, he also gained
other two. The same story with the man who
was given two talents. He didn't have as many talents
as the fellow who had five. He worked, he traded, he occupied
with his two talents, and he gained two more. Now understand
this, anything done with our talents for the glory of God
is always a gain. You can't lose in this. It is always a gain in the service
of our master. Verse 18, here we read of the
man who had received only one talent, but he that had received
one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. Now picture this in your mind.
He receives this talent and he goes and he digs a hole in the
earth. And he wraps that talent up in a napkin, according to
Luke's account, and he places it in the hole for safety so
it wouldn't be lost. And he went about his life without
using that talent in the servant of Christ. Hey, he had it secure.
It was in a hole. Nobody's going to find it. Reminds
me of somebody whose assurance comes from some profession they
made in the past, some religious experience they had in the past.
And they're going to hold on to that and keep it safe to give
them assurance, although it's not going to have any effect
on their life today. This man took this talent. He
dug him a hole. He put it in the hole. He hid
it safe and sound. Verse 19. After a long time,
The Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. Now be sure of this. There will be a day of reckoning. There will be a day of reckoning. This is really referring to when
our Lord returns. His second coming. Verse 20. And so he that had received five
talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, you
can almost hear the excitement in his voice. He's not bragging.
He's thankful for the grace that was given him so that this could
take place. Lord, thou deliverest unto me
five talents. Behold, I've gained beside them
five talents more. Oh, he's so happy. You see, love
loves to please. If you love somebody, you love
that person to be pleased with you, don't you? Love loves to
please. And this man was so excited at
having gained these five other talents. Now look what his master
says to him, verse 21. His Lord said unto him, well
done thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over
a few things, I'll make thee ruler over many things. Enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord. Well done, thou good and faithful
servant." Now, every believer, this is a hard thing to get hold
of, but it's so. Every believer is going to hear
the Lord say to them on judgment day, well done, thou good and
faithful servant. enter thou in to the joy of thy
Lord." Every believer is going to hear that. I'm going to hear
that. He's going to look at me, Todd Norbert, and he's going
to say, well done thou good and faithful servant. Now I know
that probably every one of us are thinking, how can that be?
How could he look at me, knowing what I am, knowing how I am,
knowing that I've not been a very good servant? I mean, there's
never been a greater master or worse servant than me. How is
it that I'm going to hear him say to me, well done, thou good
and faithful servant? Well, here's first reason, because
of union with the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, he did well. He did all things well. And all of his people were in
him when he did all things well. So whatever he did, they did. I really did do all things well. Because I'm in him, united to
him, one with him. Whatever he does, I do. Well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Now another reason every
believer will hear that is we're going to find that the Lord Jesus
Christ had a much higher opinion of what we've done than we do. You go on reading in Matthew
chapter 25, and the Lord says to that crowd, I was hungry. You gave me something
to eat. I was thirsty. You gave me to
drink. I was sick and in prison, and you came and visited me.
We're not aware of it. When did we do that? We're utterly
unaware of doing anything. He said, inasmuch as you've done
it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. And that other crowd, he said,
I'm sick and you didn't come to see me. I was in prison. You
didn't visit me. I was hungry. You didn't feed
me. We thought we did. They didn't. You see, the Lord
sees things as they really are. And the Lord has a much higher
opinion of what's done for his glory than we do. He really does. He commends his servants for
these things. Now, what is it that he commended
this man for? Well done thou good and talented
servant. Did he commend him for his talents? Boy, he's got all kinds of talents.
He was a good preacher. He was a fluent speaker. He was
an effective witness. He had all kinds of talents.
No. It kills me the way religious
people think, well, the Lord wouldn't really use my talents.
Your talents are, I'm glad for whatever talents you have, but
the Lord doesn't need them. Understand that. Boy, he could
be a really, no, no, quit thinking that way. He commended this man
for his faithfulness. Faithfulness. What is faithfulness?
It means you believe and you can be believed. It means you
rely and you can be relied on. Faithful. What is it that you
most want out of me as your pastor? Now, what is it? I know what
I want in a man. Faithfulness to the Lord. Faithfulness
to his word. Faithfulness to say what he said.
