Matthew 24:36-51 & 25:14-30 | Ted Tash

[0:00] Good morning. If you appreciated not having to hear me sing, make sure you thank Nate later.! Go ahead and turn with me, if you will, to Matthew chapter 24.

[0:17] ! We're going to be in Matthew chapter 25 today, but we're going to start in 24. And you'll see why in just a little bit. I will say that this message is about 60% introduction and about 40% body.

[0:35] And also about 1% of, hey, if the musicians want to come forward. That's always in there too. But you'll see why we're going to start in 24 and you'll see why we're doing a lot of introduction.

[0:46] But before we get to that, I do want to say he's not up here, but happy birthday to Jeff. He's 40 today, so that's kind of fun. Jeff is a great friend and he is extremely extroverted and really gets his energy from other people.

[1:05] I do not. I'm very introverted. I can be around people. I can have a lot of fun in a group for sure, but that drains me and that brings him up. And so it's a lot of fun to be around Jeff.

[1:18] He's been a good friend, a good example of a husband and father. He's about like eight years ahead of Lydia and I, him and Teresa. And so it's been good to just come up behind him and bounce questions off him. So happy birthday, Jeff.

[1:28] Hope you watch it. If you don't watch it, all good. So there's that for Jeff. We're in the book of Matthew and we're almost done, which is crazy.

[1:43] We've been going through Matthew verse by verse for about two years or so. And we're going to finish in October. I don't know if you guys know that, but we will be finished with the book of Matthew verse by verse in October, which is really cool because Matthew is a big book.

[1:57] There's 28 chapters and a lot of these chapters have a lot of verses. Like 24 has 50, 25 has about 50. I think 26 and 27 have like 70.

[2:09] Big book, a lot of chapters, a lot of big chapters in the book. So it's pretty cool to have gone almost all the way through it verse by verse. And like I said, we'll be finished in October.

[2:23] Now, I am not a runner. In fact, there's only two things I know about running. If you are running behind a car, you might get exhausted. But if you're running in front of the car, you will get tired.

[2:35] So I heard that one yesterday and I had to throw it out there. But I have married into a family of runners. Lydia and all her siblings all like to run.

[2:46] And so by proxy, I know a little bit about how the marathons go. And nowadays they have a little chip that you wear when you run a marathon. You can follow, you know, your family member or friend or whoever as they run the race on an app, like live in real time.

[3:01] And what you'll see is, you know, they might start out at like an eight minute a mile pace. And they'll keep that for like 20 miles. But then somewhere around like 21, 22, when they're really in the grind of the marathon, it slows down.

[3:14] And they start going 815, 830, 9. But then they get to like mile 25 and it's one mile to go. And the finish line is there and people are cheering.

[3:25] And they pick up that pace for the last little mile, the last little push. All of Scripture is good. All of the book of Matthew is good. I'm not trying to say that there's parts that are better than the others.

[3:36] But right here in the mile 23, 24, 25 of Matthew, you have like a month and a half worth of end times discussion. And it's heavy material.

[3:48] It's judgment. It's like final judgment. It's tribulation. It's, you know, Daniel's 70th week. Probably like the worst thing that is described in the Bible. Just terrible judgment. It's a heavy topic.

[4:00] And then on top of that, it's also a very divisive topic, right? People have a lot of opinions about end times. There's just a lot of opinions about it. Some say, you know, there's a pre-tribulation rapture.

[4:11] Some people say it's a post-tribulation rapture. Some people say there is no rapture. There's a pre-millennial. There's a post-millennial. There's a millennial, which I just found out about. People think there is none.

[4:22] Some people think that we're in the millennium right now. You know, it's kind of like a therapy session. Is the millennium in the room with us right now? So it's a very heavy topic.

[4:33] It's a very divisive topic. And my encouragement to you as a body is we're almost through the end time stuff. We got today. And today will be pretty light, to be honest with you.

