Parable of Talents: A New Interpretation

0:00Looking at our world from a theological perspective, this is the Theology Central Podcast, making theology central. Good morning, good morning, good morning everyone. It is Sunday, September 13th, 2026. It is currently 10.44 am central time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central Studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Now on this podcast, I say it all the time, I'm not here just to simply teach her minutics, and I'm not here simply to teach theology. I actually try to do her minutics and actually try to do theology on this podcast, and there is a big difference between teaching her minutics and doing her minutics. There is a big difference between teaching theology and doing theology. I'll never forget when I tried to tell my church, okay, I have been here now a whole

1:03lot of years. I have taught you theology every which way, upside down, inside out, backwards, forwards. I've taught you theology. I've taught you Bible study methods. I've taught you her minutics. Now the church is going to transition into a church where we're going to do these things, and we're going to do these things in real time, right from the pulpit. We're going to be doing theology, and when you're doing theology, you're challenging and you're questioning and you're formulating hypotheses and you're testing them and you're struggling and you're wrestling and it's going to at times be a little bit confusing and I may go against what you have heard. I may even go against things that I've said before and it's going to be a lot of just we're working. It's going to feel very different. Instead of just teaching you her minutics, we're going to be doing her minutics in real time. Trying to figure out passages and we're going to be challenging things and there may be times we spend one service after another service after another service simply maybe going through every verse and the Bible that uses a certain word or a certain phrase.

2:08And it's just when people walk in here, they're going to be like, what is this? Well, it's a church that does her minutics. It's a church that does theology. Now, it may sound, ooh, that sounds fascinating. That sounds amazing. No, because it didn't ultimately work. It ultimately was in some ways the slow, steady death of the church because when you're trying to do theology and do her minutics, you're challenging things and some people do not like that at all and they start, they want, I just want to sermon. And well, you're not when you're doing theology and doing her minutics, you don't get three points. And nice little put together sermon where you have a nice introduction in a body and a conclusion and you get out by noon and everyone is like, no, it stops feeling like church. And so, you know, one of the criticisms I always received as a pastor is that the church feels like a university classroom and it doesn't feel like church.

3:10And it's like, well, I'm here to equip saints and to teach. And some people could argue I did it the wrong way. And that's fine. My argument always was when I was asked to become the pastor there, I basically that Sunday night, I told everyone, look around. We live, we, the church is located not far from Abelene, Texas. If you take Abelene, Texas, we have three Christian universities, Harden Simmons, the Baptist, ACU, the church of Christ, McMurray, the Methodist. We have three Christian universities and within Abelene, Texas and the surrounding area, I think at that time there was like 250 churches and here was a group of people wanting to start another church. So we're going to make it 251. I'm like, okay, well, then if we're going to start a church, what's the point of starting the church unless we are fundamentally different than every other church around here? We're not going to do anything. We're not going to sound the same. We're not going to do anything the same way. If we're going to do it the same way, just go to another church. And everybody goes, yeah, we want a different church.

4:12We don't want it to be like the other churches until, well, until they wanted it to be like the other churches. And then slowly but surely the initial groups, you know, I lost about half of those people I think within a year, then we went through a massive time of growth and at one point the place was packed. I mean, we were thinking about purchasing the property across the street for more parking. I mean, the place was packed. It was amazing. There was a time. Everything was going great. It's slowly but surely one. It was a, you know, heavy military church. Many of those people moved away and left and a lot of the people were arriving at the church was because I was in the military and I was the one encountering those people. They were coming to church because of me. Once my time in the military ended, well, then I was no longer there to be bringing in more people. And two, when people moved away as this church continued to try to do things differently, they're started to become a lot of discontent and people wanted it to feel, they wanted it

5:17to feel like church and they wanted the, you know, they wanted the fellowships, they wanted this, they wanted a men's camping trip. You just get, you get the idea and they wanted it to basically start sounding and feeling like all the other churches, which made no sense to me. If they're, why are we here? If we want to be like all the other churches, I don't get it. Just go to the other churches. Well, guess what? All the people started leaving and going to another church. It's like amazing. So we didn't need to start this church in the first place because there were already other alternatives, other options around here. So either, why are you starting a church if the other churches will ultimately satisfy what you want, then you didn't need the church in the first place. It's always weird. We need to start a church. No, you don't because as soon as you're not happy with this church, you're going to go to those other churches. So you didn't need a new one in the first place. Oh, so it drives me crazy. So the point of all of this is trying to do things radically different.

6:18Sounds great. It sounds revolutionary like you're being in explore, you know, hopping in the wagon and we're going west and we're going, we're going to know what we're going to hop on the USS Enterprise and go where no man has gone before. It's all wonderful and theory, but in practice and almost inevitably lead you. I don't know, broken down on the side of the road and everyone's walked away and left you there with the broken down car. And now I did have people who stayed with me, right? And so those people who stayed with me will always be grateful and always be thankful because those are the people who wanted something different and allowed me to do it in a very different way. And so those people were awesome. And but it just shows you doing things differently is not always the best idea. Now I say that because I'm about to do something very different, that probably is not going to go over very well. Here's what happened.

7:19I realized church was not going to work out today. So I opened up my Bible app and I'm like, okay, where am I at and all of my Bible readings? Remember I'm following like six different Bible reading plans. I looked at one and I'm like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. Today's reading is Matthew chapter 25, 14 through 30. And I'm like, oh my goodness. Matthew 25, 14 through 30. If you don't know what that is, I know some of you are probably turning there right now. That's the parable of the talents. And I'm like, oh, well, it's time to do some harmonitics. Not teach harmonitics, but do harmonitics. It's not time to teach theology, but do theology. So we're going to work through this in real time. And I am going to challenge 1,000% all of the standard interpretations. So if you were to hop on sermon audio today, look up Matthew chapter 25, 14 through 30,

8:21and start listening to sermons, you're going to hear a pretty standard interpretation for most of them. Maybe some deviations and some variations, but the basic standard approach will probably be dominant. Okay. Now I should have went to ask.sermonadio.com to look at all the interpretations that are available on sermon audio. Maybe we'll do that at the end, but I'm like, hey, I'm going all in and I'm going to challenge this. So let me just make this very clear. As we're doing this, we're going to be doing this in real time, struggling through this in real time. As we're doing that, I will be seeking to formulate an interpretive hypothesis. All right. That means I am not being dogmatic. I'm rarely dogmatic on any of my interpretations because I know this to be true of church history. For whatever interpretation one gives, I can probably find you 50 other interpretations that have been present at some time in church history because there's never agreement

9:23on how to interpret anything. So I just formulate my own hypotheses by trying to do hermeneutics and then hand that to you where one, that makes it worth your time to listen to me because I'm just not giving you the standard thing everyone else is giving you. I do it in my own unique way, my own unique style. I do it in a way where we're trying to do it in real time. So you can see the process. You can also see when it becomes a train wreck or I start stumbling over things. You never know what's going to happen. So I hope it's beneficial and I hope this goes well. But just remember, this is my interpretive hypotheses. I have to stress out someone like, you're just an idiot. You're wrong. I gave you an hypothesis. Can you take a deep breath and communicate like an adult and work through it with me? All right. So are you ready to do that? Let's do this. I know it's a lot of verses, but I'm going to simply read them to you. I'm going to, I've got multiple translations here. I'm just going to go with this one.

