Are We There Yet?

Thank you, Mrs. McKinney. Rather than me comment, I'll just... I could share what Josiah Warren said. When she finished, she said, Yay! I don't think he meant yay that she was finished, but yay that it was really good.

Well, we are at that season, but the fall festival is here. I was gonna say the fall festival season is coming, but it's here. We're in the midst of it, and we're excited. We get excited about keeping the feasts.

Interestingly, not quite as excited about the next one, but a lot more excited about the one following.

And we think of the wonderful times that we expect to have, you know, the learning, the fellowship, the fun activities.

You know, we look forward to often hearing some of the best messages we'll hear all year. And I can share with you from the home office, they've been reminding the ministry that to really try to pick it up and try to give it our very best at the feast, because the members go expecting that, and it's something worthwhile.

And we're gonna strive, of course, to inspire all of us to explain the meaning of these days, so we can have that clear vision of God's plan and purpose.

It's interesting. I look back, and I still don't remember which feast it was, but I have a memory...

Do you ever have that memory of a thought dawning on you, even though you don't remember the setting? There is some time... I've shared this, I'm sure, when I was looking forward to the feast and getting excited, and it dawned on me that I was as excited about going to church services as I was about going to restaurants and activities, and I said, Oh, I must be growing up! It kind of surprised me.

But that's a good thing, and I... many of us... well, I don't know if you've ever had that conscious thought. Hopefully you didn't need to.

But speaking of growing up, we do have a number of people who have been children going to the feast, and do you remember those sometimes long car rides to get there?

Seems like we don't have that as much as we used to, but I can remember sitting in the back seat, and you know, it goes on and on, and inevitably that question comes up. Are we there yet?

Sometimes it could be much of the consternation of parents, because then the questions keep coming. It doesn't have to be on the way to the feast, but that's where I remember it. Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

When are we going to be there?

Kids in the back seat will usually occupy themselves with something during that time. Now, it could be something useful. It could be doing their homework.

I remember doing an entire week's worth of geometry homework on the way to the feast in Norfolk one year.

That was pretty productive. Might be reading other things, playing games.

Perhaps even something as unusual as having a good conversation with their parents sitting in the front.

Of course, kids also sometimes occupy themselves with things that aren't so useful, like starting a fight with their brother or sister, finding new ways to annoy their parents, you know, throwing...

Well, maybe I shouldn't say anything. I say...

I'm not sure how much he's listening right now.

I don't want to give him ideas of what can be launched into the front seat.

But it's easy for me to start seeing an analogy here. I was thinking about this. I knew what I wanted to cover in the sermon, and I started thinking about this.

I see that analogy of the little kids waiting in the back seat saying, when are we going to be there? It's a long ride. We're so excited.

And that's sort of like us, in a way.

Like kids, we're excited about going to the feast, but hopefully we're even more excited about going to the time that the feast represents.

We're looking ahead to the establishment of Christ's rule.

And the time when we'll be past the meaning of the day of trumpets and the day of atonement. You know, those are important, and we look forward to those, but I'll be glad when the trumpet plagues are over, when people come out of their holes and crevices and hiding, when Satan is bound and the time of peace comes.

I'm excited about that. And of course, we're going to listen to sermons during the feast that really get us revved up about that and say, yes, we want that.

We're excited about Christ's millennial rule on earth.

The same way, young kids can be excited about going to the feast, because they want to ride go-karts and eat pizza and things like that.

But similar to the kids in the going to the feast, you know, they're excited about that, but they've got to spend that back seat time. You've got to sit there and you've got to have the long hours going by and find some way to occupy your time.

Metaphorically speaking, we are waiting for the time of the millennium. In some ways, we're like those kids in the back seat.

Only we're not going to spend long hours, but it's turned out to be long years waiting and waiting.

And like kids, Christians could, you know, we'll find something to occupy ourselves.

Could be something useful, like studying the Bible, helping and serving our brethren, praying and fasting and meditating, or something not useful, like finding ways to irritate and criticize each other, just like a brother and sister. I think of that because I had a sister, although since she was older, she got to move up to the front seat a lot earlier than I did. So that avoided some of those fights.

But, you know, like brothers and sisters who start getting here, just irritating each other.

Christians can do that while we're waiting, engaging in bad habits. We could start griping and complaining.

For some reason, I imagine God in the driver's seat and saying, and hearing somebody in the back seat saying, He's touching me!

Stop touching me!

Can you imagine God, the Father, saying, Don't make me stop this car!

Now, I've been having fun with this, but I don't want to carry that analogy too far. I do think it fits biblical principles, but then it occurred to me, I don't have to develop this analogy, because there are plenty of analogies in the Bible that are Scripture. Not only do they fit the scriptural principle, they are Scripture.

So we can find discussion of these in the Bible, and I want to look at some of those.

But when we're looking ahead to the return of Jesus Christ, to the establishment of the millennium, and we start thinking in our minds, are we there yet?

Why are we going to be there? And it's not wrong to ask that, but we're not the first to ask those questions.

We can find similar questions in the Bible and find answers. As a matter of fact, I want to go to Matthew 24 for a starting Scripture, and we'll see a question almost exactly like that.

Here we've got a Scripture with some of the most famous questions in the Bible, and people have been discussing those questions and what they think the answers are ever since, for about 2,000 years.

Matthew 24 and verse 3, Now, as he, that is Jesus Christ, sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. So it's just he and the disciples that he'd been working with and saying, Tell us, when will these things be? When are we going to be there?

No, they didn't say when we will be there. When are these things going to be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of this age?

And that does sound a little bit like, when are we going to be there?

Are we there yet?

Now, the simple thing is, why were they asking those questions?

