Law & Grace - Matthew 25:1-30 Kingdom judging - Part I

Good morning. We're going to proceed into the passage that Courtney just read for us and then the parable right after that as well here this morning. As you may have been tracking here, the two prior weeks we had a series on tribulation and second coming, parts one and parts two. And we're going to continue on with the theme, in a sense, here in Matthew 25, this week covering verses 1 through 30, next week covering the rest of the verses in the chapter.

And we're calling that Kingdom Judging. And we're going to see this morning the passage is going to be addressing Jews, particularly, and next week's passage addressed to Gentiles. This passage here is about a future judgment of Jews and Gentiles. It's a judgment that has not yet taken place. Judgments starting actually at the end of Matthew 24 verse 45 through 25-46, the end of chapter 25, are about a future yet to take place judging of Jews and Gentiles and it will take place on this earth.

That's important for us to get who is being judged and where and about what. These judgments will decide who enters the kingdom That's the first part, but the other one is who does not, but instead goes to the lake of fire. So it is a judgment in first part to determine, you know, what's your destination? Where are you headed from here? These judgments, in addition to that, will also determine kingdom reward for those who are entering the kingdom.

So we'll see that judgment as well here in this morning's passage. Here is a supplement that we have available. And just like last week, we'll make the supplements available for two weeks. So if you run out of them, you can also either download them off the church website or get additional ones next week.

This is a map. of the extent of the Millennial Kingdom, the land of Israel. What's interesting, we have this little tiny land of Israel now that we've been convincing them to make smaller and smaller over the years for some strange reason. What God promised first of all to Abraham in Genesis 15 verses 8 through 21 is here is the extent of the Millennial Kingdom. It goes from the Mediterranean all the way to the Euphrates River. It covers what is now encompassed in about eight different nations.

Now, what's told to us in Ezekiel chapter 48 is the division by tribe, which you see as kind of horizontal stripes. No, that's not some strange American flag, right? These are by tribe horizontal sections that will be assigned to each tribe. They will have that configuration. Anyway, you can pick up a copy there. If we run out, we'll have more available next week and also have them available on the church website.

Now, one of the things, and a point we want to make very clear, this judgment that we're setting here this morning is not about you, at least not directly. All scripture certainly is inspired and profitable, that's the message of 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17. So there is certainly value, spiritual value, in our examining this passage. even if just a part of that value that we're gaining from it is to clarify and to contrast judging under law and grace.

Our judgment, that is the judgment for us in the body of Christ, will be in heaven, not here on earth. Our judgment won't be to determine, are you getting into the kingdom? Our judgment instead will be in heaven, where we're already blessed, already seated now with Christ, None of the body of Christ will go from heaven to the lake of fire. None.

So it's a very different judgment from what we'll be studying this morning. Ours will only be for reward. Matter of fact, the very last chapter of Revelation, Jesus says, I'm coming quickly and my reward is with me. The question the Lord's going to have at our judgment is how much can I reward you? That'll be the question. The Lord is not pacing the floor of heaven, you know, just rubbing his hands and saying, boy, I can't wait to get ahold of her and I'm going to really scorch him. Right? That's not what the Lord's doing.

We had last week this listing here, biblical crowns, five of them. And these are Stephanos crowns, not diadem crowns like in royalty. And in addition to that, the Bible lists specifically three rewards on top of that. That was in last week's slide set, and so we won't go over it in detail here, but just to draw your attention to it.

Another thing that's important for us to understand as we look at this judgment here that's in the passage that Courtney read for us, and the one right after that, it's about citizenship. And where is that citizenship? We in the body of Christ, if you're a believer here this morning, in the body of Christ, you're right now a heavenly citizen. The Bible says so, okay?

Philippians 3.20. You right now have a heavenly citizenship. That's where your citizenship is.

And when we go to heaven, it's a matter of going home, right? It won't be a question of are we going to go from there, you know, to somewhere else. We will be judged after we're done with these bodies. As opposed to the judgment we're talking about now, where people will have bodies like this. And we will not be on earth when we would be judged, unlike the judgment we read about here. The judgment we read about in Matthew 24, 45 and 25, 46 will be to determine who is an earthly kingdom citizen and who is not. while in this present body on earth, and those who are not will go to the lake of fire.

