The text for today is in Matthew 25 from 14 to 30. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who calls his own servants and delivers his goods to them. And to one he gives five talents, to another two and to another one, to each according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and prayed with them and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord's money After a long time the Lord of those servants came and set accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. enter into the joy of your Lord. He also, who had received two talents, came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I have gained two more talents besides them. He, Lord, said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Then he who had received that one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man. reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.' But his Lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant! You knew that I read where I have not sown, and gathered where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I will have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given. and he will have abundance. But for him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away, and cast the unprofitable servant into the other darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." as we sing lord we pray that you rebuild your glory lord through the teaching of your word oh father i pray that you use this words father to to convict your church oh father thank you for giving us messengers who preach the truth to us lord i pray that your church start being more convicted and to be encouraged to live in righteousness, Lord. To live in holiness for Your glory, Father. Amen. This passage of Scripture before us here today, it reflects the kindness of God toward us here in this new year We're very fortunate people to be here in this section of Scripture now, because God has made it so that in the entire month of January, and even a little bit before, we will be considering various parables that speak of readiness. being ready for the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And I can't think of a more important way to begin a year than to consider our readiness. And that now, over and over again, Sunday after Sunday, here we are considering the very same thing. You know, are you ready? And here are the six parables that begin in chapter 24, verse 37. And the exact same subject is engaged, you know, as it was in the days of Noah. Now here we're in a completely different parable, but the meaning is the same. And all of these parables, they focus on the second coming. They focus on the long wait. They focus on the division. of humanity into two categories. They focus on two of the most amazing qualities of life for those who are created in the image of God. One is this remarkable blessing of entering into the joy of your Master, to enter into a joy that you've never known before. You've had tastes of it in the world as you've read the Word of God, as He sanctified you, as He has been blessing you by His presence. You know some elements of His joy, but there's a joy so far beyond anything you've ever experienced in your life It's the joy of your Master. And on the other hand, there's the weeping and the gnashing of teeth that comes upon those who reject Him. The sheep and the goats. The faithful and the unfaithful. And now we come to this parable of the talents. And the main point of this parable, I'll give it to you right now, is that God entrusts responsibilities to his people through the resources that he's given them so that they will use them for one single purpose, and that is to multiply spiritual treasure for him. That's the essence of this parable here. But but I want us to see how the Lord Jesus is using this parable in light of the other ones as well. Because again, while we're dealing with this parable as a standalone, the Lord Jesus has been talking about a lot of things and he's not breaking his conversation and just talking about this. And he's been explaining what it means to be watchful. Now, I can't think of anything more wonderful in life than to have a sense of watchfulness, to have a sense of the presence of Jesus Christ, to have a sense that you are useful in His hands, that your words, the look of your eyes, your demeanor, everything that you're doing is useful in His hands. And to know that God is in heaven, that His Son is alive, and that you have been born for this purpose. to glorify Him, to multiply spiritual fruit in absolutely everything that you do. And the Lord Jesus is explaining this in various colors and textures and situations. He says it's like being ready while you're eating and drinking. Something so simple as that. You can be ready even while you're drinking a glass of water. or eating your food, to have that sense of readiness, of that connection with the Lord Jesus Christ, to be so ready for Him that in every moment of life, there's a sense of the presence of God and the readiness. Or whether something of enormous magnitude is happening in your life, you're giving your daughter in marriage. But at that same time, having a sense that as you're giving, you are an instrument of His grace in the world, that you're so conscious of what you're doing. It's not that you've just reached some accomplishment for yourself, by yourself. Now finally, your daughter is married. Now you can rest. No! There's something so much greater. While you're giving in marriage, there's a spiritual sense of it. Something that is happening. Or if you're getting married. perhaps even a greater cataclysmic, tumultuous, amazing, wonderful thing in life, but that instead of just being caught up in that one single thing, you're so aware of Him that in the contemplations of your very wedding, your heart is lifted up to heaven. And you think of Him through the watches of the night. You remember Him. You're so grateful for your Savior. Or this other parable. Watching means it's like being ready and protecting your home from threats. That you're ready for that night robber. As you're normally turning off the lights and locking the doors, you have a sense of readiness before God. In the same way that you would ready your house, you're ready for your master to come. Or if you've given authority in chapter 24, verses 45 through 51. Here's a picture of a person who's been given authority and he spends his time, you know, instead of feeding his sheep, he's beating his sheep. And instead of working to help them and bless them, He's off drinking and partying and all this kind of thing. He's not ready at all. Just in the normal life that you have as a person who's been given authority. Everybody has been