[4:44] Next week, Sirian is actually going to bring us the message on the final judgment. You know, the great white throne. And then we're through it. And then it's on to just some really, really great, easy reading, good topics.

[4:58] Things like the institution of the Lord's Supper. That comes next. Peter's denial. Judas' betrayal. Jesus' death. His trial. His burial. His resurrection.

[5:08] The Great Commission. All that's coming between now and October. So we're almost through the heavy stuff. We're almost on to that downhill sprint. So hang in there. So with that out of the way, I can get to the introduction, which comes from Matthew 24.

[5:25] So today's passage, we're going to do the parable of the talents. And that's the fifth of five parables on readiness. So there's five parables from Matthew 24, 36 to Matthew 25, 30 about readiness.

[5:43] Being ready for the coming of the Lord. And we're going to go back and look at the first three today because those actually got skipped.

[5:53] Kevin Fitzgerald came and he gave a great message on the book of John. It was seven nevers from the book of John. If you have not heard that message, I would really encourage you to hop on our YouTube channel and look it up.

[6:04] That was a phenomenal message that he gave. But we missed out on a little bit from Matthew 24. So we're going to go look at that today. And again, this is just kicking off these topics of readiness.

[6:18] And so if there's a title to the message, it would be, Am I Ready? Or perhaps, Are You Ready? And so we'll look at that today. So let's go ahead and pray and then we'll get into it.

[6:28] Father God, just thanks for loving us. Thank you that you've given us your word. Thank you that we have freedom here in this country to study it and to preach it openly. And God, we just pray that you'd be with our time as we look at what you had to say about being ready.

[6:43] And we pray this in Jesus' name. So right here in Matthew 24, verse 36 is where we're going to start. But right before verse 36, he gives a lesson of a fig tree.

[6:56] He says, hey, you see this tree here? When you see it's putting out its leaves, you know summer's coming, right? Trees put out their leaves in the spring. They do their thing all summer and then they drop their leaves in the fall.

[7:08] That's how it works. You can tell the time of the year by the tree. He said, so you know approximately when summer is going to arrive based on the tree.

[7:18] And he has given a bunch of other signs that will happen before the coming of the Son of Man. But in verse 36, he says specifically we don't know the hour. He says, verse 36 of Matthew 24.

[7:30] But concerning that day and hour, no one knows. No one knows. Not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.

[7:43] So concerning that day and hour, no one knows. Verse 37. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

[7:56] For as in those days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. Until the day when Noah entered the ark.

[8:08] In verse 39, get this. They were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man.

[8:20] They were unaware. They were unprepared. They were not ready. And here's the first of the little parables about readiness. He says, verse 40.

[8:31] Then two men will be in the field. One will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken and one left.

[8:42] Therefore, the point of the parable, stay awake. Some of your versions might say, be alert. It might say, watch.

[8:52] Be ready. Stay awake. For you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. So there's this idea that we don't know when he's coming. Therefore, we have to be on guard.

[9:03] We have to be ready. The word for stay awake there literally means watch. And it's like a military watch. And the idea is that it's not just watch like, hey, go watch this YouTube video or go watch the baseball game.

[9:16] It's watch. And if you don't, you could get taken out. There's destruction to follow if you're not on guard. Again, like a military watch. Stay awake. Be alert.

[9:27] Be ready. Verse 43. This is the start of the second little parable. He says this. Know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake.

[9:43] He would have been prepared. And he would not have let his house be broken into. There's an old cowboy singer that I like.

[9:54] His name is Billy Joe Shaver. I think he's dead now. But he shot a guy in a bar in Texas. And before he shot the guy, they were fighting. The famous phrase that they kept bringing up in court was he said, where do you want it?

[10:06] And they were saying that, you know, that was grounds for like premeditation on him shooting the guy. I say that. I say that. I say that. Because if someone were to be breaking into my house and were to tell me ahead of time that they were going to do so, and they were to tell me the day and the hour when they were to break into my house, the only question left would be, hey, where do you want it?

