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Therefore be ye also ready. The one point which our Lord seeks to impress on his disciples is the uncertainty of the time of the great testing day, and of all testing days. The fact that a reckoning day for the Lord's servants must come has to be fully accepted. If there is any sense in which we are now in trust during our Lord's absence, it is certain that his absence can only be temporary. We can never cease to be servants in charge. We can never get a personal right in the things of which we are set in charge. Purposely our Lord withholds from his disciples of every age the date of his return. It is truest kindness to do so. It is moral training to do so. His disciples always go wrong when they try to fix dates. Christ distinctly refuses to allow any data on which such fixtures can be made. Prophets of the "second coming," and of the "end of the world," are wise above what is written, and let their imaginations run riot over Bible figures of speech.

I. THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF FEELING THAT THE MASTER MAY COME AT ANY TIME.

1. It keeps the thought of the Master close, near to us at all times. So it takes us out of ourselves.

2. It keeps us thinking what the Master would like to see when he comes. So it makes us ever busy about our work.

3. It sets us upon thinking what pleasant surprises we can give our Master when he comes. So it lifts our work high above the drudgery of service.

4. It keeps in our hearts the ever-cheering confidence of the Master's smile, if he sees all has been right and is right in his home. Add that all this filling of our souls with the thought of our Master provides the healthiest deliverance from all self-centred sentimentalism. Illustrate from our Lord's picture of the good servant, who was found "watching," in the sense of being busy about his work.

II. THE MORAL INFLUENCE OF FEELING THAT THE MASTER IS DELAYING HIS COMING. This represents the most striking contrast. The thought of the Master is lifted away, and self rises to fill the vacant space. No need to hurry preparations; it will be soon enough when he sends notice. Meanwhile there can be self-enjoyment. There is no fear of being taken at unawares. See the picture of the unworthy servant. Whether men think they can, or think they cannot, fix the time of Christ's coming, the fact for them all will be that he will come to them at unawares, and find them out. - R.T.

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KJV: Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

WEB: Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don't expect, the Son of Man will come.