A Daily Walk

John Randall: We've been given a life. It's a gift from God. A stewardship that's been entrusted to us. My pastor would often remind us, you have one life to live and it will soon be passed and only what you do for the Lord Jesus is going to last. What are we doing with what we have been given? Are we ready or not? I pray that we're ready.

Guest (Male): Today on a daily walk, we give attention to a couple of powerful parables spoken by our Lord in Matthew chapter 25. Jesus is coming again at a time when it's not expected and we're to be ready for it. Well, part of being ready involves using what God has given us for his glory and the kingdom of God. The question is, what are you doing with what you've been given by God? Are you faithful and are you ready? Let's ponder over that now as we join pastor John Randall.

John Randall: William Barclay, who was an amazing commentator of the scriptures, tells a fictitious story of a meeting that Satan held with his demons. And the purpose of this meeting was to try and figure out the best way to deceive the masses of humanity. And so the first demon came forward and said, I've got it. Let's whisper in the people's ears, there is no God. And Satan said, nah, that won't work. Creation declares the glory of the Lord and the firmament shows his handy work. Even his eternal Godhead is seen in creation. People are too smart to deny his existence.

That that might a few might fall for that, but not the masses. We need something else. Another one said, I've got it. We'll tell them there's no hell. Nah, that won't work, said the devil. People know there needs to be retribution and judgment. Again, some may fall for that, not the masses. We need something else. Finally, the third spoke up and he said, well, instead of saying there is no God or there is no hell, we'll tell them no hurry. That's it, said the devil. No hurry. And the demons went everywhere, he says in his story.

Procrastination set in. We don't need to prepare for that. In addition to the thoughts of inconvenience, procrastination, there is also the thought that is a reality of self-deception, self-deception. I am a good person. That may be true. That may be true, but you're not good enough to get into heaven cuz you'd have to be perfect. And if you say that you're perfect, that means you're a liar and you're not good enough. No one is perfect. Only one lived a perfect, spotless, sinless life. His name was Jesus. Self-deception. I have oil, I got a garment. Come on, I'm here.

Yet although they had the appearance of faith, it was dead. They were in darkness and not light. And the sad consequence of being unprepared and without oil is found in verse 10. It says, while they went to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went into the wedding and the door was shut. And afterward, the other virgins came saying, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said surely I say to you, I I don't know you. The foolish bridesmaids, the result of not being prepared is that they were excluded. And the exclusion was universal.

All who were not ready did not go in. And their exclusion was complete. It says they were shut out, not they were shut in. And their exclusion was final. There was no other way in. Jesus is the only way in. Jesus said, I am the door of the sheepfold. Jesus said, there's no other way to the Father except through me. He is the only way. There's not another way in. He's the only way in. The result of being ready, however, is they were not excluded. The entrance was immediate because it says they were ready, they went in to the wedding.

The entrance was intimate. It says they went in with the bridegroom. And their entrance was joyous. They went into the wedding feast. And their entrance was personal for it says they went in. I cannot think of any words more frightening than the door was shut. And to hear the Lord say, I don't know you. It must have been a similar feeling that the people had in Noah's day. As the rain began to fall and the floods began to rise, that the people ran to the ark, but the door was closed. The window of opportunity had shut.

Folks, let me tell you something today. The door currently is open. It is open. It is open. The Lord is inviting and welcoming and saying, come in while you can. The door is open. There is an opportunity for you to receive Christ now, today, not later. The door is open. Have you received him? Have you tried to come up some other way? There isn't one. But the door is open now, but at the same time, there will come a day when the door will shut, when it will close. And you won't have another opportunity. There is no middle ground.

There is no purgatory that you could be prayed out of. There's nothing like that in scripture. Today is the day of salvation. We make the choice now. That is why the Bible tells us in Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 15, while it is said today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your heart as in the day of rebellion. The parable concludes with a rather strong warning and exhortation found in verse 13 and here it is. Jesus said, watch therefore. For you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man, notice this, is coming.

Watch. What is the lesson from this first parable? That the Lord is coming, but it may be delayed. The Lord will come without warning. And ultimately, the message is to be ready and to keep your lamp trimmed and burning because he is coming for his bride. As you move on to the next parable in verse 14, a second parable. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and he delivered his goods to them. And to one, he gave five talents. To another, two. And to another, one.

To each according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. Likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents and look, I've gained five more talents besides them.

And his Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. And he also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents and look, I've gained two more talents beside them. And his Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter in to the joy of your Lord. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew that you were a hard man, reaping where you haven't sown and gathering where you haven't scattered seed and I was afraid and I hid your talent in the ground and look, there you have what's yours.

But his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I haven't sown, gather where I haven't scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming I I would have received back my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given and he will have an abundance. But from him who does not have even what he has will be taken away. And cast that unprofitable servant into the outer darkness.

There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. These parables, these two are closely connected to one another. The parable of the talents is the sixth and final illustration that Jesus used to teach preparedness for his second coming. And here, the emphasis is more on serving than it is on watching. Now it's important to understand first of all, the word talent. Sometimes when we read this, we think in terms of I have a talent. I'm really good at juggling and perfected it. I'm really good at playing the flute. I'm really, you know, as as a talent is something you do.

