Well, I imagine that you have all played hide and seek a great game. We love to play that game.
 And uh if you know one of the versions the seeker counts down.
 Uh if it's going to be a bit of a quick game,
 he counts down for just 10. 10,
 9, 8, get down to it.
 And all the kids you hear them scattering all over the place trying to find somewhere to hide.
 And then come these immortal words coming ready or not.
 And uh they fly around and somebody has it hidden very well.
 Gets caught straight away and and the other kids are maybe a bit older a bit faster can find places to hide.
 It's a great great game.
 And this next section 35 to 40 in Luke chapter 12 which uh Nicholas read to us is one which is all about the coming the return of the Lord Jesus Christ and the question is all about ready or not.
 The whole passage is essentially about that.
 I wonder whether you ever think about the future, what it holds,
 what it looks like,
 or whether or not um your life is kind of too busy for all of that sort of thing.
 Uh for you maybe it's high in the sky when I die,
 but today I've got to get a roof over my head.
 I've got to get my job, my shifts,
 and all of that.
 No time for the future.
 Let me give you something that might surprise you in the New Testament 27 books,
 260 chapters,
 and 318 references to the coming of Christ,
 his return.
 That's a lot of references.
 Every 25 verses through your New Testament touches down again and again and again on the coming of Christ. You know,
 it would take me a long time if I picked out every one of those 318 verses and read it to you.
 But you would get the message by the end of it, wouldn't you?
 Christ is coming again just as he promised.
 To the disciples through the angels when he ascended. Back to heaven.
 Was um Robert Murray McCheyne.
 He was a Presbyterian minister.
 He only lived to 29.
 Lived an incredible life,
 a real focus on holiness.
 But he used to used to do this when he got groups of Christians together. He'd ask them this question.
 Do you think that Jesus is coming tonight?
 And many would say no.
 Uh others read, well,
 possibly,
 but kind of don't really think so.
 Uh so I suppose it's a good question for us. Is Jesus coming tonight?
 What do you think?
 Whether there is a sense of expectancy,
 whether you go, wow, that would be great.
 I can't wait.
 Uh or whether it's like, probably not.
 I mean, couldn't we just wait for a few years?
 I'm still working on my degree.
 I'm still working on this. I'm just about to get a promotion.
 Couldn't we hold off for a bit?
 Um where our focus is this morning? Well,
 um what Mary McCheyne would say to them is uh the really a quoting essentially verse 40.
 You better be ready. The Son of Man will come at an hour. You do not expect him.
 This is um something that people in the first century struggled with as well. It's not just us. You know,
 it's been a long time. 2000 years.
 It's a long time that he's coming.
 Uh they struggled too.
 To be chapter 3 verse 9.
 Peter replies to those people. He says,
 "The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise as some understand slowness.
 He's patient with you not wanting anyone to perish,
 but everyone to come to repentance."
 But it is very important when you get to that passage in verse 9 of 2 Peter 3 that you also read on a bit as well because he goes on to say, you know,
 the Lord is coming but he's going to come like a thief.
 He's not going to expect him. You know,
 when you get broken into it, what happens to you?
 You don't normally expect it, do you? You don't think, oh,
 today will be the day.
 I've got a thief come in and and break through my window and steal my telly or whatever he's going to steal. You don't think like that,
 do you? But just sometimes happen.
 And um the application question is this from the apostle Peter.
 He says this in verse 11. He says,
 "So then what kind of people ought we to be? If Christ is coming again,
 he's going to be like a thief in the night. You're not going to expect it.
 All of a sudden he comes and he's like, wow, where did that come out of?
 Just like in the days of Noah and the flood where they're expecting it.
 No,
 they were still laughing and mocking at Noah and his great big belt,
 great big boat on the mountain. It's like, you know,
 is this the first theme park in history? We can all have a play on it.
 Play animals and all that sort of stuff.
 They mocked him to death, I'm sure.
 But they uh but Noah had the last laugh if it was a laugh.
