Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

The Faithful God

Praise you, Jesus! Hallelujah! Proverbs 20:6 says, "...a faithful man who can find?" It’s like the virtuous woman; the price is far, far greater than rubies. The Scripture tells us that the requirement of that steward is that he be found faithful. What a character trait that is being worked in us through the Lord Jesus, the faithful one. When you stop and think about what faithfulness really is, it’s really being trustworthy. It’s that individual who you can put your life into their hands.

The Scripture is interesting. As you study out the Hebrew and the Greek on faithfulness, it talks about that trustworthiness, the reliance upon, many of those different aspects. It has the same root, of course as faith: trust, reliance, assurance. We’re going to talk a little bit about the faithfulness of God and the fact that since He is faithful, His character, His life, should be working in us our faithfulness to Him. He’s entrusted to us His kingdom. How trustworthy have we been? He’s entrusted us with life. How trustworthy have we been? He’s given us His heritage. He’s filled us, as we shared in the last session; our quiver is full with the blessings of children and a generation to be raised up in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. How trustworthy have we been with what’s been put into our hands? None of it is ours. Our bodies are not our own, they are bought with a price. What have we done to use our strength and our energy and our talents for the glory of God?

We are going to look at that parable in just a moment that the Lord spoke to us in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew. The conclusion of that is if a man is not faithful with what has been entrusted to him, how can he ever be entrusted with his own? If we can’t be faithful as servants, how can we ever be masters? If we don’t prove ourselves faithful and diligent in the small things, how can we ever become rulers and champions in the great things? So we want to talk about that a little bit. Ask yourself that question. How faithful have I been to what God has entrusted me with: strength, energy, gifts? How faithful have we been to our friends? How faithful have we been to be good children, a good spouse? When someone entrusts you with their emotions and their very life, what do you do to treasure that and guard it and make it better? Because the faithful man doesn’t just return, as in that parable, the one talent, but he multiplies it. He takes what God has entrusted to him and makes something with it and there is return to the glory of God. What have we done to make those around us, if we are faithful men, better than they were when they came in here tonight? Those are the character aspects of what we are going to be looking at.

When we talk about faithfulness, it’s not just showing up on time. When we talk about men like Steve, "...a faithful man who can find?" It’s not that he’s been here for over thirty years, but he has enriched our lives, amen? He’s a man that you can see the love. How many of our kids have been touched by his character and his love? A steady course, one of the attributes that Steve exhibits as it relates to the character of God. Most of us would think "the ancient of days" and eternity, but I think of faithfulness and immutability. He doesn’t change. He is the same every day, just heading down the middle of the road, living for the glory of God, not looking for fanfare. He’s natural like all of us; he fights the same temptations that we all fight. But he has chosen to take on the mantle of a servant and to gird himself and wash others’ feet, many of your kids’, and they are better for it today. Can you say, "Amen," for that?

How powerful is this force, this virtue, this character trait, this attribute called "faithfulness"? A lot of us don’t get turned on to things like faithfulness. We want to talk about power, the omnipotence of God, the gifts of the Spirit, and the omniscience of God. We want to know and have deep revelation! We were talking to some young people the other day. They were getting caught up in the study of eschatology. They want to know the mysteries of God. Why don’t you just learn how to show up? To prefer others, humble yourself, and after thirty years don’t think you deserve anything, recognition?

I’ve shared this story years ago. When we used to operate with a deacon board, they controlled pretty much all of the finances of the ministry. We were in a meeting one night. The deacons were sitting there and they said, "Pastor Scott, we would like to give you an increase." I said "Well, praise God. Thank you." They said, "We have been discussing it and we really don’t think that Steve needs one. He’s a single man. He’s still living with his parents. So we just think that he has enough to get by." I said "It’s not about ‘enough to get by.’ ‘The labourer is worthy of his hire,’ amen? The value he is to this ministry has nothing to do with what his natural needs are." Of course they were like, "No, we are not going to do that. This is the budget." So I shared with them, "Well, then we will do this. You take my increase and give it to him. I’m doing fine, praise God!"

Steve was doing okay, he was doing well. He’s never, never been discontent in anything that Father has provided for him. What was the issue? The issue to me was there is nothing more valuable around here than faithfulness, amen? You know what? All those guys are gone today and Steve is still here, praise God! Amen?

