Matthew Pt. 93- The Wise and Foolish Virgins

Years in the making, all these other chapters have covered all

these years and now everything has slowed way down and we're in

the last week of Jesus's life now, in the last couple of days

all the way here, all the way through chapter 28.

As we've said many times, Jesus has preached his last public

sermon. The Olivet Discourse, as this is

commonly called, is most most likely a private conversation

that's happening with his disciples.

They asked, hey, the stuff you said about the temple, when's

all that going to happen? He shares in 24 about Here's how

the world is going to move forward.

This is what my second coming is going to look like.

We talked about the different ways that Christian, faithful,

loving, respectable, intelligent, God honoring

Christians interpret those passages.

And then we said, so we, I told you as your pastor, I'm not

certain how the world is going to end.

I'm just certain that Jesus is coming soon.

I'm certain that we should, we should all be excited about it.

I'm certain that we should all be motivated by it.

And as a church, we can all say Amen to that.

And then we said, now how should we live?

Since we all know and agree that he's coming, since we all know

and agree that he's coming soon. It could truly be today.

It might be much longer down the road, but because it could be

any moment, he encourages us to be prepared.

He encourages us to always be ready, and He's been walking us

through what does that look like?

So here are the Olivet Discourse.

He's warning his disciples to be watchful and be ready for his

coming. Chapter 24 was largely about

what is going to come. And then last week we

transitioned into how we're supposed to live.

And here in chapter 25 we see more about the warning and

instruction of how to live. I'll give you your big take away

from today's sermon already. Today's big sermon take away is

that you need to be ready for Jesus's return.

That was his emphasis. That was his priority.

That was the whole thing that he keeps driving home here over and

over and over. He didn't just mention it once.

He gives multiple parables, He gives multiple examples to

emphasize it. I told you last week, if you say

that you believe Jesus is coming soon, but you're not obeying the

most obvious obedience for your life, whatever that might look

like, we framed that up as like, not the extravagant thing, not

the I've got to change the world thing.

Like no, no, no. Thankfully it's much simpler.

Thankfully my obedience is much more in my ability.

It's not beyond my ability. If you're not obeying the most

obvious obedience for your life, then no one believes you when

you say that you think Jesus is coming soon and you don't have

fear of God. I know that's coming on strong.

I know I didn't do much of A warm up there, but remember,

this is your eternal soul they were talking about.

So this is the heaviest of the heaviest.

It's not a small thing. It's the biggest thing.

And the warnings that Jesus puts on this are massive.

The example he gave last week, he says, hey, the unfaithful

servant, you know, like, oh, is this guy going to get a

scolding? Jesus said this guy gets cut

into pieces and thrown out with the hypocrites.

You know, like throw cut into pieces.

OK, that's pretty graphic language, Jesus, pretty specific

stuff. So Jesus takes this seriously.

I should take this seriously? You should take this seriously.

Here we are in chapter 25 in verse 1 he says then the Kingdom

of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and

went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and

five were wise. For when the foolish took their

lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks

of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed,

they all became drowsy and slept.

But at midnight there was a cry. Here is the bridegroom, come out

and meet him. Then all those virgins rose and

trimmed their lamps, And the foolish said to the wise, Give

us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.

But the wise answered, saying, Since there will not be enough

for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for

yourselves. And while they were going to

buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in

with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open

to us. But he answered truly.

I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know,

neither the day nor the hour. Lord, we take seriously your

words today. And I pray again that the

weighty words of Jesus would land as they're supposed to,

just like the gentle words of Jesus are supposed to land with

impact. These heavy, these fearful words

of Jesus are supposed to land with impact.

God, I pray for every single soul.

God, what a tragedy it would be for anyone to hear this exact

message and then still be lost. I pray for everyone in this

church and everyone under the sound of my voice that they

would, that they would be pierced by the word of God, that

they would be cut deeply, and then that that they would

respond and receive the Holy Spirit to come in to change, to

bring repentance. Not just a life that looks good,

not just a life that's marked by fellowship with the Saints, but

a life that's truly marked by a saving faith in the Lord Jesus

Christ. Lord, it's a difficult lesson.

It's a difficult message to receive someone who thinks that

they've been saved only to find out that they haven't been.

But then the then the good news that they still can be if the

time hasn't run out. God help us to be a people of

urgency for ourselves and for others.

Not just a self introspective church, but a church that's

looking outward to say let's run and let's carry and let's make a

difference and let's make disciples, equip us well and

then send us out in Jesus name, Amen.

That is the priority that we would truly take seriously for

ourselves. That's my starting point.

Do you want to see the whole world save?

Yeah, but I don't want to go to hell.

Like for me, that's really, really, really important for me.

Like I would do anything for you, but I would not go to hell

for you. I would not trade places with

you and go to hell for you. I wouldn't do it and you

shouldn't do it either. That's your soul.

It's the, it's the one thing that we've got.

So I would do a lot of things for a lot of people, but I don't

think I would do that for anybody.

And I mean anybody. I mean my wife and my children,

anybody, because it's unnecessary, first of all.

So it's kind of a foolish thought experiment, but I just

want you to understand like your soul is the one thing that you

have jurisdiction over and it's the one thing that you should

take very, very, very, very seriously.

And you see the the wise virgins, they take their souls

very seriously. They take their lives very say,

hey, hey, let me extract from you so that we both go without.

No, no, I'm going to be protective of this thing that I

can protect. I'm going to do the thing that

I'm supposed to do. And this is the weight that

Jesus is putting on all of this. So let's explain this parable

quickly. Whenever they say bridegroom, it

just means groom. It's kind of confusing because

it says bridegroom, but it's just groom.

