When this vast world is done
When essence beyond glaring sun When I stand with Christ in full
Lookin' old life's a spinnin' story Then Lord shall I fully
know Not till then How much time And I hear the wicked call On
the rocks and hills below When I see them start and scream
On that fiery day And Lord shall I fully know When
I tell thee Just how much I love thee And I stand before Thee Rest in beauty, not my own When
I see thee as thou art Love thee with my sinning heart Then, Lord,
shall I fully know Not till then How much I Chosen not for good in need Awaken
from the wrath to plead I was hidden in the Savior's
sight By His Spirit sanctified Now teach me, Lord, on earth
to show By my love How much I love you How much I love you How much can I owe? If my memory serves me right Robert Murray McShane is the
author of that hymn. The Lord graciously allowed him
to write it and gave you the abilities and the talent to sing
it. And it was a great blessing to me, wasn't it to you? I appreciate
that so much. Open your Bibles this evening
to the book of Matthew. And I want to look at a couple
of chapters, those being 24 and 25. Now, we got back to Virginia last Monday night. And no sooner
had I got back to Virginia than my sinuses started acting up
again, and they have not quit since I've been here. Jenny's
been kind enough to get me some medication, and I hope she's
got a little additional medication for me after the service to try
to clear this up. But nevertheless, it's good to
be with you and to see you. I enjoyed being in the service
this morning, and my heart was refreshed by the gospel of grace. And this is the purpose of the
ministry of this church, to set forth the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I'm thankful that God in his providence has given you
a faithful messenger. It just, it makes me rejoice
when I come back and I hear the message and I know what's going
on here in regards to the, to the gospel that's being proclaimed.
I'm just delighted. And it makes, it makes your old
pastor feel, feel really good. And I'm, I'm glad for what you're
hearing and I'm glad for what I heard this morning. Now this
evening, I've been led to speak to you on this subject of the
Mount Olivet Discourse. It's a little difficult to go
all the way through this in one message, chapters 24 and 25,
because they're rather lengthy. But I hope that after we finish
with the message, that you will have an understanding of a summary
of these two chapters chapters twenty four and twenty five of
the book of Matthew. Now we may be acquainted a little
more with chapter twenty five because it starts off with the
parable of the ten virgins and you possibly studied that recently
and then the parable of the talents and then of course the latter
part of chapter twenty five deals with the The last judgment when
our Lord comes and that great division takes place when the
Lord shall make a great separation. He says himself that he will
be in that day the judge and he will separate the nations
as sheep from goats the sheep on his right hand and goats on
his left hand. And that's the final judgment
but in order to understand chapter twenty five. You've got to go
back to chapter twenty four and find the look at the foundation
that our Lord laid before he gave those two parables of the
virgins and the talents and then before he spoke of the final
judgment. So go back with me to the first
part of chapter twenty four and this is the key if you want to
understand chapters twenty four and twenty five if you can get
some understanding of the first three verses. A chapter 24 you'll
be well on your way. So let's look at chapter 24 look
at verse 1 and Jesus went out well. Where did he go out of
well he went out of the temple. Now he's been in the temple a
long time teaching. As a matter of fact if you just
want to look back in chapter 21 and verse 23. Chapter 21, verse 23. You remember, he made his triumphant
entry into Jerusalem. And he spoke with him about his
father's house. And he says, it's my father's
house was intended to be a house of prayer. You've made it a den
of thieves. And then he left and he went to Bethany. Well,
then the next morning he left Bethany and he comes back to
the temple. Chapter 21, verse 23. And when
he was come into the temple, And then a lot of things happen.
The rest of the way, all of chapter 21, chapter 22, chapter 23, he's
in the temple teaching. And most of his hearers are the
religious hierarchy. He refers to them in this portion
of Scripture as scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. That's how he labeled
them. You've read that passage many
times. And then he gets to chapter 24.
The inspired writer Matthew says, and Jesus went out and departed
from the temple. Now, this is a monumental time. This is an important time for
this reason. He won't go back. He won't go
back to ministry anymore. His ministry in the temple is
now completed. His public ministry, which began
back at his baptism, when his public ministry officially began,
it continued all the way up to the end of chapter 23 of Matthew,
and that's it. That's it. He goes out of the
temple and he leaves it. There's a finality to this. A
finality to it. There's a conclusion to this.