 Uh as God shut the door and the floods came down and took them all away.
 They were still living. They were marrying. They were doing business.
 Until the flood came and took them away.
 And it will be the same when Jesus comes. Finally,
 to um to fulfill his promise for for that consummation that he will come.
 But his answer is this.
 What how how should we live? What kind of people should we be?
 The answer comes following.
 It says we are to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming.
 He supplements it with this.
 Since you are looking forward to this,
 make every effort to be found spotless,
 blameless, and at peace with him.
 Jesus is coming again.
 Let me just say that again. Jesus is coming again.
 We kind of always need to bang it into our skulls.
 It's like Martin Luther said about the the subject of justification,
 being right with God. He says, you know,
 you constantly need to bash this into their skulls. He wasn't being rude.
 It's just the way we are. Some things don't go in.
 Uh and we just need to keep banging our heads and go, yes, he's coming.
 Maybe we could do this as an exercise through this week.
 Every morning when you wake up,
 finally say to yourself, Jesus is coming again.
 See how that might transform you.
 Just say it once, twice. Jesus is coming again.
 He's coming again. It'll be a surprise. I won't be expecting it.
 He's coming. He's coming. He's coming. It's quite a useful thing to try.
 So here we're in Luke 12 and once again Jesus is working on the disciples readiness.
 Their preparedness.
 Uh are they really prepared for all that they're going to face?
 And so he says, beware of hypocrisy.
 Beware of greed.
 And also beware of worry.
 Anxiety. We looked at that last week.
 Uh we often don't think worry is much of an issue. Everybody worries, don't they?
 We don't worry too much about worry.
 Uh anxiety and all the rest of it.
 But we understood that really at the base of that when you really look at worry and you disassemble it,
 you discover really for a Christian it is a distrust in God.
 That's really what's at the heart of it. You don't trust God's promises.
 You don't trust his providence the way he orders your lives.
 And so instead you worry. Worry, worry,
 worry about it all. And Jesus says, do not worry.
 Look around you.
 Look at the world. Look at the you know, look at the ravens. See they don't sow and all the rest of it.
 Um take a lesson from them.
 It's one of those kind of respectable sins that we all tend to tolerate but perhaps we should not when we think about what it implies.
 Now Jesus goes on to a positive exhortation and it's right here in verse 35 right at the start of a passage.
 It will help if you've got a Bible close to you.
 If you open it up and just follow through at different stages. Uh it says this,
 be dressed ready for service.
 And keep your lamps burning.
 Uh Matthew and Mark also have sort of a sections uh shorter versions of various parts of this uh section that we're doing.
 And Mark 13:
33 says it puts it like this. Be on your guard.
 Be alert. Be awake.
 Uh you do not know when the time will come.
 Where Luke says be dressed for service.
 The King James uh the authorized version puts it in older language but more accurate language to what the text says.
 It says let your loins be girded about. Luke 12:35.
 Uh now the girding of the loins we think that's a bit of an old expression.
 What on earth is is that about girding the loins?
 Uh but of course back in the day they they had longish robes uh and so they weren't great if you had to leg it somewhere.
 If you had to run down the street they really weren't that great.
 So you'd have to hitch them up.
 Maybe some of you ladies got long dresses.
 You hitch them up sometimes if you have to sort of do a bit of running after a kid or something like that. Hitch them up so you can run freely.
 And that's that's all it means.
 Just be ready.
 Have them hitched up so that if you suddenly need to get to the door for the master knock sort of a sudden you can get there real quick. You're ready for action.
 And um this passage here girding up your loins is echoed in another passage uh there in 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 13. Let me read it for you. It says this,
 therefore gird up the loins of your minds.
 Be sober.
 Rest your hope fully on the grace that is to be brought to you.
 And when is it going to be brought to you the grace?
 It says at the revelation at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
 So once again this need for readiness is linked to the return of Christ.
 One of those 318 references to Jesus that is surely coming back again. So we need to get our minds ready for action.
