The Gospel of Matthew in the 25th chapter this morning. Sometimes when you worship, worship is visible. Worship is vocal. Worship can be loud. Worship can be quiet. And sometimes when you worship the Lord, it exhibits itself or it demonstrates itself in, well, a shout or a hallelujah or the lifting of a hand or tears running down your face. A lot of ways that it touches the emotions. And I love that. but only if it begins in the heart. That's where it starts right there. I've seen a lot of emotions that was just flesh, but when the Lord touches your heart, and the thing about worship is you don't have to have strobe lights and dark auditoriums and guy raiding girls on the platform and dance and rock bands and all of that. Not trying to stir anything up, just trying to worship Him. You don't have to have a lot of props. You don't have to have a lot of things like that. Just thinking about how good he is. That's pretty much all you need right there for your heart to worship him. Well, Matthew 25 and verse number 14, if you would. Matthew 25 and verse number 13, verse 14, I'm sorry. I'm one day gonna break down and get glasses. But right now I'm too vain to do it, but one day. 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. 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 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 have gained besides them five talents more. And 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, 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. And he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, gathering where thou hast not straw. And I was afraid and went 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, and gather where I am not straw. Thou modest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers. And then at my coming I should have received my own with usury. The word usury means interest. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. From 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. The Lord Jesus tells two parables in this story. Both of them have as the theme of watchfulness. The parable in the first 13 verses we looked at last week is called the parable of the 10 virgins. Ten virgins are waiting for the bridegroom to come, and five have brought oil for their lamps, five have not, and in time find themselves unprepared for the coming of the bridegroom. In the second parable, the man has prepared to take a long journey. He leaves his possessions in the hands of certain servants. These servants are expected to invest or to work that money that he has entrusted with them. And so there is an expectation, an unwritten expectation that there is to be a return or a profit when he comes back. The first two servants put the money to work and they do earn interest. The third servant, he simply buries the money. And the story ends with the master coming back and he rewards the faithful servants and he punishes the unfaithful servants. If the story sounds familiar, it's because it's actually the second time that the Lord has told a very similar story like this. In Luke chapter 19, there's a very similar story. There's a lot of similarities for us to make us to believe the Lord is using the same illustration, but he does change some of the details. The one in Luke is told outside of Jerusalem before the triumphal entry. The one in Matthew is told after the triumphal entry. In the one in Luke, there are 10 servants. In this story, there are three servants. In the gospel of Luke, each servant gets an equal amount of talents, or in that case, it's pounds. In this account, they are given different accounts according to their ability. And so we wanna be careful not to confuse the details and deal only with the details of this account. And as we approach this parable, just like with last week, there are doctrinal interpretations that really is the most challenging part of these parables. Parables are not meant primarily to teach doctrine, but they certainly do illustrate doctrine. They have doctrinal aspects. And the doctrinal part of this parable is that it teaches us something about the kingdom of heaven. You find that in verse number 14, the kingdom of heaven is likened to a man. So it's a mistake to automatically force everything in this story to fit into our current church doctrine. That is a mistake. I believe that the doctrinal application is how the Lord Jesus will determine how Jewish saints will reign with Him during the millennium. The kingdom of heaven is a physical kingdom that Christ will establish when he descends back from heaven. The man who travels into a far country is the Lord Jesus, who has gone back to heaven during this time. He is away for a long time. You find that in verse number 19. After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh. He's been away for over 2,000 years since he spoke this parable. And when he returns, he rewards the faithful servants, and he punishes the unfaithful servant. And that is the gist of what is happening here. And just like in the parable of the ten virgins, there's a lot of questions that are very hard to answer, and we would have to take some time to go into that. But we've spent seven or eight weeks already in Matthew 24 and 25, and every week we've talked about the second coming or some aspect of the second coming. Next week we'll finish chapter 25 and we'll look at the