Now, there was an immediate cause. Just before that, they'd come to Jerusalem. Remember, these fellows aren't from Jerusalem originally, so they visited there in the Holy Days, and they were stopping to gaze at the temple and saying, Wow, this is really neat! Look at the buildings and the stonework and all that, and they're talking to Jesus and maybe kind of excited. They're still relatively young men, but of course, he has his mind on what's coming, and he told him, Look, don't get too caught up in these physical buildings. They're going to be destroyed. The time's coming, not one stone's going to be left on another. That probably made him stop and pause.

So that was the immediate cause of the question, but let's think back further than just what had happened a short time before. For the entire three and a half years leading up to this, they'd been traveling with Jesus Christ, listening to him preach to the masses, and also teaching them privately. And what was he teaching them about?

I just quoted two days ago, Mark 1, 14, and 15, when he said, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel.

Consider, if you read through the gospel accounts, how many times did Jesus start teaching a parable and say, The kingdom of God is like?

I've gotten my notes dot, dot, dot. And I thought, The kingdom of God is like a pearl of great price. The kingdom of God is like a man who sowed seed in his field. The kingdom of God is like...

Now my mind's going blank. I thought of a half a dozen of them this morning. You can fill in the blanks. He used that phrase a lot.

So the disciples were being focused on the kingdom of God.

And we need to be focused on the kingdom of God. So no surprise that they said, Well, when is going to be the kingdom of God? You've been talking about it and talking about it. When is it going to come? What's the sign?

Now, were they that eager? Why were they so eager for it?

Well, for one thing, they had this idea that we do.

I wonder if when they kept the Feast of Tabernacles with Jesus Christ, he was explaining some things. Hey, you're getting to enjoy the best of everything.

This is what the whole world is going to be like for a thousand years when these days are fulfilled. But let's turn back a few pages to Matthew 19, because we'll see that he also revealed to them that in the kingdom of God, they were going to have some special roles. There was something special in it for them.

And it's interesting he revealed that when Peter asked him the question, basically, of what's in it for us.

In Matthew 19, verse 27, Peter answered and said to him, See, we've left all and followed you.

What shall we have? Look, we've given up everything we have to come with you.

What are we going to get?

And Christ doesn't criticize him for this. It's a legitimate question. How's this going to work? So Jesus said to them, Assuredly, I say to you that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of his glory, that is, in the kingdom of God, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

That sounds pretty good. What are we going to get? Something pretty special. Each of you are going to get to sit on a throne, judging a tribe of Israel. Now, we're not each going to get that, because there's only twelve, or if you want to say thirteen tribes. So the apostles have those jobs, but there's going to be a lot of other jobs that we can prepare for.

There's more to it than that.

Everyone who's left houses, or brothers, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my namesake, shall receive a hundredfold.

So all those things you gave up to come with me, don't worry. You're going to get that much more back.

And inherit eternal life.

What are you going to get? It's going to be pretty good.

And that's enough to make you say, when are we going to be there?

Are we there yet?

That's exciting.

And that's something to remind us. You know, I thought of that.

A lot of people in this life now, and the other gospel accounts he mentions, you're going to receive a hundredfold now in this life and in the world to come eternal life. We gain a lot in this life. It's not only in the world tomorrow. And it's worth remembering.

Anybody here who sacrificed a mate, or brothers, or sisters, look around you. You've got brothers or sisters, many in this room and across the country. If you've given up lands or houses, you know, well, I don't know that the church is going to hand you a deed to new land, but you know, you've got people who will take you into their home, who will provide for you and help you. That's one of the wonderful things about the church, and I've experienced that when I've been able to travel.

I still remember that first time I traveled to Europe, as I've explained. People would say they wanted to take us in. It's, oh, you're going to this town next? I know someone there. I'll call them. They'll want to take you in and show you around.

So we're going to be provided for.

I'm getting off track, though.

But as I said, it sounded pretty good. The disciples, just like for an 11-year-old kid, you know, when I was 11 years old, and I was going to my first Feast of Tabernacles, my grandmother had been telling me about it for at least a few years before him, and I was excited. I was going to ride go-karts, eat at fun restaurants. I was going to meet new friends.

So, you know, no surprise that as I was sitting in the back of that car, and this time my sister was with me, you know, we were both in the back seat, and I was thinking, when are we going to be there? I can't wait to go do that stuff.

The disciples had that attitude.

So it shouldn't be surprising they asked him those questions. When will these things be? What will be the sign of your coming? But I haven't addressed his answer yet.

They might have been a little surprised because he didn't say, you know, pull out a calendar and I'll tell you. He started warning them about other things to come. There's going to be false teachers. There's going to be wars. There's going to be famines, earthquakes, and persecution for you. Let's go back to Matthew 24.

Matthew 24 and verse 9.

Then they'll deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you'll be hated by all nations for my name's sake.

Wow!

And as I said, you're thinking about all these good times, all this good stuff to come, and now it's you're going to be hated by all nations and put up the persecution and killed.

That makes me wonder if I want to shift back to that analogy. You know, when I was 11 years old, my grandmother said, yeah, you're going to go to the feast. You're going to have all that fun times. You're going to get new toys and eat pizza and play with new friends.

But on the way, we're going to strap you to the trunk of the car.

And people are going to spit on you as they go by and throw rocks and hit you with things. That's almost like Jesus Christ saying, yeah, you're going to sit on 12 thrones. You're going to have eternal life. But before that, famine, wars, they're going to persecute you and kill you.

Of course, and my grandmother didn't say that.

Riding with my sister in the backseat sounded pretty nice by comparison.

I'm glad my sister's not listening to this. This makes it sound like she's a bad person and she's not.

I was the one, really, that the bad thing was for her having to ride with me. And that's a whole other story.

But Jesus added one more thing and part of his answer. And that is simple.

You won't know how long this is going to take.

You're not going to know for sure. When's the sign? When will it be?

Well, I'll tell you a bunch of stuff that's going to happen, but I'll also tell you you're not going to know.