10:24Matthew, chapter 25, let's start in verse 14. Oh boy, here we, here we go. It's going to be a lot of work. I hope you have your thinking caps on. Man, here we go. Matthew, chapter 25 verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. Now I want to stop right there because I, I'm now, I'm going to, that phrase for the kingdom of heaven is like, that may mess up what I'm about to do. I, I was not, I don't think I've given that phrase enough attention. But I'm going to still move forward with my hypotheses, but let me just go ahead and acknowledge that phrase right there may pose a little bit of a problem.

11:26It may pose a little bit of a problem. But I will address it at the end, okay? So we're doing this in real time. So now I, I have been working on other parts of this parable and almost forgot that phrase. And now I realize, ah, I'm going to have to take that into account. But okay, Matthew, chapter 25, verse 14, we'll see what we can do with this. Matthew 25, 14, for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one, he gave five talents to another two, 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. And likewise, he who had received two, gained two more also, but he who had received one went and dug in a 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,

12:29you delivered to me five talents. I have gained five more talents besides them. 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. Verse 22. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. But his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant.

13:31You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming, 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 who have abundance, but from him who does not have, even that he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant unto the outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Wow. That's a lot of words, but look at how it ends. Someone is being thrown into outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, which we typically associate with hell. That's not good. This person ends up in hell. So immediately you start having lots of questions here. There are so many questions. And I think any reasonable Bible student should kind of struggle here, all right?

14:34I think there should be a lot of struggles here, but I'm not going to go through all of them now. I'm going to try to give you the standard interpretive framework, all right? And I think this is kind of the conventional Christian interpretation and it usually works like this. Are you ready? Let's kind of go. You may want to write this down. You can make a chart if you want. Here is the standard approach. Matthew chapter 25 verse 14. You have for the kingdom of heaven like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. So this man who has servants will refer to this man as the master, right? The man will just refer to him as the master. The standard interpretation is that is Jesus. Jesus is the man who calls the servants and delivers to them goods, all right? Jesus, we can call it the master. However, you the one who calls the servants and is going to deliver his goods to them.

15:38I think that's however you want to define him. We'll call him the master. That's Jesus Christ, all right? Then you have, then he who at I've seen, okay, and I'm sorry, okay. And for the kingdom of heaven is not command traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. So before he takes his journey and he travels away, he's going to deliver these things. So the journey, this man who's about to go in a journey, the man is the master. Jesus Christ and the journey is Christ departure, ascension, him leaving after his death, burial, resurrection. He ascends to the right hand of the father and that's when he departs. So before he departs, he's going to call his servants and he's going to give out all, as the text says, deliver his goods to them, all right? So the master is Jesus that we'll call it the master's journey is Christ departure at the ascension, all right? Now the servants, okay, then it says he called his own servants and delivered his goods to

16:40them. The servants are typically identified with professing Christian slash disciples, professing Christian slash disciples, all right? So far so good. So if I was teaching this in a class, okay, who's the master? Christ, the master's journey, Christ leaving at the ascension. The servants professing Christians and disciples, all right? Now we have sometimes depending on the translation, hang on, I'm going to reach out here. I think the term typically comes from the KJV, we're going to go to Matthew 25 here, Matthew 25. I think they're typically, it's typically translated like this, Matthew 25. All right, here we go. Matthew 25, 14 for the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into our far country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods and unto one he gave five talents,

17:47five talents. Now the talents are typically understood. A lot of times people go with kind of a very generic idea, things God entrust to people. The talents are things God entrust to his disciples or to Christians, things. They tend to go generic, pretty generic. Now clearly in the parable, this is some kind of material wealth. It's something of great value. But a lot of times in preaching, this gets reduced to, I don't know, a talent ability, which right there is already going to be a problem because you'll just notice here. He gave five talents to another two, another two and to another one, and to another one. So one gets five, one gets two, another just gets one. And he distributes them to each according to his own ability. So the talent can't be an ability since you're given the talent in connection to your ability,

18:53which you already have. So when we kind of say, who see God gives you talents, and this is some kind of ability, the word talent there is not referencing that. It's some kind of, something of value. Another translation has it this way. Matthew chapter 25, again, the kingdom of heaven can be illustrated by the story of a man going on a long trip. He called together his servants and trusted his money to them. This one just makes it money. He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last, dividing it in proportion to their abilities. So this is some kind of money given to them, but in accordance to their ability or in proportion to their ability. So the talents can't be ability because it's given to them in proportion to the ability which they already possess.

19:53So they have an ability. Now they get this in regards to that ability. So just note that we got it. We already got to stop some of the nonsense that happens in preaching. So the master is Christ. The journey is Christ to parture at the ascension. The servants are professing Christians. The talents, most are just going to say things entrusted to Christians or to disciples, but man or things entrusted to people. However you would like to define it. I don't even like to say the say the column things. I know sermons like to make it vague because they can apply it to everything, but it seems to be it's some form of material wealth, some refer translated as bags of silver. It's some kind of monetary wealth that's been entrusted to them. So I anything else you do with that, I think you're already man. You're already in some weird interpretive places.

20:56They get different amounts. Now typically the way preachers handle this, different amounts equal different opportunities. Now some will say different opportunities are different capacities given by God. So let's go through the standard idea. The master is who? Christ. The journey is leaving at the ascension. The servants are you can say professing Christians, Christians, disciples. They have to say professing Christians. And the reason they have to say professing is I think you can see why. What happens at the end? Someone gets thrown into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. So then you either end up with losing your salvation. So then you have to say professing Christians. If you say disciple, well then you get into the argument as a disciple, a Christian is a Christian, a disciple. And of course that's been debated for I don't know a thousand years in church history. So yeah, I'm just trying to give you the standard approach.

