The Coming Judgment
Matthew 25:31-46
December 16, 2012

When you read through the Scriptures,
There are obvious themes that continually emerge.

On one hand Scripture is extremely complex.
It is spiritually appraised, transcendent and we realize that to some degree we will never fully grasp all that it contains.

But on the other hand Scripture is also clear and even repetitive.

Moses said:
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”

There are certainly secret things that we can’t know now,
But there are also things which are revealed,
And some of those things are revealed over and over.

And one of those things that continually emerges for everyone to see
Is the fact that humanity has a decision to make.

Scripture is filled with invitations to choose one path or another
In regard to following God.

Moses:
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Joshua:
Joshua 24:14-15 “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”

Elijah:
1 Kings 18:21 “Elijah came near to all the people and said, ” How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word.”

Isaiah:
Isaiah 55:1-3 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat.Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David.”

Jesus:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Of course there are many more to list.

The point is that God is continually asking humanity to make a decision
As to how they are going to live and who they are going to serve.

One reason is to protect us from immediate consequences.

If you go down the wrong path,
It can certainly bring immediate consequences against you.

Commands from God like “No Adultery” or “No Drunkenness”
Or “No Coveting” are certainly good advice.

There is a definite protection in choosing God’s way
From the immediate consequences of this world.

The other reason is to protect us from the eternal consequences.

And rest assured friends, the judgment is real.
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”

Psalms 98:8-9 “Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy Before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness And the peoples with equity.

There is an eternal judgment that men will face.

And that judgment is on sin.

See, God knows about sin.
Numbers 32:23 “… be sure your sin will find you out.”

Psalms 90:8 “You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.”

Revelation 20:11-12 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”

God knows about man’s sin, and man can rest assured that
God will render justice on his sin.

Isaiah 3:11 “Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him.”

Romans 2:9 “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek,”

See, judgment is certain.

And that thought is really the climax of this Olivet Discourse
That Jesus has been giving.

This discourse wasn’t given to satisfy your curiosity.
(It didn’t really do that)
This discourse was giving to stir up your preparation.

Over and over we are reminded to “Be ready”

The coming of the Lord and the subsequent judgment
Will be Sudden, Surprising, and Severe.
You had better be ready.

Now, we’ve already seen two examples of those who weren’t prepared.

The first group was pictured as 5 foolish virgins.
• Those girls who took torches, but no oil.
• They were those who had external deeds, but no internal sincerity.
• They did all the religious stuff, but they didn’t know the Lord and they didn’t
have the Holy Spirit.

Being religious without a true love for God or a relationship with Christ
Is not what it means to be prepared.

The second group was pictured as a wicked, lazy slave.
• That slave that hid his master’s money instead of using it.
• He was the one with a claim of being genuine, but who had no external deeds.
• He talked a big game, but his walk didn’t back it up.

Certainly external deeds will not save you, but you will have a hard time proving you are saved with no external deeds.

Both were unprepared, and ultimately judged.

And this morning it is that judgment that we focus on.

I suppose we could break it down quite a bit more than I am going to do this morning, but I think we’ll still get the point.

There are four main things I want you to see about this judgment.
#1 THE TIMING
Matthew 25:31

One of the things the disciples were really curious about
Was the timing of all the events of the end.

Jesus never gave a date, but He did give a timeline.
• First would be the abomination of desolation
• Immediately followed by devastation
• Immediately followed by tribulation
• Immediately followed by the return of Christ.

And it is at the return of Christ that the first judgment will occur.

“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.”

Christ isn’t coming back
To take another beating at the hand of sinners.

When He returns there will be
No need for a Manger, or a Cross, or a Crown of Thorns.

He is coming back to rule.
Isaiah 11:1-5 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.”

Jesus is without a doubt the King that Isaiah saw.

The other familiar prophecy about Him comes in Isaiah’s 9th chapter.

Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

That is commonly quoted at Christmas,
But most of it will be fulfilled at His return.

When Christ comes,
• That is when He will rule.
• That is when He will judge.
• That is when the entire world will be forced to submit to His reign.
So the timing of judgment will be the return of Christ.

#2 THE RECIPIENTS
Matthew 25:32a

“All the nations will be gathered before Him”

Now, don’t confuse this with the great white throne judgment.
That will occur at the end of Christ’s 1,000 year reign.

At the end of Christ’s reign all the dead will rise and will stand before
The great white throne and final judgment will be delivered.

This judgment will be for all those living at the time of His return.
On the day He returns every single human alive on earth
Will be required to come and stand before Him.

There will be no stragglers, there will be none able to escape.
Every person from every nation “will be gathered before Him”

No one is hidden, no one escapes.
Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
Everyone is judged.

And that is true not only for this judgment, but for all judgments.
No one escapes judgment.
(3 Major ones)

• Those who are raptured will also stand before Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

• Everyone alive at the return stands before Christ.

• Non-believers will stand before the Great White Throne judgment.
Revelation 20:11-12 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”

And as we see in all those accounts, no one is exempt.

This week we were shocked and saddened once again
By an outbreak of evil in the land.
This shooting in Connecticut is awful, it makes one literally angry.

And when you find that the shooters killed themselves my first thought, was,
“Oh man I wish we would have gotten to them first,
before they took the easy way out.”

But that isn’t true.
He bypassed the judgment of men
And instead opted to immediately face the judgment of God.

“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul;
but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Those guys just thought they were bypassing punishment.
At this moment they’d give anything to come back and face man’s wrath.

Everyone faces judgment.
• No one is exempt.
• No one is rich enough…
• No one is strong enough…
• No one is secret enough…
• No one is persuasive enough…

Everyone stands for judgment,
And that will be true of those alive when Christ returns.

Those who survive the terrors of the anti-Christ
Will face the judgment of the actual Christ.

The Timing, The Recipients
#3 THE CERTAINTY
Matthew 25:32b-33

We talked about the certainly of Christ’s return,
Well here we learn of the certainty of His judgment.

“He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

Commonly a shepherd would heard a flock of sheep and goats together, but at night it was necessary to separate them as goats could very easily upset the sheep.
The shepherd was in charge of separating the two.

And Jesus says, that is exactly what I will do when I return.

I’ll take every human alive and there will be a great separation.
Those I see as sheep, will be on My right.
Those I see as goats, will be on My left.
But rest assured, the judgment will occur.
It is a certain thing.

“He will separate…”
“He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”

Matthew 3:11-12 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 13:40-43 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”

Matthew 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

You get the idea.
The judgment is certainly coming.

The Timing, The Recipients, The Certainty
#4 THE CRITERIA
Matthew 25:34-46

And this is obvious the bulk of the passage.

This once again focuses on what it means to be prepared.
• We’ve seen that apathy isn’t preparation.
• We’ve seen that outward conformity isn’t preparation.
• We’ve seen that laziness isn’t conformity.

Well here we learn a little more about the criteria
By which the Lord will judge when He returns.

We first see the sheep (the righteous) and then the goats (the wicked)

(34-40) “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

Just a few observations here

First of all, it would be real easy to look at this judgment as a works based judgment.

After all, doesn’t appear that the reason they are being spared
Is because they remembered the poor,
Where as those who are wicked are being judged for neglecting them.

It certainly can appear that way, but that is not accurate.

Notice closely what Jesus says in verse 34.
(34) “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

Don’t disregard the role of the sovereignty of God.

These did not earn the kingdom through their benevolent efforts.
They received the kingdom because they were “blessed of My Father”

Furthermore the kingdom they are inheriting was “prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

In other words.
They aren’t getting in the kingdom
Because they had better works than the next group.

They are getting in the kingdom because they were blessed by the Father to have been called to faith in Jesus Christ.

They didn’t earn their salvation, they received it.
They were God’s chosen.
They were saved by Christ.

SO WHAT THEN IS ALL THIS TALK ABOUT BENEVOLENCE?
The benevolence was their fruit.

Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Christians aren’t saved BY works, they are saved FOR works.
God saves us by grace and then expects us to have works.

Wasn’t that the problem with the wicked, lazy slave in the last parable?

And James is clear about this.
James 2:14-17 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”

If you say you have faith, but your faith doesn’t produce works,
Can that faith save you?

“NO”
A faith that doesn’t produce good works is a faith that cannot save.
True saving faith, also produces good works.

And so these in the parable did not earn their salvation,
They proved their salvation.

HOW?
By benevolence.

(35-36) “’For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’”

They proved themselves to be genuine followers of Christ,
As evidenced by their measurable love for Christ.

Now another interesting thing here is that
This group is somewhat shocked by this ruling.

(37-39) “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’”

Initially, they don’t have any idea what He is talking about.
They weren’t the type to boast about all the good they had done.
They weren’t the type to bring up a resume.

• They were poor in spirit.
• They were those who mourned over their sin.
• They were those who were meek.
• They were those who hungered for righteousness.
They also, by the way, were those who showed mercy.