Faithfulness. Oh, that's what I want in a man
when I hear it. I want somebody that's faithful
to the Lord. What do I want out of you? Faithfulness. Faithfulness. There isn't anything
more encouraging to me then faithfulness, dependability, reliability. You believe, you can be believed. You can be counted on. Faithfulness. Well done thou good and faithful
servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. Verse 22. He also that had received
two talents, came and said, Lord, thou deliver son to me two towns.
Behold, I've gained two other towns beside them. Now he didn't
have five towns. He only had two, but the Lord
says the same thing to him. You see, it doesn't make any
difference whether you have five, two or one doesn't make any difference
whether you have a hundred or 0.1. That's not the point. He, was received the same thing. His Lord said unto him, verse
23, well done, good and faithful servant, same thing. Thou has
been faithful over a few things. I'll make thee ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Now, these were
men who were saved by the grace of God. They were given their
talents according to their ability and they went, they traded, They
sought the glory and honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. That doesn't
mean they were perfect. They knew they were sinners saved
by grace. They always were aware of that. They never got past
that, sinners saved by the grace of God. But they loved the Lord
Jesus Christ. They wanted to please Him. And
I can just almost feel the delight in their voice. Lord, thy two
talents have gained two more. Thy five have gained five. And
how the Lord replied to them. Now, verse 24. Then he which had received the
one talent, remember this is the fellow that hit his talent
in the dirt, dug a hole. Then he that had received the
one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee, that thou art an
hard man. That same word is translated
in other places, austere. harsh, inhumane, uncaring. These are the words, this is
the word that the crowd who didn't like the Lord's sermon in John
chapter six described him. These are hard sayings. These
are harsh, unloving, austere sayings. I knew thee that thou
art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering
where thou hast not strawed. Now, this man exposes the state of
his heart. He projected something on his
master that was not true. What he thought he knew. I knew
you, that you're a hard man. That you reap where you didn't
sow and where you gather where you didn't straw. He's accusing
his master of being unjust. I know you're sovereign. I know
you can do whatever you want to. You arbitrarily decide to
do this, you're going to do it. Nothing I can do about it. You're
absolutely sovereign. I bow before your sovereignty.
I know you. You're a hard man. You're an
austere man. He projected something on his
Lord that was not so. Just like that fella we read
about in Psalm 50, that's what I thought about, where the Lord
says to that fella, you thought I was altogether such a one as
yourself. This is what this fella was like.
And that's the way he sees his Lord. You're a hard man. hard man, an unjust man. You're
sovereign. You do whatever you want. You
reap where you didn't sow. You gather where you've not strolled.
You're sovereign. You can do that. Well, this is
a harsh judgment against him, isn't it? I mean, the way this
man is, is treating his master. How harsh. And look what he says
next in verse 26 or verse 25. He said, and I was afraid. and went and hid thy talent in
the earth, and, lo, there thou hast that is thine. I was afraid of you." Now, there's
a good kind of fear, isn't there? A good kind of fear of the Lord.
The fear of the Lord that's the beginning of wisdom. That's the
fear of reverence, the fear of awe at the greatness of His person,
the fear of worship. You see His glory, His greatness.
You see your own smallness. You bow before Him. You see His
holiness, your sinfulness. You bow before Him. You're afraid
to look anywhere but Christ only. You know enough about yourself
that you only want to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You
don't want to be seen any other way. You're afraid to be seen
any other way. That's good. That's the beginning
of wisdom. The fear of the Lord, that's
the beginning of wisdom. That's a good fear. But this
is the fear of mistrust. You can't be trusted. You can't
be counted on. You can't be relied upon. This is born of a wrong view
of God. Because of my fear of you and
your sovereignty, I did nothing. I hid your talent in the earth.
I understand that salvation is by sovereign grace. So I made
no attempt at using my talent for your glory. That would be
works. Here's the talent you gave me
unused. I wouldn't dare try to trade.
