At the time this epistle is written, John was the last surviving apostle, and probably one of the last people living who had seen and heard Jesus during His ministry on earth.  When John was one of Jesus’s disciples, he was known as the disciple whom Jesus loved.  He had a special relationship with Jesus.  It’s believed that he was  the youngest of the 12 disciples of Christ, perhaps not even 20 years old when he first started to follow Christ.  He had an older brother named James, and together they were referred to as “the sons of thunder.”  His brother James was the first of the disciples to be martyred, whereas John was the longest living apostle.  It’s believed that John was very old by the time he wrote this epistle, perhaps in his eighties.  He also wrote the gospel of John, and Revelation.

It’s interesting to consider how John remembers Jesus.  He spent three years with Him, daily eating and sleeping and traveling all over Israel.  He saw Him in all kinds of situations.  But what comes out of his remembrances of Jesus is not some sort of sentimental feelings for the humanity of Jesus, nor a lot of remarks concerning HIs personality or His looks, but rather a firm conviction of His deity.

You would think just the opposite would be true. It’s kind of like if you met a celebrity, what you might take away from that encounter is the humaness of the person.  You would probably say things to your friends like, “He seemed like just a normal guy.”  We’re always surprised that they are just people, and we think that is so noteworthy.  But John doesn’t reminisce that way about Jesus.  His first thoughts, both in this epistle and his gospel, is to note the deity of Christ, the supernatural qualities of God incarnate.

Notice John declares first of all that Jesus was from the beginning. When John speaks of the beginning he is not talking about creation, he is talking about the time before creation, before there was anything.  When there was only God. In so doing, he emphasizes the eternality of Christ.  He does the same in his gospel, albeit with even more explanation. Listen to the way John introduces Christ in his gospel, in John 1:1. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.”

John identifies in both books Jesus as the Word.  He was in the beginning with God. John doesn’t say He was created in the beginning with God, but that He was in the beginning with God.  Most importantly, John says the Word was not only in the beginning with God, but that the Word was God.  That truth is foundational to our faith.  If we are to believe in Him, if we are to have faith in Him, then it has to be a belief that He is God. And Jesus says in chapter 3:16 that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life. 

This doctrine of the deity of Christ is the point at which a lot of the cults and heresies show their true colors.  They will say they believe in Jesus Christ, but when you investigate you find they don’t believe that Jesus was God.  They believe that He was a prophet, or a teacher, or a higher order of creation on par with the angels, but not God.  And though John doesn’t directly address it, there was a heresy called Gnosticism that was gaining ground in the church in his day which was corrupting the doctrine of Christ.  And we will see other evidences in John’s writings in which he would seem to be setting forth certain absolute truths by which to counter the false teachings which were prevalent in his day.

Notice another thing that John says about Jesus in both books, that Jesus is life.  In the gospel he says “in Him was life and the life was the life of man.” In the epistle He says he is speaking of the “Word of Life, and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life.” They both refer to the same thing, that in Jesus Christ was life.  He is the creator of all life.  In John 1 vs 3 he said, “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.”  If you remember the Genesis account of creation, God spoke the world in existence.  The Word was with God, and nothing came into being without the Word.

Not only is the Word of Life the creator, but the Word gives life.  Now we know that life is more than just the body, but it is also soul and spirit. When a person dies, the heart stops beating, the breath stops, the body shuts down. But the soul continues to exist. The soul includes the intellect, feelings, and the will of man.  When God made man, He first formed the body out of clay, but then He breathed His breath into man, and man became a living soul.  The soul of man lives forever.  The body of man is destined to grow old and die.  But the soul of man continues.  But there is another aspect of life which is spirit.  And though we are born dead spiritually because of sin, we are able to be born again in the spirit by the Word of Life.  The spirit is that which is the life of God in us, by which we are able to have fellowship with God in the fullness of life for eternity that God intended for man at creation.

To be spiritually dead then means that the body is dead, the spirit is dead, but the soul lives on, however it lives separated for eternity from God. Man was created for fellowship with God, to live with God, but sin caused death of the spirit, which in turn causes death of the flesh, and causes death to the soul, which is eternal separation from the life of God.

This is difficult for us to fathom.  We cannot separate our body from our thoughts. But as we get older, it should become more apparent that there is a life in our minds which is different from life in our body.  We start to see that our life of the body is failing, but in our mind we may not sense much of a change. We still feel and think the way we always have.  Sure, our experiences in life have an affect on the way we think, but fundamentally, we still feel the same in our minds, even though we recognize a decline in our bodies.  For instance, you can lose all movement, all feeling in your body, and yet still have the same thoughts, the same mind.  That should tell us that there is more to life than the body.  The soul lives on after the body is gone.  What we don’t really comprehend, is the loss of the spirit.  We never had any sense of it to begin with.  It was dead when we were born. So we don’t sense the loss of our spirit.  That’s what makes it so difficult for us to comprehend all that God intended for us in life.  But if we are thinking people, we should at least have a sense of the immortality of the soul.

