Who Are the Wise?

I wanted to begin with something that Jesus said in John chapter 6. John chapter 6 is an amazing chapter in that it describes the miracles that Jesus was able to do. He was able, you know, to feed thousands of people with very small amount of bread and fish. And he would later talk about the fact that he was the bread of life. Now that became pretty confusing to many who were hearing him because they didn't understand what he was talking about. But directly to his disciples. We read here in verse 41, whenever he talked about himself as the bread of life, it says in verse 41 of John 6, the Jews began to complain about him because he said, I'm the bread of life who came down from heaven. And they were saying, isn't this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose mother and father we know, how can he say, came down from heaven? See, clearly Jesus was talking about something that they didn't understand. They knew him as a young boy and as someone who had grown up. They were aware of his family, aware of his mother, and of Joseph. But whenever they said this, Jesus answered them in verse 43, and he says, don't complain among yourselves. Quit arguing, because no one can come to me, in verse 44, no one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.

And I will raise that person up on the last day. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me to this earth. See, that's a very important statement and one that I think in many ways we do understand that. Individually, we need to understand it. He actually emphasized it on a little bit later when he was talking directly to his disciples, and he said in verse 65, for this reason, I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.

See, our coming to understand our need for Jesus Christ, our coming to understand our sins, to understand repentance and forgiveness, to be able to receive the great benefit of the sacrifice of the life of Jesus, the blood of Jesus being applied to our lives, begins with the Father drawing us to Jesus Christ. That's why when we look in Matthew 13 that Jesus would give numerous parables.

Matthew 13 has a number of parables in the chapter, and yet it has a parable of the sower and the seed, and he needed to later explain that in greater detail to the disciples. But in verse 10, the disciples came, in Matthew 13 verse 10, the disciples came and asked him, well, why are you speaking in these parables?

Some ways they may have thought this is kind of confusing, or this doesn't always make sense, or what is your point? And Jesus would go ahead and say to you, in verse 11, it's been given to know the secrets of the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of heaven, as Matthew often says. He uses that phrase, the kingdom of heaven. In Matthew, you see it clearly written about as far as the kingdom of God in Mark and Luke, and yet it's all talking about a kingdom of God.

And yet he says, to you have been given this to know the secrets or the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not being given. To hear again, Jesus clearly made, as he did in John 6, a differentiation between those who would come to know the Father, those who would come to know His Son, those who would relate to them ultimately through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now, we also know that in we study the Gospels, we know that Jesus spoke about a lot of the things that would lead up to the end of the age.

The disciples would ask Him. These are recorded in Matthew 24 and in Mark 13 and in Luke 21. Those three chapters are somewhat parallel. They all, they vary some, but they all have a general description of the same thing. The disciples ask Him, well, what's going to happen? And He tells them what's going to happen. And yet, even though He would go through the details that would lead up to the coming of the Son of Man, He also would give several parables, and now I'm talking in Matthew 24 and 25, Matthew 25 in particular, He would give several parables that were about the kingdom of God.

So, although He was teaching about what would happen before His return, He was also giving parables that should have significance to all of us today because we've been given eyes to see and ears to hear. We've been given help. In essence, that's what that is.

Eyes to see and ears to hear, that's being helped because that's not just simply, you know, me having the best hearing aid possible or me having the best glasses possible. You know, we try to do that just to get around here. You know, that's talking about some perception from God that He blesses us with. Let's turn over to Mark chapter 13, and I want to go through, I'm going to go through one of the parables that Jesus gave in Matthew 25, but in Mark 13, I want to use this verse to lead into it.

Mark 13, this is again one of the parallel accounts, and I'll break into Jesus' description of what's going to happen because He says in verse 19, in those days there will be suffering such as has not been since the beginning of creation that God created until now, no, and never will be. See, here He talks about the suffering that is going to be on the earth.

What we would describe as a great tribulation. What we would describe as you read many of the sections of the book of Revelation, you see, you know, a great deal of destruction, a great deal of violence, even as I mentioned that we're starting to see even more so, in a sense, this world kind of coming apart at the seams. So that should have a motivating factor for all of us, but He says in those days there will be great suffering, and in verse 20, if the Lord did not cut short those days, no one would be saved.

