Matthew 25:13

0:00 Good evening. I don't know if you like your name. It would be interesting to do a poll to see if you like your name. I don't know if anyone's even asked you that question before. Do you like your name? Well, we're not going to do a poll. Don't worry. But I can tell you that I really love my name. Obviously, there we go. Obviously, I didn't choose it, so I can't take any credit for it. it's all my parents and very wise parents sitting in front of me who can come up with a name like that. The reason I like it is because it comes from a Greek word and it comes from the Greek word for to be watchful and it's something that I try to live up to. I want to be someone who's watchful, who's careful, who's faithful and that's very much the theme of our text this evening, watchfulness. As a term please in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 25 and we're going to look at verse 13 together. If you have a church Bible in front of you, it's on page 830. And that

1:08 should be really good to have a Bible with you, because even though the text is printed on the front of the bulletin, our text comes at the end of an important passage, which would be good for you to have in front of you to look at. So let me read our text, Matthew 25 verse 13. This is Jesus speaking. He says, watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour. I think the main idea of this text this evening is that we must wait for Jesus' return with watchfulness. We must wait for Jesus' return with watchfulness.

1:51 We're going to consider this text in two points. First, the urgency of our watchfulness, and second, the nature of our watchfulness. So first, the urgency of our watchfulness, and then second, the nature of our watchfulness. So let's begin by thinking about the urgency of our watchfulness. This is why we must be watchful. Now, I don't know how prepared you are for delays. I had a really long delay traveling last summer.

2:24 I was delayed 24 hours in an airport in Charlotte, North Carolina, and I had absolutely nothing. All of my belongings were in the airplane hold, and so it was interesting. But sometimes delays happen, don't they? I know people who always leave home about 10 or 5 minutes before they have to leave home just so that they are accounting for potential delays on the road and so that they're on time. And I see various parents, even in this church, who when they're out with their kids, they've got such a full bag of every possible thing that might be needed just in case they're out for longer than they expect to be.

3:09 Well, it's good to be prepared for a delay, isn't it? And our text this evening is the concluding comment from the parable of the ten virgins. And we're not going to read the parable out loud, but I'm going to review it with us so that we know what's happened. So in this parable that Jesus tells in Matthew 25, there are ten virgins. Five of the virgins are foolish, and five are wise. Now, they're meeting the bridegroom. It's a wedding context, and the foolish virgins do not take any spare oil with them for their lamps. They take their lamps, but they haven't got any spare oil. And so when the lamps start to go out, they don't have any oil to refill the lamps with. But the wise virgins, on the other hand, took spare oil with them, and so they were prepared for something that was unexpected.

4:07 What was the unexpected event? Well, the passage tells us that it was the delay of the bridegroom. Verse 5, as the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. And we see here the main difference that set apart the wise virgins from the foolish virgins. Because it's not quite that the wise virgins were prepared and the foolish ones weren't. Because they were prepared in some ways. They'd taken their lamps after all.

4:39 The foolish virgins had made some preparations. But the difference was that the foolish virgins did not have the spare oil. They were not prepared for the unexpected. They were not prepared for the delayed arrival of the bridegroom. The text then says that the foolish ones asked the wise ones for some of their oil. And so they're panicking. They're desperate. They need to be ready when the bridegroom arrives, and they're not.

5:10 And so the bridegroom has arrived, but they aren't ready. And because they have to go out and buy more oil from the dealers, that means that they are shut out from the marriage feast. The wise virgins are welcomed into the feast, but the foolish virgins are on the other side of the door. And that's a parable. And then we get to our verse at the end. Verse 13. So why is Jesus telling them to watch?

5:44 Why is Jesus making this comment at the end? Well, it's because he's saying that he could come back at any time. But I think it's saying more than that. Of course, it is saying that. It's true. Jesus could return any time. He could return this evening. He could return tomorrow. So we must be prepared. But what I think Jesus is driving at in this parable is something slightly different. That we, as his followers, need to be prepared, not just for his arrival at any time, but for a potential delay in his arrival.