And that's a difficulty. A lot of times people can put up with a lot if they know the end point.

You know that famous phrase, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, even if it's a small pinprick of light. At least I know it's there. I know this tunnel has an end.

And that's one of the reasons kids ask those questions. First, are we there yet? Well, when are we going to be there?

Sitting in the backseat with an annoying sister or an annoying brother could be tough.

But if my mom had said, one more hour, I can grip my teeth and put up with it for one more hour.

That reminds me of Sue and I were discussing with someone that's flying overseas for the feast, and it came to mind. And if you've done this on transatlantic flights, they'll have the view screen and they'll put up a map that shows a little icon of the airplane. And as you travel, you see it moving across. So you're sitting in that uncomfortable seat, and if you've got somebody that's big or throws their arms out next to you, it's not all that comfortable. But you can see we're getting further across. Now, for you guys it'd be this way.

And then you see we're past Greenland now. We're coming in over Iceland. And so you start thinking, okay, I can put up with it. I see where we're at.

But how might it have seemed different to Christians? And I think of this, what if Christ had said, okay, before the thousand years of peace and happiness start, you're going to have wars and sickness, starvation and disease, and people will hate you, but it's only going to last five years.

They probably would have said, okay, you know, five years will buckle down, but he didn't say that. He told him something very different. Let's look down at verse 36.

As I said, if you know how long it will be, sometimes that's a lot easier.

Matthew 24 and verse 36.

But of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only.

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage. That is, they're going about their normal lives, planning for the future, building families. Until the day Noah entered the ark, they didn't know that the flood, until the flood came and took them away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be. He says, two men will be in the field, one taken and the other left, showing what a surprise. Two men will be grinding at the mill, one taken and the other left. Some people mistakenly think this is referring to a rapture. It's not talking about that. But he's making the point that they're caught off guard, and some will be ready, and some won't. He says, watch therefore. You do not know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, of the master of the house, and know...

Well, actually I want to cut off there. I'll come back to those other scriptures later. But he's saying, you don't know. This is a central truth spoken by Jesus Christ Himself. We will not know when Christ will return, until the time comes for Him to return. Now, that's not to say that we won't know, and that we don't know events leading up to it. I don't want to say that it's useless to look at prophecy. We understand a lot about prophecy. And I've made some notes here to remind myself to say that, coming through the rest of the sermon. Because my focus isn't on understanding the prophecy. So I don't want to say, we're totally blind, we have no idea. We do have some ideas. We are told to watch. But He also tells us, we're not going to know for sure, when Christ will come, until He does come. And it's not my words, it's His.

Lots of people have expended tremendous effort trying to figure out something that Jesus said can't be figured out. That's one of the reasons, maybe some people think I don't spend enough time talking about it, or studying into it. I always say, well, it's like if somebody gave me an algebra problem and said, you'll never be able to figure this out. And I knew, you know, if He's... Well, I... Maybe I should rephrase that, because I'm the type of person they say, you'll never be able to figure this out. I might spend the rest of my life trying to prove them wrong. But if God Himself says there isn't a way to figure it out, well, I should... I'm not going to spend a lot of time on figuring out.

But what I want to move to is beyond that, though. He didn't just stop there. He didn't say, you're not going to notice it, don't think about it. He went on and told them some very important things. He continued, and that's why I started reading right into the next set of scriptures that I do want to read, He gave four parables that are of vital and crucial importance to all Christians.

Those parables are given to help us to understand this time of waiting that we have to go through.

Now, they're not unfamiliar with us. We've read these before, but we do well to regularly review them because they're so important.

So that's what I plan to do with the rest of the sermon, is go through these next four parables. And by the way, that wasn't just a long introduction, but I did want to address the fact that Jesus Christ went out of His way to say, you're not going to know, but since you're not going to know, here's how to occupy your time.

Now, different scholars have sometimes grouped these parables differently. In Matthew 25, there are clearly three distinct parables. But these last few verses... That... My lips are getting numb. These last few verses of Matthew 24 seem to be a parable that fits very well. And since we know the chapter breaks were put in later, I'm grouping them all together.

Before I dive in, though, I'll mention there are two major themes that we see throughout these four parables.

One is that they describe a period of judgment. These parables are about judgment.

Judgment on who? Well, it's not all the world.

We have an understanding based on what Jesus said in Matthew 6, 44. None can come to Me except the Father draw Him. We know that most of mankind is not now being called.

Most of them do not have God's Holy Spirit, and thus they are not now being judged.

Most people out there, they're not... This isn't their time of judgment.

Their time will come when they're resurrected, when Satan is put away, and they will have God's Holy Spirit.

And God's Word shows us everybody will have that opportunity. God isn't a God of second chances, but He's a God of giving everybody one legitimate, real chance.

And we believe most of them will probably eagerly embrace God's way, His way of give, His way of love.

But we're called now. So we who are called now, baptized, have God's Holy Spirit dwelling in us. We are being judged now.

I'm going to look at some other scriptures. So if you have a marker, you know, if you want to put something here at Matthew 24-25, we'll come back. But I want to look over at 1 Peter 4.

1 Peter 4, verse 17, tells us this. As a matter of fact, I could have just skipped the last few paragraphs I said and just turned to the scripture. 1 Peter 4, verse 17 says, The time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us first, what shall be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? So that's important, you know, for those who obey, but it does start with us. And He says, the time's come. Time's come for us.

God is watching what we are doing now.

What character traits are we developing?

What traits are we trying to control? You know, we might have proclivities that we know lead us against God's way that we've got to master and put down. So what are we doing? How are we doing?

We can earn punishment or reward. I want to look to another scripture in Matthew, Matthew 16. Matthew 16 and verse 27.

This is something worth distinguishing.

