 So here we are, chapter 25. I'll read verses 1 through 13 given introduction. It's going to be a developed introduction so we can understand why the Lord would give to us these parables that he gives to us here in chapter 25. So let's begin reading in Matthew 25 at verse 1. I'll read to verse 13. We'll get into our study. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight, a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered saying, no, lest there should not be enough for us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. And 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. Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, assuredly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore for you, know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man is coming. So we're gonna have a cheery time today. Looking at these verses, two parables. Now, these parables have been identified as warning parables because they are warning the people that they will not know the exact time of the return of the Lord Jesus Christ in the second coming. Remember at verse 36 of chapter 24, remember how Jesus said of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. And so what Jesus is doing is he's emphasizing that aspect of not knowing the exact moment, therefore be prepared because you don't know exactly when he's going to return. He's been emphasizing this already in chapter 24. In verse 38 and 39 of chapter 24, he had said this, he had said, as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of man be. So he's already pointed out that it would be like the days of Noah when the flood came and took them all away. Then in verse 42, he had said, watch therefore for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming, know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. And so one, he speaks of the days of Noah. And then two, he uses the illustration of being alert because the thief may break in. Obviously the point he's making is you need to be awake. That's why in verse 44, he closed with a warning when he said, be ready for the Son of man is coming at an hour you do not expect. And therefore the point he's making is you need to be ready when Jesus returns very simply. And so these parables are making it clear that they have to be ready at all times. The first parable that he gives to us found in verses one through 13 here in Matthew 25 is using as a backdrop the Jewish wedding customs. And so in order to understand why it's important to use this as an illustration pertaining to returning and coming at an hour when people don't know, we need to know something of the Jewish wedding customs during the day of Jesus Christ. Because the Jewish wedding customs at that time, the wedding marriages were actually divided into three parts or three aspects. And when you look at that, you'll understand why Jesus is speaking in the way that he is here in Matthew 25. You see, according to the Jewish customs of the day when it pertained to weddings, you had what was called the engagement. That was the first part of it, the engagement. And so normally a wedding would be contracted by a father of the groom and a father of the bride. And they would get together and they would have a meeting and they would draw up a contract. And the contract would establish what would be called the bride price. And the bride price is what has been called the dowry. And so if the bride was greatly desired, the bride price would be very high. And so they would establish this kind of agreement, this contract, and that was what you would refer to as their engagement. But they also had a second part, which is called the betrothal. Now let me read this to you. The betrothal was considered a wedding ceremony where the bride and groom exchanged vows in the presence of family and friends. At that point, they were considered married. And their relationship could only be severed by divorce. This period could last up to a year. Now at this ceremony, the groom would give a speech. And very often he would say something like this, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again and I will receive you to myself that where I am there, you may be also. Do those words ring in your memory? That's John 14. That's what Jesus himself had said to his disciples. Well that's basically what the groom would say. Because he'd give this little speech, they would seal it with a drinking of a cup of wine. And they were at that point just going through what was called the betrothal. And so he would depart. And he would prepare a place for the bride. He would establish himself in a trader. He would purchase a farm. And he would establish a place for them to live. Now as the bride was waiting, she was referred to in this way. She was the one who is set apart. And the Bible speaks concerning us as being sanctified. The word sanctified translates into being set apart. Well that's what she was called. The one who has been set apart. She was also referred to as the one who has been bought at a price. Because of the dowry. And so isn't that what the church is also referred to? We are bought at a price. What was the price? The blood of Jesus Christ. So you can see how these things would actually work together to give us insight into the community of faith that we have through Jesus Christ. The bridegroom would be asked, when are you going to take your wife and consummate your marriage? And he would reply, only my father knows the time. Which we just read in Matthew 24, 