“The Mount of Olives Discourse Part 3” Matthew 25

Well, go ahead and take your Bible and turn with me to the gospel according to Matthew chapter 24 and 25. I’m going to… Attempt something today that I’ve never quite done before. We’ll see if it can be done. It’s a lengthy passage.

So I told Pastor Ryan not to read that passage because if I told him to read everything that I hope to go through today, I would scare you to death. And you would think that we’ll be here until the barbecue competition tonight. And we don’t want to do that. But I have a particular purpose in approaching it this particular way, this particular passage in this way, and this is not typical for me, but I think it’s the best thing to do in light of where we are at in the Olivet Discourse.

There’s a German proverb that goes like this. The main thing is that the main thing always remains the main thing. And if you think about that, that we need to know what the main thing is, and we try to maintain that main thing, and you need to get that right.

The story was told of two high school basketball teams. that were playing basketball. And every year, it was always a major regional competition, and then the state competition. They were just always going at it and everything. And one year, one high school would get it. And the next year, the other high school would get it. And it was just very much kind of a local situation. And this year, this particular year that was that I read the account of was no different. And so what they did was is they wanted to remember that you got to keep the main thing, the main thing, and that it remains the main thing. And so the one coach, you know, you know, would tell them you got to get as many baskets as possible. The other one doing the same thing and It was a tense time, a real intense game. And it was close to the final last couple of seconds of the game. And there was just one team that was up. and they were excited and they just didn’t know what to do. And so they were, you know, there was a foul and they had to have some shots and everything. And then the ball became active again and they’re passing the ball. And then the countdown comes and there was a tremendous sense of excitement. And the one player got a hold of the ball And he did one of those really fancy things, you know, where he just sent the ball up in the air and they’re going to wait and see if it all goes in. Swish! And then half of the gymnasium rises and they’re shouting and the other half’s quiet. And then dead silence. and everyone focused upon the one guy that made the shot, he put it in the wrong basket. He got the main thing was the main thing to always remain the main thing, but he didn’t get it quite right. He made the basket in the wrong basket and caused the other team to win.

Well, in our particular passage today, there is this idea is that there’s a lot of people that think they’re involved in the main thing and they’re trying to keep the main thing the main thing. But what they find out is they’re playing it incorrectly. So in this particular passage, we have the ministry of Jesus Christ And his life and his public ministry is coming to an end. We’ve already seen and I’ve been looking forward to Palm Sunday next week and then Easter Sunday and trying to figure out where we’re not going to get there. I’ll have a special Easter message. And so we will put this on pause.

But actually what we’re involved in in the Gospel of Matthew is Palm Sunday is actually already taken place. You know, he’s already had the triumphal entry. We’ve already had the cleansing of the temple. We’ve already had his confrontation and his pronouncement, his oracles of woe against the Pharisee scribes, the Pharisee scribes and the hypocrites. He’s already gone through those sort of things. And now He is in the midst of answering three questions that the disciples have asked at the beginning of Chapter 24. After he has already told them about how that God was going to bring judgment against the house of Israel, Chapter 23, verse 38, see that your house has left you desolate. For I say to you, you shall see me no more until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. I think that’s all future. Then Jesus and it’s about his second coming. And then Jesus went out. This is chapter 24, verse one. And from the temple and his disciples came to show him the buildings of the temple. And it would have been beautiful. And especially with the time of year, Passover and the spring. And it was just gorgeous. And Jesus said to them, do you not see all these things? Assuredly, truly, truly, I am telling you For certain, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another that shall not be thrown down.

