The parable of the nobleman in Luke 19 illustrates the responsibility believers have to use the resources God entrusts to them until Christ's return. The sermon contrasts this parable with the parable of the talents, highlighting that the nobleman gives each of his ten servants an equal amount (a pound), symbolizing the common stewardship of the gospel, time, material possessions, and truth given to all believers. Those who diligently use these resources are rewarded with greater responsibility in the kingdom, while the one who buries his pound out of fear and misrepresentation of God's character is judged. The message concludes by urging listeners to actively "do business" with what God has given them, faithfully representing Him in their spheres of influence until He returns.
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God willing, tomorrow night I thought I'd like to show some slides on the work of the Lord in South America. I feel that it might be interesting to mix missionary reports with the ministry of the Word of God. Tonight we want to look at a passage of Scripture, but tomorrow night I'd like to show some slides of the work in South America. Since we left Africa, we have had the opportunity each year of visiting one of the mission fields in different parts of the world. And we have had the wonderful privilege of paying two extended visits to South America. And apart from one exception, we have been in all the Latin Republics in South America.
We have been able to see at first hand the work that the Lord's servants are doing down there. And I thought it might be interesting to show some slides tomorrow night of four of these Latin republics, that is of Colombia and Peru and Bolivia and particularly of Brazil. The fact that for four to six years we have used the Portuguese language, it meant that language wasn't a barrier. Portuguese is spoken in Brazil. And we did have the opportunity about twelve months ago spending some considerable time in Brazil. Now, I think it might be interesting to speak a little bit about God's servants down there and how the work has developed in a remarkable way in some of these Latin Republics.
So, God willing, we will have that tomorrow night. And then the next day, of course, we'll return to the ministry of the Word and possibly another missionary report. Now, tonight I would like to look at the Gospel according to Luke chapter nineteen. Luke's Gospel chapter nineteen. And we'll read from verse eleven. And then as they heard these things, he added and speak a parable, because he was nine to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear. He said, therefore, a certain noble man went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
And he called his ten servants and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come. But the citizens hated him, and sent a message after him saying, We will not have this man to reign over us. And it came to pass that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him to whom he had given the money. that he might know how much every man had gained by trading. Then came the first saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds. He said unto him, Well, thou good servant, because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
And the second came saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds. And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities. And another came saying, Lord, behold, here is thy palm, which I have kept laid up in a napkin. For I fear thee, because thou art an astir man, thou takest up that thou layest not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow. And he said unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an astir man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow. Wherefore then gave us not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury.
And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that has ten pounds. And they said unto him, Lord, he has ten pounds. For I say unto you that unto everyone which has, shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that he hath, shall be taken away from him. But those mine enemies, which would not, that I should reign over them bring hither, and slay them before me. This morning we were looking at a lovely title of the Lord Jesus, Connection with the Word of the Lord, in the Gospel by Matthew. The title there is The Lord of the Harvest.
I thought maybe tonight I'd speak about the Lord of the Vineyard, but we'll leave that for the meantime. What I want to do tonight is to look at another beautiful title of the Lord. It only occurs in the whole of the New Testament in this passage where he's called a noble man. The word is unique. It's the only time in the whole of the New Testament where we get this particular word. Now there is another word in the Gospel according to John chapter four where we read about a noble man. But the noble man here is a military officer and possibly a man who has come up from the ranks. But the passage we find here is a man of noble birth.
Now when we think of this in connection with our Lord, how beautiful it is, a noble man. I have heard people describe our Lord when he was here on earth, and they say he was just a Galilean phasist. And they say there was nothing attractive about him. And I have heard people actively read on Isaiah fifty-three, where we read that he was a root out of the dry ground, he had no form nor calmliness, and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. And there are some expressions that are used there and people say that there was nothing different about him than from other men when he was here in Iraq. My dear friends, those that use expressions of that kind, they have read the Word of God very superficially.