21:56The talents are in most sermons things entrusted to God or to people, things entrusted to people. You can't say God's people. Because again, one of these individual is going to be thrown into outer darkness and the weeping and gnashing of teeth. So things entrusted to people, different amounts or different opportunities or different capacities. And then what do they do? Well look what happens. The first one who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. All right. So just trading with the talents or doing business with the talents. This is typically understood to be faithful service during Christ absence. So now immediately you can already see that this is going to start turning into, you know, now the trading of the talents just becomes your faithful servant. Your, your, your, in other words, God has given you something and you're doing something with what God has given you. But it just now becomes that that's why the talents are, are very vague.

23:02It's just, well, God, God's given you something. What are you, what are you doing with what God has given you? And so it just becomes, okay, did you, did you do something with it so that you could get five more talents or five more or what, five percent more, 50 percent more of whatever God has given you? Somehow you increase whatever you've been given. This becomes very weird and interpretation, okay? But all right, you get the idea. So so faithful servant is you're doing something with the talent and order to gain more. The bearing the talent because one of them who only has one of what he does, but he, verse 18, but he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid the Lord's money. Now, no, the text is telling you it's money. It's telling you it's money. There's no way to get around that. But I understand it's a parable, but see the problem is with parables, we can start making these things be anything we want. In many cases, it becomes almost, I don't know, it becomes almost like how do you even interpret this?

24:02But the bearing the talent is this is failure to serve God faithfully. So the others do something with the talents. They're serving God faithfully. This person is unfaithful, all right? And after a long time, you'll notice, verse 19, after a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. This is the, maybe the period before Christ's return. This is the period kind of before Christ's return. And then you have, so he who had received, well, ultimately, he came and settled accounts this is ultimately the second coming. So yeah, after a long time, so now during that period of time, well, so how can I describe it this way? After a long time, that during that time period, that's the time before Christ returns. Then the master returns, that's supposedly the second coming.

25:06This is a standard approach. So let's go through this again. The master is supposedly Christ. The master's journey is him leaving at the ascension. The servants are professing Christian slash disciples. The talents are just generic things and trusted to God's people. It's not ever truly defined. I would just argue if someone acts like, this is God giving you an ability, is giving you gifts, he's giving you talents. Whoa, slow down. Because no, they are giving these things in proportion to the ability in which they already have. So it can't be abilities. It's, I don't know. It's something else. You see where this can become very tricky trying to interpret, all right? The different amounts equal different opportunities or capacities. The trading with the talents is you being faithful, bearing the talent, you're being unfaithful. After a long time, that's all. So you're, all of this is happening during a long time while Christ is gone. Finally the master returns. That's supposedly the second coming.

26:08The settling, the accounts. It talks about settling the accounts. Verse 19, after a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. This is supposedly the final judgment. Well done. This is Christ approval of faithful believers. Hey, you've been faithful. Well done. That good and faithful servant. Then greater responsibility. Now we start having, you could say, well, there's a lot of things we could do there. I'm not going to go through all of that. Ultimately, outer darkness and weeping of teeth, that's eternal condemnation or eternal damnation. And that the wicked servant is a false believer. It's an unbeliever. It's a false believer, all right? I could break it down a little bit more, but that's the pretty standard approach. You'll hear little variations, but that's the standard. So to go through it one more time, the master is Christ.

27:09The journey is Christ to partake the ascension. The servants are professing Christians. The talents are just generic things, God entrust to people. I don't know if we can ever really define it. Different amounts, different opportunities or capacities. Trading with the talent means you're being faithful. Baring the talent means you're being unfaithful. After a long time, that's the period before Christ return. The master returns. That's the second coming. He starts settling accounts. That's final judgment. Well done. That's Christ's approval of faithful believers. The condemnation of the unfaithful servant. He gets thrown into outer darkness, sweeping a gnashing of teeth. That is eternal condemnation of a false professor or an unbeliever. There's the standard approach. You've probably have all heard it about a million times, right? Well, I'm here to kind of mess all of this up. So here's what happens. That's the basic framework. Now from that basic framework though, now this is important to realize.

28:11Even though you give everyone that basic framework, you still don't arrive at the same interpretations. Because if you go throughout church history, you get very different interpretations. Let's go through some of the basic interpretations we kind of write. That's the basic framework. That framework isn't interpreting each part of the parable. They're giving you some interpretation, but from that basic framework, they build these broader interpretations. Let's go through them. The first one, gifts and abilities interpretation. You already know my struggle with this one. If we say the talents are gifts and abilities, it makes no sense because these talents, the money, whatever is being given, is in proportion to the ability which is already possessed. So this is where I get a little frustrated, but all right. But this is a popular one. This is kind of how you'll hear it in a sermon. God has given everyone talents and abilities.

29:16Don't waste yours. Now, the argument here is, you see where this is. So if I waste my talent or ability, I end up burning in hell. So my salvation is not me believing in Christ. My salvation would be me, you know, using my talent and ability. How much of my talent and ability do I have to use? If I have talent to teach, if I have talent to do broadcast, but I only do one broadcast a week. Am I really using that talent and ability in a faithful way? So didn't do I end up going to hell? Now, what some people say, well, that throwing into outer darkness, that's not actual hell. That's just meaning you're just going to be judged and you're going to have to answer to God for why you wasted your talent and ability. It's not actually hell. It's just, hmm.

30:17Okay. But you see where there's all this problem here. Okay. Let's note that when it talks about what's given here, he given five talents, that in fact, let me look it up for you. I'm going to, instead of just telling you, you know, I hate doing that. Let's do this. Let's look this up really quick. Let me pull up the blue letter Bible app. I'm going to go to Matthew 25. Go down to verse 14. What is the Greek word? It's total tone. Hang on, I'm going to say it incorrectly. Talent... Talent on something. Talent on, yeah. Strong G 5,000 7. Talent on. Okay, there we go. Sorry. Talent on. All right. Talent on. I know it was something like that. It just means if I'm looking here, a balance as supporting weights by implication of

31:19certain weight, and then it's a whole hundred percent. It's a coin or rather some of money. So, if you kind of want to really get, you can go through here, a sum of money weighing a talent. So, a talent is almost a weight. Various different states and according to the changes in law, are regulating currency. So, a talent in silver in Israel weighed about 100 pounds. A talent of gold in Israel weighed about 200 pounds. So a talent is a measurement of weight. And so what's been given here is material wealth. It's not an ability. It's not, oh, I can see. I can preach. I'm good at hospitality. I'm good at greeting people. I'm, oh, just stop. Okay. It's not what it's talking about. Okay. Unless you say, well, now it means that. Well, see now, you see, here's what happens with parables, right? And this is why I hate the parables when it comes to preaching.

