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The other interesting thing is Matthew 25 is not an easy chapter. I think it's probably one of the hardest chapters in the book of Matthew and I've heard a lot of preaching on some of these parables. There were three parables there in the reading of Matthew 25. It's not just the three parables but at the end of Matthew 24 you may recall there was a parable at the end there talking about the good servant and the evil servant and I had mentioned how that evil servant represented an unbeliever and he was cast into the lake of fire. These four parables are basically being told side by side. Matthew 25 is a continuation of Matthew 24. If you remember when you were here last week we went through Matthew 24 and we said this is called the Olivet Discourse. This was Jesus Christ speaking about his coming, his second coming, the rapture of the saints and then he gives us these stories and Matthew 25, if you look at the, if you've got a red letter Bible you probably noticed that it just continues. It's just a massive sermon from the Lord Jesus Christ. It just continues from chapter 24, continues on to chapter 25 and it continues the thought of his coming. All right. Now look at Matthew 25 verse 41. Matthew 25 verse 41. The Bible says, then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire. The title for the sermon tonight is Everlasting Fire. In these parables you'll notice there's good people and there's bad. All right. And actually what it's about is the saved that will go into life everlasting and we have the unsaved that is cast into everlasting fire. But let's start off with these parables here. Matthew 25 verse 1, we have the parable of the 10 virgins, the parable of the 10 virgins and it says here, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Now you know, it would take me a little while to explain to you, but Jesus Christ sometimes is referred to as the bridegroom in the Bible. Okay. And who do you think the 10 virgins represent? It represents us. It represents the believers. And I'm just going to read to you quickly from 2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 2. The Bible says, for I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband and that one husband represents Christ, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Okay. So the idea for Paul when he's writing to the Corinthian church, he says, I want this church to be seen as a chaste virgin. You know, it's a woman who's prepared for her marriage. She's kept herself faithful to the man that will take her as his wife. And of course we have our filthy rags. We have this fallen flesh. We have this fallen state in us. But if you've been born again, you've been given that new man, you've been born again of the spirit and that new man never sins. Okay. And so we want that new man, we want that spirit to represent the church. We want that spirit to represent New Life Baptist Church. And I would love for this church to be seen as that chaste virgin, as an allegory, you know, of someone that's been given into marriage to the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see then these 10 virgins represents those that make up the church. You know, obviously the believers that would represent each one of us. And then in verse number two, it says, and five of them were wise and five were foolish. Actually, I misspoke. Not all 10 represent believers. Okay. One thing you'll notice here is that five of them were wise. Okay. And I'll prove to you later on these five that are referred to as being wise, they're the believers. Okay. And the other five were foolish. That represents the non-believer. That represents the one that is not that chaste virgin to Christ. And then 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. Now, look, we don't really use oil lamps today, do we? Okay. I mean, you can still, you know, purchase oil lamps, you can make your own oil lamps. But just to give you an idea of how that is, it's a little vessel that you put, say olive oil or other types of oils in there, and then you have a little wick, maybe like a wick of cotton. And then when you put that wick in the oil, okay, you sit it in there, the wick will soak up the oil. Okay. Soak up the oil. So you need to leave it there for maybe an hour or so for it to soak up the oil, and then you light the wick with fire. Okay. And that wick will continue to burn for a long time. That's an oil lamp. Okay. And that's what's been represented here in Matthew 25. These virgins have an oil lamp, but the foolish do not have oil with them. That's very important for you to understand. It's not that they had oil, and they ran out. No, they didn't have any oil at all. Okay. Now, when you have the oil lamp and the wick burns, what's meant to burn there is the oil. You know, as the wick soaks up the oil, what's burning is the oil. That's why it lasts for a long time. That's why the wicks never burn out because it's soaked up by the oil. But if you have no oil and you light the wick, what's going to happen? The wick's going to burn up. Okay. It's just going to last for like a few moments, a few seconds, and it's going to be totally burnt out because you don't have the oil there with it. Okay. So the wise represents the virgins who took oil. I mean, that's the only way that oil lamp works, right? And then the foolish did not take any oil at all. Okay. And now, what does the oil represent? I've had many people, I've had many sort of thoughts as to what it represents. I've heard different preaching on what it represents. But I'm going to get you to turn to 1 Corinthians now, keep your finger there in Matthew 25, and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 12, 1 Corinthians chapter 2 verse 12. Now before I read that, when someone would be anointed in the Bible, especially in the Old Testament, someone was anointed, you know, a priest or anointed a king, they were ordained an anointed for a special position, they would be anointed with oil, okay, that have hands placed upon them, and they have oil sometimes poured, you know, above their head or something like that. Okay, that's what the oil represents, this anointing. And before we read 1 Corinthians 2, 12, I'm going to read to you from 1 John 2, 27, which says this, but the anointing, which ye have received of him, abideth in you. The Bible says that inside of each believer, we have an