Greetings, friend. I’m Mack Lyon. The program is In Search of the Lord's Way to become and to be a Christian. Today’s message is a study of Jesus’ Parable of the Talents. Oh say! I’m so glad you have joined us.
Welcome to our Bible study program In Search of the Lord's Way. You are tuned to what just may be the largest Bible study program in America right now, by radio, television, satellite and the internet. But, it’s as King David of Israel said of “today:” “This is the Lord’s doing; and it is marvelous in our eyes.” We pray we will both be blessed by our study of God’s word together.
One reason Christ our Savior is recognized by some distinguished educators as “the Master Teacher” is His masterful use of parables. There are some fifty parables attributed to Him in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Now, you may have counted fewer than that, but probably not more than that, because some of those that we counted as parables, may have been real life incidents-- such as the story of the “Prodigal Son” for example in Luke 15. Some people, for good reason, believe that and some others like that-- “The Rich Man and Lazarus” in Luke 16 were real life incidences or occurrences. Anyway, today we’re going to see what we can learn from “The Parable of the Talents,” recorded for us in Matthew chapter 25, verses 14 to 30, a part of which we will read after Ken Helterbrand leads us in singing praise to the Lord in a few moments.
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We are reading today from Matthew chapter 25, verses 14 through 18. “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave 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 traded 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.” Now that isn’t all of the parable but we are going to study verse by verse the remainder of it. And so, now let’s go to God in prayer. Holy Father, we are so thankful to You for Your blessings upon us in this ministry and Your blessings upon us today. We are aware of Your presence, and we pray that we may study this passage in the light of that so that we may be drawn closer to You and respond accordingly. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Our text, our Savior’s parable of the talents, is a continuation of His teaching in the preceding chapter about His second coming. Of course, the Lord’s penmen didn’t divide their writings into chapters and verses as we have them in our Bibles today. We have done that so that we can conveniently find our way around in the word and remember references and passages that we want to cite and to remember them. Perhaps the reason for the division between chapters twenty-four and twenty-five is that in the first (that is chapter 24), He addresses questions and teachings about the suddenness of His coming and in chapter twenty-five He emphasizes preparedness for His coming.
The chapter opens with “The Parable of the Virgins,” and it tells of the need for watchfulness-- the need for being ready and staying ready for His return. “The Parable of the Talents” teaches us the duty or the responsibility of working while we wait; just being faithful until He comes. Well, let me put your mind at ease; there’s nothing said here-- well, anywhere else in the Scriptures about a rapture” that is the subject of so much of the teaching and preaching that we’re hearing in our times.
The first four words of the parable that we are to study today, “the kingdom of heaven” are italicized in the King James and the New King James versions-- and in some others-- which indicates those four words were added to the text by the translators. Even so, they seem to be essential to the completion of the first sentence of the parable. They define the subject of the sentence. It’s the future history of the Lord’s kingdom or church that is pictured in this parable. And Jesus said it is like a man preparing to leave on a journey to a far country. He’s going to be gone for “a long time.” So he called his servants together and distributed to them the responsibility for the care of his “goods.” Some seem to think that he chose three of his servants; but to me, the text indicates that those three servants were all the servants he had. Anyway, he distributed his goods among them, to each according to his ability. “To one he gave five talents, to another he gave two, to another he gave one and immediately he went on a journey.”
One commentary I have was published in 1935. And it says, “A talent in silver was valued at about $1,500.00.” Well if that was true then, it would mean one received care of about $7,500.00, another $3,000.00 and another, the other one talent man received responsibility for value at $1,500.00. Now, I was living in 1935 and I know the price of a loaf of bread was somewhere between seven and ten cents, depending on the brand and the store in which you purchased it. And you could buy a brand new, brand spankin’ new car for five or six hundred dollars. So-- well, you can easily see what the inflated value of a “talent of silver” would be nowadays, can’t you if that’s what the Savior was talking about? Of course, it’s as the commentary says, “The value of these talents is not known.” And the word ‘talent’ has acquired in our language the meaning of abilities; it may mean the powers of mind or degree of intelligence, but it did not have such meaning in the days of the Savior. Some think that it has acquired its modern meaning from the use of this parable.
Anyway, after delivering to his servants all his goods, the master took his journey. And immediately the servant who had received the five talents went and he worked and he gained five more. Likewise he who had received the two talents gained two more. And he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground, and had his lord’s money ready when he came back. He hid it there and he had it ready.
Well, Jesus said, “After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.” “After a long time” denotes uncertainty. No! Don’t be deceived, friend. No one-- absolutely no one knows when our Lord will return. According to verse 34 of the preceding chapter Jesus said, “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only.” And you can know this, though; that any person who says he-- or she-- knows is a false prophet or a false teacher. And the Lord said to “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous (or greedy) wolves” (Matthew 7:15).
The servants in this parable didn’t know when their lord would return. They might have even begun to wonder-- or even doubt, as some do today about the return of Christ-- if ever He will return. By the pen of the apostle Peter, the Holy Spirit says of that: “scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His coming for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation. For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water, by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with the water. But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [But] The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:3-9). Anyway, in the parable Jesus said, “The lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them.” Oh me, he settled accounts with them. Yes, Jesus is saying when He comes He will settle all accounts with all of us-- each of us-- individually.
