In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of being faithful and responsible with the gifts that God has given us. He uses the parable of the talents to illustrate this point, highlighting how the servants who traded and multiplied their talents were praised, while the one who buried his talent was rebuked. The preacher also reminds the audience that we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, and those who believe in Jesus will be saved from eternal death. He urges listeners to respond to God's gifts by loving and honoring Him, and by using their talents and time to serve Him. The sermon concludes with a call to repentance and a reminder that as long as there is still time, there is opportunity to fulfill God's purpose in our lives.

This hymn was written by Watchman Lee before he was imprisoned, and it brings back so much memory to me. The Lord is coming soon. Generation after generation, those who love the Lord, they waited for his coming. It's not because he does not want to come, he is anxious, like a bridegroom is anxious to take his bride. But unfortunately, his bride has not been ready. But we do thank God. Today is nearer than yesterday. He is coming soon. We know his spirit is with us. He has never left us, nor forsake us. But we long to see his face. Will you please turn to Luke, the Gospel according to Luke, chapter 12. We begin with verse 42. And the Lord said, Who then is the faithful and prudent steward, whom his Lord has set over his household to give the measure of corn in season? Blessed is that bondman whom his Lord on coming shall find doing thus. Verily I say unto you, that he will set him over all that he has. But if that bondman should say in his heart, My Lord delays to come and begin to beat the manservants and the maidservants, and to eat and to drink and to be drunken, the Lord of the bondman shall come in a day when he does not expect it, and in an hour he knows not of, and shall cut him in two and appoint his portion with the unbelievers. But that bondman who knew his own Lord's will and had not prepared himself and done his will shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who knew it not and did things worthy of stripes shall be beaten with few. And to every one to whom much has been given, much shall be required from him. And to whom men have committed much, they will ask from him the more. 1 Corinthians chapter 3. We begin with verse 11. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 11. Now if anyone should build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, grass, straw, the work of each shall be made manifest. For the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire. And the fire shall try the work of each what it is. If the work of anyone which he has built upon the foundation shall abide, he shall receive a reward. If the work of anyone shall be consumed, he shall suffer loss, but he shall be saved. But so as through the fire. Let's take a word of prayer. Dear Lord, we do sense that we are on the verge of thy coming for us. Do prepare us, make us ready for thyself. Thou who has loved us and gave even thyself to us, much has been given. Lord, make us faithful. We commit this time into thy hands and trust thy Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts. Lord, have mercy upon us. Then when we shall see thee face to face, we shall not be put to shame, but thou will be glorified. We ask in thy precious name. Amen. Yesterday morning we considered together on the first question on this matter of responsibility. Why? Why should God put any responsibility upon us? If he loves us so much, he should take care of everything. He should do everything for us. He should not put any burden upon us. Why? I think this is a question we need to solve. Otherwise we will never understand God. Our God is a God of responsibility. And because of what he is, and because he loves us so much, he wants us to be like him. Therefore, he gave responsibility to us. So far as God is concerned, it is very risky. He would be much safer if he made machines, robots. Everything has been programmed and everything will do according to what he wants. But that's not love. So, brothers and sisters, I hope that our whole concept of responsibility should be changed. Instead of seeing it as a burden, as a hardship, as an expression of the hardness of God our master. You know the evil servant thinks that way. But dear brothers and sisters, I hope that none of us will think in this manner. Because if we do, we misunderstand our God. It is through love that he puts responsibility upon us. Now, this morning, we would like to consider together the second question. What? What responsibility has God given to us as men, as believers? Again, I want to remind you, brothers and sisters, we are here meditating the Word of God together. I want your spirit to be alert, your mind to be open, and together we draw near to our Lord and meditate upon his Word. Allow his Word to become real, living in our lives. And that's what it should be. When you think of responsibility, the very word responsibility tells us that it is a response. In other words, you are not taking the initiative. There is somebody who takes the initiative and took an action, and after he has taken that action, you respond to it. So again, brothers and sisters, we have to go back to God, because he is the initiator. He is the one who is the beginning. He begins everything, and when he has taken that first step, we respond. Yesterday, we mentioned that God created man in his own image. Unfortunately today, man thinks that he is self-existing. He is his own God. He is his own master, own maker, and that's the reason how man lives. But we need to remember that we have a maker. We are not self-existing. Somebody out of love has made us. He has given us a body. Even though this body is made of dust, and one day we'll go back to dust. But brothers and sisters, the psalmist said, how wonderful, how