 So when you put this back into the context of the passage,
 we have uh warnings about greed over material,
 things worry over material,
 things but you've also got now readiness watching out for Jesus's coming.
 So what is the connection?
 How does that fit the sequence? Greed,
 worry, readiness. How how does that fit?
 Well basically readiness is the antidote for all the rest of it.
 All the sort of worldly view.
 The antidote is recognizing,
 seeing the future and drawing the future down into today.
 And maybe you're not used to doing that.
 Maybe you never think about using the future.
 But the Bible does.
 Does it again and again and again and again.
 It's always pointing back to the Lord.
 It's always pointing onto the future.
 So the certainty,
 the sure hope we have of his glorious coming.
 We could look at passage after passage but we don't have time for that right now.
 So it's an antidote.
 A great antidote for let's look at one passage.
 This is Colossians 3 and maybe you'll know this verse.
 Going to read just four verses.
 So turn across in your Bibles. Colossians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians.
 And it's chapter 3 verses 1 to 4.
 And it reads in this way. It says,
 since then you have been raised with Christ.
 So it's not something that you will happen.
 You will be raised with Christ. It's a certainty.
 You have been raised with Christ.
 Set your hearts on things above.
 Where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.
 Set your mind on things above.
 Not on earthly things.
 For you died and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
 When Christ who is your life appears.
 There again the appearing. Then you will also appear with him in glory.
 So we are to see and look at the future and to have that kind of attitude.
 Our lives Christian lives should be anchored to solid anchor points.
 And the Bible gives us various anchor points to which we uh we we we yeah we lock things up against them. Just like our bikes.
 We lock them up against something solid.
 Uh so this is Dem Keller.
 He says you know God changes us very radically.
 He says kind of in three ways.
 He changes us from the inside out.
 So we don't just get a sort of impression from the outside in.
 He comes Christ's spirit comes within us and starts to change.
 You get the fruit of the spirit in our lives.
 Uh but we also our lives are turned upside down.
 The principles of Jesus are not what we expect. Are they?
 He tends to um say if you want to keep your life you better lose it.
 It's things like this. They're always turned upside down.
 Aren't they? So we have upside down lives.
 But also we have what he described as forward back lives.
 Forward back lives. What on earth is that?
 You say well that's basically where you have at least one eye on the future.
 And that is starting to govern how you think because we can see be so earthbound.
 Our eyes can be down.
 You know as you get older I'm noticing this when you get older it's very easy to have your head down. It's various reasons.
 Maybe you're not so sure on your feet.
 Maybe you you you think you might trip over things.
 So so you constantly walk with your head down and you see much older people and they're they're bent right down like this.
 Uh but we can do that as Christians.
 We can all be people who are kind of walking along and our heads are down.
 We're looking only at the ground. Things around us and we don't have our eyes upwards.
 To the things that are certain.
 All the things of this life. Are they certain?
 Do you know for sure that you'll get a payroll at the end of the month? Not really.
 You don't know.
 Your company could go into administration. You have no idea.
 But you do know that Christ is coming and you do know that the cross has worked.
 Because there was a resurrection. Never happened before.
 In that style.
 God was Jesus was raised through the power of the Holy Spirit to never die again. So those things are certain. This life is not certain.
 So this demands this future understanding demands our readiness.
 And that has three ways in which we see it.
 First these people are watching.
 They are waiting.
 And they're working. It's very simple. Three Ws.
 Work. Watching. Waiting.
 Working.
 And that is something that we can just have in our minds.
 Let me just survey the passage very very briefly and then we're going to climb straight on board and into it.
 Uh this passage has two parts. You might not have noticed it.
 It has two parts.
 You know that because it's separated by a question.
 So you have a mini parable at the start.
 You have another mini parable underneath the question.
 Uh so two mini parables.
 And uh both of these parables are all about the same thing. Watching. Waiting. Working.
 They're all about the same thing. They're all about being ready for the coming of the master. The return of Christ effectively.
 And also each mini parable has two sides to it.