given some kind of authority in this world. In the execution of your authority, are you aware of your Savior? And then this readiness that we find in these young girls who are part of the wedding party where half of them seemed ready. They dressed right. They talked right. They had the right friends. They were in the right place. They knew the right people, but they weren't really ready. But then there were five who were really ready because everything in their life was made ready for the coming of the bridegroom. And they made sure that everything in their life was ready, not just their clothes, not just their speech, not just their lamps, but I mean that they were ready for everything. And it's that kind of readiness. Now we come to I'm just going to call him a spiritual entrepreneur. He's excited. He loves to work for the profit of his master. And he's boldly and strategically working for the profit of his master. That's this parable of the talents here. And he's using his resources, you know, eschatologically in a sense. He's using it to amass treasure for the future in heaven. And then after we finish this parable, we go to the parable of the sheep and the goats. And we learn that readiness means that you that you love your brother and you're not just going through life, you know, having having them bless you and being in relationship with you. And it's all about you. But readiness means that you you love your brothers and your sisters. And and that's a distinguishing factor in marking who are the sheep and the goats. Those who love the brethren are marked. as sheep and those who do not love the brothers and sisters in the Lord are the goats. So those are those are the parables. But you see this this how the Lord is weaving all these situations to explain this one matter of of readiness. Now, while the focus in the last parable was a young woman or or 10 young women, the focus here happens to be three men who are involved in an investment kind of situation. And they are taking dominion. They're expanding the kingdom. They're multiplying profit for their master. And again, I'll just tip you off to the whole meaning here. Here in this parable, watching means multiplying what God has given you. Watching means multiplying what God has given you for spiritual profit. And of course, it doesn't mean more cars, more houses. It means more spiritual profit for your master, using everything that you've been given to do that. So that's the parable here. Now, the parable is similar to Luke chapter 19, but there are some differences. They're actually spoken in different occasions. Luke is speaking in Jericho probably five or six days before this occasion. In Luke, there are ten that are called and three that report back. Here, there are three. In Matthew, there's a large amount of money that's given to the servants. In Luke, it's a smaller sum. In Matthew, the unfaithful servant digs in the ground and hides it Well, in Luke, he holds it in a handkerchief. And I think what we learn here is that the Lord Jesus uses different stories. But he mixes some of the phraseology, he mixes some of the material together to say a similar thing. And the Lord is like every good father who repeats himself and he weaves principles and commands all together at different times in his life. And he might quote himself over and over again in a different context. And that's, I believe, what we find here in this passage. Here, I think we should just pause and just recognize the beauty of Scripture, the diversity of the Lord Jesus Christ and all of His counsels, how He says this thing to this group of people at this moment, and then He changes it up a little bit for another moment. He's such a customizer for His people. He ministers to His flock in such a wise and gracious way that He takes into account the things that they need to hear. I believe that we need to hear this message over and over again. I think that's why the Lord has done it. Why, for weeks, we're going to be asked, are we ready? Are our eyes lifted up to heaven? What does it look like to be ready? So, I'm praying that that's what will happen to us. Because we're not done with this question. Are we ready? Or how ready are we? And to just make us a more ready people. I think the Lord loves us. He desires to increase our usefulness in the world. He really desires that our sense of closeness to him would increase, that in everything that we're doing, we're somehow more sensible of what he's doing with us in that situation, that we're ready. to bring spiritual profit in every moment, whether we're eating or drinking or marrying or giving marriage or protecting our house or in all of the authority that we've been given, or whether we're going to a wedding or whatever it might be, whatever resources we have, whatever person is in front of us, that we're so much more aware of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, that we would be ready in a moment, I pray, that when we meet with our brother or sister, when we see them, we think, Oh Lord, make me ready now. Make me bring spiritual profit in this situation. Let me be a blessing for your kingdom here. So I think we need this. We obviously need it or we wouldn't be here for so long. So there are four main sections in this parable. You have an outline in front of you. You can see them right there. First of all, there's the distribution of the talents. We'll talk about that. And then there's the multiplication of the talents by varying degrees as a result of varying investments. And then there's sort of the assessment of the use of the talents one by one. The first man with the five, the second with two, and the third with the one talent. Each one is rolled up and summarized and evaluated. And then finally, There's the judgment for either the right or the wrong use of the talents. So that's the basic the basic outline that we have here. So let's begin with this first section, the distribution of the talents in verses 14 and 15. And of course, the thought is continuous. The first word in verse 14 is for it's a conjunction connecting it to the parable of the virgins, making it clear that the Lord is just continuing this exact theme. And he's speaking of one continuous thought. And there are two parties that are identified in these verses. First of all, there's a businessman. who has enormous resources and he's going somewhere. In Luke, it's a nobleman who's going to receive a kingdom. Here in Matthew, it's a businessman who's making an investment, who's expecting a return while he's gone. So it's a little bit different there. And then there are the servants as the second party in the parable. And they were his own servants. The terminology of servanthood is here, bondservant, a