Isaiah fifty-three in the terms that are used there at the commencement they're referring to the estimate that the Jewish people put upon him and I believe in the coming day they'll reverse that estimate I believe that our Lord when he was here upon that earth was a noble man in every sense of the word I remember when I was a boy I don't think I need to tell anybody that I was born in Ireland. I was reminded of that this morning. Some people told me I had a brogue. Well, it's forty-seven years since I left there. Whether I have a brogue or not, I don't know. I just try to be natural anyway. But I remember when I was a boy, there were still some of the old aristocracy that were still in the assemblies over in my native land.
Men that were saved in the days of John Nelson Darby. There was a wonderful work done in the South of Ireland at that time. It was mostly among people of noble birth. And it was quite common in Dublin, and in court, and in some of the places in the South of Ireland to find people with titles. There was Lord Rastock. And there was Lord Kerry, and there was the Trench family, and quite a number of others who had titles and who had seats in the House of Lords over there in England, they were still in assembly fellowship. I remember as a child, as a boy, seeing these men, and there was always something about them that distinguished them from other people. Now, I know it doesn't cut very much ice with people in the United States or Canada to talk about these people, but you know, I believe that when you find a man of noble birth and when it has been mellowed by the grace of God, and some of these men were godly, humble, born-again believers, and to see men of noble birth and the humility and the graciousness and the kindness.
that characterize these men, it always reminds me of this lovely word. I don't think there's a more beautiful title of the Lord Jesus in the New Testament than this word, a noble man, a man of noble birth. I believe he was a perfect physical specimen. I believe that he was a man among men that people would turn around and look at. Sometimes these noble men men of education, men of noble birth, as they would walk along a street. There was something about their demeanor that carried an atmosphere with them. And people knew immediately that there were men of breeding, men of good manners. And the gracious demeanor that characterized them, it distinguished them from ordinary people.
But here is a noble man. And I believe that our blessed Lord, when he was here upon earth, when people saw him, I believe they would turn round and look at him. I believe he was beautifully dressed. You remember this crucifixion where he took that garment without seam, woven from the top throughout. It was a beautiful garment. And they didn't want to tear it. They didn't want to rip it. And they cast laughs for it. It possibly was the gift of some devoted soul. And our blessed Lord, heared upon earth, as he moved in another moment, he was a noble man, in the true sense of the word, a man of noble birth.
I would love to hear somebody sometime occupy a whole hour speaking about the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus. This is a truth that's being denied today. One of these great fundamental truths that is the very basis of the foundation of Christianity. I would like to hear somebody speak about the virgin birth. Not only of his virgin birth, but that lowly birth and deathly him. But my dear friends, while it was a lowly birth, at the same time it was a noble birth. He was a man of noble birth. Now this is the term that we find in this lovely parable of our blessed Lord. And I'd like to take it tonight and speak about this little parable in relation to our responsibility to the Lord, and particularly our responsibility at the present time in relation to the spread of the gospel.
There are three great lines of truth in the New Testament concerning the coming again of the Lord Jesus. Now the first is doctrine. You remember that great classical passage in First Thessalonians chapter four? What a wonderful exposition we get there of the rapture. Then again we get first Corinthians chapter fifteen. Again a lovely outline of the coming again of the Lord Jesus. First of all the truth is revealed in doctrine and in teaching. Now secondly, in the Bible we get certain symbols connected with the Lord's coming. There are three outstanding symbols connected with the coming of the Lord. The last time I was here, I was speaking about one of them.
The one that has more to do with you and me, the church of the present day, than with the people of Israel. That is the bright and morning star, a term that occurs three times in the New Testament in a different context. What a lovely symbol that is, the bright and morning star. It comes up with the darkest, the weakest, the sleepiest, the coldest star of the night. What a beautiful sight it is, shining before the dawn. Sleepy eyes never see it. Sleepy heads will never see the morning star. You'll have to get up out of your bed at three o'clock in the morning and lift the blind and look outside when there are no clouds to see the morning star.