So that's the way that you and I can read that the groom here is

Christ. The wedding feast is the final

celebration when God gathers all of his people.

The oil represents a saving faith that is necessary to

endure and to obey the wise. The wise virgins are the genuine

believers. The foolish virgins are the

people who are attending churches and they live good

lives and they think that they are in good standing with God.

But they are not really saved because they lack a saving faith

in Jesus. And this saving faith in Jesus

is revealed by their lack of readiness.

So it's not I do the things, therefore I am saved.

Remember, it's God has saved me and out of that, the evidence of

God saving me is that I do the things now, I don't do the

things to get saved. And many folks have been

deceived by that and many folks have been able to put a mask on

top of that. That's when we've been

hypocrites. Sometimes people have done it in

ignorance and they're like, I want to be a religious person.

I want to be, I want to do right by the Lord.

And they focus on what do I need to do?

What do I need to do, What do I need to do?

That's where you want to bring that person the good news and

go, first of all, let me start you off right here.

Jesus has done it all and they go, but I need to do something

and that you're right, you need to trust in the work that the

Lord Jesus has done because there's nothing you can do.

And once we once they come to that place of saving faith, then

their wanter changes, their appetite changes.

They don't like the trash. They don't like to eat the trash

that they used to like. They have a hunger and a thirst

for a new thing. So we have to be careful because

there are certain things in people's lives around us that we

would like to see changed in their lives, right?

Because there are certain things that are damaging and

destructive to their lives. So there are certain behaviors

that go, man, I really wish so and so would stop doing this

insert destructive behavior, right?

Because it would, it would literally be a blessing to their

life. But they would still, they would

still go to hell even though that thing was removed from

their life if they have not experienced a saving faith in

the Lord Jesus Christ. Man, I really wish, I really

wish we could help Bob quit drinking.

I do too, because if Bob would quit drinking, it would

dramatically bless his life and change a lot of things for him.

But if, if that's all that happens in Bob's life, Bob will

go to hell sober instead of going to hell drunk.

Man, I really wish so and so. Like man, their, their mouth is

just like outrageous and filthy. I really wish we could clean

that up. Me too.

I think it's jarring. I think it's appalling.

I think it's a lot. I think it's way too much.

But even if we have, even if so and so just cleaned up their

mouth, they're just going to go to hell with a cleaner mouth.

So in the same way, especially in the American South where

everything is Christian, Chick-fil-A is Christian,

everybody and their mama's Christian, whenever everybody

thinks that way, we get deceived.

And this is a risk that we run. So this is the challenge that we

have to guard against and where we really have to continue to

inspect and say, am I saved? Now?

The tender conscience who really already loves and walks with the

Lord gets paranoid and they think, I think I lost my

salvation. So This is why the word of God

is safe. The Word of God is appropriate

and we can continue to get all the confidence and all the

reassurance that we need right here.

Let's go here in verse one. Then the Kingdom of heaven will

be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet,

we'll say, the groom. So the idea here in in the

Jewish culture, the wedding, the way it would happen, the bride

and the groom, they would be pledged to one another.

This would be official. Everybody would know, everybody

would rejoice. This would be the big official

engagement. And now the time is set for the

wedding. But the, the big focus now, the

groom is going to go prepare his household to receive his wife,

and the bride is going to go prepare herself.

And they're excited. And this is a big season and

people are looking forward to it.

But the groom is going to be the one who actually hosts the

wedding event. And when it finally does come,

he's going to say, hey, it's going to be on the, you know,

whatever this month, we're going to do it.

And then we're going to do it on this week.

And then, hey, it's going to be on this day.

And they would zone in on it more more precisely.

And then he would come in the evening, he would come at night

time, and he would come with a procession of all of his

friends, all the groomsmen, you could call it, and they're

proceeding forward. It's the prey, but nobody knows

exactly the time. So that part made it exciting

and that part kind of kept you on your toes.

The bride has all of her bridesmaids.

Those are the virgins. So that's the description of

what's going on here. So he comes after this, at this

random time, sometime after sunset, most likely to get his

bride. The bridesmaids would be waiting

to join in the procession with oil lamps or torches and the

groom would take the bride and he would take everyone back to

his place for the full wedding celebration.

They would have it that night and then they would feast and

celebrate. The whole wedding would be 7

days long. So the groom and the bride would

would have their exchange of vows.

They would consummate their vows all the way in their home and

they'd come back outside and be like, hey, we know what you just

did. And, and they would celebrate

all week long. And there's the joy and there's

the blessing and there's all the celebration together and

everyone just continues to rejoice.

It's just a wonderful, it's a, it's a high point in Jewish

life. It's a high point in Jewish

culture and it's a big deal. Now, the virgins that are

referred to here, these 10 virgins, these are likely 10

teenage girls who have been asked by the bride, say, hey, I

want you to be my bridesmaids. This is a huge honor.

This is an exciting thing. They are thrilled.

They're all prepared for the big event.

It's a massive deal. So This is why it's quite

jarring compared to what the Lord said last week, because

last week, remember, he talks about the wicked and unfaithful

servant. This guy's getting drunk while

the master's gone. He's beating the other servants

and he's just serving himself. You could kind of feel it

coming. You're like, oh, when the master

gets there, this boy's in trouble.

And he was, Jesus said he's going to be cut into pieces and

he's going to be destroyed. This week we got 10 sweet,

wholesome, beautiful girls. They're healthy.

They're happy. Like, they're not harlots, He

says. They're 10 virgins.

