Is that fair? Certainly, a child would complain. What we are being taught about here is the principle of operation of the kingdom of heaven. Verse 25 is Christ’s admission that this principle is quite different to the principle by which allocation is normally made in this world. Does not the Scripture teach us to give first to the poor and needy, rather than to those who have the most? But this parable is not about the way the world operates. The pound stands for spiritual riches, not earthly riches, and spiritual riches are entirely a gift of grace, given according to God’s sovereign will. Both our receiving of them in the first place, and our improving of them, are the result of grace. It is by the work of the Spirit that one makes more use of the gospel truth than another; he himself can take credit for nothing. God is not obliged to equally distribute his truth to all, and to bless all. On the contrary, ‘he [has] mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth’ (Romans 9:18). But it is the will of God that those who love his truth, and appreciate it, and invest it, will receive more of it, while those who do not appreciate it have it taken from them. Equality for all proceeds on the basis of equal capacity to make use of what is given, but that is not the situation with mankind as far as the gospel is concerned. Men and women neither want the gospel, nor value it when it is preached to them. If any respond to the message of Christ, it is because the Spirit of God works within them. Under these circumstances the proportion of the gift is determined entirely by the giver. God gives to whom he pleases, and he is pleased to give most to those who show that they value his gifts, that they make good use of his gifts. What he gives is to be appreciated, and it is to be used to advance his kingdom.
Although the first servant had treated both the pound given to him and the ten pounds that resulted from it as his master’s, the king now speaks of them as belonging to the servant himself – ‘him that hath ten pounds.’ Christ has come down from heaven into this world. He is the Father’s gift to the world. And yet, all who receive him and trust in him and love him and are united to him, can all say that Christ is theirs. ‘This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son’ (1 John 5:11). All that we gain through receiving God’s truth in this life is ours to keep forever.
There will come a time when, if we do not appreciate or value or use God’s good gifts to us, they will be withdrawn from us. Certainly at the end of life, all who have never trusted in Christ will be left with nothing. Any light and understanding they had at one time will be removed and they will be left in darkness. It is taken away from you. You abused it. You rejected it. You didn't want it. God will take it from you. Then you are a lost soul. This servant represents the man who will not invest his awareness of God. He wouldn't find out more. He had this awareness, this instinct for God, but he said, I don't want to know.
But this may happen even before we leave this world, if we do not value God’s truth. There is such a thing in Scripture as judicial blinding. If you wait long enough with that pound of privilege and knowledge and opportunity, and you turn down the gracious Lord of lords and the Saviour of the world and sit unhearing, unresponsive, unfeeling for long enough, then it may happen to you. God even before the end says, ‘Take that away. Take that knowledge away. Take that awareness away’, and he never speaks to you again until your dying day. You are never moved again. The gospel never challenges your heart. You become harder and harder, blinder and blinder. The parallel parable says that the person who buried that knowledge in the ground was eternally lost, just like the people who hated him all along.
The preacher tries so hard to put across the compassion of the Lord, the kindness of the Lord, the mercy of the Lord. But you cannot go on blocking your mind to these things, doing nothing with this wonderful privileged information indefinitely. If you do, you will perish, a rebel, an insulter of God and a fool. Don't throw away your lives in wickedness and turn your back on him, the Saviour of the world. Come to Jesus Christ who in amazing love suffered and died for undeserving sinners. Find out all you can about him. Give him your life. Ask him to forgive you. Yield everything to him and how much he will do for you and give to you and make you his child.