The Talents, Part 2

Most of you know that for a number of years, I had the wonderful privilege of coaching college baseball and having all kinds of athletes and the opportunity to interact with them for a whole season and even in the off season was a great, great joy and privilege of mine as a baseball coach. And through that time, I had an objective. I wanted to teach them how to be better athletes. that was one, but that wasn't the primary objective. The primary objective was to teach them, of course, about Jesus Christ and help them to understand the truth of the gospel.

And one of the burdens that I had as a coach was to help these students understand that just because they were in a Christian college, it didn't make them Christians. And just because they grew up in a Christian family, that didn't make them Christians. And just because they didn't do certain things that maybe those of the world did, that didn't make them Christians either. For a lot of them would come to a Christian school believing that they were on. their way to heaven, but they were not. And so it was my job as their friend and as their coach to explain to them the truth of eternal life, what it means to have a relationship with the living God.

And so the bulk of my ministry on the college campus centered around that with these young athletes. Well, since I've moved to the church and my ministry now has changed a little bit in terms of the people I address, most of you would not be very good on the baseball field, But a lot of you are great elsewhere. And we praise the Lord for that. And while I'm no longer coaching baseball, I have the opportunity to teach a great group of people week in and week out. And with that comes the importance or the impetus to help people understand the reality of their salvation.

To know for certain that Jesus Christ is their Lord. To know for certain that if they die tonight, they'd go to heaven. That assurance is so crucial to your life. In the parable of the Ten Virgins, in the parable of the talents, speak directly to that issue, that people would not waste opportunity, but realize that Jesus Christ is one day going to return. And when he returns, if they have not given their lives to him, it will be too late. As a pastor, one of the obligations that I have to the Church of Jesus Christ is to make sure that the people in the church, specifically Christ's community church, understand who the Lord is and what the Lord requires of them.

Tonight, as we talk about the parable of the talents, this is the second to the last parable we're going to cover.

Next week, it will be, or the week following will be the parable of the sheep and the goats. And that will conclude our study on the parables. And we've entitled them, the parables, the search light for the soul, as God sheds light on the condition of your soul through the stories that he tells. Let me read to you the parable, and then we'll discuss it.

Verse number 14, Matthew 25, for it is just like a man about to go on a journey who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. And to one he gave five talents to another two and to another one, each according to his own ability. And he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more talents. In the same manner, the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away and dug it.

in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. And the one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents saying, master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master. The one who also had received the two talents, came up and said, master, you entrusted to me two talents.

See, I have gained two more talents. His master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master. And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, master, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered, no seed, and I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what it is yours. But as master answered and said to him, you wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seat.

Then you ought to have put my money in the bank. And on my arrival, I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he does have, shall be taken away and cast out the worthlessly into the outer darkness. In that place, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The parable of the talents.

Let me help you understand the context. Two things specifically you need to see. One is, we need to be watchful. Number two, we need to be working.

In light of the fact that Jesus is going to be returning, we need to be watchful. Second of all, we have the parable of the talents.

It deals with the fact that we need to be to be working. You see, it's important for us to realize that just because we're waiting for Christ to come, we don't just sit around and do nothing. We're watchful. That deals with our attitude. Now we are working. That deals with our action, our activity. That gives us something to do. And the parable of the talents talk to us about our responsibility. And the opportunities that God has given to us and the responsibility to fulfill the obligations he's placed before us.

Now, let's look at the instruction. And I want you to notice four things with me about this parable. The responsibility, the response, the reckoning, and the results. Okay? I'm sorry I didn't finish the last time we were together. First of all, the responsibility.

It says in verse number 14, for it is just like a man. What is just like a man about to go on a journey? Well, the kingdom of heaven. Our responsibility is to preach the gospel so that those who are tears in the church will become weak, right? And the parable can be applied to all those who externally identify themselves with Christ's church. Why? Because Jesus Christ, in the parable, is the one who went away for a long journey. and in so doing he entrusted his possessions, he entrusted those in his church with certain resources.

This is a very important parable. And you'll see this as it unfolds. Because you see those in the church who are true believers understand that what they have is to be used for the glory of God. Those who are the false believers don't get that. And they don't do anything with what God's given to them. They sit dormant in the church. But the believer, he does something, as the text says, immediately after the master leaves. He goes to work. And God has gifted everyone in the world. And so what do we do with what God has given to us?

