The Resurrection of the Hidden Talent — Carter Conlon

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The Parable of the Talents and the Hidden Work of God

Today I'm going to speak on the resurrection of the hidden talent. The resurrection of the hidden talent. This is a parable that Jesus spoke in the New Testament. And I was surprised when I began to prepare this message and I began to look at it in the context of what I felt the Holy Spirit was speaking to me.

I felt I was a two talent Christian. After finishing the message, I feel that I'm a four talent Christian. I asked Pastor Neil, how many talents do you have? And he said, I'm a three talent Christian.

Others knew it was a trap and they wouldn't answer me this morning when I was asking around. Unless you think that sounds boastful, it is not a boast. I believe that many who are here today, you're going to know before this message is over how many talents you have.

You're going to know now you're going. It might be just an estimation, but heaven will reveal the exact number. But you're going to have a number by the time we're finished. You're going to be able to meditatively reflect on a few things and say, yes, I have.

I'm a five talent Christian. That's not boastful to say that. And you're going to see that in a moment. Now, if you turn to Matthew, Chapter 25, please, with me, Matthew, Chapter 25. I'm going to need my glasses today.

My dear daughter went away for the weekend and took my large print Bible with her. And I'm just very thankful that my daughter took a Bible with her away from the weekend. But I'm going to suggest in the future that for the sake of her visually challenged dear father, that she should take another Bible and leave my large print Bible here so I can preach from it on Sunday morning.

The resurrection of the hidden talent. Father, I thank you, God, for the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Lord, this is not something that was on my heart. It was on yours. And you opened this to me during the week of prayer and fasting here in this church.

And it's about your word. And, God, I'm asking that you give me the ability that is far surpasses any natural ability than I may have. That you would give me insight and the capability of speaking simply, yet profoundly, of these truths that you've chosen to reveal to us at this time.

Father, I pray for ears to hear. I pray for hearts to receive. I pray for faith to arise in every heart. Lord, truly you are wanting to move in the miraculous in our generation. I ask you, Lord God, for a very easy ability to speak this.

And I thank you for it in Jesus' name. The resurrection of the hidden talent. Matthew chapter 25 will begin at verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods.

And unto one he gave five talents, and to another two, and to another one. To every man according to his several ability, then straightway took his journey. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made with them five other talents.

And likewise, he that had received two, he gained other two. But he that had received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth with them.

And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents, and behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. And his Lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant.

Thou hast been faithful over a few things. Behold, I'll make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. And he also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents.

Behold, I've gained two other talents besides them. The Lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful over a few things. I'll make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.

Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown and gathering where thou hast not strawed. And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth, and lo there that thou hast is thine.

His Lord answered and said to him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not strawed. Thou oughtest, therefore, to have put my money to the exchangers.

And then at my coming I should have received my own with usury or with interest. Take, therefore, the talent from him and give it to him which has ten talents. For unto every one that has shall be given, and he shall have abundance.

But from him that has not shall be taken away even that which he has. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, before I even start to speak on this, there are some questions.

Understanding the Talents as Spiritual Stewardship

As we look at this particular parable, I think should and probably do come to every one of our hearts. First of all, what are these things called talents? Now, it's been misunderstood, misrepresented, even mispreached over the years that talents are the ability to sing and play the guitar and do all these types of things.

Many of you had these abilities before you came to Christ, and that doesn't all of a sudden make them talents once you're saved. You know, we even have stewardship weekends where we say, give your time, talent, and treasure to the Lord.

And the inference, of course, is that these giftings, some of which are not supernatural. They're just natural giftings, and they don't perhaps at least fully qualify as far as what this parable is speaking about.

We ask ourselves the questions, is God unfair? Why does he just give one man one, or woman, another person two, and somebody else five? And then at the end, when the poor fellow that had one and didn't use it has it taken away, why is it not given to the man who has four?

Why is it given to the man who has already ten? Doesn't that seem rather unfair? These are questions we look at. I mean, if we're looking at it strictly from a mathematical sense, we can even come out of this saying, you know, I don't understand the reasoning behind all of this.

Christ Entrusts His Goods to Those Who Know Him

Now, let's go back to the beginning. He says, the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. Now, that's exactly what Jesus was speaking about.

He was God. He had come from heaven. He'd come to the earth. He had taken on a human body and human form. His name was Jesus Christ, God in the flesh. He called those that were going to be not only his ambassadors on the earth, but they were going to rule and reign with him as his bride for all of eternity.

Those that he was going to redeem by his own blood. And then the scripture says he delivered unto them his goods. Those things that he had, those things that he brought with him, as it is. He brought this inherent power of God.