It's a beautiful, beautiful symbol of the coming again of Christ. And then there's the Son of righteousness that shall arise with healing in his wings. The last chapter in the Old Testament in reference to the people of Israel, the coming again of Christ there is the Son of righteousness with healing in his wings. And then in the book of Daniel, at least twice, in the book of Daniel, we'll read about a stone cut out without hands. You remember, it smites that image on the feet, on that image that had a head of pure gold. And then the material deteriorating until you come down to the feet of the image, and it ends up in mud. It ends up in potter's clay.
And a stone cut out without hands, it smites the image on the feet, it measures its length upon the ground, and it becomes the chaff of the summer threshing floors. And the stone cut out without hands, it becomes a great mountain, and it fills the whole earth. These are the three great symbols connected with the coming. The morning star for the church. The son of righteousness with healing in his wings for the people of Israel. And then in relation to the Gentile nations, he is the stone cut out without hands. But then there are parables. Now this lovely parable that we have read here tonight is one of them. It would be interesting to look at the different parables that refer to the coming again of Christ and look at the different angles in the way that it's applied.
The one that we want to look at tonight is a very practical parable in relation to the Lord's coming and also in relation to the work of the Lord at the present time. So we're even here about this noble man that went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. Now in looking at the parable itself, There is another parable, and I think just to clear the ground, before we look at the parable itself, to clear the ground I think we should refer to the parable of the talents in Matthew twenty-five. We have to take these two parables and put them together, and there is a tremendous similarity between the two.
But anyone that would put them alongside of each other in parallel columns, You would notice immediately there are about half a dozen differences between the two. Now I want to just outline very briefly the talents in Matthew twenty-five and then the parable of the poems that we get here in Luke chapter nineteen. A different context in each. Now you would notice that in the parable of the talents. that from the Lord went away and committed his treasure into the hand of a servant, where either one man he gave five, another man he gave two, and another man he gave one, each man according to his several abilities.
And he went away. Notice that there's a difference. in the treasure that is committed to the servants. One man, five, another two, and another one, each one according to his several ability. But in the parable of the ponds, this noble man, when he goes into the far country to receive for himself the kingdom and to return Each one of his ten servants he hands a silver pond, a mina, a silver pond exactly the same to each individual. Now that is a very prominent difference between the two parables and there must be a meaning for it. Another difference between the parables is that a talent is made of gold and there's a very valuable a very valuable coin.
It's about sixty times the value of the pound. It was a golden coin. It was a treasure made of gold. But the one here in the Gospel according to Luke, the pound is a silver coin, and it's just about one sixtieth the value of the talent. Another thing you would notice is in connection with the rewards that was given to those that were faithful. In the Gospel according to Matthew, we read that the Lord himself, in giving the reward to the servants, he said, Well done, good and faithful servants, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. It was a personal commendation that the Lord gives to the man who had been faithful with the talent that had been given to him.
But in the Gospel according to Luke, in the Psalms, The reward here is administration over cities in the kingdom. The reward is entirely different. Now we have to take these things into consideration in considering the two parables. And just again to clear the ground, what is the overall picture? that we get in the talents and then we get on the ponds. I believe that in the talents, in the Gospel according to Matthew, it is gift that's conferred on different members of the body of Christ. It's the great truth that we find in First Corinthians twelve. Each man according to his several abilities, one gets five, one gets two, and another one gets one.
It is gift in the body of Christ. You know, I believe that each one of us here tonight have a gift. I don't think that there's any person in the body, any member of the body that doesn't have a gift. Have you ever discovered what that gift is? Have you ever found out before the Lord? Have you ever been exercised about it? To find out just what your function in the body, in the body of Christ is. My dear friends, this is most important. And if we had a company of young people here tonight, I would like to push this home. I believe that one of the most important things at the commencement of a Christian life is to find out what is my function in the body of Christ.
What gifts has God conferred upon me? Now, there are some men who get five, some get two, and some get one. There's a man I often think about in connection with the five talents. That's John Nelson Darby. He was an outstanding man. It's becoming very popular today to say on kind things about him and critical things too, and to pull the dear man to pieces. Now I know he was just a poor, frail, weak human being just like the rest of us, but he was an outstanding man. There are very, very few men on the horizon today in the same category as John Nelson Darby. He was an outstanding linguist. He spoke quite a number of languages.
