I think, yes, I am on, good. Before I forget, again, I forgot little Ruth's first time in church here a couple weeks ago. So she is here this morning. So to Nathan and Eilish and their little Ruth, I wanna welcome you to the life of the church. And that's a good. A good reminder of new life. There is so much happening in this church right now that my head is frankly spinning some days, but it's all good and wonderful and glorious. Turn in your Bibles, please, to Matthew 24, and we're gonna look this morning at verses 45 through 51. So Matthew 24, 45 through 51. Once you've found that in your Bible, then I would ask if you'd please stand in reverence as we read God's word. And these are the infallible words of our God. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him to pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And may God bless the reading of his word. You may be seated. So as we continue to work through this passage, we saw last week that Jesus is starting to use typological imagery and parables from the Old Testament to illustrate the nature of how God's judgment works. And we're now entering into a series of three parables that are designed to show us what obedient living looks like while we wait for the return of the Lord. And then after these parables, deeper into chapter 25, we're gonna see Jesus telescoping all the way to the end of human history to his second coming as he describes the final judgment that wraps up history. So we're moving, or have moved, from specific prophecies which have to do with the end of the Jewish age. So what we've looked at so far is not about the second coming, it's about an imminent coming after the close of the Bible, the end of the Jewish age and the destruction of Jerusalem and of the temple. Then we're moving to a paradigm or a picture of how judgment works, that's where we are right now, whenever a day of the Lord comes to visit the earth. And then after these parables, we're gonna telescope out to the second coming, to the bodily return of Christ to wrap up history. And I have been reminded, and it's a good cause for me to think about even as we turn three years old this weekend, this Sunday, that probably at least half of us were not here when we started this series in September of 2022. And because we're in a transition, I want to give a 30,000 foot view of this gospel so far as we shift emphasis in the all of its discourse here. And today, text is a natural place to do this because it marks a shift in emphasis. In these later chapters of Matthew, we see many streams from the Old Testament flowing into the life and the ministry of Christ, specifically this last week. And as we've gone through this book, we've seen that the whole Gospel of Matthew really is a recapitulation in the life of Jesus of all of Israel's history. Jesus is Israel. Jesus is the obedient Israel. Israel 1.0 in the Old Testament was disobedient, fell into much sin, and so Jesus comes as the true Israel of God and walks that path obediently. And so one of the streams that we see coming now is this final contest between the religious leaders in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus and Jesus Christ himself. That is one of the streams. A second stream is that we clearly see now how Jesus is Israel, how he has retraced all the steps of historic Israel in this unfolding plan of redemption. He starts his ministry at the Sermon on the Mount, showing that he is a Moses figure, giving law from the mountaintop. And then he transitions into a Joshua phase, where he comes down off the mountain and starts to take conquest of the land as he casts out evil spirits and as he battles against sin. And even in his triumphal entry into Jerusalem in this last week, he comes down to Jerusalem from where? The ruins of Jericho. Jesus is Joshua. Jesus moves on to another phase in his ministry where he gives wisdom and kingdom parables like Solomon. So we see that Jesus is the greater Solomon. And then when he starts preaching repentance, he's drawing out the true Israel, the Israel by faith that exists within the nation of Israel, showing that he is the greater Elijah. And in this very last chapter of Jesus's life, Jesus's life ends the same way that the Old Testament ends, with a weeping prophet, foretelling the destruction of an idolatrous city that was called out in special worship for God. And as they have turned their hearts away from God, destruction is about to visit the city. And interestingly, in the providence of God, just like in Jeremiah's ministry, the destruction comes 40 years after the sermon. Another theme that we see in this final week, in this final confrontation, is God's unfolding covenant. How we understand a unified story all through scripture. All of these old covenant promises are fulfilled in Christ. They're terminated into Christ. And again, termination in that sense does not mean God blows it up. It doesn't mean annihilation. It means it terminates as in it finds its final end. It finds its final function in something like an airport terminal, like a terminal in your battery, everything was designed to get to this end point. And so the whole Old Testament, Old Covenant system terminates into Jesus Christ, which is its full and final expression. And then we have this theme of the overall history of redemption. The Bible, Old and New Testament, presents history as a series of ages or a series of worlds which have followed one another. And again, this shouldn't be so difficult for us to understand. I've sometimes used the analogy that my kids are growing up or have grown up on the same farm as my father-in-law did. And he grew up shoveling manure by hand, using