anointing, saying, what's that anointing? Well, it continues, it says, and ye need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you all things. So this anointing is someone that teaches you all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it have taught you, you shall abide in him. They say, what is that anointing that teaches us all things, when we become saved, what is it? Well, there in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 12, it says, now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. So what have we received? The spirit of God, right? Verse 13, which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. So what's the anointing within us that teaches us all things? Well, here it says, it's the Holy Ghost that teaches us all things. Verse 14, but the natural man, that's the man that is without Christ, the man that is unsaved, it says, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God, for the are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Notice the natural man does not have the spirit of God. The natural man does not have the anointing, right? In fact, when it comes to the things of God, it said here, that it's foolishness to him. Okay? And what we saw in Matthew 25, we saw these other five virgins that did not have the oil with them, they're called the foolish ones, they're called foolish, because the things of God are foolishness to them, okay? Now go back to Matthew 25, now that we understand what the picture of the oil represents, we have five virgins with the Holy Ghost, and the other five virgins are without the Holy Ghost, meaning they are unsaved, okay? But they're looking for the bridegroom, okay? They're looking for Jesus Christ, so hold on, then are they saved? Obviously not, okay? Now, would it surprise you if I told you there are lots of people in this world, lots of churches in this world, lots of churches in Sydney, lots of people that call themselves Christians that are not saved? Would that surprise you? Man, look, there are a lot of Christians out there that appear to be virgins, that appear to be chaste, but they have no oil in their lamps. Hey, but they're still waiting for Christ, they still know of Christ, okay, well what's gonna happen to them? You know, let's look at this. Verse number five, verse number five, 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, okay? So notice in verse number six it says, there was a cry, okay? The bridegroom is coming, you say, what is that cry? Well remember, don't detach Matthew 25 from Matthew 24, okay? Matthew 24 was about the rapture of the church. Now keep your finger there and go to 1 Thessalonians chapter four, 1 Thessalonians chapter four, and again, this is the verse that everyone agrees is about the rapture, 1 Thessalonians chapter four verse 16, 1 Thessalonians chapter four verse 16, the Bible says, for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, okay? Looks like there was a cry when the virgins knew the bridegroom was coming, well the Bible tells us that the rapture, there's a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first, then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. So I do believe the parable of the 10 virgins is about the rapture, okay, of Jesus Christ, the Christ coming and taking the virgins, okay, taking the chaste virgins that had the oil with them. Let's keep reading, go back to Matthew 25 verse seven, Matthew 25 verse seven, the Bible says then all those virgins arose, all of them, the ones with the oil and without the oil, all right, and trimmed their lamps and the foolish said unto the wise, give us of your oil for our lamps are gone out. Is that true? Did their lamps go out? No, they were never on to begin with, remember they had no oil, you know, what I'm trying to say to you is they're lying, okay, they're saying look we had oil but we've run out, can you give me a little bit of the oil that you have, okay, now these people represent unbelievers, okay, and a lot of the unbelieving, a lot of the Christian, you know, that are not saved actually believe you can lose your salvation, you know, they say well my oil has run out, I've lost my salvation, you know, and then they're trying to get saved once again, look they're not even saved because if you believe you can lose your salvation, you believe that salvation is based on your performance, that it's based on your works and of course salvation is based on the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, it's based upon your faith on him alone, not of works, not of anything like that, not of your performance, you can't lose your salvation because you were never good enough to get in the first place, you can never be bad enough to lose it because it's not about you, it's about it being fully paid for by Jesus Christ. And here's the thing, these guys are relying, these foolish virgins are relying on the faith of others, you know, and this can be, you know, a generation of children that grow up into a church, they assume I must be saved because I'm in church, I must be saved because mum and dad, they're saved, and I must be saved, we need to be careful with our children, you know, I've seen lots of people make the mistake of just assuming their kids were saved because they were saved and because their kids were in church, they must have been saved, but you know, their children never understood the gospel, their children never placed their faith on Christ, okay, and so we need to be careful about that, okay, but some people try to, you know, or pretend they're Christian, pretend they're saved because of a heritage or because of other people, you know, my father's a pastor, you know, or things like that, well that's not going to get you saved, okay, regardless of how many people in your family are pastors, that's not going to get you saved unless you've placed your faith on Christ. Verse number nine, but the wise answered saying, not so, lest there be not enough for us and you, but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves. So look, you've got to get yourself saved, all right, you know, go and sort it out. Verse number 10, and while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. See if you don't take your opportunity to believe the gospel, there can come a time in your life when the door is shut, and I'm reminded of Noah when he went onto the ark with his family and with the animals, the Bible tells us