May it please Almighty God to
bless us together as we meditate in his holy word this evening.
Let's turn to the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, and we'll read the
last two verses. That's 45 and 46. So the Gospel
of St. Matthew, chapter 25, and reading
verses 45 and 46. Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the
least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. This 25th chapter in the Gospel
of Matthew is really a very searching, it's a very separating, it's
a very dividing chapter. And it separates between those
who are the children of God and those who are not. And the reality
is that every one of us falls into one of those two categories. And it's a great blessing if
you and I fall into the category of the children of God. Well, the fact is that every
one of us will end up, as we read in the 46th verse, Either
enduring everlasting punishment or blessed with life eternal. The scripture gives no alternative. The scripture doesn't give great
areas. It's very straightforward and
how important it should be for every one of us to be concerned
that we are amongst those who will be blessed with life eternal. That of course means to be with
the Saviour throughout eternity and not to endure eternity with
the devil and all his angels. It's a really terrible thought
and a really terrible consideration and yet it's very true and therefore
we should take these things to heart and desire that we each
may have the evidence that we are amongst those who are born
again in the Spirit of God, those who are the children of God,
those who are amongst the blessed family of God who will be favoured
to spend eternity in glory with the Saviour and with the whole
Church of God. Well, they're solemn thoughts,
they're solemn realities. They're not just ideas, they're
great truths. And the Lord has therefore laid
these things before us very clearly, and in this chapter given us
three examples, very clear examples. They should all be familiar to
us, but perhaps the first one is the most familiar, and that's
where Jesus speaks of there being ten virgins. They all looked the same. They
all appeared to be the same. But five of them were wise and
five of them were foolish. And again that is the truth in
the Church of God today. Many people look as though they're
Christians and perhaps act as though they're Christians, but
in fact do not possess what we have here in this parable, the
oil, the holy oil, the oil of God that he gives to all of his
church. Well this very simple parable
tells us five took oil in their lamps and others took their lamps
but took no oil with them and then we're told they were virgins
they were waiting for the bridegroom to come and they thought they
were all ready How many people today think they're all ready?
Think they're ready that if Jesus as the heavenly bridegroom was
to come even this night they would be ready for such an occasion. Well, this parable tells us how
that five were ready and five were not. And we're told why
the bridegroom tarried They all slumbered and slept. Those who
were true believers, they also slumbered and slept. And then
at midnight, there was a cry made. You may ask, why midnight? Midnight probably is a time when
we least expect. to be awakened. And yet at midnight
there was a great cry made, behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye
out to meet him. And all those virgins arose,
all of them, those who were wise, those who were foolish, they
all acted the same, they all arose and trimmed their lamps. And then we see the division. The division was, the foolish
said to the wise, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone
out. No light. But the wise answer saying, not
so, lest there be not enough for us and you. But go you rather
to them that sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went
to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went
in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut." It's
a very clear picture, isn't it? It's a very searching picture
for each one of us to examine ourselves, to see whether we
do have oil in our lamps, that we do have the light, the glorious
light of the gospel shone into our hearts and therefore it's
made us spiritually alive and we then won't have to go when
the bridegroom comes, when the Lord comes to look all around
to try and find some oil but the truth is In these five foolish
virgins, it was too late. My friends, may it not be too
late in your life and my life. And really, it takes two positions,
doesn't it? The Lord will call us from this
earth so that death comes upon us, or the great day will come
when the Lord returns in all his glory. And how important
it is to be on the right side and not the wrong side. to possess
oil in our lamps. That really means the grace of
God, the favour of God, the evidence that the Lord has dealt with
our souls. It would be a good consideration,
a good exercise for all of us to search our soul, to see what
God has done for us. And sadly, it may be we have
to draw a blank. We can't see anything. We can't
find anything. Well, the favour is that we're
still on praying ground and we can still come even tonight and
earnestly seek that God will come and open our eyes to see
and unstop our ears to hear the great truth of the gospel and
we shall prove it's all of his unmerited favour. We cannot stand
and say, well, I deserve God to look upon me. I deserve to
be blessed. None of us deserve God to look
upon us. None of us deserve to be blessed. It's all of His grace and all
of His mercy. But we do need to know, we do
need to have the evidence that we are on the right side. We don't want to carry on aimlessly
in this world. The devil will tell you, you
needn't worry, we've got a long time ahead of you. You can think
about these things when you're a bit older. Well, none of us
know how long the Lord has for us to live on this earth. And
yet, he tells us very clearly, Be ye also ready, for ye know
not what a day nor hour may bring forth. So therefore, there we
have the first example. And then, The second example
we have where the Lord Jesus speaks a parable about the kingdom
of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called
all his servants and delivered unto them his goods and he gave
one five talents another two talents and another one with
the instruction that they were to trade with those talents and
they were to benefit from them and there was to be an increase. Well we're told in that parable
that the Lord gave them these talents and then went away. He went away and after a long
time he came and reckoned with them. That means he asked them
questions to see how much they'd gained in the things of God. And again, that's a searching
thing, isn't it, for each one of us. If we look into our hearts
to see how much we've traded, how much we've benefited, how
much we've grown spiritually, grown in grace and in the knowledge
of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. You see, we are privileged
to have the Bible to read. We're privileged to hear the
Gospel preached. But the Word of God is clear.