But they don’t know when they did all this for Jesus,
They certainly never saw Him.

(40) “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

Jesus said, by showing love for your poor brothers,
You proved yourself as one who loved Me.

Did they earn their salvation by helping the poor?
No

1 Corinthians 13:3 “And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”

You can’t purchase your salvation by helping the poor.

The old song is still true:
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus”

However, these people revealed that they had been saved
And it was evident when they helped the poor.

That means if your faith isn’t measurable by your compassion to those in need, you need to check the reality of your faith.

1 John 3:17-18 “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”

John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Helping the poor is a great indicator of genuine salvation.

It ultimately is an expression of love to God.
Proverbs 19:17 “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.”

See, helping those who can help you back
Can be done for selfish reasons.
But helping those who cannot repay can only be done for God.

Luke 14:12-14 “And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. “But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
And so these revealed themselves righteous by helping the poor.

THE OTHER THING WE NOTICE is that nothing Jesus mentioned here could be categorized as “magnificent”

Notice the difference between this group
And a previous group we have seen.

Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

Those people thought their magnificent works
Would assure them a spot in the kingdom. NO

Jesus wasn’t looking for magnificent work,
Jesus was looking for genuine work.

He saw these as those who helped the poor, and they did it for His sake,
They actually lent to Him and He now welcomed them into His kingdom.

BUT THAT IS ONLY HALF OF THE JUDGMENT.

(41-46) “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Here it is just the opposite.
Again, they weren’t lost for failing to help the poor,
But rather they revealed themselves lost by failing to help the poor.

And the tragic part is that they were totally oblivious to the fact.

They had been so content and self-focused in their lives
They never even noticed the plight of the poor around them.

This selfish focus revealed a lack of love for Christ
And the absence of saving faith.
In fact, notice that the sins listed against them aren’t gross immoralities.

Often times when talking to people about the judgment
People will say something like, “but I’ve never killed anyone, I don’t sleep around, I’m not a drug dealer, I’m not a thief”

WELL, NEITHER WERE THESE PEOPLE
AND THEY WERE STILL ON THE LEFT HAND OF THE JUDGE
AND THEY WERE STILL BANISHED TO ETERNAL TORMENT!

They weren’t condemned for their gross immorality,
They were condemned for their lack of saving faith.

And you get the idea here.
• Judgment is real, it is coming, and every man will face it.
• And every man will be judged on the reality of his faith in Christ.

The implication is again that you be ready, that you be prepared.

Now let me be clear.
That does not mean you need to go out and give to charity.

That is a backward approach, and you will not earn salvation that way.

What it means is that you need to submit your life to Jesus Christ,
And then your new found love for Him
Will cause you to go out and help the poor.

This judgment is meant to push you to Jesus and to beg Him for His forgiveness and to plead for His salvation.

John MacArthur wrote:
“In light of the utter and perfect holiness of the Almighty and the persistent sinfulness and ungodliness of man…it is not the Lord’s coming in wrath to render judgment that is amazing but rather His first coming in grace to offer salvation. The wonder is not that Jesus will some day come in glory to judge the world but that He first came in humility to save sinners. The marvel is not that God promises to condemn sinners for their sin but that He first offers them deliverance from it. In coming to save those who trust in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated His great love for the unlovely by bearing the penalty of their sin, dying the death they deserve. What is remarkable is that He came to redeem sinners who are worthy only of His judgment.”
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary; Matthew 24-28; Moody Press, Chicago, Ill, 1984] pg. 114)

And that is true isn’t it?

Furthermore, that is where we are today.

Jesus warned of the judgment, BUT the judgment hasn’t come yet.
Some day you will find yourself standing before
The crossed arms of the Judge, but that day is not today.
Today we find ourselves standing before the open arms of the Savior.

And He is giving that invitation to escape the coming judgment.

Moses said, “I set before you life and death…so choose life”
Joshua said, “Choose this day whom you will serve…”
Elijah said, “If the Lord is God, follow Him…”

Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

Now, as you can see, this morning
We are going to come to the table of the Lord.

This table is a place where we are reminded
Of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf.

Before we come, we always have a time of preparation.
It is a time of self-examination.

And this morning, if you are not a child of God.
• If you are not saved.
• If you have no oil for your lamp.
• If you have no works to validate your faith.

Then this morning, standing in view of the salvation of Christ,
Surrender your life to Jesus Christ.

If today you are saved, and you are a child of God,
And it is measurable by the fruit in your life.

Then worship Jesus Christ,
Knowing that even though you only deserve judgment,
He first gave you salvation.

That is what this time is for.
THE LORD’S SUPPER

• Deacons come

Romans 3:19-24 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;”

• Give Bread
• Prayer
• Pass out Bread

Matthew 26:26 “While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”

• Take bread

Romans 5:6-11 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”

• Give juice to deacons
• Deacon prayer
• Pass out juice

Matthew 26:27-28 “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”

• Parting Hymn

 

 

 

The Wicked, Lazy Slave
Matthew 25:14-30
December 9, 2012

As you know we are still studying through this portion of Scripture
Commonly known as “The Olivet Discourse”

The disciples wanted to know from Jesus what the end would be like
And when it would come, this discourse is the answer to those questions.

We have already seen the EXPLANATION portion of the answer.
• The events will start with a great abomination
• Followed by great devastation
• And then great tribulation

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.”

It will be the great coronation of the king.

And Jesus assured us that when we see those events
Those alive in that day can be certain that He will return soon.
In fact, He is near, right at the door.

However:
Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

So Jesus quickly stressed two things.
It is coming
You don’t know when

The reality of that forces us then to make sure we are presently prepared.

If we don’t know when, but we know it is going to happen,
Then we are fools not to prepare ourselves ahead of time.

And that was the point that Jesus most recently made.

Last week we actually got a good peek at some fools.
(5 of them to be exact)

5 virgins were fools because in their going out to meet the bridegroom,
They took their torch, but they didn’t take oil.

And we learned that they represent those who outwardly profess Christ,
But inwardly have no relationship with Him.
They have religious activity, but they do not have the Holy Spirit.
And so while they are busy making torches,
Those torches will never actually burn.

Well, this morning we get another parable,
And this one is quite similar to the parable of the ten virgins.

We commonly call this one, “The Parable of the Talents”

But, like the previous parable, this issue here isn’t the talents,
So much as it is the wicked, lazy slave that wasted them.

Here, however is the difference.

In the parable of the 10 virgins we have people who are revealed to be either genuine or phony based on their inward dedication.

In this parable of the talents we have slaves who are revealed to be either genuine or phony based on their outward service.

One parable illustrates the importance of loving the Lord,
The other illustrates the importance of serving Him faithfully.

NOW
While we never overlook the necessity of attributes like
faith, love, or hope, we must also never forget that
Christianity is also very practical.

SCRIPTURE EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF BOTH
“BEING” AND “DOING”

• The foolish Virgins tried to “do” without “being”
• The wicked slave tried to “be” without “doing”

A true believer is a union of both.
“He is” and “He does”

So last week we focused on not just going through the motions
Without having the inward reality of oil (Holy Spirit)

This week we focus on not just claiming to have a relationship
With no outward fruit.

Christians are to be both internally genuine and externally evident.

IN SHORT:
Outward service and obedience matters

Outward service isn’t enough if you don’t know Christ,
But you’ll have a tough time proving you know Christ
If you don’t have outward service.

The Christian life is all about serving God.

Take the men of Scripture.

Have you ever noticed what they called themselves?
Romans 1:1 “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus…”

1 Corinthians 4:1 “Let a man regard us in this manner, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.”

Philippians 1:1 “Paul and Timothy, bond-servants of Christ Jesus…”

Paul saw himself as a servant.
In fact, notice what he said about his ministry:

1 Timothy 1:12 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service,”

And it wasn’t just Paul:
James 1:1 “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ…”

2 Peter 1:1 “Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ…”

Jude 1 “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ…”

As true believers they saw themselves
First and foremost as servants, slaves of Christ.
They knew their life was all about doing the will of Christ, not themselves.

That is what Christians do.
THEY SERVE CHRIST
WHY?
Service is the most natural response of genuine gratitude.
Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”

Remember the woman of ill repute that came to Jesus?
Luke 7:44-47 “Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. “You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. “You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. “For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little.”

Service to Jesus is the most natural response of a heart that loves Jesus
And is grateful to Him for what He has done.

Now this service certainly includes what we would call “Kingdom work”

Things like evangelism.
Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Or things like benevolence.
Proverbs 19:17 “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.”

Or things like hospitality
Romans 12:10-11 “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor; not lagging behind in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord;”

But in reality it isn’t just those things.
A true Christian serves Christ in everything he does.

Ephesians 6:5-8 “Slaves, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in the sincerity of your heart, as to Christ; not by way of eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. With good will render service, as to the Lord, and not to men, knowing that whatever good thing each one does, this he will receive back from the Lord, whether slave or free.”

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

The Christian life is the life of service to Christ.