No one would be saved alive. That's what it's meaning. No one would continue to exist, continue to live on the earth. But He says, for the sake of the elect, for the sake of the elect whom He chose. Again, these tie together with what I mentioned in John and in Matthew. For the sake of the elect whom He chose, He will cut those days short. And if anyone says, at that time, look, here's the Messiah, look there's the Messiah. Don't believe it. It says false Messiahs. False prophets will appear and produce signs and wonders to lead Australia, if possible, the very elect. But He goes ahead in verse 23 to say, but I want you to be alert.

I want you to be alert. I've already told you what's going to happen. See, He was, in a sense, giving a warning to His disciples, but it's obviously directed toward our world today. And clearly, you know, whenever we read this in verse 22 about leading astray, the elect, you know, we need to ask ourselves, you know, can I actually be? Can you actually be led astray? Now, there are ways to prevent that, I will tell you.

But this is a warning. If we jump on down to verse 32, talking about the time when Jesus will come, He says, about that day in verse 32 or hour, no one knows neither the angels in heaven nor the Son, just the Father. Only the Father knows when He's going to send Jesus back to the earth.

So He says, beware and be alert or keep alert, for you don't know when the time will come. For it's like a man going on a journey when he leaves home and puts his servants in charge, each with his own work, and he commands the doorkeeper to be on the guard, on watch. Therefore, keep awake, for you don't know when the master of the house is going to come in the evening or midnight or the cock-crow or a dawn or else verse 34 or else he may find you asleep.

See, this is not just imagery, this is description from Jesus Christ. He says, you may find, he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly and so what I say to you is to keep awake. Keep alert. So I I lead into what I want to discuss today as one of the parables in Matthew 25. See, here in Mark it leads up to that clearly. It mentions, you know, will the servants of God be awake or will we be asleep?

Is it possible that we could get drowsy? Is it possible that we could only, you know, be in a sleepy haze? Well, in Matthew 25, the first few verses, first 13 verses of it, Jesus gives a parable of the kingdom of God and I know that all of you perhaps have read this parable or many of us have. We understand what it's about. We know it's about, you know, the ten virgins or ten pridesmaids that are mentioned here. But I'm going to say that this particular parable, it's about preparedness.

That's what this parable is about. It's about being prepared. It's about being alert. And yet, I think he could also say that, even though, and again, I think most of us would know, this is talking about five wise and five foolish virgins. But I'd like for us to think about the fact that it could be, it could be described as the parable of the ten sleepy virgins.

The parable of the ten sleepy virgins would be another way of looking at what this says. And I think it's important for us to understand the need for preparedness, the need to be prepared and to know what Jesus is talking about. Here in verse 1, he says, in the kingdom of heaven will be like this.

Ten virgins took their lamps and they went out to meet the bridegroom. Verse 2, five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. So again, as we know, Jesus talks in parables. He talks in ways that, you know, have even greater meaning than what you might just read from the very words, but in verse 2, he says, five were foolish and five were wise. And when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them.

But in verse 4, the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. And verse 5 is one that I want to focus on as the bridegroom was delayed. You see, brethren, we've been hoping and praying for the return of Jesus for decades. Some of us thought that might have happened 50 years ago. You know, we, we, some of you have been around that long. I was only starting to learn something then.

But see, we have hoped that Christ would return over the 70s or the 80s or the 90s or now into the 2000s, last decade, this decade. But verse 5 says, as the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. See, that's why I mentioned this maybe termed the parable of the ten sleepy virgins, because it appears all of these ten were, they were lulled to sleep. They became drowsy. They became, and I would say, you know, all of us want to know what's going to happen.

We want to understand prophecy. You know, we, we know certain things that have occurred. We perhaps also know of certain things that are yet to occur that we look forward to, that we anticipate, that we know, you know, some of the things that are going to happen in the Middle East, some of the things that will happen in Europe, even some of the things that are going to happen in the Israelites countries of the United States and the British Commonwealth.

Some of those things, you know, we have known are going to happen. But, see, it says all of them got sleepy. All of them were drowsy, and they slept. Whenever the coming of Christ was delayed, and so I'm not saying it's delayed because we already read, the Father knows exactly what He's doing. He knows when it's happening. He doesn't always tell us exactly when that is, but He does know what it is that He's going to do to solve the problems of this earth.

So it says, as the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. But at midnight, there came a shout, look! There's the bridegroom! Come out to meet Him! So in verse 7, all the bridegrooms got up, they trimmed their lamps, they all woke up!

