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00:00:00 so today's scripture reading is taken from Matthew chapter 24:32 to chapter 25:3 I'll be reading from the NIV now learn this lesson from the Fig Tree as soon as its Twix get tender and its leaves come out you know that summer is near even so when you see all these things you know that it is near right at the door truly I tell you this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will never pass away but about that day or hour no one
00:00:44 knows not even the angels in Heaven nor the son but only the father as it was in the days of Noah so it will be at the coming of the son of man for in the days before the FLIR people were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the Ark and he knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away that is how it will be at the coming of the son of man two men will be in the field one will be taken and the other left two women will be
00:01:23 grinding with a hand Mill and one will be taken and the other left therefore keep watch because you do not know on what day your Lord will come but understand this if the owner of the house had known what time of night the thief was coming he would have kept watch and would not have left his house be broken into so you also must be ready because the son of man will not come will come at an hour when you do not expect him who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household
00:02:00 to give them their food at the proper time it will be good for that servant whose Master finds him doing so when he returns truly I tell you he will put him in charge of all his possessions but suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself my master is staying away a long time and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and an hour is not aware of he will cut him into pieces and
00:02:34 assign him a place with the Hypocrites where there'll be weeping and nashing of teeth at that time the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom five of them were foolish and five were wise the foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them the wise ones however took oil in jars along with their lamps the bridegroom was a long time in coming and they all became drowsy and fell asleep at midnight the cry rang out here's the bridegroom come out to meet
00:03:11 him then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps the foolish one said to the wise give us some of your oil our lamps are gone are going out no they replied there may not be enough for both of us and you instead go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves but while they were on their way to buy the oil the bridegroom arrived The Virgins who were ready went in with him to The Wedding Banquet and the door was shut later the others also came Lord Lord they said open the door for us but he replied truly I tell you I
00:03:50 do not know you therefore keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour this is the word of the Lord thank you I don't need that have you heard the joke about the preacher who never used notes who decided to preach about the second coming he started off his sermon by quoting from Revelation 22:12 and he said behold I come quickly and then for emphasis he repeated it and took a step forward behold I come quickly' and something happened in the congregation that distracted him he lost his train of thought and oh my I don't
00:04:36 know what to say next so I thought well I'll just start over behold I come quickly and he took another step forward still blank he said I'll try it one more time and surely I can remember this time behold I come quickly and he took another step and he stumbled and he fell off and landed on the lap of a man sitting in the front row fortunately the front row here is not quite so close he landed in the lap of the man on the front row and he started to apologize profusely oh I'm so sorry I'm so sorry but the young man said preacher
00:05:15 there's no need to apologize I should have been ready after all you warned me four times that you were coming well this morning we are going to talk about the second coming and the goal of the sermon is that we will all be ready so may the reading of the scripture and God speaking to us during this time help us all to be ready for the second coming of Jesus Christ part of chapter 24 of Matthew and all of chapter 25 of Matthew deal with the second coming of Christ they deal with judgment and they deal with our
00:05:57 need to be ready to begin with I should point out that especially Matthew chapter 24 is difficult to interpret probably one of the most difficult passages or more controversial passages in scripture even among Bible scholars there's lots of disagreement so many of the smaller details are disputed and hard to understand but one reason this is disputed is because Jesus is dealing with at least two questions he was asked about the fall of Jerusalem when that would happen and that happened within 40 years after he spoke and he
00:06:37 was also asked about his return now in our Church's sermon series on Matthew we've gotten a little bit out of order so today I'm preaching from the last part of chapter 24 but I think next week or soon the first half of chapter 24 will be uh preached about so to help us understand the context it's necessary for me to go back and just look briefly at the beginning of chapter 24 and a reminder that this does take place just a couple of days after Palm Sunday the triumphal entry and then just a couple