32:19You almost feel this need not to step back and go, whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's not tidy it up and interpret every part of this. Just what is this trying to say, right? Because if we try to break this down and just note, here's what happens. If you say, well, the talent, I know that it's actually talking about gold or silver or something, a material value, but I'm going to interpret that to be about abilities and, and, you know, talents. Okay. Well, if you do that, first the text itself says the talents are distributed according to his ability. So that doesn't make sense because the talent is in proportion to an ability you already have the ability. And not only that, then at the end, so if I don't use my talent or ability, even though you see where that's already being messed up exigenically, I end up in hell, then you have to go and say, well, no, that doesn't actually mean hell. That just means you're going to have to answer to God. Man, I think that one is one of the weakest.

33:21I know that's the standard, but man, if I'm sitting in church in the pastor's, like, open up your Bibles this morning to Matthew 25, 14 through 30. And he starts preaching about ability and talent. Oh my goodness. I usually start rolling my eyes at least inside. I'm not going to do it externally. I'm like, that's not what the text is about. It's just no way. It can't be. It makes no sense to me because again, just exigenically, the talents are given in proportion to your ability. You already have an ability. So it makes no sense. All right. Second, so there's the Gifts and Abilities interpretation, which I just, I mean, I struggle with that. And listen, I could be wrong, but I'll just give you my reasons why that one bothers me. Stewardship interpretation, all right. Maybe this one, it's kind of similar. Maybe this is a little bit more sophisticated, but they go like this. Talents represent everything God has entrusted to us everything.

34:25So it's not just your ability or a gift. It's everything God has entrusted to us. So this can be money. Hey, do you have money today? God entrusted that to you. Do you have possessions? Do you have time? Do you have opportunity? Do you have ability? Do you have relationships? Do you have any spiritual gifts? Do you have any influence? Do you have any knowledge? I'm trying to think of all the different things this would have. Literally anything you have. So then you know what the lesson becomes. You can probably already get it. Everything belongs to God. So you must be a faithful servant or a faithful steward. That would be a better word, a faithful steward until Christ returns. What are you doing with all the things God has given you? What are you doing with it? Now this avoids the exegetical or lexical mistake about a talent because, well, the word

35:26talent there is not about ability and it's given an accordance to ability. But basically the argument is that the goal, the talent, which typically is referring to gold or silver, symbolizes basically all the thing a Christian has. I guess that's the argument, but you're still ended at the end. So you're telling me if I don't do certain things with all that I've been given and I don't use it in a correct way, I go to hell. Again, either then you have to go, well, now I know what people are going to say. They're going to say, well, see, and this is going to be the standard get out of jail free card. So you can just go ahead and see this coming. Well, if we go with gifts and abilities, well, if you don't use your gift and abilities in a certain way, well, then you prove you were never saved. You don't go to hell because of it. You just proved that you were never saved. So now your proof of salvation is how you use your gifts and abilities or your proof of your salvation becomes how well you managed, how good of a steward you were.

36:29But in both cases, where does that end up? Salvation is now based upon what you do. Now, I know people can say, no, no, no, you're not saved because you do it, but it proves that you're saved. Meaning if I don't do it, I'm not saved. So it very much, it very much has to be, it very much has to be then that I have to do these things in order to be saved. It's such a game that people play. It's this game like, well, you don't do it to get saved, but you do it to prove that you're saved. Well, okay, well, then I got to do it in order to be saved. And not only that, that makes my assurance based on what I do, not what I'm Christ done. And then here's the million dollar question. If you go with gifts and abilities. So what do I have to do? How do I know that I'm using my gifts and abilities enough to prove that I'm saved? How do I know? The text doesn't, well, five talents become five or the other one, the other one, you see, five becomes five. And likewise, he received two, gained two more.

37:29So five become five, two becomes two more. And then, so as long as it gains something, well, then it's like, how do you even measure that? It becomes this very subjective way in knowing whether you're saved or not saved. All right. So you go with gifts and abilities. You end up either having to say, well, when the unfaithful servant goes to hell, it doesn't actually mean hell that he lost his salvation. It just, either you have to say it doesn't mean hell at all, it just means some kind of judgment. Or you have to say it does mean going to hell, but it doesn't mean that the person lost their salvation. It just means they were never saved. This becomes just a subjective mess. And if you go with stewardship, the same thing, how good of a steward. So what do I got to do to prove that I'm a good steward? Well, five has to become five, two has to become two. How do you measure that? It's subjective, not only that. You're right back to works based salvation. Even though you say it's not, no, I'm not saying you work to get salvation. Yeah, you're just saying, if I don't work, I never got salvation.

38:30Therefore, I have to work in order to prove that I'm saved. And guess what the proof of salvation becomes. Your action, not the finished work of Jesus Christ. So in all of these, you inevitably destroy the gospel of grace. And I don't, this just becomes a total mess. So those two are major problems. The third interpretation is the spiritual gift interpretation. All right. Here the servants represent Christians receiving different ministries or opportunities for kingdom service. Yeah, I mean, there's different ways it will apply that, but it becomes about spiritual gifts or ministry, which it's kind of still going back to the gift ability or things given. It's just kind of a variation of it. You end up with the same problems. I've been given spiritual gifts, okay? But if I don't do something with my spiritual gift, I'm going to end up in hell.