Now, that’s a tremendous act of judgment. Your house will be left to you desolate. This building and this beautiful temple, it’s coming down. And that did happen in some years. It came at 70 A.D. is what we recognize the the fall of Jerusalem and all the judgment that went there. And then from that point on, Jesus enters a private time of tutoring, a private time of giving warning. It’s a bit like the Sermon on the Mount, only the Sermon on the Mount was very broad for a lot of people. This one is for his disciples, because notice when it says, verse three, now as he sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. So this is a private meeting. Now, Jesus, knowing what is about to take place, and there’s a lot that’s still going to have to take place. We’ve got the meeting in the upper room. We’ve got Gethsemane. We’ve got the arrest in the garden. The false trials and then the crucifixion, but that’s all going to take place at the end of the week. There’s a lot of rapid succession going on right here.

We tend to look at this. Wow, these are bigger chapters and this is a big section. But the point of that and the fact of the matter is this is rapidly taking place. And that’s one reason why I feel a little bit more comfortable in taking such a large passage of scripture, because Jesus is going to enter his teaching and he’s going to give some masterful teaching as a master teacher. He’s going to lay some doctrine. He’s going to give some exposition. He’s going to give his truth and then he’s going to have some illustrations and then he’s going to illustrate it and seal it up with five parables. And we’ve already introduced two of them. And so the main text of today is really chapter 25.

But the whole chapter. That’s the scary part. But the other part is is that some of this that the whole discourse or the element the Olivet discourse covers two chapters and it’s one unit. And so this is what it starts off with. Chapter three. He sat down on the Mount of Olives. They came to him privately saying. And so they asked some questions. Tell us when these things will be.

Now, what are the things that he’s talking about? Well, with the destruction of the Jerusalem temple and then they go on to say, tell us when those things will be. And the other question is, what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? Now, really, there’s kind of actually like three questions that are there. The one about tell us when about this judgment that’s going to come upon Israel. But then tell us about the signs of when you’re going to be coming and the end of the age. Now, Jesus has already said no man knows the hour of the coming. And he’s going to reiterate that in this discourse. And he’s going to.

And so to this very day, nobody knows when Jesus is coming again. I have it kind of I’ve always kind of thought about it that whenever we find out or anyone who says they know when Jesus is coming, I kind of kind of giggle my theological giggle brain that I kind of think of it as that’s at least one time I know he’s not coming, you know, because God is has told us nobody knows. And if someone says they knows he’s oh, I’m not coming then. So I don’t know that that’s really true, but I do know this. Nobody knows when he’s coming. There will be some signs and he will talk about that in the exposition and that sort of thing. But then he’s going to illustrate it.

And as I pointed out last week, this particular chapter has a lot of controversy involved in it. In fact, some have said it has some embarrassing verses. I mean, some big names like C.S. Lewis and others who have said that some of the most difficult interpretation of scripture is here. When is he talking about or what is he talking about? Is it all 70 A.D.? Is it 70 A.D. and the second coming? Is it 70 A.D. and second coming and then the ultimate judgment of almighty God and so forth. And so there’s some divisions and there seems to be some overlap. I think that worried about all of that and it comes from much of the time, maybe not all the time, but much of the time it comes when we bring our our our prophecy or what we believe about future prophecy and we put it in the text rather than let the text tell me what is being discussed. And today, what I want to do is, is if you take a look at the whole discourse, I think a lot of times people forget what this is all about.

Keep again the reminder my reminder to you and that is this is Jesus last set of instructions. Now he’s going to give some instructions to the 12 concerning communion and the upper room discourse and that and that has historical setting. But this is a public instruction concerning future events. This is not the kind of place where the emphasis is Jesus giving us all the minute details of exactly how he’s going to come and exactly what it’s going to be. But it is about how we should then live in the midst of the fact Jesus is coming again. So he was quick. The ministry of Jesus Christ, his ministry was quickly coming to an end, and he wanted to give them some this final instruction.

