Summary: 

1.  FROM TALENT TO POUND 

    The theme of the Parable of the Talent,
is salvation, and the theme of the Parable of the Pound is sanctification. 
Sanctification is being set apart,
and to be free from the power and dominion of Sin,
and from the lust of this world, and to be transformed into the image of Christ. 

    Keeping our mind focus on Him constantly and continually:
“with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, 
are changed (metamorphoo; changing) into the same image from glory to glory, 
even as by the Spirit of the Lord”
(2Cor. 3:18). 
The result is the fulness of  the Gospel of God,
which displays the Glory of God, shines forth in our lives,
in earthen vessels, (2Cor. 4:7, 10). 
When the Gospel of God shines forth in our lives,
the fulness of the meaning of Gospel is known to me:
the crucifixion of the Old Man, 
that the New Man,
who is the image of Christ shines forth in my life. 
We are in the process of changing and shall not be fully changed until Christ comes for us
See what the Apostle Paul says in Phil. 3:10-16)
 

    It is when I know, the meaning of my crucifixion with Him,
and Christ now lives in me by grace,
that I change from glory to glory which is Christ growing in me. 
This is the meaning of Gal. 2:20;
“I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live yet not I but Christ lives in me...”. 
The Word of God, rightly divided is growing in me,
in knowledge and in understanding.

 I rest on the Word of God with my whole heart,
for I know I died with Him, and it is He who now lives in me,
and I walk by faith, and manifest in my daily life His attributes, His Glory.

This is all possible, only as you understand 
the operation of the Cross of Christ and His utterance:
“It is finished”. 
We are not under the law, but now under GRACE. 
May all of us have this revelation from the Father. 
Without this, one cannot truly know the walk of faith. 

    In the Parable of the Talents, 

the word talent (talanton) is the Hebrew's heaviest measure of weight. 
Talanton is used to depict the Cross of Christ in salvation. 
The Cross of Christ is what God will use in the day of judgment,
to weigh the whole world. 
The question will be, 
what have you done with the talent (The Cross) that God left with you? 
In the Parable of the pound, 
the word pound (mina) is used,
and it represents the Cross of Christ in sanctification. 
 

    The pound (mina) is equivalent to about 12 ounces of the Roman weight.
 In contrast to the talent,
which is the heaviest weight to measure all in SALVATION,
the pound is very light in SANCTIFICATION.

 Jesus suffered for us, and shed His blood, and made us free. 
It is light because it is finished,
as Christ died on the Cross,
and we have entered into His Rest by faith. 

    This does not mean we may not suffer physically or emotionally,
but the more we let the Spirit of God have more of us,
through the deeper knowledge of the Gospel of Christ,
the greater the victory is in our daily lives. 

    Whatever stage of the Christian life you are at, 
never, never forget the Cross of Christ. 
Learn more, and learn the deeper meaning,
of the operation of the Cross,
and of the deeper meaning of GRACE,
and the Glory of God will be known to you. 
Only as we know more and more His Grace,
can we know the Glory of God shown on the Cross. 

    Many Christians are struggling, and finding it difficult,
trying to live the Christian life here on earth.
They misunderstand the spiritual meaning of the Word of God.

They do not understand the deeper meaning of the Cross of Christ,
and thus, carrying their cross is heavy and burdensome. 

    They have lost the joy of salvation,
and are not enjoying fellowship with Christ,
and with other Christians on the spiritual level. 
They are earth bound, and they are trying to carry their own cross,
and trying to crucify themselves to the world and to SIN. 

They do not understand what Jesus meant when 

He said,
"if any man will come after me, 
let him deny himself, 
take up his cross daily and follow me." 

    You must realize,
it is not only extremely difficult to live the Christian life,
but humanly impossible to do so by trying. 
You do not try to live the Christian life, for you are crucified. 
It is a realization of your death, and by allowing Christ,
by His Word, and by His Spirit, to live in you and through you that is the victory. 
We in our physical body cannot live a life that is in the spiritual realm,
in the heavenlies. 