So Jesus is the source of life, the giver of the fullness of life; body, soul and spirit. In John 14:6 Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”  There we see that truth is necessary for life, the truth is the way to life.

In the gospel of John, chapter 1, John uses light as a synonym of truth.  John said, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness does not comprehend it.”  Darkness is always used in the Bible as a metaphor for ignorance, for sin, for the absence of truth.  So truth is related to light.  John goes on to say in that chapter, “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.” So the truth of God enlightens man. It gives understanding. The truth gives life. 

Notice how John speaks of it in the epistle of 1 John. Vs 5 “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and [yet] walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” These verses we will be studying in more detail next week, but I mention them now just to show that John correlates truth and light.

The greatest minds of men have always searched for truth. That was the goal of the great philosophers of ancient Greece. And in their search for truth they sought to understand life, and gain spiritual life, or enduring life.  Socrates, for instance, believed in the immortality of the human soul.  And they sought truth through reason. In some respects, these philosophers, though carnal, sinful men, were on a higher plane intellectually because they at least came to understand the immortality of the soul and attempt through reason to answer questions concerning the afterlife.

Other men in history were not quite so noble, yet perhaps were just concerned with escaping death. Ponce de Leon, for instance, is one of many men in history who famously searched for the fountain of youth.  They were concerned with life, but only in extending the life that they had.  They failed to realize that the source of life is not a magical water, but that it comes by the Spirit.  That was the thought behind the words which John the Baptist used at the baptism of Jesus, saying, “this is the One who baptizes in the Holy Spirit.” And Jesus says that the spirit is life in John 6:63 saying “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and [they] are life.”  That’s incredible to think about – the words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.  

At the baptism of Jesus, the Light of Truth, the Word made flesh, was manifested to the world. John said “What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life– and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us—“

In his gospel, John speaks of it this way; “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

What John is saying here is that the Word which was from the beginning, the eternal God, manifested Himself to the world in human flesh.  And John and the other disciples heard Him, saw Him, touched Him, lived with Him.  They knew Him.  They were first hand witnesses of Him. And they now testify of Him.

The implications are tremendous because they said that the eternal God became accessible to man in the most tangible way, so that we might know the truth. The Word of God, the Word of Life can be known, because He has revealed Himself to us, and His revelation is the truth of God.  John’s words carry the weight of eyewitness testimony. He did not speak of myths or of fables. He had carefully studied the person of Christ and he knew whom he spoke about.  He said, we beheld His glory in the flesh.  We saw His deity in the flesh.

John was setting forth an absolute truth which would be an important tenet of the argument in refuting Gnosticism.  Part of the teaching of Gnosticism was that though Jesus was a form of deity, He was not actually a physical man, but instead some kind of phantom that only appeared human. Yet John declares, “I heard Him! I saw Him! I studied Him! I touched Him!”

Gnosticism taught a super knowledge, or a secret knowledge of God.  But John speaks of a personal knowledge, an intimate knowledge, and a manifest knowledge.  It’s interesting to study the word “Logos” which is the Greek translated Word.  For the Greek, their philosophers had spoken for centuries about the Logos – the basis for organization and intelligence in the universe, the Ultimate Reason which controls all things. But for the philosophers, it was intangible, if not unknowable. They understood the meaning of logos as not only the spoken word, but the reason, the thinking of the mind. 

But John says we know the Word.  We have touched the Word, heard the Word, seen the Word.  The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.  The truth was manifested in human flesh in the body of Jesus Christ.  And yet though the physical Jesus Christ is given such importance in the scriptures,  it is so amazing that there is not one reference in the New Testament to the way Jesus looked as a man in the flesh.  If we were in the position of an eyewitness, and writing about it later, I think we would spend a lot of paper and ink writing about how Jesus looked.  About His appearance, how tall, or short, His physical characteristics.  But that is not the emphasis of the disciples.  They were more concerned about His words, His deeds.

I’m reminded of Isaiah 53 which describes Jesus in prophetic form, long before He was ever manifested in the flesh.  Isaiah said this about Him; “He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face. He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.”