horses, milking cows by hand, and our kids have grown up in a world with hydraulic manure pumps and diesel tractors and milking machines and so forth. They're on the exact same plot of land, but in a different world. They're living in a different world on the same place. And so when we need to understand in the biblical conception, a new world does not mean a new earth. It doesn't mean a new planet. It means a new chapter of history is unfolding on God's creation. It says in Hebrews 9 verse 26 that, as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away the sin by the sacrifice of himself. And so Jesus shows up at the end of the ages, at the end of the old covenant age, to bring about something new, the new covenant age. And yet, as we've seen, one of the themes here, we're hoping to, I'm not trying to belabor the point, but more because we learn by repetition to go over the big picture of how this works, is that the Old Covenant and the New Covenant actually spend a generation or 40 years overlapping one another, because Jesus establishes the New Covenant in his blood when? At his crucifixion. So in the year 30, the New Covenant starts, but the Old One doesn't end until the temple is destroyed 40 years later in AD 70. So we have this concept of overlapping ages, which is also a continual theme in scripture. And we can illustrate that as a seed, a corn seed or an acorn pushing out new life and that new life starts and then the shell falls away after. Or perhaps like a relay race where the new runner gets started before the old runner drops out. Or perhaps like a mother giving birth to her daughter and the two live together in an overlapping age before mom goes to be with the Lord. And of course, we know on the promise of Scripture that Christ is returning bodily. So there is one age that is yet future to us, what Scripture calls the new heavens and the new earth. But we've also seen that the generation that was there when Christ was ministering on earth is a significant generation. When the king, when the Lord of glory visits earth as a man, he brings his kingdom with him. Wherever the king goes, the kingdom follows him around. And so we've seen many times in the Gospel of Matthew that the kingdom of God has already broken into this world. It's broken into this age in which you and I are living. And we see that it did in fact come to this earth with Jesus. In Matthew 3, 2, and 4, 17, we see Jesus repeating the same message. Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. The kingdom is right here. The kingdom is on earth. It followed Jesus here. In Matthew 12, 28, he says, but if it is by the spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. One of the proofs that the kingdom of God is here is the fact that Jesus was casting out demons. And he goes on to tell a story about how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man, then indeed he may plunder his goods. So Jesus came, the kingdom comes. Satan is bound, not destroyed yet, so he's bound, he's operative, but he's bound so that the gospel can go forth. Jesus is plundering Satan's stuff in this age as the kingdom is here. And so the picture is clear that the kingdom or this future new heaven and earth has already broken in to this age, but it clearly is not yet fully here. We see the remains of corruption and sin all around us. So this is nowhere close to a finished project. And so we also have to have this concept that it comes in stages. It comes in like the tide. It's not just a line, and here it's not existent at all, and then here it's fully existent. It comes in in stages. We can talk about this as being, it's inaugurated, but it's not yet consummated. When Christ returns bodily at the very end, at the final judgment, then the new heaven and the new earth have fully and finally arrived. At that point, the kingdom is consummated, history is wrapped up, and we get to spend a glorified eternity without any sorrow, without any tears, without any remains of corruption. All the groaning of creation is irreversibly set up in that future age. And Jesus is telling us about this transition of worlds here in the Olivet Discourse. What Jesus has taken through in the Olivet Discourse is a series of events which tie all these themes that I've mentioned together. So that means that we are living right now, those of us alive today are living in the new covenant age where the kingdom is already present but still not perfected. The Dutch theologian Gerhardus Vos coined a very helpful phrase to help us think about this. He calls it the already, but the not yet fully. Okay, already it's here, but it's not yet fully here. It's coming, it's here, past tense, it's coming, present tense, and it will come, future tense. So the age in which you and me are currently living started when Jesus came to earth in bodily form. And it came into its own, the training wheel, so to speak, came off in AD 70 when the end of the old covenant finally was made visible. But this age will end when Jesus Christ returns bodily, the second coming. So what characterizes this age, and this is the practical stuff, this is what the series of parables is designed to teach us about. What's the nature of this age, the one in which me and you are living, and then perhaps more importantly, how do we live in light of what Jesus has taught us? How do we apply this truth, not just to history, but to our lives? We've seen that in the classical Preterist reading, which I do believe has characterized the bulk of church history, we've seen that the current age that we are currently in does not end, but rather began with the Great Tribulation. It began with the abomination of