You can’t just make Christianity all about some inward relationship
That never makes itself evident on the outside.

We are here to love Christ,
And that love is to be expressed in our service for Him.

So while the person who involves himself in all sorts of religious activity without knowing Christ (like the virgins) is a sham,
So also is a person who claims to know Christ while involving himself in nothing (like the wicked lazy slave).

There are four things we see in this story.
#1 THE MOMENT OF ASSIGMENT
Matthew 25:14-15

Now it is important that you catch the parameters of this parable.

Of course it is in reference to the kingdom of heaven, like the previous.
But here it is compared to “a man about to go on a journey”

And notice he “called his own slaves”

Now that is important.
• This parable isn’t about the world.
• This parable isn’t about the godless, or the atheist, or the muslim, etc.

This parable is in reference to those
Who have sworn allegiance to the master.

The word there “slaves” translates DOULOS
It is the same word Paul, Peter, James, and Jude used – “bond-servant”

It comes from the Old Testament:
Exodus 21:5-6 “But if the slave plainly says, ‘I love my master, my wife and my children; I will not go out as a free man,’ then his master shall bring him to God, then he shall bring him to the door or the doorpost. And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him permanently.”

That is what these guys were.
They were guys that made a decision to stay with the master
And serve him permanently.

These would picture professing Christians.

And so, as the master prepares to leave,
He calls these slaves to give them their assignments.

Here he “entrusted his possessions to them.”

This is that period of assignment.

Now don’t confuse this with the giving of spiritual gifts,
That is not what we are here talking about.

Only genuine believers get spiritual gifts,
And as we’ll see later they aren’t all genuine believers.

This is the assigning of service.
This is in reference to the “church work”
That everyone who desires to be a part of the church must do.

Things like evangelism, benevolence, hospitality, etc.

The master is leaving and he expects his servants to do his work.

Now it is important to note that not all
Were expected to do the same quantity.

(15) “To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey.”

What we notice is that they were each entrusted with different levels.

And by the way, we have no idea how much money this was. A talent was a weight. If it was gold it was a lot, silver was less, bronze less, etc.

But they were given different amounts,
“each according to his own ability;”

The master knew the slaves, he knew what they were capable of,
And he gave them what he thought they could handle.

You take a guy with a voice like Adrian Rogers…
Or a guy with a mind like John MacArthur…
We see in them as “five talent” type of guys.

Most of us are far more limited than guys like that.

But the point is that regardless of ability,
Each one was entrusted with responsibility.

EVERYONE WAS EXPECTED TO SERVE
• You may not pastor a mega church.
• You may not be president of the Southern Baptist Convention
• You may not be expected to write a commentary series

But, that doesn’t mean you aren’t expected to serve.

The Moment of Assignment
#2 THE PERIOD OF SERVICE
Matthew 25:16-18

Now you noticed in verse 15 that the master “went on his journey”.

Well, obviously the master is Jesus, and the journey refers to
The time period between His ascension and His second coming.

Two did well right off the bat.
(16) “Immediately the one who had received five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents.”

The key word there is “immediately”

This man was eager.
Sure he was capable, sure he had ability,
But the main point is that he was glad to do it in service of his master.

And that is also true for the second man.
(17) “In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more.”
He was also eager to serve.

Now, there is really no issue here
That one made a profit of 5 and the other a profit of two.

The issue is that they were eager, and productive,
And faithful to do what they were intended to do.

That cannot be said for this last guy.
(18) “But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.”

This guy wasn’t enthused.
This guy wasn’t excited.

This guy only wanted to go about his own thing
And forget about his responsibility.

People in that day would bury their treasures to keep them safe
(remember the treasure in the field)

Well this guy just buried the treasure and went on about his life.
He had other things to do, he wasn’t interested in service.

Obviously, that cannot be our attitude.
Christ expects you to be faithful in service while He is gone.

Romans 13:11-14 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

Listen to what John said:
1 John 2:28-29 “Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you know that everyone also who practices righteousness is born of Him.”
The implication there is doing what you are supposed to do
So you can look forward to His return.

And this is how Paul lived.
2 Timothy 4:6-8 “For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.”
Paul couldn’t wait for Jesus to return, he longed for it.
Why? Because he had done what was asked of him
And he knew he would be rewarded.

That is why Paul told his young protégé Timothy:
2 Timothy 4:1-2 “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

Paul told Timothy to also serve with a view to the return of the master.

That is what we have to do.

I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY TALENTS HAVE BEEN GIVEN TO YOU.
The issue is that you serve Christ with everything you’ve got
So that when He returns you will be found faithful.

The Moment of Assignment, The Period of Service
#3 THE SETTLING OF ACCOUNTS
Matthew 25:19-27

And once again we get the return.
(19) “Now after a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them.”

By saying it took “a long time”, Jesus is implying
That these slaves could have fallen into that same apathetic mentality
Of those 5 foolish virgins.

They had no reason to assume it would happen today,
After all it had been 2,000 years.
But, He did return, just like He said He would.

And He began to settle the accounts.

And first, we have to make sure and see the COMMENDATION
That was given to the two faithful slaves.
(20-23) “The one who had received the five talents came up and brought five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you entrusted five talents to me. See, I have gained five more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ “Also the one who had received the two talents came up and said, ‘Master, you entrusted two talents to me. See, I have gained two more talents.’ “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’”
Notice their reward had nothing to do with the amount of success,
But rather with the degree of their faithfulness.

He didn’t expect five talents from the second slave,
He only expected the second slave to be faithful.

And that is all He expects now.
He may not be expecting you to write a series of commentaries,
Or be president of the Southern Baptist Convention.
He has those “5 talent” guys for that.

But He does expect you to be faithful with what you do have,
And to serve Him with the best of your ability.

This is a thought I always try to keep in my head,
And something God really impressed upon me one day.

1 Peter 5:1-2 “Therefore, I exhort the elders among you, as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ, and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness;”

I read that and it hits me that
• God never said I had to pastor a mega-church.
• God never said he would judge me based on the size of my flock.

He said He would judge me based on my faithfulness
To the flock He gave me.

And that I am to serve that flock
Voluntarily, according to His will, and with eagerness.

I just have to be faithful where I am, and with what I have, and SO DO YOU
You may not be a pastor
You may not be a music leader
You may not be a teacher or singer or instrumentalist

But whatever you do have, serve God faithfully with it.

And for those who were faithful, regardless of their results,
Notice what they received.

1) The commendation of the master
“Well done, good and faithful slave.”

That is the desire of every true believer, to hear Jesus say, “Well done!”

2) Greater responsibility
“You were faithful with a few things, I will put you in charge of many things”
3) More intimacy with the master
“enter into the joy of your master”

But there is a flip side to this story as well,
And that is that lazy slave.

(24-25) “And the one also who had received the one talent came up and said, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. ‘And I was afraid, and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours.’”

I hope you picked up on what this guy said.
Not only did he not serve the master faithfully,
But he actually blamed his lack of service on the master.

“I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed.”

WHAT WAS HE SAYING?
He was calling his master a thief.

His master gave him a talent to use to gain more talents,
And instead of using it, the slave said,
“This might be stolen, I’d better not do anything with it.”

The reality is he didn’t serve at all.
And the reason is because he didn’t care about the master.

He had claimed to be a servant.
He had claimed to be submissive to the master,
But his actions proved otherwise.

And the master was none too happy.
(26-27) “But his master answered and said to him, ‘You wicked, lazy slave, you knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. ‘Then you ought to have put my money in the bank, and on my arrival I would have received my money back with interest.”

The master is not admitting to being a thief, he is merely saying, “If that is what you really thought than you should have at least invested it where I could get interest.”

The reality is that this slave did nothing,
Because he did not care about the master.

Luke 19 gives the parable of the Minas.
They are not the same parable, that one was given before the triumphal entry, but they are similar enough we certainly get the same picture.
Luke 19:23-27 “Then why did you not put my money in the bank, and having come, I would have collected it with interest?’ “Then he said to the bystanders, ‘Take the mina away from him and give it to the one who has the ten minas.’ “And they said to him, ‘Master, he has ten minas already.’ “I tell you that to everyone who has, more shall be given, but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”

There we get a little more understanding.
The slave didn’t do anything with the money because deep down
He didn’t want to be in submission to the master.

He was actually rooting for the master to fail, or go bankrupt.
That is probably why he buried the money instead of putting it in a bank.

That way when the master failed,
He could go dig it up and keep it for himself.

This man didn’t serve because, despite his claims,
He didn’t really love the master.

And that is a key point.
Those who truly love the master, truly serve the master.

The Moment of Assignment, The Period of Service, The Settling of Accounts
#4 THE RENDERING OF JUDGMENT
Matthew 25:28-30

The first thing Jesus does is totally strip him of all responsibility.
He wasn’t faithful, so he loses opportunity to serve me.