Now, in the final instruction of this and what we’re going to see I’m constructing this message, like I said, differently than what I normally do. And I want to give you seven points, as it were, by way of introduction to watch for. Because all of these different elements are found within it. First of all, Jesus is going to give some revelation concerning the suddenness of his return and the need to be alert or to be ready. Whether it’s going to be and we haven’t read the text yet, but whether it is the 10 virgins or it is the man who gives the talents and then he comes back. There is this all of each of these the parables have an element of a suddenness of his return. Nobody knows when Jesus is coming. And it’s going to be sudden whenever it happens. Now he’s going to give it theologically like lightning is from the east to the west. It’s going to be, you know, it’s But in the illustrations and then the parables, there is always the element of suddenness. And are you already, will you be ready or will you be caught unprepared?

Another element that is found is that there’s gonna be the concept of separation. The separation of the sheep and the goats. The separation of those who use the talents for good and those who dig them in the ground and don’t use them. Just going to those two parables, but there’s others. The separation, how God’s gonna separate the nations, and that some are going to heaven, some are going to hell.

So the concept of, he was talking about the future holds the sudden return of Christ, watch. Not only that, the division of people and the separation of those kinds of people. There seems to always be a surprise of some concerning their rejection. In other words, there are some, there were 10 virgins, but only five get in. Five are shut out and they’re surprised. It kind of goes back to what Jesus makes mention of in the Sermon on the Mount, when he talks about, many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, and I will say unto them. See, they’re expecting to be accepted. They’re calling him Lord. They’re expecting a positive result. And Jesus says, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. I never knew you. So there’s a surprise at their rejection. And that’s gonna be seen in here.

Well, I knew you were a wise master, so I hid the talents. The sheep and the goat, they’re all in one shoot. And again, when we read this, they’re together, but then they’re separated. And there will be judgment on some. So there is a surprise of some concerning their rejection. element that’s going to be seen in each of these is going to be the need for obedience as a result of saving faith. You have to be careful that you don’t see, for example, that the master is happy because of only what the people did and therefore he accepts them. They loved the master and they worked for the master. They obeyed the master because their relationship with him was real. The other one was not. And so this would be like the difference between some of that ongoing discussion between the book of Romans and the book of James. You know, the just shall live by faith. And the other ones are that those who have saving faith will demonstrate that they are justified by what they do.

So it’s even in the series in First John, what Pastor Ryan’s been going through, that if you’re really born again, your life will show it. We’re not saved to be like the unsaved. We are saved to act like the saved. And that becomes a warning. And that would only make sense that Jesus is giving these warnings and this instruction because he is soon to die and he wants to give this information to them. Another thing that is realized in all of this, not only we have the suddenness of his return to be ready, the division of people, the surprise at rejection, the need for obedience as a result of saving faith, but fifthly, there is the coming judgment It is real and it is eternal. And that’s what adds the solemnness. To this particular passage. Jesus is, in some ways, you know, pulling out all the plugs, he has given it both barrels when it comes to this passage. And there’s going to be some. Some sorrow.

For example, look at verse 8 of chapter 24. All these are the beginning of sorrows, and that is the birth pangs, and we’ve considered that. The end of verse 14, and then the end will come. And then you go on, let’s jump on over to chapter, well, verse 44. It says, therefore, you also be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. But then it becomes very sobering. Verse 51 of chapter 24 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then when it says at the end of verse 10 of chapter 25, and the door was shut, and afterwards the other virgins came saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. And then the warning, watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour which the son of man is coming.

That’s some pretty stiff teaching. Verse 30, and cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then this is the climactic verse after all of it to show all of these are tied together. And again, one reason why I want us to consider it as a unit. Verse 46, and these, And we’ll read it to get that context who he’s talking to. But listen to these words. And these will go away into everlasting punishment. But the righteous into eternal life. So you see, there’s a lot of warning here. And he’s not talking about whether, you know, exactly the timing of a rapture or who goes up and how it happens or exactly what is it in the kingdom. Some of that’s going to. But this is the warning. And we want to come back now and to see what are these parables talking about? But it’s basically live in light of Jesus is coming and it’s going to be important that you’re ready. And that’s what we want to consider this morning.

