Mission 66 (English podcast)
Matthew 25 Extra! Extra! J-Day is Here!
Each of us must make preparations on our own. Nobody else can get saved in your place, and it appears from what Jesus said that only the ones who were ready get admitted to heaven. For the unprepared, the door was shut. This is Mission 66. I'm Rob Dempsey. Mission 66 originates from the Ministry of Bible Teacher and Pastor Dr. Louis Ciao, and is produced and heard in multiple languages around the world in partnership with Transworld Radio. I want to encourage you to take advantage of a valuable resource. You can enhance your understanding of the Gospels by downloading our free study guide. This guide will deepen your experience with God's Word, and complement our daily teachings from John Matthews and Esther Sussulu. To access your free study guide of the Gospels, please visit mission66.org. Pick up this valuable resource and also support the Ministry of Mission 66. Your gift helps sustain this program locally and globally. John Matthews is our teacher. His co-host, Esther Sussulu, gets us started today. Today we'll continue studying Jesus' Olivet Discourse found in chapter 24 and 25 of the Gospel of Matthew, and you're most welcome to join a long friend. Well, we know that we live in a very indulgent society today, and I know many of us have gotten used to the idea that anything goes. We know that some say sin is normal, corruption is normal, good is evil, and evil is called good, and one opinion is as good as anyone else's. In essence, people say that truth is relative. Well, Jesus has warned us that this day would come, and he also warned that no evil deed would go unpunished. What we sow, we shall reap. Well, today our teacher John Matthews' theme sounds like a newsboy shouting out to attract customers. Extra, extra. Jay Day is here. Esther, thank you, and great to be with you again, and great to be with all of our listeners, wherever you're listening to Mission 66 today. Now, you might well have heard of the famous D Day, which was the name given for the day that the Allied forces landed on the beaches at Normandy in France during World War II, but in this case, it is the Jay Day that we're going to talk about. The Jay Day is the day of judgment. So let's find out more about this Jay Day in today's episode. Jesus is going to continue on his Olivet Discourse, delivered on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem, in which he answers the disciples' questions about the end times. He began in chapter 24 of Matthew continues here in chapter 25, and he emphasizes the need to be ready when this day comes. In chapter 24, Jesus spoke mostly about the signs of his coming appearance at the end of the age, and now in chapter 25, he'll tell what the final judgment is going to look like. And he starts by telling two parables that are very much related to this theme. In verse 1, he says, "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. The two 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." Wow, what a powerful that is, and it's taken from the marriage customs among the Jews of the day, and it helps us to preview the great day of Christ's coming. The church is commonly referred to as the bride of Christ. And the virgins, well, they were friends of the bride who were to help greet the bridegroom, who was coming to claim his bride, and it was late at night. So here you have these virgins waiting for the bridegroom, holding the only source of light that they had, which were these oil lamps, similar to the oil lamps people used back in the olden days, I suppose you could call them. And here we see that the women referred to as being foolish are the ones who are not prepared, who did not bring enough oil in case they had to wait longer than they expected to. What does that mean then for us, listening here and now right in this moment? Well, many want the bridegroom that's Christ, Jesus Christ is the bridegroom to come quickly. But it may not happen as soon as we think, and in this parable, the wise virgins are taken to mean sincere Christians who are ready, and the foolish ones may be insincere or even hypocritical, but one thing they are is not ready. They may have this lamp of profession in their hands, but not much oil. Now the oil symbolises the Holy Spirit and sincerity of faith in their hearts, which will be needed to carry them through the trials and difficulties of this present world. As time goes on, they'll all get tired of the long wait and fall asleep. But even though Christ may not come as soon as we expect, he is coming. And so the bridegroom arrives in this story, and all the virgins were to go out and meet him. The wise ones were those who had prepared to meet the Lord, but the foolish ones forgot to take extra oil when going out, and the unprepared ones were not able to get any from the ones who were prepared. You know we each must make preparations of our own? Nobody else can get saved in your place. And it appears from what Jesus says here, that only the ones who were ready, whose hearts were right, God admitted to heaven, for the unprepared, the door was shut. So this is a serious warning to us. Be on the lookout, because that jay day, it's coming. You know, John, I like that you made the distinction between the unprepared, the prepared, the insincere, and the sincere ones. But I've actually heard it said that the meaning behind the parable of the ten virgins is that half of the people on earth will be saved, while the other half will not. Yeah, it's a really interesting point, Esther. And I think the parable of the virgins wasn't intended to assign, let's say, percentages or numbers, but what it does teach us simply really is that the five wise virgins, they represent those who will be saved and are waiting for Christ to return and are ready for His return. These are the people who will be the