Matthew 16 and verse 27, these are Christ's words. He says, the Son of man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to His works. Now, there is... some people see this as a contradiction because we know life is a gift. And forgiveness of sins is a gift, not a reward that we earn. But then we'd say there is a reward that goes along with the gift. What goes above and beyond that forgiveness of sins in eternal life? We can earn reward. We can have a better position. We can have more responsibility. Things like that. And blessings now. We can earn a reward right now.

If you're doing something that's harmful and you stop doing it, you'll reap the reward because you reap what you sow. Or you can earn punishment now.

But without going into all that, our understanding of God's plan, though, puts us, called out Christians, in an entirely different time frame from most people. And of course, this fall festival season is all about that. We understand how God's plan flows. And we want to see ourselves in that plan.

Now, of course, the spring Holy Days focus on us much more. We realize that we are the firstfruits.

And so we have God's Holy Spirit, as Pentecost reminds us, in us now.

For the rest of the world, they're waiting for Christ's return. Well, they don't know they're waiting. But they will be given understanding of God and of His way after Christ's return.

And they will be judged according to their works after that happens.

We have been given understanding right now.

We are being judged by the works that we do before Christ's return.

So the parables I want to look at, and these parables in Matthew 24 and 25, they're for us, not necessarily for all the rest of the world. And remember the setting we saw earlier at the beginning of Matthew 24, Christ was up on the Mount of Olives, and His disciples came to Him privately. He told these parables just to them, because they applied to them and to us now.

But it's good.

These parables tell us what we ought to be doing now, while we're putting in our backseat time, saying, when are we going to get to the kingdom of God? We want that. So these are about the judgment for us.

I mentioned two themes throughout the parables. Let me mention the other one. And of course, this is the one I've already been discussing. But the second theme, which we already made very clear, is that we don't know when the period of judgment ends.

We're being judged now. When will that judgment end?

We don't know. That is to say, we don't know when Christ will return.

But that's a very important concept, because it reminds us that we have time to change our ways. We have time to improve. And of course, Christian life is constant improvement.

We sometimes struggle when we might dip down or slide back, but we've got time to fight on and overcome.

As the special music reminds us, we can call out for help when that time comes. When we need God, He'll help us. We have time to call on Him.

But unfortunately, though, that time also leaves time for us to grow weary and to get discouraged, even to give up.

We don't want to do that.

In that sense, this period of judgment is more like a marathon than a sprint. You run a marathon, a long-distance race.

Really, I think for the vast majority of people who ever enter a marathon, and that included me the times I've done it, you don't think about crossing the finish line first.

There's a small elite group of runners who are racing each other to win. The vast majority of people enter because they want to see if they can get all the way to the end.

And really, they don't care how fast or how slow they run on any section of it. It's, do you cross that finish line at the end? And Christian life is like that.

Even if you've got to stop and tie your shoe, or put on some moleskin on a blister, or rub out a cramp, it's can you get back up and keep going?

Before we come back to the parables, let's look at another scripture in Ezekiel 18.

This brings this point out, and this is very much not an unfamiliar scripture.

Yeah, that's a double negative. In other words, it is familiar to all of us.

As are all the scriptures I'm reading today, but good for review. Ezekiel 18, beginning in verse 21.

Ezekiel 18, 21.

But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all my statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die. God is willing to forgive, he's merciful. None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him because of the righteousness which he has done. He shall live. Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die, says the Lord God, and not that he should turn from his ways and live?

And that's a wonderful thing to know. God doesn't like punishing people.

I think of that. I had to give Connor a swath this morning, and I always try to remind him, I don't like doing this. I'm not doing it because it gives me any pleasure. I just want you to, you know, change your ways. And God, you know, He doesn't want to punish us. He wants us to change our ways. But there's the other side of the coin in verse 24.

When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live?

All the righteousness which he's done shall not be remembered because of the unfaithfulness of which he's guilty, and the sin which he has committed because of them he shall die.

So it's good to know that we can change for the better.

But we do have to contend with the potential of changing for the worse.

Since we don't know when our judgment period ends, we can't afford to consciously allow ourselves to slip back. You don't want to adopt the attitude of saying, well, I'll repent later. You know, I know I've got a problem now, but I'll repent later and everything will be okay. Because we don't know when Christ is returning. We also don't know when our time is up. You know, you could, you know, somebody crossed that center line and hit you head on. Your judgment time is over.

And I don't mean that to be scary. That's pretty morbid, but we want to keep it in mind. Don't put it off.

So that's what Christ said before giving us the first of four parables. You know, the fact that we don't know when our time is up. So let's go back to Matthew 24.

Matthew 24, begin reading what he told the disciples. After he said, matter of fact, I'll read in verse 44. He said, Be ready! You don't know the hour that the Son of Man is coming. He's going to come at a time that you don't expect. He's going to take you off guard.

And then he goes on with this parable.

Who then?

Who then? You could say, therefore, because of that, Who then is a faithful and a wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?

Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, whenever it is, will find so doing.

Assuredly, I say to you, he'll make him ruler over all his goods.

But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master's delaying his coming, he begins to beat his fellow servants, to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him, and in an hour that he's not aware of, and he'll cut him in two, and appoint him his fortune with the hypocrites, and there she'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Now, this comes to mind. This is something very significant to church pastors. And I'd say to parents, because it talks about providing for those whom you care for.

I don't know if I would have thought about it. This was brought out in one of the pastoral classes that I was taking. One of the older ministers well experienced said, Hey, all of you, take close note of this.

You're supposed to be caring for the other servants, but instead, if you start beating them and treating them badly, there's judgment for that.

And of course, as I said, as parents, we need to be feeding and providing for our children, not only physically, but spiritually. We teach them God's way, the principles and the guidelines for life.

The alternative is to begin mistreating our fellow servants, or and or our dependents. We can engage in gluttony and drunkenness.

That's selfish behavior, looking out for yourself, gratifying your own desires instead of being aware of others.