We’re talking about looking at these things. It doesn’t always have the glamour. It doesn’t always cause us to stand back and go, "Wow!" like certain gifts do of power. We’ve had people come in here with great teaching abilities and they start teaching stuff like the hypostatic union. How many of you go back that far? Okay, a number of you. He is gone. We have people that come in and prophecy and are giving themselves as some great oracle of God, and they are gone. "...a faithful man who can find?" He’s not faithful to this physical place, not faithful to a man. Steve’s commitment here is not to me. It’s to what God is doing as we walk together in fulfilling the call that He’s given to us, thirty-four years ago now.

We were just in the back talking about that. Steve was twenty-four and I was twenty-six. Isn’t that scary? In charge of everything! That causes fear in me right now, to think about that. I’m looking at you guys at twenty-six and I’m thinking, "Those poor people that were sitting in the congregation, dear God, that were old, like forty. Here’s this twenty-six year old kid...." But I never pretended to know more than I knew. I only shared what the Word of God had to say in any given situation. That’s the one thing you’ll hear Steve say time after time, if you ask him. He’ll say, "The one thing I know is for thirty-three years all that man would say is, ‘Here is what the Bible says. That’s what we are going to do.’" That’s what the commitment is to! That’s where the faithfulness is.

Let’s look at a couple of passages here real quick. First of all, when we begin to look at the character of our Father—we are going to study the attributes of God. We are going to talk about the different aspects of the omnipotence of God and the omniscience of God and the omnipresence. I don’t know how much time we are going to spend on the attributes. But as we look at the magnitude of whom our God is, totally self-sufficient, self-existent, before all things that are known, He was. For all things were made by Him and for Him, amen? There wasn’t anything made, that’s made, that wasn’t created by Him and for Him. "By Him," Colossians says, "all things are held together."

We were talking about evolution the other day. You know, you have to have great faith nowadays to believe in evolution. All of the proof is against it. It’s a religion; you have to have great faith. Darwin himself made the statement that all of his hypotheses were based upon the fact that someday archeology would catch up to his theory and they would find the missing links. He said, "It all hinges on finding these things. We haven’t found any yet, but I know..." See, faith, "I know that somewhere in the future, when we get better, we’ll find it." We are much better and they’re not there, amen?

Those that talk about the creation of the universe, the big bang theory, well, where did that thing that "banged" come from? God. I Am that I Am. We talked last week, you remember, about the incomprehensibility of God. That if you can understand it, it’s not God. If you have it figured out, it’s not God because you can’t figure God out. His ways are above our ways. Even when we know the will of God, we don’t know the will of God. We don’t have a clue what it’s really taking us to. We only know for the moment, don’t we? But the day is coming when we will know as we are known, praise God! So right now we live by faith. We walk by faith, we trust in the character of God, the fact that God is good and that God is faithful and that God is true.

The one thing that we shared last week that I hold to is that God is faithful. He is the faithful God, trustworthy. What is it that the apostle said, "I know in whom I have believed and I am persuaded that He is faithful, [trustworthy] to keep what I’ve committed to Him against that day." Has that verse ever gotten you through some tough times? I can remember warfare that I’ve been in. I had no strength to believe and had no energy to pray and the powers of darkness so thick that you could cut it with a knife. All I could do was to muster every ounce of strength within me and mutter these words, "I know whom I have believed."

What do you know about God tonight, as we go into this? Do you really know Him? Do we know that He loves us? We are going to talk about the love of God as we go on. Beloved, if we know that God Almighty, the Awesome God, Yahweh, Jehovah, loves us, if He’s for you who can be against you, amen? But do we believe that? "Yes, when things are going well I really believe that He loves me!" What do circumstances have to do with the love of God? What do circumstances have to do with the wisdom of God? What do circumstances have to do with the faithfulness of God?

So we are going to look at that aspect. Let’s just look at a couple of verses really quickly, Deuteronomy 7:9, the passages you are familiar with. But as always, it strikes our hearts and faith begins to rise when we hear the Word of God. For faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. It’s alive, it’s powerful. Deuteronomy 7:9, "Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant..." So the first thing we ask, then, is, "Do you have a covenant with God?" What is He being faithful to? The one thing we do know is that God is faithful to Himself. "He can’t lie and He will not deny Himself," the Scripture says. So God’s faithfulness is to Himself. God’s faithfulness is then to the covenant He cuts with you and me. The interesting thing about a covenant—a covenant is stronger and more binding than a contract. The interesting thing about a covenant is it’s only as strong as the two parties involved in it. God will always keep His part. Are we keeping ours? What are we doing to keep the covenant? "He’s the faithful God," the Scripture says, "He keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments."

