Well, as we turn our attention now to the preaching of God's Word, I ask you to turn with me to the Gospel of Matthew. This morning, we'll be looking at Matthew chapter 24, beginning in verse 36, and then through the entirety of Matthew chapter 25. If you're using your Pew Bible this morning, you should be able to find this beginning on page 1055. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. 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 given in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away. So will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left. Therefore stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, But if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake, and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. 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. 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. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. for it will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted them his property. To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here I have made five talents more. His master said to him, Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, Master, you delivered to me two talents. Here, I have made two talents more. And his master said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. He also, who had received the one talent, came forward, saying, Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid. And I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.' But his master answered him, You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him, and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given. and he will have an abundance. But from one who has not, even what he has will be taken away, and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 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 food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you welcomed me. I was 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, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them, Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not welcome me, naked, and you did not clothe me, sick, and in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. So ends our reading of God's word. Let us bow in prayer. Our gracious Father, may you guide and direct our hearts and minds as we look at these words this morning. May you, Father, be with us and inscribe your truth upon our innermost being. May you bless my mind and my mouth. May I think and speak clearly your truth. In the name of Jesus Christ, we do pray. Amen. Well, this morning's, the title that you have in your bulletins is Be Ready. And as we look at this text this morning, and it is a large portion of scripture that we read, what we'll be looking at is simply a question that we all must ask ourselves. Are we ready for Jesus to return? Are you and I ready for the Lord of glory to come and to make all things new, finally and definitively, the end of all things as we know it, and the establishment of his eternal kingdom fully in all of its scope upon earth. Are you and I ready for Jesus to return? Well, as we consider this, we'll be looking at this large text in just two points. First of all, In Matthew 24, verses 36-44, no one knows when Jesus is coming. And secondly, the rest of the passage, from chapter 24, verse 45 through the end of chapter 25, we are always to be ready for His coming by doing what He commands through His grace. We are to be ready, always ready, for His coming by doing what He commands through His grace. So no one knows when Jesus is coming. Now as I, we looked at last week, the opening verses, the first 35 verses of chapter 24, and I was arguing that those verses Jesus is speaking of, his ascension and enthronement, and leading up to the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. And how that is the sign that is to come, that the son of man, the end of the temple age and the official inauguration of the final age, as it were, the last days, the temple being raised, destroyed forever. And how that is the sign that we have throughout the globe that we can all look at and know that Christ is enthroned and victorious. Well, when the disciples came to Jesus on the Mount of Olives and asked them the question, they asked him, when will be basically your return? And when will these things be? When will be the close of the age? There's really two questions there that the disciples were asking. And last week we looked at Jesus's answer to the second part of those questions, the end of the age. But Jesus here switches gears. And he says, but concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven or the son of man, but the father only. That word, but there is a key word that signifies a change in thought and dialogue of Jesus. And he's now addressing the part of their question where they're asking, when is he going to come in again? When is he going to definitively come in power? and be clear for all to see what we call his second coming. Jesus here says that nobody knows when that day or hour will be. Now, one of the things that's kind of confusing and maybe trips some people up is that he says here, not even the sun knows when that hour will be. And one of the things we have to keep in mind as we consider Jesus here In his dialogue or and his earthly ministry This is still the period of what we call his humiliation Where he had as the eternal Son of God he had left the realms of glory was was born through the Virgin Mary And he lived under the law there were while he was here on earth limitations to Jesus He got tired He needed to sleep. He got hungry. He needed to eat and all the various weaknesses that we experience bodily, Jesus experienced, yet was without sin. In a part of that, Jesus didn't know when he was coming back. He says here very clearly, not even the angels