judgment of the nations. That is a very, very prophetical passage. But there's a devotional application that can be made out of this story. And so this morning, I want to set aside as much of the prophecy as I can, and I want to be as more practical than I am prophetical this morning. And I want to try to bring this into our situation and see if I can pull some principles out of it that are eternal principles. It doesn't matter what dispensation you're in, principles that apply to your situation. I believe that verse number 13 is really the hinge of the entire chapter. Look at verse 13. Watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. Now in some of your Bibles you may notice in verse number 14 there was a little squiggly mark right before the text. That's a paragraph marking. And as somebody who's decided or suggesting that this is the beginning of a new paragraph, those are very helpful. They're not necessarily inspired like the text, but they help us in breaking down the chapter. But the more that I look at it, I really believe that verse 13 belongs to the story in front of it. And I really believe that it belongs to the story after it. I believe that it is the hint. I'm teaching hermeneutics on Thursday night in our Bible Institute, and here in the next week or two, I'm gonna talk about certain words, connecting words that you look at. And when you look at verse number 13, watch therefore, therefore. When you see a therefore in the Bible, you ask, what is it therefore? It's pointing to something that's already been said. So because of the parable of the 10 virgins, that story that we looked at last week, then the moral of that is to watch, watch, because you don't know the day or the hour that the Son of Man comes. But then it says, watch therefore for, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh for the kingdom of heaven. And that points to the story after it. Watch therefore because one, the story in front of it talks about watchfulness. The story after it, it talks about watchfulness. You don't know when the master is coming back. And so verse 13, really I believe can belong to either story. To me, it's the hinge that connects the two stories. It has been a constant theme for two chapters that no one knows when the Lord is coming back, and so be watchful, be ready, and that message comes to us in these two parables. It's interesting to me that in these two parables that there are two different emphases. On the parable of the 10 virgins, there is an emphasis on waiting. The 10 virgins are simply waiting for the bridegroom to come. They're not doing anything. They're not working. They're not busy. In fact, when he comes, they're sleeping. and they're not rebuked for that, it's just in the normal course of life, they're sleeping, but the emphasis is on them waiting. But the parable of the talents, the emphasis is on working. The servants are not just to sit by idly by, they are to be busy, get to work, get what I've given you, and put it to work, and so that I can have a return, a profit when I get back. And by the way, that strikes the balance of what our life should consist of, waiting and working. We don't sit around doing nothing. We don't use waiting as an excuse for laziness or for idleness, nor do we get so involved in this world that we don't ever look up hoping that the day is the day that the Lord comes back. We are waiting and we are watching and we are working. There are some people who are simply waiting and they're not doing anything. There are some people that go out every day and they're building their own empire and they're not watching, they're not waiting. I think the church at Thessalonica had some saints that were in that first category. They were so spiritual that they were looking for the second coming, but they weren't doing anything else. So they've neglected their families, they've quit their jobs, they're not working, and Paul has to rebuke them and say, hey, you need to get to work. And if you don't provide for your family, you're worse than an infidel. Your busy bodies is what you are. It seems like that Peter knew some folks in 2 Peter, I think chapter three, that were in that second category because they've given up looking and they've said, where is the coming of the Lord? We're just gonna get busy with life. We're just gonna build our empire. And we don't believe that it's coming. Hey, listen, it's not all waiting and no working. It's not all working and no waiting. It is waiting and working. And that's the emphasis of these two passages. There was a great preacher of days gone by. His name was Donald Gray Barnhouse. Got a lot of his commentaries in my library. Donald Barnhouse would often walk up to a Christian and he would ask that person, if you knew that this were the last day before Jesus returned, what would you do different today? And he'd get a multitude of answers. And somebody said, oh, if I knew that today was the day that he's coming back, boy, I'd start passing out, boy, I'd start witnessing. And somebody else would say, boy, if I knew that today was the day I'd spend all day praying. I'd confess my sins or I, just all kinds of answers. And every answer Donald Barnhouse would say, well, that's the wrong answer. Because today might be the day. Really, really, the answer is, is that if I knew that today was the day that Jesus was coming