Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Morning, Sam.
[00:00:02] We are.
[00:00:04] We're doing something a little different this morning. So normally before the sermon, we have our mission of prayer. We highlight one of our partners, we pray for him. But today is Father's Day.
[00:00:15] That was the pause so you could share for dads there. We dad be out.
[00:00:21] And I want. I do. I think it's so important for us to take a minute to consider and celebrate that beautiful truth. And I. Guys, we do this every time we have these kind of holidays come up, and I think it's important. And so if you. If you feel like I'm a broken record right now like that, that's fine. But I think it's really important in moments like these, of celebration, cultural celebration, to remember that this isn't actually a celebratory day for everyone, right? That there are a lot of people and even people in this room who they like. Father's Day reminds them of pain and loss, reminds them of people they miss or people assume they have broken relationships. And I just want you to hear that. If that's you today, I want you to know that we see you and we love you. We are mourning and suffering with you.
[00:01:03] But that doesn't stop us from simultaneously saying it is a good thing to step back and to celebrate fatherhood and to celebrate masculinity. This is a gift the Lord has given us in his design for this world. Of all the things he could have done, God chose to reveal himself to us as father and son.
[00:01:23] There's something unique about the way God designed masculinity that reveals parts of his character to the world in a way that our hearts need. And so if you are a dad in the room, we celebrate you today. Hopefully, someone is cooking you a steak today. That's my prayer for you. That at some point today, someone else will cook a steak and you'll get to eat it. And it will be medium rare. It'll be perfect.
[00:01:48] And for the guys in the room, even if you aren't dads, we are celebrating you today. And so we do have a quick gift for you guys if you're a guy in the room. Sorry, ladies. You got roses.
[00:01:58] Guys get stickers. Because I thought, I can't buy roses for the guys. And it can't be more expensive than the roses. It has to balance out. So, guys, get stickers. We designed these for you just as a little. A little thank you, a little way of saying, we love you. We're celebrating.
[00:02:14] So while those are being handed out, I'm going to say a quick prayer Joint. Thank you. It's going right on the water bottle my kids bought me.
[00:02:24] Jesus, thank you so much for this morning.
[00:02:26] Thank you for how you love us, how you care for us. Lord, thank you for the gift of dads. Lord, even those of us in this room who have a broken relationship with our father. Lord, I pray that today, specifically, you would remind us that you redeem that, that you love us with a perfect, fatherly caretaking, protecting, strong love.
[00:02:46] Lord, let us rest in your arms today. Let us be reminded of your goodness, your faithfulness to us. Jesus, we love you. We pray these things in your name. Amen.
[00:02:57] Okay, so we are continuing on our series today called Be Ready.
[00:03:05] I know it's the perfect Father's Day sermon. We're going to talk about the end times. It'll be great.
[00:03:11] We're still in the Gospel of Matthew, working our way through it. This section of the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 24 and 25, is often called the Olivet discourse. Just in case, just to make sure we're synced up, I'm going to give us a couple reminders. We're going to take a couple minutes to do some just syncing up before we jump into this. We are going to be in Matthew 25 today. If you want to turn there in your Bible, if you don't have a Bible with you, we have house Bibles around the room. We really believe in the importance of access to God's word here at Emmanuel. So if you don't own a physical copy of God's Word, please take one of our pew Bibles or talk to the pastors and we'll get you a nicer one. We're going to be in Matthew 25 today. While you're turning there, let me remind us of a couple things. So Matthew as a gospel is structured by moving back and forth between these chunks of narrative story.
[00:04:00] And these chunks of discourse are teaching it's back and forth stories about Jesus, then one of Jesus's sermons, then stories about Jesus, then one of Jesus's sermons. This section, Matthew 24, 25, the Olivet discourse is the last of Jesus's teachings that we get in Matthew. We're going to step right after this chapter into the Passion narrative, the final climactic narrative of Matthew that will result in Jesus's death and resurrection. Spoiler alert. I'm sorry if you haven't read to the end of the book, but that is where it's heading, is they kill him and then he rises from the dead. Anyway, this point, this part, this is during Jesus's last week in Jerusalem. He's just had this large public confrontation with the religious leaders in the temple. And what starts this teaching is that Jesus prophesies the coming destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, which is something that does happen, right? This, this story is happening in the early 30s AD and in 70 AD the Roman Empire comes and sacks Jerusalem and destroys the temple. That's a real thing that most of Jesus's apostles lived long enough to see, or at least our followers lived long enough to see it. And so Jesus is prophesying that, and that leads to a larger discussion and teaching time with his followers about the end times. This is the last three weeks we've been going through Matthew 24. And let's be honest, apocalyptic literature is weird.
[00:05:31] It's weird and anxiety inducing and confusing, right?