of heaven know, not even the Son, but the Father only. Now what we can learn from this, brothers and sisters, is that when people say and give declarations of, well, the end's gonna come here and such and such, or the end's gonna be at this date. We just had this, what was it, a couple years ago, when a man named Harold Camping first announced that the end of the world was coming on May 31st, but then that came and went, and so then it was sometime in October, and that came and went. What we can do, brothers and sisters, if anyone says, well, Jesus is coming back on this day, and I know it, They're lying. Jesus was very clear. Nobody is going to know when I'm going to come and when I'm going to return. And he shows that through this imagery that we have of, he references the days of Noah and how God had, you recall, God called Noah to build the ark because his judgment was coming upon the earth in the flood, the worldwide flood. And people ridiculed Noah and his family for building this ark And up until the day when the first raindrops fell and when the water gushed forth from the earth, Jesus says, people were marrying and being given in marriage. They were going about their daily lives as if nothing was going to happen. And keep in mind, Noah was building that ark for more than 100 years. So people were just going by, and each, you know, people walking by, well there's Noah and his family, those crazy people building that boat, nothing's happening, Noah. It's been nearly a century, give up. But no, the day came when the Lord's judgment was poured out upon the earth. And people were caught by surprise. They didn't expect it. Jesus also shows this in how he He discusses, or he shares how two people will be in the field and one will be taken, one will be left. Two people will be at the millstone, one will be taken, one will be left. Now, the interesting thing about that imagery of one being taken, one being left, that when Luke talks about this in his account, in his gospel, in Luke chapter 17, verse 37, he ties this leaving to the judgment that people would experience. Because he mentions people, one being left and one being taken, and his disciples ask, well, Lord, where are they, basically? And he responds by what we have in the passage we looked at last week in chapter 24, verse 28. He says, wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather. The symbol of dead corpses lying on the ground and vultures coming and scavenging and picking the flesh off their bones. But we also need to consider 1 Thessalonians 4.17, where Paul clearly ties this imagery also to the resurrection and the imagery of those who are still alive when Christ returns, we will be, Paul says, we will be caught up in the air with him, with those who had been raised from the dead. So what Jesus is talking about here and what he's focusing on in this imagery, and you could rightly take it either way, But the thrust of what he's saying here and he's exposing is the swiftness and the suddenness of his coming, of his return. He said earlier, when he briefly mentioned it in verse 27 of chapter 24, where, 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. That imagery of something quick and unexpected and powerful And that is what is being emphasized here in these verses. Therefore, he says, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. He also uses the imagery of a thief. Thieves come at a time when they think the house is exposed and ripe for plundering, and at a time usually when people don't expect. and don't anticipate it. When the same way, the second coming and the return of Christ will be sudden and unexpected. We won't be able to discern the signs and say definitively, well, Jesus is coming at such and such date. See, Jesus is coming at such and such a time. Because he lays out clearly, it will be when we don't expect it. He is very clear. We will not expect His return and His coming. And so, brothers and sisters, know that Jesus will come at a time when we least expect it. I know I'm probably sounding repetitive here, but it's an important thing for us to understand and to grab hold of when so much and such a large portion of our Our brothers and sisters in Christ are constantly looking for for signs of his come of his imminent return. Jesus could not be any clearer. We will not know. And we will not expect it. It will take us by surprise when he comes in his glory. This brings us to the second point. Since then, the return of Christ in His glory will be at a time when we don't know and when we cannot expect Him. Jesus then gives us through some parables and a glimpse of what is to come in the judgment how then we are to live in light of this truth. The rest of this text this morning is Jesus explaining, since you will not know when I am coming Here is how you then are to live. And he does it, first of all, we're going to skip over his little bit about the wicked and the good servant in verses 45 through the end of the last portion of chapter 24 and come back to that when you look at his glimpse of the judgment to come. But going to chapter 25, that first parable of the ten virgins, What we learn here is through the example of this parable of these ten virgins as they're awaiting a celebration of a wedding. They've all got their lamps, and five of them brought extra oil because they didn't know when the bridegroom was coming, and five of them didn't. There are five wise, five foolish. And so when the bridegroom does come, and he was delayed, the five foolish didn't have enough oil, and they were shut out. What we're taught by this, brothers and sisters, is to make preparations for Jesus' return. Be prepared. How are we prepared? Well, how we are prepared, brothers and sisters, is through partaking of the means of grace. What he's talking about here is making sure we are on track with that we are ready when He does