person who has set aside his own will for the will of his master. This is a picture of Christianity. And the servants are professing Christians. The servants, I believe all three of them are professing Christians. And this is very consistent throughout these parables where the Lord is using, like with the five virgins and the other five virgins, they represent the visible church, the professors of Christianity in the world. And just a side note here, you know, in this parable, you also get get a historical window into the kind of slavery that was being practiced in the ancient world. And here's one thing that you get. Some of the slaves were extremely prosperous. Some of the slaves were significantly responsible. They had substantial abilities. And so an owner of that slave would invest In this case, enormous resources for them to use. So while one was a slave, one could also be very wealthy at the exact same time. Completely different from the kind of American form of slavery that we had here. But that's just sort of a side note about what we see here in terms of what was going on. And what we find in this parable here is that the master expects that his will is being done while he's gone. The master has gone and now the slaves are charged to take dominion with what they have been given. And every person is being given resources. In this case, it's money. And it's interesting. God does even in this parable give resources to the to the unsaved. We don't want to force every element of the parable too hard here, but. But I think that the primary principle that we see here is that is that there are there are resources delivered, you know, unto these these mass, these servants so that so that they would use those resources, not for themselves. but for their master. And it's so consistent with what the Apostle Paul said really about the whole matter of salvation. And that is that he who died for all that those who live shall no longer live for themselves, but for him. This is an explanation of true Christianity. There's a picture of the gospel here. that that those who are truly converted, they've turned to Jesus Christ. They're no longer living to themselves. They've transferred kingdoms. They've said no longer my will, but thine be done. That's that's the difference between a Christian and a non-Christian. The Christian says, I would really like to keep my work to a minimum. And that's what we see in the example of the third servant who's given who's given resources as well, even significant resources. The goods do not belong to the servant, but they belong to the master. That's really important. And we also recognize, too, what is happening with this man. He's traveling to a far country. Again, Jesus is giving us this earthly picture of a heavenly reality. He's really telling the story of his own life. Jesus is talking about himself. Jesus is that man who's traveled to a far country. He's going to be he's going in just just a few hours. He's going to be killed and he's going to he's going to be resurrected to the right hand of God. He's going to pass through the heavens as the book of Hebrews says. He's going to a far country. And while he's in that far country, his servants are working. They have much to do. They've been given resources in order to be used for the glorification of their master. So there's this rich investor who has gone away. And it's a picture of the great length of time that Jesus will be gone from the earth. The disciples expected Jesus to bring his kingdom sooner than this. But Jesus is telling them now that, no, it will actually be a long time. And he's given them many parables. He's got a bridegroom that delays. There are all these things that he's telling them that it won't be right away, but it will be and be ready as a result. And then he gives talents. You know, what are the talents? He delivers his goods to them. They were his goods. And then he gives to one five, another two and another one. Now, talents. Here, in this context, can mean a measure of weight. A talent was a measure of weight. That's why when you look at Revelation 16, verse 21, there were hailstones that weighed a talent, which is 125 pounds. That's a big hailstone. And so it's a unit of measurement. It was also used as a unit of coinage. But a talent here would be the equivalent of 20 years wages. So the man who received one talent was receiving 20 years wages. The man receiving five, a hundred years wages. So this was a significant investment in a slave, wasn't it? I mean, they were given a lot and they could have just rested and consumed and had such a great time with the resources, which is also a parable for us. We can use the resources that God has given us to rest, to consume, to just spend it away and then have nothing left at the end. No spiritual increase from it, but the talent is used here. It's something to use. It's something to trade and look 19. There's there's trading and and the Lord is saying, do business until I come. You know, business is really a picture of spiritual business. God has given business, I believe, is a picture. That's why Jesus says, do business until I come with business. You're trading. Here's what you want to do in business. You want to buy low and sell high. That's what you want to do. And you want to continue to increase. And the Lord is saying this is a good thing because your intent is to increase. It's good to increase. We live in a world, a kind of a Marxist mentality that pervades everything. It's not good to increase. It's actually more godly to not have anything. Well, that's actually not the worldview that the Lord Jesus is communicating here. Increase is good. Building is good. Advancement is good. And these were really either going to work boldly and self-consciously to multiply spiritual fruit, or they were just going to rest and not do anything with it. There were some who would strategize and plan and others who wouldn't. Now, how this happened is important, too. They were delivered. They were delivered by his authority and to be delivered means to convey, to convey something to someone. So there's this whole idea of a conveyance. Something is transferred to you and it and it becomes as if it was yours, even though it's not yours. It's still His, but it's been conveyed. And then there are different amounts. Why the different amounts? I think this is a really fascinating part of the parable. To each according to his own ability. Ability is the driver of the investment. How's that? This is your God. No, He doesn't invest equally in everyone. And ability is the word dunamis for power. Each man has a different kind of power. That's the idea. God has designed the world this way. There are different levels of