terrible is our body that God has made. A masterpiece. But more than just a body, he breathed his breath into the nostril of that body, and that breath of God, that entering into that body, becomes human spirit. God created us according to his image. He is spirit, so he creates us with a spirit, and with that human spirit, we can commune with God. What a glorious thought. What a loving consideration that God wants to commune with you. He wants to be friends. He wants to cultivate a friendship with you, so he makes it possible for you to do that. And when the breath of God touches that earthen body, a living soul is produced. That is you. You become conscious of yourself. You have your will, a free will. You have a mind that can think. You have an emotion that can express how you feel. Brothers and sisters, these are the gifts of God. Even though, awkwardly, we are born through our parents, but brothers and sisters, it is God who gives life to each and every one of us. This animated life, this life of the soul that enables us to live, to be conscious, to be an individual, to be special. There is no one in the universe just the same as you are. Everyone is special. Brothers and sisters, that's the gift of God. He gave us a will. He gave us a mind to think. He gave us expressions and emotion. Not only that, when he makes us, he also endows us with talents. Everyone that is born into this world has natural talents. By natural, it simply means God has given it. Not only that, he gives you time. Even though the time is not too long in comparison with eternity. Moses said, the year of man is 70. And if he is strong, he may be 80. But Moses lived to 120. God gave us time. Brothers and sisters, why does God give us time? Because he works in time. Because he wants you to accomplish, to fulfill something in time. He gives you time to train you, to complete you, to mature you. Time is very precious. Not only that, he gave you lots of relationships. You're not alone. It is not good for man to be alone. You find that you have your families, you have your friends, you have all kinds of relationship. Relationship is given by God. Not only that, he creates the heavens and the earth for you to enjoy, for his glory. Brothers and sisters, God has taken action in creating every one of us. He has given us so much when he brings us into this world. And do you think that there is a response that we should give to him? How do you respond to the gift of life? How do you respond to the talents he gave you? How do you respond to the time he allocated to you? How do you respond to the world around you that he has surrounded you by his love? Isn't it the first fundamental, basic, primary response for man should be, thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, and with all thy strength. Isn't it our responsibility towards God to love him above everything? Isn't it our responsibility that we should honor him, serve him, worship him? That is the first universal law of responsibility. No one is accepted. Brothers and sisters, do we honor our maker? Do we give him his rightful place in our lives? Do we use our life to serve him? How do we use our time? Do we live for ourselves, or we live for the one who gives life to us? It is the duty, the responsibility of every man in this world to honor God, to worship him, to thank him, to be grateful for what he has given to us. The greatest thing in the world is ungratefulness. Look at man today. We are not only ungrateful, we turn against our maker. We live for ourselves. We waste all the gifts that God has given us with a glorious purpose. That's what we have done, but thank God he has not forsaken us. I remember when C. H. Spurgeon, when he was in his teens, his conscience bothered him. This is what he said. He said, if there is a God that he should condemn me to eternal death, to hell, because that's what I deserve. Thank God give us another chance. Thank God for sending his beloved son into this world. Thank God for our Lord Jesus, who is willing to die for us, for such as we are, to redeem us, to pay such a cost, such a price no one can pay, but he alone, he who knows no sin, was made sin for us. That we might be the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Brothers and sisters, he has not only forgiven our sins, all our past are under the blood. He will not remember them anymore. Satan sometimes tries to bring your past back to trouble you. But remember, God never does. He forgave and he forgot. Thank God he gave us a new beginning, a new life. It is an uncreated life, his own life. It is eternal life. It is a life of power, life of love, life that has been proven on this earth. When our Lord Jesus was on earth for thirty-three and a half years, he proved to the world how victorious, how glorious, how surpassing, transcendent is that life. A life that can fulfill every responsibility that God has ever put upon man. And that life is in you and in me. Thank God. Brothers and sisters, we who have received this life, how shall we respond? Is it not that we shall be doubly grateful? I remember when I was a boy, I have never left home. From my childhood until my college years, I always was with my parents. When we were sick, we were always taken care of in homes, not in the hospital. I remember the first year I went to college, I left home, stayed in a dormitory. And after a few months, my father came and saw that I was so thin. He said, come home. But I wasn't grateful. Not until I left home, after I graduated, I began to work with watchmany. I stayed in an upper room alone. One day, it dawned upon me how much my parents loved me. I wrote a letter to them. I told them, I'm grateful. Brothers and sisters, how do you respond to your Heavenly Father who takes care of you and me much more, hundred times, million times more than our earthly parents? Are we grateful? Do we honor His name for a believer, for one who is saved by grace? We have no right to live for ourselves. The