He's finished with his public ministry. And he goes out and
he leaves the temple. Now listen to what he says about
the temple in chapter 23, verse 38. This is his last words. Now he's
got some things later on to say to his disciples. But as far
as his public ministry is concerned, this is it. This is all he's
got to say to them. And this is what he says about
their beloved temple. In verse 38, he says, Behold,
here's all these, can you imagine all these religious folks around,
all these big shots in religion? And he says, Behold, listen to
me, he says, your house that you glory in, this structure,
this temple, is left unto you desolate." This is a desolate area, he says. In other words, he's saying this
is a wilderness area. This is an area that is a waste
area because it has no water in it. You see, Christ himself
is the ladder of life. They were interested in him.
Oh, they had their altars, they had their lambs, they had their
sacrifices, they had their ceremonies, and they went through all of
these religious rituals, but they weren't interested in the
Son of God. They left him out. And in leaving
him out, their temple was a wilderness area. He said it's desolate.
It's a desert. That word desolate means a desert
area. A place where there's no water.
And where there's no water, there's no life. They had religion. They had ceremonies. They had
priests. They had scribes. They had therapies. They had the big wheels. But
they didn't have Christ. Had no life. It's desolate. If you don't have Christ, If
you don't have Christ in the church building, if you don't
have his gospel, or you may have carpet and chandeliers and candles
or painted windows or whatever else you may have, if you don't
have Christ, if a church building, if a congregation of people,
if they don't have Christ in his gospel, the gospel of substitution,
The gospel that tells us how God can be just and justify the
ungodly. If you don't have Christ in the
building, in the worship service, or in the service, you don't
have any worship without Christ. But if you don't have Him, it's
a desolate area. And I once looked at these religious
people, and he says, your temple is a desolate area. And he walked
off and left it. And they let him go. They let
him go. For order of life in their midst,
they let him go. We don't want you, they said.
The one who has life, he walked off, and they didn't say, please
come back. They didn't say, we need you. They didn't say, we're
worms, and we need a savior. They didn't say, we're beggars
on a dumb hill. They didn't say, we're maggots.
They said, we be not sinners, we don't need you. Do you need a savior? You need
a savior? I tell you, I do. I don't want
him to leave me. Because if he leaves me, my whole
life will be a desolate area. It'll be a desert with no water.
No life. And I'll perish. Well, that's
what he said. He said, Your house is left desolate.
Oh, it was a great religious edifice. But without Christ,
it was desolate. You know, it's interesting, back
in chapter 21, when he went into the temple, you remember there,
verse 13 of chapter 21, he said unto them, you know, he went
in the temple, he saw the tables that the money changers had set
up. And he said to them, back in chapter 21, verse 13, he said
unto them, It is written, My house shall be called a house
of prayer. He says, my house. But you get
over here to chapter 23, when he leaves it, he says, it's your
house. It's not my house. There's no
worship of God going on there. That's your house. That's your
religion. That's your church. That's your
denomination. That's your beliefs. He's not
in it. I don't want to go to my church,
do you? I don't want to believe a gospel that I invented. I want
his gospel and I want to go to his church. I want to listen
to his preacher, his message. That's who I want to listen to. Well, he leaves it. He abandons
it. Well, watch this. Now, we're
still in chapter 24, verse 1. And he went out and departed
from the temple. All right, now, his disciples
came to him. You see that? Chapter 24, the
latter part of verse 1. His disciples came to him to
show him the buildings of the temple. You see, they were greatly
impressed by the temple. This massive complex with the
huge columns and the beautiful architecture. And they were just,
you know, look at all of this. What a big church building. And
they called his attention to it. You see all of this? Wow, what a building. Isn't this
gorgeous? Bet it cost a lot of money. Don't
tell me how many man hours were invested in building this temple.
Beautiful architecture, tremendous structure. There were the gates
and the walls and the altars. It was just awesome. And the
disciples turned to the Savior as they, as they walked on Mount,
the Mount of Olives, and they said, Master, isn't that something?
Greatly impressed by it. Lots of people are impressed
by large religious structures. And they conclude that since
it's so large, God must be there. They have so many people. and
so many cars in the parking lots filled, and so God must be there. And the disciples were impressed
by this big building. But our Lord wasn't impressed. Actually, if you read the latter
part of chapter 23, you'll find that He was saddened by it, because
it was such a desolate area. He even said to them, old Jerusalem,
Jerusalem. He killed the prophets. I said,
prophet, you talked about this morning. God sent him prophets
and killed them all. And Christ said, I've sent prophet
after prophet to you, preachers of the gospel, to tell you sinners
how you can be reconciled to a holy God. But you killed them.