And as well as that, he was a pastor, he was a teacher, and as well as that, he was a linguist. You may remember that when he translated the Bible, that new translation of his, it was first of all translated into German, and then translated back into English. And when he wrote the five volumes of a synopsis, it was written in French. And then translated back again into English, he was an outstanding servant of God. And in spite of all his weakness, and in spite of the mistakes that he made, and he did make mistakes, he was an outstanding servant of God. And as far as I'm concerned, I thank God from the very depths of my heart for a gift like this in the body of Christ. You think of the Apostle Paul.
He was a five-talent man, a man that was highly gifted. And God, he gave him various gifts so that he could operate those gifts in the body of Christ for the upbuilding of the body. He was a Jew. And of course, naturally, he would speak Hebrew. And we know, of course, that he spoke Greek. It's very likely that he spoke Aramaic, almost a certain day. And it's likely, too, as a Roman citizen, that he would speak the old Roman language, Latin. He was a linguist. And as well as that, he was a pioneer evangelist. And he certainly was a pastor. He had the pastoral gift. And he was an outstanding teacher. And then he was a writer.
What a wonderful man the Apostle Paul was. He was a man with five gifts. I believe we have men like that with us today. Just a very short time ago, God took one of his dear servants home here in North America. I passed the place where he went to be with the Lord about half an hour after it happened, and I didn't even know. His name was AP Gibbs. And we do thank God for God's dear service. You think of the different gifts that God conferred upon that man? He certainly was a young people's man. He could speak to children. He could take his place on the conference platform. He was a lovely musician. Under many, many ways, God gifted his dear servant.
There are men like that among us today. We thank God for them. One man gets fine. Another man gets two. And another man gets one. Now, if the Apostle Paul was a fine talent man, I think maybe the Apostle Peter. was a two-talent man. I wouldn't want to make any disparage in comparison between the two men, but I don't think that the Apostle Peter had the same gifts as the Apostle Paul. He probably was a two-talent man. You say, what were the two talents that he had? Well, he certainly has a talent of loyalty. Thank God for his dear servant. I think that Peter would have made a good Irishman. Certainly, everything about him is just absolutely, I find the duplicate in my own heart, the kind of a man that he was, sometimes saying a thing quickly and then be sorry for it afterwards.
He has the gift of the gang, as well as the gift of loyalty. But I don't think he was in the same category with the Apostle Paul. He was a member of the body and an outstanding servant of the Lord. Paul was a five-talent man, Peter, a two-talent man. And then the one-talent man. What is that? You know, this is something that's very common today. In every field today, we have men who are called specialists. There are men who concentrate on some particular field. Things are so complicated today, whether it's medicine or whether it's law or engineering or what have you, men have to specialize in some particular field because they can't specialize in everything.
What is a specialist? Well, somebody defined a specialist as a man who knows more and more about less and less, not as a specialist. But in any case, he's a one-talent man. You know, one day God, he handed over a talent of pure gold to Moses. And do you remember what Moses made with him? That one talent of pure gold, he made a seven-branch golden candlestick out of it. He was a one-talent man. We do thank God for a one-talent man. I have made up my mind as far as I myself are concerned, that I'm going to give my life, whatever is left of it to one thing. And that is the study of my Bible.
I would love to be a man of the book. I would love to give all my time and all my energy to the study of the Word of God. My dear friends, this is something that's badly needed today. The concentrated, consecutive study of the Word of God to try to be of some little help on blessing among the people of God. Dr. Campbell Morgan. Some years ago, I read a little biography of him and he's called A Man of the Book. And I bowed my head and I said, I couldn't be in the same category with a man like him, but at least I'd like to follow in his footsteps. A man of the book. Oh, how important this is today. The man with the one talent.