back, I wouldn't do anything different than I was going to do anyway, because I live every day, every day, with the expectation that this could be the day. I want to tell you, if we could ever get that in our heart, it would absolutely revolutionize our heart. We got up every day, every day, and said, Lord, I'm going to work, but if you ought to interrupt it today and come on back, that'll be fine with me. Well, look at the story. Let me break it down in two or three parts here. First of all, I want you to notice the responsibility of the service. Look at verse 14. Well, the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country. He 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, key phrase, according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey. So the kingdom of heaven is like a man that goes into a far country, and he leaves his goods in the hands of his servants. These servants are capable men. These men are trustworthy men. There's an unwritten expectation that they are to invest that money somehow, somehow to get a return on the money. They knew that he's coming back. He's going to expect a stewardship. So they know what no one is expected of them in his absence. Now, obviously, a key feature of this is that the servants are not given the same amount of talents. They are distributed, the Bible says, to every man according to his several abilities. Hey, can I tell you that not everybody has the same intellect? Even in disputing. Not everybody has the same ability. Not everybody has the same capability. The master knew his servants. He knew that one was more savvy than the other. He knew that one was more organized, had more initiative, and so he gives them according to their ability. Now, in the passage, a talent is a piece of money, all right? And it's a piece of money that is measured by weight. A talent is a weight. I've read commentaries and they vary everything from 50 to 110 pounds. So take a pick, alright? But a talent is a weight. Let's suppose it's 50 pounds. Let's suppose. 5 talents would be 250 pounds of money. Now, depending on what it is a weight of, then determines its value. Obviously, 5 talents of gold would be more valuable than 5 talents of copper, alright? So here's a man, he's given five talents, let's say 250 pounds of gold coins, and you are to invest that while the master is away. Now, since a talent was money, then this story is often used for stewardship. This is a message that you preach when you need to take a big offering. or right before a missions conference or something like that, because a talent is money. However, you understand that money is not the only application. When you read talent, you don't read that as ability, but that's how that we use the word. The Lord has given each one of us a stewardship, a stewardship. You have been given a life, you have opportunities, you have privileges, You have abilities, you have capabilities, you have resources and you are to use all of that to serve the Lord with. It is obvious, it is obvious that some have more abilities than others. I don't mean to offend anybody and I don't mean to lift anybody up with pride. Some of you can do more and some of you can do less. However, it is okay to be a one-talent person. It is okay if you're not great in everything if that is how God made you. But I'm looking at people in this building and God has given you much privilege. He's given you a great stewardship. I believe that if you were raised in a Christian home where the Bible was taught you from an early age, that is a great privilege. To not have a false religion in your background and to not have to undo years of somebody preaching a cult if you don't have false doctrine to you, if you don't have wasted years of living in sin, if you don't have the scars on your body and in your mind of living in sin and tragic mistakes that you've made, and if you have been brought to church and you've been taught the Bible and sheltered from the world, I'm gonna tell you, that is a privilege and that is a stewardship. Some of you are smart. Some of you are gifted. Some of you have more abilities than others. Sometimes I hear somebody say to a kid, and they're trying to encourage the kid, you can be anything you want to be. I'm not sure that it's exactly true. Because there are some career paths that require more education than others. Requires better grades than others. I mean, you may want to be a brain surgeon. That's great. You may not have the brains to be a brain surgeon. I'm just being honest with you. Just being honest with you. Go for it. Go for it. But get you a backup plan, all right? learn to swing a hammer or something, huh? I mean, there's some boy in here, you aspire to be a professional basketball player. But I'm gonna tell you, if you're a five, six white guy, you're probably not gonna make it. it's probably not gonna work for you. So here's what I would say. You can be anything you want to be within the limits of your abilities, but you've been gifted with skills and abilities and intellect. Maybe it's organization, maybe it's leadership, maybe it's artistic like music or graphic design. Maybe you have a knack for making money and investing it and others don't know what to do with their money. Maybe you can sing, maybe you can, play an instrument, I don't know, maybe you're good at teaching a class, but God has