00:07:12 of days before the arrest and the crucifixion of Jesus so I'll read from Matthew chap 24: 1-3 Jesus left the temple and was going away when his disciples came to point out to him the buildings of the temple but he answered them you see all these things do you not truly I say to you there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down as he sat on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately saying tell us when will these things be and what will be the sign of your coming
00:07:53 and of the End of the Age Now undoubtedly when the disciples asked this question they thought they were asking just one question because in their mind they would have probably thought that the destruction of that newly renovated beautiful Temple would coincide with the end of the world to them that would be the end of their world as they knew it therefore they just assumed it would be the end of the world so they assumed just like many of us do today that the end of society or our culture our civilization as we know
00:08:30 it that must be the end of the world however the end of the Jewish society as the disciples knew it with the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem did not bring about the end of the world obviously we're still here 2,000 years later so Jesus proceeded to answer not just one big complex question as the disciples intended it to be but rather to address two questions that are connected in that the first one the destruction of Jerusalem sheds light on the second one the Judgment at the end of the world so the first question was
00:09:08 when will the temple be destroyed highlighted in yellow you see that and then the second question that Jesus addresses is the last part of the verse highlighted here in yellow when will the End of the Age come and what will be those signs now in dealing with this text it's unfortunate for us that Jesus did not distinguish when he was talking about the fall of Jerusalem or when he was talking about the end of the world so interpreters have varying opinions about which verses belong to which specific
00:09:40 topic so we need to realize that there are sincere committed Christians who understand details of the scripture differently than maybe we do so we want to be accepting of other viewpoints on some of the more Minor Details but on the other hand we do want to realize that Jesus warns us in three times in chapter 24 about the danger of false prophets and Impostors Jesus said specifically see that no one leads you a stray therefore we do want to be on guard against false prophecies and wild speculations because such things have
00:10:24 led many people astray throughout church history and still today so although there might be disagreement on some of the more Minor Details we can be sure of this Jesus is coming again that gives all believers something to look forward to the shity that Christ will return gives us hope history is not just going to end in some kind of wild chaos but rather it is heading towards its climax when Jesus is going to return in splendor and glory and all who are his followers ERS will then be with him forever in a place where there are no
00:11:03 more tears no pain no suffering no famine no war no disease or death something we can really look forward to even though some places in Matthew 24 might be hard to understand the Bible does teach several things very clearly about Jesus return first of all we'll see that Jesus return is going to be soon his return is certain but nobody knows when his return will be when he returns it's going to be unexpected and when he returns there's going to be a great separation judgment is sure therefore we need to be ready
00:12:00 ready to meet Jesus today if he were to come today also ready to live a life pleasing to him during the delay before he does return so first of all let's look at the fact that Jesus will be coming soon Matthew 24:32 from the Fig Tree learn its lesson as soon as its Branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves you know that summer is near so all Al when you see all these things you know that he is near at the very Gates truly I say to you this generation will not pass away until all these things take
00:12:40 place now the word soon is not in this particular passage but that word is used in several places about Jesus return the joke I started off with a quote from revelation behold I come quickly the word that's translated quickly in many translations it will say soon so behold I come quickly can also be translated behold I come soon and that phrase is found two times alone just in Revelation chap 22 problem is today many people equate coming soon like going to a fast food restaurant or a food court you place
00:13:22 your order and then you're expecting that your food is coming soon hopefully within five minutes or less but that's not the meaning of the Greek word in this text the Greek word is taku and it can mean a short space of time like just a few minutes or a few days but it frequently does not have that temporal meaning but rather it means quickly suddenly or unexpectedly so in interpreting the scriptures about the return of Christ we need to ask is Jesus teaching he's going to be coming within the next two or
00:13:58 three days two or three years or maybe 30 to 40 years or is Jesus teaching that when he comes his coming is going to be sudden unexpected quick the parables in our scripture reading today seem to be emphasizing the unexpectedness and the suddenness of the return of the master or the coming of the bridegroom verse 33 does say when you see all these things and earlier Jesus had pictured a world in turmoil with war and famine and earthquake persecution when you see all these things you know that he is near at the very