These are good girls. OK, whatever.

Whatever you would think of as a good girl, these are good girls.

This is why this parable is so much more jarring because you're

like, oh, oh, girls, you're late.

Come on in. But that's not the picture that

Jesus paints. We don't have any teenage girls

in the church. All my teenage boys, of course.

They're like, yeah, we noticed, Pastor, we got to do something

about that. But imagine, think of, think of

think of a sweet cousin or a niece or whoever it may be.

And, and you're going, you know who?

Who do you think of? She's a good girl.

She's a sweet girl. She's a wholesome girl.

That's who you can picture throughout this parable.

And they're all there, but five are wise, and unfortunately 5

are foolish. Verse 2 Five of them were

foolish and five were wise. For when the foolish took their

lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks

of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom, as the groom

was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.

But at midnight there was a cry. Here is the bridegroom.

Come out and meet him. Five were foolish and five were

wise. Notice there's not a third

category listed. Foolish, wise.

Well, the what about isms in between?

No, the foolish were prepared. The foolish were unprepared.

The wise were prepared. That was it.

That was the whole qualifier. That was the only distinction.

Look at you, wouldn't you and I wouldn't know it.

Look at all. Look at those beautiful sweet

girl. They're all dolled up for the

day. They spend all day doing the

makeup and the dresses and each others hair and like you look

lovely ladies. They had done the photography

already. They're all, they're all sweet

as they can be, excited as they can be, happy for the bride,

happy for the groom. But they have a certain mission

and they have a certain assignment.

It is their responsibility to carry the light for the whole,

for the whole family parade, for the whole procession of all the

guests. It's the bridesmaids who are

going to carry the torches. So they're around the group and

they're carrying the torches and they're lighting the parade all

the way to the house. This is whole thing is an honor.

This whole thing is also a responsibility.

We see the same thing with our modern weddings as we have our

other traditions. You know, you turn, you say, and

now the rings and the groomsmen, you know, has the rings.

And this is a trusted thing. It's a responsible thing.

It's an important thing. It's something that you got to

get right. Or if you don't, you're going to

ruin. You're going to ruin something

sacred, something you should have prepared for, something you

knew was coming. And there's no excuse to not be

prepared in that moment. Five of them were wise, five

were foolish. There's no other category

listed. And remember the oil.

What does the oil represent? The oil represents the saving

faith that is necessary to endure and to obey.

So theologians, thankfully, they refuse to get too precise.

I mean, you can find some who will say the oil is because in

Scripture, the oil is often the presence of the Holy Spirit.

So throughout the Scripture, like whenever you see oil, you

can see themes and you go, oh, oh, oh.

But here theologians are careful to say this is just about a

general. This is about a saving faith.

Do you have a saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Well, yeah, I do. Well, But here's where this

parable should give all of us pause, especially all of us

American Southerners. This is where it should give us

all pause because we all look the same.

We're all dolled up. We're all in church on a Sunday

morning. We all have on pretty dresses

and pretty makeup and bows in our hair.

We all look the same. Nobody could tell the difference

when they looked at the five wives and the five foolish.

Nobody knew. They're all wholesome.

They're all virgins. They're all excited to be here.

They all want to participate. That's crazy.

They all want to participate. They're knocking at the door.

Hey, hey, we're here. Sorry.

You know, a little. We had a little, had a Little

Mix up. Well, we're here now.

We want to be a part of your wedding.

We want to be a part of what the bride and the groom are doing.

They have desire for that, but they don't have the

qualification for it. That's a strange category.

They're not giving the middle finger to the groom

intentionally. They're saying we're excited,

we've been preparing for that. We've been looking forward to

this for so long and the groom says you're not qualified and

you're not coming in. I don't know you.

The foolish were so swept up in the whole crowd, in the whole

event, in the whole excitement and all the honor, that they

neglected to attend to their individual priority.

That's you and I attending to our own souls.

Verse 5 As the groom was delayed, they all became drowsy

and slept. He was delayed.

Maybe it was on purpose, maybe it was a mishap.

We're not told because it doesn't matter.

The point I want you to see is he obviously comes later than

everyone thought he was going to come.

So everybody thought they knew the moment they thought like,

oh, typically, traditionally this is the expectation.

This seems like a reasonable time.

They're like, well, well, he's delayed.

So they had their lamps running, but they didn't have the extra

oil that they needed. They weren't prepared for

whatever would happen with the groom.

Are you prepared? Should the groom delay?

Should he come soon? Should he come later, depending

on where you are in your heart and in your life, you might be

like, I want Jesus to come right now.

Some of you are like, I would love it if Jesus came right this

second. That's you probably have a high

sense of readiness. You know, I love the Lord.

I'm with the Lord. I walk with the Lord.

I know I'm saved by the blood of Jesus.

I know I trusted him. I know I didn't earn it.

I know I don't deserve it. And I know I'm secure.

And others go, yeah, I hope it's not right now.

So if, if I'm not wanting him to come right now, that's a concern

for a number of reasons. It, it reveals probably a number

of things #1 maybe you don't feel secure in your salvation

and #2 why on earth would you not want to see Jesus face to

face right this second if you could?

Hey, Joe, Michael, would you give up your next 45 years to

meet Jesus in this moment? Yeah. 45 years of what?

Earth? Are you serious?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll take that.

So the affectionate heart that loves him, of course, is like,

come Lord Jesus, as the whole book ends.

Amen. Come Lord Jesus.

That's our desire. That's our expectation.

That's what we're supposed to have.