That's very important for us to grasp. You see, the issue here is not what you have. The issue here is what you do with the opportunities you have to exercise the gifts or talents that God, God has given to you. And this man, and this is the response, point number two, says that verse 16, immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and gained five more talents.

In the same manner, the one who had to receive the two talents gained two more. So the guy with the two talents was just like the guy at the five. Immediately they did something. Why? Because they loved their master. That's why. They loved their master. And they wanted to honor their master. Isn't not true that the immediate response of someone who truly has a relationship with the living God responds because of the privilege he has to serve his God? You will note that the guy has one talent, he dug into the earth and hid his master's money.

He hid it in the earth. Now, this is important because Jesus wasn't saying that those who are entrusted with little things will be unfaithful. He's saying that even if you only have a little entrusted to you, you are responsible to be faithful. And this guy was not. And so there came a reckoning. That's point number three.

The master would return. There's going to be a day of reckoning for every man. And God's going to want to know what you did with what he gave you, how you responded to the opportunities he placed before you. And I want you to notice three things about how the Lord responds to this man with the five talents and this man with the two talents.

and how they were faithful in doing what God had asked them to do. There was, number one, a commendation.

Number two, there was a promotion. And number three, there was an invitation. First of all, there was a commendation.

What's the Lord say? What's the master say? Oh, well done. Think about that. One day, God's going to look at you as a believer and say, good job, great job.

Oh, what an excellent job you did. My good and faithful servant. Can you imagine that? God commending us, but to the believer, that's the response he gets. That's the response. It's no wonder we're excited. It's no wonder that Paul said, you know, I've run the race, I have fought the fight, and now there's a crown of righteousness laid up for me in heaven, and it's not only for me, but for all those who love is appearing. Man, we can't wait until Jesus returns, because there's the crown of righteousness that's going to be ours, and we're going to see him face to face.

There's a sense of excitement about that. That's the only the believer is. And so this man returns from a journey. This master comes back and says, look, sir, this is what I've done. This is what's taken place. Oh, great job, man. Well done. You were fantastic. You were unbelievable. I'm all for you, man. Well done. Good and faithful servant. And then he says, in verse number 21, these words, I will put you in charge of many things. Why? Because you are faithful in a few things. The guy gets a promotion.

He gets a promotion. God elevates him. God gives him more responsibility. You are so faithful in little things. Now I'm going to give you more things. That's the way it's going to be in glory. God is generous. And when he returns, he will bestow wonderful privileges upon those who have been faithful to what he's called him to do. You know, it is it not true that when the kingdom of heaven arise upon earth and we serve with the Lord that we are actually going to serve with Him. The Bible speaks about it in Revelation 22, 3, Revelation 715.

It speaks of how we're going to serve the Lord. Throughout all eternity, we're going to serve the Lord. We're going to serve him on earth during the millennial reign of Christ. We're going to serve him throughout all eternity in the city of the New Jerusalem. It's going to be a great opportunity. And those of us who have been faithful, God says, you've been faithful in little things.

Guess what? I'm going to give you and put you in charge of more thing, give you more opportunities to serve me through that all eternity, because you were faithful over a little thing. And then he says what? Enter, enter into the joy of the Lord. That's the invitation. Isn't that good? Come on in. Enter into the joy of the Lord. Isn't not true that the Bible says at their right hand are pleasures forevermore?

See, the joy of the Lord is the presence of God. Enter into my presence. enter into the great communion with me. Imagine the satisfaction and joy that we will know when our redemption is finally accomplished, when Satan is defeated and sin is abolished and the kingdom is established, and Christ will forever be glorified.

And God will say to us, well done. But note, verse number 24. And the one who also had received the one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid. and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours. This guy is representative of the one in the kingdom who is not a true believer. Just like there were five foolish virgins, just like there were tears in the kingdom of heaven, just like there were bad fish in the dragnet which represents the kingdom of heaven.

So there will be servants who do not know the Lord, and they're going to come face to face with him on the day of reckoning. And notice what this man says.