(28-29) “Therefore take away the talent from him, and give it to the one who has the ten talents.’ “For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away.”

Now, you’ve heard that statement before.

Remember the parables of the kingdom back in chapter 13.
Matthew 13:10-12 “And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” Jesus answered them, “To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. “For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

If you do something with what He gives you, you get more.
If you refuse to do something with what He gives you, then you even lose that.

Jesus was happy to give this man a chance to prove His devotion.
Jesus was happy to give this man a chance to prove His love.
But this man threw His opportunity back in the master’s face,
And the master wasn’t going to give him another one.

Instead this slave received judgment.
(30) “Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

That slave got put in the same place as those foolish virgins.
He was thrown out with the hypocrites.

And that is what they both where.
One was busy in service without an internal love for the master.
The other claimed to have love, but had no service.

WHAT IS THE POINT?
Be ready.

HOW?
By not only loving Christ in your heart,
But also by serving Christ with your life.

Service without love profits nothing.
Love without service is fake.

Amy Carmichael said, “You can give without loving, you can’t love without giving”

That is what this man tried, and the master destroyed him.

So last week we talked about the inward reality of your life.
• And I asked you to evaluate yourself.
• Look and see if Christ is in you.
• Look and see if you have the Holy Spirit.

Well this morning I ask you to evaluate yourself once again.
(This time in regard to your service)

Now again, I can’t evaluate you, and you can’t evaluate me.
WHY?

Because neither of us knows
How many talents the Lord gave to each other.

• I can’t judge you based on my scale, because I may have been entrusted with more talents than you.

• You can’t judge me based on your scale, because you may have been entrusted with more talents than me.

All we can do is ask, “Am I serving Jesus with all I have and to the best of my ability?”

• Do I seek to serve?
• Do I seek to share Christ?
• Do I seek to help the poor?
• Am I doing all I can with what I have?
• Am I being faithful to use all my talents, time, abilities, possessions, for the glory of my master?

A true and genuine believer does those things
Because he loves the master more than anything
And he wants to hear well done at the end.

So this morning check yourself again.
• Make sure Christ is in you.
• Make sure you are serving to the best of your ability.

Don’t take a lamp without oil,
But don’t claim to have oil if you refuse to carry a lamp.

Don’t be a wicked, lazy slave, who claims to love the master,
But has no service to prove it.

Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.”

Got Oil?
Matthew 25:1-13
December 2, 2012

As you know we are currently working our way through what must be considered the most important teaching there is on the end times.

It is the most important because it came directly from the lips of Jesus.
When asked about the end, this is the answer that He gave.

And Jesus first started with an EXPLANATION of what would happen.
• There will be a time of great devastation in the world
• It will be followed by a time of great tribulation
• The catalyst for both of those will be the abomination of desolation
• And following that will be the coronation.

And that was the simple explanation of the events.

From there Jesus moved directly into His EXHORTATION.

This is the portion of the sermon where He tells you
What you should do with the information He has given you.

Now at this point I have to tell you that I messed up.
As much as I would like to blame it on the hustle and bustle of the Thanksgiving week, the reality is that I’m human.

You probably noticed, but we skipped a few verses last week.

I have no idea why, but I just failed to deal with verses 32-35.

Matthew 24:32-35 “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door. “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

Now I’m not going to go back and give you a full sermon on this passage,
Being out of order, I don’t want to mess up our flow.

If you’re a note taker, then this should have been the first point last week.
You can write it as:

The Return of the Lord will be:
SURE LIKE THE SEASONS

That is what Jesus reveals here.

Jesus is obviously speaking a parable,
But He is speaking a parable of certainties.

Now nature is full of certainties.
• The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west
• Fall follows summer and winter follows fall and so on.

Well in Jesus’ day one of those certainties was that
A fig tree put on leaves just before summer.

Anyone could tell that summer was approaching
Because a fig tree had leaves on it.
It is a fact of certainty.

Well Jesus takes that truth and applies it
To what He has just said about the events preceding His return.

• The beginning of the birth pangs are wars, earthquakes and famines
• The birth pangs then get more severe with world-wide tribulation
• And then finally the figurative birth is when Christ appears.

And Jesus wants you to know that those things are certainties.

(33) “so you too when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.”

In other words, it is coming quickly.
In fact:
(34) “Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”

He is referring to the generation living at that time.
When those things start coming, they will not pass away until He returns.

And then comes the important statement.

(35) “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”

And that is His point.
There is a time coming
When everything that seemed certain is going to fall into chaos.

But one thing you can count on is My word about this.
Devastation and Tribulation are coming and then I’m coming back!

It will happen.
It is sure like the seasons.

Now from there Jesus went into the text we studied last week.
(36) “But of that day and hour no one knows”

And so Jesus says, it is coming, I just can’t give you a date.

So the event will happen, we just don’t know when
I told you it is like my dad counting to an unknown number silently.

Since it will happen, and since you don’t know when
You had better prepare yourself now.

We learned that His return will be Sudden like the Flood.
It will be Surprising like a Thief.
And it will be Severe like an Angry Master.

It is coming when you don’t expect it, so be ready for it now.

And this is a thought Jesus continues on
In our text we study this morning.

This morning we get another parable from Jesus,
But He uses it to make that same familiar point.
BE READY!

The important distinction to this parable
Is that not only does it tell us to be ready, but it also begins
To give us an understanding into exactly WHAT READINESS LOOKS LIKE.

There are 5 things I want you to see
#1 AN UNDETECTED PROBLEM
Matthew 25:1-4

Now you will immediately notice that we are dealing with a comparison
“The the kingdom of heaven will be comparable…”

He is using a parable, an illustration,
To help you and I understand the point He is trying to get across.

And here “the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”

So now we understand the backdrop to the parable.

There is a wedding going on.

You may remember from our study of Matthew 22
That there was no bigger event in this culture than a wedding.

It was long anticipated and it was largely celebrated.

• Typically two Jewish fathers would get together and arrange the marriage of their children.
• At that time the two would be formally engaged (even requiring a divorce to sever it)

• The bridegroom would then go and seek to establish a trade or a farm and seek to prepare a place for the two of them to live.

• After the appointed time they would come back together and the wedding feast would then be celebrated, culminating in the bride being given to the groom and the marriage being consummated.

The celebration itself was a big-to-do.
It could last over a week and the feast would be second to none.

Needless to say, it wasn’t just the bride and groom
Who looked forward to a wedding feast.

Well here in our parable we actually have ten virgins

They are sort of like the bridesmaids and as part of the wedding party
They would be those who carry the torches.

Verse 1 says they “took their lamps”, but the word is actually “torches”.

This would have been a stick, wrapped with cloth or rags.
And during that day they would carry a container of oil
To saturate the rags and make it burn.

Well these virgins were taking their torches and anticipating the return of the bridegroom so the wedding feast could get under way.

There would have been much anticipation.

Now that is the setting.
Let me show you what is special.

(2) “Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.”

Now a statement like that by itself would be peculiar,
for how would you know?

But Jesus here explains what He means.
(3-4) “For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.”

All ten took torches,
But only five took the oil to allow them to burn their torches.

And Jesus says the five with oil were wise
And the five without oil were not wise.
Now that does pose a question that need to think on for a moment.

WHY WOULD FIVE OF THEM GO OUT WITHOUT OIL FOR THEIR LAMP?
(obviously because they were foolish)

There are only a couple of options.

1) They didn’t have any oil, because they hadn’t bothered to buy any.
2) They had oil but didn’t feel the need to bring it.

Now because later they go to buy oil we realize that
They didn’t have oil and never saw the need to get any.

They were just content to walk around with their torch,
But never seemed to worry that they had no oil to burn it.

And according to Jesus, this was a foolish decision.

So for appearance sake, they looked the part.
I’m sure they were dressed like bridesmaids,
They certainly had their torch,
But what you couldn’t see was that they were foolish without any oil.

Undetected Problem
#2 UNEXPECTED ARRIVAL
Matthew 25:5-6

“Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep.”
Now some would see this as sinful behavior,
But Jesus doesn’t insinuate this as a mistake.
After all the wise slept here too.

Rather, the point is that the bridegroom
Did not come at an opportune time.
He came at that hour when He was unexpected.

Just like the flood
Just like the thief
Just like the master

The bridegroom came at an hour when they did not think he would.
After all, who starts a wedding feast at midnight?

So they knew He was coming,
But they certainly didn’t expect Him at midnight.

He “was delaying”

(6) “But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’”

All of a sudden there He was.
They hadn’t expected Him at midnight, but that is when He arrived.

And at once it was time for the virgins to light their lamps
And go out and meet Him and usher Him into the wedding feast.

Undetected Problem, Unexpected Arrival
#3 UNPREPARED VIRGINS
Matthew 25:7-9

And all of a sudden the foolishness of the five is really beginning to show.

“all the virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.”

This was them trimming up the frayed edges
And even saturating their torch with oil.

They were getting ready to light the torch.

