The Parable of the Ten Virgins
25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
The Parable of the Talents
14 “Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15 To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16 The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17 So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18 But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.
19 “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20 The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’
21 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
22 “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’
23 “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
24 “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25 So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
26 “His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27 Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28 “‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29 For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30 And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’
The first parable begins with "At that time". At what time? The time Jesus was just talking about - the sudden Second Coming. So, this parable illustrates the time period of the Second Coming.
The groom is Jesus Christ. The arrival of the groom and the start of the wedding banquet is the Second Coming. The bridesmaids are those who have identified themselves as Christians and they are awaiting with anticipation the Second Coming of the Lord.
But half of them are revealed to be unsaved. This doesn't mean that exactly half of all church goers are actually unsaved, but it's likely significant that it wasn't just one of the bridesmaids. It's a common problem. There are people sitting in all our church's who claim Christ but who are not actually His. They are initially indistinguishable from the genuine Christians - they appear to be ready, at least superficially. But deep down, they are not prepared. They do not have the oil of saving grace, true salvation, imputed righteousness, genuine holiness, or a transformed life. It was a dead faith. It was a form of godliness with no power.
All these things are mentioned repeatedly throughout the Bible, and even repeatedly in Matthew (the tares and wheat, the narrow and wide gate, the soils). There are many people who are self-deceived and are not the Christians they claim to be. This is not a popular message, but it is the truth, straight from the Word of God.
Jesus confirms that there will be a time of waiting, and the bridesmaids fall asleep. And that's ok. Life goes on and sleep is necessary - but only if you are already prepared!
And when the groom finally came it was sudden, and there was no second chance for those foolish bridesmaids to get more oil. And basically this again confirms that salvation is a personal decision that no one else can make for you. You can't share someone else's salvation, you can't get in on their choice to follow Jesus. You have to make that choice yourself. And if you wait too long, one day it will be too late - whether due to your death or to the Second Coming. The door is open now, but at some point, it will be shut and it will be too late.
So be ready, be prepared, be watchful, be alert - that's the emphasis of this parable.
The emphasis of the parable of the talents is also to be ready and prepared - but specifically to be working, serving, fulfilling our duty at the same time as waiting. It's having the right balance - being alert and watchful while continuing to be diligent and faithful in serving Him.
MacArthur maintains that the talents given in this parable are the gospel privileges we've been granted and that we're being held responsible for.
In other words, this is the privilege of being exposed to the truth of God, to the saving redemptive truth of Christ. And some people are fives. They've been given tremendous privilege, tremendous privilege. Some of you who are in this church would have to be considered at least a five on this particular kind of scale because you have been given great privilege in hearing the gospel and understanding the gospel and having it articulated to you and demonstrated to you and patterned for you. On the other hand, there are some folks who would be on the level of the one who received one talent. Their exposure to the gospel is very minimal and they have come into an assembly of redeemed people that know very little, that are rather primitive, that are rather simple in their understanding of divine truth...
Now He's talking, remember here, about people in the Kingdom. That is those who are visibly identified....
What is done with spiritual opportunity? "He that received the five talents immediately went, traded with the same, made other five talents." Now here's a person who makes 100 percent return on the investment the Lord has given him. He maximized his spiritual privilege. He returned back to the Lord full service. He is a true believer. He is a genuine Christian. He gave the Lord all that he had. He got a full 100 percent return. And I don't care what kind of business person you are, a hundred percent return on anything is good. That's maximal, an excellent, excellent return.
The point being that he illustrates the kind of person who makes the most of his spiritual opportunity, who believed the gospel that he heard and who gave back to the Lord a full life of service.
And then you have in verse 17, "Likewise he that had received two, he gained two more." The servant who received two did the very same. He had limited privilege in terms of comparing him with five, but he made the use of the privilege that he had. He fulfilled all that he could from the opportunity God gave him and returned also a full service rendered based upon the privilege and opportunity that he had received.
And it's kind of a wonderful thing to know that there will be people who don't have five in terms of opportunity, who only have two. But if all they have is two in terms of opportunity, all God wants is a return on what they have. Do you understand? So that sort of relieves a little bit of the burden of wishing that everyone could have the fullest kind of privilege. And so the first two return to the master a full wholehearted maximum return of commitment and service. And they are marked as the true believer, the one who really served with a full heart. Oh, it's not that all believers will serve with that full of response, but that's the pattern, that's the example, that's the supreme mark of genuine love and service, wholehearted service. So they used their privilege.