Chapter 25, in a real sense, should begin at verse 42. Because verse 42 of chapter 24 is kind of the segue between exhortation to application and so forth. And then that application goes through chapter 25. Jesus at that point gives a series of five parables or Illustrations and teachings of the practical applications to be alert to be watching and to be working And the one special note now when we get to these things about when he talks about parables and using these illustrations there’s generally a one major truth that’s being emphasized. Don’t go try and figure out nor allegorize every little detail. It’s not about the details, it’s about the overall teaching and the application which usually comes at the end. And I’ve already read most of those to you. Where there will be the separation and the weeping and gnashing of teeth for eternity. So let’s take a look at this now.

Now, in his exhortation, he’s given the parable of the fig tree, verse 32. He’s given the illustration of that. The signs of the coming will be like in the days of Noah. And many apply some of those things to the fall of Jerusalem. Others leave all of that to the light later. And that that can be discussed some other time. But at verse 42, he now gives the practical application In light of these things, watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming. That will come up again. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore, you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not know. expect.

So that’s in a sense some have referred to that as a beginning of a parable of the thief. The suddenness of his return and the need to be on alert. That one we mentioned last week. At verse 45 through 51 we have the parable of the master then. It says who then is faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over the household to give them food in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his master when he comes will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming. Let me pause there. One element that’s not in all of them, but it is seem to be prevalent.

And again, one has to be careful that you don’t make this overpowering thing that Jesus is emphasizing too much. But it is present. And that is. When he comes, there is the appearance of his delay. Remember, I think it’s in what is a second Timothy or second Peter. When it talks about that people in the last days will make fun of us, where is the promise of his coming? Well, why is he delaying?

Well, it appears to be a delay, but it’s not a delay. It’s just not yet. He hasn’t come yet, but that doesn’t mean he’s not coming. But the world will perceive that as either a delay or that it was a joke. But here is this one, my master is delaying his coming and begins to eat, to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards. And the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of. You see, there’s the unknown, the unknown, the suddenness when you least expect it. And he will come and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It seems disconnective, but there’s going to be more illustrations. There’s a separation. There’s a judgment. There’s one who was given praise because he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. And when the master comes, even though it appears to be delayed, he’s ready and he’s rewarded.

But there’s another one that says, ah, he’s not coming. This is sure we don’t. It doesn’t care. And he begins to act like the world. Now, it is the same one that still knows that the master is coming, but he then begins to fall away. You see what Jesus is doing is to give the warning to his disciples. Things that can get tough. I’m not coming back right away. In the midst of this, the way it plays out in church history, 70 AD, Jerusalem falls. Jesus hasn’t come yet. Things look bad. That looks like judgment. but they aren’t looking upon him as they come, looking upon him whom they have pierced, and they aren’t accepting the Messiah because the Messiah didn’t come. And so some people begin to be a little bit lax, and they’re not really living according to what God would have them to do. He said, yeah, those are not genuine people.

So now in chapter 25, we begin the third of the parables, and this is where it becomes new. The first 13 verses is the parable of the 10 virgins. Now notice what he says, then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened. Now he doesn’t say it is, but it’s like this. It’s a parable. It’s a teaching. There’s going to be some idea of here what this is like. So the parable of the ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now, this has a historical setting in that day and age. There was a betrothal time and it was very involved. And if I was going to preach just the ten virgins, we could go a lot more into what that was like. But to say that these ten virgins were part of the wedding party, they would stand and they would go to the bride’s house and so forth, and then the groom would come and it would be all part of that. And this is the picture that is seen there. There are probably some that are thinking this is the whole, the married supper of the lamb, and I’m not convinced that’s really what he’s talking about. He’s talking about, well, no, it’s like this. It’s likened unto this, that you can see, because he’s not teaching specifically about that end event that is gonna happen. marriage supper of the lamb. But that’s not this. And it says now five of them. And now we see the division.