We're supposed to have a motivation to say come Lord,

come Lord, come Lord, and find me faithful when you do.

Find me obedient to the thing I was supposed to be obedient to.

Notice also. There doesn't seem to be

anything wrong with him sleeping.

Typically you would think of sleeping as a bad thing, but

even the wise are are resting. So there's some degree which

with which that's where we're like.

That's why we don't want to have a paranoia about the Lord's

return. We want to have a hope and an

expectation, but not a paranoia that stops you from taking a

nap. Is this what you want to be

doing when Jesus comes back? Well, yeah, I'm allowed to take

a nap, you know, like, don't save any money in your bank

account 'cause he could come back any minute.

Like, well, you, you, you can keep living.

You can keep moving forward with faithfulness and with

fruitfulness. That's his expectation because

you don't know what it is. So your heart posture should

always be ready for the next moment.

But you should continue to build your life and your world.

And you should continue to build the kind of world around you

that you would say. I want my great, great, great

grandchildren to have a world like this.

You disciple people and you preach the gospel.

With a love. With an expectation, with a

hope, with an urgency. But you also keep living.

So the wise also sleep. But when do they sleep?

They sleep clearly after preparations had been made.

The foolish slept and they hadn't made the preparations.

Maybe they were watching the wise and like, oh, they're

drifting off and we can drift off, too.

Yeah, but they're secure. They're actually secure.

They're well prepared. So.

So they lay down and they're just resting.

Rest in their eyes, as we like to say it.

Are you sleep? No, I ain't sleeping.

Just rest in my eyes. That's what I do on a Sunday

afternoon. I don't sleep.

No, no, I don't nap. Just rest in my eyes.

I do nap unapologetically, to be clear.

But they've actually made the. Preparations.

But the ignorant or the foolish, they're saying, I, I think we're

comfortable too, but they're, where are they getting their

comfort from? And this is the concern for the

church. This is my concern for our

church, my church in particular. Are you really saved?

Do you really have a saving faith because Jesus has actually

done the work inside of you. And then the secondary piece is

there is then evidence to show that and to reveal that in your

life. Because all the comfort.

You're a part of the wedding festival.

You were invited, Of course you were invited.

Everybody's invited. And your familiarity.

You're doing all the things. Maybe not with a deliberate

hypocrisy, but maybe with ignorant error.

But that still equals foolishness.

So this is what gives us. Pause.

Because it's quite different. I'm not getting, I'm not doing

the drunken thing. I'm not beating all the people,

you know, like, like the other servant was doing like, oh, he's

in big trouble. He really blew it.

I'm doing the wholesome. Stuff.

Well, wholesome stuff is good. The wholesome stuff isn't.

Saving a wholesome life never saved anybody.

Only faith in the. Lord Jesus and then the miracle

of the new birth. That's what saves them.

That's what saves somebody. I'll take wholesome living over

unwholesome living every day of the week.

If I could pick that for everyone's life, even if they

weren't following Christ, I would still pick that.

It's objectively better, but it's not a saving faith.

It's not the miracle of the new birth that Jesus has told us

about, so this principle applies to all of our lives.

The wise may also sleep, but only after preparations have

been made. So you attend to things.

That need to be attended to in the order that they need to be

attended to. We got firefighters in our

church. They have their boots.

And their gear ready before they go to sleep, so that when the

alarm hits, there's no other preparation that has to be made.

In our family. One of the values that we

embrace is that we say we we say we embrace discipline to enjoy

freedom and that shows up in all kinds of ways for our household.

So hey daddy, can I have a snack or can I have a this like sure

buddy. Is your room clean?

I'll be right back. So we want to embrace a

discipline and then to enjoy a freedom, and we want to make

that a habit. We want to make that a pattern.

This is just a good principle. Again, wholesome living doesn't

save anybody's soul, but disciplined living that brings

order to chaos, that's an advantage.

That's a good thing. So wisdom is still wise, even if

wisdom doesn't always lead to saving faith.

But in this case the wisdom is about your salvation itself.

And verse 6. But at midnight there was a cry.

Here is the bridegroom, come out and meet him.

Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.

So they all. Think they're going to be in the

wedding, the wise and the foolish.

They rise up. I'm excited.

But their lamps had been burning earlier sunset.

They all lit their torches or they lit their lamps and they're

like, could be any minute and then a couple hours went by and

they're like. Maybe.

Maybe we put out our lamps for now and then.

Now it's. Late, like, well, let's just

nap. I mean, he's still clearly going

to be here any minute, but let's rest Well, the problem is they

weren't ready. So when he, when the

announcement is made, hit the groomsman, the best man, yes,

he's coming. Like finally everybody hope hops

up. They're excited.

They're not expecting to be reviewed.

They're not like me. I told you the story.

Mom would come home, we'd hear a pole in the driveway, and we

would do Flight of the Bumblebee to make it look like we had done

the chores that we're that we had hours to do.

Instead, we're sitting there watching Ricki Lake late night

afternoon TV. So we knew we were in.

Trouble we knew we had. We had done wrong.

They don't think they've done anything wrong.

They are in for the worst terror and the worst shock later when

they come to the door, they are. They're expecting to be let in

later. They all think that they're

going. To be in the wedding, they

expect to be in it. They would tell you that they're

excited about it. They've been looking forward to

it ever since they got the invitation.

But they were foolish and they didn't prepare verse 8.

And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil

for our lamps are going out. This would be like a firefighter

on his way, running to the truck with the rest of his crew and

realizing he doesn't have enough air in his tank and said hey,

give me some of the air out of your tank.

I I prepped. My tank.

