It's great to be back with you again this evening. Our plan is to pick up where we left off, it was a couple of weeks ago now, in Matthew chapter 24. Matthew chapter 24. Let's start reading at verse 36, and those first dozen or so verses in chapter 25. So Matthew chapter 24, verse 36, this is Jesus speaking. But concerning that day and hour, no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and one left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and one left. Therefore stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. who then is the faithful and wise servant whom his master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time. Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. But if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and eats and drinks with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, here is the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose 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, Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, Truly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. The reading of God's word. Let's pray together. Great God of heaven and of earth, we come to you this evening. Lord, we pray that this time spent in your word will be a great blessing to each of us here. Would you speak to us in Jesus' precious and worthy name? Amen. A well-known Christian wrote this, he said, the last days are upon us. Weigh carefully the times. Look for him who is above all time, eternal and invisible. He's expecting Jesus to come again. That was written just a couple of decades after the Apostle John wrote the final book of the Bible, Revelation. And the man was called Ignatius, written in about the year 110 AD. Another early church father, a man called Hippolytus, wrote in the year 236 that Christ was sure to return by the year 500. The years surrounding 1000, they were filled with predictions about the imminent return of Christ to the point where Christians didn't plant crops for next year. Buildings weren't repaired and the details of ordinary life were ignored. In the 1500s, Martin Luther wrote this, we have reached the time of the white horse of the apocalypse. This world will not last any longer than another hundred years. Little known fact about Christopher Columbus is that he wrote a book called The Book of Prophecies. In there, he predicted that the world would end in the year 1656. He was pretty dogmatic, he said, there is no doubt that the world must end in 155 years. Year 1666, there was an explosion in end time speculations and one pastor wrote in his journal that every time a storm hit that year, the church members would go to the church building to pray together to wait the imminent return of Christ. 1844, End of the world was pronounced. 10 weeks from now, that 10 weeks passed. Great day was at hand. In a Philadelphia store window, this sign appeared. This shop is closed in honor of the King of Kings, who will appear about the 20th of October. Get ready, friends, to crown him Lord of all. Never stops. 1992. There was a popular book in Christian bookstores by a man called Harold Camping. The book title was 1994. It gave him two years to sell as many copies as possible. 1994 came and went. You may remember, a few years ago now, that the same man predicted May 21st, 2011. And then when that didn't happen, he predicted October 21st in the same year. He owned a Christian radio station. He put up 2,000 enormous boards by the side of major freeways to announce this was coming. One book said that there has been 244 recorded predictions. Some by Christians, some not. Do you know what? To some extent, we can understand what some of those people are trying to do. They're trying to warn people to be ready. Prepare for eternity, get yourself right with God. And we can agree with that part of the message as Jesus does in our passage here. But in our passage, setting dates is the very thing Jesus was trying to prevent. But it clearly persists to this day and we can see the result in the case of Harold camping. There was mockery. There was ridicule. And if we can say it like this, I'm sure the devil was smiling away somewhere. This has worked. This has been another failed prediction. People will start to think this isn't going to happen. This is nonsense. Jesus isn't coming again at all. And therefore, I don't have to be worried about this kind of thing. People have been wrong so many times. Well, let's remind ourselves where we are in the ministry of Jesus. This is the final week he's been teaching. This is his final day of teaching. This is the Tuesday of Holy Week, or Passion Week, just three days away from Jesus dying on the cross. Lots has happened already today, as we've previously considered. It's been a wonderful day in the temple courts for the disciples. They're master. Has answered every question thrown at him He's put down the Pharisees for their hypocrisy back in chapter 23 and then at the start of chapter 24 Some of the disciples came up to him and pointed out the beauty of the temple where they were in in verse 1 Then Jesus tells them it's going to be destroyed and that was only a few years later and Then it seems they headed out of the city and went on their way towards Bethany, where they were staying, and stopped on the Mount of Olives. And that gave opportunity for the disciples to come and ask Jesus about the future, about what He just said about the temple being destroyed. And they ask Him two questions in chapter 24, verse 3. It