desolation. There was a catastrophic day of the Lord, not at the end of this age, but to kick this one off. This age ends in the victory of Jesus Christ as he returns in victory. This is an age that starts in dust and ends in glory. And Jesus' kingdom parables all point to that. Every one of Jesus' kingdom parables is not an example of defeat and decline, but rather of advance and slow growth, like a mustard seed, like leaven getting into everything. All the pictures show a pushing outward. In Matthew 16, in Jesus' gates of hell speech, Remember, he says the gates of hell will not prevail, but gates are a defensive weapon. That means that the church is not playing defense. The church in history is on the offense, okay? And the gates of hell not prevailing means it cannot stop the spread of the gospel. It cannot do it. Gates are a defensive weapon. When we worship the Lord on the Lord's day, when we go out and send missionaries with the gospel, what we are doing is swinging a battering ram against the gates of hell, and they will not be able to stop us. The gospel will get out because we have the wind of Pentecost at our back, not in our face. Jesus assures us of this. This is a forward-moving age. I've pointed out several occasions we've gone through this, that Psalm 110.1 is God's favorite Bible verse. And the reason I say that isn't because I have secret conversation with God, but rather because of how often he uses it. It's the most repeated verse in the New Testament. And again, what does it say in Psalm 110.1? It says, the Lord says to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool. So at the ascension, Christ goes to sit at the right hand of the Father. This is after his crucifixion, after his resurrection. 50 days later, or 40 days later, he ascends to the right hand of the Father, and he stays there, it says in Psalm 110.1, and many places in the New Testament further explain this. He sits there until all his enemies have been made his footstool. But we have to ask, what does that mean? Are we waiting for Christ to become king? Is Jesus waiting to receive lordship? Is Jesus waiting to have dominion? Is Jesus waiting for us to elect him president? Okay, so Jesus isn't really Lord right now. Is that what is meant by this? And I do not believe so. In a very real sense, his work of dominion taking is already done. He has already defeated death. He already has an answer to sin. He has already completed his mission on earth. He has already dethroned the powers of darkness at his crucifixion and at his resurrection. So in that sense, it's all over. It's done, he has an answer for all of those things. And yet, in another sense, even though his enemies have been defeated, we still see them everywhere, all around us on earth. So has death been defeated? Yes, absolutely. Death has died in the death of Christ. And yet everyone in this room knows dear people that have died. So how does that work? How has death been answered and yet it's still part of our experience? How is it that Christ has redeemed all things, he's reconciled all things to himself and yet we still see so much sin and corruption remaining? I think one way that we can think about this is if we shrink it all down to the level of our personal salvation. At the moment of your conversion, at the moment you receive Christ, an irreversible condition or an irreversible status has happened that you have already become new. This is irreversible, it's just a fact in heaven. God has said, yes, that one is mine. You are just, you are perfect, you are holy, you are righteous. This is an irreversible verdict from heaven. The old you is dead, the new you has come to life. Fact, irreversible, heaven says it, that's the way it is. And then day one after your conversion, you realize, oh, I still have to fight sin. Interesting. I thought this was all done, but here I am. I have to fight sin. In our day-to-day experience, the old man dies hard, and the new man struggles to overcome. So at conversion, there's a helpful distinction here, and historically the way people have talked about this, about status, which is the declaration of heaven, and condition, which is our experience on earth. So this is like a two-story house. There's one thing being said in heaven, and then there's our experience here on earth. Your status is in heaven, the condition is what we experience in this life. So our status is perfect, our status is righteous, our status is irreversible, but our condition down here remains a battle as we have to fight and grow in grace. and I think the grand scale of cosmic redemption works the same way. In the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, the world's redemption is irreversibly secured. The old world has died, past tense, and the new world has come to life, past tense. Death has been destroyed, past tense, and yet, in our day-to-day experience, the world remains hard, it remains difficult, it remains jagged, death is still here, and there's all kinds of things that we have to overcome. At the Ascension, creation's status is redeemed. Christ has completely reconciled all things to himself. He has conquered every enemy, including death. But the condition down here remains a battle, as we reckon with sin, setback, and death. It says in Colossians that Christ is, present tense, reconciling all things to himself. Both are true. The sanctification of the individual believer is the process of getting our condition to match our status. That's what Colossians says. You are holy, now start being holy. Why? Well, because you're holy. Make sure your condition starts to catch up to your status. Make sure the experience matches the verdict in heaven. And so it's not so hard to understand in the cosmic redemption of Christ's ministry that it works the same way. Christ is remaining seated in heaven until when? Until all his enemies, in terms of the condition on earth, have been put under his feet. That is, he will remain there until the condition matches the status. 