That's not what we're talking about so much as a talent. This word for talent originally signified a measure of weight. As a monetary term, it indicated a very large sum of money. It was entrusted to those who were called to be stewards of what belonged to their master. And the parable teaches that rewards are given according to faithfulness in using what the master has given, not according to the sides of the opportunity, but being faithful with whatever it is that we've been entrusted with. So the master in the parable begins by distributing his resources to his servants.

He calls his servants together. They're all they're each called just like we are called to serve the Lord in some capacity. God has a calling on each of our lives. He has a purpose and a reason for our existence. We're not an accident. He wants to use us. In fact, he delights in using us. And each servant had an allotment of goods that were entrusted into their care. They weren't all given the same thing. It says that each was given according to their own ability. One had five, one had two, one had one. It didn't mean that one was greater than the other.

It just means that's what they were entrusted with. They were to be found faithful with whatever the Lord had placed or their servant their master had placed in the servant's hands. Each of them was also given a period of time, a window of time to invest what they'd been given. And each one of them would be held accountable when the master returned. And following the distribution of the goods, the master went away. He left for a period of time. But then when he came back and he came back, it was to evaluate an account for what his servants had done with what they had been entrusted with.

And the first two, the one that had five, the one that had two, they invested what they had. They took what they were given and they used it and it bore fruit and they actually had double what they had started with and they were able to present something back to their master and they were rewarded accordingly. However, the third servant, as we read, he received one and rather than do something with it, knowing what his master would require, he decided to bury it, to do nothing at all. And then the day of reckoning came and accountability came when the master returned and the one who had received five, he was rewarded.

In fact, the master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Hey, listen, that is what every Christian should want to hear when they stand before Jesus Christ. Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord. There's there's no greater accolade, there's no greater word that you could ever hear from anybody than from the Lord Jesus saying, well done, enter in. What joy that's going to be when we go from this life to the next and into his presence of eternal glory. I hope somebody's excited about that in here.

Come on, somebody. And he said to him, you were faithful over a few things. Now you'll be rewarded with more things to to oversee. And there is a principle here in this. And that is being faithful with whatever the Lord has entrusted to you. Maybe the Lord's entrusted you with a family. Hey, that's your first ministry. Are you faithful with it? What has God given you? What has he placed in your care? Sometimes we look at little things and we think, well, this isn't really that significant. We deem it as small, not that important. The guy with two talents in the parable could have easily said, well, I only have two, so forget it.

But rather he was wise and he used it and his master rewarded him. When the nation of Israel had been brought back into the land, having been in Babylonian captivity for 70 years, they were given the opportunity to return and to rebuild their lives and they began by rebuilding the destroyed temple. And when they had laid the foundation of the temple, there was a group of people that saw the first temple and they saw the foundation and they wept because it looked nothing like the first temple. But there was another group that was actually born in captivity and when they saw the foundation, they rejoiced because there was a foundation.

Weeping on one side, rejoicing on the other. And some got so discouraged that they just stopped building all together. And so Zechariah came onto the scene with a word from God for God's people and this is what he said in Zechariah chapter 4 in verse 9, the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of his temple. His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. Verse 10, for who has despised the day of small things? Are you despising the day of small things? I can tell you honestly in my life, there have been moments when I personally despised the day of small things.

But there's nothing small in the eyes of God if it's for his glory. And I remember pastoring in a living room with two people and thinking, I despise this. Why am I even doing this? This seems so pointless. There were two women in a room and me. I was doing the women's ministry. That where it started and I'm thinking, why am I even doing this? Why why am I even here? It seems so pointless at the time. And yet this was part of God 's plan to learn to be faithful with whatever God gives you.

And understand this, whatever God has given you is more than you deserve. It is more than we deserve. It was Charles Spurgeon. He preached to thousands in London each Sunday morning. But when he started out his ministry, you know what he started? He started out by passing out tracts and teaching Sunday school classes as a teenager. And when he began to give short messages to the Sunday school, God blessed his ministry of the word and then he was invited to preach in just obscure places in the countryside and he used every opportunity to honor the Lord and he talked about what he felt when he was going through that and this is what he said.

He said, I am perfectly sure that if I had not been willing to preach in those small gatherings of people in obscure country places, I should never have had the privilege of preaching to thousands of men and women in large buildings over the land. He said, remember our Lord's rule. Whoever exalts himself shall be abased and he that humbles himself shall be exalted. Hudson Taylor, another giant in the Christian faith. It was a stormy night in Birmingham, England and Hudson Taylor was supposed to speak at a meeting at the Seventh Street school room. And his hostess assured him that nobody would attend because it was a stormy night.

But Taylor insisted on going and he said, quote, I must go even if there was no one but the doorkeeper. Less than a dozen people showed up. But the meeting was marked with unusual spiritual power and half of those present either became missionaries or gave their children as missionaries and the rest were faithful supporters of the China Inland Mission for years to come. You never know what God's going to do. He just asked us to show up. F. B. Meyer said, don't waste your time waiting and longing for large opportunities which may never come, but faithfully handle the little things that are always claiming your attention.