Then you come to verse 18. "The one who received one talent went and dug in the earth and hid his lord's money." Now there's the mark of a false servant. He made nothing in terms of effort, absolutely nothing. He did nothing. He thought about nothing. He invested nothing. He is not a true believer. He is a virgin with no oil. There is no fruit in his life. There is no inward grace in his life. There's nothing, no service rendered. He did nothing. He buried it and that's it. He illustrates the one who given privilege does not return the opportunity given to him, does not take advantage of it, does not use it. When he hears the gospel, he doesn't respond to it. And even though he's heard it on a limited basis, he is still responsible...
Every person exposed to the gospel, every person brought in to the outward Kingdom, a part of the church no matter how limited the privilege within that, if they at all been exposed to the saving truth of Jesus Christ become inexcusable...inexcusable if they waste that opportunity...
There is coming a time of reckoning, verse 19 says it, "After a long time, the lord of those servants comes and reckons with them." He was gone a long time. The implication there again as I told you earlier is that the Lord is telling them His coming will be delayed, just like 25:5 where He said the bridegroom tarries. Those are veiled ways of Him telling the disciples He's not going to set up His Kingdom as soon as they think He is. And after a long time, the Lord is going to come. And during the time before He comes, men and women are going to be having these privileges, some on a level of five, some on a level of two, some on a level of one. But the day is coming when the Lord comes back to reckon. ... It will be judgment time. It is a time for revealing the heart. It is a time for evaluating the service rendered, finding out who the true servants are...
Verse 20 tells us what happened. "He that had received five talents came and brought five more talents saying," and I want you to hear it in the Greek word order, "Lord, five talents you delivered to me, behold, five talents more I have gained." The emphasis here is on the five talents. And he's very excited because he can face judgment with excitement and enthusiasm and anticipation because he knows what he's done with his privileges. He knows what he's done with his opportunity. He knows that he has rendered service to the Lord and so in terms of the New Testament phrase that Paul uses, he will have boldness in the day of judgment. He will have boldness in the day of judgment. Or as John says it, he will be not ashamed at the coming of the Lord. Because he knows he has something to show for the opportunity that he was given. He's filled with excitement...
There's no boasting here. There's no pride here. There's no self-styled sort of spirituality here. He's saying five talents you gave me, I recognized the source of every privilege, I recognized the source of every opportunity, of every responsibility, I have what I have because of you, not because of me....Yes, I recognize that you are the source, but I also rejoice that I was faithful in responding...
And the master recognizes integrity in his heart....Good, inherently good, good inwardly, genuinely good and reliable, trustworthy, faithful servant. And he's not saying you did well and you could be trusted in this, he says you are good and you are trustworthy. It is a characterization. He's not just commenting on his service, he's commenting on his character, excellent, good, trustworthy servant.
It's quite remarkable, isn't it, that the holy God, the God of the universe, the Lord God whom we love and serve could ever look at us and say "Excellent, you good and faithful servant," isn't it? That certainly isn't the provision of the law but it is the provision of the grace of the gospel, is it not? It is the provision not of our own strength but of the power of the Holy Spirit....But the Lord is so generous and He's so gracious that He doesn't stop there. He says to the servant, "You have been faithful over a few things, I'll make you ruler over many things. You've proven you're trustworthy, you've proven you're good and if you can handle a few things I'm going to put you over a lot of things."
You want to know something? What you do in eternity and what I do in the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ in terms of service rendered to Him is determined by my service right here....Because eternity will be a time of service. The Kingdom will be a time of service.... rewards for the believer are basically greater opportunities for service....
You say, "In other words, in heaven there are going to be ranks of people." Well, let me see if I can't help you with that. Yes and no...first of all, let's say no. In heaven we'll all possess eternal life, right? You can't have more or less eternal life. Eternal life is eternal life, period, paragraph. We'll all be like Jesus Christ. You can't be more like Christ than I am. We'll all be exactly like Christ. We'll all be perfect without sin. And you can't be more perfect than perfect. So you can't be more eternal than eternal. You can't be more like Christ than like Christ. You can't be more perfect than perfect. So, in a sense, everybody will be all equal in glory in eternity....
But, while that is true, it is also true that there will be differing levels of service, unquestionably. There will be differing levels of service in the Kingdom...And that place of service will be related to the service we rendered here.... And the service we are able to render here is in a measure dependent upon sovereignly designed gospel privilege so that ultimately our eternal service is dependent on God's sovereign choice for us and our response to that choice.
