The Chosen Project
Sean Flanagan · Tidal Church Miramichi · September 20, 2026
Sean Flanagan walks through all of Matthew 25, from the ten virgins and the bags of gold to the sheep and goats. Being ready for Jesus' return means trusting in His sacrifice, which transforms our hearts so that we love others out of gratitude, not fear.
Topics: Faith, Grace, Discipleship
Transcript
[0:00] If you've got your Bibles, you can turn to Matthew 25. Or if you've got your phones, you can even just Google Matthew 25. There's also Bibles in some of the seats as well, so you can grab it. Because this morning, I'm gonna do something a little different. We normally have the slides on the screen, but this morning we're not going in. It's just gonna be reading the text together. And I'm also gonna do something that they tell you not to do in preaching classes. They say, don't preach a full chapter of the Bible. It's just too much. But I'm gonna do it. We're gonna go through all of Matthew 25 this morning, because I don't like people telling me what to do. I like breaking rules and I want to do it.
[0:45] I also think it's a very important chapter. There's lots of really important stuff here. Kind of life or death things here. Things about heaven and things about hell and eternal consequences. And there's also some stuff in here that's a little bit confusing. And just kind of a head scratcher, and just like, what? What does this mean? And we can really only understand it when we look at the full chapter, when we see the big context. So that's why I'm gonna read the full chapter. And we're gonna start with verse one, and it's the parable of the 10 virgins. And this is something else they probably teach you in preaching class, is don't preach on the parable of the 10 virgins. It's too weird. It's just kind of confusing and strange, and you maybe have gone to church for like a long time and have never heard a sermon preached on this, right?
[1:39] Because people love the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, you know? Those are kind of classics. The parable of the 10 virgins is kind of like, what's going on here? It's a little bit confusing, but we're gonna read it together and we'll figure it out together. So let's read Matthew 25, verse one. At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
[2:29] At midnight, the cry rang out, here's the bridegroom, come out to meet them. Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, give us some of your oil. Our lamps are going out. No, they replied. There may not be enough for both of us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. Later, the others also came. Lord, Lord, they said, open the door for us. But he replied, truly, I tell you, I don't know you. Therefore, keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour.
[3:20] It's a little bit puzzling. It's a little bit of a head scratcher. There's 10 virgins, oil and lamps and a bridegroom. You know, what is going on here? And if you've ever been reading through Scripture, reading through your Bible, and you get to something like this, you might just feel a little bit confused. And I honestly was confused about this for years. I don't know. I don't know what this is about. What does the oil represent? One of the key things, and you know, we're gonna be having Bible studies here on Wednesday mornings, starting in October. And one of the key things I always say in those Bible studies is you wanna look at the context, right? You wanna look, okay, what comes before? What comes after? Because that can help illuminate what's going on.
[4:07] And so this is a teaching from Jesus, but we're kind of catching him mid conversation. Because actually, if we just turn the page back, and we looked at chapter 24, and I'm not gonna read chapter 24 to you, but even if we just like looked at the headings, the headings of chapter 24, in my Bible, the headings say the destruction of the temple and signs of the end times, signs of the end times, right? So signs about the end of the world. And then another heading I have here says the day and the hour unknown. So Jesus is in the middle of talking about the end of the world. He's saying at some point, the world's gonna end, and no one's gonna know when it's gonna happen.
[4:54] The day and the hour are unknown, right? So that's the context. So that maybe helps us get a little bit of clarity of what's going on with this parable, but it's still a little bit confusing. It's still a little bit odd. You know, what's with the oil? What's the lamps? Why the virgins? Why the bridegroom? I don't know. So let's keep on reading, and we'll see if we can make sense. So let's keep going in chapter 25, and we'll start in verse 14. Again, the kingdom of heaven will be like a man going on a journey who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one, he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
[5:39] The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money. After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. Master, he said, you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I've gained five more. His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness.
[6:25] The man with two bags of gold also came. Master, he said, you entrusted me with two bags of gold. See, I have gained two more. His master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful with a few things. I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. Master, he said, I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. His master replied, you wicked, lazy servant. So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed.