This parable plainly tells us that Christ's return is going to take longer than expected. How much longer?

Well, for the people who are listening, about 2,000 years longer than they expected. Of course, they didn't have to wait a full 2,000 years. They just had to endure to the end of their own life.

But this, again, makes us think of that analogy of the kids in the back seat.

Just like kids in the back seat could start fighting and bickering and calling each other names, so can Christians. We could start hurting each other, calling each other names being critical and put roadblocks in the way of each other. Or we could help each other.

But if we're doing what's wrong, the punishment is pretty severe. And I'd be curious if any of you have put some thought into this, let me know. Because I've wondered sometimes if there's some symbolism to him saying he'll come and cut him in two.

That sounds pretty gruesome.

You're doing the wrong thing when the Master comes.

That's bad for you. I couldn't help it.

It reminded me of a Monty Python skit I heard years ago. I don't know if you're Monty Python aficionados. They were popular back... I said, all the way back to the 60s.

That's making me feel old. There's one skit I saw where they were talking about how bad they had it when they grew up. Oh, you had it easy when I was a kid. And there's one thing where they said, you know, we'd have to get up three hours before we went to bed and we'd have to clean up the brown paper bag in the dirt road that we lived in.

And then when we come home, our dad would slice us in two with a bread knife and dance on our graves.

It was funny in this context.

But the idea of being sliced in two doesn't sound very good.

Moreover, beyond that, though, of course, the last part where he says, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That phrase comes up a number of times in the Gospels, and our understanding is it seems to refer to the lake of fire, the second death, to those who should have known better. You know, God doesn't cast people into the lake of fire who never knew what they were doing and didn't have the understanding.

But I think the weeping and gnashing of teeth comes from someone saying, oh, I could have changed, I could have known better, or someone who knows God's way and is just angry and they're gnashing their teeth at him. But either way, it's, you know, being in that second death is something we don't want.

So a lesson we want to learn from this parable. All of us who can do so need to help take care of our fellow servants.

And we are all fellow servants. As I said, there is a special, perhaps, warning for church pastors, but it's not just the pastors, all of us. And I don't want to say that as a warning saying, you guys aren't doing this and you should. Actually, I could probably count many examples that you do do this. And that's great. We want to keep it up.

We want to care for each other, not be engaged in only our own needs.

And none of us should be hurting each other, because we don't know when the time will run out for us to change our ways.

Let's move on to the next parable, moving into Matthew 25.

Here's one of the ones I should have thought of when I was saying, how many times did he say, the kingdom of heaven is like? Here he says, The kingdom of... Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Now five of them were wise and five were foolish.

Well, it made some of them wise and some foolish. Well, those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. Now that doesn't mean there was no oil in the lamp, but it says the wise took oil in the vessels with their lamps. So the wise brought an extra supply. And while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and they all slept.

But at midnight, this is a time when they didn't expect it, midnight the cry was heard, Behold, the bridegroom is coming! Go out to meet him!

Then all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

The foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out. Hey, hey, spot me alone, I'm about to go out. And they said, No, the wise answered, No, not, no, lest there should not be enough for us and you. But go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.

The nice thing is there's not animosity there, saying you're out of luck, you deserve to have weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Hurry and go to those who sell. So those who were wise weren't criticizing and trying to hurt the foolish. But they're saying, Look, we're not going to sacrifice our own position. Go hurry up and get some.

While they went to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut.

As I said, the five wise virgins didn't shut the door.

We believe the bride or the groom, those who were with him, maybe I shouldn't add to the analogy anymore.

Afterward, the other virgins came, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

He answered and said, assuredly, I don't know you.

And then he adds the warning then, watch therefore.

You know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.

That's something he'd been saying over and over again. You don't know the day or the hour, so... So what? Don't fall asleep. Well, be ready.

Now, we should understand, of course, this portrays what could seem like a very unusual wedding ceremony.

But we do want to... One of the reasons...

We do want to understand that one reason Christ used this is because marriage itself is a symbol of the relationships between Christians and Jesus Christ.

God had that relationship in mind all along, and he created marriage as a way to understand that. If you want to look over to Ephesians 5...

I'm keeping a finger here in Matthew 25, but Ephesians 5 and verse 31 reminds us of that special symbolism.

God built it in as the foundation of society. Marriage is the building block of civilization, and into the very building block, God put a reminder of the relationship he wants to have with called-out Christians. Ephesians 5, 31, Paul said, For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife in the two B1 flesh, here quoting from the first wedding. And this is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

Christ and the church typified with the husband and wife.

It's a great mystery, but we're given to understand that.

Now, I'm not going to take the time to fully elaborate today, because hopefully some of you have heard sermons or read articles on how the many elements of this parable reflect the marriage ceremonies that existed in the Middle East at the time of Jesus Christ and the original apostles. I remember, I think it was at the feast in Gatlinburg last year, Scott Ashley gave a sermon on that very subject. And it was neat. He had some lamps from that era showing how they burn.

But it did discuss that they had these practices, and the one of waiting was one of those practices. A marriage would be arranged, and I think they had more arranged marriages then, than two people who met in high school at the sock hop and started going steady and got engaged.

But however, the groom and the bride are engaged, and then the bride stays in her parents' house for some period of time while the groom goes and prepares a place.

Literally, often building their home. Sometimes in addition to his father's home or perhaps on his land, but it's going to take some time to do this.

Maybe a parallel equivalent today would be two young adults who meet and get married and say, well, I've got to finish my college degree and get a good job. Or I've got to go finish this apprenticeship. Or, you know, there's parallels in modern day.

But the basic thing is, you know, the bride had to wait, and she didn't know how long it was going to take. She couldn't get text messages or email.

So she's waiting, passing the time, and like a kid in the back seat, she could use her time productively or not productively. That's not addressed here so much because it was in the earlier parable.