Now let me say that having...let me say this having said that. When you get to heaven you won't have the sense of relative service. You won't say, "Well, I'm a janitor over in the left wing and I'm pushing this holy broom forever and ever while so-and-so's up there singing solos in the choir." No, I don't think there will be any sense of the difference. I don't think it will be relative, I think it will be absolute. Each one of us will be exactly like Christ, exactly perfect, absolutely sinless, fully possessing eternal life. So whatever service we render it will be infinitely eternally and perfectly satisfying. You understand that? So there will be no sense of disparity, or not sense of lesser privilege or greater privilege than anyone else has. Because the privilege we occupy there will be in exact accord with our eternal God-designed and God-given capacities....
We not only will receive a verbal commendation from the Lord, we not only will receive service capacity to serve Him eternally, but we will enter into the very joy of the Lord Himself. It's inconceivable. We will be as joyful as the Lord is joyful. We will be as satisfied as the Lord is satisfied. And imagine the satisfaction of the heart of the Lord to know that redemption is accomplished, to know that Satan is defeated, to know that sin is abolished, to know that the righteous Kingdom forever and ever is established, to know that He is ultimately and forever glorified. Imagine the consummate joy of a redemptive plan completely finished. And it is that same joy of the Lord into which we will also enter. It is that joy, it says in Hebrews 12:2 that Jesus saw when He went to the cross. It says that He endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him. And that very same joy of accomplishing our redemption, that very same joy of destroying sin, of exalting righteousness, that joy that our Lord experiences, we will experience as well. Just an incredible and marvelous thing....
Then verse 24, "Then he that had received the one talent came. And he said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not spread. And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, here is what is yours." And this is completely different. We go from the glad part of the story to the very very sad part, very, very sad. Here is one who professes to believe. He says he is a servant. He belongs to the household. He is in the estate, if you will. He says he's a steward. He says his goal in life is to serve his master. But there are two things that betray this guy. Number one, he produced nothing. He produced nothing. There was no fruit.
So, first of all, we would say he is revealed as a non- believer by his lack...by his lack. Secondly, by his attack, by his attack. He attacks the character of his master. He proves himself not to be a loving servant who respects and loves his master. He says, look at it again in verse 24, "I know thee," and this is his opinion, "that thou art an hard man."
Now he's not a man who is anti-God. He's not an atheist. He's not anti-Christ. He's not a wicked vile God-hating Christ- rejecting individual. He says he's a servant. He says he belongs. He doesn't waste his master's goods like the unjust steward of Luke 16. He doesn't's spend it all in riotous living the prodigal of Luke 15. He doesn't embezzle it like the unmerciful servant of Matthew 18. No, he just does nothing with it. He is not illustrative of a wasteful evil vile wretched life, he is illustrative of a man who just wasted opportunity. And that's tragic. He lived in the environment of redemption. He said he served the Lord, but he didn't. And first we know it because there was no fruit. He hid it in the ground. It was his lack that proved there was nothing there. And then it was his attack. Look what he says....You're hard. You're unforgiving, you're unrelenting, you're unbending, you're unmerciful, you're ungracious, you're unkind, you lack compassion, you're too tough, you have no sensitivity.
That's not so. He's...he's functioning out of fear, see.... And religion is full of people who would make that excuse, "Well, it was too much for me, I just figured You were too hard a God and too unbending and too condemning and too judgmental and too ungracious." ...
He says, "I know two things about you, one--you're hard and ungracious. And two--you take things from other people." Now does he know the God that we know? Does he know the Lord that we know? ...He doesn't know the Lord at all. He doesn't know his master at all. He is pretended to be a servant but he doesn't know his master. How he could say that, that You're uncompassionate, unkind, ungracious, and then to say that even the things that we do for You, You get the benefit. That betrays a non-worshiping heart. Do you know what the greatest joy in my life is? Is to serve the Lord so that He can get the benefit, isn't that Your desire? Anybody who says, "I don't want to do that because You get all the glory" does not understand who is Lord is. There's no submission in his heart. He doesn't serve the Lord here. He is blind to his master's kindness. He is blind to his master's grace. He is blind to his master's mercy. He is blind to his master's compassion. And he's equally blind to his master's honor and his master's majesty and his master's glory and his master's worthiness....