It's there for our benefit. It's there for our eternal good. It's not just there to pass the
time as it were, to perhaps to tick a box that we think we've
done our duty for the day. It's to earnestly seek and to
truly be blessed with finding that we are amongst those who
the Lord has loved with an everlasting love. That we are amongst the
true family of God And we're not amongst those who are left
outside. And there is therefore that evidence
in our spiritual life that we have benefited from reading the
Word of God. We have benefited from hearing
the Word of God preached. Again, these sound very simple
statements, don't they? But you know, many people have
had the Bible and it's never benefited them. Listen to sermons
preached and they've never benefited them And therefore how necessary
it is for us to be able to trace out in our spiritual life the
benefit that we've had from reading the Bible Not how many times
we read it Not how we enjoy reading it naturally, but when the Word
of God is spoken to our eternal souls. It's made a difference. It's changed our lives. It's
turned us around. And we can bless God. for the
wonderful work of the Spirit." Well, this was the parable that
the Lord gave, and how wonderful it was to realise the result. Two of them had traded, had benefited,
and God said to them when he returned, Thou good and faithful
servant. Thou hast been faithful over
a few things. I will make thee ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. That was a wonderful promise,
wasn't it? And how glorious it is for you
and me if we receive such a promise from our God. Enter thou into
the joy of thy Lord and not enter into that place where the devil
is. The same was spoken to he who
had received two talents. And then the Lord turned to the
one who had received one talent. And he which had received one
talent came and said, Lord, I knew that thou art a hard man, reaping
where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not
strawed, and I was afraid. and went and hid thy talent in
the earth. Lo, there thou hast that is thine. And how did the Lord respond
to such a statement? Listen to what he said. Thou
wicked and slothful servant, thou newest that I reap where
I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed, Thou oughtest
therefore to have put my money to the exchangers and then at
my coming I should have received mine own with usury." Well that's
a natural illustration directing us to the spiritual one which
is of course to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ. And he says, the Lord said, take
therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which hath
ten talents. We can think that means removing
the means of grace, removing the Bible from such, so you don't
possess anything more. And he says, for unto everyone
that hath shall be given And he shall have abundance, but
from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which
he hath. What does he say now to this
person who was slothful and lazy and didn't profit from the talent
that he'd given? The same applies to us. Have we profited from the Bible
and profited from the things that we've heard? The Lord said,
Cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness There shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's a terrible result, isn't
it? Just ponder that to think whether
it has any reference to our souls to be cast out into outer darkness
the Word of God describes it out of darkness and You and I
won't be able to see anything. We'll be in the black abyss for
eternity. What a thought. What a terrible
thought. And you see, in that terrible
abyss, people will be weeping. and gnashing their teeth because
of the condemnation which was upon them. And then he goes on
to say, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory, which he will
do, no doubt about that, and all the holy angels with him,
then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. Before him shall
be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from
another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats and
he shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the
left. Then there will be statements. The King shall say unto them
in his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And now he illustrates
why. For I was an hungered and ye
gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger. And he took
me in naked, and he clothed me. I was sick, and he visited me.
I was in prison, and he came unto me. Then shall the righteous
answer him. That's the children of God, those
who have been blessed with spiritual life. Lord, when saw we thee,
and hungered, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall
answer and say unto them, Very I say unto you, inasmuch as ye
have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye
have done it unto me. You see the illustration. It
means we are to do good. We are to go about desiring to
do good. and to take opportunities that
present themselves to do good. We're not to pass by on the other
side like there was that case in that parable of the Good Samaritan.
He fell among thieves and the Christian people, we might say,
or the Pharisees and that, they didn't want to know. He passed by on the other side. But we're told a certain Samaritan
came where he was, stopped, bound up his wounds, poured in oil
and wine, put him on his ass, took him to the inn, paid the
bill, and said, if there's anything I owe him when I come again,
I will pay it. The picture there is of our great
and glorious Saviour. And word of mercy it is, if he's
come to us, and found us and bound up our wounds. put us on
his own ass, as it were, taking us to the inn, a place of spiritual
feeding, and paid the bill, taking away all our sins. What a great and wonderful Savior. Well, that's the picture that
we have. And then you see the parable
goes on. And we're told, Then shall the
righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger,
and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we
thee a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or imprisoned, and came unto thee?