that the door was shut by the Lord, meaning that when the floods came and the rain came, it was too late for everyone else on the earth, they never got onto the ark, they never found grace in the eyes of the Lord. And verse number 11, it says, afterward came also the other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. You see these other virgins, the foolish virgins, they call Jesus, Lord, Lord, where have you heard that before? Hey, look, they think they know Jesus. They think he is their Lord, okay, but they had no oil. They didn't have the Holy Ghost. They weren't born again. They weren't saved. They were trusting on other things rather than their faith on Christ. And look what Jesus says to them in verse number 12, and he answered and said, verily, I say unto you, I know you not. I don't even know who you are. I don't know you calling me Lord. I don't know who you are. That's what Jesus Christ is saying. Now keep your finger there and go to Matthew chapter seven, please. Matthew chapter seven, verse 21. Because this should bring our remembrance to Matthew seven, verse 21. Jesus Christ says, Matthew seven, 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, hey, what did these foolish virgins say? Lord, Lord, Jesus says, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. That he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to me in the day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in their name, in thy name? Look, these are preachers. They've prophesied. They've proclaimed the Lord God behind their pulpits, right? These people, look at them, and in thy name have cast out devils. They claim, I don't believe this is true, they're claiming that they've cast out devils, right? And then it says, and in thy name, done many wonderful works. Hey, what are these people trusting in? Their many wonderful works, okay? Lord, I was in the choir, you know, I was in the church choir, Lord, I vacuumed the floors in the church building, Lord, I cut the grass, Lord, I read my Bible, you know, Lord, my father was the pastor, you know, they're trusting on everything else beside Jesus Christ. Now look, if you face Jesus Christ, don't go to him and say, I've done many wonderful works, all right? You say, Lord, you know, I'm a wicked sinner, thank you for dying on the cross for me, you know, thank you that you've paid it all for me and that you rose again from the dead, and I've only trusted you, Lord Jesus Christ, you know, and if you did that, you know, you're one of these virgins with the oil in their lamps, okay? That's not going to happen. You're not going to have to explain yourself to him, okay? He knows who I is, but obviously, you never will come to the Lord and talk about your works. But unfortunately, there are so many Christians, I'm saying, right, unsaved, without the oil, that will say to you, but, you know, Lord, Lord, I've prophesied in name, I've done many wonderful works. I remember when I knocked on the door of a, I might have mentioned this story already, but of a Salvation Army man, he was elderly, and I said to him, hey, you know, you're 100% sure you're going to heaven? He goes, well, I hope so. I said, well, you know, what do you think someone has to do to go to heaven? He goes, well, you've got to have faith. And I got excited. I thought, maybe this guy is saved. You know, he said, you've got to have faith, and I said, well, what do you have to have faith on? He goes, well, you know, I served the Salvation Army for 15 years, you know, I was doing this, I was doing that, I was doing this. Look, this guy trusted in his many wonderful works. He says it's faith, but his heart, he's trusting in his works. He thinks he knows he's saved because of, look at me, I've done so many wonderful works all right. Now look at verse 23, Matthew 7-23, what does Jesus say about these people? And then I will profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from ye that work iniquity. You see, your works to Jesus Christ as a measure for your salvation, he just sees it as iniquity. You know, the works you think that's good enough to get to heaven, he goes, look, you're working iniquity, okay? Trust in your works for salvation is iniquity in the eyes of God, and Jesus says, I never knew you, all right, I never knew you. Just like he said in Matthew 25, I know you not. It's not, I used to know you, okay, and now you've lost your salvation, and now I don't know. He says, I never knew you. I know you not, these virgins, these five foolish virgins, these people that trust in their works who have never been known by God, okay, they're not saved, regardless of how good they look on the outside, okay, regardless if they say Lord, Lord, regardless if they're preaching behind a pulpit, if they teach a works gospel, they are not saved, they are not the Lord's, okay? Go back to Matthew 25, Matthew 25 verse 13, Matthew 25 verse 13, so what's the lesson of this first story? Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh, okay? The mission here is for the virgins without the oil, hey, get the oil, okay? You know, get saved, all right? Make sure that you're one of these that will be raptured with the Lord Jesus Christ and spend eternity with him. Make sure you get saved, and if you're in this church and you don't know if you're saved, you think, well, maybe I'm saved because of my mom and dad, hey, you need the oil for yourself and you need to make sure today that you get saved, okay? Now we're going to skip verses 14 to 34 now, okay? We'll come back to that later in the sermon, but let's go to verse 31, verse 31, because I want to show you in these parables, okay, these four parables, you know, the one parable at the end of Matthew 24 and these three parables in Matthew 25, they're meant to be read side by side. They're meant to be read together, okay, and to take the lesson of all the parables together. They all help interpret one another, but what happens sometimes is you take one parable, and I've seen this, and they run with it, and they start teaching some crazy things like you can lose your salvation or that believers can be cast into hell or something like that, okay? So that's why we need to look at all these four parables. What we've seen so far, the wise virgins, they've gone with Christ, and the unwise, obviously the unbelievers, the foolish, they did not go with the Lord. Verse 31, verse 31, Matthew 25, verse, if I've said