So we read in this passage some about Jews, some about Gentiles, that's next week, and also something for you to take home, and we'll talk more about that as we go through the passage. This Matthew 24, 45, the end of last week's passage, into verse 30 that we'll cover today, is focused on the Jews, the people of Israel. That's the focal point. The next part that we'll look at next week, Matthew 25, 31 through 46, the rest of the chapter, is a passage focused on the Gentiles. And so we'll take a look at that.

Again, for the Gentiles it will be an earthly judgment to determine are you going into the Millennial Kingdom and with what degree of reward. Those distinctions and clarifications being said, we believers in the body of Christ can learn why? Because there are godly virtues even in today's passage, prudence, faithfulness, watchfulness, conveyed in these judgment parables. They are brought about differently for church-age believers, and we'll talk about that too.

Now, let's talk about the parable of the ten virgins, the one that Courtney read for us here. This is an account of ten virgins, and one of the reasons you may be thinking, why virgins? Well, one of the things you find in the Old Testament is that the Jews were often referred to as, O virgin daughter of Zion, O virgin daughter of Judea, O virgin daughter of Israel. The expression often referred to Israel, and so it's fitting that this is a symbol for the Jews.

It's also important to look at what is the purpose of a parable. When we see a parable, some people get all excited and want to find some match-up for every single detail. And I think it's important to look at what's the purpose of the parable and not to get all scattered with trying to find some connection for every detail. What Jesus does at the end of these parables, this one is certainly of that character, is he summarizes, this is the message I'm trying to get across and we need to stay focused on that as we go about interpreting the parable. Some people want to make a big deal about the number 10. I don't think that that's evident from what Jesus points out is the purpose of the parable.

It's also important to understand the culture behind the parable and realize that here he is, he is on the Mount of Olives right across from the place where there's the temple and there's Jerusalem, he is a Jew in the land of Israel talking to other Jews. So the cultural context of the time and place and people is going to be very important. This is big. Keep this in mind.

In the Jewish culture in the New Testament times, the woman of the household was to keep a lamp lit all the time. To fail at doing so, even by running out of lamp oil, was just unthinkable. It was considered profoundly irresponsible to let the lamp go out.

Now, so here are the ten virgins who were to be guests at the wedding banquet, as at least was original intent. Five of them were prudent and came with sufficient oil to keep their torch lamps lit until after midnight. when the bridegroom would come. By the way, it was common in those days to actually start a wedding banquet late in the evening. That might be for us, it's like, wow, that's a little bit late, but yep, that's what they would do. The other five were foolish and did not bring sufficient oil to keep their torch lamps lit until after midnight.

So the critical issues surfaced here when the bridal party was near and the lamps of the foolish ones We're right then going out. It's like, oh no, our lamps are out. Right then, they're going out. Now, I thought, well, what could get the modern point across in our context for how bad it was to let the lamp go out?

And I thought of a couple comparisons. Here's one. Okay. Somebody got a picture here. Here's somebody, the driver does not have a seatbelt on. Okay. The other person holding the baby apparently does have a seatbelt on, but holding the baby in the front seat, especially with today's airbags and all that, very bad news. Okay.

And so you would say that would be really irresponsible to do that. Here would be another one. It's dark and I smell a gas leak. I'll light a mat so I can find out what's going on, right? That would be very irresponsible. So that would kind of give you an idea how irresponsible it would be for these virgins to let the lamps go out and not bring some additional oil, okay?

One of the things we find as we read through this is all 10 of the virgins fall asleep. For the ones who are unwise as well as for those who are wise, all of them fall asleep. But that doesn't seem to be a problem for the ones who are prepared. It's like no issue.

But for the virgins who came without any extra oil for their torches, they should have used the time to go out and get some oil instead of sleeping, right? What Jesus is trying to get across is not only did they not come with oil, but when they had the chance to go get some, they still didn't get it. And it would be as irresponsible as, I smell gas, let's light a match.

Right? It would be like that. Better yet, these five virgins that were irresponsible and unwise, they could have come prepared in the first place. That would have been, of course, the ideal thing. And that's why Jesus has the contrast of the five who are responsible and the five who are wise. Now the Jews are the representation here by the virgins. The virgins represent the Jews during the tribulation period. Some Jews will be prepared, Jesus is indicating, and some will not be prepared. Some of them will be foolish, foolishly unprepared for this tribulation period, which could start today. Now, some will enter the kingdom and some will not be at the right place and the right time.