says this, as He sat on the Mount of Olives, The disciples came to him privately saying, tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And then Jesus proceeds to answer these questions throughout the remainder of chapter 24 and into chapter 25. And he answered that second question first. What will be the sign of your coming? And you remember, Jesus told them of the birth pains that would immediately precede His coming from verse 4 to verse 28 in chapter 24. They will increase in measure as the end approaches. It's a time of increasing tension and disaster and disturbance. There'll be wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, increasing wickedness, persecution of Jesus' followers. All those things are involved. None of these things, in and of itself, is striking. Because there have always been wars and earthquakes, often dot the news, and we have tragedy on there regularly as well. The events described, you see, you can imagine them as buds on a tree. We're in spring and summer's coming, and you can see the buds on the tree, and that is evidence that summer is coming. The flower is coming. It's getting near. So, this evening we want to pick up in verse 36 of chapter 24, where Jesus now gives them a partial answer to the when part of the question. When will these things be? When will the end be? And they didn't put it like this, but we might. When are you coming again? When will the second coming be? When will judgment be? And to answer this, Jesus gives four parables to explain to the disciples how and why they should be prepared for His coming again. And the first one we'll see is the homeowner and the thief, in verses 42 to 44. Then the good and wicked servants, from 45 onwards. Then the ten virgins, just into chapter 25. That's the section that we'll be looking at this evening. There is another one on the parable of the talents, but it takes a slightly different approach. So we'll leave that for now. So using those three parables, I want us to look at the three points that you have on your sheet in front of you. The first one is the unexpecting or unsuspecting owner caught out. The unexpecting servant found out. And then finally, the unexpecting virgins left out. We want to see how this applies to us with that second coming still ahead in our future. Just before we rush into those passages and pick out the big ideas, I want to show you what the Bible says about why we should study passages like this. You see, Bible prophecy, looking ahead, is meant to have an impact on the present, on now, on today, on your life. Prophecy about what's going to happen in the future is designed to have a penetrating impact on our lives, on our thoughts, on our values, everything about us now, today. And so when Peter, the Apostle Peter, spoke of the fact that our present universe will one day be dissolved in a fervent heat, he did so to challenge us. This is what he said in 2 Peter 3 11. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, What kind of people ought you to be? And he says this, you ought to live holy and godly lives. That's the implication of looking at this subject. And when Paul spoke in 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, it's not so that you and I might argue over bits and pieces about how Jesus is going to come back, and the details. Listen to what he says in 1 Thessalonians 4, 16. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a loud command. with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever, the second coming." Therefore, encourage one another with these words. Reflecting, thinking ahead on what is going to happen should make us encourage each other. With the realization that when Jesus comes, all believers will be together with him, in him. Live a holy and godly life, Peter tells us. Encourage each other. And Jesus, in our passage, also has one overarching message for us. And it's this, don't worry about the detail. We're not arguing about a thousand years, as many people do, or the Antichrist, or so many other secondary things. The big idea is this, just be ready. Just be ready. So the second coming of Christ It's the next event on the calendar of God. It's one of the most important doctrines in the Bible. The number of times it's mentioned in Scripture proves exactly that. One scholar has estimated that there are over 2,000 references to the second coming of Jesus in the Bible. For every prophecy concerning his first coming, which has already happened, which is factual history, there are eight that look forward to his second coming. It's hugely important for you and I, for each of us, for every person who is living today and every person who has ever lived and will ever live. Well, let's look at its importance. Let's look at the answer that Jesus gives to the question, when will this happen? When will these things be? And verses 36 to 41 tell us this, no one knows about that day or hour. And so the familiar expression, here I come, ready or not, could would well be applied to Jesus' second coming, because He's coming according to the sovereign plan of God. That day is set. And although there will be observable, worldwide, unmistakable indications of His coming, just before it happens, as we've seen, the exact time won't be revealed in advance. So, we should be able to see a general time when it's going to happen. But the precise moment of the Lord's return cannot be calculated by anyone ever. But the period before His coming, it says in our verses, will be like the days of