You didn't have any use for them. He said, I would have gathered
you to myself like a hen gathers her chickens, but you wouldn't
come. He wasn't interested. Therefore, your house is left
desolate." Well, they were—these disciples
were impressed. They were impressed by the grandeur
of the temple and the greatness of the temple and the beauty
of the temple, and just—just fill them with awe. Now watch
what our Lord says in verse 2, and Jesus said unto them, To
these men who were going, wow, what a church. Look at all the
buses. Look at the parking lots filled. Look at the educational wing. You know how many they had in
Sunday school last Sunday? They're breaking all kinds of
records. These men impressed with the temple. Jesus said, See ye not all these
things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here
one stone upon another. You men who are so impressed
by this building, he says, let me tell you something. Something's
going to happen here in a few years. And nobody will even know
that a temple ever stood on this ground. And it did happen in
70 A.D. The Roman Emperor Titus came
in. He started to spare the temple,
but some of his soldiers started plundering it and stealing things
out of it and taking things from it, and he decided to just level
it. And Josephus says, that, and I quote, there was nothing
left of the temple to make anyone who passed that way think that
anything ever stood on that site. What a temple. Our Lord says
it's doomed to destruction. Don't get too fascinated with
the building. We're grateful for the buildings
God gives us. He got a comfortable building
here. You've made improvements, and it's beautiful and comfortable,
but it's not this building. That's not what's important.
It's who's worshipped in this building. It's Christ the Son
of God. It's the preaching of His blood
and His righteousness. It's the proclamation of the
holiness of God. He said three things before.
He said three statements. The holiness of God, the righteousness
of God, and debasing man, telling people what we are, and then
declaring that only through Christ can we be accepted, only through
His blood, through His righteousness. What's the purpose of this building?
So don't get attached to these walls. Be thankful for this building,
but don't get so overly You know, involving the building, the building. Oh, the building's going to fall.
Everything's going to burn with a fervent heat. But the person who knows Christ,
who loves Christ, who's washed in His blood and robed in that
righteousness that Robert Mary McShane talked about, he said,
when I stand before the throne drenched in beauty, not my own,
that's the person who'll live forever. That's what I want."
Well, he said, it's doomed to destruction. It's just a building. Well, then they walked on up
to the Mount of Olives, and they sat down. And from their vantage
point, they were looking right back down at the temple, over
the gate toward the holy place. first three and as he sat upon
the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying,
Tell us. They had two questions. Would
you answer these two questions for us? Number one, when shall
these things be? What things? When is the temple
going to be destroyed? I don't want to know what he
just said. This place is doomed. It's not going to be left one
stone standing upon another stone. So they got to thinking about
it, maybe talking among themselves, and they elected a spokesman,
probably Simon Peter, and he went before the master and said,
Master, when are these things going to be? When's the temple
going to be destroyed? And secondly, what shall be the
sign of thy coming and of the end of the world. You see, they
heard him say a prayer in verse 39 of chapter 23. Now remember,
this is what he said in the temple to all those religious people.
He said, For I say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth
till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of
the Lord. You're not going to see me anymore
till I come in my glory. And then you're going to bless
me, you're going to worship me then. Every knee shall bow. Every
tongue shall confess. In that day, Christ is Lord.
So the disciples remembered that. So they said, Master, we've got
two questions for you. The first question is this. When
is the temple going to be destroyed? And the second question is this.
What will be the sign of your coming that you spoke of back
there in the temple, what's going to be the sign of it, and therefore
the end of the world? Now, if you want to understand
all of chapter 24 and all of chapter 25, here's what you remember. The rest of this portion of Scripture,
our Lord answers those two questions. That's what he does. He answers
those two questions. The first question is not of
great importance to us, because that is a historical event that
has already happened in 70 A.D. It's been recorded, it's been
written down, and people have written about it. So we're not
very interested in that. If you want to read about it,
I think that we can break down our Lord's answer, and he does
give the answer. He answers the first question.
