In his sermon 'Readiness for an Hour You Do Not Expect,' Scott Brown explores the theme of spiritual readiness for the return of the Lord, drawing on biblical examples from Matthew 24 and 25. He emphasizes the importance of watchfulness and preparation, illustrating this through various parables, such as those of Noah, the unprepared master, the wise and foolish virgins, and the faithful and unfaithful servants. Brown challenges the congregation to reflect on their spiritual vigilance, encouraging them to anticipate the Lord's return with awareness and readiness. He underscores the need for leadership and stewardship, urging believers to use their God-given talents and responsibilities effectively. Additionally, Brown highlights the role of community and fellowship in fostering spiritual alertness and readiness, stressing the importance of loving and serving one another as a reflection of readiness for Christ's return. The sermon calls for self-examination and a commitment to live in constant anticipation of the Lord's coming, underlining the urgency of turning to Christ and cultivating a deep, personal relationship with Him.

Matthew 24, starting in verse 36. But of that day and hour Noah knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so Also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, 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.

Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken, and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what our your Lord is coming But 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 Therefore You also be ready for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you did not expect. Holy Father God, will we lift our hands in worship, rejoicing that you've given us your word, rejoicing that you've promised to return, or thank you for the gift of preaching, speak to us through your word this morning. Open our hearts by the power of your Holy Spirit to receive your word implanted.

In Jesus' name, Amen. The words before us here today are perfect for the coming of the new year. This is without question one of my most cherished times of the year because it's during the month of December that my mind shifts to the month of January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, you know, and the next year. And it's a time of reflection for me. It's a time of planning.

And I treasure the moments of December. And what happens to me is there's a rising anticipation that builds. And I'm very grateful for the way that God has ordered the world to give times and seasons, to bring the end to some things and then the beginning of another, a new season. God is so like that. He's always bringing in a new season.

He's always bringing in something that is brand new. And it's the blessing of being alive in the world and to be a child of God. Now, there are two words in this passage that really define the whole text from here to the very end of chapter 25. Verse 42, watch, and verse 44, be ready. And this is the subject matter for the next several weeks here.

Are you ready for the return of the Lord? And these words, watch and be ready, are surrounded by examples. And there are these two positive commands, watch and be ready. In other words, you know what to do. And then there are these negative examples.

That's what you find here in this passage. So as we move from here to the very end of chapter 25, recognize these two things are in interplay, that you have the command positively, and you also have these negative examples. There are 58 verses on this one subject that we'll be moving through. And they all work together to call the church to mindfulness, to anticipation, to preparation, to wakefulness, and to action. That's the section that we're in.

So it's a very challenging and beautiful section. But it's also Perhaps a terrifying section. As we remember the words of the prophet Amos in Amos chapter four, verse 12, prepare to meet your God. These verses are also about that, about preparation for meeting the Lord Jesus Christ in His bodily return. Until then we meet Him spiritually, but on that great day we will finally meet Him in His bodily form.

And so prepare to meet your God is one of the great themes of this section. And you find these, I'm just going to call them parables of watchfulness. And they show you what it means to be watchful and what it means not to be watchful. The answers are right here in this passage of scripture. And the fact is, is that the human beings are always watchful.

They're always poised for readiness for something. That's the way we're built. We're always ready and watchful about something. Example, we live in an era where people are ready for communications. Their cell phones beep or they ding or they vibrate and then people pick them up to see who's knocking.

You've seen that happen many times. You're in the middle of a conversation and there's a vibration or a sound and that person does this. This person is watching and waiting. The person is waiting for someone to talk to them. The person is hoping for a relationship, hoping for a connection, hoping for some kind of information to come to them.

And everyone is watchful, everyone is waiting in some fashion. And one of the propositions of this passage is that watchfulness and waiting is a critical matter. And the question is, what are you watching for? What are you waiting for? Is the sound of the voice of your friend or that news from afar, more precious to you than the voice of your savior and the presence of your savior.

What are you watching for? What are you waiting for? Because we are, by nature, watchful and waiting people. There's no one in here that's not watching and waiting for something. So let's deal with that immediately.

But what is the thing existing in our hearts that makes us watchful or waiting? And so what's going to happen here is that for the next four weeks, we're going to be focusing on this whole matter of readiness. Now, I can't think of a better subject at the dawn of a new year. Tomorrow is New Year's Eve. And this passage has fallen at such a helpful and a strategic time for us.

