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them verily I say unto you as much as ye have done it unto one one of the least of these my brethren you have done it unto me then shall he say also unto them to on the left hand depart from me he cursed it into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels for I was in hungered and he gave me no meat I was thirsty and he gave me no drink I was a stranger and he took me not in naked and he clothed me not sick and in prison and he visited me not then shall they also answer him saying Lord when saw we thee in hungered or thirst or stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister it unto thee then shall he answer them saying verily I say unto you and as much as he did it not to one of the least of these he did it not to me and these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into eternal life let's pray thank you Heavenly Father for King James Bible dear God we thank you for our church we thank you for our pastor dear Lord and we ask that you please bless him tonight as he preaches your word in Jesus name we pray amen amen okay we're in Matthew chapter 25 tonight and tonight we actually conclude the parables against the Jews by Jesus Christ here and here in chapter 25 and I want to say there's three parables here but obviously one of them isn't explicitly stated that it's a parable it's a story at the very end illustrating the sheep and the goats there but the first two are definitely parables but what's important about this chapter is what is being taught here what is the biblical truth the the truth that God's trying to get across here and the reason it's important to understand these particular parables is because this chapter is often used by false prophets to teach a workspace salvation and one of the reasons why is because of the fact that chapter 25 is kind of a dark saying this the parables and illustrations that are being used here are kind of hard to understand and at a glance it may even confuse some Christians and so I want to give clarity to these parables and what they mean now here in chapter 25 first and foremost we're going to look at the the parable of the ten virgins and look at verse number one it says then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom now right off the bat because we just finished chapter 24 we know that we're still in context of the rapture chapter 24 dealing with the tribulation of course the rapture thereafter and the admonitions that he gives at the end of chapter 24 with the importance of being ready and watching and so this parable is essentially piggybacking off of those off of that thought that we see at the latter end of chapter 24 and so he gives this parable of these ten virgins and he says in verse number two and five of them were wise and five are foolish they that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them but the wise took oil on their vessels with their lamps while the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept and at midnight there was a cry made behold the bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him now what is this referring to well we can obviously see that there's a distinction being made here between saved and unsaved but because we're dealing with the Jews as well in these parables it's obviously also referring to the Jews and those who are believers now let me give you a couple clues in this particular verse or explain some of the clues that are given to us to prove that okay number one is the fact that he addresses this parable regarding ten virgins now why is that significant well we know that they're split five and five and if you think about it you know the children of Israel in the Old Testament could be likened unto a virgin why is that well because of the fact that when you read the Old Testament you'll see that often there's certain wording in the Old Testament that describes the children of Israel as though they are espoused unto the Lord right in fact there's multiple times instances for example in Jeremiah chapter 31 where God says I was a husband unto them and we also see that when the children of Israel would forsake the God of the Bible and start worshipping false gods God equated it with what adultery he would say that they're going a whoring after other gods so on and so forth and so I think the reason he's referring to the Old Testament Saints here as virgins it's because they're special they are chosen unto him they are special unto him and that's exactly what the children of Israel were in the Old Testament they were the chosen people of God now obviously in the New Testament because of that transition with a physical nation no longer being the children the people of God now it's all believers right they collectively make up God's chosen people we can see how believers can also be described as being a virgin right you say why is that well you know we're the chosen people of God but also the Apostle Paul states he says that he was jealous over the believers at Corinth with a godly jealousy for I have espoused you unto one husband and he talks about how they're just like a chaste virgin unto one husband referring to Jesus Christ the Bible says that husbands love your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it and then he says you know that he may present it to himself as a glorious church not having spot or wrinkles you can see how believers are also essentially compared to a virgin now look at the next clue that we get here is the fact that it states that these ten virgins take their lamps so all ten of these are virgins and all ten of these have a lamp well what is a lamp significant of what does it symbolize in the Bible the Word of God and in the Old Testament we know that the children of Israel had the Word of God and in fact the oracles of God were committed unto them they had the Word of God that were used to pen down the