When will the destruction of the temple be? He answers it
from verse four to verse twenty-two of chapter twenty-four. And then
from verses thirty-two through thirty-five, he adds a little
bit more. And that, he spends time answering
that first question. But he spends a whole lot more
time on that second question. And let's face it. Come on now,
we're a little interested in answering that second question,
too. What's the sign of thy coming? You know, every religion, every
denomination, nearly, is interested in the second coming of Christ.
That's why they have to make prophecy conferences. That's
why they have their charts. Some of you remember years ago,
Charlie Stevens and some of those folks put their charts up. Remember,
they'd go from one side to the other, and they'd go along and
point out all these things. But even those of us who believe
the gospel of grace, we don't deny. We have some interest in
this, too. What about this second coming
business? Well, our Lord deals with this
subject. He deals with it in chapter 24
and verses 23, 31. And then he deals with it, beginning
with verse 36, right on through in the chapter 25 up to the part
that starts talking about the judgment. Let me read you a few verses
here, and I don't remember what time I started, so I don't have
to know what time to end. I noticed somebody took the clock
off the wall back there, and I said, you know, old habits
are hard to break. This morning, after the service
was over, Paul, this wasn't during your message. I didn't look to
see what time it was during your message. But after the service
was over, I seemed not getting to the hospital, and I looked
up there and didn't see a clock. And I walked around and talked
to them, and I looked up there again to see the time. I bet I looked
up there five times out of habit. Just old habits are hard to break,
aren't they? But anyway, let's see if we can
go into this and answer the second question. Let me read you a few
verses, beginning with verse 23. of the commentators that I've
got a little confidence in. Most of them say that our Lord
leads the answer to the first question and proceeds to begin
to answer the second question at this point. Then, then, if
any man shall say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, he's
come back, he's come back over yonder, he says, don't believe
it. Verse twenty-four, For there
shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall show
great signs and wonders, insomuch that, if it were possible, they
shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I've told you before.
Wherefore, if they shall say unto you, Behold, he's in the
desert, don't go forth, he's not out there. Behold, he's in
the secret chambers, don't believe that either. If somebody says,
well, he came back to our country, the Mormons say he came to the
United States so many years ago, don't believe that. His coming's
not going to be in secret. Look what he says in verse twenty-seven.
For as the lightning cometh out of the west, or out of the east,
and shineth even to the west, so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. You'll know when he comes back.
You're going to have to ask somebody, and somebody's going to have
to tell you, you know, the Lord came back over yonder. It won't anybody
have to tell you that. And listen, there's a lot I don't understand
about the second coming, and I'm not going to, and you know
me, you know me, I'm not big on prophecy. But I'll tell you
this, in the second coming, this business of the second coming
of Jesus Christ, the glory of Christ is going to be revealed.
And John says in Revelation, every eye shall see Him. Every
eye. It's not going to be a secretive
coming. It's going to be very public. Because God the Father
has purposed to honor His Son. And I mean everybody's going
to honor Him. And that's going to make me happy. It's going
to make you happy when everybody honors the Son. Now some people
are going to be forced to honor Him in that day. There's going
to be a lot of us who've been honoring Him through life, and
we're going to be glad when the day comes when we'll perfectly
honor Him, and we'll see Him coming in His glory. I remember
when I was just a kid, and Mom and Dad would go out somewhere,
and of course they'd preach. Daddy did, and going back to
when we was in church in Baston, some of you a little older folks
remember those days when talked about those things, but he used
to tell us about the rapture of the church, and it scares
us to death. And I'd remember sometimes I'd
be at home, and maybe Mom and Dad didn't come back on time,
and I'd be afraid the rapture had taken place. I'd be so afraid
and scared, you know. You ever felt like that? Well,
Mom and Dad, the rapture's come back, and the Lord's come back. Mom and Dad are not around, I
don't know where they are, and the Lord's come back, and I'm
afraid. Well, you need not fear. Because if he comes back, you'll
know it. That's what he's saying. That's what he's saying right
here. If somebody says he's come back over here, I don't believe
him. He says there's a lightning.
Splits the sky east to west. Everybody sees it. That time
is coming to me. You won't miss it. You won't
miss it. I promise you. And he says, for
wheresoever the carcass is, it's going to be a day of destruction
when he comes back. I'll tell you that. That's what
that means. It's going to be a day of destruction.