If he develops the talent that God has given to him, God can bless him in whatever field of service where he finds himself. No, the talent. I believe, is gifts in the body of Christ. But the ponds, each one gets exactly the same. There's absolutely no difference here. Each one gets a silver ponds. And the noble man, as he went away, he said, Do business till I come. Now, I'd like to ask each one of us in the meeting here tonight, I would like to ask a question. Just what is that silver ponds? What is it that's common to each one of us here tonight, man, woman, and child, that's common to every believer? Here is the Lord going away, and he commits his pleasure, the silver ponds with his servants.
There are ten of them. And by the way, ten, in Scripture, it always speaks of responsibility. We have ten fingers. We have ten toes. There were ten commandments. There were ten virgins and so on. Ten in the Bible seems to indicate responsibility. And the Lord called his ten servants and he gave them each one exactly the same. Now he says, do business till I come. And by the way, that word do business is only here in this little parable. It's a very practical word. Do business till I come. Now I'd like to ask. very informally on the meeting tonight, just what is that silver pound that has been committed to every one of us in the meeting here tonight?
What is it? I would like to suggest four things. There may be others, but I'd like to suggest a four-fold answer to the question. And I think that it's perfectly obvious that every truly born-again believer, the first thing that has been committed to us is the stewardship of the gospel. It has been committed to everyone the stewardship of the gospel and to spread the gospel by whatever means the Lord puts in our power. Someone might say, well, you know, I can't preach. I don't have that gift. I'm not able to stand up and preach the gospel. My dear friends, you're making a mistake. Because that is the parable of the talents. That is gifts from the body of Christ.
I believe that God gifts certain men as an evangelist. And every time I hear a man that's able to stand up and preach the gospel of the grace of God and get souls, I bow my head and I thank God. They're getting very scarce today. in moving around the country, and we have seen a good deal of a cross-section of the assemblies and Christian life right across America and across Canada. And my dear friends today, men that are really able to preach the gospel are getting very scarce. And I do pray God that he would raise up men with a gift of the evangelists, but not with the talents. That's first Corinthians twelve.
That's Ephesians chapter four. The evangelist is the man who is gifted for the proclamation of the gospel. But every single one of us here tonight have a responsibility to convey the gospel to those around us in whatever sphere where God has placed us. I'll tell you what I mean. Some time ago, a very dear friend of mine who's an evangelist, Robert Crawford, Bob Crawford and I, we were going to a conference. And we were driving along the Connecticut Turnpike. We had been on the road for quite a little while and beginning to get drowsy and tired, and we decided to go into a Har Johnson's to get a cup of coffee, just to rest our eyes.
We went in and we sat down at a stool at the counter in a Har Johnson's. And while we were sitting there, there was a family of five came in, and they occupied five seats just alongside of it. And there was a little girl. She couldn't but any more than nine or ten years of age, and she sat down beside Mr. Crawford. And after she got seated, she opened her wallet, and she pulled out a little paper, and she handed it to Mr. Crawford, and she said, Would you accept the Gospel paper? And Mr. Crawford, he looked at her. He said, Yes, my dear, he said, I would. I would be delighted. And now he said, Are you a Christian? Yes, she said, I am.
No, my dear, he said, tell me just when did that happen. And that child, sitting at the counter there, and Har Johnson, told the most delightful story of how she had been led to the Lord and had openly confessed his name. And to this time the people up and down the counter that were leaning over listening to the conversation. Now we weren't making people embarrassed. We weren't talking in the loud voice at all to embarrass other people on either side. But people were really interested. And Mr. Crawford, he said, you know, he said, I spent my time preaching the gospel. And then pointing at me, he said, this man here, he has spent the most of his life preaching the gospel to pagan people out in the middle of Africa. And to this time the people were leaning over to listening what was going on.
Now, that came from a child, a little girl about nine years of age, and we had the loveliest opportunity of having a little gospel meeting sitting at the counter in a hard Johnson's. And people were absolutely thrilled to see the little girl and the lovely way that she did it in spreading the gospel at that counter. You know, I think we can all do that kind of thing. We don't need to button-hold people and make them feel uncomfortable. But I think, quite naturally, I think we can introduce the gospel in various ways, and we do have that responsibility. I have a friend in New Jersey, and I think if he knew that I was talking about him tonight, he might be embarrassed. And for the sake of that, I'm not going to mention his name, but he is a very dear friend.