He brought this incredible compassion, the mercy of God, the resources of heaven, as it is. We're in Christ. And if you've been any amount of time in the word of God, you start to know that these resources now belong to those who are Christ's, who have trusted in him for their salvation.

And he gave to them his goods. And I see these goods as the promises of his mouth and the power of his life to perform them. I have the goods of God within me. If I have Christ in me, I have God's promises.

When I opened this book and Peter, the apostle, says it the most clearly that we are made partakers of this divine nature by these promises that are given to us in the word of God. Now, it's not just the promise, but it's also the power of the indwelling spirit of God who comes and makes these promises that he makes to us a reality in our lives.

I've said it how many times from this pulpit. He takes us where we can't go, gives us what we could never possess, makes us a thousand times more than we are. This was the miracle of God's people that those who walked with him in the Old Testament knew.

Jonathan, when he climbed up to fight the Philistines with his armor bearer, said it doesn't matter to the Lord to save by many or by few. There have been many throughout even Old Testament history who understood this.

That God comes and when he has found a heart of faith, there's an unlimited resource of God's power and life available to those who call out to him and have a believing heart according to his promises.

Now, in verse 15, it says he gave one five talents. He gave another two and he gave another one to every man according to his several ability and straightway took his journey. Now, this is very interesting when if you look at it just for face value, it looks like God gave these resources of his life based on the man's ability or the woman's ability.

It almost looks like he came down and he said, OK, you're a good speaker. Therefore, I'll call you to preach and such and such a place or you have a compassionate heart. So I'm going to send you down to the Bowery Mission and you're going to spend weeks and days giving food and encouragement to those who are living on the streets as if he took his goods and gave it to men who already possessed an ability.

But you see, that's not really the context of this verse of Scripture. When you really tear it apart in the Greek text, the word several means a special relationship. It's the word used in the plural form in John, chapter one, verse eleven.

And it means those that he was familiar with. In John, one eleven, it says he came to his own. Of course, in John, one eleven, it says in his own received him not. It means I he came and gave his goods.

Let me put it this way to those that he was familiar with, to those who had a special relationship with him. It's to those whose heads, as it is, are leaning on his chest and listening to his every heartbeat.

Those who don't have necessarily a whole lot of natural ability, but they're saying, Jesus, I love you. God, I love you with all my heart. I want to be where you are. I want to be doing what you're doing.

Wherever you ask me to go, that's where I want to go. What would you ask me to be? That's what I want to be. Would you ask me to do? These are these are people who have a special relationship with God.

That's what the word several means. And the word ability in the Greek is dunamis. And it means inherent power. The definition, as I read it, was powers and miracles that come out of the mighty power of God inherent in Christ.

And which power was lent to his witnesses and ambassadors. Now, this is strictly my translation. But here's the way I see this particular verse of Scripture. He came and he delivered his goods according to those who knew him and were open to receive his power.

It really changes it. It's the several ability that comes through relationship. Those like you and I who say, God, I know you. I love you. I know who you are. I know your promises are true. I know you can't lie to me.

I know you have the power to make every promise in this book a living reality. And I place no barriers in front of me. I believe that every wall that the enemy has erected in lands that you have destined that I should occupy has to come down.

I believe that I am more than a conqueror in Christ Jesus who loves me. I believe with all my heart that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. God, if you have asked me to do it in your power within my life, it can be done.

I do not look at impossibility as impossible any longer. Because it says in your text that with God all things are possible. There are things that are impossible with men, but with God all things are possible.

I believe this, God, with all of my heart. And God came and he called together these types of servants and he delivered to these servants his goods. Now the scripture tells us clearly that we are given giftings of the Holy Ghost.

That we're given a new mind. We're given a new heart. We're given a new spirit. We are made into brand new creations in Christ Jesus. The inherent purpose of God in Christ in leaving his church on the earth is that, first of all, the desire of his heart in seeing the lost come to him might be fulfilled.

And secondarily, that God through Christ might be glorified in the earth. Through a church that is made by this incredible life of Christ into what we could never even hope to be in ourselves. If we were left to ourselves what a miserable testimony for God this would be.

There would be big people and little people and talented in the natural and untalented in the natural. We'd have all these divisions. But what I love about the kingdom of God is that he called all of his servants together and he just gives according to our relationship with him.

Not according to our natural ability. Thanks be to God. That's why Isaiah talked about this kingdom and he said the lame take the prey. Amazing. Those that are nobody and nothing. The Gadarene demoniac became a preacher in his generation.

Going back into his community and telling them the wondrous things that God had done for him. A man who only dwelt among tombs and broke chains and cut himself with stones. Because of the terrible inner turmoil that was in his life now became a preacher of the gospel.