Now, five of them were wise and five were foolish. So now we’ve got the double division again. We’ve had the wise servant and the careless servant, the thief and the one that was. And so now we’ve got the separation of the versions. There’s five wise. And there were five foolish. The term foolish there is the Greek word. Ironically, it’s the Greek word for moron. And it isn’t, we tend to use that as pretty derogatory. It just means they were unprepared. They’re unexpecting. They just were simple minded. They weren’t prepared. They didn’t think it through. My dad would do something like this.

You know, if he asked me to do something And I come up short and didn’t have enough nails for the project or something like that. And I would tell him, well, I didn’t think like I was going to say, I didn’t think that we needed that many nails or that many screws. And he would just look at me, said, that’s the problem. You just didn’t think. Well, that would be the word moron if we spoke in Greek. You just didn’t really think about it, did you? You weren’t really prepared. And that’s the word. There were five wives. And there were five foolish. And those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. Well, that’s that is kind of silly. You got it. You know, that’s like taking a bunch of flashlights with no batteries. It ain’t going to work. So they had no more oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. Okay, don’t look for any deeper meetings. This is just what they did. Some were prepared, others weren’t, five and five. But while the bridegroom was delayed, you see there again, he wasn’t necessarily teaching how long, he’s still in a sense delayed, he hasn’t come yet. How long is the delay? Don’t know, because no man knows. It’s very consistent and all of them are going together. So he’s stacking teaching upon teaching. The bridegroom was delayed. They all slumbered and slept.

Now, once again, one has to be careful. Who fell asleep, the wise and the foolish. Don’t go looking for a deeper meeting. Some preachers and sometimes I know I’ve seen heard it in years gone by. you know, preachers talking about these are sleepy Christians and they’re all sloppy and they’re… No, they all fell asleep. Why? Because he delayed his coming. And you know what? Everybody needs to sleep once in a while. And apparently everybody here needed to sleep. And so they just sleep. And at midnight, a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Now, there’s no cursing or no judgment, no judgmental attitude because you fell asleep or anything, but there was the call. They were all called. Many are called, fewer children. They were all expecting to be part of the wedding party. They were all expecting.

So in a picture, this is a bunch of people. When he comes, they’re all expecting to be received. Then all those virgins, all 10, arose, and they trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. At this particular time, there would be a very popular translation that would go something like this. No way, Jose. I’m not going to share my oil with you. I need all the oil because I want to be part of the party. I want to see him. I’m ready. The bridegroom cometh. Hallelujah. But the wise answered, saying no. Lest there should not be enough for us and you. And go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. Don’t be battering your minds looking for deeper meanings of where you go to buy oil and oil represents the Holy Spirit. You see, that’ll get you into wrong doctrine. And that’s what happens when you do that to parables. No, it’s just they’re saying you didn’t come prepared. Go out and hurry up and see if you can still get in.

That’s like when Jesus comes. I’ll get saved. When I start hearing the trumpet, may I just boldly say, if that’s really what you think you can do, you’re a moron. And I have biblical precedence to say, and you’ll be lost, because it goes on. And while they went to buy the bridegroom, and while they went out to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him. I don’t know about you, are you feeling the excitement here? They went in with him and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding.

And it was, I think, R.C. Sproul who made the comment, this next phrase ought to scare you to death if you don’t know that you know Christ. And the door was shut. They were expecting to go in. They were not ready to go in. They didn’t have what it took to go in. That’s the purpose of this. And he said, you can’t go in. Many will say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, didn’t we do many wonderful deeds? Didn’t we have lamps? Didn’t we sleep along with the other ten versions of virgins that were there and are the other five? And didn’t we? We were expecting to get in.

Now, you don’t you don’t have what it takes. And that’s what he says after the other virgins came also, verse 11, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. And he answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, do not. I do not know you. Now we have the application.