36. Only my father knows the time. And so that would be what is called the betrothal. So there's the engagement. There's the betrothal. The betrothal period could last up to a year. The groom is waiting to hear the father say, go get your bride. And so the third part would be at the end of the betrothal period. At the end of the betrothal period, a wedding feast was held with the entire community invited. The feast itself could last up to a week. It began when the father gave the signal for the groom to get the bride. The bridegroom would assemble his friends. We'd come and take the bride. And she would be waiting with her bridesmaids for him to come for her. When the bridegroom came, a shout would be given. If at night, she would light her lamp and then leave with him and his friends. So they would yell out, the bridegroom comes. So together, the bride, the groom, the attendants would parade through the streets proclaiming that the wedding feast was about to begin. When arriving at the home, they would go directly to the bedchamber. The best man was known as the friend of the bridegroom and he would stand at the door of the bedchamber. When they consummated their marriage, he would rejoice at the voice of the bridegroom. Again, John the Baptist said, I'm not Messiah, I am the friend. He was speaking of himself as like the best man in a Jewish wedding. And so when the groom would whisper to his best friend that our marriage has been consummated, at that point, the bride and the groom were one. The wedding guest would rejoice and the bride and the groom would from then on live together in a new home. And so that's the backdrop of this particular parable that Jesus is giving, the parable of the 10 virgins. Obviously the disciples were familiar with wedding customs. And so he's using what is familiar to them to illustrate heavenly truth. Remember with me that I've mentioned to you that Jesus spoke often in parables. There are some 39 different parables that Jesus gives in his teachings. He would give illustrations because sometimes it's difficult for us to conceptualize the realities of the kingdom of God. And so he would use an earthly kind of illustration to illustrate heavenly truth. And that's what a parable is. A parable literally means to place one side, one thing alongside of another in order to draw comparison. And that's what Jesus would do using parables. And he's doing that here in Matthew 25. And the parables are intended to encourage people to be ready for his return. And that's what we're looking at. So beginning at verse one with that as a backdrop, we can now look at this parable together. Verse one, the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now, five of them were wise, five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps, took no oil with them. The wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And so he begins very basically by giving a parable notice. He begins by speaking of 10 virgins. During that time, it was the custom to have bridesmaids who were unmarried, never been married. And so he's using that as just a backdrop. They were known for their moral purity. He speaks concerning a lamp. It says they took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. The lamp would be a flame, a torch, a flame that was fed with oil. When it says they went out, the word meet, went out to meet means to officially welcome a dignitary. So they went out to welcome the bridegroom. The bridegroom we know is Jesus. The 10 virgins represent people who are saying that they are believers. The lamps symbolize outward identification with him. Again, remember, we're told that we are to let our light so shine before men that they may see our good works and glorify our Father who is in heaven. The light represents the life, the good works. Paul in Ephesians five verse eight said it like this. He said, you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. And so you have a lamp that symbolizes a lifestyle. You have the bridesmaids that symbolize believers. Five of them are sincere. Five of them are only professing to know the Lord. They all have lamps. Some have oil. Some do not. He says in verse two that five of them were wise and five were foolish. So by outside standards, when you looked at these 10, they're indistinguishable from one another. They are all outwardly prepared. They are all carrying torches and they all apparently were waiting. But in reality, and this is what we're gonna see in this parable, in reality, they were not all truly prepared because he speaks of in verses three and four, he speaks of the foolish ones. Notice in verse three he says, those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. Then in verse four, the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. And so you have a contrast here right from the beginning. They have the lamps, which is outward appearance, but they have no oil, which is the Holy Spirit. So five of them have the outward appearance of followers of God only on the outside. This is a picture of those who profess to have faith in God and just looking at them, you would say they must be. They all look the same. This is a picture today by today's standards, we'll say, of people who go to church. In this church right now, as I look out there with teaching, and how would I know who really knows the Lord and who doesn't? How would I know? There isn't a halo over you. If you're, well, wait a minute, there's a couple. No, I'm just kidding. There's a glare