However, five of those virgins didn’t have any oil,
And it is apparent that being caught unprepared
They tried to do the next best thing.

They tried to light their torch without any oil,
But you know what was happening, it wouldn’t stay lit.

They needed oil.
(8) “The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’”

They knew they were in trouble, they knew they had a problem
So in desperation they turned to the others and begged for oil.

But, that wasn’t possible.
(9) “But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’”

Now it wasn’t that the prudent were stingy,
It was simply that it required a certain amount of oil to burn that torch
And they didn’t have enough for both.

The only option was for those five virgins to quickly go
And buy some oil and get their lamps to function.

So being unprepared has caught up with them.

#4 UNWELCOME KNOCK
Matthew 25:10-12

(10) “And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut.”

And you know what has happened here.
The five wise virgins are now in the wedding feast,
But the five foolish have been shut out.

(11-12) “Later the other virgins also came, saying, ‘ Lord, lord, open up for us.’ “But he answered, ‘Truly I say to you, I do not know you.’”

And there is the real tragedy.
They were too late, the door was shut
And they were not allowed to enter the wedding feast.

Now that is the story, and Jesus says that that story
Is comparable to the kingdom of heaven.

So we need to apply some substance to the symbols
And see what is occurring.

• Well, the bridegroom is obvious – Jesus
• And the wedding feast is easy – heaven
• The virgins – those who profess to be with the groom (religious)
• The Lamp – outward religion
• The Oil – Holy Spirit
Which would make
• Five Prudent virgins – true believers
• Five Foolish virgins – false believers

That means all ten outwardly looked the part,
But only five were truly prepared.

Now look at the story again.

We have here a group of 10,
• ALL know that the bridegroom is coming.
• ALL know that He is on His way.

But only five of them are truly ready, they are prepared.
The others seem to think that their outward preparation is enough.

They don’t seem to worried that they really aren’t ready for Him to come.
And the longer the bridegroom delayed, the more comfortable they remained,
For so far their bluff had yet to be called.
They were so comfortable in fact that they had no problem sleeping
Right there among the wise virgins.

But something changed all that.
The bridegroom arrived!

• And all at once those who didn’t really know Christ or have the Spirit, frantically try to prepare themselves, but realize it is impossible.
• In desperation they look to the genuinely righteous and ask for help,
• But salvation isn’t theirs to give.

Remember Paul?
Romans 9:3 “For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh,”

Paul said, If I could I would, but salvation isn’t mine to give.
And the truly righteous couldn’t give it either.

So at the last second the only thing these foolish phonies can do
Is run try to get salvation.

So they run to the merchants to buy it.
This is like the parable’s Jesus already taught about the kingdom.

Matthew 13:44-46 “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls, and upon finding one pearl of great value, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.”

Those were people who saw the value of the kingdom
And willingly gave all they had to enter it.

And now you have these fraudulent Christians at the final moment
Frantically scurrying to see if they can get saved at the last second.

The problem is, while they are off trying to make things right,
The genuine believers were gone and the door was shut
And these procrastinating hypocrites were not welcome.

Didn’t Jesus say:
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”

This group has fallen into that category.

And so Jesus reveals here with this parable
That on the day of His return there will be a number of people who,
Although they look the part externally,
Will show themselves to not be real and will not enter heaven.

This is a terrifying reality.
That there can be some in the church
Who think they are saved and really aren’t.

NOT EVERYONE WHO THINKS THEY ARE SAVED REALLY IS

Remember the parable of the soils?
• The hard heart
• The shallow heart (rocky)
• The divided heart (weeds)
• And only one was genuine, only one produced fruit.

THE LOST AREN’T ALWAYS DETECTABLE BY THE HUMAN EYE.

Remember the parable of the tares?
We had wheat and tares growing side by side,
But you didn’t know which was which until what?

They started to produce fruit.

Jesus has always been adamant that not everyone who associates themselves with the church is really part of His church.

This is a fact.
Imposters are real.

We also need to come to grips with the fact that
The judgment is sudden and unexpected.

Listen, there are only three ways to enter the eternal judgment.
• Death
• Rapture
• Second Coming

And you don’t know when any of those will occur.

And that is the point Jesus is making.
Some day there will be many who assumed they were ok,
Who will find out they are not and at that point it will be too late.

Undetected Problem, Unexpected Arrival, Unprepared Virgins, Unwelcome Knock
#4 UNNECESSARY COMMAND
Matthew 25:13
I call that unnecessary, because by this point,
We all ought to already be taking care of what He is commanding.

After learning that many will not be ready for the Lord’s return,
That ought to motivate us to make sure we aren’t that person.

“Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”

• You don’t know the time of the return of Christ.
• You don’t know the time of the rapture.
• You don’t know the time of your own death.

The very uncertainty of those events
Requires you to prepare yourself ahead of time.
Because in the day that it occurs, it will be too late.

Matthew 5:25-26 “Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. “Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.”

John 7:32-34 “The Pharisees heard the crowd muttering these things about Him, and the chief priests and the Pharisees sent officers to seize Him. Therefore Jesus said, “For a little while longer I am with you, then I go to Him who sent Me. “You will seek Me, and will not find Me; and where I am, you cannot come.”

John 12:35-36 “So Jesus said to them, “For a little while longer the Light is among you. Walk while you have the Light, so that darkness will not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes. “While you have the Light, believe in the Light, so that you may become sons of Light.”

And so the advice we get is to prepare ourselves now.

Isaiah 55:6-7 “Seek the LORD while He may be found; Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way And the unrighteous man his thoughts; And let him return to the LORD, And He will have compassion on him, And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”

2 Corinthians 6:2 “for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”

The opportunity to purchase that great pearl is now.
The opportunity to claim that treasure in the field is now.

Oh, you can go to sleep with your dry torch,
Knowing you don’t have any oil, and say to yourself,
“I’ve got time, I’ll go get some oil tomorrow”

That works well unless the bridegroom comes at midnight.
You must be alert.

That also forces us to ask ourselves what it means to be ready or alert.
• Well certainly foolishness is not readiness.
• Certainly phoniness is not readiness.
• External religion without knowing Christ is not readiness.

Perhaps you remember the other parable
Where Jesus spoke out wise people and fools.

Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”

In that parable they didn’t have torches, they built houses.
Those houses were their religious deeds.

And when you looked at those houses they both looked great.
The naked eye couldn’t tell the difference.

The problem was there was a storm coming,
And it was a storm that neither house could handle.

Neither man’s religious works were going to survive that storm.

But one man was wise, he tied his house
To the only thing that would survive the storm; the rock.

The other man was foolish, he assumed his house (or works)
Were strong enough on their own.

So when the storm came the foolish man realized it was too late.

Friend I have to put this to you as plain as possible.
Religion won’t get you anywhere.

Attending church is not enough
Bible reading is not enough
Going on mission trips is not enough
People can do those things and still not know Jesus (The Pharisees did)

You must have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
• You must deny yourself and take up your cross and follow Jesus.
• You must repent of your sin and die to self.
• You must put your trust in Jesus Christ alone to save you.
• You must tie to the rock.
• You must purchase the oil.

So today, if you are part of the church
This parable requires that you and I examine ourselves.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you — unless indeed you fail the test?”

You have to examine yourself.

WHAT AM I LOOKING FOR?
• Evidence of Christ of in you.
• Evidence of the Holy Spirit in you.

HOW CAN I TELL?
Galatians 5:19-23 “Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”

Look at your life and see if the Holy Spirit is evident.

Now let me tell you what not to do.
• Don’t judge yourself based on your intentions.
• Don’t judge yourself based on your involvement.

Test yourselves rightly.

WHY?
Because judgment is coming unexpectantly.
You don’t know when it will occur.
And on the day it comes, it will be too late.

• Today, confess your sin and turn from it.
• Today, submit your life to Christ as Lord.
• Today trust in Christ’s atoning work on the cross.
• So that today you can be filled with the Spirit (oil for the lamp.)

Matthew 25:13 “Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.”

Ready for the Return?
Matthew 24:36-51
November 25, 2012

Well last week, we finally saw it, “The Glorious Return”
Of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Immediately after the tribulation of those days Scripture tells us that “the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory.”

And certainly by the time the Lord returns,
His elect will be more than ready to for Him.

After 3 ½ years of the most intense tribulation the world has ever seen,
God’s children will most certainly welcome the return of their King.

The tragedy is, however, that not everyone will be ready for His return.
Not everyone will be prepared.

And knowing this is what causes Jesus now
To move into the application portion of this sermon.

The first 35 verses of this chapter were all explanatory.
There He gave us the “when” & “what” details
Of His return and the end of the age.

Now we get into the exhortation portion of the sermon.
From here on out we learn what we should do with the information given.

And the first thing Jesus focuses on by way of exhortation is VIGILANCE (or readiness)

And He really wastes no time making that point.