[10:29] Right? He would have stayed awake. He would have been prepared. He would have been ready. Verse 44, again, the point of the second parable. Therefore, you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

[10:48] Then we get to verse 45, the third parable from this passage. It says, who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time?

[10:59] Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. So the servant who's doing the will of the master at his return.

[11:12] Blessed is that servant. Truly, verse 47, I say to you, he will set him, the servant, over all his possessions.

[11:22] And so here you get this idea of there's a concept of reward for doing the right thing when the master comes. And that's going to come up again in our passage today in 25.

[11:34] So that's why I bring it up here. But I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. Verse 48, on the flip side, if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect and at an hour he does not know, i.e., when he is not ready, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites.

[12:03] In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So then we get to 25, and Mark had the parable of the ten virgins last week, and he did an excellent job with that.

[12:15] And all ten of them had lamps. All ten of them had wicks. Only five of them had oil. Right? And Mark did a great job of speaking of that.

[12:26] And it says, you know, in verse 6, at midnight there was a cry, here comes the bridegroom. In the middle of the night, when five were ready and five were not. And it says in verse 11, you know, they came and they knocked on the door, Lord, open to us.

[12:39] And he said, I do not know you. And again, the point of the parable was in verse 13. Watch. Be ready. Be prepared. For you know neither the day nor the hour.

[12:52] All right, so with that in mind, we're going to hop into our passage here today. Verse 14 of Matthew 25, and we're going to go to verse 30.

[13:03] And today's message is the parable of the talents. And it's not the word talent like you can juggle or something like that. It's talent as in a unit of money.

[13:14] And that's what we're going to talk about today. But just one other disclaimer before we jump into this. The end time stuff we would view, we being Bethel, would view as very important but non-essential.

[13:27] So we can disagree on it. Again, we're not trying to like pick a fight in the parking lot or anything like that. But it's not like the gospel, right? It's not like baptism. It's not like the Lord's Supper.

[13:37] It's not something that we deem absolutely essential to agree 100% on. Dave gave that disclaimer when he started the topic back on Memorial Day.

[13:47] So just would throw that out there again. In the non-essentials, we have a little bit of liberty. I think we're pretty much all of one mind. There's nothing I'm going to say today that's like crazy out there or super opinionated one way or the other.

[14:02] But just as always good, don't take offense to any eschatology or end times talk. It is something that we can have some grace on. That being said, I do take kind of a dispensational view of the Word of God in general.

[14:17] And so it's worth saying, and Mark said this last week, that this passage was written to Old Testament Jews. Right? This was not written necessarily to the church. This was before the Age of Grace, before the church age.

[14:30] And so this was written to Old Testament Jews. But all of Scripture is for us. It is all written for us, not all written to us. A good example would be like Leviticus.

[14:41] You know, it says, don't eat shellfish. But I like shellfish. It doesn't matter if I like it. That was in the Old Covenant. That was not to us. But it is for us to show that, you know, God has a holy standard that is really hard to achieve.

[14:56] And it's in fact impossible to achieve. And so I say that just to say that this parable is not written directly to us as a church. There are definitely things that we can pull out for us.

[15:06] And so that's what we'll try and do today. And so this is what it says. It says, for it will be like a man, verse 14, going on a journey. What is the it? The it is the kingdom of heaven.

[15:17] From verse 1, it says, the kingdom of heaven will be like. And here it says, for it will be like. The kingdom of heaven will be like a man going on a journey. Who called his servants and entrusted them his property.

[15:33] To one he gave five talents. To another two. To another one. A talent would be about like 20 years worth of wages. Which is a lot of wages.

[15:44] That's like a million bucks. If you take the median household income. So to one he gave five. To another two. To another one. To each according to his ability.

[15:58] It's kind of an interesting thought there. Each according to his ability. You know, God, if you're a believer, has given you a spiritual gift. That's very clear from Paul's writings.