1 Corinthians 15, quote Psalm 110.1, and says that when Christ returns, there's the last enemy to be defeated. The one that's remaining is death. And yet we already know that death itself has been dealt the death blow from the standpoint of heaven. But when Christ returns and resurrects the dead and ushers them into eternity, then the condition will match the status. What we see will match the verdict of heaven. So why is this so helpful? Well, I think it helps us to see history, to see our own personal history, to see the history of the Bible and after the Bible through the correct lens. And it actually is a great aid to us in our sanctification. History, whether in the course of our lives as believers or whether on the grand scale of redemption, is about the gospel creating new life until the situation on earth is aligned with heaven. And this is what the old Puritans meant when they spoke about that the whole task of the Christian life is to make the invisible kingdom visible for the condition to start matching the status. I also believe this is what Jesus meant when he teaches us to pray that we should pray for God's will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. The experience needs to match the verdict. So we're living in an age where we're in this long war in history between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness in which the kingdom of God is slowly but surely colonizing and filling the earth. And at Christ's return, on the other side, there's complete harmony. There's complete overlap. Status and condition are identical. Heaven and earth are completely married. And what we will experience after Christ's return will be superior to what Adam and Eve even enjoyed before the fall. Their condition was unstable. Sin was possible. In the new heavens and the new earth, even that will not be possible. It will be impossible. for us to sin. Death in Hades will have to be removed, which is why they are taken out of here. They're hauled off and they are dumped into the lake of fire. It can no longer exist on earth. And this is the final judgment. The final taking away of the wicked out of the earth so that the meek can inherit it fully and perfectly. After this, the condition and the status are perfectly aligned. And so if we can see the big picture, either of the age in which we're living or of our own personal lives, if we see that we start here at point A and we need to end up at point B, then we need to know the direction that our lives need to take. To work consistently with the purposes of God. To man our stations. and advance the kingdom of God as we make Jesus Christ known. And the instructions that we receive in these three parables that are upcoming all illustrate how our obedience and how our diligence ought to advance the cause of the gospel in the period of time that God has given us to work with. If you think of, I like to think of world history as like a big long story. God is the author. and for reasons unknown to me, he authored me into a certain circumstance for a certain period of time, and I'm gonna be written back out again, just like everyone in this room. Okay, we're part of a story, and so we need to understand how this works so we know our part, so it becomes intuitive what our part in the story is, because we're written in for a moment and we'll be written out in a moment, and have we served the Lord diligently in that little period of time in which we are written to be part of this story? So in light of all this, I think what Jesus is gonna show us here is that there are two ways of living while we await the return of the master. There's one way of living which is consistent with his purposes, and there is one way of living which is directly opposed to his purposes. And so we'll pick up in verse 45 here. Who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. And so here we have a picture of servants who are working in a manner that is consistent with God's mission for the world. These people are diligent at pursuing their master's wishes. And a number of commentators have, I think, correctly pointed out that these verses are probably most obviously directed at church leaders because these particular servants are responsible for feeding others. And this would also make sense because remember, it's still Tuesday and Jesus is still debating with the religious leaders in Jerusalem. So this is like a direct shot at them about how church leaders, how religious leaders ought to operate among God's people. So I think the first and most obvious application here is for church leaders. The leaders of God's people in Jerusalem that Jesus is debating with have not only neglected to feed God's sheep, but they have actually started to devour them. Instead of feeding them, they're feeding on them. They're taking advantage of them. They're laying heavy burdens and all kinds of legalistic rules on them. These men were supposed to give of themselves to the people, and instead they saw their position as a way to get from the people. They saw it as a form of self-enrichment. Because the overall point that Jesus is making here is about readiness, about being prepared, and while this applies very directly to religious leaders that are charged by Christ to watch over the church, there is a very real application to any servant in God's vineyard. So this