You didn't prep your tank. Like then we're going to be two,

two dead people instead of just one.

Like I'm not going to give up my air because then nobody has

enough air. We see the stupidity of it.

The wise virgins saw the same thing.

I've prepared for this. I did what I needed to do for

this and I need to fulfil my duty in this to the groom and to

the bride, so everyone can see their glory.

I'm going to illuminate them and I'm going to participate in the

way that I've been called on to participate.

And I can't have that extracted from or taken from.

You can't have your obedience taken away from by anything or

anybody for any reason. You cannot have your spouse

subtract from your obedience to the Lord.

You cannot have your children subtract from your obedience to

the Lord. You cannot have anybody or

anything subtract from your obedience to the Lord, no matter

how they might call for it, no matter how they might reframe

it, your obedience to the Lord. Like I'm going to honor the Lord

and the way that I know how I'm going to honor the Lord in the

way that I am accountable for and responsible for because I

love him and I want to please Him.

And I've been looking forward to this.

The wise. Virgins, they're not selfish,

they're not cruel, the wise answered in verse 9, saying.

Since there will not be enough for for, for us and you go

rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.

They're like, hey, what? That's our best recommendation.

Like settle it and get it straight.

It's late. I don't know how you're going to

find any dealers open at this time of night.

Maybe you can knock on some doors and beg.

But the time to prepare was before now, not now.

But the wise they're prepared. If they give their oil, then

nobody's going to have enough oil to keep to keep the

procession lit all the way to the groom's house.

The whole wedding party won't be able to see their way.

They won't see the glory of the groom and the glory of the

bride. We're doing our part and we're

not going to fail our job. Back in verse 40. 6 Jesus said

it this way. Blessed is that servant whom his

Master will find so doing when he comes.

There's nothing new and crazy heavy being put on you this

morning. What am I supposed to do?

The simple thing that the Lord has put in front of you.

That's the doing part. After.

You've been saved genuinely after you've experienced the new

birth, then you'll do these fruitful things.

I don't I don't see myself doing these fruitful things, right.

That's the concern. Those fruitful things or you say

why I I try to do them, but I fail at doing them.

Well, this is where we get into the area of the temptations of

the flesh where Christians still sin.

This is where we need the clarifier to say.

If you love the Lord. Then you feel conviction of your

sin and you repent when you sin, and you're humble when you sin

and you hate your sin, you know. But I do it again.

Well, Paul talked about that very thing.

My flesh continues to rise up and my flesh continues to rise

up. Well, welcome to taking up your

cross and following Jesus. It's an ongoing crucifixion.

The Christian life is not marked by perfection.

It's marked by faithfulness. It's marked by progress.

It's marked by growth. So those are the things that we.

Have to look for. Blessed is the servant whom his

master will find so doing when he comes.

The foolish should have copied the behavior of the wise and

prepared like they did. And people should learn.

From the spiritually prepared and do the same as they do and

set a beg them for their portion at the appointed time.

If you question, if you wonder, I don't know if I'm spiritually

prepared in the way that I should be, who do you know that

is? You know somebody who is and you

can learn from them and you should mimic them and you should

follow them. You say they seem spiritually

prepared. Not just not just the outward

adorning all ten of these young women, sweet pretty girls, happy

to be here today. But you know how you can find

out what's under the hood. You, you talk to them, you have

a conversation and you find out these are 10 different young

ladies in a photograph. You still look at those sweet

young ladies, aren't they happy and having a great time with the

bride today? But then in conversation, you

go, wow, OK, that's very impressive.

A lot of a lot of wisdom and insight.

Wow, this one's very intelligent or this one's very whatever.

Wow, this one's very kind or whatever without this one's kind

of rude. That was unexpected.

One of these is not like the others, but in the photo.

The group. The bride.

'S got her rings and they're going.

They're posing for all the photos.

They all look sweet and the same on the surface.

But as you get to. Know somebody, you get to know

somebody and you find out what's under the hood or what's not

under the hood. Wow, that car has all the

outward look and you pop the hood.

There's no engine. I guess that's why I've never

seen. It driving up and down the road.

It looks good in the driveway. But that's why it doesn't have

the. Fruit of taking someone from A

to B or it doesn't have the fruit of winning any races.

It hasn't done anything because it doesn't have the engine.

So we're not focused on winning races, we're focused on the

engine itself. Do you have the engine, which is

the new birth? Do you have a saving faith in

the Lord Jesus? That's what I'm praying for.

You. That's why I'm praying that if

there's any confusion for anyone, any one of you, Are you

looking at me, pastor? You better believe it.

Who else would I be preaching to?

Who else would I be praying for? I have a particular love, a

particular concern, and a particular affection for you.

Yes, I want the whole body of Christ to thrive, but if I had

to pick, there's like 60 people in particular who I would bless

before everybody else. So yes, are.

You kind of like insinuating it could be me, yes.

Always. Of course.

I don't intend to. Chip away at a confidence that

the Lord has put there. But I do intend to preach the

Scriptures as they are in front of us, and I intend to

communicate the same thing that the Lord Jesus was intending to

communicate. We're reading Jesus, these

letters are in red. Jesus is talking here and he's

saying this is the warning. This is the way.

I want to frame this up for you. Not just the wicked servant who

everybody's like, I got's a jerk.

He's beating on people, but also look at those sweet little

girls. Aren't they all the same?

No, they're not. There's a difference.