The first servant in the parable, who had received the five talents; well, he learned of his lord’s return and was glad about it. “He brought five other talents, saying, lord you delivered to me five talents; look I have gained five more talents besides them.” His lord pronounced a blessing on him! He called him a “good and faithful servant,” and he promised to appoint him over many things. He had shown a disposition to work in the interest of his master. He had displayed good judgment and brought great gain to his master so, he could occupy a higher position and be assigned greater opportunities for service. He got a promotion, didn’t he?
Well, next came the servant who had been given two talents. He, too, had done the best he could with what he had been entrusted into his care. And look! He had gained two more talents! He, too, was glad that his master had returned, and eager to report to his lord what he had done; he had gained two more. Well, the master was just as pleased with him as he was with the one who was given five talents and had gained five more. And he pronounced on him the same blessing.
Jesus said, “Then he who had received the one talent came.....” Well where has he been all this time? Why does he come dragging in last anyway? Well, yes, he had been given only one talent, that’s for sure; but in his lord’s view, that was all he was capable of handling. His master had a right to look for the same measure of faithfulness in him as he did the others. And Christ Jesus, our Lord, doesn’t expect the same measure of productivity from all of us-- except in fidelity! He does expect that all of us in full measure be faithful. And rightly so, don’t you think? Let’s look at this man’s reasoning-- or perhaps maybe we should say his excuses.
First, he said he knew his master to be severe and demanding; “reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered.” Have you ever heard of such a thing as that? Well, I’m afraid I have. That’s the very excuse that some people use for not believing in-- and living for God and for Christ. “They are too demanding-- too strict,” they tell us. They say to us, “The life of faith takes away all the fun and the freedom of life.” Oh me! Well, next: he said, “I was afraid.” He did as many of us are prone to do. We had a saying on the farm: He “measures everybody in his own half-bushel” meaning of course, he thinks everybody is just like he is. Furthermore, he was “afraid.” I’m frequently asked, “Brother Mack, after all the years that you have been preaching, does it still make you nervous? Aren’t you still a little bit afraid you’ll make a mistake or a gaffe or a slip of the tongue or be misunderstood?” My answer is “Yes. And I wouldn’t walk across the street to hear a preacher who’s not a bit fearful about those things.”
H. Leo Boles, a great gospel preacher of a generation or two ago, a man that I admired and loved-- and-- loved to hear him preach, not because of his unusual oratorical skills, because he was not an orator; but because of what he had to say. Well, anyway he said of this one-talent man in our Lord’s parable, (1) “He appears to be over honest in his effort to appear honest. (2)He was selfish; he would do no labor except on conditions, and (3) His faults did not justify his failure to work in the interest of his master.” Well, his master calls him “a wicked and lazy servant, you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers, and at my coming I would have received my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents.....And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There will be gnashing of teeth.”
Now, about this “outer darkness.” Darkness is the absence of light and, the Scripture says, “God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5). And people who follow Him reflect that light (Matthew 5:14). Therefore, we may rightly say, this man was sentenced to a place where God is not. Furthermore, he’s sentenced to a place where there are no true Christians. That place where God is not, and there are none who reflect God’s light, it’s dark. I mean it’s “pitch dark! There is no one there but unrepentant and unforgiven sinners-- fornicators, idolaters, adulterers and homosexuals and sodomites and thieves and the covetous and drunkards and revilers and extortioners and murderers and liars, and all such people (2 Corinthians 6, verses 10 through 12). All the hatefilled, contentious people who ever lived on the earth will be there. Oh say! No one wants to live in a place like that. Would you? We will be back in a moment. Let’s pray. Holy Father, we are thankful for the teaching that You give us here. We pray that we may sound an alarm to many honest hearted people that they may respond to Thee favorably. In Jesus’ name, we ask it all. Amen!
What a powerful lesson Jesus taught in the Parable of the Talents. The twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew consists of three of His parables and each of them has to do with readiness for the Lord’s return. If you are interested, it would do you-- well, it would do anyone good-- to read the whole chapter: (1) The Parable of the Ten Virgins, (2) this one: The Parable of the Talents: and, (3) His teaching about the judgment.
We used to sing a hymn at church called “There’s A Great Day Coming.” We don’t sing it anymore. It’s our own loss, though. It said, “There’s a great day coming, A great day coming, There’s a great day coming by and by; When the saints, and the sinners shall be parted right and left, Are you ready for that day to come?” The next stanza was about a bright, and the third day about a sad day. The chorus asked, “Are you ready? Are you ready? Are you ready for the judgment day?” Do you believe in Jesus Christ, my friend, the Son of the Living God? If not, you are not ready. Will you repent of your sinful lifestyle, whatever that might be? Are you willing? Will you do it today? God “is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Some in New Testament times believed on Him, but they wouldn’t confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue (John 12:42). How about you? Do you believe in Him enough that you would do what He said? Here’s a simple little test. He said, “He who believes and is baptized will be saved” (Mark 16:16). Would you? If we can assist you in any way, let us do it; will you?
We plan to be back next week at this same time with another Bible lesson on how to become a Christian and live the Christian life. We hope you will be back with us. God bless you. We love you.
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