Matthew 24 by mistake before, sorry, Matthew 25, verse 31, when the son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, that he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. So now we have another parable of a shepherd who divides his flock. He divides some of his flock that were sheep, he puts the sheep on one side, and he puts the goats on the other side, or on the left, you see, look at this, verse 33. And by the way, before we go into it, the sheep represents the saved, and the goats represent the lost, okay? The unsaved. And we see how Christ separates these two. I want to keep bringing that to your attention that these parables are about saved and unsaved, okay? Always. Verse number 33, and he said, sorry, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come, so the ones on his right hand are the sheep, they're the believers, he says to them, come ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now the first thing I want you to notice is when he separates the sheep and the goats, he first addresses the saved. He first addresses the sheep, and he says, hey, look, he welcomes them into the kingdom that's been prepared by the father. But look at verse number 35, he goes, for I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me drink, I was a stranger and ye took me in, naked and ye clothed me, I was sick and ye visited me, I was in prison and ye came unto me, then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungred and fed thee or thirsty and gave thee drink? So these are the kinds of questions, the Lord's going to say to us as his righteous, you've given me drink, you've given me food when I was hungry, and we, of our generation, because we weren't here when Christ walked the earth, we're going to be wondering what are you referring to, Lord? When did we do these things? Because we weren't here 2,000 years ago when you walked the earth, right? Let's keep going. Verse number 38, when saw we thee a stranger and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee, or when saw we thee sick or in prison and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. This is a beautiful teaching. Before I get into the beautiful teaching of what it is, if you've been in some churches like me, those that uphold Israel, that lift up the chosen people, yes I'm in inverted commas the chosen Jewish people, I've heard teaching basically where Christ is commending those that were a blessing to the nation of Israel, and says look, because you're so good to the Jews, you've done it like as unto me, and it's just such ridiculous teaching because that is not the natural reading between the sheep and the goats. The sheep obviously represent those in the fold of the shepherd, the shepherd being the Lord Jesus Christ. Look is Israel there in the Middle East right now, are they the sheep of Jesus Christ? Are they in the fold? Maybe a couple. But the vast majority, it's an ungodly, wicked nation, just like any other nation on this earth. But I've heard people really take this passage and teach, so therefore you need to be good to the Jews. You need to be a blessing to the Jews. And that's how you basically get into heaven, because you've been good to the Jews. It just flips the gospel on its head, it's just ridiculous teaching. Has anyone else heard that kind of stuff from this passage? I have, and I'm saying more than once, I've heard that kind of teaching. But obviously look, we're up to Matthew 25. We should have been reading the previous chapters before we get to Matthew 25, so then we know what he's talking about. So let's go to Matthew chapter 10 please. Matthew chapter 10. Because this is not the first time that Jesus teaches this. Matthew chapter 10 verse 40. Matthew chapter 10 verse 40. Jesus says, He that receiveth you, talking to his disciples, talking to his believers, he that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me. Here's the thing guys, if I'm nice and hospitable and courteous to you, then I'm doing it as unto the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm receiving Christ, and if I do that, I'm also receiving God the Father. The best way for you to honor Christ on this earth right now is to serve in his body. The body being the local church. We have one another, if we love one another, we serve one another, we minister to one another, we be kind and courteous to one another, it's as though you're doing it to the Lord Jesus Christ. I mean if Jesus Christ walks through the doors right now, wouldn't you give him reverence, wouldn't you give him honor, wouldn't you give him attention? You know, then what should you do to each other as brothers and sisters in the Lord? The same thing. That's how we do it as unto the Lord today. We serve one another. Okay? Verse 41. He that receiveth, you guys in Matthew 10, Matthew 10 verse 41, sorry, Matthew 10 41. He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's reward. And he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man's reward. And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward. So you see, not only is Christ receiving the sheep into the kingdom, but Christ also wants to reward them. Reward them for the service they did to their fellow brethren. To the fellow church members, alright? And you see, just giving a cup of water, you know, will earn you a reward. But this is about serving one another, and by serving one another, we are serving Christ. Now after we've read Matthew 10, we should eventually get to Matthew 18. So let's go to Matthew 18 verse 2. Matthew 18, Matthew chapter 18 verse 2. Matthew chapter 18 verse 2. The Bible says here, and Jesus called a little child unto him and said him in the midst of them and said, verily I say unto you, except ye be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as his little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And look at this, and whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me. Okay? Hey, if you're kind to the children in the church, alright? You speak to them, you receive them, you show them they're welcome to church, you're doing the same as unto the Lord Jesus Christ, okay? So by the time, you know, with Matthew 10, yep, makes sense. Matthew 18, makes sense. By the time we get to Matthew 25, oh no, it's about the Jews, like what in the world, what's going on with the minds of a lot of preachers these days, okay? It's already been taught to us by