only way open to us before such love, before such grace, is so much gift, a cost that can never be counted. Brothers and sisters, isn't it? The only response we can give to Him is to present our bodies a living sacrifice. We cannot hold back anything from Him. Have we done that? Are we doing it today? The Apostle Paul says, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service, your spiritual worship. Brothers and sisters, how do you deal with the life that He has given you? How do you treat the life, the new life, the divine life, the life that has been laid down, go through death, into resurrection, and into you? How do you treat that life? How do you use that life? This is our responsibility. Brothers and sisters, do not think of other responsibility now. Think of your own personal responsibility of your life towards God. Are you faithful in that responsibility, or do you neglect that life and continue to live in your old, Adamic, selfish life? The prodigal son, he was a son, but he only thought of his father's things. He forgot his father. He went to a far country. He wasted everything, but thank God, he came to himself. Not completely. He said, I'll go back. I'm not worthy to be a son anymore. Let me be a servant. Oh, the Father's love. Forgive him. Took him in. Had a feast. Brothers and sisters, where are you? Where am I today? Am I in a far country, wasting away what my heavenly Father has given us with such a cost? Or are we home? The reason why God give us his own life is because he wants that life to grow. He wants that life to be matured. He wants you to be like him. He wants you to take upon you his own character, that he may be manifested in and through you. That's what life is for. That's why God still gives you time to live on this earth. Brothers and sisters, do we live for him, or do we live for ourselves? That's responsibility. The apostle Paul said, no longer live I, it is Christ who live in me. Now I live, I live by his life. Isn't that true with every one of us? How do you deal with this life of God given to you? How do you treat it? You shut it in the closet and continue to live by your own life, or you allow him to be the head of your life and glorify him in your body. Brothers and sisters, that is our first responsibility. You remember the parable that our Lord Jesus spoke in Matthew chapter 25, the ten virgins. You know the Lord used that parable in relation to his coming. Now, who are these virgins? Now, even though I know there are different interpretations, but allow me to share with you how I feel. The Bible never calls an unbeliever a virgin. On the contrary, the Bible calls the people of this world adulterers. So, I believe these ten virgins represent believers, such as we are. The apostle Paul says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 11, he said, I'm jealous with the jealousy of God, because I have presented you as chaste virgins to the one that is to Christ Jesus. And I'm afraid that the enemy may entice you away from the simplicity of Christ. Dear brothers and sisters, we are virgins. The moment we are saved, our sins are forgiven. We become a new creature in Christ Jesus. We become pure virgins, and as chaste virgins engaged to one who loves us, and gave himself for us, how do we live our lives on earth? Should we not live for him to whom we are engaged? Should we not prepare ourselves to do the things that the one whom we love would like? Should we not try to purify ourselves, take away all the bad habits that our beloved may not like? A chaste virgin engaged is one who already lives for the one whom she loves, and that's what we should be. That's our responsibility. Unfortunately, we find among the ten virgins, five are wise, five are foolish. In what way? In the way that the wise virgin, you know, all the virgins, they have a torch, they have a lamp, and there is oil in that lamp. And the Bible tells us they all go out to meet the bridegroom. Is this our attitude? Brothers and sisters, are you going out to meet your bridegroom? Generations after generations. Those who love the Lord, they all went out to meet the bridegroom, but because the bridegroom was delayed, they fell to sleep. Were they mistaken? No. That's what they should be. And especially today, the time is at hand, nearer today than yesterday. Brothers and sisters, are we, like virgins, on the way to meet the bridegroom? Is that our attitude? Or have we totally forgotten him? Where are we? But the wise virgin, they are prepared. They are prepared in case that the bridegroom should delay, because they do not know when he will come, and anytime. But they are ready. They have extra oil in the vessels, but a foolish one. Do they have vessels? Certainly do. But they fill their vessels with things other than oil. They think that there are other things more precious than oil. But in this case, you cannot put gold and silver in the lamp and let it burn. Is this what we are doing? Is this the reason why our Lord Jesus said, do not say what I shall eat, I shall drink, I shall be close with. Do not be anxious with the things of this life. Do not lay treasures upon the earth. He will take care of us. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. But brothers and sisters, how we fill our vessel. We eat and drink and care of this life, as if they are the most important things in life. They are not prepared. When the Lord shall come, they all got up and trimmed their lamp, but the wise have extra oil to pour ye. You cannot meet a bridegroom with a dark lamp. The foolish virgins, they are not prepared. They are shut out of the marriage lamp, feast of the lamp. Brothers and sisters, think about that. Meditate on it. The oil represents the Holy Spirit. Every believer has the Holy Spirit in him or in her. That keep us burning, become sons of light. But brothers and sisters, to have the Holy Spirit and to be filled with the Holy Spirit are not the same. Empty your vessel and let him fill it. A life filled with the Holy Spirit, ruled by the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit, he will transform you and conform you to the image of Christ. So, you will fulfill your responsibility towards the life that he has given to you. We are not only responsible to the life he has given to us. To see that this life will accomplish its purpose, that God has set for that life. But brothers and sisters, the Bible tells us he has also given us gifts, spiritual gifts. Every believer has a gift of gifts. It is different from our natural talent. Now, it is true that our natural talent is also given by God. But unfortunately, that natural talent has been under wrong control. So, aside from our natural talent, God, when he brings us into his family, he gives to each one of us a gift, a spiritual gift, or gifts. That with these gifts or gifts, we may serve him. We may work in his field. We have a responsibility not to live, not only to live for him. We are also given responsibility to serve him and his purpose. So, our Lord Jesus, he told another parable. Also, in Matthew chapter 5, chapter 25, he said, a man called his servants to him, and he gave each gifts according to their ability. Now, brothers and sisters, again, we find in this parable the servants. On the one hand, so far as the life he has given to us is concerned, we are virgins. But so far, as service is concerned, we are servants. We are both. Virgin speaks of life. Servant speaks of service. So, everyone is in the service of our Lord. I don't like the term, this man, that woman, is a full-time serving the Lord. Because, according to the word of God, every believer is full-time serving the Lord. In different ways, but is full-time. And in order that we may serve him, he gives us gifts. He always provides before he requires. So, do not be afraid. But he measures the gifts to you according to your talent, to your ability. Now, to me, I feel the ability is not the natural talents. Why? Because the ability here is the capacity. God makes us each with different capacity. Some have the capacity to handle five talents. Others have that capacity to handle two talents. If you give him more, he will fail. And others can only handle one talent. That's his capacity. And, according to the capacity God has built us, he will give us gifts accordingly, so that everyone will reach his full capacity. He will not demand anything more than he has already enabled you to do. Now, thank God for that. You know D.L. Moody, that great evangelist? He has a conference in Northville every year, and he invited all the great speakers, talented speakers from all over the world to speak there. And he used to introduce them. These are people with five talents, because I'm a person of two talents. But that two talents have reached his capacity. Brothers and sisters, do not quarrel over that. God knows better. Be content with what he has given, but be faithful to all that he has given to you. Spiritual gifts. Gifts that would enable you to serve in the house of God. Gifts that will enable you to function as a member of the body of Christ. Every believer is useful to God. Do nothing because you have only one talent, so you are like that wicked servant. Oh, they have five talents, two talents. I have only one talent. It doesn't matter. Bury it. Every servant of God. The young and the old, the moment you are saved, you are given a spiritual gift. You may not know it. You don't need to worry about it. People come to me and say, brother, what is my gift? Now, how do I know? God knows, and you will know. Just wait. If you are faithful, you will know. If you are unfaithful, you will never know, because it's buried. We are responsible for the gifts that God has given us. Brothers and sisters, the Lord said, trade with it. The five talents diligently trade with the five talents according to his capacity, and earned another five. Double it. The two, double to two, to four. But the one, bury the ten. Take it out of the earth and say to the Master, here you are. You are a hard master. I'm afraid of you, so I buried it. Give it back to you. And the Lord said, you're wicked. Brothers and sisters, the day is coming. We shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ as a family. Thank God, we who believe in the Lord Jesus, we who have received his life, we have been delivered out of eternal death into life, we will not be judged at the last judgment, the judgment of the great white throne. A judgment of life and death eternal. Thank God, Christ has judged for us on Calvary's cross. But that doesn't mean, brothers and sisters, as members of the family of God, we will not be judged. The Bible tells us in Romans chapter 14 verse 10, one day we shall all appear before the judgment seat of God. Second Corinthians 5 10, one day we will all appear at the judgment seat of Christ, and we will be judged, every one of us, according to the responsibility that he has given. Our life will be judged, our service will be judged. And if it is gold, silver, and precious stones, if it's of God, of the redemption of Christ, of the work of the Holy Spirit, when the fire tests it, it will glow. They will be rewarded. And if one builds with root, grass, straw, with the nature of man, the glory of man, the work of man, it will be burned. You will be saved. Thank God, but barely saved. Brothers and sisters, it is not too late to repent. It is not too late to give yourself to the Lord. Allow him to work out his purpose of your life. It is not too late to rise up and serve according to the gift he has given to you. As long as there is still time, there is opportunity. Don't miss it. Dear Lord, Thou hast given much, and much is required. But praise and thank Thee that Thou hast already provided for all that is needed, for life and for service, that we may be able, by Thy grace, to fulfill according to Thy will. O Lord, make it so to every one of us. We thank Thee in Thy precious name. Amen.