And one of the sets of phrases we find here, Lord, Lord, and I never knew you, are words common with Matthew at the last chapter of the Sermon on the Mount. Let's take a look at that. Matthew 7, 21 through 23, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, Did we not prophesy in your name, cast out demons in your name, perform many miracles? And then we'll declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. So these are basically the same words that we find in Matthew 25, 11, and 12.

As in the beginning and at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, The issue of the Jews will be entry into the kingdom. Now that's something we've got to also understand, too. Jesus, from the Sermon on the Mount all the way through, continued to talk about entry, entry, entry. Why? It's because many of the Jews thought, well, I'm Jewish. I am automatically getting into the kingdom. And Jesus is saying, not so fast. Not so fast. You're not automatically getting in, which to many of them, that would be shocking. What? I'm Jewish. I'm descended from Abraham. You can look at the charts in the temple. They've got all the genealogies. I can show you I'm descended from Abraham.

Sorry, that doesn't qualify you. You must be prepared, which is, of course, the point of this parable. We might ask the question, what's this talk about a bridegroom? Some Bible scholars here have suggested that the bridegroom is Christ and the bride is the nation of Israel. Not so fast with that one. Israel is represented by the ten virgins, and Christ is married to the church at this point in time, his bride, and this is the groom's wedding reception. So, no, that combination doesn't work.

There's a supplement available on the cabinet, and we'll run out, we'll get some more next week, and you can also download it, that talks about Christ and the church, the bride and the bridegroom theme. What is the pattern of the New Testament with regards to Christ and the Church. And just to put it together, and as we spelled out in the Bible backgrounds class, from the end of the Gospels to the ending chapters of the Book of Revelation, there is a theme carried out through the New Testament that says that the Church is the Bride of Christ. You can imagine, here is Jesus in John chapter 14.

He tells the disciples I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, you know, you may be also. Do you know what the bridegroom said to the bride-to-be when they had just gotten engaged? Behold, I go to prepare a place for you, right? And he would begin working on the house so that he could take the bride to be with him. You can imagine the shock on the disciples' faces when he starts using these engagement words with the disciples. That must have stunned them. Anyway, you can look through the rest of that as you have opportunity.

The Church is the Bride of Christ, and that's clearly conveyed elsewhere, including where I referenced there in John 14. His point here, however, although there's reference to the Bridegroom, and I'm quite certain it's in relationship to Christ and the Church, His point here has to do with Israel and telling them be prudent, be wise, be prepared, don't just think I'm getting in because I'm Jewish. Now one of the points that Jesus makes is no one knows the day or the hour. So the parable of this faithful and sensible slave and evil slave at the end of Matthew 24 and of the 10 versions, both of those underscore that no one knows the timing of the Lord's return. Now, as we pointed out last Sunday, that clear and repeated statement, no one knows the timing of the Lord's return, some people just don't get it.

And what it does is it because they keep coming out with new dates and somebody else tries again. Some people even try twice and then apologize. But people do this again and again. They have, I know the date, I know the year, I know the day, I know the hour, and the world just laughs.

The reality is, and this chart is from last two weeks handouts here, the reality is the timing of the rapture, the timing of the seven-year tribulation period, when that begins, and therefore the timing when this millennial reign of Christ, this thousand-year reign of Christ begins, none of those beginnings or events are revealed to us.

They are for the Father to call out. Even as we explain in the Bible backgrounds class, the Jewish marriage custom was that the father would tell the groom, go get your bride. He would call the time. And that's what's going to happen. The father will tell the son, go get your bride.

And we will not be raptured any sooner than that. Acts 1, 6 through 8. It's not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority. He is the one who calls the shots. As we saw in this passage here and in last week's, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will, will come at a day when He does not expect him at an hour when he does not know. Verse 13, be on the alert for you do not know the day or the hour. A repeated message in this passage as well as Acts 1. You don't know, you don't know, you don't know. The Father's the one who calls that.

So, guess what people do? They write books like this one, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988. Well, guess what? It didn't happen. So the next year, you want to guess what book the guy wrote the next year? Yes, you got it. 89 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1989.