We were talking at the dinner table at my house the other day about certain movies that portrayed Jesus.  And one of the downfalls of such movies is that the actor who plays Jesus kind of gets in your head and starts to dominate your thinking of Him. They usually are some strong, viral, handsome man that plays the part. I think it’s no accident that God left no picture of Jesus. But if we really were to believe what Isaiah says of Him by inspiration, then perhaps the picture would not be quite what we are looking for.  He said he has no appearance that we should be attracted to Him.  He had no stately form or majesty.  I wonder if God saw fit to deliberately make Jesus unattractive so that people would not be drawn to Him for the wrong reasons. One day we shall see Him as He is, and I think that as He is, is much the same as He was when He was on earth.

So though John saw Him in the flesh, he recognized Him as the Word, the expression of God. And he bares witness to the Life that was manifested, and as a result of that, he proclaims to us the eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. He is saying that eternal life is possible to us through Jesus Christ who is the Life. As I alluded to at the beginning, eternal life is so much more than just a chronologically long life. It is even more than just immortality.  It is the fullness of life. Jesus said, “I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.”   Life is fellowship with God. It is being in the presence of God. It is fulfillment and joy.  And because God is the source of life, the life He gives is everlasting.  It does not come to an end. Jesus said in John 11:26, “everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die.”

John calls that life fellowship with God.  That fellowship with God is what John invites us to join.  He says in vs 3, “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”  To be in the presence of God, to have fellowship with God, who is the source of life, who is the Light of the world, who is the source of truth, who is the source of love, who is all powerful, all knowing, is too wonderful to comprehend.  We often talk about what heaven will be like.  We imagine streets of gold, or mansions, or all the wonderful things that we will enjoy.  But what we sometimes fail to comprehend is how wonderful God is, and how wonderful it will be to be in His presence.

There is an ancient Christian doctrine which does not get much airplay today, which is called the beatific vision.  It refers to being in the presence of inapproachable light, in the presence of pure holiness, pure righteousness and the incredible joy and blessing that will be experienced in that presence. It was something the early church fathers wrote about and looked forward to.  I think that we need to have more expectancy of the beatific vision as the ultimate fulfillment and joy in life. To be in the presence of God in perfect fellowship with Him is going to be more wonderful than we can comprehend.  And because we shall see Him as He is, the Bible says that we shall be like Him.  That’s even more incomprehensible.  But it should be what we are looking forward to more than anything.

This doctrine of fellowship with God is one of the most important ideas in this letter of John’s. Fellowship is the ancient Greek word koinonia, which speaks of a sharing, a communion, a common bond and common life. It speaks of a living, breathing, sharing, loving relationship with another person.  And John says that we can have fellowship with God through Jesus Christ.  What a tremendous opportunity.  That which men have sought throughout the ages is now possible through faith in Christ.  That we might have that kind of relationship with the immortal, invisible God of the universe is incredible.

But I”m afraid for some people that idea is totally unappealing. Perhaps it is because they don’t know who God is, and an invitation to have a “personal relationship with God” is about as attractive to them as telling a teenager that they can have a personal relationship with the assistant principal. But when we know the greatness, the goodness, the power and the glory of God, we should want to have a relationship with Him.

And finally in vs 4, we see the benefit of this fellowship that we can have with God.  “These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.” The result of fellowship is fullness of joy. Lots of things in this world promise happiness.  The band Switchfoot said in one of their songs that happiness is a yuppie word. It’s a shallow word.  The pursuit of happiness is just that – a pursuit.  It rarely ends up producing lasting joy.  Joy is something that is satisfied.  It is contentment.  It is fulfillment. It’s not necessarily laughing or even smiling.  But it is the satisfaction of the soul.  That is joy.  And you are never going to know that satisfaction of the soul without Jesus Christ. 

You may find some happiness in the world for a season or two. You may get rich, you may gain the world, but without Christ you lose your own soul. Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” But when you gain Jesus, you gain life, you gain joy, you gain fellowship with God.  You gain it all.

Reject Christ and you have everything to lose.  Claim Christ and you have everything to gain.  It should be an easy choice.  Call upon Jesus today and be given the everlasting, eternal, fulfilled life of God. God invites you today to have fellowship with Him through faith in Jesus Christ His Son.

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Jesus declared about Himself in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father except by Me.” What He is saying is that through Him is the way of life, real life, abundant life, spiritual life. He said in John 10:10 “I have come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly.” He isn’t talking about having a good life, or living the good life, receiving material blessings from God. When He speaks about abundant life He is talking about spiritual life. And to have spiritual life Jesus said you must be born again, in the spirit, by the Spirit.

Now that point was made in the parable we looked at last week, the parable of the 10 virgins. Five were foolish, five were wise. Five had oil for their lamps, five did not have oil. And we said last week that the oil represented the indwelling of the Spirit of Christ. Those virgins that did not have the Spirit did not enter into the marriage supper. Those that did have the Spirit entered into the celebration of the bridegroom. And that was illustrative of the fact that if you do not have the Spirit of Christ you are not His. Paul said in Romans 8:9 “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” So he makes it plain that having or not having the Spirit of Christ is the qualifying factor for entry into the fullness of life in the kingdom of heaven.