power, of acumen, that are given in the world. And this businessman understands that. He's wise and he knows what kind of jobs to give to what kind of people. You can't give any job to any person. Try that, by the way. It's difficult to have any kind of success if you just give any old job to any old person. You have to be discerning about it. And the Lord is presenting this discernment in this parable. He makes observations and he doesn't equally measure out investments. And this is all to tell the story that we all have different gifts and abilities and we should not be comparing ourselves. with one another, as the Apostle Paul intimated when he said, we're not measuring ourselves by ourselves. God, God has given to every single person a certain amount. In this case, it's money. I mean, you could just you could just isolate it to money if you want. I think it applies more broadly than that. But let's just just just take it exclusively to apply with money. How much money have you been given? You've been given some. Everybody's been given some. And what do you do with that? And what we what we know, what we know about the world is that every good and perfect gift comes down from the father of lights. That's what James said. The apostle Paul said, what do you have? that you did not receive. In Romans 9.16, the Apostle Paul says, it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy. The Lord Jesus Himself said a man can receive nothing unless it's given him from heaven. This is the way the world is wired. God is sovereign. over all of these things. And he is sovereign in his giving of a capacity and then the investment in those who might have that capacity. So the master knew that one had a certain kind of ability, one for five talents, another had the ability for two and the other of one talent. Now, I think that this this corrects what is a really false view of success. And often, often you'll find that successful men think that they're somehow better than others. And if other men would just simply follow their formula, they could be just as successful as them. And they stand in judgment often of men who might not outwardly have the same kind of success. It can happen to anyone. It can happen to a pastor who's pastoring a small church. And he might say, well, why do I only have this small number and that other man who I know to not be as good a man as I am to have such a great number? Well, the truth is God is the one who determines all of these things. And this is why in Deuteronomy 8, We're reminded never to say something in our hearts, never to say that it was your hands that gave you the wealth. That's what Moses is saying in Deuteronomy. He's saying, no, no, do not. Do not say that because it is he who gives you power to get wealth that he may establish his covenant, which he swore to your fathers as it is this day. So the talents here were given in different measures and a talent can easily be seen as a responsibility. Whatever responsibilities you have been given as a result of who you are and what you have, because what you have makes you responsible, right? You know, he who is given much, much will be required. So, you've been given something, and because you've been given anything, it means you have a responsibility. Every single person has been given responsibility. So that you might occupy until he comes. So, in this first section, there's the distribution of the talents. And here we see what some people call the unfairness of God. But it's not unfairness at all. And then secondly, there's the multiplying of the talents in verses 16 through 18. So he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. Now, here's kind of a quick review or a summary of what happened here. The five were given and he traded them. This means to do business. It has to do with to make trades, to take what you have and then consider how it might be traded up and then that up and then that up and then that up. It's buying low, selling high. Right. That's that's the proposition. And there's this trading that's going on. And then the man who had the two follows the same pattern and he gained two more also. The five gained five more. The two gained two more. And there was the expansion of both that we see. Those two were not operating on autopilot. They were they were working. They were multiplying. They were trading. So. What that means for us is that when we're involved in relationships, when we're involved in everything, our attention ought to be on multiplication, on trading. What can we do to accumulate more spiritual fruit in the midst of that situation that we're in? Everybody's been given a different place in life, job in life, place of living. But you have that, And it brings upon you a particular responsibility to multiply. And then what we find is the man with one talent, he went and dug it in the ground. He hid his Lord's money. And then there is the reckoning in verses 19 through 21. The man with the five talents is reckoned with first, and he and the man with the with the two are dealt with in the exact same way. So time has passed. There's lots of margin in time. He's given lots of time to multiply the treasure that he's been given. And then the master comes back. And then the man comes and he stands before the Lord and he says, Lord, You delivered to me five talents. Look, I've gained five more talents besides them. He's an excited spiritual entrepreneur. That's who he is. Representative of. Someone who is looking to make a profit for his master in all of his transactions. What a beautiful picture that is. Have you ever thought, what's the purpose of my life? Well, here it is right here. That's the purpose of your life. Multiply spiritual fruit while you're alive. Take every resource you have. and look at it in a completely different way. It's holiness to the Lord. It's set apart for His purposes. Everything you are, everything you have, every capacity, every square inch of your house, every square inch of your car, every single thing that you are and have is designed for this purpose. That you might bear spiritual fruit And he was increasing something that belonged to his master. It was not his own. In a way, he was working for himself. But in another way, he was not working for himself at all. He was working for his master. He understood that it was not all about accumulation for himself by himself. It was accumulation by his gifts for his name. That was the whole point. And he had taken his master's resources and he was increasing the property of his lord because what do you have that you did not receive? Everything has been given to us for this purpose. So a steward here is someone who's using somebody else's resources. And this day of accounting that we see here is spoken of all over in Scripture. In Revelation chapter 20, we read that the small and the great stand before God. We know in Ecclesiastes chapter 12, verse 14, that God will bring everything to judgment. In Matthew chapter 12, verse 36, even every idle word will be accounted for. And so there's a book of remembrance of all the deeds done that will be opened, you know, on that day. And on. On the day that is representative of that day here in verse 21, the Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things." And then some of my most favorite words in the whole Bible are here. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Well, he says, well done. He's meaning excellent. Excellent. Fine job. That was that was beautiful. That was good. It was beneficial. Well done. Good. Beneficial. And faithful. Do you see these words? Well done. Good. Faithful. He's piling up all these words to speak of His joy in the presence of His sons and His daughters when they enter into His presence. You know, people think I think that the Lord greets only with a frown of dissatisfaction for all of their weaknesses and all of their shortfalls and things like that. But that's really not the picture that you get here. You have a person, an imperfect person, just like you, just like me, standing before the Lord and He's saying, well done, good and faithful servant. Faithful, meaning trustworthy, dependable, reliable. Reliable. Someone you can trust with the treasure that you've been given. Now, he says you were faithful over a few things. I think that's interesting. You're faithful over a few things. Even though a hundred years wages, Would any of us think that that was little? Well, in the Lord's eyes, it is little because He owns the Catalan a thousand hills and it doesn't take much for Him to sustain His people. But what seems so great was very little in the eyes of the Lord. Over a few things. Now, there are five things that happen when you meet the Lord as a believer. I want to list them here. First of all, the Lord speaks to you. I don't know what your view of heaven or the final judgment is for a Christian, but here it is. The Lord speaks to you. How about that? The Lord is going to speak to you very personally. Isn't that amazing? And then He's going to speak tenderly to you. And then thirdly, He's going to recount your faithfulness. And then fourthly, He's going to bring you in to His joy. How about that? I don't know of a single person that hasn't struggled at some point with some matter of joy. Those days will be over. You know, that longing for joy, it'll be fulfilled. Wait. Be patient. It's coming. We struggle now. And the Lord has given us many commands to deal with our downheartedness, but at the same time, let's don't forget that that will pass away. Some people really, really, really struggle so deeply with it. And for you who struggle maybe more deeply than others, just recognize This will not last. This will not last. There will be a day. Look forward to that day. And then finally, the Lord makes you a ruler. He makes you a ruler. He doesn't give you a harp. He gives you a hoe. And you're going to keep laboring for Him. No tears. No more sweat on the brow. But labor, nonetheless, building, doing things, bringing even more spiritual profit. I don't really know how you keep bringing spiritual profit to God in heaven. I don't know. God knows. But it'll be a different kind of labor than you've ever, ever known. So we have we have the man with the five and the man with the two and their excitement is documented. You know, there's more more to learn about heaven. You know, we We work together for all eternity. The church continues to work together. We've worked together a lot in this church. Think about the different things that we've done working together to try to advance the Kingdom of Heaven. We're going to keep working together as a church. The church is going to work together. How about that? In complete harmony. And the stewardship that began here is really just a picture of the stewardship that will continue in Heaven. stewardship goes on throughout eternity. Isn't that amazing that this investment that God makes is something that also happens in heaven. Now, he gave you a body here. He's going to give you a new body, a new body, new work. And but stewardship all along the way. So this this life is a parable of of heaven. And here, the faithful receive more responsibility for all eternity. Even in heaven, some have more responsibility than others. It's no sin to be given two and multiply two. But let's get to the man with the one talent. There's quite a bit written about him in this parable. Verses 24-28. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there, you have what is yours. But his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant, you knew You knew that I reef where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents. You can see the difference between these three men. The two who were faithful, they had a completely different view of God. This man's view of God is so clear. He views God as a hard man. He views Him as demanding. He views God as severe and exacting. He saw such a heaviness in the work that God had called him to do. When he heard the commands of God, they just seemed so burdensome to him. Even though the Bible says that his commands are not burdensome. Well, they're only burdensome to those who are not his. And his whole view of God is caught up here. In Luke 19, he says, I was afraid because you are an austere man, austere, severe, austere. And what's happening here is he's a liar. He's lying about the nature of God. He's lying to himself about God. and what he's really like. And he's saying that God is merciless, that God is unrelenting, that He's stern. And I would just like to submit that while God does exercise His wrath toward the wicked, He's merciful toward the wicked. He causes His rain to fall on the evil and on the good. He pours out blessings on evil people. He makes them even succeed, sometimes enormously in this world. God has invested in this world enormous mercy toward every single person who lives on the planet. He is merciful. He's merciful every day to the wicked. He's patient. He waits. He sends prophets. He delays His judgment for mercy. That's why the prophet Amos prayed, O Lord, remember mercy in Your wrath. But he has a view of God. He has a view of God that he is unrelenting. He has no happiness in God. He can't see how good God is. He doesn't know what Psalm 1611 says. In your presence is fullness of joy. At your right hand are pleasures forevermore. He doesn't understand that. There's no pleasure in God in him. This is one thing. that you ought to notice in