On Being Prepared (Matthew 25:1-13)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.080 --> 00:00:04.960 Be Reading Verses One to thirteen, Matthew Twenty Five, beginning in the first 2 00:00:05.040 --> 00:00:11.990 verse. Then the Kingdom of Heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took 3 00:00:11.990 --> 00:00:16.190 their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were 4 00:00:16.230 --> 00:00:21.309 wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took 5 00:00:21.390 --> 00:00:25.300 no all with them, but the wise took all in their vessels with their 6 00:00:25.339 --> 00:00:29.820 lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept, 7 00:00:30.660 --> 00:00:35.420 and at midnight a cry was heard behold, the bridegroom is coming, go 8 00:00:35.619 --> 00:00:39.890 out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, 9 00:00:40.369 --> 00:00:43.649 and the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your all, 10 00:00:43.810 --> 00:00:48.450 for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying no, lest 11 00:00:48.530 --> 00:00:51.840 there should not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those 12 00:00:51.880 --> 00:00:55.679 who sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went out to buy, 13 00:00:55.920 --> 00:01:00.039 the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, 14 00:01:00.079 --> 00:01:03.750 and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 15 00:01:04.150 --> 00:01:08.189 Lord, Lord, open to us, but he answered and said assuredly, 16 00:01:08.230 --> 00:01:12.150 I say to you, I do not know. You Watch, therefore, 17 00:01:12.790 --> 00:01:17.790 for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the son of 18 00:01:17.870 --> 00:01:25.180 man is coming. Let's pray. Well, we thank you for your word. 19 00:01:26.620 --> 00:01:30.060 We thank you that your word is indeed sharper than any two edged sword 20 00:01:30.060 --> 00:01:34.170 and it cuts us, Lord, to the very depth of our being. 21 00:01:34.650 --> 00:01:41.209 We thank you, Lord, for Your Gospel, which cuts us, which 22 00:01:41.290 --> 00:01:48.319 divides us, which separates and exposes us. Well, we pray that you 23 00:01:48.400 --> 00:01:53.239 would open our eyes this evening to see what it is that you would have 24 00:01:53.319 --> 00:02:00.439 us know. We pray, Lord, that even as you tear us apart, 25 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:04.629 as it word, with your word, that you would also build us 26 00:02:04.629 --> 00:02:07.229 up, that as you bring us to conviction, Lord, that you would 27 00:02:07.229 --> 00:02:12.590 also bring us to an assurance of pardon. Well, we pray that, 28 00:02:12.669 --> 00:02:16.740 as we see our lack, you would show us your sufficiency. And we 29 00:02:16.819 --> 00:02:21.300 ask, Lord, this evening that you would let the words of my mouth 30 00:02:21.419 --> 00:02:23.740 and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing to you as we give attention to 31 00:02:23.860 --> 00:02:27.659 your word, and we know that you will, for we ask it in 32 00:02:27.740 --> 00:02:35.569 Jesus name. Amen. All right, please be seated. Well, I 33 00:02:36.050 --> 00:02:39.370 reckon. Y'All know that, for the last few months we've been having a 34 00:02:39.969 --> 00:02:45.840 Bible studied our house on the book of revelation and as a result, during 35 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:50.599 the course of that, even though it's been a few months, we are 36 00:02:50.680 --> 00:02:53.520 still only like a third of the way through. Maybe they all make fun 37 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:57.560 of me because we're so slow, but there's a lot to talk about. 38 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:01.870 But as we've been talking about it and working our way through revelation, we've 39 00:03:02.349 --> 00:03:06.909 seen that there's we've had a lot of conversation about the end of the world 40 00:03:07.150 --> 00:03:10.069 and the Judgment Day and these sorts of things, and that's what we tend 41 00:03:10.110 --> 00:03:15.340 to think that revelation is all about. We tend to think that revelation is 42 00:03:15.419 --> 00:03:20.300 about the end times. But in actuality, the book of revelation has very 43 00:03:20.340 --> 00:03:24.379 little to do with the end times, even though that is what we tend 44 00:03:24.419 --> 00:03:29.969 to think about it as being. In actuality, the book of revelation is 45 00:03:30.090 --> 00:03:32.530 given to us by the Lord so that we would have a better understanding, 46 00:03:34.210 --> 00:03:38.530 not of what's going to happen way off in the distant future, but so 47 00:03:38.650 --> 00:03:43.360 that we would have a better understanding of how he wants us to live now 48 00:03:44.360 --> 00:03:49.759 today. And indeed, if you peruse any of the Bible's discussion of the 49 00:03:49.840 --> 00:03:53.240 end times, you'll find that that's really what most of it is about. 