See, this is part of his teaching method. So he then applies that. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Will he come? Will you be ready with your lamps all trimmed and bright? That kind of doesn’t really meet our kind of society. Will he come and will you have batteries in your flashlight? Is he gonna come and do you really expect him? Or are you gonna be out like the evil servants and have a heyday? Sowing wild seeds of oats of sin and having a good old time and says, I’ll hurry up and get saved when I get older. I’ll get my life taken care of. Everybody who puts off accepting Christ. And how many people have done that? And you’re second guessing that you can have a thief on the cross conversion opportunity. You are foolish. Boldly, you are a moron. If that’s what you think, if you are willing to play Russian roulette with your soul. And say, oh, wait, that’s what this is a warning, and Jesus wanted to get that out. Well, we go on.

So that’s the parable of the 10 virgins, the wisdom in being prepared for the return of Christ in light of a long delay. It’s unexpected, and you can’t prepare after the fact. Well, now we come to another one that’s very, very close to this in the parable of the talents. And this one has a bit of a takeoff of Matthew chapter 13 and verse 12. Just listen to this. Verse 12, for whoever For whoever has to him, more will be given and he will have abundance. But whoever does not have even what he has, it will be taken away from him. Therefore, Jesus spoke to them in parables. That’s in Matthew 13. We have another parable of the talents and Jesus is going to use this to teach something. Verse 14. The kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one of them, he gave five talents.

Now, let me pause. These talents are not special abilities. Like, this is not somebody who has five talents. He can sing, he can song lead, he can take care of babies. He can set up chairs and, you know, it’s not talking about talents like that. A talent is a measure of weight. It was often used with respect to gold, silver, and bronze. And whatever it was, it was these things of when he said he gave five talents, another two, another one. What was given is not important. And it’s not even given what it was. But it was given something to make an investment with. Something that you could take and involve and take it and multiply it.

So to one, he gave five talents. To another, two. And to another, one. To each one according to his own ability. And immediately he went on a journey. He who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. R.C. also said this is a great capitalistic passage of scripture. He was involved in financial risk, make investments, and get more at the end. I’ll just said that’s what R.C. said. I didn’t say I said that. But that’s what you know it’s there. And likewise he who had received to gain two more.

So they basically each one doubled. The passage is not about necessarily how much it’s what did they do with what they had. Because now remember we said there’s the division. Well that division is coming. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord’s money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled the accounts with them. Yeah, that’s kind of a scary thing. He’s going to settle your account.

So he who had received five talents came and brought the five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I have gained five more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things enter into the joy of the Lord. Now again, remember the kingdom of heaven is likened. This is you used what God gave you and you and God blessed it you enter and you’re blessed. He also said to the one that two talents came and said, Lord, you deliver me two talents. And look, I have gained two more talents beside them. And his Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant.

So it isn’t necessarily how much, you know, like not everybody can preach to the number of people that Charles Haddon Spurgeon did. Or not everyone can write as many books as John MacArthur. You know, too much is given, much is required. But praise God for what those men have done. And they’re different. And it isn’t about a comparison about, oh, I wish I could be like. You know, God doesn’t look at it that way. But what are you doing with what God gives you? And I will make you rule over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Okay, then, he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew, now notice, He knew this. I knew you’re a hard man reaping where you have not sown and gathering where you have not gathered seed. And I was afraid.

Now you begin to see some of the problems. And I went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. Yeah, that’s not what this is. This is a bunch of people. That want Jesus to die for their sins, but they’re not willing to give their life to Jesus. You make Jesus cheap. You make his dying on the cross not worth that much. He died for you. And you can’t live for him. You can’t invest your life for him.

Now, that doesn’t mean everybody goes into the full time ministry. But people that look at Jesus as a fire escape out of hell. He gave all. I’ll give a little. Maybe I’ll give him back what he gave me. And you don’t even know what he gave you. That’s the point of this. But his Lord answered and said to him, please notice he was in the group. He expected to be blessed and it ain’t going to happen. You wicked and lazy servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown. See, he was right. He did know. He knew people know, a lot of people know who Jesus is and what he did. And they still act like the world. They still act like a bunch of hellions. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gathered where I did not scatter seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and at my coming, I would have received back my own with interest.