[00:05:35] They use big, strange, scary terms like when the abomination of desolation presents itself in the holy place and you go, I'm sorry, what? Like that's, that's weird and creepy to read that stuff. And so we've been going through that for three weeks. So let me, let me remind us of some of the big points Jesus has made over the course of this sermon. And you have to remember also I gave us this kind of interpretive lens for when we're looking at apocalyptic literature to think of kind of an onion of the prophecy layers of the prophecy that most of the time when you're reading prophetic literature in scripture, but really specifically apocalyptic literature, literature about the end times, you should look for one layer of meaning that has an immediate historical like consequence. What are they speaking of that's going to happen right now or in the near future? So Jesus is talking about the destruction of the temple, right? That does happen within a generation. What is being said in the prophecy that is always true? What is something that is universally true about life in the cursed world? Well, a lot of this discussion about persecution and the way Christians are mistreated and misrepresented and the way the curse has authority, that's always true for Christians. That was true for them. It's true for us. It'll be true until Christ returns. And then third, what is true in the text that's going to be true when Christ returns? It's talking about those final days, the end of time, right? So kind of three layers. Anytime on your own, when you're reading the book of Daniel, when you're reading Jesus's apocalyptic teaching, when you're reading Revelation, that onion of prophecy, that threefold interpretation that's A helpful lens to help demystify some of this kind of literature. So a couple things to highlight that Jesus said to us in chapter 24. First off, the big thing he said at the output was don't be deceived.
[00:07:24] He was really concerned with his followers not being deceived. He said, there will come people who will be false prophets and false messiahs who will claim to have new and unique revelations from God. Don't believe them.
[00:07:39] Don't believe them. If they tell you anything besides what I've already told you, if they add on to it, throw it aside, there is no new revelation coming. That's interesting when you think of the life we live in worlds where we have religions and belief systems like Mormonism that are specifically built on the idea that someone was a new prophet who got a new message and a new revelation that added on, right? But he also says, look out for false messiahs. People who say, just listen to me, I can save you. The thing I have that will make your life better.
[00:08:12] Now, that happened in a very literal sense in the coming generations after Jesus of people saying, I am actually the Jewish Messiah, not Jesus. But we still experience that today, whether it's social media, influencers or politicians, we have lots of people in our lives telling us, if you buy my product or listen to my message, you will get the life you want.
[00:08:33] Jesus says, don't be tricked. Don't be tricked. Lots of people will try and trick you. Don't be tricked. And then he says, the curse will continue until his return.
[00:08:48] There will be persecution, suffering, evil, wars, sin. All of that will continue. The curse is still in effect. Even though Christ defeated the curse on the cross. Until he returns and restores all things, we will continue to see the world burn, which is sorrowful but true.
[00:09:07] He said, by the way, he will in fact return.
[00:09:10] He is coming back. That's a promise. It's a guarantee from Christ that the curse will not reign forever, but Christ will return and restore all things. And then he warned that first off, no one would know. No one would accurately predict his return.
[00:09:26] No one will know. Jesus is very adamant. No one's going to know when I'm coming back. It will surprise people. People will be caught off guard anytime in your entire life. Jim talked about this a little bit last week. If you ever hear someone say, I've read the book, I've figured out the code, I know when Christ is coming back. They're wrong. Period.
[00:09:45] No one knows. No one knows.
[00:09:48] Christ tells us that it will be unexpected.
[00:09:52] And then he Says, so stay ready.
[00:09:57] Be prepared. It will happen. I guarantee it will happen. People will try and trick you, they'll try and deceive you, they'll try and throw you off. You'll suffer. The world will be terrible. You'll doubt whether it will happen, but it will happen. So be read.
[00:10:14] That's the message of the sermon so far. And now in Matthew 25, Jesus turns a really stark corner in this sermon. Not thematically, but structurally. You see, he's kind of finished the sermon at this point. He's made the teaching. And so in chapter 25, Jesus transitions and he tells three parables. And these parables, I really think they're Jesus just being kind to us. Like, he knows the words of this sermon are upsetting and they're hard to hear and they're anxiety inducing and they're confusing. And so he just says, okay, okay, okay, that was hard.
[00:10:51] Let me land it out. And he lands it out by telling these three stories. And I think these three stories, they really give us the application of Jesus's sermon. He's trying to worm these stories in our head so that instead of just hearing this and going, that was scary and weird. And now I'm just kind of anxious, we're able to go, okay, here's a couple things I can actually do with this teaching Jesus just gave me. And so over the next three weeks, as we finish out Jesus's sermon, we're going to spend one week on each of these parables. Today we're going to look at the parable of the ten bridesmaids. We'll hear Jesus's warning for us to stay ready for his return. Next week, we'll look at the parable of the talents which will challenge us to make the most of Christ's investment in our lives. And lastly, we'll look at the parable of the sheeps and goats, which will remind us that genuine faith is proved in just kingdom action.
[00:11:41] But for today, we're just in the first parable, the parable of the 10 bridesmaids. And the point of the sermon today is pretty dead simple. It's this.
[00:11:52] Take responsibility for your own spiritual life.
[00:11:57] That is what Jesus is challenging us with today. You, beloved, must take personal responsibility for your own spirituality, your own spiritual life. You must take responsibility for it.