50 00:03:53.800 --> 00:03:59.069 God's concern isn't for preparing us for the end of the world. Rather, 51 00:03:59.270 --> 00:04:05.430 his concern is about his people living faithfully today, fulfilling his mission to take 52 00:04:05.590 --> 00:04:12.539 his Gospel to those of his people who have not yet heard and embrace that 53 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:17.139 Gospel message. And it's also, of course, about US learning to live 54 00:04:17.259 --> 00:04:23.819 blessedly with him and one another forever. And so I've had this on my 55 00:04:23.939 --> 00:04:28.449 mind a lot lately. The other night we were talking about revelation Chapter Twenty 56 00:04:28.529 --> 00:04:32.009 Four, I mean Matthew Chapter Twenty Four, and it made me think that 57 00:04:32.209 --> 00:04:36.689 they might be a propo at least for me and those who go to the 58 00:04:36.730 --> 00:04:41.199 Bible study, to follow up by hearing about Matthew Chapter Twenty Five. I 59 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:43.800 hope that there might be some benefit for the rest of you as well, 60 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:47.560 but we'll see. We'll see how that goes. So I want us to 61 00:04:47.720 --> 00:04:53.629 look this evening at this parable here in Matthew Chapter Twenty Five, and as 62 00:04:53.670 --> 00:04:57.829 we approach the parable, it's helpful for us to know something of the context 63 00:04:57.990 --> 00:05:05.230 in which this parable was given. This parable comes two days before Jesus is 64 00:05:05.550 --> 00:05:14.860 crucifixion and immediately preceding chapters, Jesus had pronounced his woes on the scribes and 65 00:05:14.980 --> 00:05:20.689 the Pharisees. He'd lamented and wept over Jerusalem and their hardheartedness, the hardheartedness 66 00:05:20.769 --> 00:05:26.529 of his people, Israel. And then in chapter four, Jesus took the 67 00:05:26.689 --> 00:05:30.569 twelve out and he pointed to the city of Jerusalem, into the temple, 68 00:05:30.689 --> 00:05:34.089 and he told them that the days were coming. We're not one stone would 69 00:05:34.089 --> 00:05:39.160 be left upon another in that city. And so, of course this led 70 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:44.720 the disciples to ask him when these things would be. They said, when 71 00:05:44.759 --> 00:05:48.000 Woen these things be? When will all of this come to pats and how 72 00:05:48.120 --> 00:05:53.629 will we know? What will be the signs of all these stupendous, stupendous 73 00:05:53.629 --> 00:05:57.310 things that are fixing to come about? And if you think about it, 74 00:05:57.430 --> 00:06:00.389 this these you and I would probably ask the exact same thing if we'd been 75 00:06:00.430 --> 00:06:04.899 standing there. These are the sorts of things that we would all want to 76 00:06:05.100 --> 00:06:12.819 know. And you know, if you have any familiarity with all of the 77 00:06:12.899 --> 00:06:16.980 commentary out there, you'll know that so many Christians today are obsessed with prophecy 78 00:06:17.259 --> 00:06:21.290 or the end of the world or wanting to find out about all that interesting 79 00:06:21.529 --> 00:06:29.889 and exciting stuff, and so I think it's really remarkable to note how Jesus 80 00:06:30.250 --> 00:06:36.120 responds to their questions. Jesus responds to their flurry of questions about all of 81 00:06:36.199 --> 00:06:43.360 these things by barely giving them any detail about it at all. Instead, 82 00:06:43.439 --> 00:06:46.629 what he does, which clever trick he often uses, is he answers the 83 00:06:46.670 --> 00:06:53.750 question they should have asked. Jesus gives them a few vague signs of the 84 00:06:53.829 --> 00:06:57.910 end of the age. He tells them a few things about the signs before 85 00:06:57.910 --> 00:07:00.829 the end of the age, but the main point of what he goes on 86 00:07:00.990 --> 00:07:04.660 to talk about in Matthew Chapters Twenty four and to twenty five is to emphasize 87 00:07:05.579 --> 00:07:12.579 that, since no one knows the day or the hour of his return in 88 00:07:12.660 --> 00:07:19.170 glory and judgment, we therefore need to be ready at all times. We 89 00:07:19.290 --> 00:07:24.170 need to be ready for his return at any time. And so then, 90 00:07:24.250 --> 00:07:27.850 to illustrate his point, he tells two parables. In the first of those 91 00:07:27.889 --> 00:07:30.920 I want us to look at this evening and I want us to see three 92 00:07:30.959 --> 00:07:35.920 things in this parable. First, I'd like us to see what it means 93 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:42.360 to be prepared for his coming, what it means to be prepared for his 94 00:07:42.519 --> 00:07:46.629 coming. Second I'd like us to ask ourselves the question, am I prepared? 95 00:07:46.670 --> 00:07:51.910 Am I prepared? And thirdly, I'd like us to look into becoming 96 00:07:53.189 --> 00:07:59.980 prepared as Jesus calls us to be. And so the setting of the parable. 