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Pastor Lars Larson, PhD                                                                                     FBC Sermon #635
First Baptist Church, Leominster, MA                                                                  October 30, 2011
Words for children: virgins, bridegroom, lamp, oil                                                  Text: Matthew 25:14-30
Scripture reading: 1 Corinthians 6:8-20

The Gospel of Matthew (99)
The Parable of the Talents

Our current progress through Matthew:

  I.  Prologue (chs. 1, 2)
 II.  The Kingdom Comes (chs. 3-7)
III.  The Works of the Kingdom (chs. 8-10)
IV.  The Nature of the Kingdom (chs. 11-13)
 V.  The Authority of the Kingdom (chs. 14-18)
VI.  Kingdom Blessings and Kingdom Judgments (chs. 19-25)
        A.  From Galilee to Jerusalem (chs. 19, 20)
        B.  The King enters Jerusalem (chs. 21-23)
        C.  Fifth Discourse: Kingdom Judgment, the Olivet Discourse (chs. 24, 25)
                1.  Signs of the “End” (24:1-31)
                2.  Parables Counseling Vigilance (24:32-25:46)

*****************

        We have a well-known parable before us, the parable of the talents.  Let us read from Matthew 25:13 through verse 30.

        13“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”
        14“For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.  15To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability.  Then he went away.  16He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more.  17So also he who had the two talents made two talents more.  18But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money.  19Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them.
        20And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here I have made five talents more.’  21His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.’  22And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here I have made two talents more.’  23His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much.  Enter into the joy of your master.’ 
        24He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground.  Here you have what is yours.’
        26But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant!  You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed?  27Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.  28So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents.
        29For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.  But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  30And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

        I.  The details of the parable

        Our Lord gave this parable in the context of His Olivet Discourse.  The parable involves a wealthy man who takes a long journey, but he first entrusts his business dealings with his servants.  To the one servant, who he deemed to have the most ability among his servants, he gave 5 talents to invest and manage in his absence.  To a second servant, who had less ability, he entrusted two talents.  Lastly, he left one talent to the one who seemed to have little ability. 
        A talent was a measure of money in the 1st century Roman Empire.  It was a large sum of money.  One talent was the equivalent of what a common day laborer could earn over the period of 15 years.  Therefore five talents of money was an enormous sum, more money than a common man could earn in his entire life.  Two talents was a great deal of value as well, 30 years of labor. 
        The servants had plenty of time to earn money through their investments, for the wealthy man had gone for a “long time” (25:19).  When he returned, he called his servants to himself in order for them to give to him an accounting of their stewardship.  The servant who had 5 talents had made 5 more.  The man who had been given 2 talents doubled his money also.  But the third man was an unprofitable servant.  He failed to earn any money from the single talent that had been entrusted to him.  He had buried the money in a place where he would later recover it, when his master returned from his trip.  (This was the common manner in which people “saved” their money or valuables in a day when banks were not widespread.)  This servant gave a reason that he had not invested the money.  He believed his master to be a cruel taskmaster, and so out of fear, he hid his money and returned it to the master on the day he came among them.  But the servant was wicked and slothful.  He should have at least invested the money with bankers, earning simple interest.  The parable concludes with the talent being taken from him and given to the one with ten talents.
        Our Lord then gave several concluding statements of application.

        29For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance.  But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.  30And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