Obedient believers, they will leave clues all over their

lives. Those clues will be the fruit of

the Spirit. Those are the things that you're

going to see in people's lives. You're like, I need more of

that. I got oil, I got some oil, but I

need more oil. And it's not that we can be

saved and then more saved. So now I am using oil in a

different reference but I'm seeing like I got some fruit but

I want more fruit. I'm not content.

Like I've told you before, some of us have said, Lord, this is

as Christian as I get. No one has ever said.

That with their mouth, but many people say that with their

lifestyle. Lord, I've got as Christian as

I'm going to get. This is what you got.

If it's an upgrade, if it ain't sorry.

He's like, whoa, I always ask for all of you.

That was my only invitation was to give me all of you.

And then you measured A portion and said, I hope you're happy.

I'm only happy with full and total surrender.

As I showed Abraham, I wanted Isaac and he wants our Isaac as

well. So the good news is obedient

believers leave clues all over their lives.

They're not hard to find. They have the fruit that we all

want. They have peace that's deep.

They have love that's gracious. They have self-control that's

unique. They have order that's

welcoming. They have obedience that is

costly. And they have preparation.

That's obvious. Imitating them.

Won't give you their oil, only Christ can do that, but it will

show you the path of real repentance and real faith.

So find somebody like that and do what they do and then ask

them real and practical questions.

Hey, why do you do that with your kids?

Can you explain that to me? That seems interesting.

Hey, why do you pray like that? You know when you pray what I

noticed you said this and that. Explain that to me.

Why do you run your house like that?

Why do you read like that? Why do you listen to that?

Teach me more about that. I have AI have a question.

Those believers. Will be eager to bless you.

They will not condemn you and go.

You don't know. They'll be so happy and so

relieved that somebody humbled themselves to actually go.

I'd love to learn from you because they have it in them to

pour out. It's not an excuse for those

believers who do have that fruit in your lives to not be

attempting to pour out. Anyway.

We're not just waiting to be asked questions.

And yet still, if you're looking for for certainty, if you're

looking for confidence, if you're looking for conviction,

if you're looking for better fruit, find believers like that.

Learn from them, grow with them. In verse 10.

And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and

those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast,

and the door was shut. It reminds me of Noah.

Noah gets on the boat, his family gets on the boat.

All the animals were already on there.

And the Bible says the Lord shuts the door.

Everybody's still laughing, I suppose. 120 years Noah had been

preaching. Repentance so.

That people would be saved. God didn't want to drown the

whole earth, but he was going to destroy the wicked.

So it's not that everybody had to die, it's that everybody

chose to die. Because they they.

Got exactly what they wanted. You don't want to be God.

You don't want to be with God. No.

No, we don't. Then don't worry, you won't be.

So we don't know what it looked. Like once it started to rain, we

don't know what the outside of the ark looked like.

Everything would just be speculation, but I'm sure it

wasn't pleasant. I'm sure it was horrifying.

As the waters started to rise, as the earth broke open and let

out the springs, and as the Lord rained down the rain from above

as well, all of a sudden everything got very real and

everybody understood and realized the door is shut.

The world should have done what they saw Noah doing and they

should have built an ark. Jesus is the ark, and Jesus is

the door we enter in through his wounds.

He is the door that we enter in through.

He was pierced and it's through Jesus that everybody can come

in. This is why.

The love of God should compel you.

The love of God should move you to pray.

The love of God should move you to speak.

The love of God should move you to say I haven't really

witnessed, I haven't really testified to what the Lord has

done in my life and I can't stay there.

I can't go another year with my with the the level of which I

testify. What does testify mean?

Just talk about what the Lord has done for you.

Easy, easy day. He's done a lot for you.

I don't see what He's done for me.

OK, well start writing things down because He has and you have

more blessing than you're even aware of.

Do you have pain in your body right now?

No. Did you thank him for it?

No, no, we take it all for granted.

Your body is working in a million different ways right

now, and in the sovereign goodness of God that you're not

even aware of. I don't think about my body.

You know when I think about my body, when it hurts, when

something goes wrong, we'll go, oh, now I know how Job felt.

Because I've had this. Minor infraction in my life.

I truly am a man of suffering. That's how I feel.

The Lord is going were. You thankful when things.

Were healthy? No, no, I wasn't.

So we have all these goodnesses, all these things that we should

be grateful for, all these things that we should be paying

attention to. We see the goodness of God in

our lives. We see that Jesus is the ark

that we've come running into. And that is the question.

Have you really come fully and securely into the ark readiness?

The thing you should take from this parable is that readiness

is not something that you give to someone else.

The gospel is something that you give to someone else.

The message is something you give to someone else, but what

they do with their soul is outside of your control.

So you'll pray. You'll pray for Holy Spirit

breakthrough. You'll pray for revelation.

You'll pray that their sin would taste filthy in their mouths and

that they would experience whatever rock bottom that they

would need to so that they would then run to Christ and go wow,

all of my gods are worthless. Pray that they would meet their.

Idols face to face so they can realize how incredibly

disappointing they are and how empty and worthless they are.

And then they go, well, it's got to be Jesus.

Yeah. Wait till you meet him face to

face. You won't be disappointed, I

assure you. You'll be amazed.

You'll be drawn to deeper worship.

Your parents faith. Won't apply to you.

Your friend's faith will not apply to you.

Your favorite preacher's faith will not apply to you.

Your spouse's faith will not apply to you.

You need to be ready now, and you can be.

So. What does it mean for me?

Where am I? How do I locate myself?

Do you feel conviction of your sin?

Do you repent? Do you humble yourself before

God and others? Do you have a love for God?

Do you have a love for others? If you don't long to be closer

to Jesus, then you probably don't belong to Jesus.