scriptures no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation for the scripture came not in old time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost this is obviously referring to the Old Testament prophets and scribes who were used by God to pen down the Word of God they had that lamp and of course the book of Psalms talks about that the Word of God is a lamp into our feet and a light unto our path but you know also we have the scriptures in the New Testament as well and in fact the Bible says that we have a more short word of prophecy because now we have the entire canonized Bible we have all 66 books here that we read on a daily basis we read on a weekly basis in church and so we both can be likened unto virgins likened unto those who are carrying lamps and then he says in verse number two and five of them are wise and five were foolish and he goes on explain regarding the oil but let me spend a little bit of time talking about why they're wise and why they're foolish well the wise ones are obviously those who are saved okay and when I think of this particular phrase here I think of what he says in Matthew chapter 7 where Jesus says whosoever heareth the sayings of mine and doeth them I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock right and he talks about how you know the rain descended and the floods came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock and what he's commending those people for is not necessarily what they're building but what they're building upon right he's commending them for the foundation that they have and of course the rock is not referring to Dwayne Johnson amen it's referring to Jesus Christ he is that rock and in fact you know in 1st Corinthians chapter 3 for example it states no other foundation no foundation can excuse me no other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid which is Jesus Christ referring to the fact that the most important thing for a person to do is have the right foundation and of course even if you have the right foundation at that point you can build upon it gold silver precious stones sometimes Christians build up wood, hay, and stubble but even those who build up wood, hay, and stubble still have the right foundation and they shall be saved yet so as by fire right and so the right foundation God says if you have them then you're wise why because you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ you have salvation and so I believe this is referring to that and in fact in that same passage in Matthew chapter 7 he's says but whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them not I will liken him unto a foolish man which built his house upon the sand okay and of course we see that the rains descended the floods came the winds blew and it beat upon that house and it fell and great was the fall of it and so the fool is a person who does not have Jesus Christ as the cornerstone he's the person who builds his house upon the shifting sands of false doctrine of the wrong salvation the wrong Bible the wrong religion he builds it not upon Jesus Christ but upon everything else and so we know that we have to build our foundation upon Jesus Christ who is the chief cornerstone the Bible talks about that we have our foundation that was created by the apostles and prophets Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone Ephesians chapter 2 so we see here that he says there's five that were wise and five that were foolish we can liken that unto those who are saved and those who are not saved look at verse number three they that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps so what's another thing that we see here well now he begins to describe the oil okay and the five who were wise had oil in their vessels the fools did not now what is oil symbolic of the Holy Spirit right and so obviously this is referring to the fact that they're saved as well because of the fact that they have the the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their vessels whereas the foolish do not have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in their vessels and if we were to compare this to the literal interpretation which is referring to Jews and saved Gentiles saved Gentiles have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit because they're part of that New Covenant whereby when you believe on Jesus Christ you're sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance whereas unsaved Jews don't have the Holy Spirit they don't have the Holy Spirit they don't have that oil okay and so here's another indicator that it's not only referring to believer and unbeliever but also Jew and believing Gentiles talks about the oil and he says in verse number five while the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept oh here's nothing I want to mention you know the fact that he says that there's oil in the lamps of those who are wise it's essentially showing us that the only people we can learn the Bible from are those who have the Holy Spirit he talks about the lamps being the Word of God but the oil that lights the lamp and the way we learn the truth of God's Word is through the Holy Spirit and this is why no Christian should ever go to some unsafe Christ rejecting Jew Jewish Encyclopedia to learn the Word of God because they don't know the Bible they don't have oil in their vessels you say yeah but they have the lamp though yeah but they're blind though they don't have the Word of God I mean they have the Word of God but you know what they don't they can't understand it and in fact 2nd Corinthians chapter 3 talks about the fact that they have a veil over their heart you know and it talks about how they their minds are blinded that even in the reading of the Old Testament they're still blinded until they turn to Christ and then the veil is taken away so aside from the fact that they're not saved and they can't understand