They all, you know, even though, you know, they were slumbering, or at least they got sleepy, they got up. And yet it says, the foolish said to the wise, or excuse me, verse 7, the bridegrooms got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going up. And the wise replied, no, there's not going to be enough for you and us both. You'd better go to the dealer and buy some for yourself. And so while they went to buy the oil, the bridegroom came, and it says, those who were ready, those who were ready were the ones who went in with Him into the wedding banquet.

And the door was shut. Now later, the other bridegroom bridesmaids or virgins came back, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. And He says, truly, I tell you, I just simply don't know you. You know, clearly Jesus is making maybe many points here, and I'm certainly not saying I know what all of them are. But I do know, you know, that He said this for a reason. He said this for us today. He says, truly, I tell you, I don't know you, but keep awake, therefore, for you don't know the day nor the hour when the Son of Man will come.

See, clearly, I think you could say that, you know, this parable is about preparedness. It's about being motivated. It's about drawing close to God. It's about what we would believe to be, you know, the use of God's Spirit, the availability of the Spirit of God, which is symbolized as oil in other parts of the Bible. But I want to point out three things about this parable. I think it's good for us to think about these, because, you know, we want to follow Jesus' admonition to keep away, keep alert. And yet, even though the wise were taking their oil and they were using that in a right way, you know, it seems that they still were struggling.

They struggled to stay awake. It's kind of like whenever Jesus was about to be put to death and he would go out and beseech the Father for the help, the strength, the comfort, the deliverance that he so desperately needed, and that he knew the Father would always provide. And he told the disciples, well, just just wait with me a little while and pray, and of course they couldn't do it.

You know, they would go to sleep. And he'd come back and he'd wake them up and then you'd see the disciples sleeping again. See, sometimes when we struggle against our own sins, see, I think you could say that this would have to do with the struggle that we are involved in in our overcoming, because we do want to overcome. We do. We place that as a priority item in our lives. And yet, you know, whenever we're doing that, sometimes we're doing well and sometimes we're not doing as well.

And sometimes we're closer to God and sometimes we're not. I think you might symbolize that by getting drowsy, getting sleepy. And yet, you know, the three things that I want to mention, the first one is quite obvious. Simply the comparison between the five wise and the five foolish. See, are we wise in our preparation for the coming kingdom of God? What does it mean? Or what does it take to be wise? Do we envision the reality of Jesus' return and His intervention in world affairs in such a way that it affects our actions, it affects our thoughts and our decisions, it affects our desire to pray and draw close to God, to study, to focus on His kingdom?

I want us to go back to Daniel because you have a couple of verses here in Daniel that are about being wise. And I think you could say that, well, this is what the wise will be doing. If I can find Daniel here, yeah, it's after the major prophets here, the first part of the minor prophets. But in Daniel chapter 12, the last part of Daniel is talking about the end time.

It's talking about what's going to lead up to a conflict between a king of the north and a king of the south and who's going to make that up? Well, you know, we can consider that from what we see in the world today and what we find is taking place.

But that's not my purpose here. At verse 1, it says, at this time, Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. And that will be a time of anguish as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. So talking about same thing we've read in Matthew. But it says, at that time, your people will be delivered.

Everyone who is found written in the book and many of those who sleep, he talks about a resurrection as a conclusion. But in verse 3, those who are wise, those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the sky and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. See, here it talks about the wise. Wise having a brightness or having an ability to lead others to an understanding of the way of righteousness. That's what we we all need to be able to be a part of.

But if we drop on down, and I'm not wanting to read all of chapter 12 here, but if you drop down, it says that Daniel was told, don't worry about whether you understand this or not. This is not even for your time. This is for long ways away.

It's going to be 2,500 years before this even happens. But it says in verse 8, my Lord, Daniel says, what shall be the outcome of these things? And he said, well, go your way, Daniel. The words are to remain secret and sealed until the time of the end. And he says in verse 10, many will be purified and cleansed and refined, but the wicked shall continue to do wickedly.

And yet none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. To here he describes wise as teaching others or leading others to understand the way of righteousness and a wise having understanding. Having understanding of God's purpose, of his plan, of how it is that he lays things out.

If we back up to chapter 11 here, it talks about, again, this is still about the end time. And Jesus mentions this in his Olivet prophecy. He says, verse 31, they shall abolish the regular burnt offering and set up the abomination that makes desolate. That is something that did happen in the past. It is yet to happen again. Jesus even says to watch for that as he approaches.

