Transcript

ANNOUNCER: On the Mount of Olives, why did Jesus tell the story or the parable of the just and unjust servant? And why is it misunderstood and mistaught? Let’s have a discussion about this on Grace in Focus. So glad you are joining us today, friend. This is the radio broadcast and podcast ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society. Find out more about us at our website, faithalone.org, and watch our videos at YouTube, Grace Evangelical Society. There are new videos each week. You’ll enjoy them and learn from them. YouTube, Grace Evangelical Society. And our website once again, faithalone.org.

Now with today’s discussion here are Bob Wilkin and Ken Yates. 

KEN: Bob, we’re looking at passages that are considered tough texts. The reason they’re tough texts is because people interpret them forgetting what the Scriptures clearly teach. And they use these passages to deny what the Scriptures clearly teach. And usually that means they say that to get into the kingdom of God, you got to do good works. Because they forget verses like John 3:16 and Ephesians 2:89 and John 5:24.

BOB: Or worse yet, as you’ve said earlier, they interpret those verses in light of problem passage. In other words, they go to James 2 and determine their view. 

KEN: And then they say, okay, we need to understand Ephesians 2:89 in light of James 2:14-26. And what they do then is that Ephesians 2:8, when he says, by grace, you have been saved, they go, well, grace means works. Grace includes works, right? Or faith includes works. And we have another example of this in Matthew 24, verses 45 through 51. 

BOB: Now, Matthew 24 and 25 is a famous sermon by Jesus 

KEN: called the Olivet Discourse. 

BOB: Because—

KEN: There’s a bunch of olive trees around it. 

BOB: It was on the Mount of Olives. But Matthew 24 and 25 is all about eschatology, the last days. 

KEN: This is the last day. 

BOB: So he talks about the Tribulation and He talks about His Second Coming. And He talks about in the course of this two questions about signs, and when will you come? And He answers them in reverse order. And then starting in 24:45, Hodges argues, I think he’s right. He goes, A, B, A, B, which means the just and the unjust servant in 24:45, that’s church age believers. Then B, the parable of the ten virgins. ten virgins. That’s Tribulation believers. Then A again is the parable of the talents, which is church age believers. And then B again is the judgment of the sheep and the goats and the sheep are Tribulation believers. 

KEN: So it’s, you got two parables that deal with believers now. And then you’ve got two parables that deal with people who will be alive during the Tribulation. Okay. And so this would be chapter 24 verses 45 through 51. If Hodges is right, then this would be addressed to believers today. 

BOB: Right. He’s talking about people before the Rapture. In fact, in this story, the Rapture occurs at a time when the guy stops looking for the Lord’s soon return. And then the question is what happens? 

KEN: Right. What happens if I’m not a believer who’s looking for the Lord to return in my life reflects that. 

BOB: In fact, what if you’re a believer who is doing well like you are right now? And then at some point after this, you say, my Lord delays His coming and you begin to beat your fellow servants, you begin to drink with the drunkards. And at that time, the Lord comes back. Not when you’re walking in fellowship with the Lord, but when you’re out of fellowship with the Lord, what happens then? That’s what this parables about. 

Now, what a lot of people will say, and this is what makes it a tough text is a lot of people will say, this is actually two different people. One guy is just and one guy is unjust .

KEN: Or they will say that if you quit looking for the Lord, 

BOB: That’s the other option. Some people will say, this is one person who is saved and then loses it 

KEN: Or never had it. 

BOB: You could say he’s a person who’s a false professor. And then he proves he’s a false professor by falling away. That’s another option. But there’s lots of ways you can get this wrong. But the problem is when you get to the end of the parable, it talks about being rebuked by the Lord and actually being cut in two, right? Doesn’t it talk about that? And being placed with the hypocrites. 

And so if you interpret that as the lake of fire, like there’s going to be people going to the lake of fire in two pieces, I don’t think that’s literally talking about cutting in two. I think that’s talking about being rebuked. So if you take it that way, then you’re going to get the parable all wrong because the parable is addressed to believers. And it’s addressed to believers who are doing well. 

KEN: And the other thing is the last phrase in that place where the hypocrites are, there’ll be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And that’s automatically assumed to be hell. 

I remember as an missionary school and we were going through this and I said, this is obviously in the context talking about believers. And there’s only, as we’re about to say, there’s only one guy here. There’s not two. And we’re about to get into that. And we go through that. And I said, I don’t understand why people automatically assume that weeping and gnashing of teeth is talking about hell when the whole context is he’s talking about believers. 

And there was a missionary there. And he said, because that’s what everyone says. And he didn’t mean that like, oh, now I see the truth. He’s like, well, no, that’s what it means because that’s what everyone says. You know, we—

BOB: The majority must be right. 

KEN: The majority has to be right. And so what he was saying is, Ken you’re wrong. Because you can talk about the context all you want. You can talk about there’s only one guy here. You can point that out. But the majority has spoken. You know, weeping and gnashing of teeth means the lake of fire. 

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BOB: Now the funny thing is the expression weeping and the expression weeping and gnashing of teeth is in some passages associated with eternal condemnation. But in other passages, it’s associated with grief related to loss in this life or loss at the Judgment Seat of Christ and the context determines that.

KEN: A believer can weep and an unbeliever could weep. 

BOB: Well, the shortest verse in the English Bible, “Jesus wept.” He wasn’t in Gehenna or in the lake of fire or in Hades when he said that. Sure, he was just grieved. 

