PT-2 "Matthew 25:31-46"

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/20/2024 8:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 25:31-46”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:31-46

 

            Message of the verses:  “31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “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; 33  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “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. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 "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; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44  "Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 "Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 

            As many know I listen to John MacArthur’s sermons on the verses that are included in my Spiritual Diaries, and there are three sermons that go along with this section of Scripture, sermons that I found very interesting.  The first two are actually introductions and cover verses 31-32, and then the last sermon covers the rest of the verses, and thus ends the Olivet Discourse which is found in Matthew 24 and 25. 

 

            This last part of Matthew 25 speaks of judgment and all sin must be judged, and all sin will or has been judged.  When Jesus died on the cross He paid the price for all sin, but a person has to understand that they are a sinner and can do nothing about having their sins forgiven on their own.  Because Jesus paid it all then a person needs to confess to the Lord that they are sinners, born sinners, and that they desire to have the forgiveness that Christ offers through His death on the cross.  This is how sins have been forgiven, but if a person does not desire to receive the forgiveness that Christ offers then their judgment will come after they die, and that is not good. 

 

            The Bible does make it clear that all sin is known to God as He knows everything, and that all sin must be punished as I have written about.  Let us look at a couple of verses that speak of this:  “"But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out” (Num 32:23).  “Adversity pursues sinners, But the righteous will be rewarded with prosperity” PR. 13:21).  “You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence” (Ps. 90:8 written by Moses).  “Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him” (Isa. 3:11).

 

            MacArthur writes that “Paul sums up that basic truth in his letter to the Romans: ‘The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men’ (1:18 emphasis added).  Later in that same letter the apostle wrote, ‘There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil’ (2:9 emphasis added).  No sin and no sinner is exempted from God’s judgment and punishment.”

 

            Now as we look through the Old and New Testaments we will find that God’s judgment is a repeated theme.  In the Old Testament judgment is primarily temporal, however in the New Testament it is primarily eternal.  MacArthur writes “With significant exceptions, the Old focuses on punishment suffered in this world and the New on punishment suffered in the next.  The Old more often speaks about God’s physically destroying nations, punishing cities, or afflicting individuals because of their wickedness.  The New, on the other hand, more often speaks of judgment that lasts through all eternity.”

 

            I think that many people believe that love is what our Lord spoke most of while on earth, but no one spoke more about judgment that Jesus, more than love.  “Jesus spoke of sin that could not be forgiven, of the danger of losing one’s soul forever, of spending eternity in the torments of hell, of existing forever in outer darkness, where there will be perpetual weeping and gnashing of teeth.  No pictures of judgment are more intense and sobering than those Jesus portrayed.”

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  As I read about judgment, and then read about forgiveness the Christ offers, I am so very thankful that a little over 50 years ago that Jesus saved me and assures me of a home with Him in heaven.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord through His Holy Spirit that He will use the Spiritual Diaries that I write to speak to the hearts of those who do not believe so that the Holy Spirit can work in their hearts to bring them to Christ.

 

3/20/2024 9:07 AM

 

 

PT-1 "Intro to Matt. 25:31-46"

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/19/2024 8:35 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                         Focus:  PT-1 “Intro to Matthew 25:31-46”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:31-46

 

            Message of the verses:  “31 "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 “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; 33  and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left. 34 “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. 35 ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’ 41 "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; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44  "Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 "Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

 

            I began to listen to the sermons that go along with these verses while on my walk yesterday and the first sermon looked at only two verses, so I have to say that it may take us a little while to get through these verses.  These are the last verses in the 25^th chapter of Matthew, the last verses of what is called “The Olivet Discourse” in which the Lord Jesus Christ was sitting on the Mount of Olives talking to His disciples, and answering a question that they asked in Matthew 24:2-3 “2 And He said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down." 3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"  The question that they asked was in response to the question that Jesus asked them and we have been looking at His answer to that since the 19^th of November, 2023.  I have mentioned that Matthew chapters 24-25 speak of what will go on in the Tribulation period which will begin when the Antichrist signs a treaty with Israel to allow them to, in my opinion, to build their temple and begin once again animal sacrifices there.  In the middle of the seven years the “abomination of desolations” will begin and Israel will be in great trouble for the last three and a half years of the tribulation period which will end with the second coming of Jesus Christ as described in the 19^th chapter of the book of Revelation.