I pray that this passage just galvanizes us to think rightly about this future that we have in the coming year. It's a very, very appropriate way to start a new year. And what you find in this passage are two things. There are how different kinds of people respond, either in readiness or not, and what kind of situations do they exist in. And so what we learn here is that the conditions of the final judgment are they're like the days of Noah, they're like the master of a house, They're like the wise and unwise servant.

They're like the ten virgins. They're like the men who were given investments. They were like the sheep and like the goats. But the truth of it is that of that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, and therefore be watchful. So what I want to do today, at minimum, is to give you a vision for this entire text.

I want you to see how it all fits together, because the Lord Jesus Christ is, of course, as a good shepherd, He's blessing His disciples. He's speaking to them about the various expressions of readiness and lack of readiness. He's helping them to see what lack of readiness looks like in different contexts and in different kinds of people's lives. So I'd like to give you that overview first so that you can see that. Remember when we began this whole section in Matthew 24 and 25, we first gave an overview of it so we can see how it fit together.

But I really think this next section deserves an overview so that we can see that these aren't just sort of random things pulled out of a hat. They are strategically placed that speak of critical elements of human life so that you and I can know what watchfulness looks like in the different situations of my life and in the different stations that you happen to exist in. Okay, so the first is as in the days of Noah in verses 37 through 42. Now what kind of people? They were unaware people, they were indifferent.

What you have here is an example in the days of Noah of a whole society that's preoccupied with life, with the blessings of life. Here God is causing his reign to fall on the just and on the unjust, on the evil and the good. And everyone's taking advantage of it. You know, this is your Father's world. It's an amazing world.

Even if you're an unbeliever, there are so many tastes and colors and wondrous things to experience in this world. And here in the days of Noah, everyone is just gorging themselves on the goodness of God, yet not acknowledging Him at all. And there, on the other hand, you have this preacher of righteousness, Noah, who is warning, and for 120 years he preaches, and then finally, instantaneously, the entire population of the world is wiped out except for eight people. This is a kind of situation that exists in the world. This is the first example that Jesus gives.

Remember what I said is that it gives examples of kinds of people and kinds of situations. And here you have these two things. You have one kind of man who is preaching righteousness and he's being despised. And on the other hand, you have people who are just full of enjoyment. They're eating, they're drinking, they're marrying, they're giving in marriage.

These are the blessings of life. It's not sinful to eat and drink and marry and be given in marriage. But what's happening here is that the people are preoccupied with life, but they don't recognize the bread of life that's there. And then, so there's this example, But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be." The days of Noah are a prototype, an example, to show you what it will be like in that last day. And you'll have these two things in operation.

You'll have preachers of righteousness, and you'll have people in this world just drinking in all of the pleasures of this world that God has invested in the world. But they do not give thanks to Him, because their hearts are actually dead to Him. You can have a live and vivacious person who's actually dead on the inside, who's enjoying everything in this life, who looks so beautiful, looks so successful. And yet there's a day coming when they will lose absolutely everything. And Jesus wants His disciples to know that this is the way that the world will be so that they can expect it to be that way, even to the degree that there will be so few in the world who will have their hearts toward God, that the majority will be rejecting God.

That will be what it will be like in the last day. There will be a great throng of people who are having such a fantastic time in this world and then it will all end. And then he gives these two illustrations of it. He says there are, then two men will be in the field, and one will be taken in the other left, and two women will be grinding at the mill, and one will be taken in the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know the hour, what hour your Lord is coming." So you have these two illustrations, two men working, most likely a father and a son working out in the field together, and then perhaps a mother and her daughter grinding, you know, sitting at opposite sides of the mill.

You've seen these millstones and they grind the corn and they grind the wheat and they sit opposite each other and turn it 180 degrees. It's most likely a picture of a mother and her daughter working together. And what we learned from this parable is that watching means awareness of God, which was so absent in the days of Noah. So if you want to know what it looks like, it's an awareness of God. In the midst of life's routines, in the midst of life's pleasures, in the midst of eating and drinking, and in the midst of marrying and giving in marriage, you're enjoying the presence of God.