Well, then he continues. He talks about some tribulation
that's going to happen. But finally he gets down here. Here's the answer that he gives. Verse 36. Now what's the question?
The question is, what's the sign of your coming? When's it going
to be? And here's what the Lord says. And I hope this answer
will satisfy you. He says, But of that day and
hour knoweth no man. No, not the angels of heaven,
but my Father only. Does that satisfy you? Nobody
knows. Nobody knows. Even the angels don't know. And in another place, it says
the Son of Man doesn't know. Mr. Spurgeon made this statement. He said, therefore, since the
angels don't know and the Son of Man doesn't know, he says,
therefore, we need not be troubled by the idle prophecies of harebrained
fanatics. For what the angels don't know
and the Son of Man doesn't know, I promise you, these fools don't
know." That's a good statement by Mr. Spurgeon. All right. But then after saying nobody
knows, he doesn't drop the subject of his second coming, but rather
he begins to emphasize this, and this is the theme of the
rest of chapter twenty-four. and chapter 25, right up until
the time that he talks about the judgment. Here's the theme.
Be prepared for his coming. That's the theme. Now, if you
can read this portion of Scripture, remembering that our Lord, he
doesn't say, he doesn't tell you the day, he doesn't tell
you the hour. He says angels don't know that. And he doesn't
give you a sign. He doesn't give you some evidences
and say, well, things are ripening up now, well, we might well look
for him. The apostles of Scripture, the inspired writers of Scripture,
they thought the second coming of Christ was imminent. It just
happened at any time, and it will happen at any time. Here's
what's important. Do you know Him who's coming
back? That's what's important. The disciples, there's signs
and evidences, and our Lord says in the rest of this passage,
He says, where you may have caught up with these things. Here's
what you need to be concentrating on. Do you know the one who's
coming back? Now that's the question. Do you
know him? And if you do know him, whatever
happens when he comes back, it'll be all right as far as you're
concerned, and you'll be fine. You'll be fine. Now I'll break
down the rest of this passage. In verses 37 through 34, here's
a message for everybody. He ends it, and he starts off
in verse 37 of chapter 24, "...but as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be." And then he describes the general conditions that existed
in the day of Noah, and the general conditions that will exist in
the day in which he comes back. But let me tell you something.
The general conditions that he describes are true of every day,
of every age. Well, what are the conditions?
For as in the days that were before the flood, they were eating
and drinking and marrying and giving in marriage until the
day that Noah entered into the ark. That's true of every age. People eating, drinking, marrying,
giving in marriage. Well, what's wrong with those
things? There's nothing wrong with those things. But there are more important
things to be attended to. And you know what they are? Eating the bread of life. There's a lesson every day. Eat
bread every day. Eat bread. Never get tired of
eating bread. Have you feasted on Christ? He said, I'm the bread that came
down from heaven. That's what he said. I'm the
manna. You fed on him? Drinking. Drinking the wine of
the gospel. The wine that fills the heart
with joy and delight. To know that my sins are forgiven
because of the blood of Christ. God loves me and I'm his child.
I'm washed and made clean, robed in righteousness. You drinking
in the wine of the gospel? Or are you neglecting that? And what about this marrying
business? You marry somebody that you fall
in love with. Say, are you in love with Christ? Hmm? Do you love him? Trust Him. Has the Spirit of God given you
to Christ in marriage? We ought to be occupied with
those things. Don't you think? Most people
aren't, though. They're just doing the eating,
the drinking, the marrying, and the giving in marriage. And they
miss these other things. But don't you miss them. Because
He's coming back. That's what this song is. He's
coming back. You better be ready. You better feed on him. This man gets up here and preaches
the gospel, and he does every time. I've heard tapes, heard
him this morning. You feed on the Christ he's preaching
about. Feed on him. Take it in. Take Christ in. Drink in the
wine of the gospel. Like Maurice Montgomery says,
just kind of cozy up to the Savior. Just love him. Just love him. Well, people in Noah's day heard
a true preacher. Peter called him a preacher of
righteousness. I'd like to have heard Noah preach. But you know what? Noah preached
what all God's preachers preach. He preached righteousness, the
righteousness that God demands, the righteousness God requires.