In the next section of the Olivet Discourse, directly following the parable of the 10 virgins, Jesus gave another parable. He makes this next parable contingent upon the statement at the end of the parable of the 10 virgins which is vs 13, “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.” I say He makes the next parable contingent upon that statement, because He is emphasizing the sudden appearance of His second coming. At the second coming it will precipitate a judgment upon the life of man, either to be found belonging to Him, or not.

Jesus describes that event in vs 31, directly following this parable. “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

This parable of the talents then is given to illustrate that judgment. It is given to illustrate the fact that Christ’s second appearing will precipitate a judgement of the living and the dead; the truly spiritual life and the natural life. Those that have spiritual life will enter into the joy of the Lord. Those that do not have spiritual life will be cast out into outer darkness.

Now it’s important to realize at the outset that is what Jesus is talking about here. Because the common misconception is that this parable has something to do with being judged by what we have done with whatever natural talents that we might have. And obviously, the word talent that is used in the parable has led to that misunderstanding. It also feeds into our own narcissistic view of Christianity. The view that tends to equate Christianity with what we deem to be physical blessings, which we think is God giving us things such as prosperity or some special giftedness by which we can play the piano, or play guitar, or sing or any number of other things we tend to think of as talents or abilities.

Now I do believe that we are going to be judged to some degree on what we have done with our lives in regards to our stewardship of our money, time, opportunities, responsibilities and abilities. Paul said in Romans 14:12 “ So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God.” And Jesus said the same thing in Matt. 12:36 “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”

But even though it is true that we shall give an account for every word and deed, I don’t believe that is what Jesus is referring to specifically here. What I think He is specifically referring to here is the judgement that will determine that have real spiritual life, and those that do not. To use Christ’s own analogies, it is the judgement of the sheep and the goats, the wise virgins and the foolish virgins, the house built on the rock and the house built on sand, the wheat and the tares.

In this sermon, Jesus is illustrating the nature of the kingdom of heaven. It is the kingdom over which Christ rules, but not everyone in it has submitted to Him as Lord. Those that have receive an inheritance in the kingdom. They belong to Christ. They are born of God, sons and daughters of God. Those that have not submitted to Him as Lord and King will at His return be judged by the King, and then they will be cast out of the kingdom into outer darkness.

Jesus gives three parables to illustrate the principle of His coming again in judgment. The first was given in chapter 24, the parable of the fig tree. When you see the branches budding, know that summer is near, and He is near, right at the door. The point being the suddenness of Christ’s appearing.

The second parable is the parable of the ten virgins. And we saw that the criteria for being ready when He appears is that you have the Spirit of Christ indwelling in you. Now the third parable of the talents illustrates that same principle from another perspective. This parable illustrates the criteria for being ready when He appears is that you have spiritual life. If you are truly born again of the Spirit then you will have life in the spirit, and that spiritual life will be evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit.

Now let’s consider the parable to see how Jesus presents this truth and this warning to be ready for His appearing. Jesus says, “For [it is] just like a man [about] to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them.” The word “it” refers to the kingdom of heaven. He is making an analogy to the kingdom of heaven. Jesus isn’t trying to say everything that can be said about the kingdom of heaven. This is not going to be an all inclusive statement here that will answer every question concerning the kingdom. But He is presenting really just a couple of principle aspects of it here.

What He is presenting is the certainty of the Lord’s return, the judgment that will happen at His return, and the fruit that will be evident in the life of the Christian. So Jesus says it is like a man who is about to go on a journey. He is obviously wealthy, and he has a lot of slaves. And he entrusts his possessions to his slaves. This idea of entrusting his possessions is something that we have trouble understanding what it’s analogous to. I would suggest that “his possessions” indicates something of great value.

Look at vs 15; “To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.” Now this word translated as “talent” is the source of a lot of misunderstanding. What a talent refers to is the highest standard of money that was known to the Jews. A talent was worth about fifteen years’ wages of a laborer. Today a talent might represent as much as a million dollars. So it’s a very considerable amount of money that the man entrusts to his slaves. We should recognize that in that day, a slave was often much more than a field hand. They could include any kind of work. In this case, these slaves were some sort of managers of the man’s estate.

What the talent represents then is not an ability, it’s not prosperity or wealth, it’s not what we might call a talent like playing an instrument or being able to perform in some way, but it represents an immense spiritual treasure. And we learned in previous parables of the pearl of great price, or the parable of the treasure hidden in the field, that the greatest spiritual treasure is spiritual life, the abundant life, eternal life. So the talent entrusted to each slave represents being given exposure to the light of the gospel which when received by faith, brings about spiritual life.