97 00:08:01.500 --> 00:08:05.019 The setting of the parable is right before a wedding feast and right before 98 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:09.660 the wedding feast the bridegroom is going down to go collect the bride, to 99 00:08:09.779 --> 00:08:13.050 take her to the House that he's prepared for her so that they can have 100 00:08:13.209 --> 00:08:18.970 the wedding ceremony and the wedding feast. Now, in those days, it's 101 00:08:18.009 --> 00:08:22.970 helpful to know a little bit of the culture. In those days, it 102 00:08:22.129 --> 00:08:26.439 was the practice that the groom would go to the bride's house with his friends 103 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:31.959 and he would be preceded by some musicians and they would go ahead and they 104 00:08:31.000 --> 00:08:37.399 would be playing music and blowing trumpets to go collect the girl for the wedding 105 00:08:37.440 --> 00:08:43.389 ceremony. And also, in those days it was common that the wedding would 106 00:08:43.389 --> 00:08:46.830 be in the evening. And, bearing in mind this was an agrarian society, 107 00:08:46.909 --> 00:08:50.070 you couldn't take time off from the field to go do a whole lot 108 00:08:50.110 --> 00:08:54.350 of extraneous stuff, and so it would be in the evening. And since 109 00:08:54.350 --> 00:08:58.179 it was in the evening, the wedding party would need people to carry lamps 110 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:01.899 to light the way from the girl's House to the groom's House, and this 111 00:09:03.059 --> 00:09:05.580 would be usually a group of the bride's friends. This would this is what 112 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:11.889 bridegrooms did in the ancient near eastern world. They acted as flashlightholders, and 113 00:09:13.090 --> 00:09:18.730 that's what these ten girls do in our parable now, the important thing to 114 00:09:18.889 --> 00:09:24.639 note about these ten girls is very simple. Five of them were wise and 115 00:09:24.919 --> 00:09:31.080 five of them were foolish. Now, what made the difference between the wise 116 00:09:31.279 --> 00:09:35.600 and the foolish girls was very simple. It was how they prepared for the 117 00:09:35.679 --> 00:09:41.750 groom's coming. Since the common practice was for the groom to come in the 118 00:09:41.909 --> 00:09:45.990 evening, after the sun set, then it stands to reason that the thoughtful 119 00:09:46.190 --> 00:09:50.429 or a wise girl would carry enough all with her in her lamp to keep 120 00:09:50.470 --> 00:09:56.340 it lit till the bridegroom got to the bride's house. And, by contrast, 121 00:09:56.539 --> 00:10:01.820 only a very stupid or a foolish girl would fail to bring enough all 122 00:10:01.139 --> 00:10:07.889 to light her lamp. And I think it's pretty interesting. If you ever 123 00:10:07.970 --> 00:10:11.809 do a study of widom and foolishness, and scripture that you'll find that throughout 124 00:10:13.730 --> 00:10:20.330 wisdom and godliness are paired on the one hand and foolishness and sinfulness are paired 125 00:10:20.409 --> 00:10:24.440 on the other. So you've got foolishness and sinfulness if you got wisdom and 126 00:10:24.559 --> 00:10:30.519 godliness. They go hand in hand. In a fool in scripture is very 127 00:10:30.600 --> 00:10:35.519 simple. It's someone who is neither prudent nor provident. Someone who's neither prudent 128 00:10:35.639 --> 00:10:41.110 nor provident. It's someone who is careless in the practical affairs of life and 129 00:10:41.470 --> 00:10:48.470 who doesn't intelligently plan and prepare for the future. The Biblical fool is someone 130 00:10:48.509 --> 00:10:54.940 who pins his hopes and his plans for life on vain optimism. He bases 131 00:10:56.019 --> 00:11:01.379 it on schemes perhaps it have very little basis in reality. The fool lives 132 00:11:01.659 --> 00:11:07.049 in a fantasy world of selfishness, thoughtlessness and selfsinneredness. And, as I 133 00:11:07.129 --> 00:11:11.889 believe I've noted in the past, wisdom is defined in Hebrew at least, 134 00:11:11.929 --> 00:11:18.960 as skill in living, skill in living. That's what the word means. 135 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:24.559 A wise person therefore, someone who understands how the world works and how to 136 00:11:24.639 --> 00:11:31.559 live in it well, and the way that this wisdom and foolishness thing then 137 00:11:31.600 --> 00:11:35.950 enter sex, with the concepts of sin versus godliness. Is that the important 138 00:11:35.990 --> 00:11:41.710 thing, the key thing that makes us either be foolish or to be wise, 139 00:11:43.269 --> 00:11:46.259 to have this skill and living or to live in a fantasy world? 