[00:12:14] Now, we know that's easier said than done, right? So let's, let's work our way through this parable. Let's see what Jesus is telling us. And we'll land, I think, with a couple kind of concrete ways we can consider this challenge. Pray with me. We'll jump into the text. Jesus, we need you this morning.
[00:12:32] We just spent this time singing to you, preparing our hearts, considering you and your beautiful truth.
[00:12:38] Lord, I pray for these next few minutes as we dig into your word, that you would speak to us. Spirit, be our discipler today.
[00:12:46] Challenge us, encourage us, remind us.
[00:12:50] Lord, let us leave here today having met with you in a way our hearts need.
[00:12:54] And Lord, for those of us who need a hard challenge today, I pray that this would not be something that beats us up or discourages us. But Holy Spirit, I pray that you would move us to action, to see the grace, the presence, the hope of your gospel, and to actually move, to move toward you, find growth, to find healing, to find breakthrough.
[00:13:17] God, we need you for this.
[00:13:19] So we pray it in your name, Jesus.
[00:13:21] Amen.
[00:13:23] Okay, Matthew 25. Starting in the first verse, we read this.
[00:13:29] At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they didn't take oil with them, but the wise ones took oil in their flasks with their lamps. When the groom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. Let's stop there for just a second.
[00:13:53] So we're actually doing some genre bending here, right? Jesus has been preaching this sermon and prophesying about end times. He's been in this prophetic, apocalyptic mode, and now he's taking a turn into much more familiar territory for his listeners. Parables. Jesus is well known for his parables. We've spent a good amount of time talking about Jesus's parables. And so let's kind of mentally shift gears here a little. It and remember the lenses we use to talk about Jesus's parables. One of the primary interpretive lenses we tend to use is to say, what would the parable mean if the main character was Jesus? Then what would it mean if the main character was the church? That doesn't really work for these three, because Jesus really sets up pretty clearly himself and the church both as characters in all three parables. But one lens that's really helpful, that we've used a lot, is that Jesus oftentimes in his parables, takes a really normal story and injects something really absurd and then puts the meaning right at the intersection of what's normal and what's absurd. That's going to really help us with these three parables. They're very normal stories. That have some very strange absurdities in them. So let's look at the setup to our incredibly normal story. The setting of a story is a coming wedding.
[00:15:14] Now, we don't have a huge amount of concrete descriptions of Wedding customs in 1st century Palestine, but historians are able to piece together a pretty good picture based on sources we have inside and outside of scripture to kind of know what's going on in these sort of ceremonies and get at some of the points Jesus is making here. So a couple things we know. In first century Jewish wedding custom, there was a period of time called the betrothal. And during this time, the couple was legally connected. Think about when we talk about a couple as being engaged, but in this context, it's much more secure than that. Once the betrothal has happened, you're not married yet, you're still engaged, but you are legally bound to one another. It requires formal divorce proceedings to end a betrothal. Right. And for large parts of the betrothal, they would not be allowed to interact.
[00:16:05] And so apparently during the last part of the betrothal, there was some intentional building of anticipation. You see, wedding feasts, we know, were multiple day affairs that involved whole communities. And in the day before electronic and instant communication, there was a lot of wiggle room in how you planned out these sort of big feasts. Folk had to be ready for days or even weeks to kind of just drop what they were doing and head to the party.
[00:16:35] It was a matter of going, hey. It would be like if we said it this way, hey, we're having a wedding in July, August, be ready, we'll let you know.
[00:16:45] And you just get a message that said, hey, it started. Come on over.
[00:16:49] Are you serious? But that's the normal way the communication happened for these sort of things. The whole community wedding feast was started, however, not by setting a date or a time. It was started by the bridal procession.
[00:17:04] There was kind of the ceremony where the. The groom would march to the bride's home, usually after dark, with his wedding party. It would be this whole thing, and he would go and get her and they would start this parade from her house to wherever the wedding feast was going to be. And oftentimes they did this after dark so they could make a spectacle of it and set up lights and make a big deal. And people are shouting and they're singing and there's music. People are waking up their kids, they're getting out of their homes. They're all heading to where the party is going to be. This is the scene. Jesus Sets up for us. A couple is betrothed and their wedding day is close. The groom could come at any minute. It's already dark, like it's, it's, it's ready. It's time the calves been slain. The party's set up like they're just waiting for him to show up. The anticipation would be palpable.
[00:18:00] So these bridesmaids, they take their torches and they spread out between the bride and groom's house. The idea is as soon as they show up, he shows up. They light up their torches real bright, they join the procession. It kind of adds to the whole thing so the community can hear them singing and see the lights and come and join in.
[00:18:21] But here, Jesus makes a delineation.