We begin to see right here that the faithfulness of God to the covenant is contingent upon our faithfulness to keep the commandments, the things that He has required of us. Many of us will question and say, "Why is this happening, Lord?" He’s not the One in question. When we see Him as true, as just, as loving, as wise, when we understand... Listen, beloved, nothing takes Him by surprise. He lives and manifests in the known. When I say "known," I’m talking about history from the beginning of the first that was created, "God spoke, and there was light," until eternity to come. It’s all one moment with Him. He knows the beginning to the end. It’s already figured out and we are victorious. His promises won’t ever fail. "If we continue until the end and don’t faint," the Scripture says, what will happen? We are going to reap, praise God!

How do you know Him today? Do you know that He is faithful? Do you understand that this covenant will come to pass? There is nothing that can thwart the will of God. Now tonight we are sitting here and all of us: some of us have had a good day, some of us had a rough day, some of us are in the midst of trials, some of us are just entering into trials, some of us are midway, and some of us are coming out. How does the Word of God find you tonight? Faithful? "How do I know if I’m faithful?" You are going to know the end of the matter by looking at your heart right now and asking yourself the question; "How do I see God right now?" Not, "What am I believing?" Not, "What Scripture am I standing on," per se. How do you see Father at this moment in this journey? "He’s the faithful God. He keeps covenant to a thousand generations," the Scripture says.

Listen to what Psalm 89 says, a verse that we are very familiar with, in verse 1, "I will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever: with my mouth will I make known [say it!] thy faithfulness to all generations." You remember when we used to sing that chorus? Let me ask you a question tonight. Look what it says, "...with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to, [say it], all generations." How much time are you spending in the midst of your children talking about how faithful God is, how trustworthy God is, how good God is, how God’s never failed us? Remember Doug Oldham used to sing this song. I like this one phrase; "He’s never failed us yet." What’s your testimony about God? Is the verdict still out in our minds or do we look to the great cloud of witnesses that’s gone on before us? Do we look back at our own memorials that we have and say, "Look, this is a memorial that shows where God met me and He is faithful"?

My heart was—I didn’t want to say anything in front of the girls but we were celebrating today. You talk about a memorial! It just struck my heart today. My heart leapt within me as I remembered again the goodness of God. The girls were just sitting there laughing, both Hailey and Hope. Hailey with her Grandma Cherry’s gap between her teeth. I don’t know if any of you, as you look at her, you’ll see that there is a gap there that’s different than normal. Well, she’s Kimberly. You’ve seen it in the videos. It’s scary! There are times she walks in and I have flashbacks. Genetics are scary. They’ve got freckles in the same place. But the thing that happened to me today is I remember the time I laid hands on Kimberly. I prayed and believed God to close that gap in her teeth. To look at her today, perfect! It’s a memorial to God. It’s a memorial to the faithfulness of God. That’s something that not only in my life, but in her life, she can pass on to the kids. "Well, what if the Lord doesn’t do it for that generation?" God’s no respecter of persons, amen? And even if He doesn’t, what’s it have to do with the circumstances? He’s showing Himself faithful. We’ve seen Him do it, amen?

God’s not really moved by our every beck and call and by our every momentary circumstance, but in His sovereignty He chooses to show Himself big in our lives at different times. He doesn’t make all of the problems go away. He doesn’t always make the bogeyman instantly leave. How else would we learn patience and trust? Part of what we are looking at, beloved, is this next generation. "...with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations." We’ve been talking a lot about generational faith and the responsibility that we have to not waste our lives on the moment, by sowing into generations to come. We want to understand that one of the things that they are going to see is mom and dad who aren’t moved by circumstances, who are not seduced by the world’s system. It becomes very clear, the Scripture that we’ve based the ministry on here in these last days, "Commit to faithful men who are able to teach others also."