For no sooner does Jesus announce the imminence of His return, than does He says this:
(36) “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

And this verse has been proven true over and over in our lifetime
And throughout the history of the world.

The disciples wanted to know exactly “when”,
But Jesus says, “I cannot give you a date”

WHY?
Because, even He, did not know the date.

And of course this was all part of God’s divine plan.

DOES ANYONE ELSE IN HERE STRUGGLE WITH PROCRASTINATION?

I certainly do.
If I have 3 weeks to write a sermon, it will take me 3 weeks to write it.
If I have 3 hours to write a sermon, it will take me 3 hours to write it.

As much as I hate it, I’m really more of a last minute kind of guy.

So I fully understand why the Lord thought I didn’t need to know the date.

If He were to have said, “My return will be November 26, 2012”
Then I would have probably waited until today before I did anything.

The Lord knew what He was doing by keeping this day a secret.
And what He actually accomplishes is making today much more urgent.

And that is really the emphasis of Jesus’ exhortation here.
He wants you to understand the necessity of readiness.

In this text He gives three characteristics of His return,
And all three scream to the fact that preparation for His return
Does not begin on the day that the sun goes dark.

Preparation for His return begins now.

His Return will be:
#1 SUDDEN LIKE THE FLOOD
Matthew 24:37-42

It really doesn’t get any clearer than that:
“For the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah.”

Now certainly this alludes to the sudden manner in which the rains came and destroyed the earth. In fact Jesus alludes to that in verse 39.

But that isn’t the only similarity.

“the coming of the Son of Man will be just like THE DAYS OF NOAH”

In other words, the mentality in Noah’s day will reappear in the final days.

Genesis 6:5-8 “Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. The LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD.”

Noah’s day was a vile day.
• All man could think about was wickedness continually.
• They ran head first into depravity.

Well that will certainly characterize life during the end times as well.

Jesus already told us:
Matthew 24:12 “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.”

This day will be like the “days of Noah”

Specifically:
(38) “For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,”

And there we see the implication that it wasn’t just wickedness,
But also people who were preoccupied.

Here we have a people who are focused on the wrong things.
• Now obviously there is nothing wrong with “eating” or “drinking”
• There is nothing wrong with “marrying” or “giving in marriage”.

The problem is that this is all these people were focused on.
They had elevated these things to be
The most important things in their life and they shouldn’t be.

At this time men should be even more focused on eternal things,
But they aren’t.

It is like in Isaiah’s day, when Isaiah was prophesying the coming Babylonian destruction.

Isaiah 22:5 “For the Lord GOD of hosts has a day of panic, subjugation and confusion In the valley of vision, A breaking down of walls And a crying to the mountain.”

With news like that, you’d think the people
Would be a little more focused on their spiritual lives.

But no:
Isaiah 22:12-14 “Therefore in that day the Lord GOD of hosts called you to weeping, to wailing, To shaving the head and to wearing sackcloth. Instead, there is gaiety and gladness, Killing of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, Eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we may die.” But the LORD of hosts revealed Himself to me, “Surely this iniquity shall not be forgiven you Until you die,” says the Lord GOD of hosts.”

Here were people who were totally oblivious
To the spiritual realities going on around them.

That is the same as it will be in the last days.
Men will be preoccupied with the things that or lesser importance.

Remember even when Jesus was calling men to salvation and entrance into the kingdom?

Luke 14:15-24 “When one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!” But He said to him, “A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to say to those who had been invited, ‘Come; for everything is ready now.’ “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I have bought a piece of land and I need to go out and look at it; please consider me excused.’ “Another one said, ‘I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; please consider me excused.’ “Another one said, ‘ I have married a wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ “And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor and crippled and blind and lame.’ “And the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ “And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled. ‘For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste of my dinner.'”

That is the same mentality.
It wasn’t that things like buying land or getting married or working oxen is a bad thing,

It’s just that it isn’t nearly as important as something like entering the kingdom, or catching the ark, or being ready for the Lord’s return.

And the point is that if you are so preoccupied with those things
Then you will not be ready when the Lord returns.

His return will be sudden.
(39) “and they did not understand until the flood came and took them all away, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

The reason they didn’t understand
Is because they weren’t paying attention.

Noah had been a preacher of righteousness for over 100 years,
But was roundly ignored.

Those people were what we call – WORDLY

And this is an important thing to understand.
Often times when we talk about worldliness
We tend to think of immorality or wickedness.

But that isn’t the only kind of worldliness there is.
Worldliness is just a preoccupation or fascination with the world.

It can be a job or a relationship or certain possessions
or goals or investments or money or hobbies, etc.
Those things may not be bad in and of themselves,
But they were never meant to have the priority in your life.

And at the time of the second coming,
Those things will have caused people to be unprepared.

(40-42) “Then there will be two men in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. “Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left. “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.”

That statement is often associated with the rapture,
But that is not what Jesus is talking about.

The illustration of the flood tells us
That those who are taken were taken in judgment.
(the flood took them away)

And that is the point here.

People were preoccupied with worldly things.
• Working “in the field”
• “grinding at the mill”

Those things are wrong – God even commands work, but they were so preoccupied with world that they weren’t ready for the return of the Lord.

And that is why Jesus says, “Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming.”

And point is obvious.
Being too preoccupied with the world
Can cause you not to be prepared.

And that is why we get warnings in Scripture like the one from John

1 John 2:15-17 “Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world. The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever.”

So, the return of Jesus will be SUDDEN LIKE THE FLOOD and therefore it is important that we not be worldly and fail to prepare for it.

Sudden Like the Flood
#2 SURPRISING LIKE A THIEF
Matthew 24:43-44

And here Jesus’ illustration is unmistakable as well.
“if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into.”

This is the classic illustration of a burglar.

Now Jesus is certainly not comparable to a thief, except in one way.
Neither will come when you expect them.

A thief understands that his biggest asset is the element of surprise.
If he can come when you are unprepared for him,
He has a better shot of success.

So a thief waits until you don’t expect it.

Well, that accurately characterizes the return of Christ as well.
He will come like a thief in the night.

And the warning of Jesus is that if you knew when the thief was coming, you’d be ready for him.

And so it is with Jesus.
If you know He’s coming, then you had better be ready.

(44) “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.”

Now the first illustration was a warning to the worldly,
But this is a warning to the lazy.

This is a person who is just too lazy to stay alert.

It sort of reminds of the night in the garden
Matthew 26:36-41 “Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to His disciples, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be grieved and distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, to the point of death; remain here and keep watch with Me.” And He went a little beyond them, and fell on His face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as You will.” And He came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “So, you men could not keep watch with Me for one hour? “Keep watching and praying that you may not enter into temptation; the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

They were too lazy to keep watch and were thus caught unprepared.

Laziness is a dangerous habit to fall into.

I remember as a kid, we worked every day with my dad,
Usually doing something with the horses.

And every morning he would wake you up by turning on your light
And quoting Proverbs to you.

Proverbs 6:6-11 “Go to the ant, O sluggard, Observe her ways and be wise, Which, having no chief, Officer or ruler, Prepares her food in the summer And gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? “A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to rest” — Your poverty will come in like a vagabond And your need like an armed man.”

Now that has to do with physical labor, but the application is easily made.
Being lazy and ill-prepared
Won’t serve you any better on the day of the Lord’s return.

You must be disciplined,
You must make sure you are ready for Him.
You must make sure you are prepared.

WELL WHAT DOES BEING PREPARED LOOK LIKE?

Romans 13:11-14 “Do this, knowing the time, that it is already the hour for you to awaken from sleep; for now salvation is nearer to us than when we believed. The night is almost gone, and the day is near. Therefore let us lay aside the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us behave properly as in the day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and sensuality, not in strife and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts.”

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 “Now as to the times and the epochs, brethren, you have no need of anything to be written to you. For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come just like a thief in the night. While they are saying, “Peace and safety!” then destruction will come upon them suddenly like labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief; for you are all sons of light and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness; so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be alert and sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night, and those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we are of the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, so that whether we are awake or asleep, we will live together with Him. Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing.”

Preparation includes things like holiness and righteousness.
Certainly this also implies salvation.

Today when people want to protect themselves from a thief
They do so with locks, or alarms.

The idea being that they plan ahead for a thief before he comes.

But when a thief starts coming through your window
It’s too late then for a lock.

So it is with the Lord’s return.
• It’s too late to start living holy when you see Him split the sky.
• It’s too late to start seeking righteousness on the day He returns.

You have to prepare yourself ahead of time.

The reason some don’t is because they are worldly.
The reason others don’t is because they are lazy.

And so they find themselves in that day unaware.

You don’t prepare in that day, you prepare now.

2 Corinthians 6:2 “for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU,
AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”

So the return of the Lord will be sudden like the flood and it will be surprising like a thief.
#3 SEVERE LIKE AN ANGRY MASTER
Matthew 24:45-51

Now you will notice that Jesus here uses a question.

“Who then is the faithful and sensible slave..?”