 

            Ok, I got a little off track, but as many of you who read my Spiritual Diaries that go onto my blogs they know that it was through the prophetic word of God that He used to bring me salvation a little over 50 years ago, and so I always get excited about the prophetic Word of God as in looking at it one can see that God is in total charge of His world, and one can also see that there are prophecies that have been fulfilled which gives a person the understanding that what God says He will do, He will do, and one of the things that God says He will do is to save those who realize that they are sinners, repent of their sins and ask the Lord Jesus Christ to come into their lives to save them.  He will do that and give that person the Holy Spirit to live in them to guide them as they walk with the Lord.  The result of this salvation is that one day those who are saved will be with the Lord in heaven forever.

 

            Well I guess we will begin this introduction to these verses in the next SD.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the call to salvation that the Lord gave to me on the 26^th of January, 1974.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord that He will guide me as I walk with Him today.

 

3/19/2024 8:59 AM

PT-2 "The Reward we Gain" (Matt. 25:28-30)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/18/2024 9:36 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-2 “The Reward We Gain”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:28-30

 

            Message of the verses:  “28 ‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ 29  "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. 30 “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 

            I realize that I have been repeating the fact that chapters 24-25 of Matthew are mostly about what happens in the tribulation period.  I realize that there are many things in these two chapters that we can learn from and apply them to our lives in the church today, but Christ is answering a question that the disciples asked back in Matthew 24: 3 As He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?’”  The question that the disciples are asking about is the statement that Jesus stated in verse two “2 And He said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another, which will not be torn down.”’”  The disciples thought that this was going to happen very soon, but it has been almost 2000 years since Jesus spoke in these two chapters and a lot of things have happened in the church age, and it is and has been my hope that the Rapture of the church will come very soon, which will be the end of the church age as the Lord will come to get His bride in the clouds of the earth and then take His bride, the church into heaven to be with Him forever.

 

            John MacArthur writes “Therefore when Christ returns, He will figuratively take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ As He had declared on at least one previous occasion (see Matt. 13:12), Jesus now said again: “To everyone who has shall move be given, and he shall have an abundance; but the one who does not have even what he does have shall be taken away.’”

 

            What does all of this mean to us who are alive now in the church age?  Well it will mean the same as those believers who are alive in the tribulation period and that is that those who demonstrate by their spiritual fruitfulness that they belong to God will be given even greater opportunity to bear fruit for the Lord.  However those who demonstrate by their unproductiveness that they do not belong to the Lord will lose even the benefits they once had.  I think that speaks of people who are now in church’s doing things that they perceive are for the Lord, but are not true believers and so the things that they perceive they are doing for the Lord will not count because they do not truly belong to the Lord.  This person does not have any true blessings from God because he has made them worthless through disuse.  MacArthur writes “But the reality of what those blessings could have been will be given to someone who has proved his genuineness.  The divine principle is that those who trust in Christ will gain everything, and those who do not trust in Him will lose everything.”

 

            This third slave that we are talking about was not simply unfaithful but faithless.  A true believer in Christ who wastes his abilities, spiritual gifts, and opportunities will have his work “burned up, [and] shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:15).  I remember a long time ago when I was teaching some new believers truths from the Word of God that we talked about this verse and came to the conclusion that the person spoken about here will have “smokey robes.”  The person represented by this slave, however, has no faith at all and therefore no saving relationship with the Lord.  No matter who much he may appear to have been blessed by God and to have served Him, one day he will then hear from the Lord’s own lips these awful words “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness” (Matt. 7:23).

 

            The following is what the Lord says will happen to this third slave:  “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  This third slave will be just like the man who tried to crash the king’s wedding feast without the proper garments (Matt. 22:11-13), this unproductive, counterfeit servant was destined for destruction.

 

            The term Outer darkness is a common New Testament description of hell.  MacArthur concludes “In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, signifying the unrelieved agony of being separated from God’s presence and goodness.”

