All right, Matthew chapter 25, Matthew chapter 25, parable of the talents. I always like looking up some of these things, how much was a talent, how much was all these various things, and I'll just mention this. One of the things that I kept coming across was that a talent is worth 20 years of labor. All right, so when you think about it, it's made up of a certain number of denarii, which is a day's wage for the common laborer. So we're talking about one talent being 20 years of labor. So keep that in mind when we're looking at this. How many employers, how many masters would give you pay 20 years ahead? That's just for one talent. So advanced pay, here's what you're gonna need for the next how many years. So notice with me that verses 14 and following, for the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country. Now pause there just a moment. I remind you, verse one said, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins. So we see that this is a continuation. This is all going back to Matthew, chapter 24, after Jesus said that the the there would not be one stone left upon another as far as the temple is concerned. So now we see here it's continued again for the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country. So all of this is continued teaching, answering the disciples with their questions about Jerusalem, and the temple being destroyed. So as a man traveling into far country, obviously, according to the parable, it's the man going into heaven as Jesus goes back, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. I remind you that Jesus is preparing his disciples for his second coming. He's preparing them to be ready. Again, the emphasis at the end of chapter 24 is to watch verse 24, Matthew 24, verse 42, watch therefore for, you know, not what hour your Lord does come. So he's preparing them for his return someday. So he's goes into our country. He calls his own servants and notice he delivers unto them his goods. None of the things that we have are our own. In fact, Psalm 24 verse 1 tells us very clearly that we even are His. He owns us by creative right and also His redemptive right as the Lord Jesus shed His blood to redeem us. So it's all His goods. We are only stewards. Everything is the Lord's. And unto one, He gave five talents. to another two and to another one to everyone. Notice every man according to his several ability and straight away took his journey. Now, this totally runs counter to our culture. But I want you to notice here, the Lord discriminates based on ability, but he does not judge on the base of ability. I want to emphasize that because the ability is not the basis of reward or lack thereof. First Corinthians 1211 in the context of spiritual gifts, but all these work of this one and self same spirit. So all of the gifts that are listed there, it's still the one and self same spirit dividing to every man severally as he will. The Lord determines all of these things. Now, when we think about our day, you know, equal pay, equal grades, all those kinds of things. In our day, they often will grade on a curve. So the highest grade gets the A plus, and everything scales down from there. Somebody might have only gotten 60% of them right, but they got the A plus because they were at the top grade. That is not how God deals with things. And in reality, a lot of people get to the real world, and they find out that they were cheated in their schooling and their education. So all of these things, it's based on ability. I do not believe it's wrong for an employer to give somebody who has demonstrated greater abilities a greater responsibility as far as the business is concerned. Verse 16. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise, he that had received two, he also gained other two. And notice, he that had received one talent, so in verses 16 and 17, five and two, we see they are very productive. That's the productive life. Somebody who's producing for the Lord Jesus Christ, a profitable servant, as it says. But notice now we have the one who received one and notice what he does with that one talent. Remember this, this is equivalent of 20 years of labor. He went and dig in the earth and hid his Lord's money. Notice it was his Lord's money. And when we understand that elsewhere, Jesus in the, in the parable and a Luke 19 that I got the wrong passage on last week in Luke 19, when we think about, how he says, occupy till I come. God wants us to utilize the things that God has given to us. Now, in particular, I want you to understand that talents refers to money. But I want you to think about all the other talents, all the other benefits, all the other blessings that God has given to us. First of all, the offer of salvation. I believe that's why I believe the offer of salvation is given to everyone, because God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. Everyone has been given the offer of salvation. But how are, how in spite of that, I want you to consider that I keep saying 90% because of the remnant idea in scripture. But let's just say 90% of people will take that offer of salvation. They will go and bury it in the earth and do nothing about it. And so literally they will die and go to hell. So the offer of salvation, the word of God and truth. God has given us a treasure. God has given us a blessing and something that we can utilize the truth and we need to apply it to our lives. So God is going to examine our lives as to what we've done with his word. Each new day is a thing of mercy, you know, as far as, I just drew a blank on how Lamentations 3 goes. God's mercies are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. So when we think about the fact that God has given us every new day as a gift from him, it's a gift of God's mercy. Even life is a gift from God. So what are we doing with our lives? Are we giving it back to God in wise stewardship? Our marriage, our children, our grandchildren. Bible very clearly says that children are inherited from the Lord. Our church family, brothers and sisters in Christ, do we do we take these things lightly as we understand that God has given us something and it is a stewardship of how we are to use that for his glory? A goodly heritage is Baptist. I've talked through a Baptist history more than once over the years. And every time I look back through that, that type of history, it's an amazing thing that we have an heritage of those who faithfully stood against, you know, the pagan church, the Roman Catholic Church, They faithfully stood against the government and so on when they told them that they were not to worship God according to the Word of God. Not only that, but we have money, substance, possessions, all of these things, employment, our job, our own business, whatever the case may be. God has given each one different things to use in stewardship to him, spiritual gifts. 