II.  The meaning of the parable

        Last Lord’s Day we considered the parable of the ten virgins.  We said that it was a parable to instruct us about those who professed to be disciples of Jesus Christ, claiming to be Christians, but that true disciples were distinguished in this group from hypocrites.  The test within the story of the parable was if they were ready for the appearance of the bridegroom and his wedding party, when it would call upon them to join the wedding procession.  The parable of the ten virgins was not a parable about all people without exception, but a parable about those who claimed to be Christians.
        This parable of the talents is also about professing Christians.  This parable also addresses what will occur at the second coming of Jesus Christ, that true Christians will be distinguished from false Christians.  True Christians are depicted by the two servants who had been entrusted with money to invest for their master.  The professing Christian, but who is actually unconverted to Christ, is depicted by the servant who was given one talent of money, who failed to invest it in the time that had been given to him.  At the second coming of Jesus Christ there will be an examination of how professing Christians lived, which will either confirm or discredit their claim to be believers in Jesus Christ.  A professing Christian’s good works will be examined before the Lord at His second coming.  The true Christian will be distinguished from the hypocrite because good works will have substantiated the reality that his faith and life were indeed devoted to believing on Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
        As in other contexts where similar ideas are present, we need to remind ourselves that the purpose of this parable is not to teach or illustrate the ground, the basis of the sinner’s salvation.  Salvation cannot be earned, achieved, accomplished or obtained through self-effort, even if it is a sinner’s effort is assisted or born along by God’s grace.  The Bible does not teach that obtaining salvation is synergistic[1], that is, through the combination of God’s mercy and grace and human effort, but rather salvation is monergistic[2]; it is due solely to the grace of God through Jesus Christ.  When someone believes that his own work contributes even in the least degree to his own salvation, he has departed from the grace of God that brings salvation that is taught in the Scriptures.
        This is seen clearly in Romans 11, in which Paul describes a remnant of Jews that God had chosen to be saved, chosen by His grace not due to their works.  Paul wrote, “But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace” (Rom. 11:6).  God saves us by His grace alone.  He does so by working faith in us, sustaining faith in us by His power, this faith is that by which we had been united with Christ when we first believed the Gospel.  And so salvation is wholly by God’s grace through faith alone.  As Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8f,

8“For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast.”

In Galatians 5 Paul wrote that for one to add the least amount of credit to human effort in obtaining salvation renders one no longer attempting to relate to God due to His grace alone, but rather due to one’s false thinking that he can save himself through law-keeping, in other words, he believes salvation is obtained wither all or in part by the merit of his own works.

        1“Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you.  3I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.  4You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.  5For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness.  6For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.  7You were running well.  Who hindered you from obeying the truth?  8This persuasion is not from him who calls you.  9A little leaven leavens the whole lump.” (Gal 5:2-9)

        And so, there is only one way of salvation, which is by God’s grace alone.  No one can be saved by keeping God’s law(s).  Why?  First, for no one can keep God’s law perfectly, which is God’s demand if one attempts to come to Him on those terms.  And second, God never intended His law to be a way of salvation for sinners.  God gave His law in order to reveal to sinners their sinfulness, so that they might see their need for salvation through God’s grace in Jesus Christ alone. 

        10“For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, ‘Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.’  11Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for ‘The righteous shall live by faith.’  12But the law is not of faith, rather ‘The one who does them shall live by them.’  13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us--for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Gal 3:10-13)

        Now we should all be familiar with these things, for these truths are essential and foundational to biblical Christianity; they are the ABC’s of biblical salvation. 

        And so, works in no way contribute to our salvation; but works most certainly accompany our salvation, works are produced in one and by one who is saved by grace.  We read Ephesians 2:8f earlier, now we read them with verse 10:

        8“For by grace you have been saved through faith.  And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9not a result of works, so that no one may boast.  10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Eph 2:8-10)

We have not been saved by our works, but we have been saved by God’s work (of grace); we are His workmanship.  But He created us for a purpose, that being “good works.”  He has created us anew in Christ so that we should “walk in them”, or live in the performance of these good works.
        Because this is God’s work and it is in God’s purpose that those who have salvation walk in “good works”, He sees to it that we who are Christians live in this manner.  Nevertheless, although our works are due to God working in us, we are to see our responsibility to strive always to walk in this manner as we look to the Lord to enable us to do so.

        12“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.  14Do all things without grumbling or questioning, 15that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, 16holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (Phil. 2:12-16)

        Let us consider carefully what Paul has written here.  He first describes these Christians in the church at Philippi as ones who “have always obeyed”; they were responsive to the apostle’s instruction and were obedient to God’s Word.  He is not saying they were perfect Christians; there is no such one to be found anywhere.  But true Christians are known by their obedience to the will of God.  Paul exhorted his readers to continue to live in obedience, knowing that God is working in them by His grace, giving them both the desire and ability to live in obedience to Him.  They were to be willingly compliant to God, not grudgingly, but out of love for God their Father whose children they are.  They were to “do all things without grumbling or questioning”, that is, they were to live before God not reluctantly or defiantly, challenging what they are to do before God.  They were always to have in their focus and relying wholly upon “the word of life.” 
        Why did Paul wish for them to live in this manner?  So that on the Day of Judgment, Paul may rejoice in the fact that they receive their full and final salvation.  Paul would then be “proud”, in a good sense, in knowing that he had not wasted his time and effort on them, as he wrote, “that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.”  Paul was concerned that all his effort among them to bring them to salvation needed to be affirmed and confirmed by their obedience, their good works, which would be assessed “in the day of Christ.”  If they stood in judgment on the day of Christ and their lives had not been characterized by obedience and good works, they would not inherit salvation.  Paul’s labor among them would have been in vain.
        And so, we have confirmed for us here in Philippians 2, as is true in so many places of Scripture, the necessity of good works as evidence of salvation, evidence that will be scrutinized by Christ on the Day of Judgment.  We cannot be saved by our good works, but we cannot be saved without good works.  John the apostle wrote:

        7Little children, let no one deceive you.  Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous.  8Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning.  The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.  9No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.  10By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.” (1 John 3:7-10)

        This truth, that good works will be the basis of future judgment to prove our claim to faith in Jesus is confirmed for us in this parable of the talents.  All three of these “servants” are to be seen as ones who professed to be servants of Jesus Christ.  Two of them lived in a manner so as to serve the master who had entrusted money to them to invest while he was gone.  When he returned he pronounced them blessed, and he rewarded them for their faithful stewardship.  But the one who had only one talent, did nothing with it.  His life was spent with no consideration of the responsibility that he had before him.  His destiny is eternal hell.  Jesus said in His parable, “Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  Pain, suffering, remorse, endless punishment is his destiny.
        He is declared to be judged by his stewardship that he was a “worthless servant.”  He is cast into “outer darkness.”  There are a number of ideas about future punishment that seem to be somewhat incongruent with one another.  The Revelation describes the final destiny of the damned to be a “lake of fire.”  On that day it is said, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).  Here it is described as “outer darkness.”  How can the two be viewed as compatible with one another?  How can a “lake of fire” be also characterized as “outer darkness”?  But these terms should be seen as accurate descriptions of what the torment of hell will be like.  The lake of fire is an emblem to describe almost unimaginable pain and suffering for sin.  “Outer darkness” depicts the solitary experience and the sense of hopelessness that will characterize the damned through eternity.

        III.  The application of the parable

        Interestingly, although the use of the word “talent” is used to identify a large denomination of money in the Roman world, because of its use in our English Bibles here in this parable, the word “talent” came to be used in English as we know it today-- a talent is an ability that one has to do something or to achieve something.[3] 

        1.  Each of us who profess to be Christian should recognize that we have been granted a position of stewardship by our Lord.  The Lord has entrusted to each of us abilities and opportunities to live for Christ and to serve Him, His kingdom, and His people in this life that He has given us.  And each of us owes our life to the Lord Jesus.  When Jesus Christ died upon the cross He purchased us from our slavery to our sin and our subjection to the devil, to whom we had formerly belonged and to whom we had sworn our allegiance.  But when Christ died, the payment of His blood purchased us from the slave marketplace of the world.  He owns us now.  That is why the apostle Paul could write,

        17But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.  18Flee sexual immorality.  Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body.  19Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?  20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (1 Cor. 6:17-20)

Paul saw that the stewardship Christ had entrusted to him was the ministry of the Gospel.  He wrote of this in 1 Corinthians 4:1 and 2. 

1This is how one should regard us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.  2Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found trustworthy. (1 Cor. 4:1f)

Paul saw that the way that he would show forth his good works to prove that he was indeed a true Christian, one who would be found to be justified by grace alone through faith in Christ alone on the day of judgment, was through his faithful ministry of the gospel.  If he was unfaithful to the gospel, he himself would not be a partaker of the gospel. 

11If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it too much if we reap material things from you?  12If others share this rightful claim on you, do not we even more?  
        Nevertheless, we have not made use of this right, but we endure anything rather than put an obstacle in the way of the gospel of Christ.  13Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in the sacrificial offerings?  14In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel.  15But I have made no use of any of these rights, nor am I writing these things to secure any such provision.  For I would rather die than have anyone deprive me of my ground for boasting.  16For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting.  For necessity is laid upon me.  Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!  17For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward, but if not of my own will, I am still entrusted with a stewardship.  18What then is my reward?  That in my preaching I may present the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel.  19For though I am free from all, I have made myself a servant to all, that I might win more of them.  20To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews.  To those under the law I became as one under the law (though not being myself under the law) that I might win those under the law.  21To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (not being outside the law of God but under the law of Christ) that I might win those outside the law.  22To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak.  I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some.  23Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker of it with you.  24Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?  So run that you may obtain it.  25Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.  They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.  26So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.  27But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. (1 Cor. 9:1-26)

Paul saw that he was responsible to his stewardship of the gospel.  This was the course that the Lord had laid before him that he must by God’s grace complete.   In doing so, he was assured that he would share with true believers the blessings of the gospel.

8Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; 10that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, 11if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.
        12Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me.  13Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
        15Therefore let us, as many as are mature, have this mind; and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal even this to you.  16Nevertheless, to the degree that we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule, let us be of the same mind.
        17Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.  18For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame-- who set their mind on earthly things.  20For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself. (Phi. 3:8-21)

        Each of us as Christians similarly has been granted a stewardship.  We are to serve Christ and His people with the abilities and opportunities that God has given us.  This is how we show forth our true Christianity.  The Lord aid, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:35).

        2.  Each of us has different abilities and opportunities to be involved in serving Christ and His people within the kingdom of God.  Some have more, as if they had been given “five talents” by our Lord.  Others of us may have abilities and opportunities that may be less than others, two talents in comparison to another’s five talents.  I would think that someone who is raised in a Christian home, trained by Christian parents, who comes to repentance and faith in Christ at an early age, has many more opportunities and perhaps capabilities, than someone who has come to faith at a later age.  You have a life time to live for and before the Lord.  Others who come to faith later in life have relatively shorter time and fewer opportunities to serve Christ in His kingdom.  But our Lord had said,

“Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” (Luke 12:48)

        3.  Let us not think that our responsibility is less because we may have only a single talent.  Paul wrote of the importance that every Christian is to the local church.  There is the danger of some to think they are more valuable and essential than they are, that they can do it all.  But there are others who think themselves as having no ability and therefore no responsibility before the Lord.  This is wrong thinking.  Paul wrote to correct some of this in the church at Corinth:

14For in fact the body is not one member but many.
        15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?  16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body?  17If the whole body were an eye, where would be the hearing?  If the whole were hearing, where would be the smelling?  18But now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased.  19And if they were all one member, where would the body be?
        20But now indeed there are many members, yet one body.  21And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.”  22No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary.  23And those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor; and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty, 24but our presentable parts have no need.  But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, 25that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another.  26And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
        27Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. (1 Cor. 12:14-26)

Let us each see our responsibility, as well as opportunity, to serve Christ and His people in His church.

        4.  Let us consider the one who had failed to invest his one talent.  Several things could be said about this man that seems to be common characteristics of professing Christians who do not really know the Lord in a saving relationship.

                (a)  The unfaithful servant does not have high opinions of God.

        When confronted on the Day of Christ, being asked why he did not invest the money that his master had given Him, he responded, “‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed.”  A “hard man” who reaps where he does not sow and gathers the fruit of another man’s labor is descriptive of a man who takes from others unjustly.  This servant had a corrupt and perverted view of his master.  And so, if a presumptuous man who professes to be a Christian but who is in reality not so, if pressed, would probably reveal that he has wrong and sinful thoughts of the nature and character of God.  In reality the servant was the “hard man”, living in God’s world and taking from Him that which he did not himself produce.  The wicked servant projected his own character to be that of God’s.  A corrupt man will commonly have a corrupt view of God.  To that one, God will deal with Him without mercy on that Day.

                (b)  The unfaithful servant does not live in the light of his responsibilities before God.

        He buried his money and went on in his life as though he had no responsibility to his master to whom he belonged and to whom he owed his service.  He claimed to be the master’s servant, but he refused and failed to serve his master. 

                (c)  The unfaithful servant assumes that he is “covered” and safe as he awaits the Day of Judgment.

         He is presumptuous regarding his spiritual condition.  He is complacent.  So it is, the presumptuous “Christian”, the one who claims to be a Christian but in reality is not, refuses and fails to live before His Master Jesus Christ.  He has convinced himself it does not matter how he lives.  Maybe he has convinced himself in the following way:

“I am saved by God’s grace alone, but I view serving the Master as something others may do.  I will be my own Master and live according to my own will.  I will have no part or interest in furthering his cause in the world.  I will live for myself, even though I take and enjoy what he has given me.”

Perhaps he is bolstered by false teachers who have corrupted the biblical teaching of grace to allow for such kinds of “Christians.”  Jude wrote of ones who teach this sort of thing:

        “Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.  4For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Jude 3f)

The false teaching of “the carnal Christian” that is so common among Christians excuses this kind of “Christianity”, which in fact is not Christian.  What is this doctrine?  It basically is the false claim that one can be a true Christian who believes that Jesus Christ is his Savior, but who refuses to submit to Jesus as Lord.  Perhaps half, if not more than half of all professing Bible believing Christians in America believe this kind of Christianity.  This is why so many cannot be penetrated with a sense of concern or alarm for their sins, because they have been told and they continually tell themselves that Jesus Christ is their Savior, but their lives give no evidence of the fact.