These are the tests. That you can check in your own

heart. Verse 11 Afterward the other

virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord open to us, but he answered

truly I say to you, I do not know you.

And then Jesus tells his disciples, Watch therefore, for

you know, neither the day nor the hour.

Notice they say, Lord, Lord, they don't say, we hate you, we

always hated you. He says exactly what he said

many will say on that day. Many will say to me on that day,

Lord, Lord, and didn't we even bear fruit?

That part's kind of crazy for our theology.

Didn't we cast out demons in your name?

We did work. In your name.

He's like, yeah, that was my. Grace to the people you were

doing the work for. I was still blessing.

My word, I was still honoring. Man, it almost sounds.

Hard. It's not.

It's just, it's just humble, the prideful thing.

This sounds really difficult. It's so complicated.

It is for pride. It's really hard for pride, but

for the humble, we just go. I'm so glad I'm secure.

I'm so glad Jesus saved me. I'm so glad there's nothing I

could do to earn it or deserve it.

And I receive it by grace. Lord help me.

Lord grow me. Lord, lead me.

The groom says. To these girls who he obviously

would have known. Of course he knows the

bridesmaids. But he says I don't know you.

What's he mean by that? Maybe after today.

I thought I knew you, but clearly you're not even

prepared. I don't even know you girls.

No, you're not coming in. He let in everybody else.

Mom, Dad. Uncle Joey.

Yeah, we'll let it. Uncle Joey, everybody come on

in. But you, you 5, where were your

torches? Where were you during the

procession? Where were you to celebrate and

to honor and be prepared? Crying.

Teen girls with makeup running. They cannot believe this is

happening. But you've known this was

coming. Everyone knew this was coming.

You knew you should prepare. You saw others prepare, but you

didn't bother to prepare. I don't know you.

The scary thing we have to see? Here is that there's not going

to be any mercy on that day. There was no exception.

There was no hey, it's your first time doing a wedding.

Y'all didn't realize I know I came late.

There was no mercy. That's the other jarring thing

about this parable in contrast to the other one.

That guy had it comin these girls.

Picture that sweet. Teen girl that you know and

love, that family member, that wholesome good girl.

Picture her bawling her eyes out and that's genuinely what it's

going to be like. On the day of judgement, people

were like, I thought I was a part of the thing.

Well, you were misinformed and you misunderstood.

Because it's only the saving. Faith that we'll actually

prepare. It's the saving faith that we'll

actually endure. This is graphic and that was

Jesus's intention. We're going to.

Close and we're going to receive communion together.

Chris and Kayla, if you could prepare the elements.

Do what you're supposed. To do, yes, but what you're

supposed to do becomes obvious to you after you actually trust

in the Lord. That's all you're required to

do. They had one job and they failed

it. The unfaithful servant is cut

into pieces. But the beautiful virgins, they.

Don't make it either. You must be ready.

That's the warning that the Lord is taking His time with.

These are His last moments with His disciples, His last 72

hours. This is the kind of message that

he's leaving in the last of the last of the last hours with His

people. This is the thing I need to

leave with you guys. Be ready.

You don't know when I'm coming because they were still like,

how will we know? How will we know?

How will we know? And then he's like, here's how

also, you won't stay ready, live ready.

The whole point of this parable is that spiritual readiness

isn't something you can take care of later.

And to reference the. Different end times

perspectives. If you hold to the belief like

we talked about. If you believe that there will

be a rapture and that the church will be raptured out before a

time of tribulation, I don't intend to take that from you.

But if you're counting on that as a backup plan, that is

exceedingly stupid. And I've met people.

Who do that? I've met people who because they

believe in that end times perspective, they thought that

that was an extra insurance policy for them.

So even if you hold that end times view, I don't condemn you

for to argue with you. I'm not intending to take it

from you, but to say, yeah, yeah, that that's going to give

me like an extra plan or or some extra time.

This is your soul that you're toying with.

So if you won't walk. In the light right now, when

you're surrounded by the church, you think that you'll do it.

When the entire body of Christ is removed from the earth and

persecution breaks out against anyone who claims the name of

Jesus, that's that person's plan.

Not walking with him. Now when I've got millions of

people who love him and walk with him, but I'll, I'll start

to when they're all ejected and join them and I and I'm left and

I'll go. I'm ready now.

That's your plan with your soul at the most difficult time to

ever walk for the Lord. You're going to do it better

than ever. You're planning and counting on

that. Is that a wise virgin or a

foolish virgin? That's easy to discernment,

right? That reveals that that.

Person would be a foolish virgin, and then they won't even

have the wise virgins to beg for help.

There's nobody's oil to borrow from, even if they wanted to.

Your own. Soul should be motive enough to

be watchful and to pay attention.

But can I tell you something? Else the Lord wants to take us

so much farther beyond Where am I?

Am I? Am I going to hell?

Like that was not the plan for the church.

The plan for the church was get saved, get filled, get equipped,

go change the world. Like keep doing it over and over

and over. Not comfort me for my own

comfort. I just don't want to go to hell.

Me either. Saints and the new.

Our New Testament repeatedly tells us to inspect and check

ourselves. So it's it's not something we

ever graduate past, but it's certainly not it shouldn't it

should not be the only thing that we're focused on so we

don't ever move beyond the care of our own soul.

That would be stupid and foolish.

But we certainly need to. Add much to it.

There should be much added to it.

We were to be making disciples who make disciples who make

disciples. But many people are like, I just

don't want to burn forever. Like, well, that's good.

Me either. And also there's a much higher

calling beyond not suffering and separation from God forever.