And the king shall answer and say, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Again, it's a
very solemn statement, isn't it? Depart from me. Never again be blessed to see
almighty God. For I was a hungred, and he gave
me no drink. I was thirsty, and he gave me
no meat. I was a stranger, and he took
me not in, naked, and he clothed me not, sick and in prison, and
he visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee? and hungered, or thirst, or stranger,
or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch
as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not
to me. And thee shall go away into everlasting
punishment. but the righteous into life eternal. Well that's a commentary on this
25th chapter. The Lord has given to us as a
word which speaks very directly so that you and I may be able
to examine ourselves and to see whether we are in the faith or
not, whether we are acting in accordance with God's word, whether
we are diligent to hear his voice, whether we are concerned to have
the evidence in our hearts that we are a child of God. Because there's only one of two
alternatives. Either we should go into everlasting
punishment or into life eternal. Just think about that. My friends,
it's so important. It's so separating. It's so dividing. You know, we can look, perhaps
in our congregation here tonight, and think, which side will you
be on? Which side will I be on? Well,
we firmly hope that all of us will be on the right side. and
not on the left side. But my friends, if we are to
be on the right side, there will be the evidence of God's work
in our hearts. There will be the evidence that
God has loved us. He has shown to us his amazing
grace. He hasn't dealt with us as our
sins deserved. He's brought about a change in
our life, a change from just following the poor things of
this world to seeking after the things of God, to setting our
hearts upon the things of God. The question is, where is our
treasure? Is our treasure on the earth
or is our treasure in heaven? Another position is, if the Lord
comes and takes our life, what will have occurred? Will we be
leaving home? Or will we be going home? You see, the Church of God will
be going home. Those who are not believers will
be leaving home. That's a very solemn thought,
isn't it? It means really, how do you and
I consider our life on this earth? Do we hold our life as it were
with a light hand? That means we're not clinging
to our life on this earth. If the Lord was to come tonight
and take us from this earth, would we be thinking, haven't
done so-and-so and I was planning to do this and planning to do
that and all I'm so disappointed I can't do them or would you
be amongst those who are joyful the wonderful prospect of eternal
happiness with the Savior it's very searching isn't it because
by nature we cling to the things of this earth. But what a blessing
it is when God comes and touches our heart and gives us to realise
that great truth, for here we have no continuing city, but
we seek one to come. So this evening, are we seeking
one to come? Do we confess? We have no continuing
city here. It doesn't concern us, it doesn't
worry us, because our hearts and our affections are upon things
above, and not on things on the earth. The Word of God is very
separating, really, right through. You can read it from Genesis
to Revelation. You can start right in the beginning
and you see Cain and Abel. Cain didn't do that which is
right, whereas by the grace of God, Abel did. One was chosen
of God, the other was not. And how needful it is therefore
for all of us to have the wonderful evidence that God has chosen
us. And it's not because we've done
anything good. It's because he chose us in eternity
past. When the Lord Jesus spoke to
his disciples in the upper room, he said very clearly, you have
not chosen me. But I have chosen you and ordained
you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit
should remain. Again, a very separating word. But how blessed it is if you
and I have the wonderful evidence that God, because of his love
toward us, has chosen us way back in eternity. It's a great truth that your
mind and my mind cannot really understand. That in eternity
past, before we were conceived, before we were born, God knew
we would be. And God sent his love upon us.
And he watched over us from the very moment we were born. Until
that time when we were converted, when we were born again, when
we became a new creature, when we possessed the life of God
in our souls, the light of the gospel has shone into our hearts
and caused us to rejoice in the sovereign grace
of God. We have to come and stand alongside
the hymn writer and say, why me? O blessed God, why such a
wretch as me, who must forever lie in hell, were not salvation
free? Or can we bless God tonight, if the Holy Spirit has come and
given us a concern as to where we shall spend eternity. All of us are going to spend
eternity somewhere. There's no alternative. All of
us want a blessing therefore to know that it is well with
our soul. Well, these words are very searching
and very solemn. But my friends, the vital thing is, as we said
in prayer, to know it is well with our soul. And only you can
answer that. I can't answer it. Person next
to you can't answer it. We might all look very good,
prim and proper. But remember, God looks at the
heart. God looks at that which is inside. And that's where we
want to be cleansed. We want to be washed. We want
to be washed in the blood of the Lamb. We want to have the
glorious evidence that our wonderful Saviour gave His life so that
we might receive the wonderful gift of eternal life. It's the greatest gift that you
and I can ever receive, the gift of eternal life. And may we each
be found having received it and therefore looking forward with
a gracious anticipation of that day when we shall be with Christ,
which is, as the Apostle said, far better. Amen.