Amazing. And the world laughs. Now here's another one. October 28, 1992. Somebody went and plastered this well-constructed, nice, enduring poster that you slap on the lampposts and things like that. And the world laughs. Ah, then another one. Here's another guy who says, I predict 2000 AD. Right? And so the world laughs. Why? It's ridiculous. Especially when Christ said repeatedly, again and again, no one knows the day or the hour, and I would guess not the year either. Right? Okay.

There is a supplement available, and if we run out, again we'll have more next week and also have it online, that looks like this. It's a three-page supplement because quite often, and it happened last week, that's what stirred me to make this, people will ask, well, all these resurrections and raptures and who gets resurrected here and what group goes here? Well, this is intended to help answer that. In fact, we have on page 3 of this supplement is the list of all the judgments in the Bible and when those take place and all the references. So anyway, feel free and we'll for sure get that to you next week as well.

Now, the parable of the talents. The Parable of the Talents is about the judgment of Jews again in two particular respects. One, some Jews will enter the kingdom and some will not, a similar message to what we saw previously with the ten virgins. Also, and this is something that is different, there will be differences of provision in preparation for the kingdom along with differences in what is expected. So that's a new message that hadn't been revealed in the previous parable. There's differences of provision and differences in what's expected. Again, this is for Jews and looking forward to the kingdom judged on earth. There are also principles for us to take to heart. So we'll look at that here shortly.

So this master went away on a long trip, and by the way, that has built into it an implication that the Lord might not be coming back right away, right? On a very long trip, leaving five, two, and one talents, one talent. Now let this sink in. A talent is sixteen and a half years of wages for a laborer or a foot soldier. That's quite a chunk of money. So when even the one talent servant got quite a bit of money to be responsible for, that's quite a chunk of change. The one who got five got more than you would have in a lifetime of pay.

This was an awesome amount of spiritual wealth implied in that, if this is what the Jews are given as assets. Even Romans 9, chapter 9, 4 and 5 says, Israelites to whom belongs the adoption of sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and to whom is the Christ, the Messiah, according to the flesh, who is over all. God bless forever. Amen. This is a quick listing of all the assets, spiritual assets, that the Jews have been given, how much they have had entrusted to them.

That, I think, is why Jesus, use this talent, a very large sum of money for the parable. Now Ephesians 2, 11, and 12 in fact does the reverse of those things for the Gentiles. Gentiles in the flesh remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers to the covenants of promise, and having no hope and without God, atheos, atheistic in the world. So the Jews do indeed have a great deal of spiritual wealth that's been given to them.

So the question is, what are you going to do with it, Jews, right? So when the master returned from his long journey, he spoke with each one about the use of what's been given. Well, the ones given, the five and the two talents, had their number doubled by the time the master returned. But the servant with the one, the one talent, just hid it. buried it.

And actually, we find that that is fairly common. As archaeologists dig into various places where in biblical times or influence, they'll find caches of coins often buried underneath the floor. Matter of fact, one just was found, a very large one, a record-breaking one. It was a Roman coin cache in southern Britain. So very interesting find. It was a guy with a metal detector, right?

Oftentimes they were, in fact, just buried. So we find that that was a common way of dealing with things. No return on it, obviously, when you do that, though. So the servants who had doubled their number of talents given were each told, in fact, the same thing. So that's interesting. Each of them was given a different number. But they were told the same thing. Well done, good and faithful slave. You were faithful with a few things, I'll put you in charge of many things. Enter into the joy of your master. They were told the same thing, even though they were given different amounts. Very interesting.

The servant who had hidden the one talent that he was given, that talent was given to the one who had ten, and the wicked, lazy servant was cast into outer darkness." This term, outer darkness, and weeping and gnashing of teeth are put together in a few places in Matthew, including the one that we see here. At times, the weeping and gnashing of teeth term is found separately from the outer darkness term. In every instance, however, it's pretty clear that weeping and gnashing of teeth appears to be a reference to the lake of fire, eternal Hell, which has already been prepared, by the way, although it is empty of personalities and souls. But you might think, well, why so severe a punishment for hiding just one talent? I mean, that seems like an overreaction or something, you know?

I mean, after all, he did give it back. He didn't steal it. The servants who doubled their talents were each given a commendation. a reward and greater responsibility, and joy of fellowship with the Master. That's what it means by joy of the Master. So aren't those all three very positive things? Was there anything bad that the Master had to say? No. There wasn't anything bad to say. All three of them were good things.