[00:18:23] Half of these bridesmaids are wise and half are foolish. The word foolish is funny to me. Could be translated as silly, which I think is just a great way to think about it. Five wise bridesmaids and five silly bridesmaids. But regardless, Jesus is hearkening back here to the rich tradition in Jewish wisdom literature. Books like proverbs intentionally contrast the lives and actions of the wise and foolish. Jesus in this story wants you to zone in on the difference between these two groups of women. Women. He tells us the five wise women packed a flask of oil with their lamps and the five fools did not. Okay, so let's talk about that for a second.
[00:19:07] We're talking about these lamps, these torches. These would have been outdoor torches. They existed in that day. We know what they look like. We have preserved examples on them. They're essentially a stick with a cup on top where you can put up a little rolled up rag and put some oil. Here's a picture of something really similar. This is a 1st century Roman outdoor hand torch. You can see the little bowl where you could put oil. See the cup in the middle where you could wind up a rag really tight and shove it in there. That's how it worked.
[00:19:37] These things, in order for them to function, you would have to soak the rags with oil before you put them in. And then you light them up. And the oil wicking up in the rag will actually keep the rag from fully charring and burning up. The oil will be consumed, packed. Initially, these things are good for 15, 30 minutes of light, something like that. And then you have to re up the oil. And if you don't re up the oil, the rag itself will begin to burn and then eventually it goes out. And so if you don't want to re up it and you want to use up your wick. You got 30, 45, maybe an hour. It's kind of the way these things work.
[00:20:14] Now, this gives us our first hint as to where this is going.
[00:20:20] See, the foolish bridesmaids believe the groom is coming in the next half hour or so.
[00:20:26] That's what the story tells us. They don't pack oil because they go this. It's happening right now.
[00:20:33] So let's just get out there. Let's get our lamps lit. Let's get out there. They don't consider the idea that it will take longer. The wise bridesmaids know it very well might take longer. And so they pack extra oil for their torches.
[00:20:46] This is. Then he spread out in the path between the two homes.
[00:20:49] And Jesus tells us, sure enough, the groom is delayed. Again, this is a very normal story. There are so many details to set up in these sorts of events that the start times are really loose.
[00:21:02] Really loose.
[00:21:03] So the groom is delayed. It's the middle of the night, and all the bridesmaids fall asleep.
[00:21:09] Note that, by the way, note that bit of the story. They all fall asleep. It's the middle of the night, the groom is delayed. It's taking forever. They all fall asleep. Now read on with me in verse 6.
[00:21:25] In the middle of the night there was a shout. Here's the groom, come out to meet him.
[00:21:30] Then all the virgins got up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise ones, give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out.
[00:21:38] So now the main tension of the story springs. The groom has finally arrived. You can imagine this story that you can see it in your head like this beautiful night scene. And all of a sudden you hear this noise in the distance. The groom, he's here. The groom and all his rowdy boys who are all excited that their buds getting married. And they're making their way down the path. And all the bridesmaids begin to wake up and they realize the delay has been longer than they thought.
[00:22:05] Their torches are flickering out and so they set to trimming them. You got to snip off all the bits of rag that have actually burned and then re. Soak it with oil.
[00:22:14] But these foolish bridesmaids, they've used up all their oil.
[00:22:19] Their torches are actively beginning to spit her out. And so they looked at the other bridesmaids. Hey, hey, hey, you brought extra oil. Give me some. My torch is going out. Hook a girl up at this point, Jesus, he's obviously sprung. The meaning of the story, right?
[00:22:37] But even at this point, this is still very Normal. There's not really anything strange going on here. They're foolish and they forgot their oil, and now the groom is here and they need some and they have to inconvenience their friends. The meaning is obvious. They were foolish, they weren't ready and it caused problems. Right? Don't get caught unaware. Jesus will return when you don't expect it. Be ready.
[00:22:58] Right?
[00:23:00] But Jesus's warning and his application here are actually really stark. He wants to drive the point home with intensity, with some sharpness. And so now he injects a really strange turn into the story to get our attention. Read on with me. In verse nine, the wise ones answered, no, there won't be enough for us and for you, go instead to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.
[00:23:29] When they had gone to buy some, the groom arrived and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut.
[00:23:37] Later, the rest of the virgins also came and said, master, Master, open up for us. And he replied, truly, I tell you, I don't know you.
[00:23:45] Therefore, be alert because you don't know whether the day. You don't know either the day or the hour.
[00:23:51] Okay, real quick. Did that story end as strangely for you guys as it did for me?
[00:23:56] Right? Like that's. That feels like a sharp turn. How many of you guys have ever gotten to be in a wedding party before? Groomsmen, bridesmaids, something like that?
[00:24:06] As a pastor, I do a lot of weddings. I'm involved in it a lot. It's a really cool privilege that I get to be in, in people's lives. But I'll tell you guys, this is something I coach wedding parties on. Grooms and bridesmaids.
[00:24:17] When it's the day of the wedding, your job is to be a servant. You are there to serve whatever the needs of the wedding are, whatever is going on, whatever needs to be done. Groom forgot the ring. Yeah. You drop what you're doing, you drive, and you go get it, right?