Christ in the two previous chapters, Matthew 10, Matthew 18. So by the time we get now to Matthew 25, let's go back there, Matthew 25, we know what the Lord is speaking about. You know, we've honored him, we've served him because we've been serving the brethren. And that's exactly what Jesus said in verse 40, Matthew 25 verse 40, just the second half, in as much as ye have done it unto the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Do you think he's talking about the brethren in the flesh? We know that when Jesus Christ came, he was born as a Jew, is he talking about the brethren in the flesh? Or do you think he's talking about the brethren in the spirit? Obviously, the brethren, you know, we become brothers of Christ, we become sons of God, Jesus Christ is also the son of the Father, and we become brothers and sisters as, you know, to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's talking about the spiritual brethren here, not the physical, natural brethren, okay? Verse 41, Matthew 25 verse 41, then shall he say unto them on the left hand. Now I just want you to just remember, the saved have been dealt with, they've received the kingdom, and I believe they've been rewarded, as we can see in the other passages, when you serve one another, you also earn your rewards, okay? And the believers are going to be judged, I don't have time to go through all this, but believers are going to be judged at the judgment seat of Christ. Actually, we will cover that shortly, but now he's judging the unbelievers, and the unbelievers are going to be judged at the great white throne judgment, okay? Now this is just important for you to remember, we'll have a look at this later, but only non-believers, only the lost will be judged at the great white throne judgment, okay? Let's keep reading though, Matthew 25 verse 41, then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, those are the goats, depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. I mean, I don't want to hear these words from Christ, you know, it's a sad thing that, you know, this world, you know, that's, you know, people in Australia are going to be hearing these words from Christ, depart from me ye cursed, into everlasting fire. You see, either you're cursed, and you know, you suffer for your sins, you pay for your sins in hellfire, or you allow Christ to become the curse for you, you know, which he became the curse for you when he hung up on the tree, you take that, you know, you receive the blessing of the righteousness of Christ, and you give your curse over to the Lord Jesus Christ, because he became sin for us. You do that, and you're no longer cursed, you know, but these people did not believe on Christ, they're cast into everlasting fire, and that is the lake of fire, it's everlasting, it burns forever, but here's the thing about verse 41, it was never meant to be for man, you know, God created the lake of fire not for mankind, you know, he sent Jesus to die for us, none of us should really have to go to hell, okay, because it says he was prepared for the devil and his angels, okay, it's the devil that's going to be tormented there, day and night, forever and ever, it's his fallen angels that hell was made for, okay, the wrath of God, you know, burning, you know, there in hell, in the lake of fire, it was for the devil and his angels to suffer in there, it was never meant for man, it was prepared for the devil and his angels, and by the way, that just also, you know, demolishes the teaching that hell is the kingdom of the devil, you know, some people think the devil's in charge of hell, you know, and he tortures people in hell, you know, he's the king of hell, no, hell was created for him, for his everlasting punishment, alright, he was prepared for the devil and his angels, verse 42, for I was an hungred and you gave me no meat, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you took me not in, naked and you clothed me not, sick and in prison and you visited me not, then shall I also answer him saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger or thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee, then shall he answer them saying, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to the one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. Now what's that about? Well, basically, the world, okay, the non-believing world does not care for the believer, okay? Never think for a moment that you as a Christian, as a Bible-believing Christian, as a saved man will be loved by this world, okay? This world's going to persecute you, this world's going to hate you for standing up to the word of God, okay? They're not going to love you for standing on the word of God, they're not going to love you for preaching the things this Bible says, they're not going to love you for proclaiming Christ and for preaching the gospel, no, this lost world's going to persecute you, right? But here's the thing, when this lost world treats you bad, when this lost world does not bless you, it's as though they're doing it to the Lord, okay? And so the punishment to them, if they persecute God's people, their punishment's going to be severe in the lake of fire, because it's as though they did it unto the Lord, okay? So let's make sure we bless one another, you know, we love one another, and we don't curse one another, but here's the thing, guys, if the world curses you, if the world wants to harm you, just remember the Lord Jesus Christ knows that, you know, He's notching that up, and they're going to pay for what they did to us, what they did to the believers in everlasting fire. And then verse number 46, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. You know, hell is not just everlasting fire, but hell, the lake of fire, is also everlasting punishment, because there are those that teach that, you know, the lake of fire is just a, there's this, what's the doctrine, it's called, I can't remember what the doctrine's called, but basically they believe if someone's cast into the lake of fire, they're not being tortured there, they're not being tormented there, they just cease to exist, you know, they've just been done away with, they cease to exist, and there's no more pain and suffering. And the reason why people believe that is because they've never been taught the real God of the Bible. They think, you know, God is just love, love, love, love, love, you'll never torture