That's a question you ought to ask yourself. There are many who are married here. Does it describe you? You have an awareness of the presence of God, or are you just kind of married in some kind of a routine of life? Is the life of God, the presence of God, speaking to you, working on you in the midst of your marriage?

Or if you're not married, if you are in that period where you're not given in marriage yet, do you have this awareness? Well, Jesus is painting a picture of a society just going on autopilot and not aware of his presence at all. And that's the great danger that exists for those who are unsaved, is that they're not aware of his presence at all. And they are experiencing the pleasures of this world and there are so many. But they don't see any of that in the light of eternity.

The knowledge of the Son of God, of His presence, of His coming, of His kingdom, doesn't affect the way they live. They just live to the utmost, however they can get by with it, whatever creative juices might create their life. That's what they're doing. They're living without God and really without hope in the world. But watching in this parable, watching is awareness of God.

And here in the days of Noah, only eight had an awareness of God. And the rest of the world, think of it, had no awareness of God except that they hated him, that they lived in rebellion. And there are several passages of scripture that speak of this time, that man's heart was only evil continually. It was a horrible time to be alive. When a society rejects God, then barbarity rules.

Lack of love reigns. And that's the kind of society that existed in the days of Noah. It was a society of licentiousness. And so the great prayer to pray for us is, Oh Lord, help me to be aware of your presence in the midst of a world that really denies your presence. Do you realize you live in a world where there's this naturalistic philosophy that everybody has imbibed all their lives?

You know, most of the people in the world, most of the people in this, most of the adults in this room went to a public school system where God was taken out of absolutely everything. There was no awareness of God. God was stripped out of every aspect of our education when we were growing up. We grew up in a naturalistic society. We grew up in a world where God just doesn't exist.

That's why, you know, when you see movies or read books, God just isn't really there. Really creatively put together, but where is God? He has been stripped. That's the kind of world that existed in the days of Noah. And then secondly there's this unprepared master in verse 43, and the thief.

But 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. So this is a second kind of person. The first kind of person was like Noah, and then a situation surrounding him where there was no awareness of God at all. So Jesus is painting that picture. Now he shifts and he paints a different picture.

And it's a picture of a master of a house, a homeowner. He's talking about a homeowner, but this is a clueless homeowner. He's not aware of the danger of the thief who is going to come. And he's not thinking about robbers. He's not aware of the dangers.

And so in his cluelessness, he's not prepared for the thief to come. And so watching in this parable means anticipating the dangers and making plans. Watching means to do something about the danger that's ahead. To live in a way beforehand that's consistent with the danger ahead. So here's a man who's just rocking along in life.

He's not taking proper preparations to protect his house. Now, all of us live in houses somewhere in this community, and they all have some kind of danger. Have you made any preparations for a thief that might come into your house? This is the idea. And one of the most terrifying things that can happen is to recognize that someone is in your house and they are there for malfeasance.

And they're there, and what are you going to do? Are you ready for them? That's the whole picture. So you have a picture of a homeowner. Jesus uses an illustration of a man named Noah, and Now he uses an example of a homeowner.

Are any of you homeowners? Are any of you live in homes? This should be really practical for us. This should strike us right to the core of reality for us because we have a living illustration of this issue. Every time we walk into our homes, we have this illustration before you.

Are we like a clueless homeowner who just leaves his house open to be robbed? So watching means anticipating the dangers and making plans. So have you done that? Have you anticipated the dangers? And are you making plans?

You know, God has it that his people would be a planning people. We don't just let life happen to us. We rise up and we work. We take action. That's the picture that's here.

That's why in the very next verse, in verse 44, Jesus says, therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect." So there's this second illustration of a homeowner and we can all relate to that. And then the third illustration is found in verses 45 through 51. And what you find here is a picture of a faithful and a wise servant and an evil servant. Two different kinds of servants are placed in juxtaposition. It's a certain kind of person here.

The Lord Jesus is talking about someone who is appointed to be a leader in something. So this is the third kind of person. And verse 45, who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household. So this is about a master who makes another person a ruler over his household. So this is about a leader.

If you, if you have any, any area of leadership given to you, this is you. He's talking about you. You know, God actually does give some kind of leadership to everyone at some level. He gives a particular kind of leadership to a husband, a particular kind of leadership to a wife, and so forth. But God does give leadership to every single person of some kind.