140 00:11:46.340 --> 00:11:52.860 The key difference is that those who are foolish don't know whose world this is. 141 00:11:56.419 --> 00:12:01.850 The wise man knows that this is God's world, like the Song Julia 142 00:12:01.889 --> 00:12:05.649 had a sing a little while ago, this is my father's world. He 143 00:12:05.929 --> 00:12:11.330 made it, he makes the rules, he says what's fair, he is 144 00:12:11.570 --> 00:12:16.039 the judge and, what's more, he is the only savior. To be 145 00:12:16.360 --> 00:12:20.919 wise is to live in God's world, according to God's ways. It is 146 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:26.799 to understand his ways and to live as he calls us to live, both 147 00:12:26.919 --> 00:12:33.789 for his glory and for our good and in our parable. These foolish girls 148 00:12:33.870 --> 00:12:43.750 were foolish because they knew what bridegrooms did. They knew that bridegrooms came after 149 00:12:43.789 --> 00:12:48.019 dark. Therefore, as I said, only a very foolish girl would fail 150 00:12:48.059 --> 00:12:54.379 to bring all to last till he arrived. And the wise girls were wise 151 00:12:54.539 --> 00:13:01.370 simply because they understood how the world worked and acted accordingly. They were prepared 152 00:13:03.210 --> 00:13:11.090 to wait faithfully for the bridegroom to show up. So all of that sort 153 00:13:11.129 --> 00:13:16.720 of begs the question, what does it mean for us to be prepared? 154 00:13:16.919 --> 00:13:24.399 What does it mean for us to be wise? Well, it's the answers 155 00:13:24.519 --> 00:13:28.830 very probably exactly what you would expect me to say. It means that we 156 00:13:28.710 --> 00:13:33.750 need to live according to what our bridegroom, Jesus, has told us about 157 00:13:33.830 --> 00:13:39.990 living in his father's world. And in these chapters on the end times, 158 00:13:39.110 --> 00:13:45.659 Jesus tells us that no one knows when the end of the world will be. 159 00:13:46.940 --> 00:13:50.139 He tells us that it can be at any time and he tells us 160 00:13:50.259 --> 00:13:54.100 that things will be bad in the world at that time. But beyond that 161 00:13:54.340 --> 00:13:58.889 he doesn't give us much in the way of detail, and I think that 162 00:14:00.049 --> 00:14:05.929 what we can take from Jesus's silence on the topic is it he doesn't want 163 00:14:07.049 --> 00:14:13.039 us to be consumed with worrying about days and times for the end of the 164 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:18.840 world. He doesn't he's not really concerned about it. He doesn't want us 165 00:14:18.960 --> 00:14:24.710 to be really concerned about it. It distracts from what he has us to 166 00:14:24.029 --> 00:14:28.950 do, already has for us to do. His point, then, consistently, 167 00:14:30.990 --> 00:14:35.389 his consistent point is that we need to be prepared by at by living 168 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:39.580 as if the end of the world could be at any moment, and that 169 00:14:39.740 --> 00:14:48.220 means that he's calling on us to live lives that demonstrate that the Gospel call 170 00:14:48.580 --> 00:14:54.129 on our life is utterly and completely life transforming. What he wants us to 171 00:14:54.210 --> 00:14:58.529 do is to live a life that is so gripped by the good news of 172 00:14:58.730 --> 00:15:05.809 Salvation in Christ Jesus, that it changes every aspect of our lives. That's 173 00:15:05.850 --> 00:15:09.720 what he wants us to be focused on. Now, I know that Presbyterians 174 00:15:09.799 --> 00:15:13.320 aren't exactly known as people who try to scry into this, you know, 175 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:16.879 the the magic ball to figure out what's going to happen at the end of 176 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:22.509 time, but we all tend to fall into that trap. We all it. 177 00:15:22.590 --> 00:15:24.669 We love to talk about it. Everybody likes to either that or they 178 00:15:24.710 --> 00:15:30.909 get hung up on some millennial scheme. Perhaps you know some people who've done 179 00:15:30.950 --> 00:15:37.139 this, but that's not what he wants us to be focused on. Rather, 180 00:15:37.179 --> 00:15:41.940 he wants us to be focused on what it means to be a true 181 00:15:41.179 --> 00:15:46.700 citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven, and I came across a really great quote. 182 00:15:46.740 --> 00:15:50.129 I want to read Y'all about what that said. What that means. 183 00:15:52.090 --> 00:15:56.769 True citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven are people who were so overwhelmed by their 184 00:15:58.049 --> 00:16:04.000 need for God's forgiveness and who are so overwhelmed by and thankful for God's Free 185 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:11.039 Gift of Love and Salvation in Christ, that they are willing to forsake everything 186 00:16:11.080 --> 00:16:15.600 in the world to dedicate their lives to loving God, to serving him and 187 00:16:17.440 --> 00:16:22.509 to telling and showing the love of Christ to everyone in their lives in all 188 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:30.470 circumstances. That is what it means to be prepared. That is what wisdom 189 00:16:30.549 --> 00:16:36.500 is, and so, if that's what it means to be prepared, the 190 00:16:36.700 --> 00:16:42.340 next point to consider is to ask ourselves the question, am I prepared? 