come. Make sure that we are growing in our walks with Christ. And God has given us what we call ordinary means of grace. And we've mentioned these before. And what these are is the ministry of the Word. Both this corporate setting where we come and we all hear, myself included, the preaching of the Word. And where we also in our own homes and our day-to-day basis, we're reading the word. We're in the word. This is a means of grace that God has given to us, where he is molding and shaping us. He's preparing us for glory. And when you think about, we talk about sanctification, what we might call that growing in Christ likeness. What is that? Well, another way we could put it is God is preparing us for heaven. Each day as He is working in our hearts through His Holy Spirit, as He takes His Word and applies it to our lives, and He molds us and shapes us, He prunes us and He builds us up in Christ, He is preparing us for heaven. He is sanctifying us, preparing us for glory. It's an important means of grace, the ministry of the Word, both in this corporate setting and the preaching of the Word, but in our own closets, in our own families, as we read the Word together. Another means of grace are the sacraments. Being baptized, partaking of the Lord's Supper. These are means of grace that God has given to us. The baptism signifying and replacing that sign of circumcision where now the sign of being in the covenant household of God is given to both boys and girls, men and women. And it's encompassing all His people. We are a part of the visible body of Christ, the covenant community. The simple meal that the Lord has given us of bread and wine to sustain us on our pilgrim journey as we are marching through this wilderness to the promised land. He has given us these ordinary means of grace to strengthen us and to mold us more into Christ. The third one is prayer. As I've said before, we are in a relationship with God, and every good relationship has open lines of communication. It is the Word of God through which He speaks to us, and prayer is our speaking to Him. And so prayer itself, as we pray to the Lord in His will, He mold and shapes our will to His. He sometimes says no, but if we are truly praying according to His will, He will give us a confidence and a peace that He knows what He's doing. But He also confirms, and by answering the prayers that we do pray, He shows us that He's listening and that this relationship and this communication is real and not just some imaginary a process that we go through. So how do we prepare for the coming of the Lord? We avail ourselves. We take part in the ordinary means of grace that God has given to us. But it's not also just the preparing for His arrival. He has also given us work to do. And that is what the parable of the talents shows us. Jesus uses the imagery of a landowner who goes on a long journey, and he brings three of his servants in, and he gives five talents to one, or ten talents to one, five talents to another, and one talent to a third. And in this, the first two, they actually do something with what God has given them. or their landowner, and they're able to bring back more, and they're praised for what they have done, whereas the third just buried it, and did absolutely nothing. Now, as we consider this, I know that the Bible here talks about talents, but we need to keep in mind that a talent was a unit of money, a very large sum of money. We shouldn't make too much, I think, of a connection between, you know, the money that's used in this parable and then the gifts that God has given to us. Now, yes, God has given each and every one of us gifts or talents. And we're to use them for the advancement and the growth of his kingdom. And yes, that is a part of the application of this text. But what I'm warning us all against is limiting ourselves to what we see and know to be our gifts or talents. See, the danger is that we can neglect some aspect of the ministry that we're to be doing, either in our own private lives or even being involved within the church, because we'll say, well, that's not where my talent lies. That's not where my gift is. So I don't really need to have a part in that. God is in the habit of taking people who don't realize they have gifts and talents in certain areas and then using them in mighty, powerful ways. Ways that they could never imagine. One of the chief scriptural examples of this is Moses himself. Do you remember his conversation with the Lord in the burning bush? He said, Lord, send somebody else. I stutter. I can't speak. I can't go to Pharaoh. In the world's eyes, Moses was a ridiculous choice for a leader. He couldn't speak properly. He couldn't sway a king into something. Yet God had decreed that Moses would lead his people. And what did God say? Didn't I make your mouth, Moses? Trust me, I will speak through you. Just because we don't realize we have a particular gift or talent in a certain area doesn't mean that we can't be used by God for that. And the focus of these servants here that Jesus gives in this parable are the fact that the first two were doing something. They were using their time wisely. They were doing what they were supposed to be doing. And the wickedness of the third servant was that he did absolutely nothing. He sat on it. He did nothing. Brothers and sisters, we don't need to have special gifts or talents to be doing the work of God. All He calls us to do is to work for Him. If we see our brothers and sisters in need, it doesn't have to be, well, that's a part of such and such ministry of the church, they can handle that. No, go help your brother and sister. If we see an area of the church that might need help and need, it's not, well, that's such and such's obligation to see how that's supposed to be fixed or corrected. No, if you see a need, act and do. That is what we are called to do, brothers and sisters. The