What must I do? Well, if you, if you do love the

Lord, then you should find those other Saints who have that fruit

and you should get up in their business and get up in their

lives and be honest about where you are spiritually.

And then begin to say, teach me, walk with me, help me to grow.

Show me what it would look like. Church you are.

Going to need to be strong for what's coming so you can help

others. Amen.

Amen. I do not want to be a part of a

wimpy church, personally. I want to be a part of a very

strong church. I want to be a part of a church

where the men are fired up about Jesus, where the women are fired

up about Jesus. And it looks like something and

it shows up and we walk in grace with one another and we walk on

mission with one another. That's what I that's what I

wanted to be a part of years ago when I planted salt.

That hasn't changed for me. That's our purpose.

And that's not a special Salt church vision.

That's just a Bible, New Testament.

That's every church. That's what we're supposed to

be, not a Country Club. But the world is going to need

us at our very, very best. We need to be fruitful a we need

to be a fruitful and life giving church.

Because in the coming years, I believe there is going to be a

hopelessness. I believe there's going to be a

bondage come over the people of the world like we have never

seen before. And I think if you're not strong

when it arrives, then you're going to be one of the victims

in it instead of one of the firefighters.

We need firefighters to be in shape so that they can pick up

our butts and carry us out of the house.

We don't need them to come and then be another victim in the

fire. The church.

Are the ones who are supposed to be in shape and ready and

unintimidated by whatever is coming.

But I. Think that there is a great deal

of hopelessness and despair unlike anything any of us have

ever seen in our generation, from the oldest to the youngest.

I think it's coming and I think it's sooner rather than later.

I think it's probably within the next five to seven years.

Pastor, what are you getting at? I'll be real brief on this

point. Jobs are going to.

Continue to vanish. So even if the AI, even if the

the AI world, even if the AI super smart robot, whatever is

coming, even if it's benevolent towards us, let's first pretend

it likes us a lot and wants us to all be happy.

At an absolute minimum, jobs are going to vanish by the millions

upon millions upon millions upon millions.

And people aren't going to. Have any purpose because people

don't know how to do household and family life now, so when

their 40 hour a week job is taken and it will not be

replaced by something else, you're going to do see.

Despair like never before, Suicide like never before,

Addiction like never before, Medication like never before.

Because people are like, what's the purpose of life?

At least I had to go to work every day.

And that's that's small. Fish compared to the

possibilities. I don't have a crystal ball.

The Lord has not shown me what's coming, but I have a brain and

two eyes and I can see and go. Well, jobs.

Jobs are already vanishing at a conservative rate compared to

what's coming. So what's your point, Pastor?

My point is, this world is going to be reshaped in dramatic and

unpredictable ways. What?

Do we do? We need to be the church who

remembers that we have a shepherd and we need to carry

the light. I don't know what it's going to

look like. I think it's going to be weird.

And I'm also thankful that God saw fit to put you here and me

here for such a time as this. He could have had us been born

200 years ago, but he didn't. He could have had us been born

in a different nation, but he didn't.

So I say bring it on. We're the people of Christ.

We'll be ready. It doesn't sound awesome.

It doesn't sound appealing. But if if that's what the Lord

has for us, then we're going to bring the light.

We're going to bring resurrection where there's

death. We're going to bring hope where

there's hopelessness. But you actually have to have a

life built on Christ and on the Word of God.

You actually have. To build your life.

You actually have to have. Something of substance that's

worth exporting. And that's what we had said

earlier, the Lord wants to do for us, surrender and be free of

the chains. And now Lord build my life and I

see him doing that in your lives.

I am optimistic, I am hopeful. Don't walk away from this to go.

Let's start Googling what was pastor talking about.

No, no, no, no, no, walk with Jesus and just focus on how do I

build my life? How do we make sure we're stable

and then we're actually a city on a hill for a?

World that will have. No answers.

They will have no answers. The church is going to be able

to say too, we have good news for you.

Your life is bigger than your job.

Your life is bigger than your income.

Your life is big. There is a purpose, there is a

calling because there is a king. Yes, Hallelujah, yes.

It's going to be a very focused time for the body of Christ.

I for one, I'm I'm ready for whatever comes.

And it's my job to. Equip you to do the same.

Lord, we love you. We honor you.

We thank you. Yes.

I pray you would ready. Every single heart.

That you would make sure that. We are secure that no one would

be insecure and that no one would be deceived, that no one

would be surprised on that day. That no one in Saul.

Church. Would be there on that day.

Lord, Lord let me in. And him saying I don't know, you

protect us from that. And God, I pray you would help

us to build our lives. Into the, into the.

Details. I pray that we would.

Not just surrender the chains, but also surrender our mourning,

surrender our work as worship, surrender our family as

devotion, Surrender everything for your glory and for your

goodness. And I pray that you would.

Bring such good fruit to the people of salt.

I pray that you would just make our marriages look ridiculous,

Lord, that they would just be so joyful that people would think

we're faking it. But then they would zoom.

In that they would come into our homes and our living rooms and

they'd say this is real. If this really is.

Jesus in the church and they would see our children and they

would say how in the world do they end up like that?

And they would see Kingdom fruit all throughout our lives.

Lord teach us to build. Our lives in a weird world

that's going to get weirder in an in an era that has never been

seen by humans before. But you're, you're the shepherd

who will lead us through it. I thank you for securing the

hearts of your people, drawing us to repentance.

And marking us with. Humility.

Causing us to carry. All the oil that we need and be

well prepared for your coming. We look forward to that return.

In Jesus name. We love you.

We thank you.