[16:09] That each of us have been given an actual talent. If you want to use the word in that way. But a spiritual gift. And some are lesser. And some are greater. And Paul says that the lesser ones are super necessary.

[16:21] Like even more important, perhaps. But the point is they were each given according to their own ability. And so God is not going to give you a gift. He's not going to give you a task that is beyond your capability.

[16:33] Does that make sense? Because when he gives you a gift and gives you a task. It is something that you are able to do. Which I think is pretty cool. In Ephesians chapter 2 verse 10.

[16:43] It says that we are his workmanship. It says we are his workmanship. And we were created for good works. Which he had prepared beforehand. For us to walk in them.

[16:55] That's really cool. God, from before we were even around. Had prepared a good work. For you to do. For me to do. That we are totally capable of doing. And has given us a gift.

[17:05] And has also given us his Holy Spirit. To help accomplish that. That's pretty cool stuff. I think. You know it's great going down to Dayspring. And just seeing all the different gifts.

[17:16] Be distributed throughout that camp. You know. Just even walking. From one end of the camp to the other. You can see all the gifts. Whether it's somebody doing music. Some guys doing construction. You go into the kitchen.

[17:27] And obviously people are serving the food. But then there's crafts going on. There's the little baking class. Which is going on. It's just. You get to see all the little people. Doing all the things.

[17:38] It's really just a neat thing to see. I propose we do a swap one day. And we let the girls do construction. And we go bake cookies. Just to see how it turns out. I'm just saying. It'd be kind of fun.

[17:49] But the point is. God has given each of us a gift. He's created good works. Ahead of time for us to walk in. And in those works. We are totally capable of doing. That's what I'm trying to say.

[18:02] And we'll read one more sentence here. It says. Then he went away. And again. I think that shows the trust. That God has in us. He trusts us to do the work. Then he went away. And again.

[18:13] This is a parable. So I don't want to read too much into it. But I think you see that pattern. Throughout scripture. You know. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden. He put an angel with a flaming sword. Outside the garden. So they wouldn't go back in.

[18:23] Well why didn't he just put it in front of the tree. Right. He says. Hey. Here's a garden. You can have the whole garden. Just don't eat from this one tree. He trusted them.

[18:35] Why not just put the angel there. And keep them away from it. You know. Force their hand. It's because he trusted them. He gave them the free will there. And you see that pattern all throughout. Noah. Build a boat.

[18:46] It's going to rain. I know it's never rained before. But it's going to. Build the boat. Here's the blueprints. You know. So many cubits. This way. So many cubits that way. And Noah just builds a boat. You know.

[18:57] God's not there micromanaging. He went away. He trusts him. You see with Abraham. Hey. Go sacrifice Isaac. And he does. And God intervenes at the right time. And provides a substitute. But I think you see it.

[19:08] Most of all. God's trusting us. For the gospel. You know. We're going to look in just. A couple weeks. At the great commission. You know. It's kind of a wild plan. He dies.

[19:18] He raises again. He says. Go and make disciples. To a handful of people. Twelve people. Eleven people. A hundred people at the most. Maybe. And then he literally ascends into heaven.

[19:30] You know. Just rides away. Says. You guys got this. Here's the most important news. In the entire world. Where the culmination of. Of thousands of years. Of God's interaction with man.

[19:43] Go make disciples. You know. He puts his trust in it. Then he went away. I just think that's a cool thing. We can pull out of here. So then we're going to see. Two. Two good servants here. It says this.

[19:54] Verse 16. He who had received. The five talents. Went at once. And traded with them. And he made five talents more. Buy low.

[20:04] Sell high. So also. He who had the two talents. Made two talents more. But he who had received. The one talent. Went and dug in the ground. And hid.

[20:15] His master's money. Now after a long time. The master of those servants. Came and settled. Accounts with them. And he who had received. The five talents. Came forward. Bringing five talents more.

[20:26] Saying master. You have delivered to me. Five talents. Here. I have made five talents more. His master said to him. Well done. Good and faithful servant.