191 00:16:44.100 --> 00:16:49.169 Am I prepared? Listen again to versus, verses five through twelve of this 192 00:16:49.330 --> 00:16:55.889 parable while the bridegroom was delayed, they, the ten girls, all slumbered 193 00:16:55.929 --> 00:17:00.450 and slept, and at midnight a cry was heard behold, the bridegroom is 194 00:17:00.570 --> 00:17:04.119 coming, go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed 195 00:17:04.200 --> 00:17:07.839 their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise, give us some of 196 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:11.720 your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying 197 00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:15.910 no, bless there should not be enough for us and you, but go 198 00:17:17.150 --> 00:17:21.589 rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to 199 00:17:21.750 --> 00:17:25.509 buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to 200 00:17:25.549 --> 00:17:29.869 the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, 201 00:17:30.019 --> 00:17:33.299 saying Lord, Lord, open to us, but he answered and said 202 00:17:33.299 --> 00:17:42.099 assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. I always 203 00:17:42.099 --> 00:17:47.650 hate those lines in the Bible, in the parables or in Hebrews. It's 204 00:17:47.769 --> 00:17:49.809 always you know you, you don't like to read it, and so you 205 00:17:49.890 --> 00:17:55.890 have to try to really think about what it what it means. Well, 206 00:17:55.970 --> 00:18:03.200 what we see here is how these girls unpreparedness to meet the bridegroom is revealed. 207 00:18:03.480 --> 00:18:07.400 When these girls heard that the groom was approaching, they rose, you 208 00:18:07.480 --> 00:18:12.190 know, and they trimmed their lamps. But five of them realize that they'd 209 00:18:12.269 --> 00:18:17.869 run out of all, and so now they're in a crisis, right, 210 00:18:18.029 --> 00:18:22.029 and your frantic, their frantic to get some more all so that they can 211 00:18:22.150 --> 00:18:25.789 make up for not being ready. But there's no all to be found, 212 00:18:26.109 --> 00:18:30.660 is there? The wise girls had just enough for their own needs, and 213 00:18:30.819 --> 00:18:36.460 it was so late that no merchant was still open so that they could buy. 214 00:18:37.900 --> 00:18:41.410 And so the five foolish girls missed the whole wedding feast and of course 215 00:18:41.490 --> 00:18:48.049 they end up shut out and outer dark harkness. Now this clearly is a 216 00:18:48.210 --> 00:18:52.450 parallel to what happens to those who aren't ready to meet Jesus when he comes 217 00:18:52.529 --> 00:18:59.920 again. Many will be shown to be unprepared to meet him and they will 218 00:18:59.920 --> 00:19:03.119 be exposed as fools, we find out, and they will be told begone, 219 00:19:03.839 --> 00:19:07.839 for I never knew you. They'll say. Oh but Lord, Lord, 220 00:19:07.960 --> 00:19:11.390 look and the times past. I did this, or haven't you seen 221 00:19:11.509 --> 00:19:15.589 my focus on that? What about this and that and the other thing? 222 00:19:15.829 --> 00:19:19.509 And he says get out of here, be gone. You have a lamp, 223 00:19:19.710 --> 00:19:30.140 but there is no light in it, and only then will many people 224 00:19:30.220 --> 00:19:41.329 discover they are danger so how are we to know now if we are truly 225 00:19:41.450 --> 00:19:47.970 prepared or if perhaps we're just fooling ourselves? Well, I think the answer 226 00:19:48.049 --> 00:19:53.559 is found in verses five and six. While the bridegroom was delayed, they 227 00:19:53.599 --> 00:19:59.799 all slumbered and slept, and at midnight a cry was heard. Behold, 228 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:07.470 the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Notice that what we 229 00:20:07.670 --> 00:20:18.390 see here is that be for the bridegroom came. Before the bridegroom showed up. 230 00:20:18.470 --> 00:20:25.819 An alarm was sounded and that alarm showed these girls beyond the shadow of 231 00:20:25.859 --> 00:20:30.859 a doubt whether or not they were ready to meet the groom. This alarm 232 00:20:32.220 --> 00:20:36.009 was a crisis point, as I said a couple minutes ago. This is 233 00:20:36.769 --> 00:20:41.970 the moment where they know whether or not they are ready, and I would 234 00:20:41.970 --> 00:20:51.480 suggest to you that the crisis here does not represent the Lord himself in his 235 00:20:51.720 --> 00:20:57.960 return, but rather it's the signs of the Times beforehand that he is coming. 236 00:20:59.000 --> 00:21:03.039 If we were to look back a page or two, two chapter twenty 237 00:21:03.119 --> 00:21:11.390 four, in verse thirty three, we read this so you also, when 238 00:21:11.430 --> 00:21:17.509 you see all these things, know that it is near at the doors. 