Of course, the other practice then is when the time was done, that the groom's friends would go ahead as messengers to say, the groom is coming, the groom is coming. You know, in the early days, that was literally a warning because they didn't have any communication. I suspect when they lived in the same town and there was communication, they kept it up as a symbol, which we have many symbols in our modern wedding ceremonies. We have the groomsmen and the bridesmaids and a lot of different things we do that are nice, and they symbolize certain things. So the friends running saying, the groom is coming, the groom is coming, remained even if it wasn't a necessity.

And of course, then the bride and the guests can all get ready and go meet the groom.

Now, I'm not going to address, of course, keeping a harem was not typical for folks at that time.

Perhaps the Roman kings and emperors could do that, and we're not seeking to emulate that these days.

But it's appropriate in the parable, because Jesus Christ is going to marry the entire church, so all of us can have that relationship with Jesus Christ.

In this parable, five virgins were wise, and five were foolish.

That's an even split.

Now, Christ could have said, eight were wise and two were foolish, or nine...

You wonder the significance. But I remember years ago, hearing Herbert Armstrong speaking, and many of you have reminded me of this, saying, I wonder how many of you get it when you'd have an audience of thousands of people. Do even half of you get it?

Well, I hope maybe the division's already happened. We want... Either way, if it's even half, let's be on the right half. Let's be in the half that do get it.

But what was it that made half of the bride foolish?

Was it because they fell asleep?

No, they all fell asleep.

That's... I want to make a point. There's no condemnation for falling asleep, although being alert would be preferable. I sometimes wonder if the cry had not come sooner, would all of their lamps have gone out? Because they all fell asleep.

The problem was that...

five of them weren't fully prepared. Now, all of them were somewhat prepared. They all brought lamps. They all had wicks in their lamps, because it said all ten woke up and they trimmed their lamps. And it's funny, that became more real. We've got a hurricane lamp and another kerosene lamp at home. And when our power goes out, which it does occasionally, we get those out. And you do have to trim the edge of the wick, you know, get off that carbon stuff and the new stuff will burn.

So they had lamps, they had oil, but the five foolish didn't bring enough oil.

We believe in this parable, as throughout the Bible, there are times, many places, oil symbolizes God's Holy Spirit.

Oil is a good symbol of the Holy Spirit. And we're reminded that we need to be continually supplied. Once is not enough. You know, the five foolish came probably with their lamps full, but that wasn't enough. We need to keep replenishing. Let's look at Galatians 3 and verse 5.

I want to look at just a couple of scriptures to remind us that the Holy Spirit is something that's supplied, not given one time, and that's all you need.

So I'm going to a couple of scriptures that just use the word supply. Galatians 3 and verse 5 says, therefore he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law or hearing of the faith? Paul was making another point, but that he... Excuse me. I should have known. I didn't turn the thing off. I'm not sure who that is. My apologies. On trumpets, I remembered to turn it off. I'm going to say, it could be somebody on the webcast calling to tell me I'm missing a point about the five virgins. But anyway, I'm going to say, anyways, this is the point that he mentioned here is, of course, God...the Spirit comes from God the Father through Jesus Christ. I didn't plan to go through all the scriptures to show that, but it's continually supplied to us. Philippians 1 and verse 9 also makes this point. Philippians 1.9 Philippians 1.9 says, This I pray that your love may abound still more and more. Oh, 1.19. My apologies there. 1.19. I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. And that's that point. It's a continual supply. Now, we could speculate a bit on exactly what does or doesn't contribute to supplying, but I think there are certain basic things, basic spiritual principles of how we need to live our lives. Since the Spirit comes from God, we need to be in contact with God. We need to be close to Him. How do we do that? Well, we pray. We study His Word. We meditate. We fast. And we live God's way. We don't just study His Word and know it academically. We put it into practice. By this way, we're close to God. We have a relationship with Him. And the Spirit is something that's being renewed in us continually. The opposite would be, and I'm not going to turn there, but 1 Thessalonians 5.19 says, to quench not the Spirit. That's something that reminds us the Spirit can be quenched. Now, what does or doesn't contribute to quenching the Spirit? Well, probably, there might be some other things, but certainly cutting off that contact with God. If we're not praying and studying, if we're disobeying His law, if we're not focusing on His way of life and living it, then we're going to cut off that flow of the Spirit. We won't be using it. Using the Spirit makes it continue to flow into us and through us. But I think we can safely say that not knowing when Christ will return doesn't quench the Spirit. That's not quenching the Spirit. Even falling asleep doesn't necessarily quench it immediately. There's where I speculate. If the five wise virgins had stayed asleep, their lamps might have gone out. But falling asleep momentarily doesn't cut off the supply, at least not instantly. But it's always preferable to stay awake. So I'm going to resist any more speculating. Stick with what we know for certain. We need to be well supplied with God's Holy Spirit. All the way from the time of our baptism and that laying on of hands until the time when Jesus Christ returns. So even if we fall asleep, we need to wake up. Trim those wicks. Keep the Spirit flowing. Let's move on to the next parable. This is the one time I took my finger out of Matthew 25.

Matthew 25, beginning in verse 14. Commonly known as the parable of the talents. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country. And this represents Jesus Christ in this case, who called his own servants. Jesus Christ, of course, traveled to the Father to receive the kingdom to prepare a place for them, and he would come again. But, of course, didn't know how long the time would be. So he called his servants and delivered his goods to them. To one, he gave five talents. To another, two. To another, one. To each, according to his own ability.

And immediately, he went on his journey. Then he who had received the five... No, let me say that again. He who had received the five talents went and traded with them. And he made another five talents. Likewise, he who had received two, used those and gained two more also. He who had received one went and dug in the ground.

He dug a hole and hid the money. And after a long time... That long time is, again, the period we're in now, waiting for Christ's return. After a long time, the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So they come to settle accounts. He who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, Lord, you delivered to me five talents. Look, I've gained five more besides them.