And you look at the responsibilities that are given to all believers, you recognize that from the littlest child, male or female, to the oldest. There are responsibilities of leadership that we have toward one another. Like we speak the truth and love to one another. This is a responsibility that all believers of all genders and all ages have toward one another. It's a mantle of leadership that we have in the world.

But here the picture is of a master makes someone ruler over his household. So that's the picture. It's a person in leadership. So what does it look like if you're in leadership and you're not watchful or are watchful. So he's giving this this kind of situation to help you know that this does apply to you.

How do you know if you're watchful? Well, the answer is, how are you leading? Are you leading? You are the man, you've been given a charge. You've been given a stewardship to be a master.

What are you doing with your stewardship? Are you active in it? Are you taking responsibility for it? The person who is unaware, the person who is negligent that Jesus is speaking of, can be found in a certain kind of appointed leader. And this, he made him ruler over his household, verse 45, to give them food in due season.

This is a leader who has a responsibility to give food to others. And is he doing that? And he says, blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find Him so doing. In other words, it's a picture of a person who's been given responsibility. He's been given responsibility to give food for his household.

Well, is he doing it or not? This is what it means to know whether you are watchful or not. What are you doing with the leadership that God has given to you? Blessed is that servant, whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing, assuredly I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if that evil servant says in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards.

The master of that servant will come on a day when he's not looking for him, and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." So here's a picture of a person in leadership. What is he doing with his leadership? Is he feeding his flock or is he beating the flock? Is he good to his subjects or is he selfish and wicked?

Is he just doing his own thing or does he have his heart bent on feeding them instead of beating them? Here is a picture of a man. It's really a picture of a man. It's a picture of you and I and what we could become like if we are not the heads, not the leaders that God has appointed us to be. That instead of feeding the sheep, we're beating the sheep.

Instead of, you know, pouring out the law of kindness, it's hardness, It's a graceless, selfish kind of existence that heads of households can subject their children to. And here, this unfaithful servant, this unwise servant, He's noticed that his master has delayed his coming. It's taking longer than he thought. You know, do you think the disciples thought it would be over 2, 000 years? I don't believe so.

There are many indications that disciples thought that Jesus Christ would come in bodily form very quickly. All the evidence points to that. But now we learn that the Lord Jesus Christ's coming is delayed longer than the servants would hope. And so the servants lose heart because they didn't really have anything in their heart to begin with. And So their lack of love is seen in their leadership.

So here is this illustration. Watching in this illustration means leading. It's giving food to those in your household and treating them well. And here it's a picture of a landowner who is looking for a leader who will lead beautifully, who will nourish and cherish that little flock. And the emphasis is on his work until the time of the return of the master because there's work to do while he's away.

Leadership is also labor And this is how God has designed it, that he would cause a leader to labor much for those who are under his care. And what the Lord Jesus is saying is it wouldn't be right for that steward to cease from working until the master comes back, but that he would work with all of his heart. And it was a sin of omission. He failed to work. He failed to care.

It was also a sin of commission because he was beating his flock rather than feeding his flock. And then the Lord says, blessed is that servant. Blessed is that servant. Makarios, it's the same word that's used in the Beatitudes. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

As the Lord Jesus, He seems to love to use that word blessed. And this is that settled state of happiness that underservants enjoy when they serve their master. And of course the Lord Jesus doesn't quit talking about blessings, as he mentions them here. And there's a judgment that is reserved for this unfaithful servant that is implied in the text here, and that is explained in other places as well. Now, the place of judgment is identified, and he is punished with the hypocrites.

So it's a leader who's playing a game, who has a position, but he has no place in the kingdom of heaven. And he pretended to be a slave, but he wasn't really. He was a hypocrite, because he did not desire to work for his master. He wanted the position, but he did not want the work. And hypocrisy is the name you hang on his head, which was the whole subject of Matthew chapter 23.

The Lord Jesus Christ spent an entire chapter as he was speaking to his disciples in the temple about hypocrisy. And then we move into chapter 25 and we come to the fourth example. So you have you have all these examples. Now leaving this example of a leader in a household who's beating rather than feeding a sheep. Now we turn to a wise and foolish kind of young girl, an unmarried girl, the wise and the foolish virgins in chapter 25, verses 1 through 13.