your own heart. Do you find pleasure in God? Or is He just a hard taskmaster? If He's a hard taskmaster, and all you can think is the hardness of the laws that He gives, and it's a burden, and it's a pressure, and it kills you, recognize that God has given you the law so that you would see His mercy, so that you would see your own bankruptcy, and that it would open up relief, it would open up joy, so that you would see Him as like a river of delights. The true Christian sees a river of delights. The non-Christian just sees a raging river of demand. And that's often the difference in a believer and an unbeliever. They see the law so different. One sees it as a blessing. Like the Apostle Paul, he said the law is wholly just and good. But to the unbeliever, it's terrifying and it should be. You know, I was looking at the news this week and I saw a report in CNN. It was actually an article that a woman wrote. by a pagan woman. It was called Why I Raised My Children Without God. And she talks about how there's this big movement in the United States of people who are intentionally training their children not to believe in God at all, which is really kind of a turn. The aggressive new atheism is having an effect. here in our land. And she's just acknowledging that there's a wave, there's a movement of parents who are decidedly instructing their children there is no God. And she says, here's why I raise my children without God. Number one, God is a bad parent and a role model. He says, if God is our father, then he's not a good parent. Good parents don't allow their children to inflict harm on others. Secondly, God is not logical. How many times have you heard, why did God allow that to happen? And this, it's not for us to understand. Take, for example, the tragedy in Newtown. Rather than address the problem of guns in America, we defer responsibility to God. He had a reason. He wanted more angels. He knows why. We write poems saying that we told God to leave our schools. The question we should be asking is this. Why did we not allow this to happen? How can we fix this? No imaginary person can give us the answers and tell us why. So she says, I'm not teaching my children about God because God is not logical. And she says, God is not fair. Next, God is not fair. If God is fair, then why does he answer the silly prayers of some while allowing other serious requests to go unanswered? Next, God does not protect the innocent. He does not keep our children safe. Next, God is not present. He is not here. Telling your children to love a person they cannot see, smell or touch or hear does not make sense. God does not teach our children to be good. That's the next reason. A child should make moral choices for the right reasons, telling him that he must behave because God is watching means that his morality will be externally focused rather than internally structured. Next, God teaches narcissism. They say God has a plan for you. Telling kids that there's a big guy in the sky who has a special plan for them, it just makes children narcissistic. It makes them think the world is at their disposal. And that no matter what happens, everything will be fine. I want my children to be free not to believe. and to know that our schools and our government will make decisions based on what is logical and just and fair, not on what they believe an imaginary God wants. There's this view of God that this servant had that's exactly like this view here. That God is not good. That if you give your whole life to Him, somehow it won't turn out well. That's the lie of the devil. You know what that's like. You know, before you became a Christian, you say, you know, if I turn to Christ, then I'm going to give up all this stuff. That's how the unbeliever thinks. But the truth is, if you lose your life, you'll gain everything. And that's the truth. because in His presence are pleasures forevermore. And you spend your life drinking from His river of delights because He's a good God. So you see these different views of God. But this man did not see God as a blessing. So he hides his talent in the ground, meaning he refuses to multiply it. Now, this kind of person is in every church I've ever been in. This person does not have delight in Jesus Christ. There's no happiness in his soul. He has no delight in serving. It's just something on the schedule that he has to do. And he begrudges any call for service as if it's some kind of intrusion on his jurisdiction. It's amazing. He tries not to serve. Everything is burdensome. The work is hard. And he's like those that were spoken of by the prophet Malachi. They said, my, how tiresome it is. How tiresome it is to come in and make these sacrifices. Why do we have to do all this? Can't we just stay in bed? That's the mentality of this man and the mentality. Of every unbeliever. This is why Hebrews 11 says this verse six. But with faith, it's without faith, it's impossible to please God and listen to this. For he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. That's what the man with the one talent didn't have. He didn't have a belief that God was a rewarder. He didn't believe that there was a river of delights. He didn't believe that in His presence are pleasures forevermore. So the men with the five and the two talents had a completely different view of God. They believed that He was a good shepherd. They believed they had a good master. They believed they had a good investor. They wanted to be near Him. Did you know Him that way? Do you know His amiable, loving kindness toward you? I mean, do you know it in your soul? Do you know that He's not a hard taskmaster? And He said, take My yoke upon you for My burden is light. My yoke is easy. Do you know Him like a merciful High Priest who is faithful to make sacrifices for your sins that you could never atone for by any amount of repentance or any amount of good works. He is your sacrifice Himself. He's made it all. He has completed it. You are justified. It's over. And there's no more work that you can complete to earn your salvation or atone for your sins. The atonement has happened. Do you see Him as your Advocate pleading your cause? As your bread to feed you? As your light to illuminate your way? As the door that He opens up to you? And He says, come, take, eat. This is My body which was broken for you. This is My blood which was shed for you. Come. Come. Take. Eat. Come. Don't stay away. Don't be so overcome with yourself and your sinfulness. Remember the cross. Remember My blood that was shed for you. Come. Come to the table. The Lord Jesus says, come to the table. Yeah, He says that to real sinful people. who failed like this last week, maybe this morning, but whose hearts desire, who trust in His