This man attacks God. He attacks Him. Calls Him ungracious and unworthy of collecting the harvest from somebody else's labors. So then he says in verse 25, "I was afraid, I was afraid," he says, "of such an unbending, ungracious God."
And what does he mean by that? Well, he probably means I was afraid that if I tried to invest it and gained something and lost, I'd get punished. And if I gained something and gained it, you'd take it anyway. So I couldn't lose...I couldn't win, I would lose either way. If I lost, I lost. If I gained, I lost. So I was afraid of You and I went and hid it in the earth and figured the best thing to do is just to make sure I can deliver it as is back to You when You return. Here, he says, the Greek says "here, you have what is yours. Fair enough." But this is an excuse. This is just so much baloney, to put it in the vernacular.
Verse 26, "His lord answered and said to him, You wicked and lazy servant." Stop there. He doesn't say, "Oh, you poor misguided fella, you've got a fouled up theology." He knew better. That man was a part of the community of servants, he knew the nature of his master. That was revealed to him, he knew that. And anybody associated with the redeemed community knows our Lord, doesn't he? You know what the characteristics are. You can read the Scripture. You can hear the message. He is a God of grace and mercy and compassion. He doesn't say, "You misguided servant." He says, "You wicked and lazy servant, you are wicked in the sense that you pursued your evil pursuits. You just took the money and stuck it in the ground, you just hid that talent away, you made no use of that privilege because it got in your way, the way of your wickedness and the way of your own lazy life style and you would not...you would not give up your wickedness and you would not toil in My service because you had no heart for that. You are a wicked and you are a lazy servant."...
And then He says this, interesting, and He isn't saying that it's true, He is just picking up from the servant, and He says...let me see if I can read it in the way it's intended, "You wicked and slothful servant, you knew that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not spread, did you?" In other words, He's saying, "Oh, is that so? You knew that, did you? You knew that I was hard and that I expected a return? You knew that?" And then He says in effect, "If you knew that," verse 27, "you should have put My money to the exchangers and then in My coming I should have received Mine own with interest."
In other words, if your problem was really that you thought I was a hard man and you thought I wanted to take and harvest something that somebody else had worked for, if you knew that's what I wanted, then why didn't you at least give it to the exchangers and get Me a little bit of interest. He's saying to him, "You're a liar. You didn't care what I was like. You didn't analyze what I was like until you need an excuse. You went on with your evil lazy life style, ignoring your spiritual opportunity for no other reason than your own desire had nothing to do with your theology. And don't let that be an excuse."....
He's saying to him, "If you really thought that I was a God to be feared, then at least You would have done that." It was easier to do that, by the way, then to dig a hole. You just go through the city gate one day where the bankers were and hand them the money and sign the paper and make the deal and that's it. It took very little effort at all. If you really had feared Me, you would have at least done that. But the excuse doesn't hold water....
But the Lord says to him, "You're unmasked as a liar. You didn't hide it in the ground because you were afraid of Me, because if you would have been afraid of Me you would have done something even in your laziness to at least give Me a little bit of return. You hid it in the ground because you were too wicked and too lazy to care. You wasted your privilege totally, totally wasted your privilege."...
So, people, let me just sum it up very simply. In the Kingdom, in the church, in the assembly of the redeemed, there are going to be those who are prepared and who are serving the Lord, there are going to be those unprepared and who outwardly may be active but are not ready for His coming. And when the Lord comes there will be a separation and a delineation based upon their service rendered to Him. All excuses set aside, false service will be ended and that which they appear to be doing will be given to some others to do for throughout the Kingdom and throughout eternity.
And what the parable is intending to say is stated in verse 13. Just be sure you're ready when that day comes. And it may not be that you wait till the Second Coming for that day, it may come the moment you die and that may be very near. If the church is raptured out and you're still here, you may die during that Tribulation and never live to see the Second Coming. You may die before the church is even raptured. But the moment that you face God, this will become a reality, whether your service was true or whether it was false. It's a fearful thing to realize but there are bridesmaids with not any oil in their lamp. There are servants who think when the Lord comes it's going to be okay and it isn't...it isn't.
Tomorrow's scripture focus: Matthew 25:31-46
1 comment:
Time to re-evaluate. Am I living for eternity? Will I be ready when that day comes? Will I have done everything I can to prepare my children and family? My daycare kids? My Sunday School kids? My friends?
Post a Comment