I thank God with all my heart for the knowledge that the ground is completely level at Calvary. We and I don't bring. God doesn't want our ideas. He doesn't want our natural abilities. Most of these are a hindrance to the kingdom of God.

He wants a heart that says God guide me. Lead me. Make me what you want me to be. Take me where you want me to go. And oh Jesus all I ask more and above all of these things is that you be glorified through my life.

God Almighty be glorified through my life. And straightway the scripture says he took his journey. He gave all of these goods as it is to those who had a special relationship and were open to receive his power.

Grace Gives Power for Every Calling

Then he took his journey. Paul says in Ephesians 4, 7 and 8. Unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith when he ascended up on high he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men.

Now in other words he gave you and I the ability to do everything he's called us to do. To go everywhere he's called us to go. And we can conquer everything he's called us to conquer. This is what makes the Christian life an incredible life folks.

If you're not living here it must be hard. That's all I can say. It just must be a hard place to be. To be aware of this but not part of it. Learning but not coming to the knowledge of what this truth is all about.

It must be an awful thing to go to Bible studies but never have the Bible study you. To learn about all this power but never experience any of it. To be walking around always living in the realm of natural thinking and natural strength and natural power.

Never ever walking in the realm of the supernatural. To me that would be an awful boring Christianity. Now there were people before us who also had God's promises. And you're going to find that in the book of Numbers.

I won't dwell there long but I want you to go in the Old Testament to the book of Numbers chapter 13. And look at the people of course the children of Israel who had all of the promises that we have today.

They had the opportunities that we have today. Now Numbers chapter 13. Now in Exodus chapter 3 and verse 8. The intent of God was spoken about his people. He said I've come down. He's spoken to Moses now of course.

He said I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians. And to bring them out of the land. That land. The land of captivity. Into a good land and a large. A land flowing with milk and honey.

That means a land with incredible provision. Exactly the place that you and I have been called into in Christ Jesus. We've been called out of captivity. We've been called out of bondage. We've been called out of this life where all we do is the mundane as it is every day.

Coming into this place of incredible provision. That comes from the hand of God. Under the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. In other words, these are places God says that I'm bringing you into.

Right now, they're occupied by other things. But those other things that occupy these places of promise don't have a right to be there any longer. Because I said I'm bringing you in. Now God says, for example, he might be saying to you I'm going to make you a very loving person.

But right now, selfishness and incredibly large and walled selfishness is occupying this place. That God says I have for you. But God says don't be afraid of that. You have something else occupying this place of promise.

But I'm going to take you in with my power and my promises in your life. If you have a believing heart, I'm going to take you in. And these walls of selfishness are going to come down. And you're going to be known as a compassionate man or a compassionate woman for the rest of your life.

You're going to be made into other than what you are. It requires a heart of faith to say God, I'm simply going in. I'm going to believe what you say. And I'm not going to be satisfied, Lord, until these things that you promised me have become a reality in my life.

Now Numbers chapter 13 verses 21 and 22. There were 12 men, each man a ruler from all of the tribes that were selected to go in and spy out this land that God had promised. Now I want you to take this as a type of you and I even today.

We're reading the Bible. And in some measure today, whether or not you're a leader, you are spying out the land. We are going in today. And you come with me on this journey. And we're going to go into this place that might even be occupied.

I realize that it might be occupied in your heart by something else right now. But we're going to go in and see what it is that God is speaking to each one of us today. Now they went up, it says in verse 21, and they searched the land.

Now we could insert in here in the New Testament from, it says here, the wilderness of Zin to Rahab, etc. And we could say they searched it from Genesis to Revelation. And they ascended by the south and they came to Hebron.

And all these names are there. The children of Anak were there. And Hebron was built seven years before Zion and Egypt. I could say if it was a testimony written about you and I, they came to Times Square Church.

They went to Thursday night prayer. They went to Friday night school of the Bible. They got into the book of Corinthians with Pastor William. They got into the book of Romans with Pastor Neil. They came in.

They studied. They had their own devotional time. They went in and searched the land. And this is what we do when we're opening the Bible, folks. I want you to know we're not doing anything different than these twelve spies were doing.

If we don't learn from history, we learn nothing. They were taken into a physical place of promise, which was a type of the spiritual. And when you and I go into the Bible, we're doing exactly the same thing that they did.

We're going in. We're searching this land. And they says in verse 23, they came to the Brook Eshol and they cut down that's a branch with one cluster of grapes. And they bear it between two upon a staff.