anybody in hell. No, no, the true God has wrath, the God of the Bible has anger, and is going to torture the non-believers in hell forever and ever, okay? And that's why it says everlasting punishment, not just everlasting fire, sorry? Jehovah's Witnesses believe that, that, you know, you'll be, that's a phrase, it's on the tip of my tongue, huh? Annihilation. Annihilation. They believe you'll be annihilated forever in hell fire, you'll be gone, you won't be suffering. No, no, it's everlasting punishment, okay, and not just fire, but punishment for that individual forever and ever, they'll be tormented forever and ever. Now, keep your finger there and go to Revelation chapter 20, please. Revelation chapter 20, verse 11. Revelation chapter 20, verse 11. And I believe what's being taught here in Matthew 25 points us to this time after the millennial reign of Christ. So after Christ comes back, sets up his millennium, those that have rejected Christ will be taken out of hell, and they'll be brought before him at the great white throne, judgment. Verse 11, Revelation 20, verse 11. And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And now look at this. And I saw the dead, okay, now we've been given everlasting life, you know, we will never die, okay, we will never die in the spiritual sense. But these that stand at the great white throne are the dead, okay, the dead, those that were not born again, those that have died in their sins. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things, okay, it's not the dead and the living, it's just the dead. And the dead were judged out of those things which are written in the books, according to their works, remember, many wonderful works, according to their works, you know, they that work iniquity. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So again, this represents the, I know we've covered the foolish virgins, but the foolish virgins that don't have the oil, they will be cast into the lake of fire. Now again, the reason I wanted to get to this third parable in the chapter before we get to the second one, is because I wanted to show you that these parables, very clearly you've got the saved and you've got the unsaved, okay. So when we look at the parable in the middle, shouldn't we assume it's also about the saved and the unsaved, okay, but again, people take that one parable in the middle and they run with it, and start teaching some crazy things. So let's go back to Matthew 14, please. Matthew 25 verse 14. Matthew 25 verse 14. Matthew 25 verse 14. And this is also similar to the last parable in Matthew 24, about the evil servant. You know, the evil servant was cast into the lake of fire, and some people struggle with that, well why are you calling him a servant, isn't that someone that's saved? Isn't a servant someone that's saved? Well not necessarily, you can't take that interpretation if it goes against the fundamental doctrines that we found in the Bible. For example, King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Jeremiah is called the servant of God. God says Nebuchadnezzar is my servant, though he's unsaved, okay, he's persecuting the people of God, he's taking them into captivity, and the Lord calls Nebuchadnezzar my servant. And also in the book of Romans, the government, okay, do you think the government's made up of saved people? Do you think all our politicians are saved people? Of course not, okay. The vast majority, I think there's very few that are saved in there, but even the government in the book of Romans is called the minister of God. The minister, that's just another way of saying servant, you know, the minister or the servant of God. So just because the Bible uses the term servant, you shouldn't automatically, well that must mean saved, no. Even the lost sometimes in the Bible are called a servant. So when we come to these parables, we know the fundamental truths, and then we interpret the parables in light of those fundamental truths that we already know, okay. One of those fundamental truths is that salvation is by grace through faith, without works, and his eternal life can never be lost because it's eternal. If you could lose it tomorrow, it wasn't eternal life, it was only temporary life, okay. Anyway, look at verse 14, Matthew 25, verse 14. For the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country, who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. So we've got a parable of a man that travels into a far country. Of course, this is a picture of Christ that goes to sit on the right hand side of the Father in heaven. And he's given his servants, he wants to deliver his servants goods. What are these goods? Verse 15, and unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to every man according to his several ability, and straightway took his journey. Now right now, I just want to deal with looking at this from a saved perspective. Let's say these people are saved, actually the one that received the one talent, another one, that person is unsaved. We'll see that later in the parable, but let's just deal with the saved right now. Let's deal with the saved right now, okay. The Bible's saying that God has given some of his servants five talents and others have received two, okay. Now the first thing you need to think about, the Bible doesn't tell us what these talents are, okay. A talent is a weight, it's a measure of weight, so it's probably like a talent of gold or a talent of silver. It's some sort of monetary thing, okay. But here's the thing, that's not the focus of this parable. The focus is that they're talents and then it's up for us to sort of acknowledge or interpret it as we see. And what I believe this has been spoken about is that God has given us different abilities. God has given us different personalities, okay. Some of us are more talented, and I believe the word talent is there for a reason, some of us are more talented than others in certain things. Some of us are better speakers. Some of us are better with music. Some of us might have greater wealth. Some of us might have a better intellect. Some of us are wiser and just clueier about things. Some of us have a gift of studying the Bible. Maybe some of us know the Bible more than others. But here's the thing, God does not want us to compare ourselves to another person, okay. You should never look at someone that has great talent and say, man, I wish I was like