[20:37] You have been faithful. Over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy. Of your master. Again you see this concept of reward. You are faithful over a little.

[20:50] I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. There's a parallel telling of this parable. In the book of Luke.

[21:01] The monetary units are a little bit different. But it's the same parable. Same lesson. Same point. And in that one it says. You know. You've got ten.

[21:12] Minas. Or minas. Or whatever the money is. You've got ten. I'm going to set you over ten cities. It's almost like a direct correlation. Of the reward. To the service.

[21:25] I'll set you over ten cities. Here it says. You have been faithful. Over a little. I will set you over much. Verse 22. He also. Who had the two talents.

[21:35] Came forward saying. Master. You delivered to me two talents. Here. I have made two talents more. Same response. His master said to him. Well done. Good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little.

[21:47] I will set you over much. Enter in. To the joy. Of your master. So here you have two good servants. Who were faithful.

[21:58] With the things that God entrusted to them. And. The master returns. They present. The master sings to him.

[22:09] And he says. Well done. And he gives them some reward. So believers. How can we be ready? We can use the gifts that God has given us.

[22:20] To serve him. There are two judgment seats. Mentioned. In the New Testament. Two. Two judgments. One is. Is for salvation. That would be the great white throne.

[22:31] And I believe Sirian will probably get into that a little bit next week. And that is. Are you saved? Or are you not saved? How did you respond to the gospel? That is what you're being judged on. Is how did you respond to the gospel?

[22:41] And if your name is found in the book of life. You're going to heaven. If not. Cast into the lake of fire. The second judgment seat.

[22:51] Is the judgment seat of Christ. Jeffrey shared from it. In the breaking of bread this morning. But in Corinthians. It talks about. The judgment seat of Christ. And that is for. Believers only. And that is.

[23:03] As a believer. Already saved. By faith. How did your works hold up? Did you serve the Lord? And it says. You can build on the foundation.

[23:14] Which is the gospel. With wood. Hay. And straw. Or you can build on it. With gold. Silver. And precious stones. You can use your gifts. And your talents for the Lord. And it says. That your work.

[23:24] Will be tested by fire. Each one of our work. As a believer. Will be tested by fire. And if anything remains. There's your reward. But it says. Even if the whole thing. Gets burned up. Even if you just. Only ever got saved.

[23:35] You yourself. Will be saved. Is what it says. But you'll have no reward. Again. As believers. He has given us a gift. He has created good works. For us to walk in.

[23:45] We need to walk in those good works. We need to use the gifts. He has given to us. It's not a salvation thing. Our eternal destiny. Doesn't depend on our works. It is the reward.

[23:56] That we will have in return. Eternity. Is dependent on the works. And so here you have. Two good servants. That are entering in. To the master's joy.

[24:08] With their reward. You know. What's interesting. Is all the crowns. That we have in heaven. We cast at his feet anyway. I think. I think when we get there. We won't care about the reward at all.

[24:19] I think seeing. God in his glory. Will be. Will be enough of it. But. That's an aside. So then what about that other servant.

[24:29] Well verse 24. Actually you know what. Let me say this. So on the topic of preparedness. For the believer. Paul puts it this way. Paul says that. We need to redeem the time.

[24:42] We need to redeem the time. For the days are short. Is what he says. He says. We don't got long. You know you wake up one day. And Jeffrey's 40. I woke up yesterday. To a new age myself.

[24:54] With a very painful leg cramp. Which said. You are old. That is literally how my birthday started. But. I told that to John. He said. Oh it's just a calf. Just wait till you get the ones that are further up the leg.

[25:05] So. Apparently there's. There's worse to come. But the point is. The days are short. Time is short. Redeem the time. Do the most.

[25:17] That you can. For the Lord. While you're here. While you've got the time. He says. Walk. Wise. Don't be fools. Be wise. The time is short. Redeem it. There's a.

[25:29] Quote. On the wall. The Turkey Hills Chapel. It says. One life will soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ. Will last. That is how we need to walk. Is wise. Redeeming the time. So. Believers.