bridegroom, which we take to mean is the Lord Jesus. And the five who are refused entry in this story, will they represent the many who thought that they were Christians, but didn't really know the Lord, and were not recognized as true believers by Jesus. You know, Esther, it is possible to know about Jesus, but not know Him personally. But here is a word of great encouragement and hope to all of you listening today, because the Bible says, "All who call upon the name of the Lord will be saved." And I wonder whether you listening to Mission 66, right here and now, wherever you are today, whether you have yet called upon the name of the Lord Jesus for salvation. And as we continue reading Matthew 25, Jesus says, in verse 14, "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property, to one he gave five talents, to another, to another, one, to each according to his ability, and then he went away." Now, a talent was a weight value according to the original Greek, and each one of these talents, well, they weighed about 34 kilograms, and they can understand that the weight of a talent and the purpose in giving the amounts to the various servants was to have each person manage what was given him, and so they could manage it wisely. But what happens next, verse 16, "He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money. Now, after a long time, the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, "Master, you delivered to me five talents. Here I have made five talents more." His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much." Enter into the joy of your master. And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, "Master, you delivered to me two talents. Here I have made two talents more." His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little. I will set you over much." Enter into the joy of your master. He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, "Master, I knew you to be a hard man." Reaping where you did not so, and gathering where you scattered no seed. So I was afraid. And I went and I hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours. You know Esther and all of our dear listeners, the book of Hebrews in the Bible says, "Without faith, it is impossible to please God." And this fellow evidently didn't have any faith. So he didn't think it was possible to serve God. So he didn't venture anything. And those who think it is impossible to please God may well do nothing of any eternal value. In fact, in many cases, it comes down to they simply do not like the Lord and will not serve him. And so in verse 26, his master replies, "You wicked and slothful servant. You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather, where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to have invested money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents, for to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." You see the jay day, the judgment day is coming, the day when everyone will have to settle their accounts. And here we see how this parable of the talents teaches us that everything that is given to us by God should be used towards something good, like an investment ought to produce something, and the wise manager should invest God's provision in something that would at least earn bankers' interest. Now this guy did nothing with it and was called worthless by God. Strong, isn't it? It's a strong statement. So the question we ask ourselves is how are we managing the talents that God gives to each of us? Now it's also interesting to observe here that the word "talent" that we have in English refers to people's abilities, like an artistic ability or the ability to play a musical instrument or be good at sport. We say, well, they're talented, aren't they? This word actually comes from this ancient biblical measuring unit for weight. The talent of silver or gold was an amount that was weighed out to be one talent. Now the point I'm making is that each of us has received from the Lord something which we can use for the benefit of the kingdom of God and J. Day will be the day when we must give account to God for how we use the things that he gave us to manage. Now verse 31 and on in chapter 25 then talks about the judgment. Jesus says, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will place the sheep on his right but the goats on the left." You see, J. Day will arrive. This is a day when there's going to be a separation between those who use their gifts to enhance the kingdom of God and those who have done nothing with those God-given gifts separation between good and evil ultimately, separation between those who have been justified and those who have been rejected. So what happens next? Verse 34, "Jesus goes on to say, 'Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sickened. You visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. And then the righteous will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you? Or are naked and clothed you? And when did we see you sick? Or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.' Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me. You cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison. And you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty? Or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison? And did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them saying, 'Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.' Wow, that is quite the sobering scripture there, John. In the last example here I see, do you think that Jesus is preaching salvation by doing good works? No, he's not doing that because the Bible makes clear that salvation cannot be earned or merited. We can never do enough good things to satisfy the rift caused by our sin. Repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. They are what saves. Acts, chapter 20, verse 21 and other places. Ephesians 2, verse 8 and 9 says that it is by grace that we are saved through faith, not works, so that no one may boast. Jesus is not saying that good works save us, but that these good deeds giving and alleviating suffering, being honest in business and so on, of the marks, the evidence of someone who truly believes in him. Same with the parable of the talents. He's not saying that people are saved by managing their resources wisely, but those who believe in Jesus truly would want with all their hearts to manage their resources for his benefit. Well, you're listening to our Bible study mission 66 dear friend with our teacher John Matthews, and he's made some very important points to consider there. You know, I know that there are some people who are against Christianity, but they do many good things, right? They belong to service organizations. They're very generous. They donate to the food bank. They volunteer at hospitals, and they do all sorts of things which benefit society. Sometimes you could say more than most church people. In fact, I think that they're actually critical of people who don't do all these things that they do, and they say, well, you must not be a very good Christian, right? Because you don't do all these things that I do. Some may say that. Well, do you think that Jesus will make an exception for people who do good works but didn't actually believe in Jesus, John? Yeah, Esther, it's a really important question, and the question that comes to my mind and the question that will be asked of them on J. Day is why do you do all these good things? Are you secretly saying, I don't need Jesus? See, I can save myself by doing good things, or maybe the good works are done because the praise of other people is what drives a person to do these good things that needs to please others. And how would you answer God when he brushes aside all those good works at that final judgment and asks the key question, what have you done with my son? I sent my only begotten son into the world to be tortured to death on a cross for your sins and proved that it was affected by raising him from the dead, and I longed that you would gratefully receive him and not reject me by turning your nose or dismissing his blood sacrifice and going about trying to establish your own standards of righteousness, which ultimately boils down to pride and vanity in my sight. You see, the truth is that Jesus Christ is not just the Lamb of God, not just the good shepherd, but he's also the great judge who will shortly distinguish between those that are his and those that are not. The happiness of believers is very great. They receive a kingdom which God the Father himself prepares for them. But the sobering thought, Esther, is the punishment of the wicked will be great as well. An everlasting punishment cut off from the presence and the love of God, and one which cannot be altered. Alright, well, looking at verse 32, it says that the nations will be judged. So, what if my nation is judged for their sins? Am I also going to have to suffer along with them? No, it's not meaning that entire nations will be judged. It only says the nations are gathered before him. So, individual people from all the nations will be judged individually. And the good will be separated from the bad across the whole human spectrum. And it's God who does the separating. There'll be no political boundaries here. It's not like the United Nations or the Olympics where everybody will stand next to their flag. You know, God has been keeping across who does what and what motivates us to do what we do or don't do no matter where we live. And it seems that eternal life or eternal condemnation has to do with whether or not we really knew the Lord Jesus. And on the Great Jay Day, each one of us will have to take responsibility for everything that we've done and how we've lived our lives and how we live our lives right now for King Jesus Christ. You and I don't have to be the ones to make that judgement and thank heaven for that. Jesus himself is really the only one who qualifies to be the final judge because he has all the information about everyone and we don't. Yeah, you know, I think I've said this before, but I'm going to say it again. This was a very sobering study today, John. So how could we summarize Matthew 25? Yeah, it really was a sobering episode this. Our theme was extra extra. Jay Day is here. God has already established when that final moment is going to be the day in which Jesus will return, the day of judgement. Jay Day. And after reading and studying these parables and everything that is written in this chapter, what is the great truth that we must keep in our hearts? What is the lesson that we learned here? That if God has saved us from our sin and has destined us for the blessed kingdom of heaven one day, it cannot be hidden. It will be revealed clearly through our actions. We're concluding today's Mission 66 with that wonderful, wonderful word. And I thank you so much for joining us today, friend. I hope to have you again with us on our next adventure as we continue on the series in the Gospel of Matthew with our teacher, John Matthews. God bless you, take care, and thank you for joining us on Mission 66. As we close today's program, let me remind you to download your free study guide of the Gospels. You'll be able to go deeper into God's word and follow along with each day's program. It's a great companion resource of the audio teaching of John Matthews and Esther Susullo. To get your free study guide of the Gospels, visit Mission66.org. That's Mission66.org. It's a great resource. You can also support the Ministry of Mission 66 when you visit the site. You'll help continue the program here and around the world. Mission 66 is a Ministry of Transworld Radio in partnership with Dr. Louise Ciao. I'm Rob Dempsey. ♪♪ [BLANK_AUDIO]