    It can only be lived by the Spirit of God in us,
and by faith in His Word. 
We must realize that we are transferred into the spiritual realm,
and are being transformed daily as we learn more and more of Him.
It is Christ, through His Spirit, who now lives in us,
and this is only realized by a deeper knowledge 
of the work of the Cross that  reveals the Grace,
Holiness 
and the Power of God. 
These 3 things, were displayed on the Cross of Christ (Rom. 1:1-17).
These 3 things, are the basic attributes of God,
It is God’s character, it is God's Glory. 

    Adam was made in the image of God. 
And image is a likeness but in a condensending manner. 
Adam was given the power over all the creation, and animals of the earth. 
He was created without sin, which speaks of holiness, and he was given Eve,
as his wife to love. 
Adam sinned, and all mankind are born sinners, because of Adam’s sin. 
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. 

    We have come short of God’s glory, 
of God’s attribute, of God’s character. 
Christ came to restore us, not to Adam’s former state,
but to the place, of the Son of God, in the higher plain,
in the heavenlies, in the spiritual realm.

This is only realized, not by works, that we can do,
but by faith in the Son of God and what He has done. 
 

    The Cross of Christ is light, when you understand it's deeper meaning,
and realize the power of God displayed on the Cross, and all that Jesus did. 
You will realize that you do not carry it, but IT carries you. 
It was not human effort, but it was the Cross of Christ,
that carried you in salvation, and now it carries you in sanctification. 
It carries you through difficult and seemingly impossible circumstances. 

    When you understand the deeper meaning of the Cross, 
it is God through the Word of His Power, through the Holy Spirit,
who really carries you.  It is light,
and the more you understand the meaning of the Cross of Christ,
the lighter it becomes, and there is rejoicing,
because there is no effort on your part, for He has done it all. 
It is going from talent to pound, from salvation to sanctification. 

    Those who are not saved,
add works to what Jesus did on the Cross,
because they do not understand salvation by Grace through faith alone. 
They are laboring to gain eternal life by works,
but it will be in vain, for salvation is not of works,
but by faith, in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross,
and by His Resurrection from the dead. 

    It is faith in Jesus Christ, and what He did,
and not what we are and what we do. 
It is what Jesus Christ did on the Cross,
and we as human beings cannot add
one speck or iota of effort or anything to it. 
The world is religious and based on themselves. 

    Those who are saved, and emphasize works after salvation,
do not fully understand the depth, of what Christ did on the Cross.
They do not understand the deeper meaning of the Grace of God. 
They too are becoming religious, their message is again and again,
on the Christian, and what he is not doing or must do.
The error is they are looking at themselves,
and what they must do for God to please Him. 

    Do not  look at yourself, but at Him, and what He has done. 
It is not being saved by faith, and now continue by works. 
We are justified by faith and continue by faith,
for "the Just shall live by faith" (Rom. 1:7). 
It is from faith to faith. 
Without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6).

    The unbelievers find it difficult to understand,
that there is nothing you can, or must do,
to be saved and that is why they are not saved. 
One cannot be born-again,
if works is added to what Christ did on the cross. 

    To many believers,
it is difficult to understand, that after we are saved,
there is nothing else to do,
but to continue in faith, and rest on the Word of God.
This is the reason, why they are walking by sight,
and by their emotions.
They'll use such phrases as "I feel this and I feel that;
I feel that God wants me to go here, 
and I feel God wants me to do this, etc. 

    He saved us by His Grace through faith,
from the penalty of sins, by His blood that He shed on the Cross.
 He now continues to deliver us,
by His Grace through faith, from the power of Sin,
by our death on the Cross,
and we are risen with Him in His resurrection (1Joh. 5:4-5; Col. 2:12).

    This is why Jesus gave us the Lord's Supper,
to continually remember the deep love that God has for us,
in giving us His Son to die for us.
We are baptized, to continually remember,
that we also died with Him, and it is He through His Spirit,
who now lives in us to give us the victory and the abundant life. 
The blood is for the forgiveness of our sins,
the fruits and the cross is for the death of SIN, the old man, the root. 
 

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