 Remember what the um the person in the hide and seek game says?
 Coming ready or not. And that is the message of these two mini parables.
 Uh you might not notice it straight away but when you start to mullet over you see it.
 Uh that there are two sides.
 There is the ready side and there is the not ready side.
 To both of these mini parables. So two parts. Two mini parables.
 Two outcomes.
 Ready or not ready.
 And two surprises. One which is a good surprise.
 A lovely surprise. An amazing surprise.
 And one that is hm the total opposite.
 A surpr a shock. A terrible horrendous shock that you really don't want to experience.
 You know it's much easier you will find in general. So it's a sidebar here.
 It's much easier when you come to read scripture if you can try and see take enough time just to try and see how does this passage work.
 I know we're five months from Christmas but there used to be a time when at Christmas often you get one of these um chocolate oranges.
 I don't know if you remember the things. Terry's chocolate orange.
 Now one of the things there's lots of things to be it's nice about that.
 One is it's a whole tennis ball size piece of dark chocolate. If you don't like dark chocolate don't bother.
 But tart chocolate really nice.
 Really solid. Quite weighty.
 Nice taste.
 Uh but the thing about it that I particularly liked was when you unwrap it take these sort of orange sort of um cover foil off it.
 Uh it's it's a solid piece.
 But then you just tap it at the top.
 It just does this.
 It just opens up just like that for you.
 And all the segments of this chocolate orange are there for you to just take them out. Love that.
 About it.
 And in a sense this is what we try to do with a passage as you mullet over you read it and you start to notice things again when you get good at this uh you can do like the chocolate orange sort of thing. It all opens up before you.
 Um you've heard of that great Puritan Bible commentator Matthew Henry start of the uh 1700s.
 He wrote a whole Bible commentary.
 Well he nearly wrote most of it. He died in 1714.
 Didn't quite complete it.
 But all his notes were used by others to then finish it off and do the epistles that he had missed off.
 But it was said about him that he had like a a sort of a a notional silver hammer. A little silver hammer.
 And he'd go to a passage and he'd just use his little silver hammer and he'd just tap it and the passage would open up very naturally.
 That's why a lot of people still read Matthew Henry's commentary. They are very helpful.
 Uh and he has that real uh gift and ability.
 And we can develop that ourselves.
 It really does pay a great return on investment.
 It's worth just taking a little time just to see well what am I notice in this passage.
 And as you can see as I've looked it through there's a lot of things just two parts. Two mini parables.
 Uh two outcomes.
 Uh two surprises. Two parts.
 So let us sort of begin and let me read the end verse 35 to 38 and I'm going to skip one little bit. Uh for later.
 Says this be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning like men waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet.
 So when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.
 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes.
 And then on to verse 38. I'm skipping a bit.
 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready even if he comes in the second or third watch of the night.
 So this is a lovely uh simple parable.
 And we want to be able to get to that place where we don't just hear the words.
 We start to enter into. We start to see it with our eyes.
 So can you go there?
 Go to this sort of evening thing.
 Just try and imagine the servants they see the master.
 He's going out to this wedding.
 We don't even know. Maybe this is his own wedding.
 We don't know exactly. And I won't imply it is.
 But that would make it even better if it's his own wedding and he's going to come back at some point bring his bride home. I don't know.
 But either way there he's going out the door. He's going down the path.
 The servants are seeing him leaving and they're probably wishing him well. Have a good time master.
 Uh that sort of thing.
 Don't worry about anything.
 Everywhere we hear when you come back um enjoy yourself.
 I mean he might be in a very good mood. Probably is.
 Very nicely dressed.
 Can you see him in his nice fine wear for this uh wedding celebration that he's off to.
 And uh maybe he's humming.
 Favorite Jewish tune. I don't know.
 Maybe he's singing a song. I don't know. But we can just start to get the scene. And off he goes and he's gone into the distance.
 And um you know it is a thing that uh weddings Jewish weddings were very very uh good affairs.
 They weren't brief like ours.