We’re not harsh, beloved. We aren’t harsh when we tell people, "If you can’t do it this way then just go somewhere else and be happy. But don’t fight us, just go be happy." We’re happy. We’re looking for a people who are of the spirit of Joshua and Caleb. We’re not interested in gathering thousands of people. It’s not about the number of people. We are looking for the quality of people. One of the first character traits we are looking for is faithfulness: to trust God, to live by faith, to speak the Word of God, to require the Word of God in our lives and those that are around us. How faithful have we been? Have we eased up because of some crying? Have we failed to be faithful to God because we feel, "Who am I to say anything? I’ve got enough problems in my own life?" We’re not measuring our walk by you. We’re not measuring our walk by me. We have one standard: perfection, the character of Jesus. Ephesians makes it very clear that until we come to that perfection then these gifts are going to continue to manifest themselves in our lives.

Let me just share a couple of other Scriptures here very quickly. (I told Steve I wouldn’t go late tonight.) We look at the goodness of the Lord. "Faithful is he," 1 Thessalonians 5:24 says, "who called you, who will do it." The apostle speaks to those in Thessalonica who were under persecution and experiencing the warfare. "Maybe we are in the tribulation. Maybe we’ve missed it!" Paul speaks and assures those in Thessalonica in Chapter 3, verse 3. He says, "Listen, beloved. Listen, children. The Lord is faithful who shall stablish you and keep you from the evil one." Think about that for just a moment. As we pray the model prayer that the Lord had given, "…and lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil, [the evil one]. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever." You see, it’s not just about personal deliverance. It’s not about making life easier; it’s about establishing the kingdom. God’s faithfulness is expressed to every one of us as individuals. Every one of us is a beneficiary of it and the recipient of the goodness of God, and the mercy of God, and the faithfulness of God.

Now for you and me, this would be selfishness. For you and me it would be egotistical. But the Scripture makes it very clear that everything that God does, He does for Himself. Why? Because He’s perfect and what He does for Himself—I won’t go back into what we dealt with last week. He can not be other than Himself. He can’t change. Circumstances don’t change Him. God can not be other than what He is. He is just. He is holy. No amount of crying, no amount of natural human empathy and sympathy moves the heart of God. He is moved by justice. He is moved by truth. He’s moved by holiness. He’s moved by love. He’s moved by mercy. He’s moved by gentleness. He’s moved by kindness. In His unitary being, as we shared last week, there’s never a conflict in any of these aspects that we call "attributes" of who God is. The definition of who He is. But all that He does, He does for Himself. Now in the midst of all of that, we then, as His creatures, are beneficiaries of that. As God is building His kingdom and receiving His glory, we get to be a part of it. We get to share in it. To the degree that we love Him, as we saw in the first passage tonight, to the degree that we obey Him; He is faithful to those who obey Him.

He is faithful to be and reveal Himself in those and to those who love Him and obey Him.. "But though we deny Him," the apostle said, "He can’t deny Himself." He remains faithful to who He is. Our failure doesn’t change Him a bit; our denial doesn’t change Him a bit. How faithful are we to the revelation that He’s given of Himself in Jesus Christ; He who establishes us and keeps us from the evil one? Second Timothy, the passage that I just quoted to you over in 2 Timothy 2:13, "If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself." It’s an interesting aspect of God.

Look at Hebrews, as we are talking about God’s remaining faithful to Himself, to His own character. Hebrews 10:23 says, "We hold fast to the professions that He has given us without wavering. For faithful is He who promised." Faithful is He who promised. There is not a going to and fro, the double-minded man that James says is unstable in all of his ways. But I like what the apostle says here, "Let us hold fast the profession of our faith. Don’t let any man steal your crown."

How tightly do we have ahold tonight of our understanding of the plan of God? Do you have your own plans tonight? "I plan on going to college. I plan on getting married. I plan on retiring at forty. I plan…" God’s got a plan. He’s building a kingdom, amen? He’s building a dwelling place of living stones. Let me ask a question tonight: Is your plan conflicting with His? God is obligated, by who He is, to remain faithful to His plan. Do you have a clue? When I ask that I’m saying, "Do you understand that God is putting us in the body as it pleases Him?" He’s called you. You are not here by accident. You aren’t who you are by accident. In God’s eternal plan He is faithful to work in every one of us this gift, this faith, this measure of faith that’s been given to every one of us. He works in us, lest you think that you’ve done something, to will and to do His good pleasure. Sounds like we’re puppets. (We’re Andy. We saw Amos and Andy up here the other night. That’s for you old people; you know who Amos and Andy were. "Yeah, kin fish." It’s probably half a dozen who know that. I don’t remember. My dad told me about that. [Laughter])

I like being God’s puppet. I don’t want to be my own man. My plans are all messed up. I lived enough years as lord, with the wrong understanding of who God is, to know that I don’t want to live that way anymore. God’s good, His ways are right, and He’s faithful to keep covenant with those that love Him and keep His commandments.