Noah. People were enjoying the normal pursuits of life, no imminent awareness of imminent judgment. Life continued normally for the people of Noah's day. They were eating, they were drinking, marrying, giving in marriage, but the flood came and swept them all away. It was sudden and they were unprepared. And the people living in the day just before Jesus returns will be involved in their own affairs. They'll be blind to the significance of those events happening around them that we've learned about. It'll be on an ordinary day. when everyone is getting on with life as usual. And the point of comparison with Noah is not the level of wickedness in the world at the time of the second coming, because those practices that are mentioned there, there's eating and drinking and marrying, giving in marriage, well, in and of themselves can be innocent. But the message is the suddenness, the suddenness. that it will come on an unexpecting world Jesus will come at a time when the world is completely unprepared this is 37 to 41 people working in the field at the mill it's a picture of business as usual and while Noah patiently built that ark and warned of the coming judgment people laughed at him It'll never happen, Noah. Noah's day was like our day. An age of skepticism, an age of moral relativity. And the more Noah preached, the more his contemporaries mocked him. They refused to believe that anything like a worldwide flood was even possible. Can you imagine what it was like for him and his family? For years and years, life continued without a change. With each passing day, with each nail that was driven through that wood into the ark, Noah looked like more of a fool than the day before. But finally the heavens opened and the rains came down and Noah was in the ark. Maybe we can use our sanctified imagination and see his friends pounding on the door. Noah, we're sorry. Noah, you were right, we were wrong. Open up, let us in. But it was too late, as God had shut the door of the ark. And just as the flood brought sudden judgment to the world, the return of Christ will do the same. sudden When Jesus returns to earth Unbelievers will once again be taken in death and judgment and only Believers will be preserved by God and just as the ark saved Noah Jesus Christ is the ark of safety for those who believe in him 1 Thessalonians 5 verse 3 says while people are saying peace and safety and Destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. We come to our first mini parable in verse 42. The unexpected owner caught out. See, Jesus presses the importance of this on his hearers. Verse 42 says, you must keep watch. or be alert, because they don't know when their Lord will come. And the thief in verse 43 didn't advertise the time when he was going to come to rob the house, otherwise the owner, it says, would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. It's unexpected by definition. A thief invariably takes us by surprise. If a person knows the approximate time a thief is going to come and break into the house, you'd take precautions, you'd make preparations, wouldn't you? It's obvious, that's the message. And the lesson of this illustration is that we should be in a constant state of preparation. You'd do something, you'd put a new door on, you'd secure the windows, you'd call the police if it was imminent, you'd install a burglar alarm system. So the big message in the face of this uncertainty here is keep watch. Be alert. Watch yourselves. Be ready. Be personally ready. Individually ready. Don't be caught out. But you see, then Jesus builds on this in the next few verses with the next mini parable in verses 45 to 51 with the faithful servants and the unfaithful servants. And that's where we see the unexpected servant found out. The fact that Jesus is going to come at an unexpected time does not mean that we're helpless and that we can do nothing to prepare. But what it does mean is that there are no special last minute preparations that we can do that can be made as if we can see him coming and then rush to get ready. No. Our responsibility is to be faithful and wise servants all the time. You see, the figure has now changed from that of a house owner who's watching against a thief to that of a servant who has been appointed by his master in his absence to take oversight of his fellow servants. And as the master in Jesus' story entrusted all his possessions to his servant, So God has entrusted the care of this earth to his servants too. And the responses here are indications of their inward condition. The Lord wants to find his servants faithfully carrying out his will, verse 46. And he'll be rewarded for faithful service when he returns. We see that in verse 47. But you see, A servant who fails to carry out his stewardship will be judged civilian, and such a servant, concluding that his master wasn't returning for a long time, he took advantage of others. He beat his fellow servants, it says. He lived wickedly, eating and drinking with drunkards. But the judgment will come. And he will be dealt with as one deals with a hypocrite, which is precisely what an unfaithful servant is. And his separation will result in eternal judgment, weeping, gnashing of teeth, away from his master, in verse 51. Likewise, the judgment of the wicked, the Lord's second coming, will separate them eternally from God. We have a duty, we have a responsibility to be found doing what we're supposed to be doing when Christ returns. And such faithful obedience will bring a reward, an