That would be works. I would be trying to take something
to myself. I wouldn't do that here. You've
got what you gave me. Exactly. Verse 26. His Lord answered and said unto
him, now understand this, the Lord is going to meet us on the
ground we come. If we come on that ground, he'll
meet us on that ground. If we come needing mercy, he'll
meet us on that ground. The Lord is going to meet me
and you on the ground we come to him. Now this man comes to
him. with these awful, really, accusations
against him. And the Lord says, okay, I'll
deal with you that way. He 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. Ye oughtest
therefore to put my money to the exchangers, and then at my
coming I would have received my own with usury. Two things
behind this man's sentiment that the Lord gives. One is wickedness. Wickedness. This was a wicked
man. This was an evil man. We see
that by his thoughts of the Lord. He thought of his master as an
austere, harsh, cruel man, unsympathetic toward humanity. He thought,
hey, he's sovereign, he can reap where he didn't sow if he wants.
He can gather where he didn't straw if he wants. He's sovereign,
what am I gonna say about that? What he demonstrated by that
is the low view that he had of the Lord God. He had no love
for his person. He knew nothing of tasting of
his grace. He knew nothing of loving him
for who he is. He looked at him as a hard and
a harsh and an austere man. And the Lord called him, thou
wicked servant. Wicked. That's all it can be
called. You know, wrong thoughts of God are the beginning of wickedness. Wrong thoughts. He said, I knew
what you're like. What you knew was wrong. Wrong
thoughts of the living God. And the next thing he calls this
man is what? Slothful. Lazy. You're using my sovereignty and
my character as an excuse for indifference and lack of doing
anything. You say, well, I hid this, you
know, lowly. No, what you are, you're lazy. You're spiritually lazy. It's
not important to you to seek me. You're like Esau, who for
a mess of meat, sold his birthright. It wasn't important to him. It
just was not important to him. And the master calls him a wicked
and a slothful, lazy servant, using the glorious truth of God's
sovereign grace as an excuse for wickedness and sloth. That
scares me. I know that I can do that. I
know you can do that. And I pray that the Lord will
deliver us from being like this man. Now let's go on reading.
Verse 26. 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
therefore, oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers,
and then at my coming I should have received my own with usury.
Now take therefore the talent from him, and give it to him
which hath ten talents. For unto everyone 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." Now, there are two
kinds of people in this world, the haves and the have-nots.
Isn't that so? The haves and the have-nots. Believers have. He that hath the Son hath life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. If I'm a believer, oh, what I
have. Be content with such things as
you have. What do you have? I've got the
grace of God. I've got justification before
the law of God. I'm not guilty. I have the complete
forgiveness of my sins. I have the spirit of God within
me. I have the promise that all things work together for good
for me. for His glory. I have that promise,
the promise of His good providence. I have the love of God. I have
God loving me. I have the Lord Jesus Christ. I am my beloved's and He is mine. The haves. He that hath the Son
hath life, he that hath not the Son hath not life. And that one who has not, you
take away what he seems to have and you give it to the one who
has. You see, if we have his grace, we have abundance, don't
we? Ephesians 1.3 says, Blessed be
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed
us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus. And that's what you have. All
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Oh, what a glorious thing to
have. Having brings with it more abundance.
They have not, they had no oil in his lamp, no grace, take away
what he even seemed to have. And look at the fearful end of
this man, verse 30. And cast ye the unprofitable,
the worthless servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping. and gnashing of teeth. That isn't the lowest rung in
heaven. There isn't any such thing. That's
hell. This man did not believe the
gospel. And it was evident by his life
that he did not believe the gospel. And the Lord said, you take him
and you cast him into outer darkness where there'll be weeping. Oh,
can you imagine the weeping of hell and the gnashing of teeth? And the first two men, Christ
was their life. And it was evident. This last
man, Christ was not his life. What he thought he knew was wrong,
wasn't it? What he projected on his master
was wrong. And it was evident that Jesus
Christ was not all to him. And he was depending on some
kind of old experience that he had tucked away and he found
out that it was no good. Now, what I thought of when thinking
about what is being taught here, I thought of the word of the
words of John Newton. He said, Lord. Thou who art thy
people's son. Shine upon this work of grace. If indeed it has begun. Let me
love you more and more. If I love it all, I pray. And
if I have not loved before, help me to begin today. Let's pray.