00:14:43 Gates just like the Greek word for soon the fact that Jesus is near does not refer to a necessary time FR time frame for the Lord's appearance it does not mean that he must return within a certain number of months or years after some major historical event has taken place such as the destruction of Jerusalem in ad70 or any other major historical event since that time I agree with what John Piper has written to explain the phrase Jesus is near or he is at the gates some of what Piper says is that Jesus is near
00:15:23 means Christ has come once for all decisively in his life death and Resurrection he has set in motion an end time process he won the decisive Victory on the cross and he has shown himself Sovereign and Unstoppable in his resurrection he may step in whenever he pleases Jesus is like a king in complete control standing with his army outside the city waiting to take it captive nothing can stand between him and that capture except his own choice and I agree with what he said I think that's probably the best way to
00:16:07 understand the phrase he is at the gates things move on God's timeline not on ours and they will happen when they are meant to happen according to his Sovereign plan we don't know when that will be but we can have confidence in the fact that God has set in motion the events of History history that will Usher in Christ's return Jesus being at the gates being near is basically saying there is no other major event that must happen before he can return because the next major step in God's Redemptive plan is
00:16:46 the second coming of Jesus so yes Jesus is coming soon but maybe we need to put a little Aster besides the word soon to refer to its meaning the phrase a pastor in the state of Georgia in the US he says soon in the biblical sense is a relative term when used to speak about the Eternal God because God is eternal and he exists outside our understanding of time the term soon as understood by the Eternal mind could mean promptly as in right now before this service is over or it could mean in a future time say in a
00:17:27 thousand years and according to 2 Peter 2 3:8 in God time a thousand years is like a day therefore that's soon so Jesus could return today but he might wait several centuries we just don't know but secondly we do see that it is certain that he will return and speaking about his return Jesus said in verse 35 Heaven and Earth will pass away but my words will not pass away Jesus has promised he will return and we can trust his promises his words are more trustworthy than the future existence of the heavens
00:18:14 or the future existence of the earth his words are dependable and they will prove to be true his words will not pass away and one thing that if we're not careful we might miss when Jesus says this he is making an indirect claim to Divinity he's putting his words on the same level as the words of God because the prophet Isaiah had said in chapter 40:8 the word of our God will stand forever Jesus words like God's word will not pass away because Jesus is divine Jesus will certainly return because he said he would and when he
00:18:57 comes back it's not going to be a secret everybody's going to know he's here there will be certainty that he has come every eye will see him chapter 24: 27 says for as the lightning comes from the East and shines as far as the West so will be the coming of the son of man and in Revelation 1 verse 7 behold he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him yes Jesus return is certain he is coming soon but concerning the timing of his coming nobody knows when it will be verse 36 says but concerning the day and the hour no one
00:19:47 knows not even the angels of Heaven nor the son but the father only we really need to pay attention to what Jesus says about the timing of his return what does does he say who knows the timing of his return God the Father who else nobody only the father not even the angels of heaven although they are constantly in the presence of almighty God although Jesus clearly stated he did not know the timing of his return there has never been a shortage of of people who think that they know the timing of
00:20:32 Jesus return Christian history is full of people who think they are more clever than Jesus they think they are better able to figure out the hidden secrets and the signs of the times than Jesus was they think they can gain knowledge that is not even available to the angels of heaven numerous people have claimed proclaimed themselves to be prophets or they said they have some special insight or prophetic word from God concerning the timing of Jesus second coming now some have been clever enough to couch
00:21:07 their words and their predictions in terms such as might or could before they then present very forcefully their strong case for their opinions but that way by couching it that way when they get it wrong they can come up with a new prediction write another book do another YouTube video and get some more clicks others might say well Jesus says you can't know the day and the hour but with good detective work maybe we can figure out the week or the month or at least the year but that approach is taking Jesus
00:21:44 words totally out of context of his teaching in these chapters where he is emphasizing over and over again that his coming is going to be sudden and unexpected and it's going to be a surprise to those he comes to no one will know when it will be I agree with da Carson and many of you have heard him because he's traveled to Malaysia several times and spoken da Carson says it is ridiculous and that's a direct quote he's being pretty harsh here it is ridiculous to say that though the day and the hour remain unknown we can
00:22:23 figure out the year or the month remember Jesus said no one knows know and he also said see that no one leads you astray I'll give just a few examples way back in the 2 Century a group who called themselves the new prophecy predicted the end of Christ in their lifetime 1900 years ago the year 500 was the date set for the return of Christ according to a theologian who had calculated the date based on the dimensions of Noah's Arc well Noah's Arc was mentioned in this passage so why not near the end of the first Millennium