And here the Lord is giving an example of a single girl. It's interesting, you know, you have a father with a family of eight in the first illustration and then a whole society, and then you have a homeowner, and then you have a leader, And now you have an unmarried girl. You see what the Lord Jesus is doing? He's trying to be so clear. He's trying to touch the heart of every person that the disciples will ever meet.

So that the disciples will know how to speak the words of the Kingdom of Heaven to them, to explain to them what this means to a homeowner, to a young girl, to every kind of person, even to a whole society. Jesus is being so comprehensive. He has explained everything that we need to know about the final judgment and about what lack of faith looks like in practical terms in our lives. He shows us in living color. So here is this picture of these single girls.

There are ten of them. There are five. Five of these single girls have hearts that burn for the Lord Jesus Christ, and the other five, well, they have the right dress on, they have the right lamp, but they're only partially part of the kingdom of God. And so there's this profile here of these two kinds of single girls. We have many single girls here in this room.

And the Lord Jesus Christ is just speaking to you. He's speaking very personally and very directly to you. He's calling your name. You are in one of these groups, and you have to ask yourself, which group am I in? Which set of five do I relate with honestly in my heart?

Isn't it amazing to hear the Lord Jesus Christ takes care to speak to a single girl who's not married yet, who has all kinds of hopes and thoughts about the future, like every single, single girl does. And he speaks directly to their hearts by telling them what's most important in life. And he pierces them to the heart about the most fundamental and most important issue before them. And it really has to do with their readiness. Whether they're aware of Jesus Christ in the day, not just so much aware of how they look, not so much aware of who they'll marry, but aware of the face of Jesus Christ and the sound of his voice when he comes and the joy in their hearts.

This is what a single girl should pay attention to. And so we read in verse one in chapter 25, then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise and five were foolish. 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, in other words, The bridegroom was delayed as is always so challenging for a single young girl. Delay, some delay. And 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 are ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. And 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." What a heartbreaking story.

You think of the young single girls that you know and that you love, the tenderness of your heart toward them, that if they do not believe in the gospel and repent and turn to Jesus Christ for their sins, there'll be a day that will come upon that beautiful young daughter. The door will be shut and there will be no more time. That's the picture that he's playing here. And It means that, you know, what does watching look like? Watching means using your hours wisely, not sleeping through your life when you should be vigilant, to behold the face of the Lord Jesus Christ, to long to hear His voice, to long for His word, to long for His courts.

This is what would save a young single girl, is to have it in her heart to love Jesus Christ and that she wishes to see Him. And she is waiting. Instead of just waiting for whoever might contact her here, Whoever might ping her or vibrate her phone, her attention really is on heaven. Her attention is on upon her Savior. That's who she's waiting for.

They were only partially prepared. And so this parable focuses on the delay of the bridegroom and the unpreparedness of the bridesmaids. And while they all had their torches and they all had their dresses, they did not all have their oil. And that makes all the difference in the world. Watching means diligence to hear the voice of the bridegroom.

And then there's another illustration. It's an illustration of a businessman. This is the parable of the talents, verse 14 through 30. What kind of person is this? Well, it's an investor.

That's who is pictured. But it's not just an investor. It's an investor and those whom he has invested in. And there are three people that he invests in. And So the Lord Jesus is giving this fifth illustration of the kind of people that will either be ready or not be ready.

So remember, he's giving illustrations of what it means to not be ready. You need to know if you're ready or not. And Jesus is giving you these illustrations to show you. Now if you're a businessman, here's one for you. And you can relate to all the language and the relationships that are here if you're any kind of a businessman.

The truth is is that the Lord Jesus in this parable makes everybody a businessman because the one who is invested in has become a businessman. So everybody in this story is in the business of business and the business of multiplying what has been given. So that's the framing of this. Verse 14 in chapter 25. For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country.

That's businessman number one. Who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And to one businessman number two, he gave five talents. To another businessman number three, he gave two. And to another, he gave one, businessman number four.

So everybody's a businessman in this parable. And so he's giving these handles to help men understand what readiness looks like and what it doesn't look like. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And 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 are faithful over a few things. I will make you ruler over many things.

Enter into the joy of your Lord." He also, who had received two talents, came and said, "'Lord, you delivered to me two talents. Look, I've gained two more talents besides them.'" His Lord said to him, "'Well done, you 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, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and I went and 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, you 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 ten talents. For 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, and cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." So here you have a picture of a businessman. First you had a picture of Noah and a whole society.