the Word of God Jews in general just have a veil over their eyes you know and thereby that's why they can't see the biblical scriptural truths and of course that's a call back to when Moses went to Mount Sinai he saw the the back parts of God and he his face was so glorious with the glory of God that he had to cover his face with the veil right and when the Israelites will look upon him they couldn't see him because of that veil when like manner you know Moses is that picture of Jesus Christ and Israelites cannot see Jesus Christ because there's a veil there and so they can't behold the glory of God through Jesus Christ because there is a veil there they cannot see it you say well you know we should still go to Jews for a cultural context though you know maybe not be able to teach us spiritual truths but maybe they can give us a cultural context of Israel well I don't even think they can do that and let me explain to you why because who is a liar but he that denied that Jesus is the Christ he is Antichrist that denied the father and the son and so you know if the Bible saying that they're liars because they're essentially lying about the testimony of the witness of God of his son Jesus Christ what other things are they gonna lie about I mean they're gonna lie about a lot of other things and so obviously they're gonna give you a slanted narrative of the Jewish culture to favor their religion so I'm not gonna go to unsaved Jews for cultural context and here's the thing you don't even need a cultural context to understand the Bible and whatever cultural context God wants you to know is already in the Bible you know beware of the cultural context interpretation of the Bible when it's just like you you tell them about Leviticus 20 13 it's like oh you need to learn the culture though of that day is that well the culture of that day is that there's fags there and so that was that was so it's the same thing here okay and somehow through cultural context they supplant the Word of God and want to get you to kind of ignore what the Bible clearly says because oh you got to understand what the Jews say about cultural context no they have a veil over their eyes they can't see they have no oil in their lamps and their vessels to put in put in the lamps and so you know throw away the Jewish encyclopedias and all these Jewish writers there's no credibility there my friends you know the Bible says I have not seen nor ear of heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God had prepared for them that love him but God hath revealed them unto us by his spirit the Bible says for the Spirit searcheth all things yea the deep things of God so if you want to learn deep things you don't go to the Jews you go to the Word of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit okay you don't need to go to some commentary why don't you go to the greatest commentator of the Bible which is the Holy Spirit the one who penned down the Word of God using holy men of God right and the Bible also says that the natural man referring to the unsaved man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him and he cannot know them for they're spiritually discerned but he that is spiritual judges all things yet he himself has judged no man so again it's just kind of reinforcing the fact that in order for us to understand the Word of God we need to pray for understanding open down mine eyes that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law okay not you know Oh rabbi show me the cultural context so I could understand the Bible that you don't believe because they don't even believe the Bible why would you go to someone who believes in evolution to understand the Bible you know and so and you're like yeah but you know they believe the first five books they don't even believe Moses I mean Jesus said that himself you would have believed Moses you would have believed me for he wrote of me okay so they may pay lip service to claiming to believe in Moses but they don't because they rejected Jesus Christ and Moses wrote of Jesus Christ because he believed in Jesus Christ you say Oh Moses didn't even know about Jesus according to Hebrews he did he chose to suffer the afflictions with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season esteem in the reproach of Christ's greater riches than the riches of Egypt so obviously he did believe in him he was a saved man etc so we see here that they're like it unto ten virgins I believe this is referring to both the physical nation of Israel who were once the chosen people of God and obviously we're in a transitional period even here in this particular chapter and then of course the chosen people of God in the New Covenant they both have labs because we both have the Word of God but one is wise and one is foolish because one is saved and one is not not only that but one has oil on their lab meaning they have the Holy Spirit and one doesn't because they're not saved because in order to get the Holy Spirit's indwelling you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ now what is the main purpose of this particular parable well again it's it's kind of a it's a thought that's being carried over from chapter 24 and the purpose of it is to convey the importance of being ready for the coming of Christ okay because he says there in verse 5 while the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept and at midnight there was a cry made behold the bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said unto the wise give us of your oil for our lamps are gone out but the wise answered saying not so lest there be not enough for us and for you go you rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves and it says in verse number 10 and while they went to buy the bridegroom came and they there were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut so what type of readiness was required here to be saved because if