And it says in verse 33, the wise among the people shall give understanding to many. For some days, however, they will fall by sword and flame and captivity and plunder. Verse 35, some of the wise shall even fall so that they may be refined and purified and cleansed until the time of the end. For there is still an interval until the time appointed.

So these are all references to the wise. Those who would be wise. Those who perhaps would fall into the category of being a wise servant of God. Now clearly in the in the parable that Jesus gave, the wise were the ones who were supplied with oil. They're the ones who had an extra flask or an extra gallon jug of oil to be able to put in their lamps. And as I said, that could represent our access to the Holy Spirit.

It could represent our use of the Holy Spirit. It could represent our understanding, our desire to know, our desire to draw close to God. But even here in verse 35, it says, you know, some of the wise will go through a refining process, a cleansing process. And I think it's important for us to be reminded that we want to be, you know, stirring up the gift that God has given us.

He's given us a gift. He's given us that blessing of the Holy Spirit, but he wants that to be stirred up. He wants us to be motivated by not only studying but by praying. See, praying is our communion with God. It should be enhanced. It should be magnified. It should be improving as we go along because we have more things from God to be able to know to pray about. And certainly we want to follow into the category of being in the wise category, you know, because obviously the wise were the ones who went in.

And, you know, it says the door was shut. So we want to be, you know, in the union that is to take place when Christ returned. I'd like for us to look in Matthew 7 because Jesus also says here in Matthew chapter 7, this is in the Sermon on the Mount. There's a number of very wonderful explanations that he gave throughout this chapter 5 and 6 and 7 of Matthew. But he talks about the wise again in verse 24. He says, everyone who then hears these words of mine and who acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock.

And the rain fell, the floods came, the troubles occurred, the winds blew and beat on the house, but it didn't fall because it was founded on the rock. So clearly, you know, he's going to contrast that with the, in a sense, the foolish man who built his house on the sand. And so he did not have the right foundation. He had a bad foundation and so his house, whenever the troubles came, it was it was destroyed. But what Jesus is indicating is that if we're going to fit in the category of wise, if we're going to have understanding, if we're going to be growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the we're going to grow with the use of the Spirit of God that God has made available to us, then we're going to be grounded on the foundation that's described here as the rock.

See, that rock or that foundation is Jesus Christ. We've got to be, you know, that has got to be our grounding. We have got to know God or Father, but we've also got to know Jesus Christ and understand Him to be not only the head of the church, but our soon coming King and the one who is able to secure us throughout whatever is yet to happen. And we see the things of this past week, you know, you just wonder what's next week and next month going to be like. Well, you know, we want to be for thoroughly grounded in our acceptance and understanding of looking to Jesus Christ.

Every one of us as God brought us into the Church of God, He brought us into a relationship with Jesus Christ. He brought us into a a connection, a union with Jesus Christ that's in strength and by the Holy Spirit. And we certainly want to know, you know, why we're here, why we're meeting here on the Sabbath, why we get together, why we are growing in the love that God expects us to grow in.

And, you know, that's not optional. That's what He expects. But the basis of that foundation that we've got to be built on is the Rock. That rock is Jesus Christ. Here in 1st Thessalonians, you also see what the wise will be doing. 1st Thessalonians chapter 5. 1st Thessalonians 5 verse 1, now concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you don't need to have anything written to you, for you yourselves know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

And when they say, there is peace and there is security, well then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman and there will be no escape. But you, you beloved are not in darkness. About that, you're not in darkness. For that day to surprise you like a thief, you're the children of white and the children of the day. You're not of the night or of darkness, so let us not fall asleep as others do.

You know, we talked about the even the wise virgins being drowsy, being struggling with their overcoming and struggling with the difficulties that they face in this life. Let's see, that didn't forego the fact that they were close to God, that they were growing in the Holy Spirit. And as this goes on to say then, verse 6, let us not fall asleep as others do, but let us keep awake and so be sober. Because those who sleep, sleep at night and those who are drunk at, drunk at night, but since we belong to the day, let us be sober and put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet of the hope of salvation.

See, that's a hope. Mr. Urban talked about the hope our young people have and can have, the hope that we can have. We have a hope not only in this life, but a hope in the life to come. A hope beyond the grave. A hope in the resurrection of the dead. That, you know, is an absolute hope and that's something God gives us if we are drawing close to Him, if we are striving to fit the category of being wise. That doesn't mean that we don't have any problems, because all of us have problems. All of us have a certain amount of sins.