239 00:21:18.660 --> 00:21:22.420 There in chapter twenty four, Jesus is just described a bunch of really awful 240 00:21:22.420 --> 00:21:27.819 things. They're going to be wars and rumors of wars, plague and pestilence, 241 00:21:29.059 --> 00:21:34.410 they're going to be earthquakes and all this awful stuff. But he says, 242 00:21:36.329 --> 00:21:41.369 when you see be these things, know that he is at the door, 243 00:21:42.009 --> 00:21:48.920 he's here, or virtually. And what's really interesting to me about Matthew 244 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:52.119 Chapter Twenty four is that every single one of the things he names off, 245 00:21:52.359 --> 00:21:59.359 save the last, is something that's common to the entire era, from the 246 00:21:59.480 --> 00:22:03.349 ascension to the second coming. Tell me a year or two, maybe three, 247 00:22:04.069 --> 00:22:07.910 maybe, when there hasn't been a war, a rumor of war, 248 00:22:07.069 --> 00:22:11.109 a plague, of pestilence, an earthquake or some other disease, famine, 249 00:22:11.630 --> 00:22:18.140 animals, rending mean it's all the time. All of these things are going 250 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:23.660 on all of the time, and I think that that is Jesus's point. 251 00:22:25.779 --> 00:22:32.009 The point is that you and I are faced with Chrises all the time and 252 00:22:32.210 --> 00:22:38.490 that it is on the basis of how we meet these crises that will reveal 253 00:22:38.690 --> 00:22:42.250 to us the state of our heart, to show us if we are right 254 00:22:42.369 --> 00:22:48.279 with Jesus or if we are wandering from him. And these don't have to 255 00:22:48.359 --> 00:22:52.640 be major league crises either. They could be major or they could be minor. 256 00:22:52.680 --> 00:22:56.000 It could be some great, big awful thing, like having your house 257 00:22:56.240 --> 00:23:02.150 burned down or having a loved one get sick and die, or you yourself 258 00:23:02.309 --> 00:23:07.829 coming down with some grave disease, or it could be something minor, like 259 00:23:07.990 --> 00:23:14.259 you having a car accident or just having trouble in a relationship. With someone 260 00:23:14.299 --> 00:23:18.619 who's close to you. It could even be those sort of quod tity and 261 00:23:18.740 --> 00:23:23.779 daily sort of crises that come along, like having some jerk derail your plans 262 00:23:23.859 --> 00:23:30.930 for the day or having to choose between what is right and what is wrong 263 00:23:30.369 --> 00:23:37.569 but so desirable. All of these things are able to reveal our hearts to 264 00:23:37.609 --> 00:23:48.000 us, and I would suggest that it's your gut reaction to these things you're 265 00:23:48.640 --> 00:23:56.069 off the cup, that will give you a really good indicator of where you 266 00:23:56.269 --> 00:24:03.269 are in your process of sanctification. I'll give you a couple of examples. 267 00:24:03.349 --> 00:24:07.150 This is these are a couple of examples from many, many years ago, 268 00:24:07.190 --> 00:24:10.059 because you know, it's always easier to talk about sin problems you had a 269 00:24:10.099 --> 00:24:17.180 long time ago, right when, back when I was nineteen years old, 270 00:24:18.019 --> 00:24:25.490 my mother fell ill and eventually died the summer of my nineteen year. And 271 00:24:25.809 --> 00:24:30.089 when she got sick, I was already a Christian and I was I thought 272 00:24:32.170 --> 00:24:36.329 that I was sincerely trying to follow the Lord to the best of my ability, 273 00:24:37.130 --> 00:24:41.680 but I also was aware somewhere in the back of my mind that God 274 00:24:41.960 --> 00:24:48.000 was calling on me to put to death some cherish sin patterns that I had 275 00:24:48.079 --> 00:24:52.720 in my life. I had some choices that I had to make, but 276 00:24:52.799 --> 00:25:00.910 I just kept ignoring that still small voice of the Holy Spirit. And as 277 00:25:00.029 --> 00:25:06.390 my mother eventually came to die, my unfaithfulness to the Lord was revealed in 278 00:25:06.509 --> 00:25:11.019 my general real reaction to this crisis in my life and I began to backslide 279 00:25:11.259 --> 00:25:19.019 into sin and I eventually hid myself from God and tried to distract myself with 280 00:25:19.180 --> 00:25:23.210 anything and everything I could lay my hands on. And eventually, on the 281 00:25:23.289 --> 00:25:29.049 way to her funeral, which maybe the single worst road trip in the history 282 00:25:29.089 --> 00:25:34.049 of humanity, God brought some events into my life that made me realize what 283 00:25:34.170 --> 00:25:41.039 I've been doing, and God used that experience of this road trip to break 284 00:25:41.200 --> 00:25:49.470 me and humble me and get me to the point where I really would finally 285 00:25:51.029 --> 00:26:02.269 truly seek to clear the deck and follow him. Of course, life event 286 00:26:02.390 --> 00:26:04.819 eventually came along, and I'm a reprobate senator, it seems like so often. 