blood, who believe that He is a rewarder. You know, in these parables, you have these different characters. You have the investor, the boss. There are all these different characters. I mean, think about it. You know, if he was your boss, he would be the best boss. If he were your landlord... I don't know how many of you have landlords. It's hard to be a good landlord. And if he was your landlord, he'd be the best landlord you've ever known. Why was it that children wanted to be near him? Why was it that everyone was flocking around him? Well, Hebrews 1.9 says that He was the happiest of all His companions. The Lord Jesus is an amiable Savior. Do you know Him like that? And then we see what readiness is accomplished in verses 29-30. Finally, for everyone who has, more will be given. And he will have abundance, but from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away and cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping. and gnashing of teeth. Now, first of all, you see these two destinies. First is the destiny of abundance. And secondly, the destiny of devastation. And I'm just going to talk about the three D's of this devastation. It's deprivation, stripped of everything. It's darkness. It's like outer darkness, whatever that is. It's despair, weeping and gnashing of teeth. You know, the unprofitable servant knew what his master wanted. He knew. He did not misunderstand. He wasn't caught unaware. He knew what God wanted, but he did not want God. OK, I want to give you some applications. I'm going to throw out just sort of cattywampus, all kinds of different applications here. So, there's no logical order to them. There's no order of priority, except the very first one is an order of priority. Number one, your thoughts of God determine everything. Your thoughts of God determine everything. What you think about God is the most defining issue of a person's life. How you view Him. It shapes absolutely everything. It makes everything. It shapes everything. Everything in life comes from that. So, I would just ask, what is your view of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Father, Almighty God? What is your view of Him? Is it, whom have I in heaven? But thee, there's nothing that I desire besides thee. Is it in your presence are pleasures forevermore? Is it you are a river of delights? Is that your view of God? Is he a rewarder to you? So, that's the first one. Your thoughts about God determine everything. Know God. Feed your mind with thoughts of God. Fill your heart with the knowledge of God. Be filled with the Spirit of God. Seek God in His Son, by His Spirit. There's nothing, nothing more defining than that. In all of your getting, get wisdom. That's what Solomon said. Secondly, Are you thanking Him for what He gave you? Are you thanking Him for what He gave you? Or are you sorry about what He didn't give you? People often get discouraged because they are not like others. And they're actually despising what God did. Unhappy what God has given. This is a terrible place to be, because God has made a world with so much diversity, with colors and mountains and deserts and elephants and mice and thick people and thin people. He makes Jeremiah and John. He makes Moses. He makes Aaron. He makes Paul. And then He puts aside Barnabas. This is what God does. He doesn't make everyone the same. Thank the Lord He doesn't do that. But are you happy? Are you happy with what He gave you? How about your mind? How about the amount of money that you have? How about everything? Or are you glad? Are you glad to say, oh Lord, this is what I have. Let me multiply that. Whatever it might be. Even if you don't have a penny, you have enormous resources other than money. This parable is about money, but I don't think it just excludes everything else in terms of capacities that God has given. When He ascended on high, He gave gifts to men. Romans 12 says they are differing gifts. 1 Corinthians 7 says every man has his gift. 1 Corinthians 12 11 says all these work by one spirit. Romans 12 verse 4 says all members do not have the same office. In Ephesians 4 11 he said he gave some as apostles and prophets. But are you happy? Are you despising what the potter has done with the clay? Have you rejected the idea that he works all things after the counsel of his own will, as the Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 1.11? Do you reject the idea in Revelation 4 that for your pleasure they are created? God has created everything for his own pleasure. Everything. Even the littlest to the greatest. Third application. Nothing we have is our own. You are not your own. You are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God. in your body. It's not your life. It's not your time. It's not your tongue. It's not your mind. It's not your business. It's not your house. It's not your car. God gave it to you for a time, for one purpose, and that's to multiply spiritual fruit. To live is Christ. Number four, the amount you have is not what's important, but what you have is important. This parable has nothing to do with the amount given necessarily. But it's what was done with the amount given, you know, you can you can get into all these discussions about tithing and, you know, is it is it 10 percent? Is it law? Is it grace? Is it gross? Is it net? Forget all that. Forget all that stuff. What's important is what have you been given? And does it all belong to Him? Are you a steward of absolutely every bit of it? Or are you fixated on some number? It's more than a number. The number is meant to speak to your heart. The truth is, if you want the spirit of the law, the spirit of law is always greater than what the law demands literally by the letter. It's always greater. People who want the spirit of the law want something far, far greater than the letter. Number five, money is a test. Money is a test. We're all being tested by the money we've been given. Luke 16.10 says, He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. He who is unjust in what is least is also unjust in much. And then the Lord speaks about being faithful with unrighteousness. So, money is a test. We're all being tested. Every single person in this room is being tested today. Number six. I want to direct this to young men particularly. Pay attention, young men. Are you ready for Him to return? Are you like Josiah, the boy who ushered in a revival in the land? Are you like Joshua, the young man who assisted Moses? Are you like Joseph, the boy who proved faithful, whether he's in prison or in the palace? Are you like Solomon, the boy who prioritized wisdom over everything else? What you do with your boyhood. What you do with that talent you've been given. Don't despise your youth. This