given you something with which you can give Him a return on. That's the stewardship of life. God made you with certain gifts. He expects you to take those gifts and to give him a return. Every ability you have is a gift from God. Every opportunity that you see is a gift from God. Every talent that you have developed is a gift from God. While I'm here, I might as well say this too. Your finances are a gift from God. That's a stewardship is what it is. And I think that it would be an earth-shaking revelation for us to realize that we are just stewards, that everything that we have actually belongs to God. He has entrusted it to us, and that is the stewardship that he wants us to have. Now notice in verse 16. He that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. Likewise, he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. Now again, this is the context of money. And so the servants took this money and they invested it somehow. I don't know how. Maybe they bought some lamb, planted the vineyard and sold the produce. I don't know. Maybe they flipped houses. I don't know what they did with it. Maybe they put it in the stock market of some kind, but they have invested this money. And two of them immediately, immediately get busy with what they have been given. The idea that the two faithful servants double their money, I think that's indicating that they had total commitment. They made a lot with what they had. And by the way, the one with two didn't get frustrated because he didn't have five. He took his two and he went to work and he made the most with what he had been giving. An equal percentage represents an equal faithfulness. Someone may have greater results than you, they can't be any more faithful than you. That really helps me as a pastor, because I know, I know that there are men that have much greater ability than I do to preach a sermon or to pastor a church. And I had a preacher tell me one time, he said, Brother Floyd, he said, some men just have a 50-member congregation talent, and some men have the capability to pastor 200 congregation, and some people have a capability to pastor 2,000 people. I don't know how, I don't know how much I buy that, to be honest with you. I don't know. But I know that there are some preachers that are more gifted than others. There are more men, there are men that do what I do, and they do it better. They're more skilled, they're more educated, they're more organized, more everything. However, however, I can be just as faithful in my stewardship as the man who pastors the largest church in America can be in his stewardship. I can be faithful to what God, whether it's 5,000 or 2,000 or whatever it might be, I can be faithful with that. Two men are faithful in their stewardship. One servant, he does nothing with what he had. At the very least, he could have put his money in a bank and earned 1.16 or whatever it is right now percent. He could have at least done that, but he buries it in the backyard. And maybe he looks at the other two and he says, what's the use? All I have is one talent. I'll never be able to keep up with those guys, so I'm not even going to try. Maybe he was just lazy. Maybe he wanted to spend his days just carousing and playing video games or whatever they did back then. But what a waste of opportunity. What a waste of privilege. Listen, if he would have doubled his money, he would have had the same rewards that the other two received. He doesn't have to earn as much as they do, but he's got a chance to do as much percentage as they do. You find out, you find out, the master was pleased because the two becomes four and the five becomes ten. I think he would have been pleased if the one became two. The servant doesn't have as much responsibility, but he has as much a chance to please his master and be a profitable servant. And I wanna say this morning that being a one talent person doesn't mean that you can't be productive. If all that you have is one talent, you're responsible for that. And God wants a return on your life. You are as responsible for what you have been given as that man with five talents. In fact, I think that there is a lesson here in the Lord being angry at the waste of one talent. Because suppose the story is flipped and the man with five talents buries it and wastes it and the master comes back and he's angry because five talents are wasted. You and I would say, of course, it's five talents. I mean, why waste all of that money? But no, no, it is the man with the one talent, the least that wastes, and the Lord is displeased at that. And the point is that if you just have one talent, don't waste it. That's enough to displease the master. He expects you to work as just a heart and to be as conscious with your one talent as the man with five talents. It's the responsibility of the servants. But then I want you to notice the rewards for faithfulness. Look at verse 19. After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them. The word reckoneth is an accounting term. He comes back and he opens up the books. And let's see what has happened while he has been away. We read about the judgment seat of Christ in the Bible. We really don't know how it is going to be. I don't know if the Lord's gonna play anything on big screen. I don't know if he's gonna open up a physical, I honestly don't know. But I have read enough in