287 00:26:06.059 --> 00:26:07.980 So it's not like that was the end of the story, but that 288 00:26:07.140 --> 00:26:15.420 was a big crisis point in my life. Another example came from about a 289 00:26:15.460 --> 00:26:19.650 year or so later, and I've been having a hard time in my walk 290 00:26:19.730 --> 00:26:25.769 with the Lord because I felt like such a failure after how I dealt with 291 00:26:25.930 --> 00:26:30.809 my mother's death and about a year or so later I had I'd bought a 292 00:26:30.849 --> 00:26:34.359 new bicycle to ride from my apartment over to the U of A, and 293 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:38.680 one day I rode my bike back from campus and the the bike rack at 294 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:44.119 my apartment complex was completely filled up with bikes and all I could do was 295 00:26:44.319 --> 00:26:48.789 wedge the front tire of my brand spanking new bicycle into there and lock my 296 00:26:49.069 --> 00:26:55.829 tire. When I came back the next morning, my tire was still there, 297 00:26:57.750 --> 00:27:03.819 but the bicycle was not. Now my usual reaction to things like that 298 00:27:03.859 --> 00:27:07.740 at the time would have been to get just I rate, just absolutely I 299 00:27:07.859 --> 00:27:11.619 rate. I would have cursed, I would have stamped around, I would 300 00:27:11.619 --> 00:27:18.170 have been just upset all day, maybe for days. And as I sat 301 00:27:18.289 --> 00:27:25.289 stood there looking at that lonely tire, instead of all that, I was 302 00:27:25.529 --> 00:27:32.240 really surprised because, by God's grace, the first thing that went through my 303 00:27:32.359 --> 00:27:37.119 mind was a quote from job that I'd recently heard put to music. Naked 304 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:41.799 I came from my mother's womb. Naked I shall return. The Lord gave, 305 00:27:41.920 --> 00:27:44.309 the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. 306 00:27:45.470 --> 00:27:52.589 Now I don't tell that story because I'm so great. Rather, I tell 307 00:27:52.710 --> 00:27:59.859 that story to praise God and to show how he gave me grace to face 308 00:27:59.900 --> 00:28:04.859 a crisis. I still remember that the cat the counterpart of those two things 309 00:28:06.660 --> 00:28:11.700 and it was a great encouragement to me that the Lord really was about the 310 00:28:11.819 --> 00:28:18.170 process of sanctification in my life. And what we need to do, I 311 00:28:18.369 --> 00:28:22.490 think, in all of our lives, is to look at ourselves and we 312 00:28:22.569 --> 00:28:27.160 need to say, you know, if I don't see the hand of grace 313 00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:34.480 in my response to crises, then perhaps I should be concerned. Perhaps we 314 00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:38.880 need to re examine ourselves and our priorities and our walk with the Lord, 315 00:28:38.920 --> 00:28:45.750 because if we see poor and ungodly responses to the events of our lives and 316 00:28:45.950 --> 00:28:52.750 if we ignore them consistently, we may find that one day we are like 317 00:28:52.990 --> 00:28:57.819 those foolish, foolish girls who heard Jesus say be gone, for I never 318 00:28:57.940 --> 00:29:04.500 knew you. So what do we do? What do we do if we 319 00:29:04.660 --> 00:29:10.130 look at ourselves and we find that we are unprepared or re concerned about our 320 00:29:10.170 --> 00:29:15.930 lack of preparation? How do we go about getting prepared? Well, the 321 00:29:17.089 --> 00:29:22.369 first thing to do is to realize that the time to get prepared is now. 322 00:29:25.240 --> 00:29:30.759 It's now, even though Jesus gives us some details about the end and 323 00:29:30.160 --> 00:29:34.200 and about what has to happen first. Those those details, as I pointed 324 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:38.710 out, a notoriously hard to figure out, and I think that that's mainly 325 00:29:38.750 --> 00:29:45.509 because Jesus wants to emphasize to us that we need not concern ourselves with the 326 00:29:45.549 --> 00:29:51.910 end times. Rather, what he does make clear is that the time will 327 00:29:51.990 --> 00:30:00.420 come unexpectedly. Again in the previous chapter and versus forty two, forty three 328 00:30:00.460 --> 00:30:03.980 and forty four, he says this watch. There for for you to not 329 00:30:03.180 --> 00:30:08.329 know what our your Lord is coming, but know this that if the master 330 00:30:08.450 --> 00:30:11.930 of the House had known what hour the thief would come, he would have 331 00:30:12.089 --> 00:30:17.009 watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. The there for you 332 00:30:17.450 --> 00:30:21.410 also be ready, for the son of man is coming at an hour you 333 00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:27.400 do not expect. See, he could come at any moment. He could 334 00:30:27.440 --> 00:30:33.400 come at any moment, and even if he doesn't, even if he decides 335 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:37.230 to wait another two thousand and eighteen years, that still doesn't mean that you 336 00:30:37.390 --> 00:30:42.750 and I can put things off, because even if Jesus doesn't come back tomorrow, 337 00:30:44.190 --> 00:30:47.390 you and I could all keel