I certainly do. And I want to struggle against those things. I want to struggle against my own indifference or my own laziness sometimes. I want to struggle against that and I want to try to be on the wise side and I want to be infused with the power. See, it's amazing in Zachariah 4 verse 6 it talks about, and God is actually telling Zerubbabel there, well it's the job I want you to do is not going to be a job that's done by how strong you are.

I'm certainly glad that's the case because I'm not near as strong as I used to be. At 25 I thought I was pretty strong and at 25 I was a lot stronger than I am now. And yet as I get older I'm less and less strong. But I don't need to depend on that strength, my power, or even by my even by numbers. See, that's what God was telling Zerubbabel that that's not by your own strength. It's not by the power of numbers that you're going to be able to do the job that I mission you to do.

It's going to be by the power of my Holy Spirit. My Spirit working in your mind, in your heart, to convert you. And so clearly, you know, to be on the wise side as this mentions, you know, there are several things that we can be doing.

It also talks about the wise. I didn't mention this in Daniel chapter 11 verse 33 and 4 there. It talks of wise being loyal, being dedicated to the calling that they've been given and committed. Again, as I said, to the head, the rock foundation that we have, which is the head of the church.

So obviously we want to fall into the wise category, but we have to ask ourselves, am I preparing to fit the category of being wise? Or do I need to be encouraged to do better? Because again, that's what we want to do. We want each other to do better. We each need to do better. Now the second thing I'll mention is that as we read this parable in Matthew 25, it's obvious that there were certain things that cannot be obtained at the last minute. See, whenever Jesus returned or whenever the bridegroom came back in the parable, what were the foolish virgins to do? Well, they realized that there was not much we could do.

You know, we don't really have anywhere to go except we're going to go and we're going to try to find some oil. See, so there are certain things that cannot be obtained at the last second. And so we want to be prepared as we watch and wait for the return of Christ. We don't want to be unaware, as we've already mentioned, but in Luke 21, again a similar account of this, Luke 21 were admonished to maintain a state of preparedness.

See, we want to begin and we want to continue to maintain a state of preparedness spiritually. Luke 21 verse 34, Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life and that that day catch you unexpectedly. See, even the cares or worries of this life, the things that, you know, so take up so much time in every one of our lives, the things of this life can pull us away from the real goal.

So he says, don't let those things keep your eye off of the goal. But like in verse 35, like a trap, it will come upon you who live on the face of the whole earth. It will come upon everyone. Verse 36, alert. Be alert at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape these things or to be counted worthy to escape the things that are going to come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man. You know, that has to be reality to us. That has to be, you know, it's not something that we can get at the very last second. It's something we need to be growing toward all along by being prepared.

So then the last thing that I'll say, we can go back to Matthew 25 again. Matthew 25, in the conclusion of this parable, or it's not right at the end of it, but kind of in the middle of it, in verse 8 and 9, it's very obvious that there are certain things that can't be borrowed.

Obviously, the foolish in this parable wanted to borrow. They went to the right people, but they couldn't do it for someone else. They couldn't do it for someone who was unprepared, who didn't prepare, who didn't, wasn't motivated. Verse 8, the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out, but the wise said, no, not be enough for us and you both. You need to go to the dealers and buy some for yourself.

See, so each and every one of us have, we have a an incredible need to have a close relationship with God individually. Personally, we have to have a close relationship with God. Now, if we have that, then we're also going to be working on a close and loving relationship with one another, because that's what God requires. That's what he expects. We see, we can't borrow a close relation with God. We can't borrow character.

That's something that we are either growing in God's nature, God's divine nature, his character, his mind, his way of looking at things. See, I can't do this for someone else. I can't do it for my wife. My wife can't do it for me in the same way with all of you. Each of us have to have our own oil. We have to do this on our own. And actually, it's foolish for us to trust in men and not trust in Jesus Christ, because He is the one who is going to secure us. He's the one who's the rock, like we mentioned. He's the one who's the right foundation. He's the one who enables us to have a stability and a strength that there's no other way of having. And if we have that, then we have peace of mind. We have security. We have appreciation of what God makes available to us. So each of us have got to be prepared. No one else can do it for us. If we drop down to verse 12, after it says that those who were ready went in and the door was shut, later the other bridesmaids came and said, Lord, open to us. And He says, truly, I tell you, I just simply don't know you. Those, in a sense, are kind of horrid words. I don't know you. But, you know, a genuine connection with Jesus Christ is what every one of us have got to have.