It is an appeal not only to faithfulness,
But also to using your head.

Don’t be foolish in regard to the return of the Lord.

And the illustration here is of a master who goes on a journey
And leaves a slave in charge of feeding his household.

And the initial implication is a positive one.
(45-47) “Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions.”

This was certainly not an uncommon practice,
Especially of a wealthy man.

He would go on a journey and would leave one of his trusted hired hands
To make sure that the affairs of the household were taken care of.

Jesus used this same imagery with His disciples
In regard to preaching the truths of the kingdom.

Matthew 13:51-52 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to Him, “Yes.” And Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”
The same implication here.
When the master leaves he expects that slave whom he left in charge
To be faithful to do his job.

And if that slave does, when the master returns
The master will be so pleased with him
That he will increase his level of responsibility.

In fact Jesus says that slave will be “Blessed”

But there is a flip side to this story as well.
(48-51) “But if that evil slave says in his heart, ‘My master is not coming for a long time,’ and begins to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with drunkards; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Here is a slave that did just the opposite of what was expected.
He didn’t provide for the household.
He didn’t take care of business.

• Instead he “beat his fellow slaves”
• And he began to “eat and drink with drunkards”

Suppose you hired a person to come
And watch your kids while you went to Lubbock.

• Now when you come home and find the house in order and the kids
bathed and fed and all in bed, you’d be pleased and more apt to call
that baby-sitter again.

• But you came home and found your kids had been beaten and
were all bruised and bloodied, and the baby-sitter was passed
out drunk on the couch, you’d be a little upset.

So is Jesus.

And the punishment is obvious.
(50-51) “the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour which he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Now again we notice the element of surprise.
“at an hour which he does not know”

But we also see here the SEVERITY of the consequences.
“will cut him in pieces”

AND HERE IS THE ISSUE.
“assign him a place with the hypocrites” were there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

And so here we get a warning not the worldly, or to the lazy,
But to the PHONY

Because of what this guy did the master realized
That this man was not all he proclaimed himself to be.

In fact, did you notice WHY this man did what he did?
(48) “But if that evil slave says in his hear, ‘My master is not coming for a long time.’”

He wasn’t concerned about pleasing the master,
He was only concerned about pleasing himself.

On the outside he signed up for the same responsibility as the genuine slave, but his actions proved that he was a fraud.

And his punishment for such a crime was severe.

In fact, Luke’s gospel tells us that his punishment is the most severe.

Luke 12:42-48 “And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and sensible steward, whom his master will put in charge of his servants, to give them their rations at the proper time? “Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. “Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. “But if that slave says in his heart, ‘My master will be a long time in coming,’ and begins to beat the slaves, both men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk; the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces, and assign him a place with the unbelievers. “And that slave who knew his master’s will and did not get ready or act in accord with his will, will receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few. From everyone who has been given much, much will be required; and to whom they entrusted much, of him they will ask all the more.”

All of the disobedient receive lashes,
But the hypocrite who knew better gets the most.

And the obvious point here is that the return of Christ
Brings with it severity.

• If you fail to prepare yourself because you love the world…
• If you fail to prepare yourself because you are lazy…
• If you fail to prepare yourself because you are a phony…

Then you should know you made a horrible decision,
Because we aren’t dealing with minor circumstances here.
Failure to be ready for the return of the Lord
Is a mistake of monumental proportion.

AND YOU UNDERSTAND JESUS’ POINT.
Be ready

Now, based on this text I can tell you what readiness does not look like.

1) WORDLINESS is not readiness.

Being preoccupied with the things of this world
Will not help you be ready for the return of the Lord.

2) LAZINESS is not readiness.

A failure to take care of the things that need to be taken care of
Will not help you be ready for the return of the Lord.

3) PHONINESS is not readiness.

Just going through the motions externally may fool the master today,
But it won’t fool him on the day when your works are judged.

See, on that day you will either have been faithful or not
And it will be too late then to fix it.

If you walk in your house and find
Those bruised kids and that drunk baby-sitter.

And all of a sudden that babysitter jumps up
And starts picking up trash and drawing bath water for the kids.

At that point, it is too late.

And so it will be at the return of the Lord.

The implication is that you prepare yourself now.

• You do so by focusing more on His kingdom than the things of this world.

Matthew 6:33 “But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”

• You do so by waking up and being alert and preparing yourself for what He wants to see when He returns.

• You do so by doing the job He left you here to do.

The point is you get ready today, not on that day.
You cannot wait until the end to prepare yourself for His coming.

Start today.
• Be faithful today.
• Be alert today.
• Be prepared today.

2 Corinthians 6:2 “for He says, “AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU, AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.” Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”

The Coming Coronation
Matthew 24:29-31
November 18, 2012

Well, finally this morning we get to the good news.

We’ve had a few difficult weeks here studying this “Olivet Discourse”

The disciples wanted to know, “when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

And although Jesus’ answer has been clear,
It hasn’t necessarily been pleasant.

His answer thus far has been prefaced with statements like:
• “See to it that no one misleads you…”
• “See that you are not frightened…”

And the difficult part is that those statements are very relevant advice.

The time of the end will be a time of great deception
And very frightening reality.

• The whole thing will kick off with what is known as “The Abomination of Desolation”.

• An event where the chief pawn of Satan known as “Anti-Christ” will enter the temple and declare himself to be God.

• And according to Jesus, when that event happens, RUN!

• It will set off a time of great devastation, like wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes and famines.

• And that will lead into a time of great tribulation in which those who are Jewish or who proclaim loyalty to Christ will be hated and killed.

And of course throughout all of those times of hardship
The world will be saturated with false prophets and false Christ’s
Whose only purpose is to deceive and lead men into destruction.

So Jesus’ warnings not to be misled and not to fear
Seem to be very appropriate warnings.

But this morning we finally get to the good news.

This morning we see that even though
It may at times feel that way, Satan doesn’t win.
You see there is a rightful King on His way,
And when He arrives things will finally get set straight.

The Psalmist said:
Psalms 96:10-13 “Say among the nations, “The LORD reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity.” Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Before the LORD, for He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness And the peoples in His faithfulness.”

This King may have once been rejected,
But He is on His way to rule and to reign.

Psalms 2:6-9 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'”

The time of the tribulation is certainly a dark time
When Satan seems to have his way on the earth.
But his time is short, for the King is on His way.

It is the coming of this King that we see this morning.
And it is important that we study this.

We are about to enter the time known as “The Christmas Season”.
And during that time we rightly focus on the coming of our Savior.

Most of the world is familiar with details surrounding the birth of Christ.
• We know about the traveling of Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem
• We know about there being no room in the inn.
• We know that Jesus was born of a virgin, wrapped in swaddling clothes
and laid in a manger.
• We know about the shepherds being told by the angels.
• We know about the wise men traveling from a far having seen His star

We know the details surrounding His first coming.

And yet, most people remain fairly ignorant
About the details surrounding His second coming.

Well those are the details the Lord is pointing out to us
Here in this Olivet Discourse.

And they are important details to know, because He is coming back.
(And we certainly don’t want to miss Him this time like they did the first time)

Hebrews 9:28 “so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him.”
We can even read the book of the Revelation and see this glorious return.

Revelation 19:11-16 “And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

We know the facts about His first coming,
But His second coming is such a contrast.

• The first time He rode a donkey,
• The second time a white horse
• The first time He came to save,
• The second time He wages war
• The first time His eyes were kind,
• The second time they are flame of fire
• The first time He wore a crown of thorns,
• The second time many diadems
• The first time He was followed by ordinary men,
• The second time the armies of heaven
• The first time He spoke words of healing,
• The second time a sharp sword comes from His mouth
• The first time He walked the hill to the cross,
• The second time He will tread the winepress.
• The first time His name was Jesus,
• The second time it is KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS

There is such a contrast.
And just as people have rightly learned the events of His first coming,
So they should also know about the events of His second coming.

And that is what we learn of here this morning.

There are four things that Jesus shows us here.
#1 THE ORDER
Matthew 24:29a

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days…”

We have already embarked upon the process of
Putting the events of the end into some sort of chronological order.

• We know false peace comes.
• Followed by the Abomination of Desolation.
• Followed by wars and rumors of wars, famines and earthquakes.
• Followed by an unparalleled time of tribulation.
Here is the next step in the timeline.

“But immediately after the tribulation of those days…”

The event we see here comes after the tribulation.
And not just after, but “immediately” after.

And here is the good news about that.

The tribulation is a necessary thing that must occur.

We read in the book of Daniel last week:
Daniel 9:24 “Seventy weeks have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place.”

Daniel was told that 70 – 7’s were decreed.
Israel has presently lived through 69 of those 7’s.

This final week is necessary to fulfill God’s plan for Israel.

But rest assured that God will not push the tribulation a second longer than He has to in order to accomplish His purpose.

Perhaps you have noticed
All the references to the length of the tribulation.