And they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs. And the place was called the Brook Eshol because of the cluster of grapes, which the children of Israel had cut down from thence. And they returned from the searching of the land after 40 days.

The Promised Land as a Picture of Christ’s Provision

Now, they spent a significant amount of time in this land looking at things. And they found this cluster of grapes so large with so much provision that they had to cut it down. And they put it on a beam as it is a wooden beam and carried it between two men who were in there spying out the land.

And you see it the way you want. But I'm telling you, folks, I see it as a complete type of Jesus Christ. You see, grapes were symbolic of wine and of provision. Now, remember the first miracle that Jesus did is he changed water to wine in the New Testament.

He referred to the life of the spirit as a new wine, which cannot be put into old wine skins, but has to be. In other words, it doesn't fit into old religion. It has to be put into a new vessel that has a new mind and a new heart.

Otherwise, the old religion cannot contain this new wine that he spoke of the life of the spirit in type. I want you to see this. You have two men. You have this incredible cluster of provision, this new wine that is on a board suspended as it is between them.

Think of Calvary for a moment. You have two thieves. In between those two thieves is Christ, the provision of God for everything that you and I will ever need. Through him, the new wine of the spirit comes into the life and heart of those who reach out to him by faith and receive him as Savior.

We have all the provision we will ever need in Christ. You say, well, why was he crucified between two thieves? Assumingly, if these two men carrying these grapes was not Joshua and Caleb, then were they not thieves?

Were they not men who had gone into this place of promise? They're carrying this incredible provision. They're aware of the cross. They're carrying it between their shoulders, but they're not partakers of it.

They really don't believe it. Everything that God has said is there. They go into the promised land. They look and they say, yes, it's true. It's all true. But they really don't believe it. And, folks, if you're in this Bible, especially if you're a pastor or a teacher, and you're looking at it, but you really don't believe it, doesn't that make you a thief?

Don't you stand before the people of God? And aren't you bringing an evil report of the Word of God to the ears of God's people by saying, yes, it's there, but it's not good enough just to walk by faith?

Here, I've got some other methodology whereby we might take over the promised land. Does that not make you a thief? Oh, folks, everything in this Bible points to Jesus Christ. Christ is in every line from in the beginning in the book of Genesis right through to the end of Revelation.

He is in there. It's all about Christ. Everything points to Christ. They went into this land. They were carried. They came back into the camp as it is of the children of Israel. They had this incredible type of the provision of God in Christ suspended on a beam because that's exactly how the provision of God came to you and I.

God suspended His Son on a beam and crucified Him in between two thieves. And that's where our provision comes from. That's where our life comes from. That's where the goods of God were released into fallen humanity.

That's where the grace of God has come to us and literally makes us more than we could ever hope to be in our entire life. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Now, these men came back into the camp in verse 24, verse 26.

It says they went and they came back into the camp and from the wilderness of Paran to Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told them and said, we came to the land where you sent us and surely it flows with milk and honey.

And this is the fruit of it. That's the type of a preacher, folks, or a Christian who just says, yeah, I've been in the Bible. Oh, yeah. Everything God says is true. Everything God says. It's a Martha type whom Christ himself is standing there and says, your brother shall live.

And she says, yeah, yeah, I know you're the resurrection, life, et cetera, et cetera. He'll live at the end of the days. He says, no, you don't seem to understand what I'm trying to say. She doesn't believe it because it's just all in her head.

They came back and they said, it's everything that God through Moses told us that it is. And then you find in verse 28, this terrible word. Nevertheless, the people are strong that dwell in the land. The cities are walled and very great.

And we saw the children of Anak there. It's like that man who goes to Bible study in Times Square Church and says, oh, it is a phenomenal. The promises in the word of God. But nevertheless, I've only got a grade seven education and I'm not a very good speaker.

I've never cared much about people. I don't like people touching me. I don't like touching people. And there's giants in my life. Oh, it's true. It's true. Everything in the word of God is true. But for me, there are just so many giants in my life.

There's so many walled cities, so many. The Amalekites, verse 29, dwell there. And everybody knows how powerful they are. And the Hittites, the Jebusites, the Amorites and all the rest of them. And verse 30, it says, Caleb still the people before Moses and said, let us go up at once and possess it.

We're well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, we're not able to go up against the people for they are stronger than we. And they brought an evil report of the land. Now, this is incredible.

You see, folks, it's possible to bring a positive report about what God has spoken. But an evil report about what God is able to do. And, folks, that's I think that that's in a lot of pulpits today. A positive report.

Oh, yes, this is good. But an evil report about God's ability to perform the things that he could. He said he is able to do. And the ironic thing is at the end of all of this, in chapter 14, verse six, it says, Joshua, the son of Nun and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes.