you look at it says they all slumbered and slept referring to both the five foolish virgins and the five wise the difference is is that when the bridegroom came even those who fell asleep and were you know not necessarily ready they were still saved and you know what I would almost liken this to like the pre troopers because of the fact that many of them like for example fundamental Baptist they are asleep right they're not really aware but they will be made aware one day though so even though they live the rest of their lives here just believing in a preacher of rapture if the second covenant of Christ is in our lifetime they will be made aware at one point you said when when the bridegroom comes okay whether it's like they're aware when the Antichrist shows up that's probably the only time they're avoiding us the entire time because they think we're gonna tell I told you so but I want you to notice that they all slumbered and slept but even though they slumbered and slept they were still ready because of the fact that they were saved so the most important thing you can do a person can do to prepare for the rapture is that you're saved you understand so that you can be raptured you know a lot of people want to talk about the second coming of Christ and all the events that surround the end times but they often miss the most important thing and that is that they need to be saved because they want to talk about end times prophecy and the four whores and the mark of the beast and the Antichrist and what's going on in Israel but they literally neglect the most important aspect which is they need to be saved first they need to have oil in their lamps because once that takes place they're gonna be coming to the other Christian saying oh give us of your oil and we're already we're like too late bud you know we're out of here and so this is what it's conveying is the importance of being ready and how can you get ready making sure you have oil in your lamp meaning you have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ this is not saying that you got to keep sin out of your life you have to live a perfect life before the second coming of Christ it's just saying you have to have oil on the lamp and the oil is significant referring to the Holy Spirit in fact the Bible refers to him as the unction of the Holy One it refers to him as the anointing which teaches you all things and that you need not that any man teach you okay and so that's important there he says in verse number 11 afterward came also the other virgin saying Lord Lord open to us but he answered and said verily I say unto you I know you not watch therefore for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh and then verse 14 we get into the parable of talents now let me explain something real quick before I get into these this next parable I've always taught this next parable regarding the talents basically the way probably every pastor has taught it and that is giving the secondary application there's a great parable here great chapter dealing with talents and how to get God distribute certain talents to people to Christians and how some people have more talents than others and I think that's a fantastic application and that I preach sermons like that in times past and it's definitely applicable right because if you think about it people have various gifts and abilities some more than others some people are a five talented Christian other people are too talented Christian another one has one we all have at least one though you know and God expects for you to be a good steward of that talent that he gives you in other words if you have a God-given ability whether it's you're just a natural or God gave you the ability to learn that specific skill that specific talent that you should use it for the kingdom of God amen use it for the things of God and sometimes you know Christians can have this attitude of like well you know this person has five talents and I only have one and but here's the thing the Bible says that if there be first a willing mind it is according to that a man hath and not according to that he hath not he just wants you to do what you can with what you have so even if you have just one talent use that one talent can you play the piano play the piano can you play an instrument play an instrument can you play you know the jug don't play the jug because we don't want that here but good for you that you can play the jug amen what talent do you have can you sing are you a good orator what skill do you have that you can use for the kingdom of God to propagate the Word of God to benefit other Christians use it no matter what it is right be a good steward of that talent that God has given to you and so that is a great application and I don't think there's anything wrong preaching that but I'm gonna give you what the main interpretation is of this particular parable in context of what we've been looking at over the last five six weeks regarding these parables because what we have here is a man going into a far country and he leaves five talents with one of his servants he leaves two talents with the other and then he leaves one talent with the third servant right and he comes back to reckon with them and the man who has the servant who has the five talents doubles it by trading he actually is a good steward he's investing in it he is doubling those talents and so he has ten talents now and of course the the master honors him and he blesses him answered down to the joy of the Lord I mean he gets honored greatly by his master the second one the same thing he invests in it he actually does something with it and he doubles it as well the last one does not he has one talent and he hides it under the earth you know nice and clean he just keeps it right there and so when the master comes back he just kind of gives it to him and expecting for the master to be happy with the fact that