Now there are a number of elements about the story that if you try to find a direct correlation to from a spiritual point of view, you’re going to run into trouble. No matter what your template is for interpreting the parable, there are some elements that are going to cause difficulty in finding a direct parallel to the Christian life. We have seen this same difficulty in previously studied parables. So as we have said in our previous studies, we should look for the major point that is being taught, and avoid trying to draw allegorical applications from every dramatic detail.

That’s especially true in this case, as Jesus says one was given five talents, one was given two, and another one. To add even further confusion, Jesus says that they were given according to their own abilities.

The best way that I think we need to see this is that Jesus is the parallel of the master of the estate. Jesus is the King of the kingdom, the Lord who then gives the truth of the gospel, the light of the gospel, to man. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him. So the saving truth, the gospel of Jesus Christ is given to men. And some people are given more exposure to the truth than others.

In other words, He is speaking of the privilege and responsibility of being exposed to the truth of God, to the gospel of Christ. And some people are fives, they’ve been given tremendous privilege. Most of us would have to be considered at least a five on this particular scale, because we have been given great privilege in hearing the Gospel and having been taught the gospel.

On the other hand, there are some people who would be on the level of the one who received one talent. Their exposure to the gospel was more limited. But they still received enough light to believe and to be held accountable for what they knew. Romans 1 teaches that even those who only had the witness of creation had enough light so that they are without excuse. So the talent represents exposure to the light of the gospel.

And so you have a person’s exposure, and their faith, and their responsibility to respond to the light they have recieved, and you can find a parallel there with the number of talents that God gives to each. We have differing privileges spiritually in being exposed to the Gospel. Some have heard it simply and perhaps infrequently. Others have heard it in fully and completely many times and are the more privileged ones. And that privilege results in a corresponding degree of our responsibility.

When Jesus says that they were given talents according to their ability, I think you can draw an analogy from their ability to their degree of faith. Jesus speaks often of a little faith, or of great faith, or according to one’s faith. So there is an element of being given in proportion to faith.

So in the parable, the man given five talents immediately uses that to make five more talents. The man with two talents likewise puts his to work to make two more talents. But the man who has one talent, Jesus says went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

The first two show a 100% return on the investment given to them. That’s an illustration of saving faith. It receives the gift of spiritual life, and that faith results in regeneration. A new life is born and a new life is lived. Being born of the Spirit they now walk in the Spirit. There is a biblical principle of progressive sanctification. As you learn more, you respond more, you grow more, you mature more in your faith. The seed that was planted in good ground springs up and bears fruit. Jesus said in Matthew 7:16, “You shall know them by their fruit.” So there is a response of faith, which proportionally produces spiritual life.

The slave that only received one talent though, he went away and buried it in the ground. Now there’s the mark of a false servant. There is no response of faith on his part. He heard it, but he buried the truth. He pushed it to the back burner of his mind. And consequently there is no fruit. 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 by faith. But even though he’s heard it on a limited basis, he is still responsible.

Listen, you could hear it on a level of five talents and not respond. You could hear it on a level of two and not respond. And if you wonder why it is the one talent person that doesn’t respond, it is because the Lord wants to illustrate that the person who would be seem to be the most excusable is not excusable.

If the person with the five-level privilege doesn’t respond, someone might think that God condemned him because he was angry that he wasted such privilege, because he was especially guilty, and so we might assume that hell is only for people who having had great privilege waste it. And so to make sure that that isn’t implied, the Lord picks the one who had only a very limited privilege and lets us know that being cast out of the kingdom will happen to people who waste even a limited privilege. Every person exposed to the Gospel, if they have at all been exposed to the saving truth of Jesus Christ, are inexcusable if they waste that opportunity.

Then, in the parable Jesus says that the day of reckoning comes. The master returns and he calls his slaves to give an account of themselves. Vs19 “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.”

The implication there is that the Lord is telling them His coming will be delayed, just like in vs 5 where he said the bridegroom was delayed. Those are veiled ways of telling the disciples that the consummation of the kingdom will not be as soon as they think it is. After a long time, the Lord is going to come. And during the time before he comes, men and women are going to be given the privilege of the gospel, some on a level of five, some on a level of two, some on a level of one. But there will be a day when the Lord comes back to settle accounts.

“The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’” Notice that Jesus incorporates the idea of faith as the response of the life that bore fruit. It’s faithfulness to the degree of exposure. To the degree that you acted in response to the knowledge you received, then you are regarded as faithful in a few things.