Now, please do not dare blaspheme God saying that God is covetous. This is not talking about God needing more money. He’s using an illustration called a parable. Don’t go reading more into this than what’s here. So take the talent from him and give it to the one who has 10. For everyone who has more will be given and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, Even what he has will be taken from him. And then the judgment, the purpose for all of this. And cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Whatever that means, I don’t think I want anything to do with that. The people of wasted opportunities. In fact, his reward and the tragedy of wasted opportunity. Are you living for God? We talk about Coram Deo living before the presence of God. Are we really? That’s what Christ wants. And you’re to do it till he comes. Well, you say, well, he hasn’t come yet. Right. Keep doing it. Do it more. Don’t stop. Well, he’s delaying his coming. Who cares?

That’s called in theology, the perseverance and preservation of the saints. The preservation comes from this idea of the weeping and gnashing of teeth. But the but the perseverance is. Jesus said, no man having put his hand on the plow looking back, it’s worthy of me. We’re supposed to follow Christ. Don’t look like this world, it may cost you. We have a cheap Christianity. I don’t really know the full import and whether this man will be in heaven or not is Mr. Bonhoeffer. That dude was at some of the things that he wrote and some of the things that he did just when it wasn’t right. But he has got some masterful writings. Called cheap grace. And there’s an awful lot of people. that seem to be counting on cheap grace to get them into heaven.

Well, so we’ve got the parable of the talents, the 10 versions, the master, the thief. We have the last one now, and this one takes a shift. It’s actually kind of a parable conclusion. It is kind of the climax to the Olivet discourse. Notice how it goes, beginning of verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, He hasn’t yet. This is still future. And all the holy angels with Him, this appears to be the climax of it all.

Wherever you are in eschatology, whether you’re postmill, amill, premill, this is at the end. And then He will sit on the throne of His glory, okay? And I would take that as a literal throne here and so forth. But anyways, we go on. It says, and all the nations will be gathered before him. So this is apparently the ethnos, all the peoples that are alive are gathered before him. This is, again, he’s included everybody. And he will separate them. There’s that concept, separation.

So it ties together as a unit. He will separate them. one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. Now, the picture is or and this is where that’s a picture of that day and age, a parable that teaches. But it was just the idea that oftentimes they would have sheep and goats out in the field and then they would bring them in and they had this wide shoot and they would all come in and it would get more narrow, more narrow, more narrow. And then as they would come down and the shepherd always knew his animals.

I can identify with that. They were animal lovers. And so and then they would have it all come down to one. And then they had this gate and they could flip it this way and you had to go that way. They could flip it that way. And you went there. There was a separation. And the shepherd would just sit there and they separate. And they would be the separation. And that’s the picture that he would divide his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand.

Now, typically Jewish kind of concept right hand are the positive side. You know, Jesus said the right hand of God, the father, you know, the right hand is a position of honor, privilege, prestige and so forth. Now, again, don’t read too much into that with sheep. They’re smelly sewer goats. But you know, it’s just, you know, but the division, but it would be the more positive side. And so he says, but he puts the sheep on his right hand, the goats on the left, so they’re separated. Then the king will say, and notice he is now gone from the illustration, verse 31, son of man comes in his glory and all of his angels. That’s pretty kingly.

But then he goes to the shepherd, separating, and now he’s back to the king again. Then the king will say to those on his right hand, come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. And remember, this whole gospel’s been about the kingdom, a kingdom of priests, a people, a people of the king. A people, not two. You know, I think that was the too cuddly, deep division between Israel and the church. And they didn’t they didn’t understand that there’s also the body of the elect of the redeemed, both in Israel and the church, that they come together. And so now we have this and it says, Come, you blessed my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. So that may be a reference to their election.