[7:14] Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers so that when I returned, I would have received it back with interest. So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has 10 bags. For whoever has will be given more and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have even what they have will be taken away from them and throw that worthless servant outside into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So maybe that second parable kind of just raises more questions, right? We might just think, you know, what is going on here? There's bags of gold, there's a master, there's these servants. It's just kind of adding confusion onto confusion.
[8:01] But if we think about the context and we think, okay, Jesus is talking about the end of the world, he's talking about the day and the hour being unknown, and then we think about this first and this second parable as kind of mere images of one another. And we can start to see a bit of a pattern. We can see a repetition between the two parables, right? In the first parable, there's a bridegroom who goes away. Comes back, there's a judgment, some people are ready, some people aren't ready, and there's eternal consequences, right? Same thing in the second parable. The master goes away, he comes back, there's a judgment, some people are ready for it, other people aren't ready for it, and there's an eternal consequence, right?
[8:46] So now we can start to see a bit of a pattern. Okay, I think what Jesus is talking about is he's saying he's going away. He's telling his disciples and he's telling us he's going away just like the bridegroom is going away or just like the master is going away. That he's going to come back, there's going to be a judgment, some people are going to be ready for the judgment, some people won't be ready for the judgment, and there's going to be eternal consequences based on whether you're ready. And the question Jesus is asking us is, are you ready? Are you ready for the bridegroom to return? Are you ready for the master to return? I don't know if you've ever had a test in school and maybe you've procrastinated, maybe you forgot about it, maybe you were just lazy and you didn't want to do it and you wake up, it's Friday morning, and you're like, oh no, today's the day.
[9:41] I totally forgot and I'm not ready. I'm not ready for the test, right? That kind of sinking feeling of dread, right? I've had that feeling in my stomach. Or have you ever invited someone over to your house for supper? And maybe you forgot, you forgot that today's the day and there's no food, the kids are going crazy, the house is a mess and they're showing up, they're pulling in the driveway right now, right? And you just have that sinking feeling of, oh, they're here and I'm not ready, right? And that's what Jesus is getting at. He's saying he's going to come back, you're not going to know when it's going to happen, and are you ready? Are you ready? Now, if you're like me, when I kind of piece that together, the immediate question that I have is, okay Jesus, what have I got to do to be ready?
[10:34] What have I got to do to be ready, right? Because so far we've talked about oil in lamps and investing bags of gold, right? It's not really very clear exactly what Jesus is asking us to do. I got to make sure I have a bunch of oil on hand and invest in gold, right? Like, is that what he's asking me to do? So Jesus, if you're coming back, what is it I've got to do to be ready? That's the question. And we're going to see a third and final parable here. And we'll see, Jesus is going to give us very literal, specific, concrete examples of the things we need to be doing to be ready. The oil and the gold, those are kind of just metaphors, just kind of figurative language.
[11:21] But Jesus is going to be crystal clear here. He's going to say, if you want to be ready for him coming back, here's what you got to do. He's actually going to give us six things we've got to do to be ready. So let's keep on reading here the final parable. Verse 31, when the son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people, one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He'll put the sheep on his right, and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, the sheep, come, you who are blessed by my father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world, for I was hungry.
[12:13] And so here are the six things he says. Here are the six examples of how you get ready. Verse 35, I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, you invited me in. I needed clothes, you clothed me. I was sick, you looked after me. I was in prison, and you came to visit me. Six very specific things that Jesus expects us to be doing to be ready for his return. Verse 37, then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothes?
[13:00] When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The king will reply, truly, I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it for me. Then you will say to those on his left, the goats, depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes, and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison, and you did not look after me. They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or needing clothes, or sick or in prison, and did not help you?
[13:45] He will reply, truly, I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me. Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. So Jesus is saying, he's coming back. There's gonna be a judgment. Some people are ready, some people are not gonna be ready, and there's eternal consequences. And the criteria for judgment, the way Jesus is gonna judge is not just on what you say you believe, but have your beliefs turned into action. Have what you say you believe. Has that translated into you being a loving, caring person, a person who focuses on other people? A person who that's their whole goal is just feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, inviting in the homeless, visiting the people in prison, that that's gonna be the criteria for eternal judgment.