39:31Well, no, it just means you've proved that you're never going to have it. But a line is, once again, salvation is dependent upon what I do or proven by what I do. So then what's the whole point of Christ dying and washing away my sin and being given imputed righteousness because this would all come down to me. So the whole thing becomes problematic. Number four, this is the fruitfulness interpretation. All right. So the idea here is multiplication. It's multiplication, all right? I can't even say multiplication because it's a math term, all right? This is basically the argument here. If you're genuinely a disciple, you will produce fruit. The five becomes ten and the two becomes four or the five becomes five and you put them together, you get ten, two becomes two. You get four. Okay, you get the idea. All right. While the wicked servant produces absolutely nothing because he wouldn't hit and buried

40:31it. Therefore, Christians will be spiritually productive rather than passive. And if you don't, you were never saved. So again, okay. So then how do you measure that? Here there's a literal objective measurement, five, five, two, two, one, one. Okay, well the one just has the one. The one doesn't multiply at all. He just buries the one and pulls out the one. So the one does not become another. The one just remains one. The two gains two more so it becomes four, the five gains five more and becomes ten. So the key is it's got to multiply somehow. It's got to do something. But on one hand, either it becomes so subjective that it almost becomes meaningless. This is where Christians love to say, you know, you'll know them by their fruits, which that context is about false teachers. But okay, they'll make that about how you know someone is saved. You say, okay, what's the fruit?

41:32In many cases, you know where they're going to go. They're going to come over here. You know where they're going to go. This one drives me crazy as much. All of these interpretations. I want to lose all my, I want to, I get so irritated with all of them. All right. They jump over to where it goes. Is it Ephesians? See here. Okay. For the fruit of the spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. That's not the one I'm looking for. That's Ephesians five. See here. Where is it? Give me a second here. I'm going to look it up. I don't know why it's not coming to my head right now, but we're doing it in real time.

42:33So this is what happens. It is Galatians. I was right. Here it is. Galatians 522. I started doubting myself. Galatians 522. All right. For some reason, I thought it was the beginning of the chapter instead of it to end at the chapter. So I was looking at the beginning. Not there. Galatians 522. But the fruit of the spirit is love. Joy. Peace. Long suffering. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Gentleness. Self-control. Against such there is no law. So this is what they'll do. Hey. The talent's basically a spiritual fruit. And if you have spiritual fruit, you'll be productive. And that fruit will reproduce. It will multiply. And if it doesn't, you'll never say. And so what is that spiritual fruit? Well, that spiritual fruit is love. Joy. Peace. Long suffering. Kindness. Goodness. Faithfulness. Love. Look at that list, ladies and gentlemen. Love. Now, either one, you have to make this love a very specific kind of love. Very specific.

43:33So you can eliminate all the expressions of love that may be demonstrated by people of all different kinds of faith and by people who are not even saved. Unless you say they don't have true love. And the only people who have true love is Christians. Have you been around Christians? Their example of supposed true love usually turns into judgmental condemning, arrogant, jerks who are self-serving and are judgmental. And I'm no. I mean, come on. We said, well, they were not saved. We see at this point, you're going to just start eliminating everyone. So either you eliminate everyone or you make us all all inclusive that everyone's involved. So love here would you, I mean, how do you even define that? Well, it'll be a Christ-like love. How many Christians show a true cross-like love by putting other people before them, loving their enemy, turning the other cheek, forgiving 70 times seven, except give me a break? Loving God with all their heart, my body, and so loving neighbor as self, we fall so

44:33short of that. It's not first Corinthians 13. If that's the kind of love we're supposed to demonstrate, no, it does well. It won't be perfect. It'll be, well, the minute you say it's not perfect, well, then in perfect love would then be fruit of the spirit. Well, in perfect love, be fruit of the spirit or way to have to be perfect love. It becomes crazy. And then, you see, where else do we have? Joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. I mean, those sound wonderful, but they can almost show up in people's lives and other religions. And so I don't know how that's supposed to help or anything. To me, it just becomes, it becomes almost a meaningless interpretation to me. And so, guess what happens? You have to produce a certain amount of fruit. If you don't produce a certain amount of fruit, of course you were never saved.

45:33So you're right back to the same thing. So what proves my salvation is the fruit and my life. Not the finished work of Jesus Christ, but what I do or don't do, meaning if I don't do it. I'm not saved, meaning I have to do it in order to be saved. You still walk right back into a works-based situation, all right? Okay. And so all of these will ultimately lead to sometimes an interpretation. Final judgment means evidence of salvation. So whether, and all of them basically lead to this to a certain degree. But inevitably, hey, how do you know you're saved? Well, your five becomes five or your two becomes two. But if your one just remains one, well, then you were never saved. And so there you go. Those are the basic interpretations, all right? And so I have a problem with all of them. And some way, shape, perform, I have a problem with all of them. Okay.

46:35Oh, man, where do I want to... So, yeah, we're already at 46 minutes. Okay, let's start working. Well, sometimes to build in a hypothesis, you have to kind of show all the different hypotheses that have been suggested. And where are my problems arise with all of them. I know I went through them relatively quick. I know I gave you a very cliff notes version of each, but you've probably heard these interpretations so frequently that I think I don't have to go into great detail. Now, I'm not saying that I perfectly represented each one. I had to summarize each one. And even that took 47 minutes, all right? So let's go through this, all right? I believe if Matthew 25, 14 through 30, is interpreted as a description of the final judgment determining who enters into eternal salvation. I think we end up with a problem, all right?

47:36Because... And if you simply try to say, well, works don't save you, works prove your faith. That does not remove the logical problem in any way, shape, or form. Okay? It may change the role of those assigned works, but works still become an indispensable evidence upon which assurance is built and maintained. And, and apparently, the entire verdict rests on what you do or don't do. So again, even if you say, well, you don't do it in order to get saved, you do it to prove that you're saved. I still have to do it in order to be saved. So I'm just stating that countless times to show you the problem, all right? However, if we write down two numbers and two letters, I think we can begin to transform the interpretation here and to something that probably most of you have never ever thought about.

48:36What do you think those two numbers are? And what do you think those two letters are? The numbers are 7, 0, and the letters are AD. 70 AD. All right? 70 AD. Once we insert this into a possible interpretation or the basis of our hermeneutical hypotheses, we can escape all of the problems with the standard interpretation, which are just either nonsensical, circular reasoning, and leads to a works-based salvation, and leads you to not even knowing how to judge whether you're saved or not saved, and making the final verdict of your salvation not the finished work of Jesus Christ, but what you've done or not done. And again, if you look at the standard framework, why is one servant accepted and another one thrown into basically hell?

49:44It's based on what they do or don't do. You can't escape this. All right? If you go with that basic framework, you cannot honestly exit the story and say performance has nothing to do with the final judgment, because it has everything to do with the final judgment. Performance here is precisely the evidence presented at the end. Now, you could do this. You could argue, well, you're right. If whatever God has given us, based on what we do with it or don't do with it, we'll determine whether we receive reward or whether everything will burn up, but we will still be saved. Now, you can go to first Corinthians and talk about, hey, they present in a sense their works. Is it gold, silver, or is it woods, hey, and stubble, and with some burns up, and that's the idea that, hey, this is what I've done with what you've given me, and then that's judged, but you're still saved.