The righteousness we don't have, and where we get that righteousness,
is a creature of righteousness. And Moses said, here's the ark,
judgment's coming. Come on in. He said, just one
place of safety. That's what we're saying, Paul,
isn't it? Christ is the ark of salvation, wrath's coming, judgment's
coming. God's angry with the wicked every
day. The only fortress, the only place
of safety is the Lord Jesus Christ. Come on, sinner, come in with
us. We're going into the ark. We're in the ark already. We're
in Christ, and in him we're saved. In him we're justified. In him
we're righteous. In him we're accepted by the
Father. In him we're sanctified. In him
we're holy. We're in him. I wish you were
in him, too. Come into the ark of salvation.
There's just one door. See, what Paul's preaching, what
I'm preaching, our brother Noah preached thousands of years ago. Thousands of years. Just one
way of safety. Christ said, I'm the way. Noah
opened up that door to the ark. All the animals went in, and
the people went in the same way. Because there's one door. I got
to tell you about one day, after all them animals went in, you
know I used to march in parades when I was in high school. And
had them horses that went ahead of you, you know. And you're
marching down the street and you kind of watch where you step.
You know what I mean? I got to tell you about all them
animals going up into the yard. And Noah and his family were
right behind him. I tell you what, you got to go
the same way. It's just one entrance. And I
don't know what other kind of animals have gone ahead of you,
but you're an animal just like everybody else. And you've got
to, if you're going to be saved, you're going to have to go the
same way, right through that one entrance. Do you know it? Are you prepared? That's what
that's about. And then he gets down there, he talks about, in
verse 42, two workers in a field, one of them loves Christ, One of them worships him, the
other doesn't. Something's going to happen when the Lord comes
back. There's going to be a separation. They've been working together
for fifteen years down at the furniture factory, twenty years,
twenty-five years. One of them says to the other
one, you know, the pastor preached about the blood of Christ last
night. He tells us about salvation. I sure wish you'd come and go
with me and hear the gospel. Oh, I'm not interested. And one
of these days, they're going to be working together. Like
the lightning that lights up the sky from east to west, Christ
is going to come back in glory. And one of them is going to say,
Oh, I've looked for you so long. I've wanted to see my Savior.
And the other is going to Like in that song, call on the rocks
and the mountains to fall on him. God, separation day. You ready for it? That's what
our Lord's talking about. Two women grinding at the mill.
Verse 41, same thing going to happen. One of them loves the
gospel and the other doesn't. Well, that's the message for
everybody. You get down here to verses 42 through 44, it talks
about the suddenness of Christ's coming, how unexpected it's going
to be. Well then, here's the second
thing, because I've got to go quick. There's a message for
everybody. Here's the second message, verses 44 to 51. Here's a message for church workers. And I don't have time to read
it all, and you read it all later, but don't read it now. OK? But I'll give you the gist of
it. Here it is. Remain faithful to the gospel.
And you remain faithful. Don't quit. Keep on trusting
Christ. Keep on looking. You ain't got
tired of looking, have you? Hadn't got tired of feeding on
the gospel, have you? It hadn't become stale bread
to you, has it? I hope not. It does to some people,
and that's sad. That's sad. I'm sorry that some
people can't feed on the gospel. I tell you what, the Lord's people,
they hear it dished out, and they say, Pastor, tell us again. Tell us again. I want my heart
warm. Well, I'm out in the world, and
they got nothing for me out there. Oh, I love to hear you exalt
my Savior. Keep on resting in Him now. Lest
in the end, you quit. Somewhere along the line, you
quit, and in the end, You be, you be found among the imposters."
Verse fifty-one. And she'll cut him asunder, this
imposter, this imposter, who went well for a while. He talked
about being saved and grace and mercy and salvation, but he got
tired of grace and mercy and salvation. He quit. And here's
what happened to him. The Lord will appoint him his
portion with the hypocrites. And there should be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. That's the message for church
workers. Well, then we get to chapter 25. Now, remember, the
theme's still the same. It continues. You better be ready. Now, do you know it? Do you know
it? He gets into chapter 25 in the
first 13 verses. The parable of the ten virgins,
five wise and five foolish. This is a message for professing
believers. You see, they're virgins, clean
living, pure living, moral people. And the gist of this parable,
you know a parable, and we said this before and Paul said it
to you and other preachers said it to us. When you look at a
parable, you're not trying to dissect it. You're not trying
to see what every little thing means in a parable. You're trying
to learn, for lack of a better word, the moral of the story. There's generally one main teaching
to a parable. Don't miss that. And when it
comes to this parable of five wise and five foolish virgins,
I read the commentaries that argue about what ALL stands for. Here's what the parable is about.