also applies truly to anyone in this room. If you are at all a participant in the people of God, there is an application for you here. Many of our translations talk about this being a servant, but actually the word here is dulos, which means slave. John MacArthur has written a whole book about this, just called Slave. And he points out that because there's certain sensitivities about the word slave in our culture, we don't use it, even though we should. When we hear about slavery, everyone's mind goes to Alabama in the 1800s, which is wrong. It's not wrong, but it's very limited. There's a whole world of slavery which is biblical and which helps us to think that we are not autonomous, but that we belong. Everything, our full allegiance belongs to the master. And Bob Dylan correctly pointed out that we all have to serve somebody. If you do not serve Christ, you are serving the kingdom of darkness. Everybody on earth is a slave to something. We're either a slave to the kingdom of light or a slave to the kingdom of darkness, but there is not one autonomous soul on this planet. Everybody is a slave, either to sin or to Christ. And so I don't think we should back away from the slavery motif that's here. We're slaves. We're slaves. We're not autonomous. We don't have our own say. We are serving somebody. We are serving a kingdom. And as Christians, we need to be fully sold out, fully submitted to the purposes of Christ. Our whole purpose is to advance the cause of our master. And this is just as true for the stay-at-home mom or for the small child as it is for a wealthy businessman or for a church elder. This is for everybody. We need to fully submit to the wishes of our master. Verse 46 highlights the logic of acting in a manner that is consistent with the trajectory of Christ's kingdom. That story, Jesus blesses the one who is acting according to orders when the king returns. The obedient slave is going to be trusted with more and more as he is faithful with what he has been given. And we're gonna come up to the parable of the talents and we'll very obviously see that. If you're faithful with a little, expect more. And then if you're faithful with that, expect more. And more and more as you are faithful, as we are obedient. And we see that grasping for authority and demanding respect as the scribes did, as the Pharisees did, and as people today might be tempted to, you'll see what a futile endeavor that is. Jesus says that if you want to go up, the way is down. If you want to be great, you need to become a servant to many. If you're going to be faithful in the small things, you can expect that the Lord will put new things on your lap. And we can see in your experience in scripture everywhere, you can see that authority naturally goes to the people who take responsibility. Authority will virtually never ever go to the person who demands authority and respect. That's a sure way to make sure you will never get the respect of people. Start taking responsibility and authority and respect will start naturally flowing to you. And this is important as we consider adding deacons, and down the road I'm sure we will add more elders in this church. The men who fill these positions need to be fully submitted to the master, fully committed to the health of God's house. But again, this is applicable for all of us. John Gill commenting on this, on the application to church leaders. is that the post that such a man is put in and the work he is to do follow, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household or family, the church of God, which is the household of God and of faith, in which are believers of various growths and sizes, some fathers, some young men, some children. And over these, the ministers are, by their Lord, made and placed as rulers, not as lords and tyrants over God's heritage, to govern them in an arbitrary way, but as over them in the Lord, to rule them according to the word of God and the laws of his house, by preaching the gospel, administering ordinances, and keeping up his worship and the discipline of the church. That's the marching orders. And our future deacons and our future elders are no doubt here. So young men, old men, listen, this is serious. You will never be a leader if you are a proud or self-serving man. You will be a leader if you are humble and you're willing to bleed for the people that you are going to serve. It goes on in verse 48. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant 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 put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And so we've already seen that as the New Testament closes, the imminent, thing that is coming. The imminent day of the Lord that is promised as the New Testament closes is not the second coming but is the destruction of Jerusalem. That's the one that's right at the doorstep. But we see here what happens. There's another final day of the Lord that is on its way. And how do we live as we wait for that one? It's most likely that the Jews could not have even pictured the world going on without the temple. So most likely, I think this makes the most sense, most likely when the Jewish people thought about the destruction of the temple, they would have assumed that the world ended at that time. History cannot possibly go on if there's not a temple in Jerusalem. They would have understood the destruction of the temple to be the end of history. History cannot go on. So in their mind, they're probably just seeing one time horizon out in front of them, and Jesus is saying, no, there's actually more than that. There's close at hand, and then there's further out. They're probably assuming this the