the Bible to know that there is a judgment day coming. And one day I will stand before God and I will give an account of my life. There is a reckoning coming. For the past 25 years, I've pastored this church. This is where the Lord has put me. I've tried to preach his word to whoever would come and listen. I've tried to develop the abilities that he's given me. I've tried to grow and be better at what I do and do the best that I can. I've stayed in the place that he planted me and tried to build a church just like you've tried to do ministry. And I know there's a lot of men, this is not self-deprecation, but I know there's a lot of men that could take this church a lot farther than I could. I'm not responsible for what they could do. I'm responsible for what I can do. We have in this room this morning a man that for 35 years, 35 years, just went back there and printed Bibles, Just for 35 years, he's just done the same thing. That's where God put him. We have a man in this room that for probably close to over 50 years, he's pastored churches, been in evangelism, built a printing ministry, half of a century. That's where God put him. Others have been in the service. Brother Squire has been in the service ministry for many, many years. Brother Tony Stark has been in Africa for many, many years. And I don't have a perfect record. And sometimes I wish I could start over with what I know now. And sometimes I get discouraged, and sometimes I wonder if I'm doing any good, but I know, I know that there is a reckoning coming, and I wanna be found faithful in my stewardship. Notice when he comes back in verse 20. He that 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, as the 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 the Lord. How excited do you think that servant would be to see his master? He's done well. He knows the return. Boy, there would be no dread of the master coming, would there? I mean, if I had done as well as he's done, I'd want the master to come back. If I had doubled my return, I would want the master to come so I could give back to him, I could show him what I've done with what he has entrusted me with. And when we think of the judgment, it ought not to be with fear and with trembling and with dread. No, John said, John said in 1 John, he said that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Can you imagine that? To stand there before the God of the universe with boldness, not arrogance, but with boldness in the day of judgment. To be able to stand there like Paul, writing to 2 Timothy chapter four, at the end of his life, I fought a good fight and I have kept the faith. I have finished my course, I have kept the faith. There is therefore, henceforth, laid up for me a crown of righteousness. What a thing to do to be able to stand there in boldness. Paul knew what he had done with his stewardship. He's excited about facing the Lord. And here's the reward. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. He commends him for his character. He commends him for his hard work. Just think about it. To hear the Lord of the universe to say to you, good job. You know, every child wants his daddy to be proud of him. When that two-year-old or that three-year-old hands you that paper with scribbling, that child just wants a smile, a hug. Brag on that child, put it on the refrigerator, right? They never grow out of that. Never grow out of that. They want that parent just to be proud. I promise you, there will be no greater joy one day than to hear the Lord of the universe say, well done, I'm good and faithful servant. Notice what else he says, I'm hurrying, I really am. He says in verse 21, thou hast been faithful over a few things, I'll make thee ruler over many things. The commendation would have been enough, but the reward goes beyond that. And obviously there's a millennial application, he's talking about serving the Lord in the kingdom. In the Luke parable, the master tells the servants that there'll be rulers over cities again. I have no idea how that's gonna work out. I'm not even gonna try to speculate. I don't know if I'm coming back to Milton, Florida to be the mayor of the dog catcher. I don't know, I don't know how it works. But I'm gonna serve the Lord in some capacity in his kingdom. And it seems very clear to me that the terms of service in the kingdom is determined by my service here. Rewards for the believer, catch this, rewards for the believer is more opportunities for service. It's more opportunities for service. And I'm afraid that we can't see that far ahead, because if we could, it would transform our lives. If you are faithful over a little here, then he'll give you much over there to be responsible for. You can serve the Lord for a lifetime, which is short, and receive rewards for a millennium, which is long. What you do in this life determines what you get to do for the Lord in the next life. And then notice this next phrase in verse 21, last phrase, enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Strange phrase. I'm thinking of Hebrews 12, where it talks about who for the joy that was set before him, despised the cross, enduring the shame. When our Lord Jesus hung on that cross, the Bible says he despised it. He endured the cross. He didn't enjoy that. The hammers, the nails, there was no joy. The shame, he despised it. Then why did he do it? I'll