All be faithful. But then he comes to the unfaithful servant and you'll notice that he had knowledge of what the master required. He knew it in advance. It wasn't like he was ignorant. He knew what was required and yet he made excuses and he assumed that his excuses would be acceptable. How many people today have heard the message of the gospel being presented? They know that Jesus is coming or they've heard that it is so, that he has died on a cross and that he has risen again and he calls men and women everywhere to repent and yet they suppose they will not respond to his grace.

They will bury the truth. They will suppress the truth. And the master shows up and they say, well, I was afraid. And that's really not the case. It wasn't that you were afraid. It was that you were lazy and wicked. I mean, let's be honest. I mean, just cuts to the chase. It's not that you were afraid. Don't say that. That might sound good to you and might justify your indifference, but the fact of the matter is you were living in wickedness and you were lazy. That's what it's about. Is what the master said to the servant.

And so what happened? Judgment came. And what this man had what he'd been given was taken. Folks, every single one of us has been given something by the Lord. And and it you know what it is? A life. We've been given a life. It's a gift from God. A stewardship that's been entrusted to us. My pastor would often remind us, you have one life to live and it will soon be passed and only what you do for the Lord Jesus is going to last. What are we doing with what we have been given? Are we ready or not?

I pray that we're ready. This man is an illustration not of a backsliding Christian, I do not believe, but more of an unbeliever. No Christian who's justified by faith and declared righteous by God could be cast into outer darkness. A person who really believes in the first coming of Christ will also believe in the second coming for the same reason. This man he knew what was required, but but he didn't believe it because it didn't affect the way that he lived and it was obvious. Where the other two knew the master was coming and it affected the way that they lived and what they invested in and what they were a part of.

This man, what he had was taken away and given to others and he was an unprofitable servant. And he landed in a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. What what do these parables teach us? What do they illustrate for us? What can we take away in looking at these? I think there are a few lessons. One is to be prepared, to be watching. That is one application that can be made. And the second would be to serve the Lord with with everything that we have. As we noted yesterday with the men as we gathered here together yesterday for the day to present ourselves as living sacrifices holy and acceptable, which is our reasonable service and not being conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of our mind that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

That is the way to live. Maybe some of you today, the word that you need, it's not so much that you are not excited or waiting for Jesus or you're not it's not that you aren't prepared to meet the Lord. It is a priority to you. But perhaps you feel as though the light of your lamp is dwindling. I'm I'm pleased to say there is oil available today. There is oil available for anything. My light it just seems like like the world is just pouring water on it and I just it's like a smoke just coming out of this little lamp.

I don't know if I can listen, there is oil. There is oil and the oil is so often representative of the work of the Holy Spirit. There is a fresh supply of the Spirit of God that can ignite your heart in such a way that you can burn brightly for the Lord. He will empower you. He will strengthen you to continue to burn brightly for him until he comes. But you come to him and say, God, listen, I need fresh oil today. Will you pour it into me? And the answer is yes. Yes, he will.

God's work will never lack God's supply. And so I come as I am empty. Say, Lord, fill me today. Oh Lord, let me overflow with the oil of joy and power that I might burn brightly for you. Lord, I I want to I want to hear the bridegroom's coming and I want to respond. I want to be ready. I want to be prepared. I want to be diligent and faithful with what you've entrusted to me. I have a a window of time. I have an opportunity and and what matters is what I'm doing with what you've given me.

And if that's your desire, I would encourage you is to call upon the Lord today and receive that fresh overflowing work of the Spirit of God in your life.

Guest (Male): Hey, thanks for listening to a daily walk with pastor John Randall. Would you like to hear the study again or share it with someone who might benefit by hearing this? Head over to adailywalk.org where you can listen to and share the content or listen to us wherever you get your podcast and at oneplace.com. The Calvary Salvosa app is another great way to listen to pastor John on your mobile devices, so download that today. Did you know that pastor John releases an encouraging daily devotional each day? Check it out at adailywalk.org and let us know what you think.

Our special offer for the month of August is a newly released book by John's wife, Michelle Randall. It's titled Redeemed, a journey through Ruth. This book is the second of five published in a series of many Bible study books and it's ideal for small group summer studies, one-on-one discipleship, or even a women's study. It's available for the cost of just $10 at adailywalk.org or call 877-242-0828. That's 877-242-0828 and adailywalk.org. Please remember that it's your gifts that help us deliver God's word on stations like this all across the nation. We want this ministry to bring the Lord glory and help as many people as possible with their daily walk.

And your gift, whatever the size, will help us accomplish that goal. They can donate online at adailywalk.org. You can also call 877-242-0828. If you find these studies helpful to your daily walk, we'd like to know. Pastor John reads your emails and is so encouraged by what you have to say. It is important that we hear from you as it lets us know where a daily walk is effective. Write to us by email at adailywalk@gmail.com and let us know what station you hear us on. That's adailywalk@gmail.com. We'll catch you back here next time when our Through the Bible journey continues here on a daily walk with pastor John Randall.

This program is brought to you by Calvary Salvosa and made possible through your generous support.