Then you had a picture of a homeowner and so forth. And a picture of a young girl. Now you have a businessman. And what does it mean in the life of a businessman to either be watchful or not watchful? Here's what it is.

Watching means multiplying what God has given you. What God has given you. If you're not multiplying, then you will miss the joy of your Master when he comes. This is working for fruitfulness. This is taking dominion.

This is expanding the kingdom. And you know, you see these elements, different amounts of money are given to different servants. And that's because this is the way God has made the world. He invests something in everyone. And he seems to invest more in some.

That's the way that God has it. And then, secondly, that work is done to make a profit. God is looking for a profit. He's looking for expansion. He's looking for more than what you started with.

Is there more as a result of your work in his kingdom? Or the same? If there's just the same, then recognize the truth of your condition. You will be, instead of being received into the joy of your master, you'll be received into the place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then There's this master who will settle accounts one day.

And he's settling accounts for what has been done with the account that was given. And He's speaking to us about stewardship, about how we're using our lives. The greatest stewardship we have is the stewardship of the Gospel and of the Word of God. That is the greatest stewardship that we've been given. And we've been given many things.

If we collected them all up together here from those who are in this room, we'd find enormous resources. But God gives into His church enormous resources. The two most critical are the gospel and the Word of God. And the multiplying of the Word of God, the spreading of the Word of God is the greatest advancement and multiplication that man can ever engage in. And then there are these earthly goods that have been given to us.

And all of those are designed to be put into his service. They aren't ours. They belong to Him. And they are meant to be used to multiply for Him, and not for ourselves. You know, when you come to a new year, you're thinking, how much better will I do this coming year?

Well, in what way? In what way will you do better? In matters of the gospel, in matters of the word of God, these are the most critical issues. And yet we often spend our time thinking about how we would advance ourselves materially, which I do believe it is a godly thing. But in doing so we neglect the advancement of spiritual matters and we're all out of balance in that way and we spend more of our time just thinking about this world making us about this world, making us not watchful and not ready.

And then the sixth example is what's commonly called the parable of the sheep and the goats in verses 31 through 46. Now what kind of person is this? We've talked about all these different kinds of people, and The kind of person that's profiled here, it may surprise you. It's a church member who either loves or doesn't love his brothers. Jesus is speaking of His brethren.

He's speaking of those who call His name. He's speaking of His church scattered out in the world. And this kind of person is judged as being ready or not ready based on his love or lack of love for the brethren. Notice he's not talking about just love for the whole world. You know, he's talking about love for the brethren.

And there are two kinds of people. There are those who do nothing for the brethren, and then there are those who do something for the brethren. Those are the two kinds of people that are here. They're called sheep and goats. Verse 31.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats and he will set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on the left then the king will say to those on his right hand come you blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in.

I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you a drink, when did we see you a stranger and take you in, or naked and clothe you, or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it unto me." Jesus earlier in the Gospels said, Who's my brother?

Who's my mother? Those who do the will of His Father in heaven. So He's speaking very clearly about how you treat the brethren. And then he speaks of those who are on his left. And those on his left, verse 46, and these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." So, what does it mean to be watchful in this parable?

The watchful are those who love the brethren. That's why that's why the Apostle John said, you know, he who says he loves God but hates his brother is a liar. There's a way that you treat the brethren. There's a way that you feel about the brethren that marks you as either ready or not ready. And if you find in your heart that you don't love the brethren, then you might have to ask yourself whether you're ready, whether you will be ready on that day.

And Jesus is saying you will not be ready to be received into his arms. You will be ready to be thrown into his fire. That's the point that he's making here. So watching means loving the brethren. Readiness to express love to the saints and caring for the saints.

So those are the illustrations. There's six illustrations. Six different kinds of people. And the Lord is trying to speak very personally and very clearly to every kind of person you've really ever met. Whether it's the people, whether it's the people in the days of Noah, whether it's Noah himself, whether it's that homeowner, whether it's that businessman, whether it's that young unmarried girl, or whether it's that Christian, or that person who claims to be a Christian, who is either a sheep or a goat.