he hid it under the earth but actually the master is very much upset and he ends up taking that talent and giving it to the first guy and then towards the end he's just like you're going to hell you know it's just like wow that that took a turn for the worse there because at the end he tells them you know verse 30 cast he the unprofitable servant to outer darkness there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth so you know we apply this regarding talents and abilities but obviously there's something else being stated here you know I mean because this guy is just like you didn't use your talent very well so now you're going to hell buddy you know it's just like maybe we should dig into what that really means you know there's obviously something else that we're missing here and so I'm gonna explain to you what this parable is referring to and how it just fits perfectly with what we've been studying the last five or six weeks regarding the parables because when Jesus Christ is putting forth these parables he's constantly talking about the kingdom of God so what is that what is the talent represents it represents the kingdom of God that's what it is it's representing the kingdom of God the knowledge of the kingdom of God you say well how does that happen though because one's getting five one is it gaining five kingdoms of God and one's getting two one getting one how does that even fit well think about it this way if you're to quantify this with believers or people who have had the Word of God throughout the Bible up until now we can say that the person who has one talent representing the kingdom of God could essentially symbolize the Israelis of the Old Testament okay so why is that well because of the fact you know they saw through a glass darkly they didn't have the entire canonized Bible they didn't have a whole lot to work with but they had a talent because of the fact that unto them were committed to the oracles of God they had knowledge of the Bible they had the Old Testament prophets giving them the Word of God telling them of things to come so they had something to work with it's not like they didn't have anything right if you were to look at the guy with the servant with two talents that can kind of represent like the the Christians of the first century AD because of the fact that they had more than the first guys of the Old Testament but you know they didn't they still didn't have the entire canonized scripture so they had enough to work with to know what to do to preach the Word of God hey but the servant with five talents can represent us today why because we have an overabundance of knowledge of the kingdom of God and in fact I would even go on to say that we have more knowledge of the Bible than pretty much all the believers of the Old Testament so how can you say that because we have the entire Bible hey put it this way we probably know more of the Bible than Daniel who wrote it so he wrote the Word of God but even it even says in Daniel chapter 12 God commands Daniel to seal up these things into the end because you know his cogitations were like trouble you know he's like I don't even know what this means what are these pictures I'm getting out all these dreams and everything well we can interpret it for Daniel what those mean because we actually have five talents we have more to work with in the New Testament today in 2023 than the guy who had two talents then even the guy especially the guy who has one you understand so what's being stated here is the stewardship of the knowledge of the kingdom of God that was given to all these people throughout these eras understand the one being the guy in the Old Testament the two being the guy transitioning into the New Testament and the guy with five can be referring to us because we have an overabundance of knowledge we understand the Word of God and we have the canonized Bible because even the guy with two talents he didn't have it yet he was still in that period where the New Testament events were taking place whereas we actually know what took place we know what's happening we have the book of Revelation we can compare these things so we have a lot to work with you understand and so that's what I believe this is referring to the talents are referring to the kingdom of God distributed the knowledge of the kingdom of God being distributed to these servants representing different types of people throughout the eras now you say well but you know the guy with the first talent though you know he went to hell so are you saying that you know you have to be a good steward of the kingdom of God in order to go to heaven well think about this you know and to be a good steward of the knowledge of the Bible the first thing you have to do is believe it but to be a good steward of the gospel means you have to believe the gospel first and so the Jews didn't do that so how do you know because he hid it under the earth and the Bible says if our gospel be hid it just hits in them that are lost you know you know and it talks about whom the God of this world that blind of the minds of them which believe not lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ was the image of God should shine unto them and it says that we have this treasure in earthen vessels and you know the fact that we have the Word of God now and we're to propagate it and preach it but the Old Testament in general Israel in general can be likened unto that servant who hid the talent under the earth and in fact think about this you know the Bible says Jesus when he's rebuking the lawyers says woe unto you lawyers for ye have taken away the key of knowledge ye enter not in yourselves and then that were entering in you hindered what is he saying you're a bad steward of the knowledge of the kingdom of God because you're taking away the key of knowledge you're not even saved yourself and you trying to stop people from getting