wrong way, as they frequently assume many things the wrong way. And we've seen God is pleased to move history much more incrementally than what they would have expected because the gap between the destruction of the temple and Christ's second coming is getting close to be 2,000 years and still going on. So there's obviously more than one time horizon ahead of them. And so Jesus introduces the possibility of this long wait in parables by pointing to the attitude that the lazy and the wicked people have when they start to realize that the master's return is delayed, says in the text. Some will start to presume actions. I can live autonomously. I can do it my way, as Frank Sinatra said. He's never coming back. I am a law unto myself. I can do whatever I want for the rest of my life. Because the master's not returning, I'm God. I will do as I wish. I will live autonomously. I will be a law unto myself. I will do as I see fit. And what a terrible idea that is. The people who think this way are, for the sake of the parable, identified as servants. So at some level, even though they're clearly unsaved, they are operating inside the bounds of Christ's visible people. So these are people in the church. They're identified with God's people, despite actively working against God's people. These are the kind of people who turn on each other and create hate and discontent. Okay? And false shepherds continue to this day. Matthew Henry, speaking of this, talks about some preachers in his own time. He says, that this man may preach so well in the pulpit that it is a pity that he should ever step out. And yet he lives so wickedly out of the pulpit that it's a pity that he should ever step in it. Boy, is that damning words. And he's right. This isn't just a first century problem. This is all history. This is a sin problem. This is a hypocrisy in the church problem. And so the reason that we talk at Trinity, in this church, that we talk so often about culture is because a church's culture is formative. It either does or it does not tolerate compromise and hypocrisy and destructive behavior. Culture wins every time. So whether we're talking about the leaders in this church, or the future leaders in this church, or the general membership of this church, everyone here is playing a part in creating the culture of this church. And either, the dichotomy is just as clear here, the antithesis is just as clear, the dividing line is just as much the case. Everyone in this room is actively helping the culture of this church, or you are actively working against it. There is no in between, you're either helping or you're hindering. and there's nothing in between. Some people build community, they build fellowship, they build warmth, they build relationship. Other people get between brothers, they create factions, they form lobby groups, they slander about other people, they spread negativity, they complain to others, they don't go to the source. And for every person like that, you need 20 or 30 or maybe 50 healthy members to create a strong enough immune system in the people of God that it can resist that kind of a virus. But we all need to commit to being the helpful people here, the faithful stewards, the ones who are actively building and feeding and creating something healthy. Matthew Poole. here says that at the same time, Christ takes a passing glance at the ease with which insolence grows. When a man has once shaken off the bridle and given himself up to sinning, for Christ does not represent to us a servant who is merely dissolute and worthless, okay? So it would be one thing if this guy was just worthless. That would be one thing. You can deal with worthless people, okay? But it's worse because there's also the kind of man who rises up in a manner to disturb the whole house. That's a lot harder to deal with than a worthless person. This is a destructive person. And Matthew Poole speaks of a bridle here, which is fitting language. Because if you've ever been around horses, what do bridles do? Bridles steer. Bridles keep a horse in submission. Bridles tell you the master is communicating to the horse through a bridle. He gets his cues that way. And unruly and unaccountable men in the church have shaken this bridle off, in Matthew Poole's imagery. They don't want to be under authority. They rather would serve their own agenda. They'd rather build factions around them. They'd rather stir up dissatisfaction, because misery loves company. And so they'll spread their dissatisfaction, and they'll do what they want instead of what's best for the people of God. Rather serving themselves than the church. They're not taking part in the mission of the church by making Christ's name famous. Rather, they're kicking against the goats. They're cutting against the grain of what Christ has commanded for his kingdom. And, in Jesus's parable, these men are going to be hauled off to the judgment. A proud and arrogant man, sees the delay in Christ's return as an opportunity for self-indulgence. If the Master's delayed, that's more time for me, and after all, I need me time, and I need hashtag self-care, right? Because haven't we all learned in our culture that you are the most important person who's ever existed, right? You go, girl. By the way, a hint, you're not the most important person who's ever lived. Christ is, and so we need to live our lives in submission to him. So a proud man sees the delay as a time for self-service, self-living. What does a righteous man see in this delay? A righteous man does not pursue self-service in the delay, but he rather sees an opportunity for the kingdom to advance yet further. And the Bible says explicitly that's