on my glasses. No, you're not floating three inches off the seat. Oh, that's a real believer there. That's not, because they're seated so low. You don't know. How are you gonna know who's genuine and who's not just by looking at them? So people today in church services or even just walking around can have an appearance because they're good. And again, these are 10 virgins that speaks of moral purity. These are people who have an outer appearance of a pure life, but some have oil and some do not. Five of the bridesmaids were without oil in their lamp. And so Jesus is simply making a point. A lamp is useless without oil. A profession of faith in Jesus without the spirit of God in you is useless. They appear good, but they have no spiritual power because they're not believers in Christ. Paul said it like this in 2 Timothy 3, verse five. He said, having a form of godliness but denying its power. Having an outward appearance of godliness but having no spiritual power. And there's a lot of people like that. There's no doubt that a large portion of the Christian visible Christian church today, there's no doubt, no doubt. And a huge portion of those who attend church on Sunday are not saved. There's absolutely no doubt about that at all. There are millions of people throughout the world who attend church services who are not saved. For them, if you asked them, are you a Christian? They'd say, well, yes. But the reason they would say yes is because they're not a Buddhist or they're not a Muslim or they're not of another religious persuasion. So they would say, yes, I was baptized or yes, I went to church or yes, I go to church. So a large proportion of people fall into the category of the foolish virgins with no oil in their lamp. They don't have the spirit of God. They live outwardly moral lives and from outward standards, they're what would be called good people, but they're not saved because without the oil of the spirit of God, you're not saved. And even though you may live outwardly good lives, the thing is, is your nature is still corrupt. There's a commercial that I can't stand, so I'll share it with you. I think it's a bit odd. It's an odd commercial. Some of you may not think so. I think it is. I think it's really odd. It's a guy with his dog and he calls his dog his son. That's crazy. Though the dog doesn't look like his dad, but that's a different story. No, this is my son. And the dog is dressed up in human clothes. Look, you can dress that dog up all day long, but it's still a dog. You know, you can get a chimpanzee and put a tuxedo on it if you'd like. It's a nice looking chimp, but it's still a chimp. Why? Because the outward appearance has nothing to do with the nature. And there are a lot of people who have outward appearance, like their tuxedo and their flesh. I mean, they're wearing nice outward appearance. They're nice, they pray, they may fast, they go to church, they're good to their friends, family, but they don't know the Lord. There are many like that. I gave an invitation many years ago. A young woman walked up and said to me at the end of the invitation, she happened to be down there, she came back to speak to me and she said, I just want you to know that I didn't come forward at the invitation. She says, but there's a reason why. She says, I want to give my heart to Christ today and I want you to pray with me. But she said, I didn't come forward because my father's a pastor in the area. And she said, people would know me if they saw me and would know that he is my father. I didn't want to bring shame to my father by coming forward, but I wanted to come forward to give my heart to the Lord today. She said, because I grew up in church. I grew up in church and I've never given my heart to Jesus Christ. And people think that I'm a Christian because I'm involved. I had a young woman that used to come to the church that I was attending at one time when I first got out of the military. And I was going to this church and this young girl had been in the church since she was around 13. She was part of the choir. She had taken tours with the choir. She had gone on retreats. All of her friends thought she was a Christian and she was at my parents' house and we're having a get together with college age kids. She was college age at that time. And she was seated there in the front room at my parents' home. And I began to speak to her and I asked her her name was Gail. And I said, Gail, when did you give your heart to Christ? Because I knew that she was part of the choir. I knew that she was in the church youth group. I knew that she went to that church. And I asked her, I said, when did you give your heart to Christ? And she said, I've never given my heart to Christ. I said, Gail, you've been in this church since you were 13 and you've never given your heart to Christ. She says, no. I said, why haven't you given your heart to the Lord? She says, I really don't know. She says, part of the reason is is everybody already thinks I'm a Christian and they never really thought about it. So we had a conversation. I still remember having a conversation with this young woman at my parents' home and I let her to faith in Christ. I said, you know, you need to open your heart to Jesus Christ. There are a lot of people like that. She was in the choir. They used to have what was called a living Christmas tree. And she was part of the choir. She'd be up there with a little face like one of the bulbs on the tree singing, you know, about Jesus, you