Because there are two things that betray, this kind of individual. One is he attacked the character of his master. The second is that he proved he didn't love nor respect his master because he made no use of the privileges given to him.

None whatsoever. He says, I knew you to be a hard, hard man. Now think about that. Our Lord's not a hard man. Not at all. But this was his perception. You see, this is really sad because this man lived in the environment of redemption. He lived in the realm of the church. He lived in the realm of the kingdom of heaven. He heard about the Lord. He heard about the good news of Jesus Christ, our Lord. He knew about it was the goodness of God that led man to repentance. He lived within that realm, within that sphere of the church.

He identified himself with Christians. He identified himself with church kind of people. And yet he had a misperception of God, his character. He says, you know, you were a hard man. You were unmelenting. You were unmerciful. You're uncommon. You lack compassion. You lack sensitivity. Why did he say that? Because he was full of fear. Full of fear. There's going to be many people on the day of judgment who are going to say, you know, Lord, it just wasn't fair. It wasn't right. You weren't kind to me.

You didn't give me a chance. You should have given me one more chance. If you just give me one more chance, I'd have give my life to you. It's unfair that you didn't do that. You are an unfair man. You are an unkind man. You are a hard God. And many people will stand before the throne of grace, and that's what they will say. They will try to proclaim their innocence. They will give every excuse that they can as to why they didn't do what they should have done with what God gave them. God gazed in the resources.

And yet they will stand before the throne of grace, and they will blame God because they missed the opportunity. They will blame God because they didn't give their life to him. They won't blame God because they think it's his fault. But it's not. They didn't know the character of God at all. They might stand and say, you know, your standards were too hard for me. They were too much for me. I couldn't do what you asked me to do. But it's not going to hold water. You see, the text says that the man was afraid.

It wasn't that he feared God. Because, you see, to fear God is salvation. To have a healthy fear of God is more than just a reverence for God. It truly is fear of God. So much so that I will do what he said. And I would do what he says because I love him so much. You can read about it in Psalm 2, verse number 11, where it says, serve him with fear and trembling. Or Do you know what I'm 6, verse number 13. You shall fear only the Lord, your God, and you shall serve him only. Or Joshua 24, verse number 14, now fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in truth.

You see, those who fear the Lord will serve the Lord. Lord. Those who don't fear the Lord won't serve him. They won't. They won't do what he says. Because they had no respect for him. This man pretends to be something he is not. His perspective was that no matter what he did with a talent, he would lose out. He didn't know what to do, so I just went and hit it. I figured that if I went and I lost money on my investment, that you'd be upset with me because I lost your money. And then I thought, well, if I made an investment, you would just take what was yours anyway.

And it exposes the selfishness. his pride, his arrogance, him wanting to get the glory. See, there are people in the church today that don't serve the Lord. It just baffles me how somebody can be in the church and not serve in the church. I don't understand that. You can't read about it in the New Testament, but our churches today are filled with people who come to church but never serve in the church. How can that be? You see, you know, the parable is about serving God. See, true believers serve God.

They serve them with a passion. They share their faith. They worship their God. They meet the needs of the brethren. They realize how God's get to them and they reach out and touch other people and they see God multiply that ministry. And so that when they're standing before God, they can say, yes, God, see what you did. There is no commendation on their part because they deserve no credit. They give all the credit to God for what God did. And God is honored. And God is glorified. You see, this guy didn't serve his master because he knew that if he did, his master would receive the glory and he wanted the glory.

See, when you serve the church, church you've got to serve because you want to give God glory you're going to set aside your your own aspirations your own desires the real reason the servant didn't do anything with his talent is because if the truth be known he didn't really want to bother with it and there's a lot of people in the church today like that they just don't want to be bothered with serving God it cramps her style it requires too much time and God says let me tell you about the kingdom of heaven let me tell you what's like Let me tell you about those people who identify themselves with Christianity, but I have no care in the world about me.

They don't love me. They don't want to serve me. They don't want to use what I've given to them to honor me. They just want to attach themselves to Christianity. So what are the results? The last point. Versus 28 to 30. The master says, these words, take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have abundance, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away and cast out the worthless slave into the outer darkness.