undeserved reward. We should always be living, always be acting and serving in the knowledge that Christ may come at any time. The warning is clear to watch in verse 42. It's that's not always to be looking for Christ in the sky. No, it's being ready and prepared by fulfilling our responsibilities to Him consistently, faithfully. It's to be spiritually awake, to have a spiritual readiness in the midst of normal life. So that whenever Jesus comes, He'll find us doing what we should be doing. We're to remember that we've been given responsibility in the Master's household. We have to keep watch. We have to be ready. We have to be faithful. Don't be caught out. Don't be found out. We'll spend the rest of our time in our final few verses at the start of chapter 25. Another parable that hammers home some of these themes that we've looked at and teaches us some new truths too. And that's the unexpected or unsuspecting virgins left out. Verses 1 to 13 in chapter 25. Jesus now uses wedding imagery to teach about the end times, his second coming, and Jesus here is presented as the bridegroom. And notice in this story that it's the groom who's the center of attention. It's a male-dominated society. Of Jesus' day, that was a way of life. It's not like that anymore, is it? Now it's the bride who's the center of attention. Everyone waits for her arrival. Everyone stands when she enters the room. Everyone stares at her beautiful dress. The groom nowadays is just the guy sweating at the front next to the pastor. The one lucky enough to have won the love of this beautiful bride. I like it our way. But in Jesus' day, it was the groom for whom everybody waited. with bated breath. And part of that wedding celebration was a feast that followed the actual wedding ceremony. That's what Jesus is speaking of here. And it was traditional for the virgins or bridesmaids, it's not quite that, but it helps us with our understanding. It was traditional for them to wait at home all together for the bridegroom to come and bring him to the wedding feast. And so again, we have the clear message, keep watch, be ready. And for our purposes this evening, I want to stick to the big messages that Jesus is trying to communicate. And they're these, you must be spiritually prepared. These verses also teach us that no one can do it for you. And also that there is a day or a time called too late. And here are ten virgins. And this is a picture of the visible church today with its professing members. People claiming to be Christians. They look pretty much the same outwardly. They all claim to be going to heaven. They all claim to be outwardly working for God. It's interesting in this parable that these virgins all appear to be alike. They all thought of themselves in the same way as bridesmaids, if you like. They all dressed alike. They were all expecting the bridegroom. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all fell asleep. They all had lamps. They all trimmed them to get rid of the burnt bits so that it would burn brighter. They all wanted to be part of the wedding feast. But not all of them were prepared, in verse 3. The foolish ones had no spare oil for their lamps. And this is a warning from the parable. Be sure that you, you individually, are truly prepared, because it's possible to look just like everybody else. Talk like everybody else. Carry a Bible like everybody else. Want to go to heaven. Think of yourself as a Christian, yet ultimately be unprepared. It's possible to know about Christ and not know Christ experientially. It's possible to know the Bible and not be living for the God of the Bible. It's possible to be a nice person, know all the right doctrine, know all the answers, yet have no relationship with God. It's possible to look just like everybody else and have your Christianity on the surface, which, while never allowing it to penetrate who you are and change the way that you live. One thing God used in my conversion was a little tract, not the content of the tract itself, but just the title, the headline. And it was this, it says, Missing Heaven by 18 Inches, the supposed distance between your brain and your heart. And that scared me. Was my faith honest? Was it sincere? Had it changed my life? Had I truly repented of my sins? Was Jesus Lord of my life? Or was it just all up here? Academic knowledge. Head knowledge. Commentator Matthew Henry says this, sincere Christians are the wise virgins and hypocrites the foolish ones. Many have a lamp of profession in their hands, but have not in their hearts. Many people claim to be Christians in this world today, who really aren't. All of the bridesmaids slept, and there's nothing wrong with that. Normal life goes on whilst we're waiting for the bridegroom. We work, we wait, we sleep. Hospitals need to keep on functioning. Babies are born, need to be fed. Shops need to be opened. Cars need to be fixed. The routine of life rolls on as we wait for that time when we will stand before the King of Kings. The important point is that we don't get caught up in the routine of the world and forget that things won't always continue like this. There is a new day coming. You see, some of those bridesmaids slept the sleep of sloth and indifference, others the sleep of peace and security, knowing that they had prepared for the bridegrooms coming. And verse five tells us that this bridegroom was delayed. In our experience, maybe that seems the same for Jesus. Does he seem like he's delayed? But then in verse six, at