know, oh, holy night and all the rest. And she didn't know the Lord. There are tons of people examining your heart even as I'm saying this. How do you know you're saved? Because you were raised in a Christian home because you went to church here, maybe all your life. How do you know you're saved? How do you know you've got a relationship with Jesus Christ? Because somebody told you you must be a Christian because you like to go to church. What? How do you know? Because there are a lot of people who don't have the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God bears with me that I am a child of God. When I have an internal witness of the Spirit because I confess Christ and I receive Him as my Lord and Savior, the Spirit of God dwells within me. And that is a symbol of the Holy Spirit which in the Old Testament oral is a symbol of the Spirit as well as the new. And so Jesus is saying these have outward appearance of being believers but they have no oil of the Spirit and thus their natures are still corrupt. Isaiah 64 verse 6 says it like this. "'All of us have become like one who is unclean "'and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags. "'We all shrivel up like a leaf "'and like the wind our sins sweep us away. "'We are all like an unclean cloth.'" Well, notice with me as he's speaking concerning these, you have again in verse 3, "'Foolish took the laps with no oil." Verse 4, "'The wise took oil in their vessels.'" Verse 5, "'But while the bridegroom was delayed, "'notice they all slumbered and slept.'" So that reinforces the idea of Jesus's return being unexpected. Time is elapsing from his leaving to his return. Many are going about the business of life and it says they all slumbered and slept. That includes the wise who are real believers and the unwise. You see, the wise, the Christian can sleep. We can sleep or rest in Christ. We can have security because we're ready. I'm ready. I'm ready whenever the Lord comes. I'm ready. Are you? We are ready for Jesus Christ. I'm prepared. I know he's coming and thus my life is lived in readiness for him. And I can sleep in peace because I know I'm right with God. That's what happened. The Psalmist in Psalm 4, verse 8 said it like this, "'I will both lie down in peace and sleep. "'For you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.'" I can sleep because I have your peace, your peace that passes understanding because I'm ready to meet you whenever you come. Romans 8, 38 and 39, I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate us and thus we're able to live in peace and be prepared. So you have both of them asleep. You have the Christians asleep, but you also have the non-Christian, the professing Christian. They sleep but in what would be called a false confidence. They're sleeping in a false confidence. Well, verse 6, at midnight a cry was heard, "'Behold, the bridegroom is coming. "'Go out to meet him.' And all the virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. "'The foolish said to the wise, "'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered saying, "'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you, "'but go rather to those who sell. "'Buy for yourselves.' And 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. The bridegroom comes and that's what would happen. The father had said to the son, go get your bride. It's midnight, everybody's asleep. He has his attendance. The attendants go with him. They're in the street. Then there's the one who cries out. The bridegroom comes. That's the warning for those who are awaiting. They should get up, bring their lamps and go, the procession's about to start. That's the point, it's unexpected. Well, when those who are prepared rise up, they trim their lamps, off they go. Then you have those who are trying to trim their lamps and there's no oil in them. And so they turn and they say to those who are prepared, give us some oil so that we might be able to go too. And there's no way, there's no way that they have enough oil for themselves and for somebody else. And so they say, you go out and you buy some for yourself because we don't have enough for you. And I'm not about to give to you what I have because it may not be enough for both of us. Fact is, you can't go to heaven on somebody else's faith. You can't enter in because your wife is saved. You can't enter in because your husband's saved. You can't enter in because your mom and your dad are saved. You can't enter in because your dad's a pastor or your grandfather was. That's not how you enter in and that's the point Jesus is making. You can't have, I do not have faith for myself and for my wife. Marie and I, when we were first dating and entering into marriage, my wife Marie, we were talking on one occasion and I was encouraging her and I said, you know, Marie, it's important for your faith to grow. You need to grow in your faith. You're a believer, a new believer and together we need to grow. But I remember saying to her, I don't have enough faith for both you and me. I can't save you by my faith. And when my children were born, as much as I wanted to deposit faith and encourage faith in them, it's not my faith that they're gonna be saved by, it's their own. I can't trust somebody else's faith and that's the point Jesus is making. Five of them had the oil, the Holy Spirit. Five of them didn't. The five who didn't say to the ones who do, give us some of what you have and the ones who do say, no, I can't give you what is mine. You