saved so they're in opposition to the knowledge of the kingdom of God they're not saved themselves they're hiding it in the earth and this is essentially the stigma that Israel has that they wanted to keep the glory for themselves and not propagate it to all the Gentiles not be a light unto the Gentiles but rather hide it under a bushel hide it under the earth so it doesn't go out to anybody else and think about this my friends when we when dealing with these talents here is that he rebukes this guy harshly right he's calling him a lazy person a wicked and slothful servant and he's he's just giving him a strong rebuke okay and so aside from the fact that he's going to hell because obviously he's just a really bad steward of the kingdom of God he doesn't even believe it he takes the talent and what does he do he gives it to the guy who has five now why does he give it to the guy who has five well because the guy who has five actually produce some fruit with it you know just kind of how he says that the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof that's what it pictures he's taking the talent from the Jew who hid it under the earth he's like give it to the guy who's producing five because he's actually bringing fruit he's getting people saved he's promoting the kingdom of God and so he's gonna get more he's gonna get paid more than this guy this guy doesn't even believe it so he's gonna go to hell okay and so when we look at this particular parable we see obviously there's a great secondary application but the main interpretation is the most important one because what it's doing is it's highlighting the stewardship of the kingdom of God throughout biblical history up until today it's representing the Jews who rejected that talent hid it under the earth it represents the person who has two talents who you know essentially it also doubles it but then it also shows us that we have five and we shouldn't gloat and say oh man yeah we got more knowledge than anybody else that makes us more important actually to whomsoever much is given of him shall be much required so we're held essentially to a higher standard because we have more knowledge of the Bible and so it's important for us to understand that we can't be flippant about this you know obviously the guy who had two talents you know he had to go to the temple or to the synagogue and pull out the scroll and open it up and read it there we can just pull out our phones and read the Bible right I mean some of us have more Bibles than we know what to do with some of you guys just forget your Bibles here because you have so many Bibles you go home and find all kinds of Bibles all over the church and you're just like oh forgot my Bible good thing I have my phone or I got my house Bible I got my church Bible you know I got my toilet Bible I got my car Bible you know you got Bibles everywhere what does that call it five talents got it got it all over the place whereas the Christians of the first century AD they didn't have access to the Word of God that readily I mean someone all across across the world still has access to the Bible because they have the internet like what if they don't have internet everyone has it the dude in the jungle in the Congo that everyone wants to talk about that dude has Wi-Fi for sure because every nation will go without anything except for Wi-Fi okay and so Southeast Asia the huts were you know dirt roads and eating dogs and all they got Wi-Fi there I guarantee you because that's the day and age in which we live so they can literally just pull up the Bible on their phone and they have access to it what I'm saying is that we have five talents in the sense that God has given us more you understand and so therefore it's important for us to do more than that person who had two talents or one because now we have airplanes we have social media we have all these avenues by which we can propagate and promote the Word of God we should do it amen you can post a Bible verse on your story you can get on your story and preach the gospel if you wanted to and yeah you may not go mega viral but who knows like a hundred people might watch it a thousand people might watch it that's a lot of people in a matter of a couple minutes or even a day whereas prophets of the Old Testament have to travel far and wide to even preach the gospel to a few people we have access to crowds and multitudes of people and we don't even have to leave the comfort of our house to be able to reach them right and so I'm looking forward to getting that one talent from that Jew they've taken so much from this from us it's time to get something back amen and so the first parable is dealing with the second coming of Christ and the importance of being ready what does it mean to be ready obviously there's other instances where being ready means to just watch be walking the Spirit and make making sure you're paying attention as in reading the Word of God praying and and doing that but here in particular it actually means like make sure you're saved okay that's the best way to be ready and so even our preacher buddies if they're saved you know they're gonna go to heaven still and you know it might be a little embarrassed but at least they're going to heaven so let's get into the parable I call it a parable he doesn't call it a parable but just I call it that because a parable really at the end of the day is like a dark scene right and so this is somewhat of a dark scene and sometimes Christians have a hard time interpreting this particular passage here it says in verse 31 when the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him then shall you sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats and he shall set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on the left then shall the King say unto them on the right hand come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world for I was in hunger