Five of them were ready, and five of them weren't. This is what our Lord's talking
about. Be prepared when He comes! The bridegroom came, and five
weren't ready! They weren't ready! Christ, I'm
coming! My coming will be like the lightning
that flashes from east to the west. I'm coming. Are you ready
for me?" He says, I'm coming one of these days. I'm coming.
These five foolish virgins are people who are not ready. They
got a profession. They got church membership. But
they don't know Him. They don't know Him. And they're not going to get
in. You're a church member, baptized,
take the Lord's Supper, all these things. But the issue is, do
you know Jesus Christ? Now that's the issue. Do you
know Him? What think ye of Christ? I'm
not asking you what you think about Calvinism or a Baptist
church or the Lord's Supper. I'm asking you, what think you
of the Son of God? Do you trust Him? Are you leaning
on your own words, or are you only trusting Him? These five
people here picture folks in religion, folks in Christianity,
broad Christianity, who make a profession of faith, who don't
know Him, and they're not ready. And that's the gist of that parable.
Of course, you can get some other minor teachings from that parable,
and Paul's preaching through the parables, or was, and maybe
he's already preached on this, and maybe he's yet to get to
it. There's some other things that can be pointed out. Christ
is the bridegroom, and so forth. But the real teaching of this
parable is this. Be prepared. Be ready. And then you come to the—and
that's a message for professing believers—and then you come to
the parable of the talents. If you want to get confused,
read the commentators. My goodness, I read the commentators
on this parable, and I just came away scratching my head and said,
oh my goodness, I'm more confused than how I was before I started
reading them. And so what I did, and this is a good thing, don't
misunderstand me, I appreciate the commentators, and they've
helped me out a lot, because I need a lot of help. But what we might need to do
more often is just kind of close the commentators. I appreciate
you, Dr. Gill, and Brother Calvin, and
Matthew Henry, and we're not worthy to tie your shoes. I appreciate
you, but I'm going to look right here just to scriptures on this
one, just to see what—and ask God to teach me something. And
on this parable of the tablets—now, you know the parable? Van Gogh
is going to go on a fire journey, and before he leaves, he calls
his servant and says, I'm going to get to one of them. He says,
I'm going to give you five talents. And to a nun, he says, I'm going
to give you two talents. To a nun, he says, I'm going to give you
one talent. And while he's gone, one with five talents, he invested.
He went to New York Stock Exchange or whatever, and he invested,
and he doubled in the one with two. He invested, and he doubled
in the one that got one. He went out and buried it. And
after so long a time, the master comes back and he calls these
men before him. And the first one says, well,
I took the five and I invested. I got, here's five more for the
five you gave me. Well done. The one with two,
he invested and he got two more. The master said, well done. The
one who was given one talent went out and buried him. Remember
in the story, went out and buried him. And he didn't pass so well. When the master came back, the
master said, well, where is yours? He said, well, here, I just got
the one. Well, you didn't improve upon it. And he says, no, I was
afraid of you. I knew you as a ruthless man.
And I knew that you reaped what you didn't sow. And you just,
you're hard and you're tough. And, well, here it is. Here it
is. And the master said, cast him out. Well, the commentators
all They've got all kinds of ideas what these talents represent. Some of them, that's why I call
them Bible College, they said that these talents actually represent
the talents that God gives us, as in talents of music and talents
to teach and talents to preach and talents to sing and, you
know, talents like that. And then others say it's that
the talents represent The money that God gives us, and he gives
to some, five, you know, some get more money and some get lesser
money, some have a little money, but it's important how you use
your money. That's not what the talents represent,
and I'll tell you why I know that. Because the penalty for
not using these talents, whatever they are, whatever they represent,
the penalty for not using them wisely. is damnation. God's not damning anybody to
hell because they was able to play the piano, but they didn't.
That's not what it's about. You say, well, Jim, what is it
about? And of course, the key to understanding
the parable is the talents. What do they represent? These talents represent opportunities
that God gives sovereignly to all people. Privileges. He doesn't give equal
opportunities. He doesn't give equal privileges.
You say, what kind of privileges and opportunities are you talking
about? He's given you a Bible. Are you improving upon that?