have to have what is yours. They were not prepared. They were not expecting and because of that, they're gonna be held personally accountable. I want you to notice in verse 10 how it simply says the door was shut. Listen, when God closes a door, no man can open it. And that door is closed. Those people didn't enter in. It reminds me again of when Noah was in the ark and the scripture tells us very clearly that God closed the door. And when God closed the door, that ark it's found in Genesis 7.16. When God closed the door, no man could open it. And so the door is closed. There's no entering in. These people are not going to make it. The door is closed. What happens? Verse 11, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said assuredly, I say to you, I don't know you. Can you imagine what that would sound like? I don't know you. No, no, wait a minute. Yes, you do. You have to know, you know all things. You must know me. I don't know you. What do you mean you don't know me? I have no relationship with you. You and I have never been united. We're not one. I don't know you. In Matthew, in chapter seven, verses 21 through 23, Jesus said, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, we'll enter the kingdom of heaven. But only he who does the will of my father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles? Then I will tell them plainly, I never knew you away from me, you evildoers. I never knew you. I never knew you. What a terrible thing that Jesus is illustrating here that these people thought that they could enter in when they never had a relationship with him. In order to enter in, you need to have the oil of the Holy Spirit. And that's why Jesus in verse 13 says, watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. Using again the illustration of a Jewish wedding, the voice cries out, the bridegroom is coming. They trim their lamps, they go on the procession, they enter in, the door is closed, but these people were not able to enter in because they were not part of that wedding party. Therefore make sure where you stand with the Lord and be ready. And so that's your first parable. Let's look at the second. Verse 14, for the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one he gave five talents to another two and to another one. To each according to his own ability and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. Likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his Lord's money. After a long time the Lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So 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 talents besides them. His Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful over a few things. I will make you rule over many things. Enter the joy of your Lord. He also had received two talents came and said, Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I've gained two more talents besides them. His Lord said to him, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your Lord. Then he who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you have not sown. Gathering where you have not scattered seed. I was afraid. And when it hid your talent in the ground look, there you have what is yours. But his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant. He knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers. And at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore, take the talent from him and give it to him who has 10 talents. For to everyone who has more will be given, he'll have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. Cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Isn't that sweet? So on the one hand, we have a parable here verses one through 13 that encourages us to be ready. The next parable encourages us to be serving. And so this parable encourages a demonstration of readiness by working or serving the Lord. And when you place these things together, the parables exhort believers to live what is called a balanced life. Remember this, you might want to note this, saving faith is serving faith. If you really have saving faith, then you're serving the Lord. It's really simple, it's really basic. But it's one of those things once again that illustrates the genuineness of your faith. The man who says I have faith and does nothing as a man who's only used in the word. He's only used in the word. It's like, I don't think you understand what that word means. Because if you really are a person who is saved, then the one who is saved is also one who serves. And that was true then, it's true now. Somebody who really knows the Lord is somebody who serves the Lord and serves other people. That's how you demonstrate it. I can see somebody who has a need and I can say to him be warmed and filled and James would say, and what good did you do that person there? Simply saying something and doing nothing doesn't reveal true faith at all because a man's faith is demonstrated by the things that he does. And so Jesus is pointing that out. Listen, if I am living in expectation for him to return, I am also gonna be serving as I await. And that's the point that he's making here in this particular parable. So a saving faith is a serving faith. On the one hand, the Bible teaches us that we wait patiently for the Lord's return. In James 5, 7 and 8, it says be patient then, brothers until the Lord's coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop and how patient he is for the autumn and spring rains. You too, he says, be patient. Stand firm