And because you were faithful in a few things, you will be given more. You will be given more light, more opportunity, more responsibility. At the consummation of the kingdom, when we enter into the age of eternity with the Lord, it will not be a just an eternity of blissful nothingness, of no activity, no productiveness, no service. But it will be a time of continued service to the Lord, but on a larger scale. We will rule and reign with Christ. I don’t know what that will look like exactly, but it will be greater than the service that we rendered here. Greater in position, greater in scope, greater in duration. And our responsibility there will be proportionate to what we achieved in this life. It’s hard to understand. The scripture says, “THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD, AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN, ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”

Well, Jesus says that the man who had received two talents produced two more talents, and he received the same commendation and reward as the man who had received five. But then the time came for the man who had received one to give an account. He said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’”

So this man produces nothing. He buried that which the Lord had given him. He bore no fruit in keeping with the measure of what had been entrusted to him. He did not enjoin that light given him with faith. He recognized enough to be culpable for doing nothing with the knowledge that he had.

Notice also that its not bad enough that he did nothing, but he also impugns the character of his master. He finds fault with God’s justice. We see that often in our culture today. “I can’t believe in a God that allows such and such to happen in the world.” Rather than seeing in themselves the problem of unbelief, they want to blame their unbelief on God’s character and try to say that He is the problem, not them. He says, “you’re a hard man.” You are too judgmental. You are not loving enough. You are not merciful enough. You expect too much.”

vs 26 “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no [seed.] Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my [money] back with interest. ‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’”

He says, “You wicked and lazy servant. You recognized enough of the truth concerning Me to have done something. But instead you pursued your evil pursuits. You just took the talent and stuck it in the ground. You blocked it out. You made no use of the gospel because it got in your way, the way of your wickedness and the way of your own lifestyle.

Jesus said the master said to the slave, “If you really believed these things about me, reaping where I have not sown, then why didn’t you put that talent in the bank so you could have at least made interest on it?” In other words, even a little faith would have resulted in some degree of return. But this guy didn’t respond at all. He did nothing.

So Jesus concludes this teaching with a summary principle. He says in vs29 “For to everyone who has, [more] shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.” If you respond in faith, you believe what you have been shown, then God gives you more knowledge, more privilege, more life. But if you do not have, even what you have shall be taken away. That speaks of the judgment. If you do not have spiritual life, then the life which you do have, the temporal, natural life, will be taken away.

That life which will be taken away is our physical life. And Jesus relates that judgment in the parable to the man who had one talent, saying, “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” That is death, spiritual and physical death, separated by outer darkness from the kingdom of heaven, separated forever from spiritual life in Christ.

The warning should be clear. Jesus has stated it again and again, and illustrated it three times in parables. “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour when the Lord will come. But He is coming, and on that day He will settle accounts. and to everyone who has, [more] shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. … 31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. … “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; … “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

I pray that you have responded to the light of the gospel by faith, and evidence the fruit of righteousness in your life so that you will be found faithful when He comes.

Today we are looking at possibly the best known and the best loved parable that we have been given in the scriptures.  It is popularly known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Prodigal is a word that means wastefully extravagant, to spend or use resources recklessly.  It’s interesting that the word prodigal is not used in the Biblical account of Jesus’s words.  He never used that word.

Just to be contrary, I guess, I came up with what I think is a better title.  I am calling it The Parable of the Lost Son. I’ve heard many other possible titles over the years, but I feel that I have good reason to call it the Parable of the Lost Son because if you notice it is part of a trilogy of parables that Jesus gave on the same occasion, in response to the criticism of the Pharisees and scribes who were grumbling about Him, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

So if you notice the first two parables that Jesus gives, you will see that in the first parable it’s a parable of the lost sheep.  The shepherd leaves the 99 sheep and goes after the one that was lost.  And the second parable is the parable of the lost coin.  The woman has 10 coins, loses one, and looks for that one until she finds it.

In both of those parables, Jesus emphasizes the fact that they were lost, and they were found.  And so I think it is obvious that this next parable follows the same template, but just as an expanded version.  And as with the previous two parables, this parable concludes with the same type of expression;  Jesus says, “for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.”

What being lost indicates is that a person is without salvation. When Christianity first started it was called “the Way.” And so to miss the way to life is to be lost.  And so in this parable we will see how the way of salvation is offered and received.  We also can see from the first two parables that salvation originates from God.  In the first  parable the shepherd goes to seek the lost sheep.  The sheep isn’t looking for the shepherd, but the shepherd is looking for the sheep.  It’s a picture of what Jesus said in Luke 19:10 “For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

That same principle is being emphasized in the second parable of the lost coin.  The woman who owned the coins seeks for the lost coin until she finds it.  Again a picture of the origin of our salvation is God.  As Psalm 3:8 “Salvation belongs to the LORD.”  So we understand that our salvation originates with God seeking us,  quickening us, with Him opening our eyes, and causing us to be convicted of our need for salvation.