[14:48] And when I say all that, there's probably a few different reactions that people will have to that. One is maybe just fear, and guilt, and thinking, okay, I guess I gotta be a really good person. I guess I've gotta start doing a lot of things or else I'm gonna go to hell. And I'm thinking, okay, maybe I need to start doing this, I need to start doing that, because I really wanna go to heaven, I really don't wanna go to hell. That could be one reaction. Another reaction could be just thinking, this just sounds mean or horrible, throwing people into hell, it just sounds kind of wrong.
[15:33] Or maybe you're thinking, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, okay, I get it, that's what Christianity is all about. Be a good person and you get to go to heaven, right? If you're a bad person, you go to hell, right? Okay, I get it. And I actually think that that's what a lot of people think. That's what a lot of people think Christianity is. Be a good person so you can go to heaven, or if you're a bad person, you go to hell. And it's almost what it feels like. But I want you to look at something here. I want you to look at the very next thing that Jesus says, because that's the end of the chapter, but it's actually not the end of Jesus' teaching, right?
[16:20] The chapters are just kind of things we've added to the Bible after the fact, they're helpful, but it's actually not the end of Jesus' teaching. So I want you to look at what he says immediately following this in chapter 26. When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, as you know, the Passover is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified. The Passover is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified. Jesus is saying, I'm gonna be handed over to be crucified in two days. Now, what's the connection here? What's the connection?
[17:06] Jesus has just been talking about judgment, heaven, and hell, doing all these things. You know, there's gonna be the sheep and the goats, and then immediately following that, Jesus says, I'm gonna go be crucified. What's the connection? The connection is that Jesus knows on our own, by ourselves, based on our own works, all of us are goats. All of us are sinners. All of us have made mistakes. If it was just based on my own goodness, if it was just based on who I am as a person, everyone is a goat. Not greatest of all time, but a goat here, right? The sheeps and the goats. If it was just based, if you took the scale of my life and you weighed all the actions that were selfish, all the thoughts and actions and feelings and emotions in my life that were self-centered, focused on me, the things I do, and then the things that I did that were loving, that at the end of the day, for me and for everyone, the selfish outweighs the selfless.
[18:20] Jesus knows that all of us on our own are goats, but he loves us so much that he was willing to be crucified for our sake, that he didn't want us to have that judgment placed on us. He knew that we were goats. He knew that we had made mistakes, and Jesus was the perfect lamb. He was the Passover lamb. He was the perfect sheep, right? He was spotless and blameless, only perfect, absolutely perfect, and Jesus loved us so much that he was willing to switch places with us, that he was willing to do an exchange with us.
[19:06] If my wife committed, like, imagine my wife committed just a terrible crime, and I just did a terrible thing, she was guilty, and she was gonna be thrown in prison, and I knew she was guilty, and I was innocent and she was guilty, but somehow there was a way. They said, Sean, if you want, you can take her place, and she can go free. Even though I'm innocent and she's guilty, in a heartbeat, I would do it. I would do that. I would make that exchange because I love my wife, even though she's guilty, even though she's a goat in that situation, right? If I were a sheep and she was a goat, I would say, yeah, put me in prison for her sake, because I love her, because I love her, and so many people get this wrong about Christianity.
[19:54] They think that Christianity is just about being good, about doing all the right things so that you can get to heaven, but Christianity is realizing that we have a loving, loving God who sees us in our failures and our weaknesses. He sees us in our sinful state, and he says, I don't want you to face the consequences of this. I don't want you to face the judgment. I don't want to throw you in hell. I don't want any of this. I love you so much. This is what God says, I love you so much. I'm gonna send my son to take your place, to be on the cross in your place so that if you trust in him, that you can become a sheep, that you can become a sheep.