 You know you go to a quick one hour ceremony and then you head off to the reception if you're lucky.
 And you get a sit down meal three course a few speeches three or four hours you're done you're home.
 Wasn't like that for the Jews.
 They had a very long time.
 Maybe like other cultures too where they make a big thing of it.
 Uh and why not marriage is a great great thing is it not.
 It's meant to last a lifetime between a man and a woman. A great covenant is being done in front of God.
 And of course they had the three major festivals.
 Did they not?
 Every year that they would go to down or up to Jerusalem probably up to Jerusalem because it was quite high up.
 And um and so they they knew how to feast and to celebrate it would be a whole year long kind of occasion.
 So off he goes and um and in these verses 35 and 36 we do come across our three sort of uh W words.
 Be dressed for service. There's one of them.
 They're working service.
 Keep your lamps burning. And that required efforts.
 I need to make sure their oil was topped up all the time.
 Uh like men waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet they're patiently waiting for his return.
 And they don't know when it's going to be.
 And so they had to keep looking out.
 They're waiting anxiously for him to return.
 When he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him.
 And they can only realistically do that if they are in fact watching.
 You know somebody's got to be by the window.
 The curtains have to be drawn.
 They have to have the shutters open to see if he comes.
 And it's going to be more difficult at nighttime which he probably is going to be nighttime.
 But second third watch of the night if this is the Jewish sort of time thing.
 So divided up the night into three watches.
 6 to 10 10 till 2 2 till 6 when dawn comes.
 So we don't know how long they're going to be there. But they do have to be ready. Somebody has to be looking out all the time.
 Maybe they took turns.
 In doing that watching. They need to be very vigilant.
 This is um how uh one commentator our Kent Hughes um puts the scene.
 He says what a lovely scene.
 Greeted the returning master.
 Warm light streamed from the window.
 Breath smiling eager servants.
 Bearing shining lamps gathered at the door.
 And no doubt there was a choice. Nighttime smack on the table.
 Welcome home master.
 I'm glad you're back. Here. Give us your robe. Sit down. Let us wash your feet. You must be so tired.
 How how do things normally happen between masters and uh and servants.
 Masters and slaves.
 We're not so used to that kind of idea particularly.
 Uh maybe it's none of us feel like we're slaves already still.
 But um this was um Luke 17.
 So just flick on from uh Luke 12 to 17.
 Just find chapters forward.
 And uh we get a very good description there of how things were.
 For people in that day and age. This was how they made their living being servants for so many people.
 Uh verse 10.
 Sorry verse 7 to 10.
 So suppose one of you had a servant.
 Plowing or looking after the sheep.
 What do you say to the servant when he comes in from the field?
 Come along now and sit down and eat.
 Um would he not rather say prepare my supper.
 Get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink after that. You may eat and drink.
 Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do.
 So you also when you have done everything you were told to do should say we are unworthy servants. We've only done our duty.
 Um isn't that the case that uh before the Lord we can say we are servants. We are your servants.
 And we're merely doing your will.
 It should be no great burden to serve the Lord.
 For our lives to be matched by um you know um seen as being full of uh working for the Lord happily.
 And this is where we get the surprise. But I didn't read it.
 It's the second half of verse 37. See it there. I tell the truth. Is with your eyes say amen.
 He will dress or gird himself to serve.
 He will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them.
 Isn't that unbelievable?
 It's like you didn't expect that.
 So the master's going to suddenly come home and say okay guys uh get off to the table.
 Uh I'm now going to reverse everything.
 I'm going to turn everything upside down.
 Now I'm the servant and you are receiving the blessing.
 You're going to have a feast at midnight feast. I'm going to do everything.
 I'm going to head to the kitchen.
 I'm going to get on some good stuff. Get out some beef burgers going.
 I don't know what they're doing.
 But anyway chicken and rice uh jollof rice whatever he's going to make food. But it's going to be uh amazing.
 It's um often the case we um went on uh just Thursday this week to uh a national trust property with the children.