because the Lord's coming is near. So be patient. But by waiting patiently, that does not mean doing nothing. And so if we're awaiting his appearing, we are busy serving him. And again, Jesus is speaking about professing believers, those that would be referred to as churchgoers. And so he gives this illustration. Verse 14 says the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country. And he calls his servants and he delivers his goods to them. So this wealthy man leaves on a prolonged journey. He leaves his personal goods in the hands of trusted servants. And during this day, every wealthy person would have what were called household servants. And very often they were the most educated. They would act as managers. In many cases, these servants would be better educated and skilled than the master. So he would give them great amounts of responsibility. And so he's speaking concerning that here. In verse 15, we see that this one had three such servants and each is giving stewardship over a certain amount. So he distributes his wealth in varying amounts according to each one's ability. And it speaks of a talent. A talent is a measure of weight. The value of a talent when you read it in scripture is determined by the kind of metal it is. A talent of gold, obviously, is worth more than a talent of silver. So he distributes talents to them. Now this man traveling to a far country would be Jesus. The long journey represents the time between his first and second coming. The slaves represent genuine Christians as well as members of the visible church. In this parable, Jesus speaks of three levels of responsibility. It represents a wide range of individual ability amongst people. Some have five, some have two and some have one. So there's a wide range of differences in gifts. The point, our responsibility is to perform the task God called us and gifted us four. We're part of the body of Christ and every member is a minister and those who are followers of Christ have been given talents and we're to use those talents to the best of our abilities. Each one has a gift, each one has a talent. They come from the Lord. It's not up to us to determine which gift he gives. We simply exercise what he has given. And so that's what's speaking about here. In verses 16 and 17, it says, he who had received the five talents went and traded with them, made another five. Likewise, he who had received two gained two more also. So the first two servants demonstrate real commitment to the master. The results are different in magnitude, but they're equal in fruit. They both doubled what was given. These are genuine believers. They demonstrate full commitment to service. Here's an application. Take what you are given and use it to the best of your abilities. I have to take a moment to kind of illustrate this. When I was a kid, somewhere I got the idea that I was very stupid and that I was very ugly. And I was right. No, I was very stupid. I was very ugly. I was very untalented. And I was very unwanted. I had that idea. And that was how I lived for years. I used to have teachers would speak to me and they would say, you know, David, you ought to apply yourself. You could do well if you did. And I would smile at them because I knew that I couldn't do well. I knew that I was pretty much a loser. I knew that there was no hope for someone like me. And I knew that, by the way, at a very early age. I knew that when I was 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 years old. I mean, I grew up with this attitude, like many of you did, that nobody even knew if I was alive. That nobody cared if I was alive. That if I were to drop off the face of the earth that day, nobody would even come to my funeral. And I really believed that for a long time. That's how I operated my whole life. And eventually what happened as a young teen is that's when I started experimenting with alcohol and drugs. And that's when I started going crazy and I began to live a crazy life. And I mean crazy when I say crazy. Crazy enough for my father to take me to a psychologist to try and find out what was wrong with my head. And he would take me because I was getting arrested, I was doing crazy things. I was ruining relationships with people. I was the kid that would do almost anything to be noticed. I remember on one occasion, I was maybe 18 years old, 19. And a friend of mine had, you know, was driving his car in the front of my house. I grew up in Norwalk. The street was called Orenday Road. And I was, I climbed on the hood of his car. And I stood on one foot with my hands spread out on my leg out like a living hood ornament and drove down the street. He's driving 25, 30 miles an hour. And I'm just standing there as a living hood ornament, making him laugh because I thought it was funny. My mom didn't think it was funny. My mom saw it and she starts banging on the window of the house there in the, because she could see from the front window. She saw me and I got off the car. He stopped, I got off, I walked to the house. My mom went off on me. She was so angry. What's wrong with you? You're crazy, you're stupid. What is wrong with you? And I said, I think it's funny. I said, you could have, he could have not, you could have died. I said, so what? So what? That's how I thought for years. So I wasn't good enough to have relationships. Nobody knew my name. Nobody cared if I was there. If I dropped off the face of the earth, nobody would have noticed. I wouldn't have anybody come to a funeral. Who