00:23:05 many people including a pope prophesied that Jesus would return in the year 1,000 and most of us here today saw similar false prophecies and excitement connected with the year 2000 just a few years back the year 1666 1666 brought about wild end time speculation because of the 666 in the year moving closer to our time a worldwide pan pandemic that resulted in millions of deaths coupled with famine and earthquakes following a devastating War resulted in speculation by many that World War I would be the generation in
00:23:51 which Jesus would come back the Earth would not exist past the generation that was alive during World War I and I can remember when I was younger about 20 21 hearing a preacher say when he was reading a passage in Ezekiel this passage is talking about World War I and even though I was only about 20 I knew he was wrong no it's not talking about World War I and the man was a good man I liked him I had heard several sermons by him he was a pastor in my home Church really good guy good preacher but he had been
00:24:27 LED astray he had been missing Guided by some Sensational speculation so you might just be thinking well what's the big deal let them write their books it's interesting reading what's the problem with a little Sensational proph speculation and prophecy well one problem is it can give Christians a bad reputation it can harm our witness in society it results in people making fun of Believers for being so gullible during the Protestant Reformation in the 15 unds there was a German Baptist Minister and
00:25:04 mathematician I'm sorry he was not Baptist my next guy is going to be Baptist the German Minister Protestant Minister though and a mathematician whose name was Misha El steel and being a mathematician and a minister he wrote a book titled in English a book of arithmetic about the Antichrist the Revelation in the Book of Revelation and so by using his mathematical calculations he figured figured out that Judgment day was going to come at 800 a.m. on October 19 1533 of course that didn't happen but
00:25:37 that led to people mocking him and his prediction and that ridicule is still part of the German language today anden or to talk Atif that's from his name means to just spout off a bunch of nonsense even though it might sound educated or also from his name to calculate Atif is to calculate something that looks impressive but it's really just nonsense and unfortunately those types of calculations continue to happen today deceiving many Christians and this leads to mockery by those outside and another problem is it can
00:26:21 lead to disillusionment and even falling away from the faith for those that are LED astray it can even lead to heresy back in the 1800s there was a Baptist minister in New York state named William Miller and he made elaborate calculations and I'll zoom in on the top part he used the 70 weeks from The Book of Daniel and the times that are mentioned there and in the Book of Revelation plus he threw in bits of Ezekiel and Revelation mixed in some other scriptures calculated that together with some of the events in world history as
00:26:57 well as current events in in his day as you can see in the bottom he came up with the date of 1843 well that didn't work but no problem he revised it 1844 you see in the top right there something similar has happened in my lifetime probably in your lifetime the book 88 reasons why the world will end in 1988 tons of mathematical calculations didn't happen no problem next year 9089 reasons the end of the world's coming in 1989 well back to Miller when his prophecies did not come true his followers were taunted even in the
00:27:36 public newspapers and people would come up to Miller's followers and make fun of them saying have you not gone up yet I thought you had a ticket to go up and many of Miller's disciples or followers became so disappointed that this era in that part of New York is known as the great disappointment and several of Miller's followers turned their back on the faith because they had been misled the roots of adventism the roots of the Jehovah's Witnesses can be traced to this event and even the bah High
00:28:13 Faith which is not Christian at all but they have used Miller's calculations to add truth or what they consider to be truth to their teachings lives can be negatively influenced because of misguided prophecies and end time spec speculation when I was studying at the university the late great planet Earth by how Lindsay was a very popular book and I was at a Baptist University so almost everybody there had read the book and based on the theory that how Lindsay presented in the book based on his understanding of fig
00:28:46 tree and generation he came to the conclusion that 1988 would be the last possible date for the second coming of Christ Part B so seven years earlier that means the second coming of Christ part A would have to take place a fellow University student after reading this book decided there's less than 10 years before Jesus is coming back why should I spend half of that time studying at the University and he dropped out of school don't know what happened to him but I wonder if he ever regretted that
00:29:22 decision da Carson says Christian faith involves the sober responsibility of neither Bel in lies nor trusting imposters and then he gets pretty harsh and he says empty-headed credulity credulity is just a fancy word for a scholar credulity just means somebody that's gullible or easily deceived empty-headed credulity is as great an enemy of true Faith as chronic skepticism Jesus warned us do not be led astray because only God knows the timing of the second coming so since only God the father knows when the end will be why is it