So as we are getting ready to close this evening, I want to look at this one aspect that I think is important. Let’s look over at the parable for just a moment that many of us are familiar with in Matthew 25. We need to take a look and ask ourselves how we fit into this situation. We need to see what the Spirit of God is doing concerning the working and manifesting of His kingdom in every one of us in these last days. There’s a work that’s taking place. In verse 14, the Scripture says, "For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one." Now take a look at this for just a moment. I think we misunderstand this a little bit. "To every man he gave according to his several ability; and straightway he took his journey."

When we think of abilities we think, again, of natural gifting and natural talent. These did have a variation in some of their natural gifts, no question. But it’s not about the gifts. It’s the character of faithfulness that we’re talking about tonight. It doesn’t matter how many gifts you have if they’re not being surrendered and used for the glory of God. God is not interested in your program, is what I’m saying. He’s not interested in all of the works mentality that people get caught up in. He’s looking for those that would know Who He is. Because the real sin of the man with one talent was not the fact that he just produced one talent, but that he misunderstood who God was. He misjudged the heart of God, the purpose of God, and what God was trying to do in him. Watch how the parable goes on, it’s interesting.

The Scripture says that as he took his journey then, verse 16, "Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord's money." Now a couple of things taking place here, reasons for this to take place. He’s going to say, "Well, I know who you are and know that you are an austere man. I didn’t want to loose your talent. So here’s what’s yours." The Lord’s response to him was, "You’re right in one thing; that is Mine. So therefore, it wasn’t yours to hide. I told you to invest it. I told you to use it for My glory."

You see, so many of us think that we can alter the plan of God, that we’ve been given lives and have the right to choose how they’re invested and to what degree they are invested. "This should be good enough for God." We all know the fact that He wants all of us. If we don’t give Him our lives daily, if we don’t take up our cross and follow Him we aren’t, [what?] worthy of Him. "Don’t call me ‘Lord’ and not follow the program. My Word is not tough, grievous, to those that know Me and love Me." "This is so hard to do!" We’re not tempted beyond what we are able to stand and with every temptation He makes a way of escape. God’s grace is sufficient for us in the midst of our trials, as Paul was revealing to us in his. We think Paul sometimes was like Superman. Just like the Lord, touched with the feelings of our infirmities, Paul gives us glimpses into his own life. I’m so glad of that. He says, "When Satan was buffeting me I sought the Lord to deliver me."

We know what the Scripture says. It says the enemy was beating him, literally, black and blue. Whether it was demonic forces that were truly just attacking him or whether it was through external circumstances, but he was under satanic attack. He couldn’t stand any more, he’s crying out to God for deliverance and God said, "My [what?]" How many of you think that’s what Paul wanted to hear? "Okay Paul, I see now that you’ve sought me these three times. You’ve been a faithful man to pray and be diligent. You’ve been faithful to stand and to take My name and resist the enemy. You know the Scripture says he’ll flee from you." We see in the life of Paul, don’t we, the seven sons of Sceva. "Jesus I know, and [what?] Paul I know; but who are you?" The powers of darkness knew Paul. They knew his authority. He cast demons out and now he’s getting the tar beat out of him! And what does he hear from God? "I’m faithful to honor the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus you resist the devil and he will flee from you. In my name you shall cast out devils, you shall heal the sick," praise God! Amen!

What about when you hear, "My grace is sufficient for you?" How do we judge God then, a faithful God, the God who keeps covenant to a thousand generations? Are you going to judge God based on your experience or His promises? Are you going to judge God upon your ability or the revelation of His character? Are you going to judge God based upon a momentary circumstance or a journey that’s bringing us to eternal rewards? You see, the question is, "Are we going to judge God as He’s revealed Himself, the faithful God who keeps covenant?"