would want to come and see this guy? I was really convinced of that. And so I tried, I didn't try anything other than to be crazy. And I did very well at being crazy. And then I heard a message called the gospel. And then I heard that God actually loved somebody like me, that he loved the world. And I included myself in that. And when I heard the gospel, not the very first time, I didn't the first time, I didn't respond. But I heard it more than once. And then finally it hit me by the power of the spirit and the conviction that when it says, God so loves the world, you're part of that world. And that would include you. God loves you. And when I heard about that, that is what began to resonate in me. And then I began to realize that I didn't need man's attention. I didn't need man's applause. What I wanted was God's approval. And I'm approved in Christ. And when that happened, my life radically changed. And I didn't go out. Yeah, amen. Amen, amen. Radically changed, radically changed, radically changed from an alcoholic, from a doper, from a man who abused relationships, God. And at that point when he transformed me, I started thinking. And it took a while for me to get this, that I ought to do the best that I can with what he's given to me. I will never be well known like a Billy Graham. I'll never be a great pastor like so many who are. I'll never be any of that. But he's not asking me, and by application, he's not asking you to be somebody else. He's saying, use what I gave you. And what I gave you, use it for my glory. So I tried to share with my kids some things. If I showed you a picture of my office, in my office, I have a little souvenir I bought in Spain, in an area called La Mancha Spain. And it's Don Quixote. And I have him and Sancho Pansa in my office. And if you know the story of Don Quixote, he was a guy who tilted at windmills, but there was a musical that was made where he sings to dream the impossible dream, to fight the unbeatable foe. And I took that man from La Mancha image. And I have it in, not statue or idol, by the way. I don't put a candle in front of it. It's a reminder to me, dream big. Go for it, because God is able, because God is able. If I did not believe God is able, I would still be doing a home Bible study in Narwha. But God is able. He's able to do abundantly above all I could ever ask or think. He gives us, forgive the emotion, He gives us gifts, and He makes your hand prosper to do that, which blesses others. And I tried to communicate that to my children. Ecclesiastes 9, verse 10, whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might. As unto the Lord, Colossians 3, 23, 24, whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord, not unto men, knowing that of the Lord, you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for you serve the Lord Christ. What did God give to you? What gifts do you have that He's deposited in you? Are they just buried, because this other man buried it? He didn't even use it. And do you know the thing about Him? I want you to see what He says. What He says to Him is such an insult to the dignity of the Master. He says in verse 24, He who had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you had not sown, gathering where you have not scattered seed. I was afraid, went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours. He said, oh, you wicked, wicked servant, you evil servant, you knew I was this way. You think I'm harsh, you think I'm unloving, you think I have no compassion, you think I have no compassion, you think this of me, this reveals, by the way, that this man doesn't know the Lord. Because God is not harsh. God is not evil. God is not unfair. This man didn't know the Lord, and that's a point that is being made. He says you are a hard man. You're dishonest. So you are an opportunist. You are ruthless. You are cruel. He doesn't know the Lord. You are distant. You are harsh. You are unjust. You are uncaring. He doesn't know the Lord. So I took your talent and I buried it, which was a common thing during that day to keep some from stealing their goods. They would bury it. So I just buried it. Didn't lose a thing. But I didn't use it either. This is a picture of somebody who doesn't know the Lord. You see, a genuine believer produces fruit that endures. So he didn't know the Lord. He was irreverent. He held him in contempt, and now he's being judged. Notice how the Lord speaks to him. In verse 26, his Lord answered and said to him, you wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, gather where I have not scattered seed. Is that really what you believe? Well, if that's the case, verse 27, you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers and that might come in. I would have received back my own with interest. If you really believed that, why didn't you put it in the bank and get at least a little interest? I'd have gotten something back. But no, you're wicked. You're wicked because you have falsely accused me and you are lazy because you did nothing with what you were given, even out of fear. And so what happens? Well, what he has is taken from him and given to the one who shows faithfulness. Verse 28, take the talent from him, give it to him who has ten talents for to everyone who has more will be given and he will have abundance. But from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. Cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He got angry. He got angry at what he did. You see, those who are faithful