00:30:03 that some Christians obsess over trying to gain knowledge that only God the Father Knows to quote Carson again Jesus disciples which includes us today are morally bound to repress all desires to know what only the Father Knows our church is beginning a study on Genesis chapter 3 tells about how sin entered into the world world do you remember how the serpent tempted Eve he tempted her with the desire to be wise like God to know something that only God knew and that ended up causing Eve and her husband and the rest of us a
00:30:46 lot of trouble to find out more I'd encourage you to join gamma trying to derive knowledge that belongs exclusively to God the father is not a good idea as a matter of fact based on what we see in Genesis 3 I think it could be labeled sin but this seems to be a continuing Temptation even for the early disciples after Jesus crucifixion and Resurrection the final time that Jesus met with his disciples this is what they asked him Lord will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel look how Jesus
00:31:22 answered it is not for you to know times or Seasons that the father has fixed by his own authority he did not say I really don't know but if you are good little detectives after the final books of the Bible are written you'll be able to find some kind of a secret Bible Code spend your time trying to find hidden mysteries and symbols and you can calculate an approximate time for my return and then you can be ready no he didn't say that what did he say he said you will receive power when the Holy
00:31:56 Spirit has come upon you and you shall be my witnesses to those right around you go further share the gospel with others and take the gospel to All Peoples of the world making disciples is a much better way for Disciples of Christ followers of Jesus to spend their time than is trying to figure out some kind of a calculation based on mathematical calculations or current events or historical events to try to figure out when Jesus might be coming before we move on I want to address one question that sometimes asked about this
00:32:33 passage did Jesus make a mistake did he prophesy falsely because it says this generation will not pass until all these things take place no just like the word soon generation can be translated in more than one way and there's about six different possible explanation but I think the best explanation also I would agree with da Carson here is to say that the generation that Jesus was talking to is who he meant but he wasn't talking here about the end of the world here he was talking about the destruction of the
00:33:08 Temple and so yes the generation that heard Jesus speak did live to see the destruction of the temple no one knows when Jesus will come but when he does come it's going to be unexpected Matthew 24:37 for as were the days of Noah so will be the coming of the son of man for as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the Ark and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them away so will be the coming of the
00:33:43 son of man then two men will be in the field one taken one left two women grinding at the Mill one taken one left therefore stay awake for you do not know on what day your lord is coming and Noah day life was going on as usual people were following their normal Pursuits living as they always had but ignoring the truth of God and they were caught by surprise when the floods came and swept them all away and Jesus said it's going to be similar when he returns it's going to catch people by surprise
00:34:22 because it's going to be unexpected despite the problems we face in life people can continue to eat drink and marry just like in Noah's days but suddenly someday ordinary life is going to be interrupted and people are going to be taken away like they were Swept Away in the days of Noah and when Jesus unexpectedly comes there is going to be a great separation two men are working in a field possibly a father and a son maybe two brothers maybe Neighbors who are business partners possibly two friends
00:35:01 or two fellow servants unexpectedly they're going to be separated two women who are operating a hand Mill together the meal between them and each one taking the turn to move the stone around the two women possibly sisters possibly mother daughter possibly neighbors friends it does not matter how close the relationship has been up to this point there is going to be a great separation and that's the main point of what Jesus is trying to tell us in this passage here Christ's unexpected return is going to separate
00:35:44 people now many people do like to speculate about what's going to happen with those who are taken what's going to be what's going to happen with those who are left and there are various interpretations I personally think the best interpretation based on the the immediate context is that just like the people in Noah's day were Swept Away in judgment when the flood came people at the end of time will be taken away in judgment when Jesus comes but I do realize there are differing views on this but the
00:36:15 scripture really does not say what happens either to those that are taken away or to those that are left so to try to build a Doctrine on what happens to each group after this separation is to depart from Biblical Authority because you're going further than Jesus says and you're entering the realm of human speculation so evidently in Jesus telling of this event it was not important for him to mention what happens to the different groups instead Jesus is emphasizing the unexpectedness of his return and he's pointing out that even