6:18 Maybe something unexpected. We're expecting him to come back at a certain time, and he doesn't. We need to be prepared for a delay. Remember, both of the groups of virgins in this parable had some amount of preparation, didn't they? But only one group had enough preparation to be ready for the bridegroom. And so, friends, I think this means that our watchfulness is more than just being aware that Jesus could return at any time. Our watchfulness is about being prepared for the long haul.

6:51 It's about being ready and willing and prepared to live the Christian life potentially for decades. Potentially for decades of our lives. As some of us here this evening, we have a lot of our lives ahead of us. Some of you are very young. You have a lot of time ahead of you. Others are older, and you maybe don't have as much ahead of you. But in both cases, we have to consider our faithfulness. Our faithfulness to Christ and what he has ahead of us.

7:25 Will we be able to live faithfully as Christians for decades? We'll consider in the second point more of the practical outworking of that. But I just want to tell you about my grandmother. You will have seen in my email a few weeks ago that my grandmother died and she was 104 years old. I often reflect on the fact that she, my grandfather, her husband died when he was 79. In fact, when they both were 79. And she had all that time ahead of her that she didn't know was coming.

8:00 And she would never have thought she would live for so long without her husband by her side. And so she needed to be prepared for another 25 years of faithfulness. And by God's grace, she was. She'd installed disciplines and routines into her life, which carried on even when her marriage partner of nearly 50 years was taken from her. So this text reminds us of our need to be prepared for the long term. But it also has a warning.

8:32 It has a warning for us. And a warning particularly for those who are not believers or maybe who aren't sure about whether they're trusting in Jesus. And the warning comes, friends, from the fact that that door closed. That door shut. There was a time when the door was closed. A time when the end had come. When, as we heard this morning, there's a time of no going back. And so we need to understand that that door will close.

9:08 And so if you're here this evening and you aren't a believer in Jesus Christ, then I need to warn you about that door that will close. But the great news and the wonderful news this evening is that it hasn't closed yet. As Greg told us this morning, that it will only close either when we die or when Jesus comes again. And so, friend, that means there is still time. You haven't died. You were here. Jesus hasn't come again yet. And so there is time for you to respond, to respond to the message of the gospel, to believe, to put your faith and trust in Jesus.

9:44 And my prayer is that you will do that this evening. And maybe for others of us, we know our preparation is limited. We know we don't have a personal faith in Jesus Christ. We know we need to be prepared. Perhaps you've grown up in a Christian family. You've had Bible teaching, you've had instruction, you've had care and devotion, but you know you don't have a personal trust in Jesus. You have your parents' faith, but that's not enough on its own. Friend, be wise.

10:15 Put your trust in Jesus now. Have faith in the bridegroom who will one day welcome you into his marriage feast. One day you will meet him. And so be prepared. Take that step of preparation now by putting your faith and your trust in him. So friends, we need to persevere. Matthew 24, 13, just in the chapter before this says, the one who endures to the end will be saved. Friends, let's be ready for a lifetime of faithfulness and service to our king.

10:47 That's point number one, the urgency of our watchfulness. And point number two, the nature of our watchfulness. What does this watchfulness mean in everyday life? we know that it's urgent we know we've got to be prepared but what does it look like what's it going to look like tomorrow morning well we often come to texts in the bible don't we that talk about Jesus return and the main takeaway from that text is that Jesus could come back at any time there are plenty of places we could go to encourage us to think like that and we need to be watchful but we don't want Jesus to return and find us engaged in frivolity do we and we want to be found serving him. We want to be found living faithfully. And we want to be prepared for a delay in his arrival. And so, friends, we can't plan our lives assuming that the end will be soon.

11:38 Let's think about this under a few categories. First, let's think about what this means for our spiritual disciplines. You see, we're all trying to, as Christians, we're trying to cultivate a relationship with the Lord, aren't we? We're trying to get to know him better. We're trying to understand more about him. We're trying to pray to him and express our dependence on him. But friends, we need a long-term perspective with that. I know how easy it is to walk through just the busyness of life, just to get bogged down in the things we're doing, and to neglect serious time with the Lord. Perhaps you can relate to that. We have many responsibilities, And yet it's easy to forget our primary responsibility, our primary responsibility as a child of God, as a child who can get to know his father.