And he earns his living by selling insurance. Now, some little time ago, there was a family in New Jersey in quite a high category. The husband in the family was one of the senior editors of the Reader's Digest. And if I were to open a Reader's Digest of a few years ago, I could point you out his name at the head of the list there in the Reader's Digest. He was one of the senior editors. He wrote a book that became a bestseller. And if you go to any of the bookstores today in New York or any of the leading cities, you'll see that book for sale. It was one of the leading bestsellers for a number of years. But this man died.
And his widow was a very devout practicing Roman Catholic. And my friend had some business to transact with her along the line of insurance. And after he got through with his business, realizing that her husband was gone and that she felt it very deeply, he offered her a word or two of sympathy. And then he spoke to her about the Lord. And he handed her a Gospel paper, and just to put it in a nutshell, in a very short time that dear lady was led to faith in the Lord Jesus. A devout practicing Roman Catholic. I know her personally. And for two years after she was saved, when she came into the place, into the meeting room, just something like this, she got down on her knees at the end of the seat and crossed herself.
And she sat with a rosary in her lap, telling her beads while she was sitting at the meeting. But she has been not only born again, but baptized on a some happy fellowship in one of the assemblies down there in New Jersey. It happens through a man just offering a little word of sympathy. Now that dear man, he never stands on the platform and preaches. That is not as gift at all. And if anybody invited him to take a gospel meeting, I think he would refuse. That is not his gift, but his gift, his personal worth, is the most sympathetic, genial disposition, and is able to speak to people in a sympathetic way, and one after another, people in the highest categories of life.
we know have been led to the Lord through the testimony of that dear man. My dear friends, that is the first thing connected with the silver ponds. It is the responsibility for the spread of the gospel. And each one of us here tonight, man, woman, and child. If we know the Lord, we have the responsibility for spreading the gospel in the sphere where the Lord has placed it. Now, I'd like to suggest the second thing. And that is the stewardship of our time. You know, the Lord has left us down here for a little while. And while a good many of us here tonight are in the last decades of life. Our early life is gone.
And in the course of time, we won't be here very long. But did you ever realize that the Lord has left us here for a little while to represent him? You know, it's a good thing to budget your money. But I think it's an important thing too to budget your life. Do you ever think about that? I have thought... Sometimes about myself and what I've been doing with myself during these years. You know, when I was sixteen or seventeen years of age, I thought I never would be twenty. And then when twenty came, I thought it was a long, long way to thirty. And then when I was thirty, I thought, well, people that were forty, they were over the edge of the hill.
But then forty came and fifty and sixty, and it's going on. And, you know, before very long, it'll be all over. The one thing that has amazed me how quickly my life has run away. Do you ever think of sitting down and thinking about what to do with yourself, whatever is left of life? Oh, again, if we only could get a hold of our young people and show them the tremendous responsibilities they have in not only budgeting the material things that God has given to them, but budgeting their life. Someone has said that our life is divided in three parts. One-third of our life we spend in bed, at least either.
You know, to say sometimes a woman is able to get away with six hours of sleep at night. And then other people need seven. Well, personally, I need eight. And unless I get eight hours good sleep, I don't feel very well the next day. I'm thankful for a good, strong, healthy body. But when I go to bed at night, I'm awfully grateful I can put my head on. And in five minutes, I'm out like a light and I can sleep for eight good, solid hours. Now, that means that one third of my life I spend in bed. And then, naturally, The man who earns his living, who goes to business or at school or what have you, he spends the next eight hours in earning a living. But that leaves the other third.
Each hours a day, on an average, it may be more or less, that we call our own time. What do we do with it? What do you do with your time? How do you spend it? You know, some people, they talk about past time. That is a horrible word. Past time, on the way they spend it, sometimes they don't realize it. One of the most valuable things we have is a little while to spend for God. and we sometimes sing in the little jingle, only one life will soon be passed, and only what's done for Jesus will last. You know, Moses pledged to his life.