His Lord said, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I'll make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. He also who had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I've gained two more besides them.

And his Lord said to him, the same thing as he said to the other one, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. I'll make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord.

Now, I could stop here and mention there is another parable called the parable of the pounds that expounds some lessons based on the fact that in some cases everybody is given an equal amount and some people produce more and some produce less, and that a reward comes according to the amount produced. But it's good that there is this balance also showing that certain things that, you know, different people get different talents. I'm not sure if I want to say the word talents, because talents here is referring to an amount of money, but we could also interpret it as actual talents or abilities.

So you might receive more or less according to your abilities, and then you're rewarded or you receive the joy of the Lord on how much you, whether you do use it. I didn't have my notes to get tongue-tied at that point. But two of these servants used their resources productively and increased, and they both received a similar reward, because both of them were faithful over a little.

To the Lord, who gave them talents, five talents, two talents, they're both just a small amount. Both of you increased, and that's what mattered. But there's another servant to look at. In verse 24, the one who he had received one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you're a hard man. Reaping where you've not sown, gathering where you've not scattered seed. I was afraid. So I went and hid your talent in the ground, and look, here you have what's yours. I didn't lose it. But as Lord answered him and said, you wicked and lazy servant, if you knew that I...here it says, you knew that I reap where I have not sown and gathered where I've not scattered seed.

I've heard some people say that this could be interpreted as sarcasm, not that he's admitting that I treat people unjustly, but if you knew for sure that I am such a hard man and I reap where I haven't sown and I gather where I haven't scattered seed, if you believe that, you should have deposited my money with the bankers.

And at my coming, I would have at least received my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him who has, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he'll have abundance. But from him who does not have, what he has will be taken away.

And here's the same...remember that...weeping and gnashing of teeth. Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. As I said, these parables are for us. We're in our time of judgment now. And so we don't need to think, oh, we've got a chance later on. We do have our chance. And if we fail, willingly and knowingly, our reward is to go where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, this servant who produced nothing was condemned for being wicked and lazy. Now, I'm tempted to debate, and it crossed my mind, hmm, are those two terms supposed to be synonyms?

Or, you know, was wicked and lazy the same thing, or was he both wicked and lazy? And I thought, well, Frank, why are you splitting hairs? It doesn't matter. They're both bad. Throughout the Bible, wickedness is equated with sin, with evil, and with Satan. We don't want to be any of those things. So I don't have to elaborate much on that. But if there is a distinction, I'll say if laziness is part of wickedness, or if it's on par with it, we know we don't want to be lazy, especially in regard to using what God gives us.

I think there's an important key here. The parable of the talent shows us that if we don't use the gifts that God gives us, He's going to take them away, and we could suffer. What does God give to us? Sometimes it's good to stop and take stock. What has God given me? Well, and there you can go to the very basics.

He gives us life. The fact that we have air to breathe and a planet to live on, He's given us those things. He wants us to use the abilities. He gives us the time we have. He gives us physical energy and motion. For some reason, I thought of, have any of you seen the movie Chariots of Fire?

It's been a long time, so I might be not quoting it properly. I believe, I'm not sure if it was Roger Bannister, and I believe he's the man who first broke the four-minute mile, or if it was one of the other runners, but there's a scene in the movie where they're discussing, you know, they're running, and I think he was the one that wouldn't run on Sundays. One of them wouldn't, because he believed that was a Sabbath.

He was mistaken about that. But he was a religious man, and he said something that's always struck me. He said, when I run, I feel God, and I believe he takes pleasure in it. I don't think I'm quoting it properly, but that's interesting. When God gives you a special ability, I think God takes pleasure in you using it, whether it's to be able to run fast, to draw, to play music, to encourage people, to talk with others, if it's to frame up a house properly, or to be able to dig a good ditch, or plant tomato plants, whatever talent God gives you, He wants you to use.

And don't always be selfish about it. Use it and share it with others. God gives us many other things. He gives us forgiveness, His mercy. Knowing that we would fall short, that we would sin, He gave His only begotten Son to play the sacrifice for our sins. And He gives us His Holy Spirit. And that relates to the previous parable. He gives us the Holy Spirit.

We need to use it. Not put it in a hole in the ground. He gives us the power to live His way of life, if we'll access that power and do it. The Holy Spirit gives us that ability to change and overcome during this time when we're in judgment. Think about that. Think about Ezekiel 18, where there's time to change. If you're not doing things right, the bad things can be forgotten and put away.

We should never want to risk losing any of these things that God has given us, but laziness can bring that. A person who's not necessarily lazy could become complacent and fall into laziness over a period of time. And I'll remind you, back in verse 19, it said the Master came back after a long time. And many sitting in this room have been in the church for a long time. I think of those baptism anniversaries. It's been a long time. Don't get complacent.

I've gotten red ink. Let's not be wicked or lazy. Let's move on, though. This tells us a lot about what to not do. The next parable addresses a good bit about what we should do. What should we be doing? It's Matthew 25, beginning in verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels, so parable aside, He's saying, When I come, but then He slips into some symbolism, all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He'll separate them, one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.

I'm trying to think. I should have asked Lisa Timmons. Is it when they're shoring that it's hard to tell them apart? I've heard some sheep and goats. You can't tell the difference, but Jesus Christ can. He'll set the sheep on His right hand and the goats on His left, and the King will say to those on His right hand, The sheep, come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. And then why?

Four, or because I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was stranger. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came to me. And the righteous will answer Him and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothed you? Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? In other words, we don't remember doing these things, not to you. And the King will answer, well, assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren. And it's interesting, the least of these. In other words, maybe the one person you wouldn't think of is still Jesus Christ calls Him my brethren.

You did it to one of my brethren. Someone who needed those things, obviously. If you did it to one of them, you did it to me. Then I'll turn to the other hand and say to those on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, and everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. You can almost hear the weeping and gnashing of teeth there. For I was hungry, and you gave me no food.