00:36:52 the closest of friends the closest of relationships they're going to be separated and they're going to be separated forever and that my friends should break our hearts that should wake us up there are people that we've known for years who are very dear to us good friends lifelong companions a spouse parents children people we know and love are going to be separated from us forever if we're not all ready for the return of Christ therefore we need to be ready for Christ's return and we need to do what we can do to help others be
00:37:44 ready the remainder of a Biblical text includes Parables whose purpose is to show that Jesus Second Coming is certain although the timing of his return is uncertain and it's going to catch many people by surprise Christ's return may come only after there's been a long delay as we'll see in these Parables but when he does come we can be sure that judgment will be here because judgment is coming we want to be ready and this is emphasized three times in the last part of our text chapter 24: 42 therefore stay awake
00:38:27 for you do not not know on what day you're coming that your lord is coming verse 44 therefore you must also be ready for the son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect in chapter 25:3 watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour in the story about the two servants Jesus stresses how we can be ready for his coming and he also points out what's going to happen to those who are not ready Jesus like the master in the story is looking for servants that he can rely on those who will act the same way when he
00:39:07 is present as when he is away those who will Faithfully carry out their duties and responsibilities Jesus is looking for good servants who are faithful and wise because they will know what the master wants and they'll do what he has assigned and when the master returns they are richly rewarded and that's something to look forward to what should we do while we're waiting the Master's return we've already mentioned the Great Commission to go share the gospel with all people the great commandment to love the Lord Our
00:39:41 God with all our heart to love our neighbor as ourselves how often do you think about the fact that Jesus is coming back does his coming soon make any impact on your relationships does it affect the way you do business think for a moment if you knew Jesus was coming back sometime within the next week or two are there some things you would stop doing that you're currently doing if you can think of something it would probably be wise to not wait but stop it now or think also are there things you would begin to do if you knew Jesus was
00:40:25 going to be here within this next month well don't put them off begin today for example let go of The Grudges and the bitterness you might be carrying be reconciled to those from whom you are estranged share the good news of Jesus with those beloved ones that don't know him confess the sin and turn away from it live a holy life the message is do not procrastinate because we do not when he not know when he coming and we want to be ready but if we do continue with life just as normal and ignore God and ignore the fact that
00:41:05 he's coming soon we be like that Wicked servant who did not carry out the responsibilities that his master had given him he foolishly ignored the Master's will and did whatever he wanted to he abused others he lived a wildli but there were serious consequences judgment do you remember what the picture was that was painted at the end of that chapter you don't want to experience that our text says that the master came and he cut this wicked servant in pieces and put him with the Hypocrites where there's going to be weeping and
00:41:46 nashing of teeth stay awake be ready watch for the Master's return live each day as if Jesus could come within the next few hours because he could the next Parable in our text the one about the 10 virgins continues to stress our need to be ready it also shows the great reward for those who are ready and we'll see once again how terrible the judgment is going to be for those who are not prepared for the second coming of Christ three aspects of the parable I want to just mention briefly first a casual Observer when
00:42:31 looking at these 10 young ladies would assume that they were all ready for the bridegroom's return undoubtedly they were dressed appropriately for the marriage Feast they all had lamps for the processional that would be taking place that night but there was a big difference five did not bring oil for their lamps they were not ready now what is this saying he's not talking about oil and lamps he's talking about our lives and our heart and our relationship to God what he's telling us is that many people look like they're
00:43:09 religious just like the Pharisees Jesus was talking to many people live good moral lives on the outside they appear that they're good upstanding Christians they hold down a job they contribute to society as responsible citizens they come to church have Christian friends they're not involved in any obvious blatant outward sins at least that other people are aware of but their heart is not right with God they might have a form of godliness like the Pharisees did but it's just a show they've never truly repented of sin
00:43:47 acknowledged their need for a savior nor allow Christ to really be the Lord the master the ruler of their lives and on Judgment Day they will not be allowed entrance into the kingdom of God the second aspect of this Parable is that each person must be prepared for Christ's return the five virgins who were not prepared could not benefit from the preparedness of the five virgins who were prepared you see the foresight and preparedness of the wise virgins was of no benefit whatsoever to the foolish