So the Scripture says, then, that these had their opportunities and "He that had received one digged and hid in the earth his lord’s money." I like that one phrase, "his lord’s money." We are stewards. This isn’t ours. Your life is not your own. "After a long time," sufficient time. God gives us chances. I wonder if in this long time He watched the guy with five talents producing. I wonder in this long period of time He watched the guy that had two talents giving all he had. There is another truth to learn here about faithful men, isn’t there? It’s not about how much we are bringing forth, it’s about what we are doing with what we’ve been given. The man that produced two more was just as faithful as the man who produced five more. God’s not judging by how much we are doing, He’s judging by what we’re doing with what He’s given us. Some of us here have been given a lot. We’ve been given talents, strength; we’ve been given an environment to grow in. Have we squandered, as stewards, what God has entrusted to us to bring Him glory? If you step back today and survey the fruit in your life, when we step back and look, what are we doing with what we’ve been given?

The parable goes on. The Lord’s speaking here and He says that "after a long time, [sufficient time], the Lord came and reckoned with them." We hear that phrase, "the day of reckoning." There’s a day coming when we are going to give an answer for every idle word that we’ve spoken. We are going to give an answer for every opportunity we had to make right decisions and to bring God glory, every opportunity to, with our lips, make known His faithfulness to all generations. How many times has the coming generation heard us complain about God? "I don’t understand why God isn’t doing thus-and-so. I thought the Lord was going to…"

As we go across this congregation, we know each other well. We have some people that just can’t figure God out as it pertains to healing. Others can’t figure God out as it pertains to finances. Others can’t figure out God as it pertains to physical appetites. We all have our little pet doctrines and we all have our areas that we are trying to understand the mysteries of God. What is the next generation hearing, your frustration with your pet doctrine that doesn’t work out on paper, or about how good God is? About a God who keeps covenant with those that love Him and keep His commandments whether we see it or not, hoping against hope, calling those things that are not as though they were? Praise God!

Even though I don’t go to where the Baptists and the Calvinists do as my primary statement, I want to tell you something: Their doctrine is not incorrect when they say we are going to be healed in death, praise God! Whether we receive it here or in eternity, God is faithful to His promises. So we rest in the goodness of the Lord and we take what He has given us and we multiply it for His glory. "So He came to reckon and he that had received five talents and brought the other five and said, ‘Lord, you gave me five. I gained beside that five talents more.’ His Lord said, ‘Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over, [say it], a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.’ Then, to the guy with two talents, ‘Thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over,’" [say it].

Okay, now what? He called five and two the same thing: a few. It could be five thousand and two and He would say, "A few." The things that He’s given are just partial, just pieces, of His kingdom, of what pertains to His bride, of what pertains to His church, as what pertains to His body. Some of us seem to think that we are doing a lot for God. "Just a few things." A life like Polycarp, faithful to eighty-four years of service, "Just a few things." You see, the man that’s the faithful steward never feels as though he’s doing something great for God. Or, "Of what should be done, I’ve accomplished these great things." Just humbly says, "What you’ve given me I’ve done all that I know. This is the most I could do. He said, "Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord."

You know one of the things we learn here? I don’t think there’s ever going to be joy in this walk that we are in if we’re not being faithful. "The joy of the Lord, which is our strength." When we know that we are doing less than God has called us to do, gifted us to do, expected us to do, there’s not a joy, but there’s a regret. There is a dreading of this confrontation. The Scripture talks about entering into the presence of God with a boldness because of the faithfulness of He that has called us. Anybody who knows God’s faithfulness, and love, and immutability, knows that He can’t be other than He is. He’s not going to deal with us based upon our circumstances. He’s going to deal with us based upon His greatness, and His mercy, and His love. The only thing that can cause Him to speak ill toward us is our misjudging of who He is, our miscalculating His love, of seeing Him as an austere man, One that is going to hold us accountable to a natural ability and not the grace that has been imparted to us.