You know, we’re chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. It’s those the body of believers salvificly. These are the ones who Jesus is soon to die for collectively. And then notice what the king says, for I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Wow, this is a bunch of nice people. Then the righteous will answer him and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry? and feed you or thirsty and give you drink. When did we see you as a stranger and take you in or naked and we clothed you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, yeah, I want to know when did when did that happen? Because you obviously that made you happy and I want to make you happy. So how did that happen? Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren. You did it to me. Love the brethren, pray for the brethren. How many churches are wracked with people that can’t stand each other? The gossip, that’s what makes, see, this is all preparatory for where we live now.

Brethren. We’re to show preference to the believers. We’re to love the believers. That’s why we have a benevolent fund. That’s why we try to take care of our widows. That’s why we take care of our widowers. That’s why we should care for one another, come alongside. That’s what makes gossip and bickering so wicked. Well, we go on, because when we treat each other well, we treat Christ well. And we do it not to be saved. We do it because we are saved. But what about those that don’t do it? Well, then he will also say to those on the left hand, poor goats. Depart from me, you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Now, if you want a good update on that, you can go to the book of the Revelation towards the end of the book and death and hell give up their dead.

So those that have already gone on, that’s this group. But then also those that at this time and this judgment and they’re going to be cast into the eternal lake of fire that will burn for eternity underneath the wrath of God. Al Mohler on the briefing this past week, he got me so fired up that I think I want to preach a sermon on hell, because everyone now seems to be talking about the myth of hell, or has hell gone away? Who believes in hell anymore? I do.

And you want to know what? I want to use, go back to the Virgin. You’re a moron if you don’t. You’re just a moron. Jesus, the son of God, gives warning about that wicked place. And now he says, for I was hungry. And you gave me no food, I was thirsty, you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not take me in naked and you did not clothe me sick and in prison and you did not visit me. My mind goes to, what is it, chapter six or chapter 12? I think it’s chapter six, Revelation. The souls under the throne. How long, O Lord, faithful and true? How long before you avenge our blood? Don’t worry. There’s more wicked people there. There’s more goats out there.

But there’s coming a time. There’s coming a time. There is a reckoning. That’s what scares me about some of the stuff going on in the world today. The total disregard for the things of God and the people of God and the truth of God and morality and what the Bible clearly says. But there’s coming a day. And they will be judged. They will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or naked and sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer and say to them, saying, Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it unto the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away. into everlasting punishment for the righteous, but rather the righteous into eternal life.

I cannot, this is an application, the text doesn’t specifically mention this, but that’s one really good reason why I’m pro-life. And when there are those who fight for the freedom to kill babies. That is a fight in concept unto the God who created babies in the image of God. There is so much wickedness. But yet I’m fighting for a woman’s right. How about the baby girls that you’re killing? Oh, we can come up with all kinds of things. And there’s a lot of people, well, I was born in America. I fought for equal rights. I fought for these good rights. I fought for this. And they’re expecting a positive outcome. The only way you get a positive outcome is when you have saving faith in the Savior, that it goes on to say now, it came to pass when Jesus had finished these sayings, that he said to his disciples, you know that after two days is the Passover and the son of man will be delivered up to be crucified. We’re not saved by what we do, but if you’re saved, your life will show it. It’ll show you may struggle over morality, but you’re not going to support immorality.

My brethren. All of these parables and the whole discourse was the heart of our Savior to say, you don’t know when I’m coming back. Be ready. And until then, if you’re real, live for me. Are you? Am I? We must. Because when he comes, there will be a door shut. I trust you’ll be on the inside.

Let’s pray. Our Father in heaven, how important this last discourse was that it wasn’t one of those where we need a lot of deep theological discussion. We just need some real passionate Christian living and expectation and seriousness and honesty to the question, do I know Christ? Am I playing around with his commands and obedience to do what I know he wants me to do? Father, help us to be found ready, serving, loving, concerned for the brethren. Father, Seal these truths to our hearts, but make them burn in the heart of anyone who may not know you as Savior. Even call them unto yourself, as we would sing in Jesus’ name, amen.