exactly what the patience of God is designed to do. In Romans 2, verses four and five, It says, or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. So what is the wait for? The wait is for bringing people into the kingdom. The wait is designed to bring people to repentance, to fill up the church, fill up the people of God. That's why the master's delayed. Not so you can waste your life on yourself. but so that you can invest your life to bring people in, that the kingdom will grow in its fullness. That is what God's patience is designed to teach us. So a righteous man will see an opportunity for the kingdom to advance, and a wicked man is going to waste his life on himself. And verse 50 highlights again that while scripture doesn't teach an imminent return, a bodily second coming of Christ, it does in fact teach an any time. return of Christ. We don't know when it will happen. It could happen at any time. It could happen this afternoon. It could happen in another 2,000 years. We just don't know. The point here isn't to know when it will happen, but to be ready, to live ready. And even for those of us who are not there, when the bodily second coming of Christ happens, each of us will meet God. Christ will return to each one's life in another way, through death. John Gill here, in an hour that he is not aware of, suddenly and unexpectedly, such was his coming in wrath and vengeance on the Jewish nation, and such is his coming oftentimes by death, and such will be his coming at the day of judgment. Everybody will meet God. Either at death or at the second coming. And we don't know which way we are going to meet God, but the point here is to be ready. And verse 51 shows a violent end to the destructive hypocrites that are operating inside the people of God. And the language is not gentle because the Bible does not talk gently about judgment. It says they are going to be cut in two and thrown into hell. That's gentle Jesus talking that way. Cut in half and thrown into hell. And the cutting language is often used all through the Bible for covenant breakers of any sort. Those who appear visibly to belong to the people of God, but who are spiritually dead inside. Moses was given, or Abram was given a sign for this in circumcision. Circumcision is designed to give you a picture of cutting away, throwing off. That if your seed does not have the faith of Abram, they will be cut off and thrown away. So remember that with the seed that comes out of your body to disciple them, that there's not dead faith. There was an image there of our responsibility to the next generation. Don't let them be cut off and throw away as far as you are possible. We need to disciple these people. Further, when God makes his covenant with Abram, you'll remember that he passed between the pieces. There's all these dead animals cut in half, and God walks, in form, he walks through there to show, so be it to me if I ever break covenant with you, because covenant breaking is serious. Covenant breaking means you're cut in half, there's blood and guts everywhere. That's God's judgment. That's why there's animals cut in half, for Abram to clearly see the cost of breaking covenant with Yahweh. It's not a pleasant description. And we have neutered hell so badly in our culture, haven't we? There's so little hell in our pulpit. And as Jacob Raume has pointed out, wouldn't it be interesting, wouldn't we expect that there might be a little bit less hell out on the street if there was a little bit more hell in our pulpits? Speaking from hell is just vanished. Or we neuter it. We talk about it like it's just this void. Or it's annihilation, that teaching is all over the place, that it's annihilation. The Bible never, ever presents it that way. Hell is not a neutral void, and hell is actually not a Christless eternity. The worst description of hell is in Revelation, where it says that you cannot get away from the Lamb of God. The smoke of the torment of God's enemies goes up in the presence of the Lamb. The worst part about hell is that the Lamb is there, standing in judgment, and you can never, ever get away from it. And if that lasted 10,000 years, there would be an end to it. But the Bible says there is no end to it. Ever. The smoke of your torment will forever go up to the Lamb, and you cannot escape his gaze of judgment. It's terrible language. And we need to not be ashamed of what the Bible says. This is not annihilation. This is active, ongoing torment. There is weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is open hatred. There is open hostility. So we need to be reminded. We think about status and condition when we think about present and future. In the future, in eternity, every man, woman, and child in the future, in eternity, will finally become what they have been in the process of becoming right now. So look at your life and ask, what am I becoming right now? You will be fully that and irreversibly that in the age to come. For the righteous, who are putting sin to death, who are growing in their sanctification, your righteousness will be made total and perfect in eternity. But for the wicked, their wickedness will also be made total and irreversible at the final judgment of Christ. In eternity, you will finally become what you are now in the process of becoming. So what do we do with this? What's the application here? I think the application in this text is very obvious and straightforward. And that's this. We need to live consistently with God's purposes for his kingdom. Either you personally, okay, this isn't just generic, everyone in this room, you are personally either working with the grain, with the trajectory of redemptive