[00:24:33] The tables aren't set up just right in the middle like the centerpieces aren't. Hey, guess what? Drop what you're doing, Go fix them. That's your job today. You're the servant. Grandma's lost in the grounds somewhere.
[00:24:44] You go find her and you kindly and respectfully escort her to her seat, right? Like, that's your job if you are in the wedding party.
[00:24:54] And yet when these bridesmaids ask for help, they say, no, no, no, there isn't enough for all of us. Go buy some. That's pretty wild.
[00:25:09] It's pretty wild for a couple of reasons.
[00:25:12] The big one is this. In all practicality, there's really probably no reason the oil couldn't have been shared. It's pretty inconceivable to think of these flasks as being like so small, like little TSA approved travel flasks, that they couldn't get enough oil to get all the lamps going.
[00:25:31] But Jesus is making a theological point here.
[00:25:35] And so the story ends with this increasing strangeness because not only do they refuse to help them, instead they say, these ladies should go buy more oil.
[00:25:48] Now stop with me for a second. Remember the story. It's the middle of the night, there's a wedding starting, and so they say, we don't have enough for you. You should go into town, find the home of the guy who owns the oil store, wake him up, convince him to sell you oil, prepare your lamps, and then come back and then jump into the bridal party with us. That's your solution? That's nuts.
[00:26:18] That makes zero sense. That is not a good solution to their problem. Especially when the one explaining this is actively pouring oil into their lamp, going, you should just go into town to buy some. I don't know. I don't know. You should have got ready. That's wild.
[00:26:31] That's. It makes me think of the scene in Three Amigos when he's drinking out of the canteen and starts washing his face. Three of you got that reference. And you're like, that's a good reference.
[00:26:43] This is a nonsensical solution.
[00:26:46] And yet these ladies try their best.
[00:26:50] They abandon the procession, they run into terror.
[00:26:53] Well, then the groom arrives and. And the five bridesmaids join him and the procession makes its way to the bride and they start the banquet. And now we get another strangeness in the story. Jesus says that as soon as they start the banquet, the door was shut to the party.
[00:27:12] Now remember, this is a day when banquets are vague affairs. You don't shut the door. No one would be offended by guests arriving hours or even days late to a wedding. But this groom shuts and locks the door as soon as the bridal party arrives. That's wild. That's weird. But again, Jesus is making a theological point. The absurdity is supposed to drive the point home because right then the foolish bridesmaids show up.
[00:27:44] Now their torches are lit, freshly bought oil. They woke the guy up, right? It worked.
[00:27:50] With the doors locked, they missed the party. They're locked out. And so they knock. And when the groom answers them, he says, I'm sorry, I don't know you.
[00:28:00] Again, that's absurd.
[00:28:04] These women are in the bridal party.
[00:28:06] He knows them.
[00:28:08] There's no. There's no way that as a groom, you don't know, at least by face, half the bridesmaids in your wedding party. Right?
[00:28:19] It's crazy.
[00:28:21] But Jesus is making a really specific point here in this strange story. The five young women who missed the bridal party didn't just miss out on their job. They didn't just miss out on the party. Somehow their foolishness means that they missed the actual couple.
[00:28:41] And the groom doesn't even know them because of their foolishness.
[00:28:45] And Jesus ends this parable by repeating a phrase he said earlier. Be alert. You don't know the day or the hour.
[00:28:53] It's an intense story, guys, but it is a dreadfully important one.
[00:28:59] Jesus is telling us here in no uncertain terms. You, beloved, you need to be read for his return.
[00:29:09] You don't know when it will happen, so you need to be ready.
[00:29:13] And you know this. This warning is also an invitation.
[00:29:18] The invitation is there because at its most basic level, readiness for Christ's return means responding to Christ's accomplished work on your behalf.
[00:29:30] Readiness for his return means responding to the gospel invitation. No matter. No matter what your life looks like, beloved, no matter what your blessings or your sufferings are, don't forget this truth. God is real. He made you and everything, and he made it all perfect, and he made it all for relationship with Him. But sin, the curse is what broke that sin, by the way, that if you're honest, you know you have willfully and continually participated in the curse that brings about death. That is what separated you from God's presence. Perfect good design for you.
[00:30:07] But God is not content that your sin would have the final word on you, his beloved creation. He's not content that you would just destroy his good and perfect design. So God Himself enters into this world, lives his life as a human, and lives a perfect life. He actually earns his righteousness and earns his reward and still dies. A sinner's death, an unjust sinner's death. And the very same God who made the universe, rises him from the dead, resurrects him, and draws him up into eternity from which he will return to restore all things. God died and God resurrected. And God will come back.
[00:30:50] And that. That is an invitation to you.
[00:30:54] There's a warning in there.
[00:30:56] Be ready for it.
[00:30:58] But the warning is an invitation to say that gospel is available to you.
[00:31:03] It's available to you right now.
[00:31:06] In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul says, now is the acceptable time. Now. Today is the day of salvation.