 

3/18/2024 10:15 AM

  

The Reward We Gain (Matt. 25:28-30)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/17/2024 7:54 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                 Focus:  PT-1 “The Reward We Gain”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                    Reference:  Matt. 25:28-30

 

            Message of the verses:  “25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 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. 27 ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest. 28 ‘Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ 29 "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. 30 “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

 

            In this section we will be able to see what this third slaved did with his master’s talent, and then what kind of “reward” he will receive because of what he did with the talent, and as we will see it is not going to be a pretty picture.  In speaking of the church Jesus made it clear that the visible church will always include both genuine and spurious Christians.  Every church has tares that, except to God, are indistinguishable from the wheat.  True character cannot be determined by what they do outwardly, because unbelievers can be quite active in the church and seemingly interested in its work, in other words they are not truly born-again.  MacArthur writes “As far as the Lord is concerned, however, the work they do is not in His service or for the benefit of His kingdom.  Whatever such a person may do with the abilities he has from the Lord, they are spiritually unproductive and might as well be hidden away.  In the kingdom of God, the realm of His sovereign rule—whether in the visible earthly church or in the millennial kingdom—there will be no acceptable service offered to Him except that offered by true believers.”

 

            Let me just say something that I have probably said before, and this comes from Ephesians 2:8-10 “8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  In verses 8-9 Paul tells us how we were saved, and then in verse 10 he tells us that the Lord has given us works to do for the cause of Christ, and that God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”  I have stated that in eternity past that God gave each person that he chose for salvation spiritual gifts to be used by them that will be used in the church.  We discover these works or gifts by the careful studying of God’s Word and then through the power of the Holy Spirit perform these works to edify those in the church and to bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. In this way they are similar to the talents that the Master gave to the slaves as believers are to invest their spiritual gifts in the work of the Lord.

 

            Sunday is church day and so I believe it best to finish this section in my next SD.

3/17/2024 8:13 AM

PT-7 "The Reckoning We Face" (Matt. 25:19-27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/16/2024 10:52 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-7 “The Reckoning We Face”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:19-27

 

            Message of the verses:  “19 "Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20  "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.’ 21 “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.’ 22 "Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23 “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.’ 24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 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. 27 ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.”

 

            I want to continue writing about this last slave, the slave that did not do his master’s will, the slave that as we look deeper into this parable was not a true believer.  MacArthur writes “The truth of the matter was that the slave had no real concern for his master one way or the other, and his excuse seems to have been more spur of the moment than planned.   He did not expect the master’s return and did not expect to be held accountable, and when he was caught by surprise he simply threw out an outrageous charge that made no sense.”

 

            If this is true, and I believe that it is true then I can learn that living for the Lord takes planning, planning to stay in His Word, to do the things that the Bible says to help me to grow in the Lord, and as stated this takes planning.

 

            Now as we look again at the first two servants we find that the distinguishing mark of them was that they used their opportunity to serve the Lord before His return, which they eagerly awaited, and thereby proved the genuineness of their salvation.  These two were willing to invest everything they had in service of their Master.  However the third servant, on the other hand, put aside what God had given to him and then went about his own selfish business.  He just did not thing that it was important to do what his master had asked him to do, as he called himself a servant of God, however he demonstrated conclusively that he was not.

 

            As we see in the last part of this parable that the master was angry with the third slave, not simply because he lost a profit but because the slave wasted his opportunity, and we can see in the parable that Jesus’ point was that having little to work with is no excuse for not using it at all.  The truth is that even a person with limited exposure to Scripture and who possesses few talents and few opportunities for service is fully obligated to use those blessings in order to serve the Lord.

 

            MacArthur writes “In T. S. Eliot’s play Murder in the Cathedral, the chorus chants, ‘Yet we have gone on living, living and partly living.’  Those words are reminiscent of the three slaves in this parable.  Two of them were truly alive, whereas the other had only the appearance of life.  Two of them built their houses on a foundation of rack, the other built his on sand.  Two of them were wheat, the other was a tare.

 

            “The profit earned by the first two servants represents the accomplishment and satisfaction of a life that belongs to the Lord and is faithfully dedicated to His service.  The failure of the third servant to use that with which he had been entrusted by his master represents the emptiness, uselessness, and worthlessness of a life in which profession of faith in Christ is proved false and meaningless by the careless waste of privilege and opportunity.”  And with this quote we finish looking and learning from this parable, remembering that we are talking about the tribulation period as we look at Matthew chapters 24 and 25.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I can learn things from all three of these slaves, and from the first two I can learn to continue to work for the Lord and in my working for the Lord use the talents that He has given me to serve Him as I live the Christian life on this earth.  From the last slave I can learn not to be selfish, to care greatly about what the Lord has entrusted me to serve Him.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I have been serving the Lord now for over fifty years and I remember what our former senior’s Pastor said, and that is to finish strong, and that is what I want to do.  I can only do that by continue to learn from the Lord as I study His Word.