The Lord Jesus is going through great detail to explain the different kinds of ways that you can understand whether you're ready or not. And so the Lord has been so kind. And then, I think that, I think that I'm going to change here and I'm going to leave us with this summary and we'll come back next week and we'll deal with the days of Noah in detail. There's a lot to say about the days of Noah and There's a lot to say about the days of Noah, and there's a lot to say about all of these. But I wanted us to see where Jesus is going here, how he's bearing down on particular issues in our lives to help us to know whether we are watchful or not.

Now let's consider this, the last verse in this section. Therefore, verse 44, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. So that's the whole matter. You don't know when he's coming, so be ready. Watch and be ready.

That's the whole thing. And there are these different ways that you can tell whether you are ready or not. Okay, applications. You know, the most obvious application of what we've just read is just the urgency to turn to Christ. Is He your Savior?

Have you self-consciously seen the beauty of His Kingdom, seen the ugliness of your sin, repented of your sin? Do you have faith in Him? Do you believe in Him? Is there living water in your soul and it's bubbling up through eternal life? Is that true of you?

If not, turn to Jesus Christ, Repent. No one knows the day or that hour. And the Lord Jesus and His Father has constructed life in this world so that you would not know, so that you would turn. So that you would turn early to him. He desires that you would turn at the earliest moment of his capability in your life.

Is that moment today? My prayer is that this would be that moment for you today. That your heart would turn toward him. That you would repent. That you would say, Lord Jesus Christ, I love you.

I want to follow you. I don't want to live the way that I've lived for myself. I want to live for you. I want to set aside this bankrupt life that's headed to destruction, and I want to love you all my days. That's the call.

That's the first thing that needs to be considered here is that are you a Christian and have you been justified by faith alone? And so I know that some people, when they hear that, they say, well, if I could just get this part of my life together, then I can become a Christian. No, you will never have your life together enough, never. No one ever becomes holy enough to be born again. The only ones that are born again are the unholy.

And there's no need to wait at all. Turn to Christ. Don't wait. Don't wait another moment. Enter the Kingdom of Heaven prepared for you.

And, you know, for those who have repented of their sins, who in their hearts they love His appearing, I don't know if there's anyone in this room who has really arrived in the whole matter of readiness. I know I haven't. Going over this this week, I've just constantly said, oh Lord, give me a greater readiness. Help me even to plan this year for next year that my readiness, my vigilance, my awareness is greater than ever. So, You know, could it be that God would take us to a whole other level of readiness?

And how does that happen? It happens so simply really, and that is that our faces are turned toward the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 3, 17, the apostle Paul says, Now the Lord is spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord." So readiness includes a face lifted up before the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be before His face spiritually.

He will come physically. But until that time, we behold his face spiritually. We turn our hearts toward him, like the apostle Paul said to the Colossian church, if you've been raised up with Christ, Keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Keep your heart, keep your face lifted up before your Savior. This is how one makes himself ready, is by lifting up your face and keep seeking the things above.

These things are nourished, they're inflamed by secret prayer and by prayer at all times. That there would be a spirit of prayer upon us, that we would wake up praying. Did you wake up praying? When you went to bed last night, did you go to bed praying, crying out to God for the day that you had and the day that's ahead. This is how we behold the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, is in those moments of the day.

And God gives the transitions in the day to help us to fill the day as well. So that the day full of prayer, the day including times of going into the secret place to behold the glory of the Lord, that it would be like in the days of the temple where The smoke filled the temple of the glory of the Lord, and no one could come in. It was so holy, it was so gripping, that this would exist in our hearts as we are before God in the secret place. The body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. And while God wiped out the temple of Jerusalem, He raised up His own body as the temple, and He made your body and my body the temple of the Holy Spirit.

So that we would be in that temple, pouring out prayers unto God like incense before Him, like the incense of the days of old. We would be making sacrifices in our hearts like the sacrifices of the days of old, in our hearts before Him, in secret prayer, in constant prayer, in prayer before we sleep, in prayer as we wake up. Like Daniel, three times in prayer in the day, beholding His face. This is the kind of readiness and vigilance that I pray would come upon us as a church, that we would be so set apart for His glory that we would see His face. We would be ready.

We would always be ready in a moment of time. We wouldn't have to transition, Because our minds in every conversation would be the minds of Christ. That in every relationship, in every decision, Christ, Christ is over it all. And it's bathed in prayer. And it's saturated by the Word of God.