tell you why. Because he saw beyond the shame and there was a joy that was set before him. But you've got to get through the cross to get to the joy. And because of the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross despising the shame. And here's what he says, that we may enter into the joy of the Lord. You think of the joy of the Lord in seeing redemption accomplished, and Satan abolished, and sin defeated, and sinners saved, and a kingdom established, that's the joy. And you and I get to enter into that joy. Now you may have to despise some things, you may have to endure some things, but to go into the kingdom with Christ and to share in His satisfaction, of sharing his joy, the rewards for faithfulness. Let me give you the third part I've done. There's retribution for unfaithfulness. Verse 24. He which received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew that thou art a hard man. reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed. I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast that is thine." Now, here's where a lot of questions enter into this story. Here's the first question, who is the man? Is he a saved man or is he a lost man? Is this a man that gets saved in the tribulation and loses it at the end of the tribulation? He's a servant, but he doesn't get to enter into the kingdom. So this is where a lot of questions come in. There's two things I want you to notice. I want you to notice his actions, what he does. He doesn't waste the master's goods like the unjust steward in Luke chapter 19 or chapter 16. He doesn't spend it all on righteous living like the prodigal son. He doesn't embezzle it like that servant in Matthew 18, I believe it is. He doesn't do anything. He wastes every opportunity, every privilege, He says that he serves the master, but he doesn't. That's his actions. Here's the second thing to notice about him. That's his attitude. You see, instead of saying, I'm lazy, I'm unprofitable, here's what he does. He attacks the master with accusations. I read one commentator and I laughed. But I read one commentator who actually took the side of the servant. And he took the angle that the story represents a harsh master. And I thought, what a horrible misinterpretation. He accuses the master of being hard and unreasonable and kind, and basically he says, I knew that I would never please you. I knew I could never do enough for you. I knew you'd never be satisfied, so I didn't do anything, and it is your fault. When he says the master was a hard man, it reminds me of how Exodus describes Pharaoh, says he was a harsh taskmaster. He was the man that demanded that they make bricks, but he didn't give them straw. So he's making them make something out of nothing. And he's a harsh taskmaster. And basically what this servant is saying is that you're kind of like that Pharaoh in the book of Exodus. That's what he's accusing him of. That's not true. It's not true of this master. It's certainly not true of your master. Matthew 11 says, take my yoke upon me and learn of me for I am meek and lowly and hard and you should find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Romans 12, and I will teach you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God that you present your body as a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And I tell you that we have a good God, a good God who gives us delight in service. He's not hard, he's not a taskmaster, he's not a slave driver. We get weary in the work, but we do not get weary of the work. And if you have some service to give back, if you have some ministry that you can give to him, I'll tell you that's not a wearisome thing, that's a delightful thing. He's accusing the master unjustly, Here's what he says about him. He says, you reap where you have not sown and gather where you have not strawed. He's accusing him of being dishonest. You're the kind of man that would steal another man's crops. So I didn't bother. I didn't bother trying to make any money. I knew that you were just going to take it anyway. You're unkind, you're ungracious, you're dishonest. Look if you would in verse 26. The Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and soft of servant, thou, thou newest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not straw. Now let me tell you what I believe. You sort out, you sort out whether he's saved in the tribulation, loses, you sort all of that out. But when I look at his attitude, here's what it tells me. He doesn't know the master. If that's what he thinks, If that's his attitude toward the master, he hadn't spent much time with him. He hadn't got to know him. And if you have the wrong attitude toward the Lord, you don't know the Lord. If you think the Lord is ungracious, unfair, unkind, hard to please, impossible to serve, you don't have a worshiping heart. No, I tell you that the greatest joy of our lives is serving the Lord Jesus so that He can be praised. And by the way, if you know the Lord, if you know the Lord, then the great desire of your life is for my life to be counted worthy of Him. I have never met an old man who gave his life to the Lord Jesus and got to old age and was bitter at serving Jesus. I've never met one. I've never met one that served God all of his life and come to the end of life and was disappointed in how the Lord treated him. I tell you, that if you