them. I wish I could serve God like them. No, don't worry about it. Look at what you're able to do, what abilities has God given you, and you serve God with those abilities. And if God's given you the ability or has given you a musical ear, then serve God with your music. If God has given you the knowledge of making money, of getting into business, great, but serve God with that knowledge, serve God with that wealth. Be that person that supports people financially. Maybe God's given you the ability to stand up and preach, great, let me know if that's you. I want you getting up here and preaching. Sometimes that needs a bit of practice though, so you need to practice, that's fine. But we've all been given different talents, we just need to make sure that we use them. One man got five talents, the other one got two. We don't see the one that got two whinging about the one that got five. He goes, no, well, I've got two, I'm going to use the two that God has given me. Verse 16. And then he had received, sorry, verse 16. Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same and made them another five talents. So this man puts it to use, he's given the five talents, he puts it to use, and he makes another five talents. He makes a profit. Now he's got 10 talents. Verse number 17. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained another two. So the one that got two didn't make as much as the five. Yeah, but he put the same effort in, he doubled the talents just as much as the one with five. Now he's got four. And verse number 18. And he that had received one, I'm saying to you, this one that received one is unsaved. I'll prove this to you later. He that received one went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. So the one that got five and the one that got two made use of it, they put it to work and they earned more. But the one that received one, he didn't put it to work, did he? He just buried it in the ground. And then verse number 19. Verse number 19. After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoned with them. The word reckoned just means basically to give an account. Show me what you did with the talents that I gave you. And you know what, guys, I talked about the non-believers being judged at the great white throne judgment. Well, we're going to have to give an account, okay? We're all going to have to give an account to the Lord Jesus Christ at the judgment seat of Christ. Keep your finger there and turn to 2 Corinthians chapter five. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 10. Second Corinthians chapter five, verse 10. Second Corinthians, of course, Corinthians is a church. It's made up of believers. So they're going to have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ as we all are. Verse number 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. We're all going to have to give an account one day at the judgment seat of Christ about the good or the bad we've done in our bodies. And you say, what's the bad? Is that sin? No, no, no. Our sins have already been paid for. Our sins have already been judged on Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ already took that from us. When it says the good or the bad, I was just talking to my mom about this on the way here. She asked me a question. If you have a piece of fruit, and it's ripe, you can eat it, you'll say, hey, this piece of fruit is good. But if that piece of fruit gets rotten, it's gone what? It's gone bad. The piece of fruit's gone bad. It's worthless. It's not good for anything anymore. It's gone bad. It doesn't mean the fruits become sin, or the fruits become sinful. No, it's just gone bad. It's worthless. Whereas the ripe fruit, that's good to eat. So when the Bible says about the works that we've done, whether good or bad, I haven't got time too much to get into all of this, but basically the works that we've done for Christ that has eternal value, that has value, that has rewards in heaven, that is good. But then there's other works that we do in our life. There's other things that we need to do in our life, you know, the woodhane stubble. Hey, they're not evil things in and of themselves. They're not sinful things in and of itself, but they're temple. They have no eternal value. We all have some woodhane stubble, and some of us have the gold, silver and precious stones. But when our works pass through the fire, when God judges, when Jesus Christ judges our works, the only thing that's going to remain are the works that had eternal value. But other works that had no eternal value, they've gone bad. They just get burnt up by the fire, and we're not going to be rewarded for that. Now go back to Matthew 25, please, verse 20, Matthew 25, verse 20. So just to remind the guys, we're all going to have to give an account to the Lord. We all have works to do in our flesh, in our body. If you're living today, if you're still breathing, you can still do works for God. And please, I hope you would focus on the gold, silver and the precious stones, rather than the woodhane stubble. All right, verse number 20. And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliverest unto me five talents, behold, I have gained beside them five talents more. So you see, he put it to use. His Lord said unto him, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Is that what you want to hear Jesus Christ say about you? When you give an account to the Lord, that's what I want. For Jesus say, well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. You see, the Lord rewards this man for putting his work to use, for serving the Lord, and he makes him a ruler over many things. You see, in heaven, we're not all going to be equal. Okay, it's not communism in heaven, we're all, you know, we all have the same value. No, some will be rulers, some will have more, because they've done more for the Lord in this life. And then verse number 23, verse number 22, sorry, verse 22. He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliverest unto me two talents, behold, I have gained two other talents beside them. Do you think the Lord's going to put him down? Because the other guy had five and he made five. He made less than the other guy. But he made use of what he had, right? He had to, and he ended up with four. And this is what the Lord says to him in verse 24, sorry, verse 23. His Lord said unto him, well done, good and faithful servants. Thou has