        Listen to the words of Joseph Alleine, a puritan who wrote a book entitled “An Alarm to the Unconverted.”  This book has been republished and widely distributed.  It is in the top ten list of books in all of history of the most number of books published.[4]  The Lord has used it to perhaps unsettle and as a result convert more nominal Christians than any other book ever, apart from the Bible, or maybe John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.[5]  In his chapter, “The Marks of the Unconverted”, he wrote these words:

        While we keep aloof in general statements, there is little fruit to be expected; it is the close hand-fight that does execution. David is not awakened by the prophet’s hovering at a distance in parabolic insinuations.  Nathan is forced to close with him, and tell him plainly, ‘You are the man!’ [2 Sam. 12:7].  Few will, in words, deny the necessity of the new birth; but they have a self-deluding confidence that the work is not to be done now.  And because they know themselves to be free from that gross hypocrisy which takes up religion merely for a color to deceive others, and for covering wicked designs, they are confident of their sincerity, and do not suspect that more close hypocrisy, in which the greatest danger lies and by which a man deceives his own soul.  But man's deceitful heart is such a matchless cheat—and self-delusion so reigning and so fatal a disease—that I do not know which is the greater—the difficulty, or the necessity of the undeceiving work that I am now upon.  Alas for the unconverted, they must be undeceived—or they will be undone! But how shall this be effected?

        'Help, O all-searching Light, and let Your discerning eye disclose the rotten foundation of the self-deceiver. Lead me, O Lord God, as You did the prophet, into the chambers of imagery, and dig through the wall of sinners' hearts, and reveal the hidden abominations that are lurking out of sight in the dark. O send Your angel before me to open the sundry wards of their hearts, as You did before Peter, and make even the iron gates fly open of their own accord. And as Jonathan no sooner tasted the honey but his eyes were enlightened, so grant, O Lord, that when the poor deceived souls with whom I have to do shall cast their eyes upon these lines, their minds may be illuminated, and their consciences convinced and awakened, that they may see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and be converted, and You may heal them.'

        This must be premised before we proceed, that it is most certain that men may have a confident persuasion that their hearts and states are good—while yet they are unsound.  Hear the Truth Himself who shows, in Laodicea's case, that men may be wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked—and yet not know it.  Yes, they may be confident they are rich, and increased in grace (Rev 3:17).  ‘There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes—and yet are not washed from their filthiness’ (Prov. 30:12).  Who better persuaded of his state than Paul, while he yet remained unconverted? (Rom 7:9).  So that they are miserably deceived who take a strong confidence for a sufficient evidence.  Those who have no better proof than barely a strong persuasion that they are converted—are certainly as yet strangers to conversion.
        But to come closer.  As it was said to the adherents of Antichrist, so here—some of the unconverted carry their marks in their forehead more openly, and some in their hands more covertly.  The apostle reckons up some upon whom he writes the sentence of death, as in these dreadful catalogues which I beseech you to attend to with all diligence: ‘For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient.’ (Eph 5:5-6).  ‘But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.  This is the second death’ (Rev 21:8).  ‘Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God’ (1 Cor. 6:9-10).  Woe to those who have their name written in this catalogue.  Such may know, as certainly as if God had told them from heaven, that they are unsanctified, and under an impossibility of being saved in this condition.[6]

        Alleine went on to list these:[7]

(1)  Gross willful ignorance
(2)  Secret reserves in closing with Christ (i.e. secret sins that he refuses to abandon so he remains unconverted)
(3)  Formality in religion
(4)  The prevalence of wrong motives in holy duties
(5)  Trusting in their own righteousness
(6) A secret enmity against the strictness of religion
(7)  The resting in a certain degree of religion
(8)  The predominant love of the world
(9) Reigning malice and envy against those that disrespect them, and are injurious to them (i.e. An unforgiving spirit)
(10)  Unmortified pride
(11)  The prevailing love of pleasure
(12) Carnal security (i.e. Presumption, false assurance of salvation)

        May the Lord not allow any of us be found on the Day of Judgment to be as this unprofitable servant, awakened only then, when it is too late, to amend our lives.

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