is not just for adults. This is for every young boy and every young girl. The previous parable was about young girls. The Lord Jesus is saying every person should pay attention here with what they have been given. Fathers, attention fathers, a Christian father is wise to help. his whole family to understand every way possible to use every resource they have for the Kingdom of Heaven. This is why God gives fathers to children and husbands to wives, so that they as a family would not waste the resources that they've been given. That they would have someone coming alongside to help called a father who would come and help them focus their time and their energy and their resources. Are you doing that, Dads? Are you doing that? Do you see yourselves as an executor of the will of your Father in heaven? And you're deploying his resources and you're carefully measuring out the energy and the money that you've been given from heaven. Mothers, your sphere may be small, but it's a very public and very long term sphere. And there's something in here for mothers with little children especially. How many mothers do we have with little children? A whole bunch. There are actually more little children there than there are old people in this room right now. Here's what I want to tell you. Are you ready? Please write this down. The narrowness of your sphere of influence is not a narrowness of reward. The narrowness of your sphere of influence is not a narrowness of reward or significance. The narrowness of your sphere of influence is not narrowness of reward or significance. Because you've been given something. You've been given a baby. You've been given a household. You've been given a husband. You've been given much. And the leverage that you have in this world is enormous as a young mama. And to take that resource that you've been given as a gift from heaven is such a precious thing. And it's such a hard thing. But recognize the narrowness of your sphere is not a narrowness of reward or significance. I want to give you a quick method of evaluation by illustration. A calculator, number one. A calculator, a mirror, a friend, a checkbook and a calendar. Check those out. A calculator, your assets. What responsibilities have you been given? What resources have you been given? What's in your hands? A mirror. Self-inventory. Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me and know my ways. A friend. Someone who speaks the truth in love. Maybe it's your wife. Maybe it's your husband who can help you figure out whether you can better use the resources that you've been given. How many wives have been speaking to their husbands about the use of resources? a checkbook where your heart is, a calendar, what you do. All those things can tell a lot about your investments. Next, everyone should ask why he was born. Everyone in this room should be asking, why was I born? And the question is answered in this parable here for a particular purpose. To look to what has been entrusted to you and then to honor the Lord with your wealth and multiply it. Okay, I want to just take a step back for a moment from this parable. Now, this parable was spoken in an enormously significant and dramatic moment in the life of Jesus Christ. Really, just before what is the central moment in the history of the world. Our Lord has come into the world. He's preaching that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. He's come to give His life as a ransom for many. He's come to call to repentance to bring many sons to glory. That's why He came. And now He's right at the very end in just the last final hours of His mission. He's been healing the sick. He's been raising the dead. He's been casting out demons. He's been calming the storms. He's set His face toward the cross. And He's teaching His disciples right now how to understand themselves and how to shepherd His people. And he's creating a new society of sons and daughters that will go out throughout all the earth. And he's only hours from his crucifixion. And he's telling his disciples something really important, and that is that there are two fixed dates that they must understand. And the first date is his resurrection. And the second date is his judgment. And in between those two dates is what he's talking about, what you do in between those times. And he's speaking to them and to every person who's ever lived that there are these two dates, the time when the Lord Jesus Christ ascended to heaven and through the heavens and sat on his father's right hand, ruling and interceding from heaven for his people who are on the earth, who are waiting, who are like those virgins waiting for the bridegroom to come, waiting for the investor to come back to greet him and show him with excitement what they've done. We are between these two dates in history. And we live all of our lives between those two dates. And we look back to one date and we look forward to the other. And everything that we do in this life ought to have those two dates looming large in our lives so that whether we are eating or drinking, whether you're marrying or giving in marriage, whether we're preparing our households for the fief, or we are exercising our duties as governors of some kind, or whether we've been given investments, or whether we're preparing for something to happen significant. Whatever it is, that our eyes are fixed on Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith. That in every conversation, that in every business transaction, that we're ready. We're ready, like those five virgins, we're ready even in our sleep. We're ready to just be awoken and the bridegroom comes. Ready in your sleep. Ready when you're drinking. Ready when you're planning. Ready at all times. Let me just say this. There's no sweeter thing in life than to have a sense of readiness in the common moments of life. Like right now. Like right now. Here we are, sitting here before God. And we're either ready or we're not ready. We either believe that He has a river of delights or He's hard and He's a taskmaster. And now you know who you really are by that measure. But recognize you saints who love the Lord in your hearts. What a sweet thing it is. Multiply the treasures that you've been given. Taste the sweetness of the knowledge of His coming. Remember Him in every moment. God has brought us to this place so there would be a church out in the world where the people would have their eyes lifted to heaven so ready to hear their Master's voice. So ready, so excited to hear. Enter into the joy of your Master. Would you pray with me? O Lord, O Lord Jesus, such a good shepherd, such a marvelous light, and bread. We now come to You as living stones prepared for Your use. Use us up, O Lord. Amen.