And this is the passion of of men and women of God who have known the power of God. They have been a recipient of faith as it is. And they literally tore their clothes in exasperation and say, folks, has God brought us this far?

Have you seen so much to turn back now to be just we've been brought through the Red Sea? And do you not remember how God brought us out of darkness? How he sent plagues on our enemies? How we followed this very clear pillar of a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night?

Have we forgotten all of this goodness of God? And now we walk in and see a few walled cities and a few giants and some remnants of things that God said he's destined to destroy. And now we're going to turn back and bring an evil report about the things that God has said.

Folks, that decision still is as valid today as it was in their day. You and I have the same choices to make. We can come to this church. We can fast and pray and say, God, take me into your word. We can shout and dance and get excited.

But ultimately, every man, every woman, every young person has to make their own choice to go into this place of promise. To say, God, I'm going in. I'm going to have everything you've got for me and every way you've determined to glorify your life through mine.

Lord, I'm going to let you do it. I'm not going to say no to anything. I'd rather die fighting a giant than live in the wilderness of doubt and unbelief. I'd rather die on this journey. And they speak to all the company, verse 7 in chapter 14 of the children of Israel, saying the land which we pass through to search is an exceeding good land.

Oh, folks, I can tell you this today. Pastor Neil can tell you. Pastor Patrick, Pastor William, Teresa, Pastor David, everyone who stands in this pulpit, all the elders you heard this week. This is an exceeding good land.

This is not only incredible promises from God, but the promises are a reality. We have lived, we've seen, we've touched, we've tasted, we've known victory. He said, if the Lord delights in us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey or flows with the provision of God only.

Verse 9, rebel not against the Lord and neither fear the people of the land. They're bred for us. Their defense is departed from them. The Lord is with us. Fear them not. In verse 10, here's an amazing thing.

It says, but all the congregation bade stone them with stones. Now, if God hadn't appeared in his glory, they would have killed Joshua and Caleb. And it's an amazing thing. Here they are. They're supposed to be doing what David would one day do.

They're supposed to be picking up these promises of God and literally casting them into the foreheads of their enemies. They're supposed to be tearing down contrary arguments to truth. They're supposed to be conquering in the name of their God.

But yet they're picking up stones and preparing to throw them at the very men who are speaking on God's behalf and encouraging them to go into the promised land. And, you know, folks, these stones are a type of contrary arguments.

Contrary arguments against truth. Excuses. It's an amazing thing. This is always the pattern. In this church, we will always encourage you to move into the promises of God. We will always encourage you to become more than you are.

We will always encourage you to obey God and let God's life, let the life of Christ be glorified through you. There will be people who will sit here for a season. They will shout with everyone else who shouts.

But there comes a time when they will say no to God. No, I'm not going in. There are just too many giants. There are just too many things in my past. There are just too many walled cities. There are too many insufficiencies in my own life and power and character.

And ultimately, they will pick up stones and begin to throw them at the preachers of the gospel. It happens over and over again. They'll leave the house of God and they'll pick up stones and say, ah, enough of this drivel.

The One-Talent Servant and the Danger of Burying God’s Gift

Enough of this preaching. It leaves me nowhere. It does nothing for me. It does nothing for my family. And they'll cast stones at the preachers and out of the house they go. Now, Matthew chapter 25, if you'll go back there, please, with me where we started.

We're going to talk now for a moment about the man with the one talent. Then he that had received, in verse 24, the one talent, he came and said, Lord, I knew you that you're a hard man. That's Matthew chapter 25, verse 24.

Reaping where you've not sown and gathering where you've not strawed. And here, in effect, this man is throwing a stone at Christ. That's what he's doing. He says, Lord, you're the kind of man, and I knew it.

I knew it. I knew this is the kind of man you are. You send me out to harvest, and you send me out to reap, and you don't even lift a finger to help me. You don't do anything for me. You don't help me.

You send me into all these impossible places by myself. And he said, I knew that's the kind of a man you were. I knew one day you were going to have me stand before you, and I was going to give an account of what I did for you.

And here, you made no provision for me to do it. You gave me this measly little talent. This little deposit, as it is, of your life. This insignificant, little, measly talent. And so I just took it, and he said, I buried it in the earth.

Now, notice, he didn't say I took it and buried it in myself. He buried it in another place. And the word in the King James is, he says, and there thou hast is thine. In other words, you gave me a promise or two, and here, here's your promises.

That's really exactly what this is speaking. He says, you gave it to me. It meant nothing to me. It didn't help me. So here it is. It's yours. Take it back. There, what you have is yours. He can't say here, because it's never had an effect on him.