and he gave me meat I was thirsty he gave me drink I was a stranger you took me in naked and he clothed me I was sick and he visited me I was in prison he came unto me then shall the righteous answer him saying Lord when saw we thee hungered or fed thee or thirsty and gave these to drink when saw we the stranger took the end or naked and clothed thee or when saw we the sick or in prison and came unto thee verse 40 and the King shall answer and say unto them verily I say unto you in as much as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me so what is this talking about well at face value you can become confused and say man so is this implying that we have to do good works in order to inherit the kingdom of God and I've heard people try to use this to say see this is why you have to visit the sick and this is why you have to have works with your faith in order to inherit the kingdom of God it says it right here and they often use this passage of scripture to try to back that up but the first thing I want to point out before I show you how ridiculous that is is the fact that in verse 34 he says come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world so how is it that he's preparing for them for the foundation of the world even though they haven't done the works yet because verses 35 through verse 38 are all the works but he says that the kingdom of God was prepared for them before the foundation of the world well the only way that's possible is if you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ because of the fact that every person in this world in the beginning starts off in the book of life every man woman boy and girl from right start they start off in the book of life right and essentially it can be said that the kingdom of God was prepared for everyone and in fact heaven is made to inhabit the souls of the redeemed God is not willing to ensure parish but all should come to repentance when it comes to the book of life everyone starts off in the book of life the Bible only records people being blotted out which is when they die or become reprobate etc so that's the first thing I want to point out the second thing is this people spend so much time focusing on the works that they're doing but not enough time on who's actually doing them which is actually the most important part of this passage because it's not the works that's qualifying them to get into the kingdom of God who are the ones doing it it's the sheep because in the beginning he divides the sheep from the goats who are sheep believers who are goats unsaved people they're divided as sheep and goats and then later on they're rewarded for their works so the sheep are those who inherit the kingdom of God because God refers to his people as sheep my sheep know my name and hear my voice and they follow me the Bible says that he's known of his sheep etc whereas the goats that we see here it's the exact opposite right it's like you didn't do these things and when you think about it as a safe person when you're a sheep when you believe on Jesus Christ and you're a sheep you could pretty much get rewarded for anything because listen to me both of these are getting rewarded for their works the difference is one is saved and is actually benefiting them the other is not safe because they're a goat and is detrimental for them or the lack of works that they're doing and so the redeemed here who are the sheep are getting rewarded even for handing us a glass of cold water whatever may be and this is to show us that when it comes to the Christian life you get rewarded for anything you do for the Lord you understand so it's not just service that you do here at your church sowing things of that nature everything you do in a 24-hour period whether here at home at your job with your spouse with your boss with your coworker with the complete stranger no matter what you do if you do it as unto the Lord you get rewarded if you use your talents for the Lord you get rewarded if you do anything as unto the Lord you get rewarded for it this is a great reward program that God has here because it's not just you know soul winning it's not just reading your Bible it's every interaction that you have if you do it as unto the Lord if you love your neighbor as yourself guess what you get rewarded for that now the goat on the other hand they get rewarded but it's not a good reward they get punished for it and in fact you know God keeps a line item of everything that they do okay and even if they do good it's still seen as a bad work because think about it the Bible says in Matthew 7 that many will say unto me in that day Lord Lord have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name have done many wonderful works he didn't say have we not you know drunk alcohol and all you know fornicated and murdered no he's talked about all these good things and what does God tell me says depart for me ye that work iniquity so God equates the work of the unsafe person as a work of iniquity so even the good that they do still works against them why because they're not saved so they get punished even for the good things that they do because they're not even saved whereas us even the little good thing that we do we still get rewarded for that you say how little you know Maury he made he will make sure that I have a cold cut it's not a glass cup so I don't know how the rewards gonna work out but he gives me a cold cup of water with ice in it I promise you Maury will receive and we joke about it but I promise you he is gonna get a reward for that I'm sure he's doing it because he wants me to make sure I have water but in his mind he's just like cha-ching-ching every service and it's no joke he will be rewarded for that because the Bible even the Bible says that if you give a cold cup of water in my name you shall in no wise lose your reward so even the smallest of actions that you do for the Lord and Maury you