In the place, in that place, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, you see, you read this parable, and a lot of commentators apply it to people in the church, how they use their gifts and some do, some don't. But they always have a problem with the end of the parable. Because, you see, God's not going to take the true believer and put out of darkness in a place that we've been in gnash of teeth. And you have to understand the context of the parables. All the whole context of the parables emphasize the return of Christ, what's going to happen when he returns.

And we know what happens with the five foolish virgins. They can't get into the celebration. We know what happened with the sheep and the goats. They're separated. The goats on the left, the sheep on the right, some go into heaven. Others don't. So with the parable of talents, There's one guy who doesn't experience the joy of the Lord. There's one guy who doesn't get the promotion. There's one guy that doesn't get the commendation. He gets the condemnation. Oh, you wicked and lazy slave. You slothful individual.

You didn't do anything for me. Nothing. Instead, you provide excuses. He says, this one. This one will be placed in an environment of outer darkness. Outer darkness. In first time, I won five, it says that God is light, And in him is no darkness at all.

So the absence of God is utter darkness. And this man is in a place where God will never abide, the place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. He gets no promotion, he gets no invitation, he gets no commendation. All he receives is condemnation. Because the opportunities that came in his way, he wasted. He wasted. Similar to the man in Matthew 22, verse number 13, without the wedding garment, says the king told a service to bind him hand and foot him away and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

That's how Matthew's gospel describes hell over and over again, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, a place of utter darkness. So what are the implications? Three things. Number one, God's sovereignty.

God's sovereignty. Some of us have more talents than gifts than others do. That really is irrelevant. What's relevant is what you do with what God is given to you. Whether you're Christian or an unchristian, everything you have, you have from God. God gave it to you. Now, what is it you're going to do with what God gave to you? Because everything you you have, he gave to you, therefore you will one day be held accountable. There will be a day of reckoning when he says, what did you do with what I gave you?

Say, did you get that to me? I never knew you gave that to me. I didn't know that's what you wanted me to do with it. Let me tell you something.

The Bible says, everything you have is the Lord's. So therefore, everything you do should glorify the Lord through the things that you have. And if you're not into doing that, you're like the slave with the one talent. Who goes out and puts it in the hole, puts it there, digs it. covers it, and then when the master returns, he says, well, there it is, it's all I got. I didn't do anything with what you gave. Or, like the man at the five talents or the two talents, the Lord leaves. What do you do? Immediately you go to work.

That's why when you get someone saved, you got to get him to work, man. So he understands how God's going to use him to, to multiply that ministry, to bring back an investment on what God has given to him. So when he stands before God, he will hear, yes, well done, well done, you good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things that you more things, enter into the joy of the Lord. That's important. And God is sovereign. The Bible says, having in gifts differing according to the grace of God that is given to us.

None of them have been complained about what they received. You see what God gives you, he gives you. It's important whether not you teach a class with two people in it or you're preaching a church with 2,000 people in it. That's irrelevant. What do you do with the opportunities that God places your way? Because in his sovereignty, he's gifted you, he's allowed you to be where you are, to do what you do, and therefore you need to give him the glory. That's point number two, man's opportunity.

God's sovereignty, man's opportunity and a responsibility. What do you do with what God has done in your life? You know, if you're here tonight and you're not a believer, guess what? God brought you tonight. God brought you here because he wanted you to hear this. He wants you to turn to him and follow him and honor him with all that you have. That's what he wants you to do. If you're a believer this evening, are you serving the Lord with all that you have? Are you committed to the people of God?

You need to be. You need to be. Because C is the final reality. There is a day of reckoning. So put it under the man wants to die after that, what? The judgment. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone will see that which is done in his body, whether it be good or whether it be evil. That's second Cicth, 9 and 10.

Everybody stands before God. That one day these bodies that are corrupting are going to become incorruptible, right? That which is mortal is going to take on immortality. and great things are going to take place at the resurrection of our bodies. And Paul concludes that great chapter in 1st Corinthians 15 by saying, be he steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. Always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord. But I want to hear those words, well done, well done, now good and faithful servant.

Don't you want to hear those words? Sure you do. If you don't hear those, you're going to hear depart from me. I never knew you. That is the ultimate of all tragedy. Let's pray.