And it's from a consciousness of the work of the Holy Spirit that we would be that kind of people here in this church. We can be that kind of people. And Jesus Christ is instructing His disciples about what it means for a businessman, what it means for a young girl, what it means for a homeowner, what it means for a man existing in a whole society that's walked away from God. How do you watch and pray in a world like that? When you have needs in your house or in your business, or you have longings like a young girl, how do you deal with that?

You watch, you pray, you behold the face of the Lord Jesus Christ from the secret place until the time of sleep. Let me also say that God not only gives these things to stimulate our watchfulness. I think these are the primary. But there are other ways that God has given you to stimulate your watchfulness, your wakefulness to the gospel and for all of his work in the world that he intends to perform through you, the works that he's prepared beforehand, before the foundation of the world. And that is, that is God, God has given you messengers to stimulate your readiness.

I think that's what's happening right now. I think I, right now, am one of those messengers in your life to stimulate your readiness. And God gives us many messengers in the form of a husband or a wife or even a child or a friend. There are so many messengers sent to us, but there are also those formally appointed messengers sent to you to speak the words of life to you, to urge you to lay aside every encumbrance to seek the face of Jesus Christ, to serve Him in your generation. And so my appeal is to listen to the voices of the messengers who are sent, to stimulate your readiness.

Come to the meetings, come to the prayer times, as you do, as you always do. I don't have any complaints with our congregation for the fervency and the regularity with which we get together. Whenever we call a meeting, almost everyone comes. It's remarkable. I praise God for that.

God has designed it that way. I'm glad that I'm not here rebuking a congregation. But I'm thankful for a congregation that comes when the stewards of the congregation call for them to come to stimulate their faith, to stimulate their wakefulness, like we are doing right now. God has also given you a church to stimulate your readiness. He's given you brothers and sisters to speak the truth in love, to perform all kinds of acts of kindness and mercy toward you.

And you know, God has given the church for that reason, for the simulation of our wakefulness in the gospel and our awareness of Jesus Christ. We need one another to be holy. How important is a truly holy friend to you. Have you ever had a friend in the church that is so holy that whenever you were with them, they challenged you, and your life was changed because of their example? That's why The apostle says, remember those who spoke the word of God to you.

Remember their lives and the result of their lives. We need one another to be that way. I need you to be holy. I need you and you and you to be holy. Your brother and your sister next to you, you need them to be holy, and you need to be holy for them.

God has sent a church to you, to help you be wakeful, more wakeful. In the moment where you lose your wakefulness, that your brother, your sister is wakeful and sets an example before you and calls you to prayer and loves you and might rebuke you, might chastise you, so that your heart would be turned aright again. We need one another in this church to be holy. Our conversation's holy, our manner of life holy, our sensibilities like Noah, like a faithful house owner, like one of those five virgins, like that businessman. God has given us a church to stimulate our readiness.

And so we face the new year, don't we? It's coming in just a couple of days. I can't wait for it, honestly. I'm ready to launch the plan. I really am.

It's already half launched, actually, because I'm so excited about it. But let me tell you, God has a year ahead of us. And our year ought to be a year that's marked by a wakefulness, a watchfulness, a readiness like we've never had before. And that we would put no confidence in the flesh, that we would put all of our confidence in God and his word, that we would lift up our faces to our Lord Jesus Christ day after day, all day long, and if we wake up in the night, that He would wake us up with songs of longing and praise and crying out and pleadings with Him. That He would make us that kind of people together.

That this world would not be our home, and that in all of our getting, we would be getting wisdom, that our face would be beholding the face of our Lord Jesus Christ, whether we be a businessman or a homeowner, or a young daughter, or one of those like in the days of Noah, running headlong and yet stopped up, who turns and cries out, Lord Jesus Christ, save my soul. Let's be like that. Would you pray with me? Oh Lord, that you would work in us such fruitfulness in this coming year, that you would give us such a gaze toward you, that we would care nothing for this world, that we would care nothing about building our own kingdoms, but we would set ourselves to your kingdom. That in all of our business, we would be multiplying.

That In all of our celebrations, we would have fully prepared hearts for that great day to hear your voice say, enter into the joy of your Master. Amen. Thank you.