in our hymnal, but it's nice to say it to a different tune as well. Let's open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25, and while we're turning there, I should point out again that as we are singing a number of these different hymns and different tunes, they do come from the new Trinity Psalter hymnal. like these hymns or not, we are thinking about possibly moving to that Trinity Psalter hymnal. It has all 150 songs, which is very nice, plus another 300 or 400 hymns. So it's a very, very nice selection. And there are, of course, always some things that we don't like about new hymnals. But in any case, yeah, we do welcome some feedback of these hymns that we sing on these certain Sunday evenings. Matthew chapter 25, we will read from verse 14. Let's hear the word of God. The kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants For one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, and 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 the other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one, 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 beside them five talents more. His Lord said unto him, Well done. 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 hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Then he which had received the one towel came and said, Lord, I am you, thee, thou art an hard man. that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest, therefore, to have put my money to the exchangers, and then, at my coming, I should have received mine own with usury. Take, therefore, the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast he the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Let us pray. O Lord, our God, we come before Thee once again to seek wisdom from Thee. Seek wise understanding of Thy Word. We pray that Thou wouldst remove every veil. We ask that Thou wouldst enable us to see clearly what Thou has declared in Thy Word. We confess that for this we do need Thy Holy Spirit. We pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Beloved congregation, as the previous parable here, we have really two classes of people. The Lord Jesus tells a parable in order to teach us concerning his kingdom and the nature of laboring in morning that it is not a gospel of works, it is a gospel of grace, and yet it is a gospel of grace that produces good works, it produces holiness, it changes an individual from, as they pass from darkness to light, and even that change So just to review the content of the parable and a little bit of interpretation, the householder here, the man traveling into a far country is the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? Now talents here, we think talents literally in this parable have to do with money. They have to do with actually talents of ways. And so a certain amount of money has been entrusted to these servants. You can see from the way that the master comes back But it has to do with money in the parable. And yet here... he comes back and he demands an accounting. And I think very clearly here in terms of the content of this parable, the time of that judgment is going to be the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. So here is Christ who has gone into a far country, he gives gifts to the people in his church, and he expects that we will, each of us, And what do you suppose those two classes of people are? You remember from last week, that serve God as one who is loving and gracious in this parable. They serve the Lord with love and with joy. That is their distinction. They love because they have first been loved. They know what genuine love is. They know experientially so they are able to live out that grace, and they do so with joy because they understand the nature of grace. It is something wonderful that has happened to them, and something wonderful goes out from them, in word and in deed. The unsaved, the man who received just one talent, are those who serve God as someone who is austere and stingy. I knew that thou art a hard man. That's how they view God. God is hard. I feared in you, and certainly there is such a thing as a godly fear, which is largely lacking in the modern church. We ought to have a godly fear And so you're a hard man. And I'm afraid of what God is going to do to me if I don't at least give back as much as he gave me. These are the ones who are serving God in the flesh. So again, as with the parable of the virgins, I don't know if I mentioned this last week. The reason that there are five wise and five foolish is because the five wise represent the church and the individuals within that church. Five foolish are the hypocrites in the church, the professors, false professors in the church. They've all been given gifts of various values according to their several abilities, it says, but according also to the sovereign disposition of the board. They're distinguished by productivity as opposed to sloth. They either use those likely of this parable that we use the word talent in that way. People who have abilities, people who have special gifts and abilities. So it's something that has been given to the Christian by God in trust, really, in trust. He expects an accounting. So these are the two classes of people represented in this parable. And then there are two levels of gifts. So within the class of people that are saved, we have people that have been given five talents and some that have been given two talents. And there's nothing to be ashamed of for the person that has two talents. to work with that guy at five, only had two. You know, what do you expect? No, he took what God gave him, and he made another two out of that. So God doesn't condemn that person. It's not a mark of judgment or discipline of that person. Then he only got two. One got five, another one got two. Both of those men, the talents, the gifts that God had given to him, that his master, the Lord Jesus had given to him. He was thankful for what he had. So, in these two men then, we have this This is further illustrated in the Word of God by the Apostle Paul as he writes to the church in Corinth in the 12th chapter. Describes the church as a body. And your body has different abilities. that you have an individual contribution to make to this congregation. Paul is talking about the local body of the church, and he says, the church, the congregation is like your body. And he makes that comparison. He says in verse 4 of 1 Corinthians 12, now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Verse 15, if the foot shall say, because I am not the hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And it's ludicrous, right? The foot says, I'm way down there, nobody sees me, nobody notices me, but the hand, the hand is up there doing things. It's active, it's visible, and everybody knows what the hand is doing, but the foot, I don't know if I really want to be a foot. Why can't I be a hand? The Lord says, never mind. Is there any less part of the body? If you didn't have your feet, would you be concerned? If you didn't have one foot, would you be concerned? Sure you would. If you had any part of your body that wasn't there, you'd be abnormal. It's not right. I do have value. I have a different value from the hand, but it's not a less significant or important value. It is still valuable to the whole congregation. Verse 18 of 1 Corinthians 12, Paul says, But now that God sent the members, everyone in the body, as it has way that he is purposed for his own glory. And that's the way, beloved, it's important for you to see that you have a function in this body. And it may not be something that you think is valuable, but it is. a handful of people, but beloved, didn't we eat sumptuously? I was surprised. We had wonderful, wonderful food. There were just a few of us here. We ate like kings. It was just wonderful. And that was because some of the ladies and maybe some of the men said, I want to And it can get tedious to do the same thing week after week. But to say joyfully, I hope the Lord's people love what I've prepared for them. And I'm doing it for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's a beautiful motive, really. So to look for these opportunities is very important. And I don't know why somebody doesn't do something about that. And I said, well, you're the one that's noticed it. Maybe you can do something about it. So she was pretty offended. But I thought, you're the one who noticed it. Maybe nobody else notices it. If it bothers you, then get at it and clean it up. You're certainly welcome to do that as part of the body, rather than just complaining about things not being the way you want them to be. There are a lot of opportunities to serve when we look for ways to serve. And we're an aging congregation in many ways. And it may feel like, how can I serve the Lord when my physical abilities even are weak? I don't have the strength. I don't have the energy that I use show we're maybe obsessed we can overthink the things that we can't do instead of looking for those things that you can do and there are many things that may be something that you have an inclination to do, that you enjoy doing. It's not like you have to serve the Lord with a heavy heart. That was the attitude of the man who had the one talent. You're a hard man. Some people think, God only wants me to do what I don't like to do. God only wants me to do the things that are hard and that are against my will. Now, if anything, All of this is spiritual. It's a spiritual kingdom. It's a spiritual labor. We're doing physical things. We're attending to needs in, say, the building. to serve Him. How can I serve the Lord? And what a problem arose in the church in Corinth over this, right? Gifts. Gifts. There's gifts in our church. What gift did everybody want in the Corinthian church? They all learned to speak in tongues. How cool is that? How great is that? To be able to stand up and speak in a language that I hadn't studied. That's pretty It's a public gift, it's an evident gift, but why don't you pray or covet to prophesy? To be able to be a teacher of the word, of course, that requires, you can't just put yourself in the office. We've spoken of that before. It's not for you to put yourself in that office, but it is for men to desire. If any man desires the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. Bishop is an elder. If a many man desire the work of an elder, he desires a good work. It is a work. and it's good to aspire to that, good to pray that the Lord would give gifts to that end. Paul says that's what you ought, because you're speaking the language of the people, you're conveying a message in language that people can understand. That's a good thing, it's a profitable thing. So this idea of gifts can be distinction in the calling that he has given me. So beloved, what are the abilities that God has given you? I can't tell you what they are. When I was a man around, when was this, in the 70s and 80s, it was very popular to do spiritual gift inventories. Now everybody's asking, what's your spiritual gift? And you have to find your spiritual gift. There are little quizzes that you can do. They tell you what your gift was. And then you have to develop that gift. And it doesn't always work like that. And I think in many ways, people maybe aren't even aware of their gift. They aren't even aware of how they're blessed. They're just living for the Lord. They're testifying of His love. They're just enjoying. bless others with abilities and gifts that you may not be particularly aware of how they're blessing others. So they do have to do with your desires and inclinations that are used in a holy way for the advancement of Christ's kingdom. A willingness to do work that needs to be done, or seeking out work that should be done. So earlier I was brother here that when I first came here about 30 years ago there were people in our assembly who thought that they had the spirit of the church, there often is. But they thought that this was their way of building up the church by provoking people and asking challenging questions. So that's not the kind of gift we're talking about here. It's advancing the kingdom of Christ. It's moving forward for the sake of Lord Jesus, building on what he has given. It's a gift. God has given the gift. for the sake of Christ's kingdom. So that's very important. And notice the distinction. Gifts given according to several abilities. They're developed by, not just by the saint, but the Holy Spirit working in the saint. And then you have the one who is in the church, but unregenerate, and serving God as if he's hard. cruel and mean-spirited, doesn't know anything about the love of the Lord, because he doesn't know the Lord Jesus Christ. He has not been born again. He's not been renewed in the inner man. And so he serves God out of a servile fear. And beloved, that's not how we ought to serve the Lord. We ought to serve him with a willing heart, and with a joyful heart. Remember when at various times in the books of Moses, Moses was asking the, the children of Israel for an offering. And what do we ask them for often? A