give your heart to Jesus and if you give your life to the Lord, you'll find that his yoke is easy and his burden is light. And even when somebody's called to go to a dark place, even when somebody has to serve in a difficult field, even when there is great sacrifices, the paradox of serving the Lord is that you can do it with sacrifice with satisfaction at the same time. In verse number 26, it seems like that the master agrees with him. I believe that you could summarize the master's response in verse 26 up in one word, liar. Liar. You say, that I reap where I sow it, gather where I have not strawed. If you knew, look at verse 27, thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming, I should receive my own with you. If that was the kind of man that I am, you could have at least put money in the bank and got some interest off of it. He's not agreeing with the wicked servant, but he's throwing his words back at him. If that's what you thought that I was, then you could have put it in a bank, but you didn't because you're lazy and a wicked servant is what you are. You buried it in the ground so you could pursue your wicked pursuits, your responsibility got in the way or your laziness got in the way of your responsibility and you accuse me to cover up your own wicked ways. So in verse 28, take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which hath ten talents. Unto everyone that has to be given he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath. Cast ye the unprofitable servant, and in the outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The first thing that happens is the faithful servant receives more privilege, more opportunity to service. Some want to question, why did he give it to the man with ten? Why didn't he give it to the man with five talents? I don't know. It's up to the Lord. He's sovereign. But then the unprofitable servant is cast into hell. When you read verse number 30, there's no way verse 30 is describing anything other than hell. And if there's any question your mind at this point, whether the unfaithful servant is saved or not, this ought to erase any doubt in your mind. And it doesn't mean that you go to hell if you waste your life or if you don't go to a mission field or something like that. But it's clear that this wicked servant has a wicked heart. He has no love for the master. How he acts is indicative of the evil that is in his heart. The master rewards the faithful. He punishes the unfaithful. I have been trusted with a stewardship. It is called life. My life has had the privilege of growing up in a Christian home, being part of a great church, the thousands of sermons that I've heard in my life over the years. My stewardship is living in America, having the freedoms and liberties that I enjoy having a good income, receiving an education, being able to read and study and learn. My stewardship is the call to preach. It's to call it a pastor of this church. It's the privilege of being able to help missionaries and try to help ministries out of our church and preaching other churches. My stewardship is my family. It's my finances. It's my health. It's my life. I have a stewardship. I want to be faithful in that stewardship. I want to stand one day at the reckoning. I want to hear him say, Well, you have a stewardship. You may think that it only weighs one talent, but it's probably greater than what you imagine. What are you doing with that stewardship? Will the Lord find you faithful? Will the Lord get any return back from your life when he comes back? And I want you to come to the piano. We were sitting around the piano at the house last night, singing and practicing, got the text. Some of you know, brother, brother, buddy Blunk Hall. Little Blunk Hall's preached here many times. He and his wife have been here many times. Little Blunk Hall passed away last night. Fell off of a roof and had an accident, hit his head. Life flagged him to the hospital and didn't make it. The Lord called him home. Little Blunk Hall was, I guess, well into his 60s, maybe 70. Been here many times. Traveled all over the country, all over the country, evangelist every year. I don't know if I've ever heard anybody said a negative word about Buddy Blancall. I've never heard any scandals on him. I've never heard anybody say anything negative about him. I don't know if I've ever heard Buddy Blancall saying anything negative about somebody else. He was just a good man, faithful man. Had a lot of health problems in the past, heart attacks, but just kept plugging on, plugging on. No doubt in my mind, No doubt in my mind. My family got up yesterday morning, they had no idea this is how the day's gonna end. Only the Lord knows that. But the Lord in His sovereignty said, buddy, you're done. I'm bringing you home. And from everything that I know about Buddy Blanco, there's no doubt in my mind that he heard, well done. Well done. And if you give your life to the Lord, if you give your heart to Him, if you'll take every opportunity, every privilege, every ability, and say, Lord, how can I use this for you, for you? And if you'll give your life to the Lord, whether it's a full-time ministry or secular career, whatever it might be, but every day I'm giving it to you, that one of these days you and I can stand in the judgment seat and so well done. That'll be the greatest joy, greatest joy.