[00:31:15] You need not wait. Nothing holds you back. Nothing keeps you.
[00:31:19] Don't delay, beloved.
[00:31:22] Respond to Jesus here and now.
[00:31:26] At its core, this is the single most important decision you can make.
[00:31:31] To prepare your heart for the return of Jesus, just ask yourself, is Jesus your Lord and your Savior? Have you confessed your sins to him? If you trusted him for forgiveness in salvation? Beloved, if you have not done that, you can.
[00:31:47] You can do that right now.
[00:31:49] You can do that here and today that invitation is for you. All you need do is come to him in honesty.
[00:31:58] If you come to him in honesty and tell him, this is my sin. I have partaken in the brokenness of your creation and I need your forgiveness.
[00:32:07] And I want your forgiveness and I want you to be the Lord in my life.
[00:32:11] That is what stands between you and preparedness.
[00:32:14] That invitation is ready and open to all of us in this very moment.
[00:32:20] Because at the end of the day, beloved, you must take responsibility for your spiritual life.
[00:32:27] You must take personal responsibility for your spiritual life. This is the essence of Jesus. Warning in this parable, you must decide.
[00:32:40] You must.
[00:32:41] Will you follow the Lord?
[00:32:45] Will you give yourself to him? Will you believe Jesus's warning? Will you accept his love and his gift for you? You must take responsibility for your spiritual life.
[00:32:58] Let me do this. I'm going to draw out three facets from this truth today, this challenge that I think will help us kind of zone in and hopefully give us a practical application today.
[00:33:10] First one is this.
[00:33:12] You cannot rest in someone else's spirituality.
[00:33:16] You can't.
[00:33:17] You can't rest in someone else's work. Remember the Five wise Bridesmaids? They couldn't help the fools.
[00:33:26] Jesus is making a theological point there. It's not that they're jerks.
[00:33:29] It's that they couldn't help them.
[00:33:32] Because you can't use someone else's faith. You can't use someone else's relationship with Jesus. You must seek Christ.
[00:33:41] We all have wonderful and important people in our testimonies. And if you're a believer, you live your life in community.
[00:33:49] Maybe it's grandparents, maybe it's parents, maybe it's siblings. Maybe it's Sunday school teachers or youth leaders or a specific pastor or a roommate or someone involved in a college ministry. We all have important people who helped connect us with Jesus and who still help grow us in our faith. This is beautiful and it is always necessary.
[00:34:09] There's no such thing as a solo Christian, right?
[00:34:12] But that's not what we're talking about here.
[00:34:16] We're not talking about your communal life in the church.
[00:34:19] We're talking about your salvation, your preparation for Christ's return.
[00:34:26] The author of Hebrews reminds us says it like this in chapter nine. It is appointed for every person once to die and to face judgment.
[00:34:34] John expounds that even further in his revelation. In chapter 20 of Revelation, we're given a glimpse of Jesus's white throne of judgment in the end of Days, where every single person stands before God and they stand before God alone.
[00:34:51] Every soul who has ever lived stands before the judgment of God. You beloved, hear me. You, beloved, will have your turn in front of the White Pearl.
[00:35:06] And when you are there, I won't be there with you.
[00:35:11] Your mom and dad won't be there with you.
[00:35:14] Your friends, your pastors, your small group, your siblings, your discipler.
[00:35:20] It will be you and Yahweh and your life and your works and your actions will be laid out on the examination tutor.
[00:35:30] And it will be you and him.
[00:35:35] Can we sit there for a second?
[00:35:37] I don't know about you, that's not a pleasant thought to consider.
[00:35:45] I don't want every. Every careless word, every careless thought, every willful sin and hurt that I've done in my life played out on the examination table of my Creator.
[00:35:58] That doesn't sound good.
[00:36:03] I'm here to tell you guys when that happens, not if that happens. When that happens, you must know it is your works that will be examined. Your life.
[00:36:20] How will they stack up?
[00:36:22] How will they look?
[00:36:24] And you may be thinking to yourself, pastor, I don't know. I've been in this thing for a while, and I'm pretty sure salvation is by grace, not by my works. So how are you telling me that I'm going to stand before God and He's going to weigh my whole life, and it's going to be whether or not I'm good enough to get in. Because for those of you who are in Christ, you're exactly right.
[00:36:41] For those of you who are in Christ, when your life is drawn before God, you need to know there is only one hope for you. One hope. Hear me, church. One hope for you.
[00:36:50] When you stand before God and your works are placed under his examination, your hope is that Jesus Christ will step forward and that he will stand under judgment alongside you, and that he will take his righteous life, his righteous actions, and place them on the examination table instead of yours.
[00:37:15] And then when God examines your life, he will look upon the perfection of Jesus, and he will look at you and see perfection and say, well done, good and faithful servant. Come enjoy the pleasure of your Master.
[00:37:29] That is the hope.
