"FOR THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS LIKE UNTO A MAN TRAVELLING INTO A FAR COUNTRY, WHO CALLED HIS OWN SERVANTS, AND DELIVERED UNTO THEM HIS GOODS. AND UNTO ONE HE GAVE FIVE TALENTS, TO ANOTHER TWO, AND TO ANOTHER ONE.......AFTER A LONG TIME THE LORD OF THOSE SERVANTS CAME, AND RECKONED WITH THEM.....THEN HE WHICH RECEIVED THE ONE TALENT CAME AND SAID, LORD, I KNEW YOU THAT YOU ART A HARD MAN, REAPING WHERE YOU HAVE NOT SOWED, AND GATHERING WHERE YOU HAVE NOT PLANTED. AND I WAS AFRAID AND WENT AND HID YOUR TALENT IN THE EARTH, LO, HERE IS WHAT WAS YOURS...." (MAT. 25:14-30).
MANY WOULD SAY THIS HAS TO DO WITH "WORKS" AND YOUR REWARD - NOT SALVATION.
BUT WAIT, THE WORDS IN 26 HARDLY SOUND LIKE IT IS JUST "WORKS" HERE BEING TALKED ABOUT...."HIS LORD ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, YOU WICKED AND SLOTHFUL SERVANT; YOU KNEW I REAP WHERE I'VE NOT SOWN, AND GATHER WHERE I'VE NOT PLANTED."
THE SERVANT OF GOD SURELY CANNOT BE REGARDED AS WICKED JUST BECAUSE HIS "WORKS" WERE NOT LIKE OTHERS, OR VERY VERY LOW COMPARED TO OTHERS.
THEN THERE IS THE END OF THIS PARABLE, THAT IS WAY MORE SERIOUS THAN JUST NOT HAVING VERY LITTLE "WORKS" - NOTICE IT:
"AND CAST THE UNPROFITABLE SERVANT INTO OUTER DARKNESS: THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH."
NOW ONCE MORE WE MUST LET THE BIBLE INTERPRET THE BIBLE. WHAT IS THE BIBLE'S INTERPRETATION OF "UNPROFITABLE SERVANT"?
NOTICE IT - LUKE 17: 6-10.
READ IT ALL. NOW NOTICE VERSES 9 AND 10.
"DOES HE THANK THAT SERVANT BECAUSE HE DID THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE COMMANDED OF HIM? I THINK NOT. SO LIKEWISE YOU, WHEN YOU SHALL HAVE DONE ALL THOSE THINGS WHICH WERE COMMANDED OF YOU, SAY, WE ARE UNPROFITABLE SERVANTS; WE HAVE DONE THAT WHICH WAS OUR DUTY TO DO."
PUT THE TWO SECTIONS OF SCRIPTURE TOGETHER..... NOW YOU SHOULD SEE WHAT JESUS WAS TEACHING.
THE UNPROFITABLE SERVANT WILL BE OUT IN THE COLD, OUT IN DARKNESS; TRULY THERE SHALL BE WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH, IF YOU FIND YOURSELF ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN.
TRULY YOU ARE SAVED BY GRACE, NOT BY WORKD; BUT - THE SIMPLE TRUTH IS FROM THESE TWO PARABLES JESUS GAVE - IF YOU DO NOT MOVE FORWARD IN YOUR CHRISTIAN LIFE; IF YOU JUST STAY PUT; IF YOU DO ONLY THE BARE MINIMUM, JUST PUTING THE ONE TALENT - THE BEGINNING SALVATION TALENT IN THE GROUND, AND ONLY GIVE THAT FIRST DAY SALVATION TALENT BACK TO CHRIST AT HIS COMING..... WELL THE WORDS OF JESUS TELL YOU PLAINLY WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO THAT SERVANT IN THE DAY OF CHRIST'S RETURN FROM THE FAR COUNTRY, TO RECKON WITH HIS SERVANTS.