[25:39] How can we be ready? By serving the Lord. With our gifts. Verse 24. It says this. He who had received. The one talent. Came forward. Master. I knew you to be a hard man.

[25:51] Reaping where you did not sow. And gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid. And I went and hid your talent. In the ground. Here you. Here you have what is yours.

[26:02] But his master answered him. You wicked and slothful servant. You knew. I reap where I have not sown. And gather. Where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have invested. My money with the bankers.

[26:13] And at my coming. I should have received. What was mine. With my own interest. So take the talent from him. And give it to him. Who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has.

[26:25] More will be given. And he will have. An abundance. But from the one who has not. Even what he has. Will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant.

[26:36] Into the outer darkness. In that place. There will be weeping. And gnashing of teeth. I want to say. Two things about that. One.

[26:48] This is a parable. And so. You know. It's a story. It gets a little confusing. When we're talking. Servants here. They're all called. A servant.

[27:01] And yet. This guy is getting thrown out. Into the outer darkness. To weeping. And gnashing of teeth. So the first thing. I want to say. Is you cannot. Lose your salvation. You cannot.

[27:12] That is from. The whole. Of the rest of scripture. Is very clear about that. Again. Mark's message last week. He did a great job. Describing that. He said. Sure.

[27:22] All ten had lamps. But only five had oil. You cannot. Lose your salvation. So. Was this servant. Saved? No. How do I know? Because. He's getting thrown out.

[27:33] And that would never happen. To a believer. John chapter 10. Verse 28. Says that. I give them eternal life. And no one can snatch them out of my hand. If you have eternal life.

[27:46] And you lose it. It is not eternal. Right? It's only from the time you have it. To the time you lost it. That is not eternal. He says. I give them eternal life. No one can snatch them out of my hand.

[27:57] And then verse 29. Says. The father. Who has given them to me. Is greater than I. And no one can snatch them out of his hand. Is. And then we know from Paul. That the Holy Spirit.

[28:07] Is the seal. To our salvation. So. Literally. Our salvation. Is protected by all parts of the Trinity. By the son. By the father. And by the Holy Spirit. And so.

[28:18] If you have eternal life. You cannot lose it. And so. That's the first thing I want to say. And then the second thing. If the musicians want to go ahead. And make their way up here. Is that for the unbeliever in the room.

[28:32] How can you be ready? And 100%. The answer is to. To respond to the gospel. You know.

[28:42] Jesus five times gives us a lesson on. Be ready. Be prepared. Be on watch. If you're not a believer. How can you do that? It's respond to the gospel.

[28:54] You know. The Bible says that God has a. A holy. Imperfect God. He cannot have sin in his presence. It says that we were all born sinners. And that no one seeks after God.

[29:05] That no one does good. Not even one. Is what it says. You might think you're the lucky exception. But you're not. Jesus came and he lived a perfect life. Meeting God's holy standard.

[29:16] Died on the cross. Taking your punishment. And your judgment. Right there on him. And it says he imputes. The righteousness to your account. The best paycheck you'll ever get. He credits that righteousness.

[29:28] To your account. Just by faith in him. Acts 16. 31 says. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you will be saved. Romans 10. 31 says. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord. Will be saved.

[29:39] Believers. How can we be ready? By walking in the gifts. That God has given us. And using those in service to him. Unbelievers. How can you be ready? By responding to that gospel.

[29:50] We're going to see next week. That judgment. The great white throne. He's going to split everybody into two groups. Either you believed or you didn't. And you know which side you'll want to be on.

[30:01] In that judgment. Father God. Just thank you for loving us. Thank you for giving us your word. Thank you for warning us. Of the end times that are to come. Thank you for revealing those things to us.

[30:13] So that we can be ready. Lord we pray that here at Bethel. We would use our gifts and our talents for you. And that one day we can hear you say. Well done. Good and faithful servant.

[30:23] Lord. We just pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.