[00:37:31] That is the hope that God and His grace will intercede on your behalf, that his righteousness will make up for your lack of you. Don't get to pull on someone else's relationship with Jesus, beloved. It must be yours, and it must be done while it can be done.
[00:37:53] Second point.
[00:37:55] When Christ returns, it's too late to build up your spirituality.
[00:37:59] It's too late to get ready.
[00:38:01] The wise bridesmaids sent the fools to buy oil in the middle of the night.
[00:38:05] But it was too late.
[00:38:07] The groom had already arrived. They ran to town and they came back with torches. But it was too late. The bridal party had already passed them by.
[00:38:18] In the Christ Hymn in the letter to the Philippians, Paul says that when Jesus returns, everyone will know that Jesus is Lord.
[00:38:27] Every human being, all creatures, all of creation, those who have lived, those who will live across the earth, regardless of their philosophical or religious ideas. When Jesus returns, He'll be recognized as the Lord of reality, and everyone and everything will bow their knee to him as Lord.
[00:38:49] For some people, that will be a bow of worship and joy.
[00:38:54] For some, it will be a bow of terror and defeat.
[00:38:58] For some, it will be forced submission.
[00:39:03] Do not wait to deal with the reality of your heart, beloved.
[00:39:09] Don't put off for tomorrow what can be brought before the grace of Jesus today.
[00:39:17] Don't settle your heart to contentment in your brokenness, your lostness and your sin patterns.
[00:39:26] Don't look at the sin and brokenness in your life and just say, you know what, it's all good.
[00:39:33] I have grace. I have Jesus. Eventually I'll get there and he'll fix it. I'm just not going to worry about it. Don't be deceived, beloved.
[00:39:41] Walk toward Christ today. Don't put off for tomorrow what you can put before the cross today.
[00:39:48] You don't know the day, you don't know the hour.
[00:39:51] Prepare yourself for his return.
[00:39:53] Seek him while he may be found.
[00:39:57] Chase after him.
[00:39:59] Don't wait until tomorrow to confess, to repent, to do the hard work of battling your flesh and killing the sin within you. You can submit to Jesus today. You can grow in freedom. Today. You can grow in holiness. Today, beloved, turn toward Christ, not away from Him. And don't get me wrong. I know that many of our sin patterns are deeply entrenched in our hearts, that we struggle with brokenness and Compulsions and addictions and there are sin pattern that you can't just go, oh Jesus, I'm sorry, I'm doing this and flip a switch and stop doing it. That it's, that it's years, months, a lifetime of doing battle and walking in the light and walking in confession and slaying your flesh and seeking to grow. I know that's true for all of us.
[00:40:47] But beloved, don't let that defeat you.
[00:40:50] Take steps toward Christ.
[00:40:53] Do the work today of growing in holiness.
[00:40:57] Seek him today.
[00:41:00] Take that next step.
[00:41:02] Don't allow yourself to be content with some part of your heart that you know won't exist in heaven.
[00:41:11] If it's something you know Christ will not bring into his eternity with you, deal with it today.
[00:41:18] It may take you the rest of your life, but what joy to have Christ return and to have him find you deeply, passionately work to glorify him and to grow in holiness rather than to return and find you lackadaisical, ignoring things that you know dishonor him, that you know harm you, that you know add to the curse.
[00:41:41] Beloved, seek him today while you can, because this is our third point today.
[00:41:49] Jesus tells us here to fail to prepare for Christ's return is in some way to reject Him.
[00:41:56] I think this is the most stark and shocking part of this entire parable. It's the part that I think is meant to jolt us to attention this morning.
[00:42:05] Jesus says there is something about bringing a carelessness to our preparations for his return that reflects a lack of connection with him. That there is something about missing Jesus that is like being unknown by him.
[00:42:24] It's to be a stranger not on the list.
[00:42:27] It's to stand at the throne of judgment with only your own life to speak for you.
[00:42:33] Beloved. That is terror, that is loss, that is death, that is hell.
[00:42:39] When Jesus tells us here, he says to take a heart that does not care about actually preparing for his return.
[00:42:48] That should caution us.
[00:42:51] If you sit with somber self reflection and look at your own heart and look at your own spirituality and go, you know, I mean like I love Jesus. I'm grateful for the grace, I'm grateful for the forgiveness. Like church is cool, but I don't know, like the idea of actually dealing with sin in my heart and actually like growing in holiness, it's really hard. It's really awkward. I don't like confessing. I don't like dealing with that stuff in my past. And I don't know if Jesus is going to fix it all anyway. I'm just not super worried about it.
[00:43:20] I think Jesus is warning us here that if that. That attitude should give you pause, it should make you step back and go, that's not right.
[00:43:32] Something's wrong about that.
[00:43:34] I shouldn't be content with a lack of preparedness.
[00:43:39] And don't get me wrong, beloved.
[00:43:43] The Gospel is an invitation of free grace is a gift given to us by Jesus. It is not by our works.
[00:43:49] You don't battle your sin to somehow earn your salvation. That's not what we're talking about.