50:46You just burn up your possible reward. If you want to interpret that into Matthew 25, then maybe, maybe you could go with that, but there it doesn't say the talents burn up and say the person himself is thrown into outer darkness. But again, you're interpreting everything else symbolically. So I guess you could go that direction. That's a possible idea, but I'm going to offer something completely different here. So let's do this. Let's put the parable, Matthew 25, 14 through 30. Man, I can't believe how long that took. Matthew 25, 14 through 30. I'm going to have to go through this quickly. Here we go. Let's put Matthew 25, 14 through 30. Let's put it back into the context of Matthew 23 through 25.

51:47We could possibly even go all the way back to 21, but 23 through 35, or 23 through 25, I should say, not 35, all right. I think the minute we do this, in fact, I think we should go all the way back to Matthew 21. And if we go all the way back to Matthew 21, I think this becomes pretty transformative in how we can interpret Matthew 25, all right. So Matthew 21, we already have things in Matthew 21. We already find things like wicked tenants. I think we have that showing up here. In fact, Matthew 21, 43. And then you have, you have, you have Matthew 21, 43, we have this. Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken from you and given to a nation bearing the fruits of it. Whoa, what is going on there, all right.

52:48And then Matthew 21, 45. Now, when the chief priest and Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking of them. Okay, now we have Jesus giving some parables. We have, we have a kingdom. We have some people are not going to get it. We have the Pharisees and Sadducees. We have a very Israel centric interpretations going on here. We already have that starting to be built, all right. And I think that's all pretty critical to building an interpretation. Then when you get to Matt, and so, and just note, you've got the Pharisees and the, the chief priest and the Pharisees, they literally say they hear these parables and they perceive that he was speaking about them. Now, once you jump to Matthew 23, Matthew 23, it becomes very specific. Then Jesus spoke to his multitudes, then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and Antuist disciple saying,

53:49describes and Pharisees sit and moses seat. Now, it becomes very specifically directed towards the Pharisees. I mean, I mean, it's and the scribes. I mean, it's, you can't even get around it. I mean, he goes on this long condemning them all throughout, all right. I think you get the idea. And if we go, how far do we go? I mean, he, he, he goes on for a lot of verses. I mean, the scribes and Pharisees are being absolutely just condemned. There's no other way to get about it. You can see it all through there. I don't know if there's, you know, we do have this. Look at Matthew 23, 32, fill up then the measure of your father's guilt. Therefore, you are the witnesses against yourselves that you are the sons of those who murdered the prophets.

54:49Now, he's going beyond the scribes and the Pharisees. He's speaking to Israel at large. So even Israel now is becoming a part of this. And then look what happens. He goes on to say, if we go looking at the end of Matthew 23, because you can see how this begins to develop. I mean, he can, he goes after them. And then he says here, I mean, man, I mean, it's strong condemnation. I could, I could take it all apart, but I think you, I think you can see here, all right. And then look, I think this is pretty important at the end of Matthew 23 verse 36. Surely I say into you, all these things will come upon this generation. All these things are going to come upon this generation. Now we get, I mean, house, we get a, we get a temporal time marker here. Now we get a very specific time marker. And then what does he say?

55:52To make sure people know exactly who he's referring to, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together as hens, gather her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. See your house is left to you desolate. For I say into you, you shall see me no more till you say, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. All right. And then immediately Matthew 24 now, now we're building context. He's going after the scribes and the Pharisees. He's going after the religious leaders. He condemns them to no end. They even perceived the parables are about them in Matthew 21. So we have this all, I mean, it's all being put together. Matthew 23, major condemnation. And then he expands it to Israel himself. And then look what happens in Matthew 24 immediately. Then he went out and departed from the temple. And as disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple.

56:53And Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things? Assurely I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down. Now, as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming? Now immediately they ask, when is all this going to happen? When is this going to occur? And he's referring to the destruction of the temple that is standing right there. And we know exactly when that temple is destroyed in 70 AD. So if Jesus is saying all these things at around 30 AD, the destruction happens in 70 AD. Well, then doesn't not come upon that generation. Now, now we're, we've got to put it within this time frame. All right. I don't think, I mean, when they ask, when are these things going to be? He starts giving them the signs. I know people want to rip them out of context and make it about the second coming. Most of these signs are being given to the coming of the destruction of the temple.

57:57And so basically after he gives them these signs, you have approximately what? About 40 years later, Jerusalem and the temple are completely destroyed in AD 70. It's about 40 years later. So you're talking somewhere around 40 years, this happens. All right. Now we kind of have a reoccurring pattern. All right. Now I'm going to try to go through this. All right. I mean, we're at 58 minutes. I wish I would have done better. But I had to work through all the standard interpretations. All right. Here we go. Just try to re, try to recalibrate your mind. Try to forget the way you've heard this parable typically interpreted. And now put together Matthew 21 through 25. All right. All these, all these parables that speak of some kind of judgment. Now this reoccurring theme of judgment starts making maybe some sense. So think of it this way. You have Israel. All right.

59:02And I think specifically in many of these cases, the leadership of Israel, at least their religious leadership, their spiritual leadership. They have been entrusted with all kinds of privileges and revelation. The spiritual leadership of Israel, they have the law, they've had the prophets, they've had so many wonderful things given to them. All right. The Messiah obviously arrives in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He has arrived. How have they responded? Well, Jesus has spit the entire gospel of Matthew exposing how they've, how they've reacted. Did they, did they accept John the Baptist? They rejected him. They rejected Jesus. They challenged his authority. They plotted against him. They will ultimately work to have him killed. They, they persecute anyone. Basically anyone that's been sent to them. They are, Israel has to, Israel is the ones who had killed the prophets.

1:00:07Judgment is ultimately approaching Israel. All right. And, and, and that's, that's what kind of the, these parables have already communicated. Something has been entrusted. They've been given wonderful things. There's an accountability expected upon them. They have rejected and proven to be unfaithful. And ultimately the owner is coming back whether it's of a field, whether it's of talents, it doesn't matter. And then judgment is going to occur. All right. Matthew 24 through 25 repeatedly gives this warning. Basically, be ready. Don't mistake delay for me cancelling the judgment that is coming. Delay does not equal cancellation. And then you have Matthew 25, 14, you have Matthew 25, 14 and following and all of a sudden wait a minute.