It was divided in three parts. We've heard this again and again, forty years down there in Egypt, getting an education, learning to be somebody, a man with a foot on the steps of the throne. But then God took him to the backside of the desert, and for forty years, God took him into his school and taught him a few lessons to prepare him for the work that he had ahead. But two-thirds of Moses' life was spent in preparation. On the last third of his life, forty years was spent in that work that God gave him to do. You know, most people, men that have left their mark, both in church history and in the world, generally there's a very small period of time in their life.
And it's all leading up to that point. And then God uses them for a little while. And then they slip down from that point on. My dear friends, one of the most valuable things that God has given to us is a few years and a few hours to try to work for him and to leave something that will be a health to those that we leave behind. Oh, please do the exercise about how you spend your time. God will hold us accountable for it. And I think that the one who budgets their life And trying to spend their life for God, I believe that at the judgment seat of Christ they'll get a reward for doing that. Now the third thing I want to mention is material things.
We mentioned this just very briefly and casually this morning. Any preacher like myself always feels a little bit embarrassed about speaking about material things. Honestly, I don't feel embarrassed speaking about it tonight because I believe it's important. Did you ever notice the large proportion of the ministry of the Lord Jesus that is occupied with the stewardship of material things? And I don't know of any country in the world that has been so amazingly blessed by God as the United States. We are riding the crest of a wave today, a wave of prosperity. I can remember the days in nineteen twenty nine when the many a man lost everything I saw men lying on the streets of New York well dressed they had lost their home they had lost their car they had lost their business they had lost everything and I saw men down on the bar in nineteen twenty nine with a bundle of newspapers out of their head lying asleep in the month of June my dear those days they're long past And I think we should be grateful and thankful to God for the way that He has blessed us today.
But we're sure, we're not proprietors. On anything that God has given to me along the line of material things, I believe He'll hold me accountable for what I do with it. We look to God for every penny that we receive, but every penny that we do receive. God will hold me accountable for what I do with it. And I believe that each one of us here tonight, we're not proprietors of the material things that God has given to us, just to spend it upon ourselves, maybe in an extravagant way. But I believe that God will hold us accountable for what we do with the material prosperity that He has conferred upon us. This, I think, is the third thing connected with this stewardship.
Just one little word about a fourth thing before we pass on through the judgment seat of Christ, I believe, that is indicated here at the end of this parable. That is the truth of God. You know, there are a number of us here tonight that from our early days, from our childhood, we have had the opportunity of sitting at the feet of good men. I am awfully grateful. that when I was a child, growing up, there were men of God in those days that taught the Word. I had that opportunity of sitting at their feet on those wonderful treasures of the Word of God, expository ministry that I heard in those days has been treasured in my heart from that time to this.
God has given some of us here, all of us here tonight, a tremendous amount of life concerning his word. Paul called himself a steward of the mysteries of God. On these great doctrines of Holy Scripture, not only the Gospel, but the great expository messages of the Apostle Paul and the Apostle Peter, the Apostle James. This is a treasure. This is a stewardship that God has committed to us, and he will hold us responsible for what we do with it. Now, these are four things, I believe, that are incorporated in this silver pond. And the Lord said, do business till I come. Are we doing business? Well, now finally he did come. And when he came back again, he gathered his ten servants to know what they had done with the money that he had committed to them.
And I think I can see the first man come. He said, Lord, Lord, he said, the pound that I received, he said, this is again ten pounds. He says, well, good, faithful servant, be thy over ten cities. Thou hast been faithful in a few things, be thy over ten cities. Now here is a man, and he has gained ten thousand percent from the investment. The Lord gave him one pound and he gained other ten pounds and he gets a corresponding reward. He said, you've been faithful in a very little, now you be over ten cities. He gives him administration in the kingdom on account of his faithfulness for what God had given to him. You know, every time I think of this, faithful in a very little.