[00:43:55] But Jesus is saying here in very, I think, very stark terms, he repeats this warning.
[00:44:01] He wants this in our hearts.
[00:44:04] If you find yourself contented with the sin in your heart, that should shock you, that should give you pause, that should make you step back and go, what's misspiring?
[00:44:20] Is it possible? Is it possible?
[00:44:23] Hear me, beloved. I don't mean this to offend you, but I do mean this to prick you.
[00:44:30] Is it possible that you might know a lot about Jesus, but you don't actually know him?
[00:44:38] Is it possible that you are a good enough church person and you've been to enough small groups and enough Bible studies, that you have gained enough intellectual knowledge about Jesus and his person that you are a fan of him, that you know him, know about him, but you don't know him?
[00:44:59] The same way you might know about your favorite athlete, you might memorize stats and watch all the games, but you've never known them.
[00:45:09] Is it possible that that might be true in your own heart, beloved?
[00:45:15] And I don't say that because I want you to sit here and, like, circle in all these doubts and go, oh, my gosh, what if not really saved? That's not what I'm trying to do. I'm not trying to build up anxiety or fear or some kind of rumination in your heart.
[00:45:27] But I think Jesus here gives us this caution on purpose.
[00:45:32] I think he looks at us and says, if you don't care about preparing for my return, you should stop and you should do a gut check.
[00:45:40] If you are content to live your life in your sin patterns, not seeking holiness and growth and freedom, not working to prepare yourself for my return, not seeking the building of the kingdom here and now in your own life, in the world around you, you should stop and do a gut check with yourself.
[00:45:58] Do you actually know me?
[00:46:02] Because I'm here to tell you, beloved, that Jesus says very clearly, to know him is to obey him.
[00:46:11] To love him is to follow his commands.
[00:46:15] To know Jesus changes you.
[00:46:19] You can learn all sorts of facts about Jesus without being changed.
[00:46:23] But if you know him that rips you open and spreads you apart and rearranges you and rebuilds you different, changes you, makes you a different person.
[00:46:37] I gotta tell you guys, I'm not a great dude.
[00:46:41] Try my best.
[00:46:42] I got more flaws than strengths.
[00:46:45] And those of you who know me as a friend, you know that's true, that you don't want to meet me without Jesus.
[00:46:52] This is the redeemed version.
[00:46:54] This is the better version.
[00:46:57] That's true for all of us who are in Christ.
[00:47:00] He changes us fundamentally and he continues to change us.
[00:47:07] I think it is worth today, I think it is worth stopping and looking at our own lives, our own hearts with sober self reflection and just asking, do I know Christ?
[00:47:23] And Lord willing, the resounding answer of your heart and the spirit within you will be, yes, you are my beloved.
[00:47:31] I know you. I've known you. I will continue to know you. And your heart will light up and say, yes, Lord. Willingness the truth, if it isn't, you need not fear.
[00:47:42] The invitation of the Gospel is for you, here and today, right now.
[00:47:46] You can know him before you leave this space.
[00:47:49] You can walk out of here, washed in his blood, forgiven of your sins, redeemed and prepared for the day of his return.
[00:47:57] And if you do know him, that resounding yes rises up in your heart. I would encourage you to ask a second question and to say, okay, so what am I doing to get ready for you to come back?
[00:48:08] Because I don't know when you're coming back.
[00:48:11] And I know that I've got all this stuff in me that won't be there in heaven.
[00:48:17] I heard a pastor say it like this once.
[00:48:19] When you get to heaven, everything that is sin, everything that's brokenness, everything that's cursed won't exist anymore. Right?
[00:48:26] They'll all be gone. All that's in heaven is perfection, joy, life, love.
[00:48:30] Which means all the parts of you that are broken, curse that, that live that out, that, that are self centered, that are hateful, all those parts won't exist anymore in heaven. Those will be gone from you. Right, Right. That makes sense. Okay, so if you go into heaven right now and you're there, how much of you would be left?
[00:48:53] How much would have to get stripped out right now to get you through the door?
[00:48:59] The question is this, beloved. It's not, you're not going to earn your way in. It's not about, oh, I got to get it right. I got to get the right ratio of sin to holiness so I can get it's not that Christ paid your price. Christ intercedes. Christ will stand at the white throne of judgment and put his actions on the table and you will get in on his merit.
[00:49:17] The question is this, are you seeking heaven now?
[00:49:23] Are you moving toward Christ now? Are you saying, I want my life, my heart, my home, my family, my community to look more like heaven today than it did yesterday?
[00:49:35] Are you taking responsibility for your spirituality in your own life and in your circle of influence band? If you want to come back up, I'm going to invite us just to take a couple minutes and let's do some prayer.
[00:49:52] Do some work in your heart.
[00:49:54] Ask the Lord honestly if you know him because if you do, your spirit and his spirit will answer.
[00:50:05] And if you don't, you have an invitation today.
[00:50:11] Well, let's take a few minutes to meet with the Lord and then we'll continue on with response through communion.