1:01:17I don't know, I don't think Matthew 25, 14 through 30 is trying to answer the question about how Christians get into heaven. I think it's a complete categorical error. All right. You're create, and I think you create a theological problem that almost leads salvation to being based on works in some way, shape or form. Is it possible that Jesus is giving them a covenantal warning about what's about to come upon them? And this is very important. Historical judgment and scripture. We see this throughout the Bible is based upon behavior. But it is not teaching that salvation is by works. God judged a Syria based on what what they did or didn't do. He judged Babylon on the basis of what they did or did not do. God sent Israel into exile because of their unfaithfulness to the covenant because they're under a covenant very much based on what they do or don't do.

1:02:29Individual human beings receive justification before God. Think think I hope she I say this the way God judges nations does not let me say it this way the way God judges nations does not establish that as an individual human beings that we receive justification before God through our sufficient obedience. No, we receive justification before God through Christ perfect obedience. Jerusalem's coming judgment, which happened historically was because of that generations rejection rebellion and unfaithfulness. This is not here to do is to establish a works based righteousness as far as justification before God is concerned, but they are under a situation where their works is I mean judgment's coming upon Jerusalem no matter what you believe about justification it's coming it's coming upon them as far as as Israel is concerned.

1:03:40And Jesus has already established this in Matthew 23 and he's warranted about in chapter 24. All right. Jesus is not telling Jerusalem hey guys you haven't accumulated enough merits you haven't accumulated enough obedience you haven't accumulated enough talents you haven't accumulated enough fruit to earn eternal salvation. He's announcing judgment is coming upon this generation I mean he literally says this generation. And in fact I again Matthew 2336 it's impossible to escape that now I know people will tell us well that generation just means the generation who sees all these things start that generation started seeing all these things start which leads to the destruction of the temple. In fact if you go right before it I mean you you see look at Matthew 2334 therefore indeed I send you profits wise men it scribes some of them you will kill that's future tense okay and crucify and some of them you will scourge and your synagogue and persecute from city to city.

1:05:01This is already talking about their coming behavior of what they are going to do this is Israel this is the Jews. And this may explain why the parable of the talents ultimately is about being faithful or unfaithful and this is faithful unfaithful within the covenantal situation that Israel was under. And this idea being faithful unfaithful is throughout scripture alright and it's definitely true when you look at Matthew 23. Look what he says to describes and Pharisees therefore whatever they tell you to observe they observe they're therefore whatever they tell you to observe they observe and do but do not do according to their works for they say and do not do for they buy heavy burdens that to bear goes on and he begins to.

1:06:06Go after that they that well first I think you could say they've been entrusted with something look where they're sitting if I should should focus on this first. Matthew 23 too the scribes and Pharisees sit and Moses seat they've been entrusted with something they've been given something alright but you can't do what they do because they don't do what they tell you to do alright so immediately we know they're not faithful and to their to the message to the. They're not faithful to what has been given to them they have been given a great honor to sit and Moses seat but you can't do you can't do what you don't want to do what they do because they don't do the right thing if that makes sense if you look at Matthew 23. 13 but what do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men wow that's pretty serious Matthew 23 23 what do you scribes and Pharisees hypocrites for you pay tie the mint and and come in and have neglected the way to your matters of the law justice and mercy and faith these you ought to have done without leaving the others undone.

1:07:22I mean they they they have not been the faithful servants they have been given all of these things but they have not been faithful alright and then Matthew 23 34 they've been sent the prophets to try to correct them and what happens they reject them they're going to kill them they're going to crucify them they're going to scourge them and then look what happens. Assurely I say to you all these things will come up on this generation then he says oh Jerusalem Jerusalem now you read all of that right and connection with the talents and they there's a correspondence that is very well the master has given many things to them many things and what have they done with what's been given and what have they done with what's been given and what have they done with what's been given to them. They've been hypocrites and they've made people suffer.

1:08:31In fact if you look at Matthew 21 if you look at Matthew 21 say I think he begins to tell a parable Matthew 21 yeah if you look at Matthew 21 verse I'm just start and Matthew 21 verse 28 but what do you think a man had two sons and he came to the first and said son go work today in my vineyard and he answered and said I will not but afterward he regretted any when then he came to the second and said likewise and he answered and said I go sir but he did not go which of the two do you think did the will of the father they said to him the first Jesus said to him surely I say to you that tax collectors and Harlott enter the kingdom of God before you who's he talking about he's talking to you. He's talking about the religious leaders for John came to you in the way of righteousness and you did not believe him but the tax collectors and Harlott believed him and when you saw it you did not afterward relit and believe him that's the rejection of John these are the religious leaders who've been given Israel as a nation has been given so much and what did they do with it.

1:09:41All right then look at the parable of the wicked vindresser here another parable there was a certain land owner who planted a vineyard and said a hedge around about around it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and he leased it to a vindresser and went into a far country now I'm a note he here's something they've been given and then he goes on a long journey or a far country. Now when vintage time drew near he sent his servants to the vindressers that they might receive the fruit and the vindresser took the servants beat one killed one stone another and again he sent other servants more than the first and they did likewise to them then last of all he sent his son saying they will respect my son but when the vindressers saw the son they said unto him this is the heir come let us kill him and seize his inheritance. Are you getting the idea okay are you getting the idea okay and then look at this verse 45 now when the chief priests and Pharisees heard the parable they perceive he was speaking of them this this has Israel all over this is the Pharisees and Sadducees all over this entire context is Israel centric and you can't get around it.

1:11:02Now I know what we could say so what I am saying is I think Matthew 25 the parable of the talents very much reflects very much reflects what God had given to Israel and how they did not do anything with it in fact produced nothing but hypocrisy and sin and then the ultimate judgment coming upon them a 70 AD. And I know you can say wait a minute wait a minute it speaks of one individual being thrown into fire but that judgment language I know in our modern day ears. It's it's it sounds like you know second coming and hell but I think Matthew Matthew uses judgment imagery and lots of ways alright. And I think that we have to at least consider some of the the possibility that it could still refer to it's just giving you the basic judgment language to describe the judgment that ultimately is going to come upon them alright.

1:12:11And just note Israel is called God's servants I mean I don't even know how many times in the Bible they refer to it the servant over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again so here's what I would say. Okay now I know the kingdom of heaven that's the that's the phrase that causes me problems so I'm going to look something up. I'm going to look something up is like in Matthew 2514. I got.