 One of their adventures. We do these adventures.
 Take them to a national trust property.
 And um uh Leah really wanted to go into the house.
 So we went into the house and looked around and it was fascinating place.
 And we didn't notice at one point that there was a picture uh of the last supper.
 And we thought okay that's good.
 And um we there was a little notice underneath to say that the owner of the property had deliberately uh commissioned somebody to go to Italy and find a painting of the Lord's Supper and bring it back.
 And then they said and we'll do lots of masses in by way of thank you.
 Obviously had a bit of a Catholic uh family in residence at that point.
 Anyway there was the last supper.
 And we said to Leah and Adam come on let's let's count the disciples.
 Uh so obviously Jesus in the middle.
 And so we sort of counted them 11 12 13.
 That's interesting.
 And I think it's often the case that painters of that period like to maybe paint themselves into the picture as a sort of a bit of a bystander.
 So maybe we had a picture of the face of the actual person that painted it uh back in that uh that early time.
 And notice here that Jesus do you not think he puts himself into this mini parable here?
 Do you not get an echo of John 13 where Jesus is doing the last supper and there he is and he's donning the towel.
 He's taking off his robe.
 He's donning the towel. He's washing their feet.
 He is now doing the servant role.
 And uh giving them it's kind of a sort of um it's a picture of the future isn't it?
 Have you got that in your head that when you come home if you're truly a believer in Christ and you're watching you're waiting and you're working for Christ out of joy not out of servitude out of joy to the Lord that he's going to come and he's going to say wel
come I prepared a place in the mansion up in heaven that I told you about in John 14 and come in and I'm going to serve you.
 Remember Stephen as he gets killed there in Acts chapter 7 as he gets stoned the first Christian martyr and he looks up. So he's got a future.
 He looks up and he sees the heavens open.
 He sees the Lord Jesus standing standing not seated at the right hand.
 He's standing as it were to welcome him as it were to give him a good hug and embrace him for just straightforward simple uh service. To him.
 I don't know whether you're thinking about that.
 But on that day when Christ returns and he takes you like all other true believers up to join with him and raises all those that have gone ahead died in in in Christ.
 Brings them all together.
 There is going to be an occasion where he once again as it were dons the servant robes.
 You know I've come not to be served but to serve. And I think uh that's going to be quite remarkable.
 But we do come then to this caveat uh verse 39.
 So there's those that are ready and it says it will be good.
 Verse 37. Verse 38.
 It will be good. It will be blessed. That's literally the word.
 It will be blessed.
 If you are ready.
 But then it goes on and we get this but it's kind of blessed or not blessed.
 It's ready or not ready.
 There's this kind of fly in the ointment sort of thing.
 And it's a post script a sort of a caveat on the blessing.
 And um and this is for those that are not ready.
 And he demonstrates this verses 39 and 40.
 He says but understand this.
 If the owner of the house had known at what time the thief was coming he would not have let his house be broken into.
 You must also be ready because the son of man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
 Implication is here that there's going to be people who are not ready and when Jesus comes as a thief they're not be ready for it.
 That's the implication here.
 There's those that are ready and they're doing everything they should and those that are not ready and they're not doing what they should do.
 Now then we come on to the second side. The second half.
 And that is noted by this question.
 Verse 41.
 Peter asked Lord are you telling this parable to us?
 That's the disciples of course.
 Or to everyone to the crowds because of course Luke 12 starts with a massive crowd. So there's two types of people.
 And some are hearing directly.
 Jesus direct teaching to them.
 That is the disciples.
 And others are overhearing these things.
 There's kind of indirect hearing.
 So he's curious to know.
 So who are you applying this to?
 Are you talking about us or are you talking about just more generally?
 And the Lord doesn't answer that question directly. But we can see what his answer is.
 By what he goes on.
 And so he gives now another mini parable very similar that we read at 2:
42 through 2:
44. He says the Lord answered.
 Who then is the faithful and wise manager?