But in this third parable of the lost son, the divine origin of our salvation is not emphasized as much, but rather the sinner’s response is emphasized.  Jesus said that the lost son “came to his senses.” He had a spiritual awakening.  We know that salvation originates with God, but nevertheless it necessitates a response from the sinner.  It is necessary for the sinner to respond to the call of salvation. And so in this parable Jesus emphasizes the response of the sinner.

Let’s look at the parable to learn what Jesus is teaching concerning salvation. Jesus said a man had two sons, and the younger son asked the father to give him his inheritance early. This would have been a brash and offensive demand to make.  Basically, the young man was saying that “I can’t wait for you to die to get my inheritance. I want it now.”  The  young man doesn’t want to live under his father’s rule anymore, but he wants to cash out so he can live the way he wants. But nevertheless, the father figured out what part the son should receive and he divided it up and gave him his share.  

The younger son then gathered all that he had, and left home, going to a distant country.  And Jesus said that while there he squandered his estate with loose living.  He wasted his inheritance in riotous living. That’s quite common among young people, to want to leave home and go somewhere that they can live without fear of reprisal by their parents or people that know them. But in pursuing this reckless lifestyle he wasted all the wealth that his father had given him.

We could dramatize this part of the story and add a lot of embellishments in hopes of making this a more relevant, or more exciting story.  But the simplified way that Jesus tells it should suffice to understand that God has given us the blessing of life, but man wants to live according to what he thinks is good and beneficial, and so he seeks to satisfy the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life in the world, according to what the world says is desirable.  But this sinful lifestyle ends in ruin.

After the son spent all his money, a severe famine came upon the land. Without any resources to fall back on, the son was compelled to earn a living by taking care of pigs. The young man was so hungry that he would have gladly eaten the food that he was feeding to the pigs. Pigs were the most unclean of all animals in the eyes of a Jew, so Jesus uses this picture to show the extent of this man’s uncleanness.  To a Jew, he could not be more unclean.  And I think Jesus adds that element to the story to illustrate that we have to come to a point of recognizing our sin for what it is, and the horror of the depravity of our sin.

Finally, the son “came to himself” and realized the severity of his situation. It’s as if he had a great awakening, his eyes were opened, and he saw his situation for what it really was. At certain times, God awakes people to their spiritual predicament.  And it takes an act of God for such a person to come awake out of their blindness. There was an event in this country in the eighteenth century which was called the Great Awakening.  It was a time when God moved to bring this nation to revival.  He used men like George Whitfield, and John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards. 

Jonathan Edwards is known for one sermon in particular; Sinner’s in the Hands of an Angry God. God used this powerful message to break in to the conscience of the people, so that they felt the full weight of their sin, and they turned in repentance to the Lord.  Repentance really is the key to salvation that is expressed in all three parables here in this chapter.

Notice that in the first parable, even though the sheep showed no signs of seeking God, yet Jesus summarizes it by saying, ““I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”  Yes, God awakens, and God calls, and God initiates salvation, but it is necessary for sinners to repent.

The same principle is emphasized in the second parable of the lost coin.  When it was found, Jesus said in vs10 “In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Once again, repentance is not specifically taught by the story of  the woman who found the coin that was lost, but Jesus adds that in order to show that repentance is a necessary part of salvation.

In the parable of the lost son, Jesus doesn’t say specifically that he repented, but the characteristics of repentance are clearly there.  When he came to his senses, he showed an awareness of the depravity of his sinful condition, and he recognized his need to turn from the path he was on, and return to the father. That’s repentance. It says in vs17-19  “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight;  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’

Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me as one of your hired men.”  That is repentance, pure and simple.  He knows that he has sinned against God, and against his father.  And consequently, he is willing to turn away from that and live in service to the father if he would just accept him and forgive him.  Repentance is not just feeling sorry for the situation you find yourself in, feeling sorry for the consequences of your sin.  But true repentance is being willing to do a 180.  True repentance is being willing to die to  your reign over your life, and being willing to live for God under His reign. That is what is meant by Paul when he says in Romans 10:9 “if you confess Jesus as Lord… you shall be saved.  You relinquish the throne, and submit to Jesus as Lord.

Part of this young man’s problem was that he was in rebellion against his father.  He wanted to live as he thought best rather than submit to the father’s rule of the house.  And that is a picture of the sinner’s rebellion, wanting to live as master of their destiny, as the lord of their own house, rather than live under the control and authority of God. But when he realized that his situation was hopeless he decided to seek his father’s forgiveness.  He had a repentant heart. And it should be obvious that without that repentance, he would have remained in the same sinful condition that he was in.  2Cor. 7:10 says, “For the sorrow that is according to [the will of] God produces a repentance without regret, [leading] to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death.”