 

3/16/2024 10:33 AM

 

PT-6 "The Reckoning We Face" (Matt. 25:19-27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/15/2024 10:52 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-6 “The Reckoning We Face”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:19-27

 

            Message of the verses:  “19 "Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20  "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.’ 21 “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.’ 22 "Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23 “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.’ 24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 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. 27 ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.”

 

            I mentioned that when we started this section six days ago that it would take us a while to get through it, and I suppose that we will have two more Spiritual Diaries on this rather long section of Scripture.

 

            Here is the response that the master gave to this unfaithful slave as found in verses 26b-27 “‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. 27 ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.”

 

            I have to admit that when I first looked at this parable that I did not come up with this conclusion, but after thinking about it for some time, and after listening to MacArthur’s sermon  I understand that because it was the Lord who said this to this slave that it is true, as the slave was wicked in that he unjustly corrupted the character of his master.  You also see that he was lazy in that he did nothing with the talents that were entrusted to him.  Notice that the master repeated the slave’s charges against him, the master did not acknowledge what he was saying was true, but he rather said, in effect:  “You think I am a hard man, do you, harvesting crops that do not belong to me?  If you really thought that, why did you not take the talent and put it in the bank where at least I would have got some interest?”

 

            To understand this I will quote a paragraph from MacArthur’s commentary.  “The ancient Roman Empire had a banking system that was in many respects like those of modern times.  The maximum loan rate was 12 percent simple interest, and the interest earned on deposits was probably about half that rate.  The slave with the one talent therefore could have reaped at least a 6 percent return by making virtually no effort at all.  The fact that he did not attempt even to earn simple interest on the money confirmed his total irresponsibility and his indifference to the master.”

 

            It is like the master saying to his slave about what his slave said to him about being a hard man:  “If you thought I demanded a return even on that which does not belong to me did you think I would not require a return on that which does belong to me?”  Of course the answer is no and it seems that the slave used his own rope to hang himself.

 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Once again I have to go back to what I said about taking the time to study the Word of God in order to understand who God is.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Learn more about who God is by thinking and studying about him.

 

3/15/2024 11:11 AM

 

PT-5 "The Reckoning We Face" (Matt. 25:19-27)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/13/2024 9:11 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                            Focus:  PT-5 “The Reckoning We Face”

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                              Reference:  Matthew 25:19-27

 

            Message of the verses:  “19 "Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. 20  "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.’ 21 “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.’ 22 "Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ 23 “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.’ 24 “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. 25 ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’ 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. 27 ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.”

I begin this SD still talking about the man with one talent.  This man had an erroneous estimation of his master’s character as it was it can be seen that this slave had no intimate or reliable knowledge of him.  This is still a problem with both those who are truly born-again and those who are not, but the problem is that once a person is born again they have the resources from the Word of God to understand who God truly is and what He is about.  I have stressed in many of my Spiritual Diaries that you can get to know God by the studying of His attributes and have placed a website on different SD’s showing where you can read a great book on how to know God.  https://bible.org/series/joy-knowing-god Please take a look at this as you can read this book right from this website.

 

            MacArthur writes that what it was that was going on with this slave “portrays the unregenerate church member who has no spiritual fruit in his life and no spiritual worship in his heart.  He is blind to the Lord’s kindness, grace, compassion, mercy, honor, majesty, and glory because he has never surrendered himself to the Lord’s sovereignty and grace.”

 

            In verse 25 we see that in a certain way that he was afraid of his master, but it was not the fear of reverential awe but of irreverent contempt.  His own words testified that he resented and despised the master and had no love or respect for him at all.  He had the wrong kind of relationship with his master, one of enmity rather than peace, or hatred rather than love, of rejection rather than faith.

 

            MacArthur adds “This slave represents a professed Christian whose view of God is corrupt because his unredeemed heart is still corrupt.  He views God through the lens of his own depraved convictions.”  This is an important observation which I am sure that many unbelieving people do, and that is view God in the way that they look at themselves, and all unbelievers are still dead spiritually because they have not been born-again, and that gives new life and a new heart to understand God in a new way, in His way.

 

            Lord willing in the next SD I will begin to look at the response to the unfaithful slaves rationalization from what the master has to say to him.

 

3/14/2024 7:31 AM