to God receive blessings and eternal life. But those who refuse to follow and serve him lose everything that they ever had. Psalm 2 verses 11 and 12 says it like this, serve the Lord with fear. Rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest you be angry and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. So he takes from him, gives to the one who has shown a faithfulness and he ultimately is judged. Notice verse 30, cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The result is eternal judgment. His unbelief results in being cast into hell. There's a book that was written long time ago, it's called 1984. Some of you had to read it in one of your classes perhaps. And just to make a quick illustration, in the book the main character had a secret fear. And the secret fear is used against him at the end to change the way that he thinks. He was afraid of rats and they put a cage on his head with a rat that was facing him and a slider and the rat was starving and this man has a fear of rats and the rat is trying to get to him and he can't do anything to save himself. At the end of the book he's talking about how wonderful big brother is and this and that because his greatest fear came upon him and it caused him to make life changes in his head. I'll never forget, I had to read that book 40 plus years ago now and I thought everybody has a secret fear that would be like if it came upon you. What would it be? Buried alive with just a tube and nobody knowing you're there. Head down we'll say in a cavern stuck between two rocks with nobody able to say what would it be? Everybody has something that would say that thing I feared the most has come upon me. Well, your secret fear is nothing compared to the reality of entering into eternity without the Lord. Your secret fear is nothing compared to the reality of rejecting Jesus Christ. Why would Jesus say this if it were not so? Would he be simply saying it to scare people? When Jesus says this, cast the unprofitable servant into outer darkness there will be weeping in a nation of teeth. It's a warning. It's a warning. I had a guy in this church, his name was Steve. No, I'm sorry, his name was Pete. It was when our church was brand new. We weren't more than a few months old. We were at Central School in Ontario. I was in the front talking to people and he was talking to me and I knew he was not a believer. He was married to a friend of my wife's and Marie told me he doesn't know Jesus. His wife brought him to church today. So I was talking to him and I said to him something about, Pete, do you know the Lord? Nah, nah. I said, really? And we began to talk and I said, you know, Pete, you know, God wants to, you know, I shared the gospel with him and he said, well, it's the big deal. And so part of the big deal is, Pete, if you die without Christ, you enter into judgment. You know, if you receive Christ you are passed from death into life. There is therefore now no condemnation for those who were in Christ Jesus. I said, you can have a relationship with him and you're not going to be condemned. He says, what's the big deal in that? He says, I'm not afraid to go to hell. He says, all my friends are going there. All my friends are going there. He said, we'll party forever. That's what we do now. I said, Pete, you don't know, Jesus said it's weeping and and the nation of teeth. You don't know the torment that is awaiting you. You don't understand that you're flipping to attitude that hell is a place with sinners. You have failed to realize that's your abiding place for eternity. Not a week, not a month, not a year. Listen, eternity, who can get that into your head? Eternity is beyond anything I can comprehend. It's like if you went out to every beach on the face of the earth and every desert and counted each grain of sand until you counted every single one on planet earth and then you start over and then you start over and then you start over. You can't comprehend it. It's unfathomable, people will end up for eternity and that's why Jesus said this. There will be weeping. There will be gnashing of teeth. Why are you saying that Jesus? Why are you bringing this mythology to us? I thought you were a God of love. Why? Because I'm telling you the truth. If you reject God, that's where you will go. That's why he says, you don't want to go there. You don't want to go there. So my dad and I are talking and I say to him, you're a good man. You're the best man I will ever know but you will be the best man in hell if you don't give your heart to Jesus Christ. Because I believed that my father, according to the word of God would perish. And you know he gave his heart to Christ as all of you know already. He never did. And Pete died a few years ago and I'm sure he's not partying in hell. So Jesus, yes this is serious. Yes it is. And Jesus said it. He says no. The unfaithful one who thinks I'm harsh, distant, uncaring, unloving, reaping what is not mine doesn't know me. Because somebody says do you love me God? And he stretches out his hands. Jesus stretches out his hands and he says I love you this much. And he died. How much do you love me God? This much. Because I don't want to go, I don't want you to not be with me in paradise. That's Christianity. It's not that we rejoice in judgment. It's that we have a message to save you from it. To save you from it. And that's what Jesus is saying here. Be ready. There are no second chances. Hell is not a place to play. It's a place of judgment. Be ready.