 Faithful and wise manager or steward who the master puts in charge of his service to give them their food without to have the proper time.
 It will be good.
 Notice that again it will be good.
 It will be blessed for that servant whom the master finds doing so.
 When he returns again all about the return of Christ. I tell you the truth. He will put him in charge of all his possessions.
 So there we have another uh section very very similar.
 And the change is that he's gone from the plural servant plural to steward.
 A steward who's in charge of all the all the servants.
 And uh so of course this is somebody who is um who is given charge.
 He is somebody who's in authority. Now who might that be?
 I guess it is the 12 disciples.
 Those that God has Jesus has appointed specifically charged them to do this.
 And they will be the leaders.
 Some of the leaders of the early church that will be shortly growing and um and yes so um then we come to uh move on from the blessed part to the unblessed part.
 And that's verse 45 that we read that to you.
 45 through to 46.
 It says but suppose the servant says to him my master is taking a long time in coming and he then begins to beat the men's servants and man made servants and to eat and drink and get drunk.
 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of him.
 Will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the unbelievers.
 This is the surprise bit. You didn't quite see that coming.
 And it's not a pleasant surprise is it?
 It's quite clear.
 And uh categoric he will cut into pieces.
 Sign him place with the unbelievers.
 This is um how it's put in Matthew 24:
51. He will cut him to pieces.
 Sign him a place with the hypocrites like the like the Pharisees where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. It's a phrase that's attached whenever there's teaching about hell.
 Weeping and gnashing of teeth. Deep regret that you cannot change.
 So I wonder where we will find ourselves. Are we which side are we on?
 Both of these mini parables have two sides.
 Ready? Not ready. Ready. Watching.
 Waiting. Working.
 Not ready.
 And one has a good surprise. One has a very bad surprise.
 Let me end with a story.
 Uh I don't know whether you ever see these uh daily bread devotionals. They kind of you can get them free.
 I think I think they're still running.
 Uh this was an article that was in one of the daily breads.
 And uh it was talking about a traveler who'd gone to Switzerland and he was going by this lovely tranquil lake and he comes across this fairly hidden kind of um manor or mansion place sort of an estate.
 And uh he goes there and he knocks on the door and a rather aged steward or caretaker comes to the door and welcomes him in.
 He looks at he rather delighted.
 To see another human being.
 And so uh he goes around and he escorts him through all the gardens which are very very nicely tended.
 Very beautiful gardens.
 And the tourists ask him so how long have you been here?
 He says 24 years.
 And then he says um how often does your master come back?
 He said oh not very often.
 Maybe um uh four times so far.
 And uh then he asks inquires what was the last time? He said I think it was 12 years ago.
 So the visitor was very eager to kind of try and encourage the guy and commend him for the work he was doing there.
 He said um but you have the gardens in such perfect order and everything is flourishing as if you were expecting your master tomorrow.
 And he says no no no today I'm expecting him today.
 Isn't that amazing?
 This is the attitude that we should have that Christ could come anytime.
 I wonder whether you're ready. Are you ready for Christ?
 Would you be happy to see him tonight? Would you be happy to see him before we get to coffee?
 Interesting question isn't it really?
 One you have to really think through to see you know is the future kind of filtering down into your life?
 You know a good cup of coffee you have a sort of a filter mechanism don't you to get all the flavor out.
 I wonder whether the full flavor of Christ's return is filtering percolating down into your life.
 So where we began coming ready or not?
 Maybe we should play this game later on.
 I'll try it and we can all scatter and I think we're 12 now.
 We let the children do it.
 But um today do you have a posture of expectancy?
 Is there any evidence in your life currently that you are watching that you are waiting ready for him that you are working?
 Has a happy joyful servant because you know there's a great feast coming.
 Let me read the last but one verse in the Bible.
 This is Jesus' final words to us.
 I wonder if you know what they are.
 He says this. Yes.
 I am coming soon. And the response is amen.
 Come Lord Jesus.
 Let's pray that we'll be ready for him.
 Amen.