I was thirsty. You gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you did not take me in. Naked, and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison, you did not visit me. Then I'll answer Him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty? Or stranger? Or naked or sick or in prison and didn't minister to you? In other words, if we'd known it was you, we would have done those things. He said, Assuredly, He'll answer them, Assuredly I say to you, And as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you didn't do it to me. And these will go away into everlasting punishment.

Now, as Mr. Armstrong often pointed out, it doesn't say everlasting punishing. The punishment will be eternal, but it won't be a continuing punishment. They're not going to burn and writhe and be painful.

It's just, it'll be done, and that's it. They don't get any more chances. I'm losing my place here. This parable gives one of the clearest senses of judgment. As I said, those two themes, we've emphasized that not knowing when the period of judgment ends, this talks about judgment, and we can see clearly where the judgment falls.

If you want to turn back to John 5 over a few pages, John 5 and verse 22, just want to remind us, John 5, 22, Jesus said, For the Father judges no one. He's committed all judgment to the Son. So our older brother, who was the sacrifice for our sins, he's the one that's the judge.

And I wanted to add to that Matthew 3, Matthew 3 and verse 10, to comment on the subject of judgment once more, to remind us that our time is now. Matthew 3, 10 says, Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit, in other words, those of the goats, not doing those things, is cut down and thrown into the fire.

When will this happen? Well, perhaps for different at different times. As I said, there have been Christians over the last hundreds and thousands of years who have already finished their period of judgment. They'll come up in the resurrection. Well, we hope the vast majority will come up in the resurrection to life as spirit beings. But their judgment has occurred. Some few might come up in the third resurrection, as we call it, to eternal punishment.

But our judgment period is on us now. We've read through several statements indicating that there's a long time and we won't know when it comes. As I said, remember, all ten virgins fell asleep. So it's not the end of the world if you fall asleep. But we do want to wake ourselves up and then address the important question, what should we do?

How shall we conduct ourselves while we wait? As I said, kids riding in the back seat of the car can start a fight with each other and throw things in the front, or they could put their time to use productively. We want to be like the sheep and not like the goats. And I want to emphasize the we. I don't want to feel like I'm lecturing down to you saying, I've got this down and I've got to show you. I need to be like the sheep and not like the goats. The sheep and the parable do things to serve and help other people.

Acts of love, caring. God doesn't need all these things. It's funny. Christ says, in the sense that you did it to any of these, the least of my brethren, is like you did it to me, because he'll never be hungry or thirsty or need clothing. He's God. But he has people that do need those things. So, as I said, this parable reminds us, we don't gain eternal life only by not committing sins. If we do nothing, we're committing sins of omission. We need to help feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick and imprison. Think of these as symbols, because you won't always see someone walking down the street naked and say, here, let me bring you a pair of pants.

But you might know of somebody who has some need in life that you can fulfill. Remember the earlier parable of using the talents that God gives you. He might have given you the ability to fill in someone else's need. And that could be by a variety of ways. And sometimes visiting people when they need it is good. But we want to show kindness. We want to help other people. We want to love other people. And love is outgoing concern. And what 1 John 4, 8 tells us, God is love.

This parable, in a sense, is saying, be like God. It reminds me of the old commercial. It said, be like Mike. But nobody even chuckled, because that's passe. Michael Jordan knows about drinking Gatorade to be like Mike. But, see, people grow old and they fall out of fashion. God is always there. We want to be like God. Be loving, giving, caring, and serving.

And, of course, I should add, these are things we want to do in addition to our mission as a group of preaching the Gospel. All of us partake in that, and we support it, and we give answers we're able to. But we want to serve each other. We want to be using those talents. During our period of judgment, while we're in the car on the way to the feast, while we're in this life on our way to the millennium, remember, these four parables were given as part of an answer to the disciples when they came to Christ and said, When will these things be?

What will be the signs of the end of your age? I could sum it up if I wanted to paraphrase, and please forgive me. I'm not trying to put words in God's mouth, but I think it's, in essence, they asked Him, When are these things going to be? When's the sign of your coming? And He said, as though He said, You won't know when the time is. No one will. It's going to take everyone by surprise. So instead of trying to figure it out, make sure you're staying in contact with God, exercising His Holy Spirit, by using the talents He gives you. You need to preach the Gospel.

You need to take care of each other. I think of that. It's not bad to study prophecy. And we might, as I said, many of us as kids might have asked our parents, Are we there yet? When are we going to be there? And they might answer, saying, Don't worry about that. Stop picking on your sister. Do something useful, like reading your homework. I can think, a week and a half from now, some of you might be saying that.

If you've ever said those things, or if you're like me and you've had those things said to you, then it might be easier to understand the answer Christ gave His disciples. At least, I'm casting it in that frame because I think it helps to understand. He wasn't saying it didn't matter and that we couldn't look at events. He told them also, Watch. And I do want to point out, He told them other things that would happen. And we've got the book of Revelation that explains the seven seals and the seven trumpet plagues and the golden vials. It's good to know about all those things. And watch. I'm interested in what's happening in Syria and Egypt, and I'm wondering how it's going to fit together. But I can also say, Well, if I don't figure it out, I can work on being like the sheep and not the goats. We should never let studying prophecy crowd out our focus on what Christ said that we should do. I'm reminded of the parable, well, not a parable, the story where the young man came to us and said, Good Master, what should I do to have eternal life? He didn't say, You better figure out when I'm coming back. And the meaning of the seven plagues, he said, Keep the commandments. So we need to do those things. We have to use the blessings given to us. Grow in love and kindness. Grow in being more like God Himself. So that way, when we are surprised by Christ's return, we'll still be ready. That way, we can look forward to having Him say to us, Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter the joy of your Lord.