history, or you are working against it. And the last judgment, the one that's future to us, will, by every picture here, work the same way that past judgments have worked. The wicked will be taken away in judgment, and they will be dumped into the lake of fire. The wicked are hauled off so that the meek can inherit the earth. The righteous will be here for the perfect consummation, for that last wedding feast, the wedding supper of the Lamb. And so our instructions are clear. We need to be watchful. We need to live ready. We don't know when Christ will come bodily at the end of history or in your death. We do not know when Christ will come to you. The point is to be ready. And this means that we need to live every day self-consciously before the face of God. The goals of history, the goal of your life, they work together because to live obediently to Christ is to live ready for his return. And so I think what we need to see here is that being ready for Christ does not mean sitting, waiting with your bags packed. That's not readiness. What readiness is is faithful living while he is waiting, while he is delayed, is faithful living right now. And sometimes that will seem a lot less glorious than we might think it is. You don't have to be a pastor or a missionary to be advancing the kingdom of God. This can be very down-to-earth things that are loving creation, working consistently, And I think of all the young ladies who either have little children at home or who are waiting little children at home, and you go on Instagram and you see all these women that tell you you can have it all. Hint, you can't, okay? And it's designed to create envy, okay? And your life doesn't count, because, well, I'm just a stay-at-home mom. What does my life count? I'm just running an 18-year Bible college with little souls that will live forever in heaven or hell. It doesn't really count. I don't get a stapler, I don't get to ride an elevator, I don't have a cubicle, I don't get to do really important stuff like the really important women do. Living ready means discipling these little ones. Living ready, living consistently with the kingdom of God includes changing diapers. And it includes diesel mechanics. And it includes growing food and farming. And it includes all kinds of other things which serve the creation, which are advancing God's kingdom while we wait. Yes, in church, but also everywhere. And so that's where we need to leave this. Are we living ready? Again, not bags packed, can't wait to get out of here. Rather, pressing in, living ready as in consistently. Okay, that anytime Christ could return and you would be pleased to have him find you doing exactly what you're doing and not ashamed for him to find you doing what you're doing. It could come at any moment. Are you proud of what you're doing when the master of heaven and earth comes to visit you? Let's pray. Father God, you have presented us in your word with serious and confrontational words. Lord, they force a decision, they force obedience, they force action. Or at the very least, they force us to see the consequences of our actions. If we are wise and faithful servants who are advancing your purposes, who are working consistently with your design, or whether we are kicking against the goats, causing problems in your house, living for ourselves, distracting others, entertaining sin in our lives. Lord, and I pray that by your spirit, each one here would be convicted of where we are. What are we doing in your house? Lord, are we serving your plans in our families and for creation and for your church and for the spread of the gospel, for the advance of the kingdom? Lord, are we working against you? Lord, and we know that your spirit is there to help us, to move us in the right direction, that the wind of Pentecost can propel us forward, it's not against us. And so, Lord, I pray that we would work in a manner that is consistent with your purposes. I pray that we would so understand the story of redemption that our part in the story would seem intuitive, that it would become to feel natural and obvious as we grow deeper in holiness, as we see your purpose for your kingdom people, Lord, and I pray that each one of us here would be found profitable, not wasting your gifts on ourselves, but rather investing them for eternity, that we can live ready, that we would be glad if you would return at any time, either in your bodily coming or in death, that we would be glad for you to find us doing exactly as we are doing. Lord, thank you for your gospel. Thank you for your word. Empower us this week to live for your glory and for your kingdom and for your power and amen. Please stand. I can't keep this down The kingdom of God has an already and a not yet fully component to it. Already it has broken into this age with the coming of Christ and yet we wait for its full expression at his second coming. That is to say his kingdom is inaugurated but not yet consummated. While we labor in this age, we are to live ready for the age to come. We do this by working consistently with the trajectory that Christ has set in motion. Already at his ascension, he has taken all power and dominion and authority. That's the status of this world. And yet we see that the mop-up operation of bringing Earth into conformity to heaven, the condition, takes time our work is that of being productive stewards doing on earth that which has already been declared in heaven wicked servants await being taken away in judgment but wise servants await an eternal inheritance and receive the benediction from 1st Corinthians 15 58, which says, therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. And go in peace.