I think of an incident that happened some years ago with a man who was working for a firm. I heard it in very good authority that he was slated for promotion. And the man who was the leading man in the firm, he had disowned this young man. And one day he invited him for a meal. And he thought that sitting at the table while they were having the meal, while they were sitting at the table, he would tell him what he had in mind that he wanted to put him in a position of responsibility in that firm. But while they were in the lane, in the cafeteria, and while they were picking up their food, he noticed that that young man, he picked up two little pats of butter. Only worth a couple of cents. And he slipped it underneath a piece of bread on the plate, so it was a girl that was counting the food that was on the tray so she wouldn't see it.
Now the man that was what he saw, and he noticed what he did. He tried to hide something that was very, very small, only worth a couple of cents. And they went out long and they sat down at the table and they had the meal, but the man he kept the idea that he had in mind to himself. And the result was that he lost that position of responsibility that he was slated for. Faithful in a very little. You know what God has given to us down here, in one way it can be very little. The little work that God has given us to do. But I believe that our position in the kingdom in the coming day, it will depend on our faithfulness and what we do with what God has committed to us.
Be thou over ten cities. Now the next man he says, Lord, five pounds is again five pounds. Here's five hundred percent on the investment. Now he said exactly the same thing. Well, good faithful servant, be thou over five cities. But the man who had received one, he said, Lord, I was afraid of thee. Lord, an astir man, leaping where thou hast not sown, gathering where thou hast not strode, I was afraid of thee. And I said, here is the pound. He said, I wrapped it in a napkin. And I said, here you have what is yours. You just imagine anybody calling this noble man an astir man.
The word actually means hard. It's the same word that used for hardening of the arteries or hardening of the heart. On a steer, man. I would like to ask you, is this noble man a hard man? We have served him now for forty-seven years. And my dear friend, he's not a hard man. He's not on the steer, man. And actually, this man, he called him a thief. He said, You pick up that you lay not down, and you gather for you have them strawed, and I was afraid of thee. My dear friend, this is a complete misrepresentation of this noble man. It showed that the man wasn't born again at all. He hadn't life in Matal. He was just a false professor, professing to be a servant, whereas he didn't have the root of the matter in them at all.
And he wrapped up the pond in a napkin. Now you remember that in the parable of the talents, the man there, he dug a hole in the earth, and he buried it. And that's what some people are doing with the talent, burying it in the air. But this man takes the napkin. And do I need to tell you this word napkin in the old Vulgate, the old Latin version, the word is Sudarian. It means a rag for wiping perspiration or a handkerchief, a cloth for wiping perspiration. In my early days in Africa, when we used to go off on a trip, I always had a large khaki handkerchief that I had on my belt. And if you're going across the plains with a temperature of maybe a hundred or a hundred and five walking across the plain, we always had a large khaki handkerchief and it was used for wiping perspiration.
On this man, he takes the Sudarian. He takes the napkin. And he puts the pond in it and he wraps it up now. He says, you have what is yours. And he's healed by that very fact that he didn't have the root of the matter in him at all. My dear friends, one day we're going to stand at the judgment seat of Christ. And what we get here in the parabolic ministry of our Lord Jesus, it's going to be an actual fact in the coming day. And the Lord will require from me. And he will require from you what you have done with the gift that has been committed to you. Not only the gift, but this wonderful treasure, the silver pond that has been committed to you. And he says tonight, Occupy till I come.
And may God help each one of us here, whether what is left to us of life, whether it is long or short, that we may seek to occupy it for and with our blessed Lord until he comes back again for his name's sake. I shall be prayed. Our God and Father, we do thank thee for these wonderful narratives in my words. We thank thee for this lovely ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. And our Father, while on the one hand, we thank thee for the beautiful outline that he gives us of that time when he went away to receive for himself a kingdom and to return. Yet at the same time, our Father, we know that it's searching.
And we do pray that in this waiting time, until our Lord comes back again, that thou wilt help us to do business for thyself. And we pray that each one of us in the sphere where thou hast put us. Let it be a large and a wide sphere or an obscure place. Our Father, we pray that I will give us that faithful heart and loyalty to thyself to occupy until he comes back again. Now we command this to thee in thy word and thy beloved people. We command each one of us to thee, bring thy blessing in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.