Of course, that's with the Father as well. But see, it's said that Jesus is the one who is the rock, the one that we can trust to help us. And what you find about verse 12, I don't know you, is simply that they were not close to, they were not close in their relationship to God because of their neglect. That they didn't have the respect for the Word of God. Whenever we read the words, and we've read several different chapters and gone through some of this today, and we should be motivated by that. We should be encouraged by it, but we should also be sobered by it because the words of God are amazingly meaningful. And they should show us, you know, that He's the one that we can be completely trusting in. He has our interest at heart. So I think you see those three things out of that parable. Now we perhaps keep in mind as we watch the world around us continue to decline. I want to back up here as we conclude this sermon today. I want to back up into chapter 24 because clearly in chapter 25 you find, you know, this first parable, you find another parable about not only preparedness but about using talents, using what God gives us to serve Him. And later, you know, you see a big section about serving other people. That's what Matthew 25 is about. Preparedness, using our talents, and serving and loving others as we love Jesus Christ. That's what that last part of chapter 25 is about. But here in chapter 24, if we back up into Matthew 24 in verse 45, He mentions being asleep again. And so I'm going to assume that Jesus knows what He wants us to be aware of. Who then, in verse 45, is a faithful and wise servant whom His Master has put in charge of His household to give the other servants their allowance of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom His Master will find at work when He arrives. See, now here He's He's giving a little bit of a different description here, but here in this case He's talking about Him going away and then putting His servants in charge of a job and telling them they just need to continue to be doing it. See, what is our job? Well, it's to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom of God and of Jesus Christ who is the King, of the government of God that's going to come to the earth and stop all of the anger, all of the hatred, all the bitterness, all the distress, all the instability that we see in this world today.

But here He says, blessed, verse 46, is the servant whose Master will find at work when He comes back. So, you know, we want to be engaged in the work of God, in the work of the Father. And He says that, truly, I tell you, He will put that one, that servant, in charge of all his possessions. You know, that's that's what He says. He is preparing a kingdom, He will be giving responsibility, He will be giving opportunity, and He wants us to trust Him in that regard. But, He says, in verse 48, if the wicked servant says in himself, my master is delayed. You know, that's that was why the virgins were starting to sleep. They thought, ah, we don't know when He's coming back. It's taken too long. You know, again, He uses this description, if the servant says to himself, my master is delayed. And He begins to beat His fellow servants and eat some drinks with drunkards. The master of that slave will come in today when He doesn't expect Him in an hour, when He doesn't know. And He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites and where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. See, this is, you know, this is exactly, you know, what, you know, we're told, as we are to, you know, be not asleep. We're to be awake. Now, if we slumber a little, we need to be awakened out of that. And I'm telling you, it's easy to be slum... it's easy to be indifferent. It's easy to be lazy. It's easy to be distracted. It's easy to be, and we see a lot of descriptions of other stuff that could cause us to slumber. But He says, don't allow yourself to do that. Don't allow yourself to fall into that category. But He says, you know, the servant that, you know, forgets the job, the master will come on a day when he does not expect Him at an hour, when He does not know, and He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. That, that obviously is to be avoided. Let's see the reason or the way that we can, that we can avoid that is simply by engaging ourself in the work of God. Engaging ourself in, as we've said, being in the wise category, even though we're struggling, we want to be in the wise category because the Spirit of God is motivating us to grow in His love. And we understand, you know, that we don't want to wait the last second and find out it's too late. And we certainly, you know, don't want to misunderstand that, well, I can get in and be a part of God's Kingdom on someone else's coattails because we can't. That is what we're required to do, each and every one of us. So thankfully, we have the Word of God to guide our minds, to guide our hearts, to guide our thoughts. We're here every Sabbath afternoon. We are learning more of God's words. We are rehearsing ones that we've surely read before. And yet, thankfully, we have that Word to keep us alert, to keep us awake, to keep us on the ball, and to keep us involved and engaged. And so, you know, we've been ritually blessed with an understanding of God's Word. And as Jesus said, your eyes have been opened, your ears have been unstopped. And so you have a blessing of understanding the mysteries of the Kingdom of God and how God wants you to be a part of that. So I encourage all of us to use the training that we've been given. It's training that has been ongoing for many decades in some of our lives. For others of us, it's newer, and that's fine. And yet, you know, I encourage all of us to simply fit into the wise category. Because, as we read, the wise were the ones who were ready. And the wise were the ones who were actually meeting the bridegroom whenever he comes.