But the wicked, lazy servant only saw that the Master was hard and ungracious. Can you imagine that? That's not the thing that we saw when we saw him deal with the two other servants, the ones who had doubled the money and put the money to good use. The real problem, the real problem with the lazy servant is he didn't know or trust his master. It's important to know and trust the master, isn't it? And that's the key point here. It's not just what he did with the coins, but what he did with the coins was based on his not knowing or trusting the master.

That's what's important. So the parable of the faithful and sensible slave and of the evil slave was told to convey the need for prudence, being wise, and being faithful. Those two things. The parable of the ten virgins was told to convey prudence, being wise. That's verse 9. And the parable of the talents told to convey faithfulness. Verses 21 and 23. So they had a purpose similar and also somewhat different for each one. Those who are not prudent and faithful are called specifically foolish and worthless in that order.

How about us in the body of Christ? If you're a believer who is in the body of Christ, which is true of all who believe from Acts 2, from that day, to the rapture, when the Lord comes to take us home, unlike these judgments, you are not at risk for going to the lake of fire, eternal hell.

God's not saying, you know, I realize you believed, and you went to church, and you got together with other people and fellowship, but you messed up back there, and so you're going to Lake of Fire. That's not what God's going to do. Because His purpose with us is to look for the answer to the question, how can I reward you? Not, how can I send you to the Lake of Fire?

You're not hoping to become a kingdom citizen. because you already have a citizenship in heaven, where you are blessed in Christ and seated with him. You're not looking to be blessed. You are blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

Now, one of the things we pointed out here, there are similarities of godly character and perspective, however, that we can learn from. It's God's desire and intent we be faithful and wise. The Bible says repeatedly, and it says even more so in the New Testament, that God is faithful. So our faithfulness comes from Christ's character and His life lived in and through us. That's one reason why here at Holly Hills, we don't emphasize you making promises to God. It's God's faithfulness to His promises. That's what we count upon. Prudence and wisdom are from God, are in Christ, and are in God's written word. That's where they come from. Some aspects of the perspective that we are to have that matches what we've seen in these parables is alertness. Be on the alert, right? Having hope. How about that? In fact, the blessed hope. and looking for Christ's appearing.

Just as each of the talents are a great deal of wealth, just one talent, sixty and a half years wages, have we not been graciously entrusted with awesome spiritual wealth? Oh yes, we most certainly have. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing, not just a few, not just samples, Imagine you go out to the mailbox and here's this box delivered and here's samples of your blessings. What? No, we have every spiritual blessing right now in the heavenly places in Christ, including heavenly citizenship. We're blessed with a new spiritual history. Do you realize how fantastic that is? To be blessed with a new spiritual history?

A lot of people will say, well, in my life, I did this and this and this. And I'm sorry to say I did this. My grandmother, who was a missionary to the cannibals in Fiji, their daughter is here this morning. My grandmother was over there in Fiji, and the cannibals would come to her and say, you know, I used to eat people. And they were very ashamed of it. But that was part of their personal history.

But what's so exciting here is we have a new spiritual history in Christ. That's phenomenal. That's wonderful. We're blessed with forgiveness, and it's a complete forgiveness. There is nothing that just falls outside. It's total. It's absolute. It is a forgiveness that applies to every single thing, such that when Jesus was on the cross, he said, it is all paid. That's the one translated, it is finished. It's all paid permanently.

We are being conformed and transformed in the image of Christ, growing in the grace and knowledge of him and are being sanctified all of grace. You don't earn any of it. We are on the gracious receiving end of, this is Ephesians 2, 4 through 7, of a wealth of mercy and a wealth of grace all motivated out of God's great love for us. The Lord has done wonderful things. We have been immensely entrusted and enriched and blessed.

It is wonderful. It's amazing. God's amazing grace has provided it all. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you. It is indeed amazing. It is indeed phenomenal how you have blessed us. And just like these massive amounts of wealth revealed in these talents, we have also been massively blessed with immense wealth, all by your grace. And we thank you for that, Lord.

Lord, as we go from here and fellowship together afterwards, just that that would settle in our hearts and minds how wonderfully and amazingly and immensely you have blessed us out of your mercy, out of your grace, and out of your great love. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.