free will offering. That doesn't have to do with freedom of will, it has to do with a will that's already been freed, that's been willing to give its power. A free will offering. Give joyfully, give out of your abundance, give out of, it's the same way. Does it compel you to serve him with a heavy hand on you? Well, if you don't do this, you're going to be in deep, deep trouble. That's not the God that we serve in Christ, is it? It's a God who you serve out of love, and devotion, and worship, and adoration, and just appreciation for everything that has been done for you in Christ. Beloved, as we draw to a close, let us consider also the very serious words that the Lord Jesus gives about two eternal judgments. Two eternal judgments. faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. So here's the great reward, not for the works themselves, but for the growth in grace, growing grace in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And incidentally, when he says here, look at verse 20, when he says, Lord, thou have delivered such a few five talents. Behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. Think about how he says that. He's not being proud and boastful. He's filled with joy. He's saying, look. Look what great things has been done for you, for your kingdom, for Christ. I've done it because I've helped you. Look how you've profited, essentially. But he says, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been made faithful over a few things. I will be the ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of my Lord. So there's the commendation, goes joyfully into eternal life, into heaven, into the presence of his master, into the presence of God. one with five talents as the one with two talents. So here's the Lord blessing his people in various ways and various measures according to his disposal as he sees fit within his church. But then we have, beloved, the awful judgment of the ungodly. He takes the talent that he had and he gives it to the one who had 10 talents. Now, we have to be careful in all parables not to make this say something that doesn't say it. You can't give the gifts of one man to another. But he's saying, you didn't even deserve that one talent. I left one talent with you. You don't even deserve that. I'm going to give it away. And this one man who had the most, he is going to enjoy the rewards and the pleasures of heaven that much the more. But you, because you thought I was hard, you don't deserve any. I'm going to take that away from you. Not only am I going to take that away from you, but he says, take therefore, verse 28, take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which hath ten talents brought to everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away, he that hath which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Let's consider for a moment that unprofitable servant. So how do you think the men The Lord commends them for their being profitable. But elsewhere, Jesus says, how are they going to respond? How are you going to respond? We are unprofitable servants. We've only done that which was our duty to do. We don't deserve anything. We're thankful for what we were able to do. But this man, actually, who was cast into hell, is actually an unprofitable servant. He's pronounced by the Lord to be an unprofitable servant. But he thinks he's profitable. He thinks he did all right. You gave me a talent. I've managed to preserve that much. I haven't done anything with it. Isn't that great? And Jesus says, no, it's not great. And he casts him into outer darkness. Casting the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be bleeding and gnashing of teeth. He actually is unprofitable. And in a way, he knew that he was unprofitable, but he thought that his stinginess would be commended by the Lord. So here are those who think and are relying on their own wisdom when they're giving an account to the Lord. And if you only know God as a hard master, then you will receive a very hard reward. You will rely on your own wisdom and say, look, I've got this all figured out. Rather than understanding that all of the gospel is a grace, And here the Lord gives that solemn description. There's outer darkness with weeping and gnashing of teeth outside of the kingdom. And there's great trophy and great heaviness of heart. More of it, we hope to appear in the kingdom of the Lord. Hoping, trusting, and praying that the Lord will increase and make us diligent in our gospel labors. We must remember also that there are people entering into the punishment of hell every day, every hour. There are people entering into a Christless eternity. There is such a place as hell. It's a terrible place. It's a place that is avoided by clinging to Christ. By trusting, by faith, that the Lord Jesus Christ is your Savior. When Christ is your Savior, He will serve you willingly and joyfully. When He's not, He will have the just return of your works in eternal punishment. It's a very sober and somber thing to think about, but we should think about that from time to time. We have to be aware of the seriousness of the reality of God's judgment in hell. And even as you do, and you think then and pray for those who are going into a Christless eternity, pray for them to receive Christ, to walk by faith, then we also should be eternally grateful. And that is one place we're not going. But we deserve to be. Don't we deserve? We deserve to go to hell, beloved. We do. It's only by grace, only by mercy, only by God reaching out to us when we were still sinners that we have the hope of heaven and the promise of eternal life, what a glorious promise it is. Let us pray also for those who are bound for hell. by their own determination. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, we look at ourselves and often we look at our works and we think that we have done not much for it, but certainly we have not done enough. The Lord, thou dost know the desire of our heart. Grant that we may have That desire for the advancement of thy kingdom to be renewed in our hearts. We may desire to see souls saved. That we would desire to do more for thy kingdom than we have done in days past. We ask Lord that thou would give us that desire, that energy, the open door to live for Christ, to serve Christ and His Church, to proclaim the good news of Thy saving grace. Lord, give us a burden from the lost. We pray that Thou wouldst make us diligent to labor in Thy kingdom. By the power of Thy Holy Spirit, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.