• Sometimes it is called “a time, times, and a half time” (3 ½ years)
• Sometimes it is called “forty-two months”
• And yet sometimes it is calculated by days.

Daniel 12:11-12 “From the time that the regular sacrifice is abolished and the abomination of desolation is set up, there will be 1,290 days. “How blessed is he who keeps waiting and attains to the 1,335 days!”

This time is set, both its beginning and its end.
God will not prolong it one second longer than necessary.

And Jesus has already alluded to that.
Matthew 24:22 “Unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.”

Even later in the discourse:
Matthew 24:32-33 “Now learn the parable from the fig tree: when its branch has already become tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near; so, you too, when you see all these things, recognize that He is near, right at the door.”

Indicating there that He is eager to return, and He is not seeking to tarry.

Christ will come “immediately after the tribulation”
And of course this is His nature.

Luke 18:6-7 “And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge said; now, will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry to Him day and night, and will He delay long over them?”

He is just as eager to save His elect now as He has ever been.
And as soon as God’s purpose for the tribulation is accomplished,
Christ will immediately return.

The order
#2 THE CHAOS
Matthew 24:29b

“THE SUN WILL BE DARKENED, AND THE MOON WILL NOT GIVE ITS LIGHT, AND THE STARS WILL FALL from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

When Christ was born we saw a star appear,
But when Christ returns the opposite occurs.

All of the heavenly lights will go out.
“The sun will be darkened”
“The moon will not give its light”
“The stars will fall from the sky”

Isaiah 13:9-11 “Behold, the day of the LORD is coming, Cruel, with fury and burning anger, To make the land a desolation; And He will exterminate its sinners from it. For the stars of heaven and their constellations Will not flash forth their light; The sun will be dark when it rises And the moon will not shed its light. Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.”

Joel 2:31 “The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.”

In that day, just before Christ returns,
Creation is going to have a major power outage.

And not just lights:
“the powers of the heavens will be shaken”

This refers to all of the laws of nature.
All of those absolutes that we count on every single day, forget about it.

I know scientists seek to explain to us about things like gravity and how they work, but on this day, all of their theories will be debunked.

The only reason things like gravity work right now is because
There is a Sovereign Sustainer over this world who tells it to.
Colossians 1:16-17 “For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

• Christ holds this world together.
• Christ keeps the planets in orbit.
• Christ keeps the sun shining.
• Christ keeps gravity working.

It is Him who keeps everything in its place.

Job 26:7 “He stretches out the north over empty space And hangs the earth on nothing.”

So it only stands to reason that if He lets go, it’s coming down.
On this day, everything is going haywire.

We don’t have time to go read it all,
But you can reference Revelation 16 in your margin.

Revelation 16 are the 7 bowl judgments,
They are what immediately precede the coming of Christ.

Among the things happening during that day are:
• The sea becoming like the blood of a dead man
• The rivers and springs also becoming blood
• The sun scorching men with fire (the earth got too close)
• Lightning and thunder and great earthquakes
• 450 lb. hail stones pummeling mankind

When Christ lets go, this world is going to spin out of control.

Luke’s gospel speaks of that day as well:
Luke 21:25-26 “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”

The word for “fainting” there is APOPSUCHO
It literally means “to leave off breathing”

The King James translates it “Men’s hearts failing them”

People won’t just faint, they will die of terror and fright.

When men see all the chaos and natural calamity that is coming,
Some of them will experience heart-stoppage immediately.

This world will fall into disorder and chaos.

See, Christ isn’t coming back to save this world.
Christ is coming back to rescue His elect.

This world will fall apart, because the sustainer will let it go.

The Order, The Chaos
#3 THE SIGN
Matthew 24:30

There is the phrase:
“And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky,”

Wasn’t that what the disciples asked?
“what will be the sign of Your coming?”

Well, here it is.
Immediately after the tribulation, creation will fall into chaos,
And then He will appear.

Christ will show up.
• Like lightning from the east, flashing all the way to the west…
• And with the earth in darkness, it won’t be hard to recognize His light

He will arrive in glorious splendor!

And note the response:
“and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY and with power and great glory.”
People will mourn.

Now, don’t get that confused with the mourning of Israel.
• They mourn when they look on Him whom they pierced.
• They mourn in repentance.

This is the rest of humanity
And they are mourning for an entirely different reason.

They are mourning because they are about to be destroyed.

Jude 14-15 “It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Revelation 19:15 “From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.”

Luke’s gospel speaks of His return, and notice His statement:

Luke 19:27 “But these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slay them in my presence.”

No wonder they will all be turned to fear.

“and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds”

Remember what the angels told the disciples after He ascended?
Acts 1:9-11 “And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

They were absolutely right.
Jesus is returning.
It is a literally return in the sky, just as He left.

AND THIS IS SO DIFFERENT FROM THE FIRST COMING.

During the first coming He slipped in through the womb,
Unnoticed by practically everyone, but not this time.

The first time He come clothed in humility.
Philippians 2:6-7 “who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.”

But not this time.
This time He comes “with power and great gory.”

And the earth is terrified.

And now, hopefully you are beginning to get Jesus’ point.
Yes the devastation is bad…
Yes the tribulation is bad…

But those still aren’t the things you should fear.
If you want to fear something, fear the return of the Lord.

Matthew 10:28 “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”

We talked last week about the horrific persecution
Unleashed by the anti-christ against those who follow Christ.

But friends that is nothing in comparison to the judgment
Unleashed by the real Christ on those who follow anti-christ.
Revelation 16:10 “Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened; and they gnawed their tongues because of pain,”

And then when Jesus does return, all of anti-christ’s followers are killed.
Revelation 14:9-11 “Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. “And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”

And what happens to the anti-christ?
Revelation 19:19-21 “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. Doom of the Beast and False Prophet And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

You may think the anti-christ has power,
But you don’t want to mess with the real one.
The wrath of anti-christ can be endured, the wrath of Jesus Christ cannot.

And that is why “the tribes of the earth will mourn”

The King has returned.

The Order, The Chaos, The Sign
#4 THE GATHERING
Matthew 24:31

Shortly after Pentecost, Peter was preaching in Jerusalem
And he told the Jews this important truth:

Acts 3:19-21 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”
That is what we see here.
Christ has returned for His elect.

• He didn’t come to save the earth…
• He didn’t come to save His enemies…
• He came to save His chosen ones.

“And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other.”
Not one will be missing, not one will be left.
Christ will come to deliver His own.

Luke 21:25-28 “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth dismay among nations, in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting from fear and the expectation of the things which are coming upon the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. “Then they will see THE SON OF MAN COMING IN A CLOUD with power and great glory. “But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

While the earth is quaking in fear,
Jesus told His chosen ones to lift up their heads.

The Christ has come to deliver His people
And to destroy those who did them harm.

And there we have the answer to the disciple’s questions.
When will it happen, and what will it be like?

Well, devastation and tribulation are coming first
Thanks to the abomination of desolation.

However, as soon as the tribulation is complete,
I will return, judge the world, and deliver My chosen ones.

From that I hope you get the point of what Jesus has taught us thus far.

YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED

• You need to be prepared for the coming devastation and tribulation so that you aren’t deceived or tempted to fall away from Christ.

• You need to be prepared for the coming coronation, because if you aren’t, you will not survive.

2 Peter 3:11-12 “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”

If you know Christ will return and destroy the world,
What sort of motivation should that provide for you?

We just visited Carrie’s parents this weekend.
He has just built on a storm shelter to his house.

He knows that tornados can spring up rather quickly and he opted to be prepared. (And he is not alone in that type of planning)

Now listen, people all over the world
Build storm shelters for storms that might come,

And yet they leave themselves completely unprotected
From the one that most definitely is coming.

• Have you prepared for the day that the sun and moon and stars grow dark?
• Have you prepared for the day that the powers of the heavens are shaken?
• Have you prepared for the day when Christ returns to judge the wicked?

In Luke’s gospel, after the details of the end,
Jesus gives some very relevant advice.

Luke 21:34-36 “Be on guard, so that your hearts will not be weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of life, and that day will not come on you suddenly like a trap; for it will come upon all those who dwell on the face of all the earth. “But keep on the alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

First – “Be on guard” that you don’t get so caught up in this life that you fail be prepared for that one.

Second – pray for the strength to escape what is coming.

Third – pray that you will be able “to stand before the Son of Man.”
Don’t get so busy and distracted that you fail to understand
Where this whole thing is headed.

Adrian Rogers once said:
“People ask all the time, ‘What’s this world headed to?’ I’ll tell you where this world is headed, it’s headed to Jesus. Jesus owns this world, it was made by Him and for Him and the Bible says it’s coming back to Him… ‘And the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ.’”

And he’s absolutely right.
We are on a collision course with Jesus,
And you had better make sure you are ready to stand before Him.

Psalms 2:6-12 “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the LORD: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.'” Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the LORD with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him!”