Are you making use of it? He's given you to some of you,
you young people. He's given you a mother or a
father or perhaps a mother and a father who love Christ. And
they teach you about Christ. What are you doing with that
talent? What are you doing with that
opportunity God's given you? What are you doing with it? You
see, this one with five, he represents the man that God puts the Bible
in his hand. That's why the way of salvation
is in here somewhere. I want to know. It gives him
parents. Love the gospels. Mom, Dad, I
hear the preachers talk about the gospel of Christ and salvation. Tell me more about it. And he's given to some, like
to you and like to this community, a faithful gospel preacher. Are you improving upon that talent
God's giving you? Listen right here. And the man who had the one talent. Now see, God don't have to give
any opportunities. He don't have to give you any
privileges. Because you don't have any rights. You got some
privileges. God don't have to give you a
Bible. He don't have to give you a gospel preacher. But He
has. He has. And this one who got
the one talent, he didn't use it. And really, I kind of think
he was sort of a doctrinalist, because when the Lord, he stands
before the Lord, he's in essence said, I gave you a sovereign
because you reap what you don't sow, and you do what you want
to do. So I didn't do anything with
the opportunities you gave me. I didn't do anything. What are
you doing with the opportunities God's given you? Huh? Bible? Parents? Husband or wife? Pastor? Well, you better use them to
prepare to see the Lord. That's the theme of the whole
thing. See that? You see how that theme just runs
right on through this? Prepare to meet Christ by believing
Him, by trusting Him. But then the last part of chapter
25, the judgment, sheep and goats. Here's another message for everybody, because we're all going to stand
before Him someday. Just two groups of people anyway,
aren't there? Sheep and goats. He says to the
one group, He says, Come ye blessed of my Father. Haven't we been
blessed by the Father? Blessed in the covenant of grace
He gave us to His Son in love. Blessed at Calvary when Christ
died for us. Blessed of the Father. The Father
sent the Son. He sent the Son to be the Savior
of His elect. Blessed of the Father, He sent
His Spirit to call us and to woo us to the Savior, to bring
us to Christ. Come, ye blessed of my Father.
this inheritance, all of these glories that have been prepared
for you. Then, of course, he says some
things to them. He says, I was hungry and you fed me. I was
thirsty and you gave me some water. I was naked and you gave
me some clothes. I think a couple of things can
be seen here and then I'll quit. I think this teaches, one of
the things that this teaches is that those who've been given
to Christ, who've been saved by his grace, at conversion,
God gives them a new nature and he gives them new characteristics.
The grace of God makes them gracious. And the mercy of God makes us
merciful. And the love of God makes us
loving. The kindness of God makes us tender. The forgiveness of
God makes us forgiving. He says of these goats, he says,
I was hungry and you didn't give me anything. You was interested
in yourself. You didn't have these characteristics that I
give to my sheep. But I believe there's something
else there and I'll just give it to you. They were interested
in others. He said, you saw somebody who
was hungry, you gave them the bread of life. That's what you
gave. And you saw somebody who was
thirsty, and you gave him the water of life. And you saw somebody
who was a stranger, and you welcomed the man, and you received him.
And you saw somebody who was spiritually naked, and you told
him about a robe of righteousness. And you told him, you said, I
was naked, too. I had old, dirty rags of righteousness. But I tell you, there's a Savior
who'll give you a robe of righteousness. You'll come to Him. Come on to
Him, will you?" Christ says, you give them a robe of righteousness. Second, you visited me. I crossed somebody who's sick
in sin, tell them about the position of sinners. I was in prison. You told them about the liberator,
the one who could preach. And they say, well, Lord, when
do we ever do those things? He said, when you did it to the
least of these, you did it to me. Here's the theme of 24 and
25. Do you know him? Are you ready
to meet him? You're not ready if you're still
dressed in those old dirty rags of righteousness, your good works
leaning on. You're not ready. You better
hope he doesn't come back. If I was you, I'd be afraid he'd
come back. But boy, if you're rested in it, if you just trust
in Him, then you can say with John the Apostle, even so come,
Lord Jesus. I'm ready because you've washed
me in your blood. You've robed me in your righteousness.
I've got no other hope but you, and Lord, I want to see you.
And I do, don't you? I want to see you. And I will,
like Job said. I'll see him someday. I will."
Well, that's Matthew 24 and 25. you