better make sure you're doing for the Lord amen you get rewarded for it according to the Bible but if you're to do the flip side of that if you're not saved even the smallest sin that you do still is is a major punishment for you because whosoever keepeth the whole law yet offended one point he is guilty of all yeah you never murdered anybody but if you told a lie you're screwed you're done for I mean your your hell just is still hot okay and if you think about in Revelation chapter excuse me Revelation chapter 20 when the dead are being judged it says that he opens the books and the book of life and that they're judged out of the things that are written in the book according to their works so God keeps a line item of everything that they do and didn't do and just judges them based off of that so even things that they probably forgot about I mean the Bible says that the thought of foolishness is in so even the thoughts that they think are gonna work against them okay and so what do we see here we see that what's being talked about here is the fact that both sheep and goat are gonna be rewarded the difference is the fact that the sheep are obviously saved so they're gonna be rewarded with you know they're gonna be rewarded at the judgment seat of Christ and and given authority and the goats are gonna be rewarded with eternal damnation so don't focus too much when you when you read this on the works that they're doing but who are the ones that are doing the works it's the sheep and the goats these are the two that are being separated okay pretty interesting now here's the last thing I want to say and that is that chapter 25 is still carrying over from chapter 24 especially in regards to the biblical timeline of end times prophecy because if you think about it Matthew 24 of course is the tribulation going into the rapture chapter 25 with the parable of the ten virgins continues that thought of the rapture and then the parable of the talents is the judgment seat of Christ where he distributes the rewards and the separation of the sheep and the goats is actually the great white throne judgment because that's actually when he separates the sheep from the goats is at the white throne judgment okay because of the fact that after the millennial reign you have people getting saved throughout the millennial reign and then at the end of that there is a great separation and you say where do the sheep go well the sheep are part of that second resurrection okay that isn't explicitly talked about in Revelation chapter 20 but we know it does exist because of the fact that the Bible talks about blessed are they who who are part of the first resurrection implying that there is a second and obviously there's a second because people are getting saved throughout the wrath of God throughout the millennial reign there's gonna be a second resurrection and this is when the separation of the sheep and the goats take place now chapter 25 is also important because of the fact that this is the nail in the coffin for Jesus Christ and the Jews and this is when they're they're gonna decide we're gonna kill him okay and so you know people today who advocate for Israel and the Jews and they can't seem to see all the things that Jesus said against the Jews you know they're pretty blind or either that they're just ignorant or they're being stubborn because even the Jews of this day knew that he was preaching against them as proven by the fact that they wanted to kill him and did kill him because of it these last five chapters have been about parables against the Jews and chapter 25 was essentially the straw that broke the camel's back where the Jews are like we've had enough we're gonna crucify Jesus so even they knew that Jesus was preaching against them yet people Christians of today these stubborn prideful just dumb Christians you know very arrogant and prideful just subverting the Word of God not willing to listen because they want to just keep worshipping the Jews and Israel they they probably skip over these parables or they only give the secondary third fourth application to it they don't want to delve into the primary interpretation because it's very offensive because the Jews are the foolish five virgins the Jews are the guys with the one talent who's being cast down to outer darkness and the Jews are the goats so how do you know because in John chapter 10 when Jesus is preaching to the Jews they're like we don't we don't know what he's saying he's like my sheep hear my voice and they're like who is he talking what is he talking about it's like the fine irony you know it's just like he's talking about the fact that only his sheep will hear his voice and the Jews are there and just like we don't know what you're saying it's like well you're proving the point okay and so that's pretty much it let's pray father we thank you so much for your word and thank you for these parables Lord so much deep meaning behind them I pray that you'd help us to take to heart the principles that we can learn as Christians which is to watch it's also to be a good steward of the knowledge that we have of the kingdom of God and then lastly of course to make sure that especially now that we're sheep or saved that we recognize that every little thing we do we can be rewarded for and so it's all always important to make sure that we don't compartmentalize Christianity our salvation our God and our service to you we need to recognize that everything that we do whatsoever do whatever you do whether you eat or drink do all to the glory of God because you view our life as a service not just what we do at church not just what we do out sowning every aspect of our lives counts and so help us to give heed to that and may it help us to change whatever it is that we need to change and help us to be more eternally minded Lord we love you we thank you we pray these things in Jesus name Amen and song number 187