midnight, the bridegroom arrived and the lamps of the five virgins without extra oil were going out. I wonder what went through those five girls' heads when they heard the shouting that the bridegroom has come. Probably, what are we gonna do? It's one of those deer caught in the headlights moments. They realized that the time had come and they hadn't prepared and they weren't ready. It's too late. There was nothing they could do. The foolish bridesmaids saw that they didn't have enough oil and they asked their wise friends to loan them some. In verse eight, not possible. The message there is that another person's faith will not cover you. Just because you were born in a Christian home or you're in church with other people of faith doesn't necessarily mean that you have your own faith. It doesn't rub off on you just by sitting next to somebody who has a relationship with Christ. You can't catch faith like you catch a cold. You can't borrow it from your friends. You can't get it from your parents, as has been said many times before. God doesn't have any grandchildren, only children. Every spiritual birth comes directly from him. Your faith must be your own. God knows our hearts, and he judges us individually. You will stand there on your own, no matter what your heritage, no matter how many Sundays you've ticked off. God is still going to judge you individually. Nobody can make these preparations for you. And in the parable, the foolish bridesmaids didn't realize their need of oil until the bridegroom appeared. And they're told to go out and buy it in verse nine. But it was impossible. Faith in God, relationship with God, can't be bought at the last minute at any price. There are many, as Matthew Henry says, who care not to live the Christian life, yet want to die the death of the righteous. Then we come to verse 10. I like the parables that emphasize grace. Come any time. God will take you just as you are. But you see, there's an end to the window of opportunity, and it comes at death. or the second coming, whichever comes first for you, there's no second chances. This is what verse 10 says. The door was shut. It's too late. There is no encouragement at all in the Bible to wait to repent on your deathbed. There is always urgency. The door was shut. the door of the marriage feast chamber, the door of the kingdom of God. It's open now, but it won't always be that way. The day of opportunity passes. Perhaps those five foolish virgins thought that they wouldn't really be stopped from entering the wedding just because they'd forgotten a little bit of oil. Many people live their lives like that. They feel that God will overlook the sin that we may be living in because it's not that big of a deal. Or they may feel that they'll be alright because they're good people. But it just doesn't work that way. Did you notice what happened as a result of the virgins being unprepared? They actually missed the bridegrooms coming. They were away doing what they should have done already. And as they tried to enter the wedding feast in verses 11 and 12, they realized that their name wasn't on their list, that their shortcomings weren't overlooked at all. And when they returned and found the wedding feast in progress, they tried to get in, but they were denied. Feast had begun, the doors were locked. It's too late. As Augustine says, they came looking for mercy when it was time for judgment. And Jesus says his return will be like that. Then we have the chilling and awful reply in verse 12. I don't know you. I do not recognize you as a person who is entitled to enter. Bitter disappointment. as an understanding. I want you to know plainly that God is in the forgiving business. God is a God of grace that does overlook our sins and shortcomings as we live this life. There will be no way for any of us to be saved if God didn't overlook sin, but he overlooks them because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. And those that do not prepare to come to God through the cross, through his son, the one appointed way, they will face a God who has not dealt with their sin. For those in Christ, they can rest assured that Jesus bore the wrath that God had to pour out on all our sin. Remember that we're looking at a picture of the professing church here. This clearly suggests that not every professing Christian will enter heaven. Some people's faith is not sincere. We're continually told to examine ourselves. So the question is, are you prepared for the coming of the bridegroom? Or are you still waiting for the right time, whatever that means, to make those preparations? Well, if that's the case, please heed this warning from Jesus. and learn the lesson from this parable of the tragedy of a delayed decision. The door was shut. The foolish were left on the outside. Too late. It's the same in Noah's day that that door was open for 120 years as he built that ark. But when it closed, it closed forever. The great lesson is to be always in a state of readiness. Each of us needs to repent. We need to believe, we need to have faith and demonstrate that faith through obedience. It must be in place before he returns, before we die. There is no second chance. Verse 13, therefore keep watch because you do not know the day or hour. It is foolish for you to leave this any longer. Well, let's round up our thoughts. In April 1988, the evening news came on and reported on a cameraman who was also a skydiver. And he jumped out from an airplane along with several other skydivers and filmed