1 Peter 4, verses 10-12. And 11 tells very clearly that God has given us gifts to serve one another to the glory of God. Again, all of these things that we could call God's talents or blessings, some of the things that he has entrusted to us in stewardship, health and strength, a place to lay our head at night, property to live on, a house to live in, time. You think about every moment. We are to redeem the time. We are to literally make each moment profitable for God's glory. And as we look at this passage again, God has given each of us abilities. So we see again, according to everyone's ability, we see in this passage. So some have the ability to take on five talents faithfully. Some have the ability of two. And I want you to understand that as far as the Lord is concerned, the man that's traveling to a far country, I believe it's very likely, according to what Jesus says in this story, that in verse 18, the one who had received one talent, he went and digged in the earth. Why? Because his master knew that he could not handle more than one talent. He could not handle as much as somebody with five talents. But the whole matter is he was not faithful with what the Lord had given him. Now, you notice in verse 19 and following, there's a day of reckoning that's coming. Now, what you notice it says here, in verse 19, after a long time, the Lord of those servants. Notice he is Lord, whether we recognize it or not. Every knee will bow, every tongue will confess, the Bible very clearly says. After a long time, it's now been almost 2,000 years, notice the Lord of those servants cometh, and notice reckoneth with them. This is the accounting, the day of accounting, the day of reckoning. I want you to understand, be reminded, we'll look at these passages in a moment here, but as far as the judgment seat of Christ, that's for believers and our works will be evaluated based on what God says in his word. But of course, also those who do not place their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ will stand before the great white throne judgment before they're cast into lake of fire. Notice as far as this day of reckoning, how Jesus presents this in this parable. 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. I want you to notice as far as the five and the two talented servants, I want you to notice this confidence that they have and boldness. I want you to notice a couple of places in 1 John. I wanna show you that God wants us to be faithful so that we are able to be confident when He comes, that we're able to be bold in the day of judgment. Notice it says here in 1 John 2, verse 28, now little children abide in Him that when He shall appear, we may, notice, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, obviously, for us to be confident before God and the Lord that is coming, we're going to need to be righteous. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Also notice with me chapter 4, verse 17. Let me see, let's look at verse 16 and 17. It says, and we have known God and believe the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect. Notice that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. If a man say, I love God and hateth his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? In this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. But again, I want you to notice verse 17, what he says that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. We're not talking about self-confidence here. We're talking about because of a life of faithfulness, we can stand before God and say, here's what you gave me. Here's what I've done with those things. Let's go back to Matthew 25. I want you to notice something else here. Notice it says, the five talented servant gained five talents more. Now, again, it's not the purpose of this in a parable kind of decide why the Lord said five and five or whatever. So if he did four, would he have been faithful with what God gave him? The point that Jesus is making is that they are being productive, they're producing, they are profitable as a servant. Verse 21, his Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Oh, may we all hear that statement from the Lord someday. Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You notice he's not judged based on his abilities. That's gonna be important as far as the one talented servant. It's faithfulness, not talent that is under judgment here. God is not judging their ability. The Lord is judging their faithfulness with what he gives to them. Thou has been faithful over a few things, five talents. I mean, that seems like a lot, you know, a hundred years worth of labor, you know, given to you up front. to manage. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Notice the fullness of joy as we hear the Lord say, well done, good and faithful servant. And we receive the rewards from him. Notice verse 22. It's important to catch something here. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents because of my ability. Behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. His Lord said unto him, now I want you to notice the comparison here. Verse 23, back with verse 21. Well done, good and faithful servant. Hmm, that sounds just the same commendation as the five talented servant received. Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things. The reward is the same. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Notice the joy is the same. Everything's the same between the five talented and the two talented servants. That tells me that if the one talented servant had been faithful with one talent, he would have heard the same commendation, would have received the same reward. I want you to notice the contrast here with the one talented servant, verse 24. Then he, which had received the one talent, came and said, Lord, I knew thee. I'm gonna insert dot, dot, dot there for a moment. Lord, I knew thee. Now this tells me he does not know the Lord. And remember, Jesus has said more than once, as we've seen in our study of the Gospels, depart from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. So we see here this one talented servant. He says, I knew thee. So he has a self-confidence, a false sense of confidence here. And notice that thou art in hard man. So he's accusing the Lord of being harsh, not gracious. Is that true? Did the Lord of the servants have to give anything to these servants as a steward? It was all out of His grace. Okay, so the list that I made a moment ago, did God have to give any of those things to us? Anything beyond hell is God's grace and mercy. So when we think about the fact that this servant said, I knew thee, I know that thou art a hard man. But I think it's very interesting, lest I forget to say this, the Lord in the parable does not say that I'm a hard man. Again, it's a, it's an expression of his grace to even to provide these talents, 20 years, 20 years, each talent. So he received 20 years worth of labor upfront to manage. I knew that there are in a hard man reaping where thou has not sown and gathering where thou has not strawed. How many poor lazy people? I'm not judging the poor, but when somebody is, surviving off welfare because they don't want to go to work. We're not talking about somebody who physically is not able to work. We're talking about somebody who doesn't want to work. It's been a while since I've used this illustration, but it just came to my mind. When we lived in an apartment complex in Ohio, this man who had trouble with drugs and alcohol was on disability. And he had one of those cars that he had to push start all the time so he could go somewhere. And how many times I saw him physically be able to push start his car, but he couldn't physically go to work. I'm sorry. That's an excuse. You're living off of somebody else's money. That's lawfulness. So, so we're not, we're not talking about that kind of situation, but you notice here, he says, there's literally this, this one talented servant says, you have special privileges. You have all the advantages. Notice, you reap where thou hast not sown. You gather where thou hast not strawed. So we see here that accusing the Lord of having an unfair advantage, he's actually making excuses as to why he was not faithful with what the Lord had given to him. And notice verse 25, we have paralyzing fear here. I was afraid. And went and hid thy talent. Notice, it's the Lord's talent, not the servant's talent. Hid thy talent in the earth. And notice he's not even willing to go and dig it up for him again. And notice, lo there, thou hast that is thine. You want that one talent back? It's over here. I'll show you where it is. You can dig it up for yourself. Notice his Lord answered. Notice the Lord is going to answer in relation to this. His Lord answered and said unto him, thou wicked and slothful servant. Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed. Now, I want to pause there just a moment. Notice slothfulness is equal with wickedness. The book of Proverbs has a lot to say about slothfulness and the sluggard. I really believe that we have set traps before our young people, the younger generations, and this is why I say this. We have a lot of slothfulness slothful and sluggards, that's what the Bible calls them, who spend a lot of time on cell phones and all those kinds of things doing nothing of profit. I want you to understand, young people, there's a trap that has been set for you by our culture. Beware of it, because you will not excel for God's glory if you waste hour upon hour. So then we have people, who will have their headsets on. I mean, they spent hours just listening to music, doing nothing that is profitable. Notice, slothfulness is the same as wickedness according to the Lord. Thou wicked and slothful servant. Thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not strawed." Notice he did not agree with the one talented servant that he was an hard man. He was harsh in his dealing with people. He was gracious, again, in giving these talents to these servants. Thou oughtest therefore to have, we could even say, at least put my money to the exchangers. Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usurer interest. At least put it in the bank so I get some interest off of it." That's what he's saying here to this servant. Notice what we don't use for his glory, God will actually take from us. Take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which have 10 talents. So the 10 talented servant was given the talent from the one servant who did nothing with it. Why? Because he was most profitable. For unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance. But from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. So when we understand in this context, I believe what Jesus is emphasizing is the one who does nothing is actually the unbeliever. You see, notice verse 30, it says, "'And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'" That obviously refers to an eternal hell. I want you to notice a couple of other references here in Matthew that refer to some of this statement here. Notice Matthew 8, verse 12. I just want to show you a couple of references here to emphasize and remind us that he's speaking of hell there. So obviously, this is an unbeliever. As it says in Matthew 8, verse 12, the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. Now, this is a statement, a theme that the Lord has emphasized throughout his ministry. This, Matthew 8, of course, is earlier in his ministry. So in relation to national elect Israel, he says, the children of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Also in Matthew 22, we saw this as well in the early stages when he was confronted in relation to this. Verse, well, let's just start with verse 11 to show us the context here. And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment. And he saith unto him, friend, how camest thou in not having a wedding garment? and he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Now, what I want to emphasize is this. In relation to the teaching that Jesus gave in this context of Matthew 25, I want to emphasize that the Lord Jesus has at least a secondary application the idea about Israel not being profitable with the things that the Lord had given them. Notice Romans 9 as an example. So when we understand that national Israel was given so many blessings, I believe this is one of the reasons why in some of those contexts Jesus actually, speaking of the religious leaders and the religious Jews in Jerusalem and Judea, they had all kinds of privileges given to them as a nation. Paul mentions this here in Romans 9 verse 1. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh. Obviously he's speaking of national Israel here. Notice now he's going to list the blessings, the spiritual blessings that Israel was given. Who are Israelites, to whom pertaineth the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, the promises, whose are the fathers, and of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is overall God-blessed forever, amen. When we realize that national Israel, at the time of Christ, had their Messiah in front of them, he was speaking to them, and they did nothing with it. It's similar to the one talented servant Okay, they have all of these list of blessings here, all of these talents, and they went, they dug a hole, buried it, and said, we don't want this man to reign over us. And when you think also about Luke 16, when we think about the fact that the rich man ended up in hell. the weeping and gnashing of teeth. I believe we see very clearly what national Israel, generally speaking, was, but anyone who does nothing with the gospel will end up suffering forever. Now, we're close to this, so I want you to notice Romans 14. We'll bring the application for us today. Will we hear, well done, thou good and faithful servant? Now, I wanna remind us in closing here today, as far as believers in Christ, that we have been given a trust, a stewardship, are we going to be found faithful with it? Verse 10 through 12. Why dost thou judge thy brother? Why dost thou set it not thy brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ. There will be no comparisons on that day. We're going to stand before the Lord Jesus Christ and give an account of ourselves before God. No comparisons. For it is written, as I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. After a long time, it says, the Lord of those servants came and reckoned with his servants. 1 Corinthians 3, verse 11. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now, if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, contrast, wood, hay, stubble, something that will burn up, every man's work shall be made manifest. Again, this is for believers standing before the judgment seat of Christ, giving an account of their works. Notice, the day of Christ shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire. And again, I remind you, the Lord's eyes appear as flames of fire. It shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Again, God does not judge our abilities. He judges faithfulness with what the Lord has given to us. So all of the blessings that are listed, what are we doing with those things for his glory? What sort it is. If any man's work abide, which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, just as it was by fire. knowing not that ye, talking about the church, are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. If any man defiled the temple of God, him shall God destroy, for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are. Chapter four, verse one. So let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, notice this, as stewards and stewards of the mysteries of God. We are stewards of the truth that God has given to us. Moreover, it is required in stewards that a man be found faithful. What I think is amazing is God requires us to be found faithful, and yet he's the one who gives us mercy to be found faithful. Paul gives the phrase, I obtain mercy that I might be found faithful. But with me, it's a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of man's judgment. Yeah, I judge not mine own self, For I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. Therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and make manifest the counsels of the hearts. And then shall every man have praise of God." Again, I'm asking us to consider, will we hear the Lord say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. One other passage, 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5 verses 9 and 10. Wherefore we, oh, labor. That's, you know, that's similar to that bad four-letter word, W-O-R-K. Wherefore we labor, that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. What does it mean to be accepted of him? Well done, thou good and faithful servant. This is why I want to tie all these passages together. For we must, we must, nobody's going to escape this, We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. I've mentioned this before. I'm not, for the sake of this study, going to remind us of this, but there's five crowns that are mentioned in scripture. Five crowns because of how we faithfully live our lives. So with these five crowns, I want you to consider why will they be so important? Oh, so we can have everyone say, yeah, look at all that you did. No. In Revelation 4, it says we are gonna take those crowns and cast them back at the feet of Jesus. So when we tie these passages together, so in 1 Corinthians 3, it says that our works will be tried by the fiery look of the Lord Jesus. So if I only have ashes to show for my life because I wasn't faithful to what God gave to me to serve him, if everything, all of my works are burned up, I will not have a crown cast at the feet of the Lord Jesus. That's a sobering thought in my perspective. That's gonna be a day when we say, Lord, I did nothing. May we hear the Lord say, like the five and the two talented servant, well done, thou good and faithful. Enter into the joy of thy Lord. And let me remind you also, faithful to little things, a ruler of much. What we do now will determine what we're able to do for the Lord in his kingdom. Lord, help us to be found faithful. Thank you for thy mercy, enabling us to be found faithful. Lord, may we hear you say someday, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Lord, it's not abilities that you're going to judge. It's faithfulness. May we be found faithful, in Jesus' name, amen.