[20:44] And the amazing thing about this is that when you realize God's love for you, when you see that love of Jesus, that this perfect spotless lamb was willing to be sacrificed so that we could have eternal life. And you see that and you put your trust in him and you say, okay, it's not me, it's not my goodness, it's Jesus. He's the answer, he's my salvation. When you put your faith in him, something happens, something miraculous happens and you realize, you know, I'm this sinner, I'm this goat, but then you put your trust in Jesus and you look at yourself and you see you're not a goat anymore, that somehow you've been transformed into a sheep, right, like a fairy tale, right? Because what it says in the Bible is that God's Holy Spirit enters you and it transforms your heart, right?
[21:36] We have eternal life, but we also have hearts that are transformed. And so now when I see this list of six things that we've gotta be doing, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, inviting in the homeless, you know, helping the sick, all those things, the things that sheep do, I'm like, okay, I can do those things, right, because God has loved me so much, I can love other people. And now it's not coming out of some sort of fear of hell, oh, I really don't wanna go to hell, so I'm gonna do all these good things, oh, I don't want God to throw me in hell, it's not that, it's wow, I have such a loving God, I have such a loving God who forgive me, forgive me like that, who would take my place on the cross.
[22:22] Wow, I can love anyone, I can love anyone now, because he's turned me into a sheep, right? So Jesus is coming back, there's gonna be a judgment, some people are gonna be ready, some people aren't, there's gonna be eternal consequences, but if you wanna be ready, you have to put your faith in Jesus, that he was the lamb, he was the sheep, he is where we get our righteousness from. And when you do that, that's what transforms you, that's what transforms your heart, that's where these loving acts come from, not out of the fear of hell, but out of this overwhelming love from our Father that just pours out into other people. So I'm gonna just guide us through a time of prayer here, just for a minute, and I wanna say two kinds of prayers, I wanna say a prayer for people who maybe haven't made that commitment, or maybe you just haven't put your faith in Jesus yet, and you need to make that decision to say, I'm not gonna rely on my own goodness, I'll rely on the goodness of God.
[23:29] But then for others of us, maybe we've made that choice long ago, maybe we've said, yeah, I'm a Christian, I put my faith in Jesus, but we can recognize that we haven't really been acting like it, right? We say, yeah, I'm a sheep, yeah, God has saved me, but maybe you look at that list of things that we ought to be doing, and maybe you're thinking, oh, I'm not really doing those things, and so I'm just gonna pray for God's help to convict us in the way we need to be convicted, to comfort us in the way we need to be comforted, and to make us people of love, that we actually go out of here and we love people, that we don't just say we believe things, but we actually do it in the way we act. So join me now in prayer.
[24:16] Heavenly Father, I thank you for your incredible love, I thank you that you loved us so much that you sent your only son. Whosoever believes in him should not perish, but will have everlasting life. I thank you that Jesus went to the cross for us because he loved us, that he took the punishment for our sin because he loved us, that you raised him back to life because he loved us and you love us, and that you've given us new life. I pray for anyone here who needs to make that decision, to make a commitment to follow Jesus, that they would do that now, that they would ask for forgiveness for their sins, put their faith in you, and commit, commit to follow you.
[25:07] Father, I also pray for my brothers and sisters here, who are Christians, and who are maybe feeling a little conviction that they haven't been living the way you want them to live. Father, I just pray that you would give them peace in their hearts, that if they confess their sins to you, you're faithful and just to forgive all their sins, that they have no remaining guilt, there's perfect love cast out fear, there's no fear, there's no need for fear in their hearts, they don't need to be afraid of hell anymore, and so Father, I'm just asking for your perfect love to cast out fear from them. And Father, I'm asking for your empowerment, your Holy Spirit to empower them to love people, to love people like Jesus loved people, that we would be a church that does feed the hungry, that we're a church that visits the sick, and visits the imprisoned.
[26:09] Father, would you empower us now with your Holy Spirit? It's not by our own strength, it's not by our own might, but it's by your Spirit that we can accomplish these things. I'm asking for your Spirit to come and empower us now. I pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.