over dead on our way out that door 338 00:30:47.549 --> 00:30:53.819 tonight, couldn't we? So once you decide that the time is now, 339 00:30:55.140 --> 00:30:56.779 the next thing that you have to do, and this is all you have 340 00:30:56.900 --> 00:31:07.170 to do, is set your eyes on the Gospel. We said before that 341 00:31:07.289 --> 00:31:11.130 the mark of the citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven is someone who is so 342 00:31:11.369 --> 00:31:18.839 overwhelmed by his sin and his guilt and his need for God, and it's 343 00:31:18.920 --> 00:31:26.279 someone who is so overwhelmed by, and thankful for the salvate and freely offered 344 00:31:26.319 --> 00:31:33.789 dissinners by Jesus is sacrifice, that he is willing to forsake the world in 345 00:31:33.910 --> 00:31:40.990 order to dedicate his life to the wonderful savior who saves his soul and makes 346 00:31:41.109 --> 00:31:45.190 life worth living again. See you and I. If we're honest, we 347 00:31:45.390 --> 00:31:52.619 know we know that the things that we cling to in this life are ultimately 348 00:31:52.900 --> 00:31:57.660 not what we truly long for or what we truly need. We know that 349 00:31:57.819 --> 00:32:02.569 what we long for deep down in our hearts is the peace and the comfort 350 00:32:02.650 --> 00:32:08.329 that comes from the abiding presence of God, the Holy Spirit. And yet 351 00:32:10.970 --> 00:32:17.759 we cannot seem to escape the lie that the stuff of our lives will really 352 00:32:19.079 --> 00:32:23.240 soothe the burning of our hearts. We cannot seem to escape the lie that 353 00:32:23.400 --> 00:32:35.269 we can somehow compromise with or balance God and our worldly desires. And when 354 00:32:35.269 --> 00:32:39.069 we accept the lie, when we don't rebuke it, we're setting ourselves up 355 00:32:39.309 --> 00:32:45.099 to be like those five foolish girls, and we need to see how foolish 356 00:32:45.140 --> 00:32:51.019 that is. What God is calling us to do is to turn away from 357 00:32:51.099 --> 00:32:58.460 those things and simply to see, to accept and to admit, both to 358 00:32:58.609 --> 00:33:05.569 God and ourselves, how much we have screwed up our lives and how sinful 359 00:33:05.609 --> 00:33:10.769 we truly are. And then we need to believe what the Bible says. 360 00:33:14.440 --> 00:33:20.400 Paul said. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation. The 361 00:33:20.440 --> 00:33:23.400 Christ Jesus, came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am 362 00:33:23.440 --> 00:33:34.710 chief. That's the Gospel. I am chief. I suspect that that is 363 00:33:35.710 --> 00:33:37.910 the good news that allowed Paul to get out of the bed every day and 364 00:33:38.109 --> 00:33:45.779 go face a hostile world. That that's the wit, that's wisdom. And 365 00:33:45.940 --> 00:33:53.099 listen, the more sinful I admit myself to be, the more I admit 366 00:33:53.299 --> 00:34:00.049 the truth. But the wonderful thing about the good news is that no matter 367 00:34:00.130 --> 00:34:05.089 how sinful and wretched I may be. Christ Jesus came into the world to 368 00:34:05.210 --> 00:34:09.840 save sinners, even those as horrible as I am and as horrible as you 369 00:34:09.920 --> 00:34:16.559 are now. I'll tell you what, if you hold on to that and 370 00:34:16.760 --> 00:34:22.199 you don't let it go, if you stare that truth in the face every 371 00:34:22.280 --> 00:34:29.590 day, that simple truth will change your life. If you believe and accept 372 00:34:29.750 --> 00:34:32.909 that you are the chief of sinners and that Christ Jesus died for you, 373 00:34:32.989 --> 00:34:40.940 you will be willing to leave everything to walk with and follow this gracious Lord 374 00:34:40.980 --> 00:34:46.179 who loves you so much as to make you his beloved child, to make 375 00:34:46.300 --> 00:34:52.460 you his friend. And you two will not hear those words. Be Gone 376 00:34:52.659 --> 00:34:54.530 for I, I never knew you. Rather, what he will say to 377 00:34:54.690 --> 00:34:59.570 you is he will say, well done, Thou good and faithful servant. 378 00:34:59.769 --> 00:35:02.690 Thou hast been faithful in few things. I will make the master of many 379 00:35:02.849 --> 00:35:10.599 things enter into the joy of our Lord. So let me just leave you 380 00:35:10.719 --> 00:35:17.079 with this little thought. Jesus tells us that the end is soon, it 381 00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:22.510 is imminent, it is eminent. Even now he is at the door. 382 00:35:22.869 --> 00:35:28.670 And when he comes, will it be better, do you think, to 383 00:35:28.829 --> 00:35:36.099 be caught grasping after the vain and empty things of this world, or would 384 00:35:36.139 --> 00:35:40.739 it be better to be found holding fast to the Cross of Christ and following 385 00:35:40.780 --> 00:35:47.500 him? To Paraphrase Jesus? I tell you the truth. No one knows 386 00:35:47.539 --> 00:35:53.889 the day or the hour, but the time is now. That is our 387 00:35:53.969 --> 00:36:00.730 calling and that is good news. Amen.