been faithful over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many things, enter thou into the joy of the Lord. Jesus Christ says the exact same thing to the one with two talents as he said to the one with five, because they both were faithful to the Lord, even though one had more talent than the other. They were both faithful with what God had given them. Verse 24, then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art in hard man, reaping where there has not sown, and gathering where there has not strawed. Then I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth. Lo, there thou hast, lo, there thou hast that is thine. So this one with the one talent did nothing. He just buried it in the earth. So he didn't put it to use. He didn't come back and gain another talent from that. Verse number 26, and again, remember these talents, Jesus doesn't tell us what they represent. They're open to our interpretation as we read them. And again, they have to line up with what we know, what the rest of the Bible clearly speaks about. Because look at this, verse number 26, His Lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap when I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed, thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchanges, and then at my coming, I should have received mine own with usury. So what's he saying? Well, usury just means interest. He says, look, you just should have just put it into the bank. If you put it into the bank, you would have at least had some interest. And he calls him a wicked and slothful servant. And we'll explain to you what that represents shortly. But look at verse 28. Take therefore the talent from him and give it unto him which have ten talents. For unto everyone that hath shall be, sorry, for unto everyone that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance, but from him that hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath. So the one that had the one talent, Jesus says to him, he hath not, there's something missing. He doesn't have something. If we keep these parables together, we go back to the first parable. What were they missing? They were missing the oil, they were missing the Holy Ghost. This person did not have it, okay? Look at verse number 30. And cast ye that unprofitable servant into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What do you think that's representing? It's representing hell. That's representing the lake of fire. This guy's being cast into outer darkness. And just keep your finger there. Go to Matthew chapter eight, just in case you're not sure about that. Go back to Matthew chapter eight, verse 10, please. Matthew chapter eight, verse 10. We have the story of the centurion that comes to Jesus. And he asks Jesus if he can heal his servant. And Jesus says about the centurion that he had great faith, remember that story? Matthew eight, verse 10. Matthew eight, verse 10. When Jesus heard it, he marveled and said unto them that followed, verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. So he commends this Roman centurion for his faith on the Lord Jesus. This is verse 11. And I say unto you that many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And if you remember what I taught about this last time, this represents the non-believing Jews, the ones that should have received Christ as their Messiah, they're the ones that were rightfully the children of the kingdom, but it's been taken away from them, and they will be cast into outer darkness. They won't sit in the kingdom with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, no, they will go to a place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth, they're cast into hell. So if we go back to Matthew 25 now, we see that this person definitely is being cast into hell. So if we already know the gospel, we know that eternal life, we know you can never lose it, then can this be about a saved person? Can this parable be the one that had the one talent, could it be about a saved servant? Cannot be, right, if we already know what the Bible says, because it's being cast into outer darkness. Can you explain this to me? I can, all right? Because here's the thing, when Jesus comes to him, if you go back to chapter 25 and verse number 27, what should he have done with the one talent that he received? And let me tell you what this one talent was, it was him hearing the gospel, it was him having the opportunity to be saved, okay? Verse number 27, thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchanges or into the bank, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury, with interest. Now let me ask you a question, if you put money in the bank, and you know, it's gaining interest in the bank, all right, how much work are you putting in while that money is making interest? No work, okay, no work, okay? The others, they did work, the others were already saved, and they were just working out their faith, okay? This man had the one talent, this man had the opportunity, he knew the gospel, he had the gospel, and he could have just put it into the bank, that's all he had to do, he could have just received it freely, the interest in the bank is free, okay? You're putting no work in there, it's free, and that's what salvation is, it's a free gift of God, this man didn't even put it into the bank, he did nothing with it, he just buried it in the dirt, okay? And that's what happens, we get out there, we preach the gospel, right? Sometimes we get the opportunity to give the entire gospel, they understand it, but they don't believe it, okay? And that person represents the unprofitable servant, the one that took what he knew, put it into the, buried it deep, he did nothing with it, he didn't invest it, he didn't believe it, and this person that knows the gospel, but didn't believe it, didn't receive it freely, he will be cast into outer darkness, okay? So that's a conclusion for that chapter, I hope that makes a bit more sense to you, again just be careful from taking one parable all by itself, when you've got a bunch of other parables next to it, usually the truth of that parable is found within the other parables, okay? So as you can see, these parables were clearly about the saved and the unsaved, it wasn't just one parable about the wicked saved and good saved people, no, it was about the saved and it was about the unsaved, alright, let's leave it there and pray.