So as we end with this for this evening, this is just such an interesting thing. He goes on and says, "The one that had the one talent..." When he judges Him an austere man; he’s basically saying, "You are just asking more of us than we’re able to do. You’re putting such a hard requirement upon us. Nobody can do this." Well, two other people have just done it with more, more responsibility, more pressure, by the same grace. The same grace that caused the one to produce the five was the same grace that produced the two, which was the same grace available to the one that refused, who had the one. What is the distinction that is made here? Watch, "No one can ever keep this standard. No one can ever please you, this hard man, this austere man." He that had received the one talent, verse 24, said, "I knew you." Isn’t it interesting, the one guy that didn’t know Him said he knew Him? "Well, I know, the Lord said to me, and God said, and the Lord said, and thus sayeth…"

Are you being faithful over the small things? "What do you mean ‘small’?" Are you just preferring others better than yourself? You say, "That’s the greatest thing that God…" No, it’s a small thing. Why do I say that? It’s the primary thing. It’s the one thing that we know grace is going to be sufficient for because that’s the commandment He gave us, to love one another, amen? So the grace is going to be there. For us not to move in love for one another, prefer one another, and care for one another, and every gift, as the Scripture said, ‘Having that same care, that same ministry one for another,’ is to deny that the grace is sufficient. We are saying, "He is an austere man. It’s not fair. You’re asking us to do something we can’t do." He keeps His covenant to those that love Him.

So He goes on, let’s finish it with this; "I knew you, that you’re a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, gathering where thou has not strawed, and I was afraid." "Love casts out [what?] all fear." Are you afraid of God? Are you afraid of failing? God would rather have that talent lost. Listen! God would rather have that talent lost if we were doing all that we could do to bring Him glory, because He’s not looking for anything but our hearts, our love, and our right judgment of who He is. "I knew You…" He didn’t know God! "So I hid the talent. Here take what’s yours." Hmmm…

As if God’s going to be pleased and go, "Whew! I sure wouldn’t have been able to make it without that talent. It’s a good thing you saved that; the whole kingdom was coming down." The Lord answered and said unto him, "Thou wicked and slothful servant." Isn’t it interesting that He calls him "slothful" here? There’s nothing that would indicate that he wasn’t diligent about his own kingdom and his own works. He was slothful in the work of the kingdom of God. You see, many of us judge God because He’s infringing on our kingdom. He’s asking too much. "You knew that I reap where I sowed not, and gathered where I have not strawed. You at least ought to put my money in the hands of somebody that would have done something with it. Take, therefore, the talent from him and give it to the one with the ten."

You know, many of us can’t ever figure this out. Some of us it really ticks off and some of us it creates a jealousy. Those that seem to have the most keep getting more. "To he that has shall…" If we aren’t faithful in the small things He can’t make us a ruler in the great things. If we are not faithful with what He’s given us to bless others around us and see them prosper—I’m talking about spiritually, emotionally, every way—then He can’t entrust us with what’s our own. "For unto everyone that has," and we are ending with this, "shall be given and he shall have abundance. But from him that has not, [he that has produced nothing in the kingdom,] what he has shall be taken."

If only people could begin to see. "What can I do? What can I do to get back the joy of the Lord? What can I do to begin to walk in faith again? What can I do to just have that assurance?" Stop investing in your own kingdom, begin to prefer others above yourself. Tragically for this scenario, and in this parable, it’s speaking toward a life that’s already been used up. This isn’t just about the presence of God and the knowledge of God, this is about eternal life. And from that man was taken his opportunity to believe and to honor God. He said "Cast him, this unprofitable servant, into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

"Unprofitable servant," "unfaithful servant," self-indulgent, the one who trusts in his own abilities and not the goodness of God, doctrine without fruit. Help us, Father, to be faithful men in this generation. Not to say, "I know you, God," but "I will serve you and I will love you. I’ll take that revelation that you’ve given me of Yourself and be faithful to it. I don’t know You. I don’t know what You’re doing. I can’t figure it out. But, I know what You’re asking of me right now and I’m going to be faithful. I’m going to do what I know to do for this moment and You’re going to give me grace to be obedient. ‘For sufficient is the evil thereof. This day you’ve given us daily bread. This day You’ve led us, and fed us, and kept us from the evil one and have built your kingdom. This day we stand to declare the faithfulness of our God. For faithful is He who called us who will do it.’" Father, for that we give You the glory, and the honor, and the praise, in Jesus’ name, amen.

Turn to somebody next to you and say, "Our God’s faithful!" Amen!

Go in peace. God’s love go with you.

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