SALVATION IS NOT A ONE DAY EVENT. AND YOU ARE NOT GIVEN ALL TRUTHS IN ONE DAY. WHEN YOU HAVE ACCEPTED JESUS AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVIOR, WHEN YOU COME UNDER THE GRACE OF GOD, YOU ARE TO MOVE FORWARD; YOU ARE NOT TO STAND STILL; YOU ARE TO MOVE FORWARD AT LEAST TO SOME EXTENT [EVERYONE MOVES FORWARD AT DIFFERENT PACES; SOME TWO PACES, SOME FOUR PACES; SOME EIGHT PACES], MOVING FORWARD - OR AS PETER PUT IT, "GROWING IN GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST" (2 PETER 3:18).
AS PAUL SAID, "HOW SHALL WE ESCAPE. IF WE NEGLECT SO GREAT A SALVATION...." (HEB. 2:3). AND.....
"OF WHOM WE HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY. AND HARD TO BE UTTERED, SEEING YOU ARE DULL OF HEARING. FOR WHEN FOR THE TIME YOU OUGHT TO BE TEACHERS, YOU HAVE NEED THAT ONE TEACH YOU AGAIN WHICH IS THE FIRST PRINCIPLES OF THE ORACLES OF GOD; AND ARE BECOME SUCH AS HAVE NEED OF MILK, AND NOT STRONG MEAT. FOR EVERYONE THAT USES MILK IS UNSKILFUL IN THE WORD OF RIGHTEOUSNESS; FOR HE IS A BABE. BUT STRONG MEAT BELONGS TO THEM THAT ARE OF FULL AGE, EVEN THOSE WHO BY REASON OF USE HAVE THEIR SENSES EXERCISED TO DISCERN BOTH GOOD AND EVIL" (HEB. 5:11-14)
NOW I DID NOT WRITE THESE WORDS OF PAUL AND PETER; I DID NOT WRITE THE WORDS OF JESUS IN MATTHEW 25 OR LUKE 17.
THEY ARE THERE; THEY ARE INSPIRED; THEY MEAN WHAT THEY SAY AND SAY WHAT THEY MEAN. NO YOU CANNOT EARN SALVATION BY WORKS - BUT YOU CAN LOOSE IT BY STANDING STILL, BY DOING NO MORE THAN WHAT IS REQUIRED OF YOU. JESUS DOES NOT EXPECT YOU TO STAND STILL, HIDE SALVATION IN THE GROUND, AND GIVE BACK TO HIM NO MORE THAN WHAT YOU HAD ON THE DAY YOU WERE GIVEN SALVATION.
AFTER THE DAY ON WHICH YOU RECEIVED SALVATION, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO READ GOD'S WORD, TO BE TAUGHT, TO BE CORRECTED EVEN MORE, TO BE LIVING BY EVERY WORD OF GOD, TO BE GROWING IN GRACE AND KNOWLEDGE, TO BE MOVING FORWARD OUT OF BABYHOOD TO MORE SPIRITUAL MATURITY, TO PUT AWAY THE MILK OF THE WORD AND TO BE EATING THE MEAT OF THE WORD.
DOING ONLY THE BASICS OF WHAT IS COMMANDED OF YOU, IS BEING AN UN-PROFITABLE SERVANT..... AND WE HAVE SEEN FROM JESUS' OWN MOUTH WHAT HAPPENS TO THE UNPROFITABLE SERVANT.
YOU NEED TO STUDY MY STUDY CALLED "SAVED BY GRACE" - AND GET THE WHOLE PICTURE OF SALVATION.
YOU NEED TO READ THIS STUDY AGAIN, SLOWLY, MEDITATING ON IT.
YOU CANNOT EARN SALVATION BY A MILLION GOOD WORKS, YET SALVATION, IS NOT JUST AS EASY AS FALL OFF A LOG, AS THEY SAY.
ONCE SALVATION IS GIVEN YOU, YOU ARE EXPECTED TO NOT STAND STILL - YOU ARE EXPECTED TO MOVE FORWARD. STANDING STILL WILL ONLY MEAN YOU ARE AN UNPROFITABLE SERVANT, WHO WILL GET BLACKNESS, WEEPING AND GNASHING OF TEETH.
Keith Hunt
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