So the repentant son made the return journey to his father’s home, planning to confess his sin to his father. He rehearsed what he would say to his father, whom perhaps he imagined would be unsympathetic to the idea of him coming home.  So he would say he was no longer worthy to be called a son, but that he hoped to be hired as a servant in his father’s household. 

But long before he was even close to the house, the father saw him coming.  Jesus said, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”  That is the most beautiful part of the story, isn’t it?  Being a father, and having had a father, I kind of get a lump in my throat every time I read that part.

His father wasn’t sitting there in front of the television, grumbling about that “no good son of mine, that ungrateful, sorry no good you know what.”  No, the indication is that the father was out looking for the son every day.  He would walk out in the middle of the road and stand there looking at the direction his son had left, hoping and praying that one day he might return.  And you can just imagine after such a long time,  how one day, the father spotted a lone figure coming down the road, way off in the distance.  The resemblance seemed faintly familiar.  And then his breath caught in his chest as he began to believe that it was his son walking back down that road. 

Men in those days wore long robes and it was definitely considered undignified for the patriarch of the tribe to be seen running.  But this father couldn’t care less what people might think.  His compassion towards his son was so great that he hiked up his robe around his waist and started running down the dusty road while his son was still way off in the distance.  Remember what we said about compassion last week in the parable of the Good Samaritan?  It’s a love that moves you.  It’s a love that calls for action.  It’s pity, and empathy, and sympathy and love all rolled up into a great big emotional roller coaster that compels you to do whatever you can to help this person in need. Jesus said the father felt compassion for the lost son, and so he started running. 

What a tremendous picture that is of our God who pursues us, who seeks for us, who finds us, who calls us, who draws us to Himself.  What compassion that caused Him to come to our rescue, to become our sacrifice, our substitute, so that we might be saved. God is not unmoved, but He has moved heaven and earth to be our Savior and Lord.

The lost son started to say the words that he had rehearsed, but the father interrupted him.  He knew that the son was repentant, otherwise he would not be walking home down this road.  But he wanted to restore him, to show his love for him, and to renew him.  So he  said to his servants, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.

The father fully forgave and restored his son. He embraced his son and kissed him. Instead of rebuking him, he restores his place in the family.  He summoned the servants to bring him fine clothes that were fit for a son in his house, and a ring for his finger which was a symbol of his place in the family as a son. And he ordered his servants to prepare a great feast to celebrate the return of the lost son.  He was lost, and has been found.  He was dead and has come to life again.  Such a picture of our salvation.

Well, that would be enough of a story for me if Jesus had just stopped there.  I kind of wish that He would have.  Because this last section has among certain theologians overshadowed the first part of the story.  And I think that is a mistake.  I think the first part of this story is the main part of the story.  Its’ the story of salvation; the story of repentance and restoration.

But nevertheless, Jesus added this last section for good reason.  Let’s see if we can find out why.  The older brother heard the noise of the celebration as he was returning from working in the field. And he asks the servants what’s going on.  Their answer angered him.  “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.”  And because of his anger he would not go in to the celebration.

His father came out of the house and began pleading with him. “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’

“And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours.‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”

Now what is Jesus saying in this section? I think the answer is very simple and straightforward.  I think it was a gentle rebuke of the Pharisees. Remember at the beginning of this chapter?  The scribes and Pharisees were grumbling because tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus.  They said, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

I think the Pharisees were jealous of the fact that grace was being shown to sinners.  They thought they had stayed home, so to speak, and obeyed the Father, while these sinners had been living in the world and doing all kinds of things that were against the commandments.  They wanted to see such people punished and their own behavior rewarded.  But Jesus makes the point that we are saved by grace, not by works.  And only when you realize that you are sinner in need of grace, and are willing to repent of your sins, can you be saved.  And I think he makes the point that if you have been truly saved by grace, you will not begrudge others that come to salvation by grace, and in fact you will rejoice over them, along with all the hosts of heaven.

“As the father said in the parable, ‘But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’”  Let’s not lose sight of the primary message of this story, how the lost son was found, how the dead have begun to live.  It’s the story of the compassion of the Father being so great, that his mercy resulted in forgiveness, and his grace resulted in restoration and life.  Let us be sure we have returned to the Father in faith and repentance, confessing our sins, and asking for restoration and new life.  And not be found as the Pharisees, thinking they had no need of repentance because they trusted in their good deeds. Jesus came to seek and to save those that were lost.  Recognizing that you are lost, and in repentance turning to the Lord is the way to life. 

Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”