00:44:26 virgins when the bridegroom came for the wedding Feast what is this trying to show us he's not showing us that the wise ones were stingy that's not the point at all he's pointing out that preparedness for the coming of Christ is something that can be neither transferred or borrowed or shared the faith of my parents the faith of my spouse the faith of committed Christian friends is not going to get me into the kingdom of God because each one of us needs to personally respond to Jesus in Repentance and
00:45:04 Faith receiving him as our Lord and savior this Parable ends with the most tragic words a person could ever hear oh there are many tragic words we might hear in life that we hope we never heard here I can remember hearing the diagnosis of my wife's cancer tragic terrible some of you have heard even worse verdicts than we did or we might hear the tragic thing when the doctor says sorry maybe two months at the most or sorry they're not going to make it tragic words but much more tragic than that would be to hear the voice of Jesus
00:45:53 on Judgment Day saying I do not know you can't even imagine how horrible that would be I do not know you earlier Jesus had told maybe three years earlier in his teaching Jesus had said there are going to be many who come on that last day on Judgment Day and say Lord Lord look at all the wonderful things we've done but Jesus will tell them I never knew you outward profession is there outward appearance is there but the heart has not been changed Jesus is coming again and when he comes there's going to be final
00:46:35 judgment those who are ready those who are ready for his return they are going to be welcomed into the marriage feast and they're going to be allowed into the kingdom of God and they have eternity with Jesus but for those who are not ready the door to the kingdom is going to be closed closed and it's going to be closed forever it will not open again we need to remember the door to God's Eternal Kingdom not only can close but it is going to close there's going to be a time when it's too late so that means the time to get ready
00:47:20 for Christ coming is now the scripture says behold now is the favorable time behold now is the day of salvation Jesus is coming are you ready let's pray together father God we thank you for your great love for us that was expressed so vividly on the cross as Jesus died to pay the penalty for our sins we thank you for his resurrection and victory over sin and death and we know that Jesus is now at the right hand of God and help us to be ready and look forward with eagerness to Christ's return father God this morning I want to
00:48:08 pray for those who have not yet come to you in Repentance and Faith who have never allowed you to become Lord of their lives I pray that they would respond in faith to you today confessing their sin and asking your leadership in their lives and father God I pray for those of us who do know you that we would share the gospel intentionally with those who don't so that we will not be separated from them forever help us to be wise father God like the faithful servant like the wise virgins doing what you've asked us to do
00:48:42 living to please you we are looking forward to the returning of Christ in Jesus name I pray amen as we prepare to sing the song of commitment I realize this song is probably new to almost everybody here so don't worry about singing if you know what you can sing but think of the words listen to the words and spend the time in prayer Pray for Preparation pray that you are ready for the coming of Jesus Christ Church I invite all of you to rise As we sing the response song [Music] all of creation all of the earth St a
00:49:46 high for the Lord Jesus is coming soon call back the sck of the S let every nation shout your F Jesus is coming [Music] soon like a waiting for her will be a church ready for you every heart for we sing even so Lord Jesus God even so Lord Jesus come there will be Justice all will be in you your name forever ever faithful and true Jesus is coming [Music] soon like a ride waiting for her gr will be a church prai for you every heart longing for our he we sing like a BRI waiting for her gr will be a
00:51:34 church through every heart longing for our King we sing even [Applause] so Lord Jesus God even so Lord Jesus go so we We R for you God we wait you're coming soon so we wait we wait for you God we wait you're coming soon so we wait we wait for you God we wait you're coming soon like a r waiting for her we be a church waiting for you every heart longing for our we s like a BRI waiting for you'll be a church waiting every heart longing for of we sing even so L [Music] Jesus even so Lord [Music] Jesus even
00:53:49 so Lord jus [Music] as we come to the end of our service there might be some here who recognize I'm not ready and I want to get ready or there might be some who want prayer for a friend who does not know Jesus and pray that you would be able to share with them if you would like prayer to help you be ready for Christ's return or prayer for someone else that you could help get ready for Christ return our elders leaders of theur church will be at the front you're invited to come forward after we close and pray with
00:54:32 them now let's bow for our benediction peace be to you and Grace from him who freed us from our sins who loved us all and shed his blood that we might be saved sing Holy Holy to our God who was and is and is to come rejoice in heaven all you that dwell therein Rejoice on Earth you Saints below for Christ is coming he's coming soon for Christ is coming soon even so Lord Jesus quickly come amen as you go from here go with the Assurance of God's presence with you and with the expectation that Jesus is coming soon
00:55:27 amen