the group as they individually jumped out of the plane and then opened their parachutes and did all their tricks. And as the video was being shown of each member jumping out and then pulling their ripcord and their parachutes opening, the final skydiver pulled his ripcord and his parachute opened and it was at that point that the picture went crazy, berserk. And the announcer reported that the cameraman had fallen to his death, having jumped out of the plane without a parachute. It wasn't Until he reached for the ripcord that he realized that he was free-falling without a parachute Up until that moment He was enjoying himself and he was fully completely absorbed in what he was doing But tragically he was unprepared unprepared for the jump, it didn't matter how many times he'd done it before, it didn't matter what skill he had, by forgetting that parachute he'd made a foolish and a deadly mistake and nothing could save him because his faith was in a parachute which he had never taken the trouble to buckle on. That's a story not unlike the parable which Jesus told about those foolish virgins, forgetting to bring something that was necessary, vitally important. He wasn't ready. He was unprepared. He was not prepared and he passed the point of no return. It's with subjects like this that, friend, I can't beat around the bush. The consequences are too staggering. The stakes are way too high. Let me say it as clearly as I can. If you have never put your faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, you will be in deep trouble when Jesus comes back. Your judgment will be certain, swift, and severe, but fair. There is a time called too late. The second coming of Christ will be with finality, will be with power. Don't ignore the warning. Come to Jesus to save you. If you've never turned your life over to Christ, if you've never repented, if you've never received this free gift of salvation, then I want to appeal to you. Be reconciled to God before it's too late. You need to repent. You need to see your sin. You need to believe. You need to have Christ as the Lord of your life. Jesus is going to come again. Sometime. It could be today. It could be many years from now, but we can rest assured that we need to be prepared. Matthew Henry said this, men of the world scheme and plan for generation upon generation here. but they plan not with reference to the overwhelming, approaching, and most certain event of Christ's coming, which shall do away with every human scheme. In that moment, every other work will be laid aside, and every heart will turn inward and say, it is the Lord. Am I prepared to meet Him? Can I stand before Him? He says, our Lord's coming will be happy to those that shall be found ready, but very dreadful to those that are not. What about for Christians? Titus 2.13 tells us that the coming of Christ is the blessed hope of the church. I love this from J.C. Ryle. He, in this quote, thinks about being on the other side of that shut door when he says this. The door shall be shut at last. Shut on all pain and sorrow. Shut on an ill-natured and wicked world. Shut on a tempting devil. Shut on all doubts and fears. Shut to be opened again no more. What a prospect we have as believers what God has promised will come to pass That our time is not to be spent dreaming of that future day We have to be ready. We have to be faithful. Our time is to be spent in the service of our absent Lord who has entrusted his possessions to us being ready to For His coming means being involved as servants in the ongoing ministries committed to us by our Lord. The message of the coming of Christ ought to fill us with tremendous excitement. Let's keep watch. Let's be faithful. Let's be ready. Let's encourage each other. Let's live those holy and godly lives. Let's be completely committed, fully engaged, passionately involved in Kingdom work. 1 John 2 28 says and now dear children continue in him so that when he appears We may be confident and unashamed before him that he's coming live as though he might come today You know the the first Christians used to greet each other with with the phrase Maranatha Which literally means, come Lord Jesus. You can see it used in the second to last verse in the whole Bible, Revelation 22, 20. It says, yes, I am coming soon. And they agree, amen. Come Lord Jesus. He is coming soon. And for the Christian, there is no greater thing, event to look forward to. Come Lord Jesus. What a glorious day that will be. What a savior we have. What a reward he gives. What grace he shows to undeserving sinners like you and I. The door hasn't closed yet. More are still going to be welcomed in. Let's spread that good news in every way we can. to his honour and glory. Friends, don't be caught out. Don't be found out, whatever you do. Don't be left out. Come to Christ today. Come through that door before it closes for that final time. Amen, let's pray. Oh Lord, God and Father, we thank you for this warning that we have in scripture, that you are coming again. Also, it's a blessing, the great hope that we have as your children. Lord, we pray for those who don't know you, that you would work in their hearts to salvation. And for those of us who do, we pray, Lord, that you would motivate us, encourage us to true, faithful kingdom living. May we be ready when you come. Lord, we pray for each here that this night you would work in our hearts to salvation or sanctification, help us to grow. Lord, be glorified through all this. In Jesus' precious name,