last portion of this section of text, Jesus gives us a glimpse of the final judgment, where he separates the sheep from the goats. Now this just further emphasizes the doing aspect of what Jesus was talking about. And the interesting thing here is that the sheep didn't know they were doing what they should be doing, and the goats didn't know that they weren't doing what they should have been doing. Meaning, these people didn't have some sort of official ministry title or backing. They were simply living their lives. In what we see, brothers and sisters, let's keep in mind Ephesians 2, verse 10 and John 15, 1 and following. First of all, Ephesians 2, verse 10. Paul says that the Lord, we are a creature, we are new creations in Christ to do good work that God prepared beforehand for us to do. And then in John 15 and one and following, Jesus is emphasizing, I am the vine, you are the branches. You can't bear fruit apart from me. I in you and you in me. For apart from the vine, the branch can do nothing. This call to do that Jesus emphasizes here. This isn't how we win God's approval. This isn't how we earn our salvation. This is what Jesus is saying here is the natural fruit and outflow of being in Him. This is the fruit that we will have as we are God's. We are Christ's. And although we shouldn't put the confidence of our salvation in these works of ministering to those in need among our brothers, as Jesus said, as you did it to these, my brothers, you did it to me. As we are doing the good works that God has given us to do, as we speak for his name, as we meet the needs that we see around us. These are not things that we put our hope in. That this is the fruit out of which we have and we bear being in Christ. And although we don't put our hope in them if they are absent, if they are missing, it is a cause, brothers and sisters, that we have to ask ourselves, why am I not seeing that fruit? Why am I not seeing such and such in my life? And if we aren't seeing the fruit of Christ in our life, let us not despair, but go to Him and repent, and ask Him and implore Him that His fruit would be seen in us, as we minister to one another and to the community around us. Jesus, earlier in Matthew, in Matthew chapter 7, verses 21 through 23, also gave a glimpse of the final judgment where people were saying, but I prophesied in your name, Jesus. I healed in your name, Jesus. And he says, depart from me, I never knew you. This is kind of the other side of the coin. In one instance, we have those who were doing lots of works in Jesus's name, yet we're not his. What we learn from that passage is that simply doing works of righteousness is not enough. There must be faith in Christ, a knowledge, a knowing of him. In this instance, Jesus is drawing us to the other side of the coin. A mere profession of faith is not enough. James puts it this way. Faith without works is dead. There must be fruit in our life, brothers and sisters. And although that's not what we rest our hope in, it will be the natural outpouring and result of our faith in Christ. We're going to have a credible profession of faith in Christ and we'll have the fruit of that profession in our life. Simply put, our actions must match our profession. That is what we are called to, brothers and sisters. So as we consider the return of Christ, let us be sure to avail ourselves of the means of grace that He has given in preparing us. Here in His Word, hearing the preaching of His Word in prayer, in the sacraments, in the reading of His Word each day, we learn how we're to live in Him. And we are molded and shaped by Him and prepared for glory. But then let us also take what He gives us and ask Him and plead with Him that His fruit would just flow out of us. And keep in mind again, brothers and sisters, that those He says, welcome into My glory, they didn't realize they were actually doing what God would want them to do because it was just an outworking of their faith in Him. It was how they lived their life. Let us avail ourselves of the means of grace. and seek His grace to help us do that which He desires and commands. And so, brothers and sisters, let us each day ask ourselves, am I ready for Jesus to return? Because in all honesty and all truthfulness, He can, He could be coming back any second. Any second. At all. Without any big, huge displays throughout the world that He's actually coming. It will just be here. It will be done. And the opportunities will be gone. So let us all, brothers and sisters, ask ourselves, are we ready? Let us hope and rest in the grace of Christ that he will carry and preserve us to the end when he does return and welcome us into his glory. Amen. Our gracious God and heavenly Father, we do thank you for this truth. It is a grave reminder, Lord, that we must be working in your kingdom. Regardless of any titles or official position that we have, the fact that we are your children means that we are called to minister. We are called to proclaim the truth. We are called to help those in need. We are called to see needs in the church and meet them if we can. And so, Lord, we pray that you would, Lord, pour out your fruit through us. May we be above approach and beyond evident that we are united to Christ, that the fruit of our lives will be seen clearly. But may it also be, Lord, as you say, may our left hand not know what our right hand is doing. May we be of such humility of those sheep that we are surprised on that great day to come, that we were actually going about the work that you called us to do. May it be such an integral and daily part of our lives that we don't even realize we're doing it. It's just a part of who we are in Christ. And Lord, if we aren't seeing fruit, we pray, Lord, that we would be humbled, that we would seek your face and be forgiven. And may you, Lord, work in and through us. In the name of Christ we do pray, Amen.