12:28 And so if you're a new Christian here this evening, and maybe for all of us, why don't we plan for a lifetime of getting to know our Savior? Let's plan for a lifetime of studying the Bible. Let's come up with a chart, a plan to read through the whole thing. Let's make it a part of our everyday lives. Let's make reading it on our own a priority. Let's make reading it with others a priority. Let's make reading it with your family a priority. We heard this morning, didn't we, how important the role of parents is to invest in the spiritual lives of your children.

13:05 So please make that a priority in your lives. Make attending the weekly gathering of this church a priority. Taking in God's word as it's preached faithfully here every Sunday. Friends, let's not neglect the meeting together that we so desperately need. Let's plan. Plan to have a deeper prayer life, a deeper walk with the Lord a year from now. And let's ask others to hold us accountable. It's a spiritual discipline.

13:36 Second, personal holiness. But why don't, instead of accepting patterns of sin in our lives, with making excuses for ourselves, just like, well, this is the way God's made me. It'll go away in the next phase of my life. When I get married, I'm not going to deal with that temptation anymore. Well, let's use the means that God has given us to address and put to death those sin patterns. Our friends, it starts with confession. Admit to ourselves and perhaps to others that we're in need of help.

14:08 And then it takes a special work of the Holy Spirit to help us to resist that temptation, maybe to cut off its source, helping us put on different patterns of behavior, staying accountable to others so that when those inevitable wanderings come, we will be helped away from sin. Friends, when Jesus comes again, he will present his bride without blemish. So let's prepare now to be without blemish, to put our sin to death so that we're ready to meet Christ. Third and finally, let's think about how this applies if we're going through suffering and trials. Perhaps you're here this evening and you're going through a particular time of difficulty, a particular hard season that you're struggling through, and you desperately want relief, and maybe you pray, come Lord Jesus, I want relief from my suffering, from my trial, Jesus' return seems that that's the only way that you'll be relieved of it.

15:10 And maybe it's hard for you to contemplate what we're seeing this evening, that Jesus' return could be delayed. But friend, do not be disheartened. Jesus will come again. He will put an end to your suffering. He will put an end to your trials. His return might be delayed, but it is sure and it is certain. And God has made this promise to us, hasn't he? That Jesus will come back and put an end to all that is wrong. And so, friend, cling to that promise this evening. As we heard this morning, however thin that promise seems, hold it for dear life.

15:46 He will put an end to your suffering. You can live faithfully through that trial. Maybe try to find the lessons that God is teaching you through the trial. Maybe try to recognize the good that your suffering is bringing out in other people as they're serving and helping you. There's always ways in which we can understand our sufferings in light of God's plan for us. We're not going to know all the answers, but we can turn to his words and turn to others for help.

16:19 So three areas, friends, in which we can be watchful. Our spiritual disciplines, our personal holiness, and suffering and trials. There'll be many more. But I want to end with just a recollection of a brother who would love to be here tonight, but he's not. He's a dear friend of mine who could be near the end of his life. Many of you will know who I'm talking about. And every time I meet him, he always tells me, I want to die soon. He doesn't want to carry on.

16:51 But what do I tell him? I say, you've got to be prepared. God may have more years for you left and you have to be ready to face those years in faithfulness to him. We don't know when God will call you home. Yes, it might be tomorrow, but it might be in five years, it might be in ten years. And so in the face of that uncertainty, Jesus is telling us to remain watchful and faithful. It could be for one day, it could be for one week, a month, a year, 10 years, however long. Friends, we never call it a day as a Christian. We're never done.

17:28 We always keep pressing on and keeping watchful. Let's pray. Father God, thank you that you are coming again to judge the living and the dead, and that you will put an end to all sin, evil, and death. Lord, help us to look to that day not knowing when it's going to be but help us to face it with faithfulness with watchfulness and a certain trust that you are good and that you are coming again in Jesus name, Amen