KEN: Okay, so let’s look at this passage here in Matthew 24:45-51. Jesus talks about the faithful and wise servant. And so here’s a guy who’s faithful and wise, who’s doing what his master tells him. And the Lord says in verse 46, “Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing.” And then He says in verse 47, “I will make him a ruler over all his goods.” 

BOB: So the issue is future rulership.

KEN: And no one denies that he’s talking about a believer here. Everyone agrees. Okay, here’s a guy who’s a servant.

BOB: Because he’s not going to make an unbeliever  ruler over all his goods. 

KEN: Right. And he’s faithful and he’s a wise servant. And he’s doing what the Lord tells him. 

BOB: So if you say this is all the same servant, then you either have to say it’s possible to lose your salvation or you have to say the issue is rewards. 

KEN: Exactly Because in the very next verse, it says verse 48, but if that, and that’s an important word, if that evil servant says in his heart, we’re talking about the same guy. And so now what he does is he says, as you mentioned a few minutes ago, this is the believer then who says, my Lord is delaying his coming. And I don’t have to be looking for him. I don’t have to be doing what he said. 

BOB: So then what does he start doing? 

KEN: He starts doing what the Lord told him not to do. 

BOB: Okay. So if you notice in verse 45, he’s giving his fellow servants food in due season. 

KEN: I would say that’s a picture of serving other believers. 

BOB: Right. So you might be thinking a pastor or an elder in a local church? 

KEN: Or anybody, anybody using their spiritual gift, I would say right? 

BOB: Notice in verse 49, now instead of feeding them, he’s beating his fellow servants, a lot of people call this spiritual abuse. This would be where a pastor or an elder, as you say, any Bible teacher, anyone discipling someone is now abusing them spiritually. And in that case, the person is no longer doing what he was called to do. And on top of that, he’s eating and drinking with the drunkards. In other words, he’s no longer walking in fellowship with God. He’s walking in fellowship with the drunkards. 

KEN: And I would say another way to summarize that is instead of serving the body of Christ, he’s serving himself. He’s wanting what he wants. 

BOB: Or, you know, remember Bob Dylan, you got to serve somebody. You got to serve the devil, but you’re going to serve somebody. 

KEN: You’re going to serve somebody. And so this guy’s serving himself.

BOB: Or serving the devil. 

KEN: Sure. 

BOB: Or both. 

KEN: Right. 

BOB: Yeah. And then he says, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him in an hour when he is not aware of and will cut him in two. 

KEN: I think even there, the master of that servant, he still belongs to the Lord. The Lord is still his master. Yeah. I don’t think he’s talking about an unbeliever here. And certainly if we all agree and verses 45 and 46, he’s talking about, it’s the same guy. 

BOB: Well, now there is a sense of course in which the Lord is Master of all and he’s Lord of all. In fact, in 2 Peter 2:1, they talk about denying the master who bought them and it’s referring to the unregenerate. But here, it’s not talking about a general sense in which he’s the master of everyone. But it’s the specific sense. He’s the master of someone who has been serving him—

KEN: And he’s told him to do it. 

BOB: Right. And he’s told him to do it. If you think of the parable of the minas, do business till I come. He was doing well for a time. And basically what this parable is warning us of and everybody gets it, is you need to persevere.  And if you don’t, so what is this cutting in two? It’s not literal, right? 

KEN: Right. I mean, he comes back to if the guy’s unfaithful, he cuts him in two. I mean, that’s obviously a phrase. It’s an idiomatic phrase. And we use it. You know, they chewed me, my boss chewed me out. Or his words rip my heart out. 

BOB: Well, we have twice in Scripture where it says they were cut to the heart. 

KEN: Sure. Yeah. I mean, but even there, even the phrase, you know, if my wife says something to me and I’ll say, honey, you just rip my heart out by saying that. 

BOB: Well, not only that, the Scriptures tell us that the Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword. It pierces even to the division of the soul and the spirit. It’s a verbal rebuke. 

KEN: You claim to be serving me, but you’re serving yourself. 

BOB And by the way, in a parallel passage, it’s called an apistoi, which is wrongly translated an unbeliever. It should be translated an unfaithful one. 

KEN: You have been unfaithful to what I told you to do. And certainly as a believer, we can do that.  And to deny that a believer can be unfaithful to what the Lord told him to do is to have your head in the sand. 

BOB And by the way, this looks back a few verses earlier in Matthew 24 verses 40 through 42 when he says, ‘Watch therefore for you do not know what hour your master is coming.” And he’s coming like a thief in the night he goes on to say. And so here, here’s a guy who’s looking for his Lord’s soon return. And then he says, my Lord delays his coming. 

That’s why it’s so dangerous for any believer to stop focusing on the soon return of Christ, because it could be today, right? 

KEN: Sure, He could come back right now. And until the next episode, remember keep grace in focus. 

ANNOUNCER: Be sure to check out our daily blogs at faithalone.org. They are short and full of great teaching, just like what you’ve heard today. Find them at faithalone.org/resources/blog. We would love to hear from you. Maybe you’ve got a question, comment, or some feedback. If you do, please don’t hesitate to send us a message. Here’s our email address. It’s radio@faithalone.org. That’s radio@faithalone.org. And when you do very important, please let us know your radio station call letters and the city of your location. 

On our next episode: More in our tough text series—the parable of the ten virgins. Please join us and until then, let’s keep grace in focus.