1:13:18Alright because that phrase. Oh I didn't even realize it do you notice something in the KJV look at Matthew 2514 oh Matthew 2514 for the kingdom of heaven do you notice something it's an italics. The translators added that it's not in the Greek I'm going to look at another translation I should have caught that I had to look that up that's my own fault well now and other translations they do have it here okay but in the Greek so I'm looking at the Greek it just literally reads for it is just like a man going on a journey there is no kingdom of heaven.

1:14:19So the kingdom of heaven is imported from the previous parables or parable Matthew 251 then the kingdom of heaven will be light it it's explicitly stated there alright. Verse 13 ends with so you must keep watch for you do not know the day or hour of my return alright and then verse 14 well for it is just like a man going on a journey. So the way it is I'm looking at the grammar grammatically what they argue are what's being argued by some is so you too much must keep watch for you do not know the day or hour of my return and because you don't know the day or the hour return he now tells a parable about hey there's a man who's getting ready to go on a long trip.

1:15:29Hey you don't know the day or hour now hey here's a story about a man who's going to go on a long trip he's going to give you a bunch of stuff but you don't know when he's going to return. Alright so. Alright so. I and if you remember okay well yeah so that doesn't even so that we we don't even have to necessarily it's not there so it's not there in the Greek it's just bottom line it's not there in the Greek I don't know why the translators added it sometimes when translators do that stuff it drives me crazy I should have caught it if you ever look that's one of the reasons I love the KJV is it puts it in italics when you know it doesn't belong to you. I know it doesn't belong there I love that that's one of the reasons I I think the King James is great because I I typically am very quick to catch that I don't know why I missed it this time yeah look at how the ESV has it for it will be like a man going on a journey.

1:16:39See it doesn't it doesn't have the so no then it's not a problem. They persecute them they have a history of doing it and when they were ultimately sent the son of God they had him crucified. He was buried and he arose he ascended and then judgment came upon them in 70 AD. Now that keeps it completely separate from everything else I know that's not perfect and we had to go 77 minutes to work that out there's a lot of issues there that I haven't perfectly worked out but that's we got rid of the kingdom of heaven there it's not there.

1:17:53I should have caught it but it's not there hey we try to do this stuff in real time that's what happens now I know is that a perfect sermon no remember how I started this when you do harmonitics and you do theology it's not going to be all put put together perfectly. Like a sermon now what you can do after you work through it this way now we have the basic elements and now we can try to put it together in a perfect sermon but we typically don't do that what we'll do is probably start reviewing some sermons and see how they handle it find all the problems with how they handle it and then at the end maybe come back and then clean this up a little bit to make it a little bit better but that was my Bible reading for today is Matthew chapter 25 14 through 30 so I'm going to go and see if I can find the answer for this. I'm going to go here I'm going to go to Matthew 25 I'm going to read it in a completely different translation alright so this can be so this can be illustrated I'm going to read it this way this can be illustrated what can be illustrated again if you look at Matthew 25 14 has some translations again this can be illustrated by the story of what can be illustrated what can be illustrated is the previous parable that ends with hey keep watch for you don't know what you're going to do.

1:19:05Keep watch for you don't know the day or hour when he's going to return you don't know when he's going to return how can I illustrate this well there was a man who's about to go on a long trip and he called together his servants and he trusted his money to them while he was gone he gave five bags of silver that means things of great value didn't was an Israel not given things of greater value than any other nation on earth they were given God's presence his glory his his worship his law. His word his oracles his profits I mean how much more value can you be given than that that's more than bags of silver or gold all right he gave he gave them bags and you could argue well why is there different amounts given to different people well some generations of Israel were saw more than other generations not all of them saw the parting of the red sea not all of them saw different things but they but they were all given something there's no way to get around it throughout the entire history of them all right.

1:20:05And then he leaves and goes on a trip okay one receives one so whether you received five or you received one all of Israel has received something all right some of them were there when the eternal son of God became flesh all right so so the servant who received the five he began to invest their money and earned five more the servant with two bags and but the servant who received and listen some in Israel do believe some of the Jews do believe but many do not all right and so he the master goes on a lot of the way. Long journey he returns he calls them to give an account and then the servant who had five the servant for the ultimate part of this story is though what happens to the unfaithful servant that's the point of the story the point of the story is what happens to the unfaithful servant and what's the warning here don't be the unfaithful servant when he comes back all right don't be the unfaithful servant

1:21:05don't be the unfaithful servant well Israel is the unfaithful servant destruction is coming and 70 AD it's not perfect and it's messy I know but man alive some of the other if you say well what interpretations would you not go with anything that puts this in a realm of salvation absolutely not because it's works based even if you say no works prove salvation then that means I've got to do it in order to be safe. This is the where I would put it one that this is referring to hey Christians what what have you done with what God has given us and what we have done will determine reward or will determine loss and in first Corinthians we have this we have that judgment where hey all of this is going to be tested in a sense by fire if at last you get reward if you don't it burns up yet even if everything burns up you are still saved. So it has nothing to do with salvation it would have to do with reward or loss of reward all right if you want to do that okay I can make that work to certain level the second thing is I think 70 AD fits the broader context all right there you have it.

1:22:23Woo that was a lot of work I don't know if we accomplished anything but man we did a lot of work right there okay now I'm going to do this sorry for the phone call that came in in the middle of all of that always happens all right I'm going to come here and say Michigan thank you Indiana thank you Kentucky thank you Texas thank you and Canada thank you I know that was a messy work through that chapter that's a hard parable to interpret but I believe the only way to interpret that parable I've given you two options it's about reward and loss or 70 AD and 70 AD and Israel fits the entire context of Matthew 21 and Matthew 21 22 23 24 into 25 and remember all these things are to come upon that this generation and and on Matthew 25 it's about the destruction of that temple or Matthew 24 it's about the destruction of that temple which happened in 70 AD

1:23:33and Israel was given so many things and they didn't do anything with it and they proved to be the unfaithful servant and judgment did come upon them now the thing is God remains faithful even when they remain unfaithful and we believe there is ultimate promise that God will ultimately regather restore regenerate and save Israel but 70 AD happened that's just a fact and and the temple was actually burned and there was weeping and there was gnashing of teeth that's all facts all right I'll stop right there thanks for listening we have more work to do on it but hey that was my Bible reading for this morning and I spent 84 minutes and real time trying to figure it out all right thanks for listening God bless