The Wedding Procession: Are You Prepared?

You're listening to the Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk

about the Bible in fun in practical ways. Hey, everybody, Howdy,

howdy, howdy, howdy, howdy, howdy. Hey, I'm in a

how name the movie? He says, Hey, howdy, hey, I

have no idea. It's Woody from Toy Story. Oh okay, hey,

howdy, hey, good hey, right, how do you hey? Yeah,

hey, howdy hey, okay. So not that you know, well,

it mattered, It mattered a lot. I'm almost positive I'm right that

that's Woody. And by the way, speaking of naming things, we're going

to do a segment from Desiree called Bible verse or not. Oh no,

these are these are hard sometimes. By the way, this is this,

this is this could be potentially I haven't even read these, but they could

potentially be my favorite that she's chosen because it says, let's see if Jeff

can figure out these five quotes, if they're verses from the Song of Solomon

or lyrics from One Direction song. Oh wow. Well, if you've never

read the Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon is the PG. Thirteen plus

book in the Bible. Yes, it's there's a lot of intimacy between a

husband and a wife, and yes, all that stuff. So, oh

my goodness, so this is all going to be romance kind of lyrics.

Yes, okay, okay, so seeing you can get more than Jeff at

home, here we go. Okay, ready, you've stolen my heart with

one glance of your eyes. I don't know, I know, I know

because she uses paraphrases a lot of times as opposed to or a transition like

that's English standard or something like that. Right, okay, So you've stolen

stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes, With one glance of your

eyes, I'm gonna say one direction. No, Song Solomon, is it

really chapter four, verse nine, one of your eyes looking up right now,

right now? So Solomon, you can do that quickly? Right,

yes, yep. Song of Solomon, chapter four, verse nine, And

tell me how a new Living translation reads. Yeah, So we'll see if

it's because because one glance of your eyes sounds so it does. It just

doesn't sound. It doesn't sound like it's from Song of Solomon. What four

nine, four nine? What does it say on the songs four? We'll

go to verse nine. It says you have captured my heart, my treasure,

my bride. You hold that hostage with one glance of your eyes.

Oh that's pretty close. It's just it's just condensed. Yeah, but the

one glance of your eyes. See if it said you hold you hold it

hostage with one glance of your eyes, I wouldn't known. No, No,

you wouldn't have. You wouldn't have. Okay, all right, here's

the next one. I know that in the morning, I'll see the light

upon the hill. See this sounds like Song of Solomon? Is it one

direction? Laughing because it sounds like both? What is it? Solomon?

It is one direction for today, the story of my life. That's their

song. That's apparently that's in that Okay, okay, all right, so

you're over. So here's number three. Okay, Yes, there is no

way I can explain your love song of Solomon. It's what dire. There's

no I can't. I don't know. It's from the song that is better

than words. Okay, there's no way you explained your love Okay, okay,

okay, you're going to redeem yourself. I'm sure of it. Well

I don't know, okay, So so you're oh for three? Yes,

but here might be this is the worst performance in the history of the Bible.

Guys, Well, to be fair, this is really hard for you.

You know all the no I do not, Well, you know more

than I do. You just sang one. You don't know the story of

my life. Well, I've heard the tune. Okay, all right,

here we go. But if you'd ask me who sang that song, will

say, oh, really, yeah, Okay, here's here's the next one.

You are so beautiful, my love in every part of you. I'm

gonna say, song of Solomon. You are correct. Okay, you are

correct, But I'm glad to cut off there because I still have chapter four

up. That's verse number seven, Verse number seven. Oh no, no,

don't read it. Don't read it, Okay, don't read it.

Okay, Okay, here's the last one. Let's read it later, Okay,

Okay. The last one says, we'll finish this last one. As

soon as I left, I found the one I love. As soon as

I left, I found the one I love. I'm gonna say song of

Solomon. Yes, because it's the same verse, which is why I didn't

want you to read it. Oh no, that's chapter four, Verse seven,

okay, so read read verse seven. You are all together beautiful,

my darling, beautiful in every way. Yeah, that's verse seven. What

oh, she might have copy pasted and forget to change it or something.

Yeah, as soon as I left, I found the one I love.

It said four to seven. Look see. Okay, so it's a different

one. But either way though, it's Song of Solomon. Yeah. For

those of you who think that the Bible is boring, read Song of Solomon.

Yeah that's uh just maybe not with the kids, right right, right,

Yeah, the rest of that chapter. That's why I was. I

was glad we cut it off at that point that because the rest of that

chapter gets a little descriptive. Yeah, yes, so there you go.

Hey, romance between a husband and a wife. Yeah, not that beautiful

thing. It's a gift from God. That's a gift from God. And

so that's what that book's all about. So okay, so my wife is

like, of course, the Bible guy, the Bible guy I'm married to,

doesn't know any of the song as Solomon versus. I'm not sure very

good at that. There's a lot of things, uh value and a lot

of pastors memorizing that unless they're to use it for their wives, right,

like be clever and cute and maybe maybe romantic, I guess. Yeah.

But well there's a lot of a lot of application, a lot of foreshadowing

towards Christ there in the church, and a lot of those things. There's

a lot of things to teach from Long as Solomon. It's not a throwaway

thing. It's just it's not it's not a significantly doctrinal book. It's a

poetic book, right. Yeah, well, so that's the I haven't taught

a message out of Song of Solomon since I've been a youth pastor. Oh

really, Oh, we did a whole series on Song of Solomon a couple

of years ago before you came here, Mile Cool kept having to put up

every service on the screens. We put up this a PG. Thirteen message.

It was a marriage message, right, it's all love bringing romance back

into oh into the marriage. Yeah. Wow, good for you. Yeah,

so you haven't preached on it in years. But well if you would

have won that one, because you know all the one direction songs, right,

But I should I should have known this other piece. So here we

go. So, uh, it's interesting that we did that one song of

Solomon's because us we're talking about Jesus tells a parable about ten bridesmaids. Yeah,

there you go, and so that's the connection. Hey, we're gonna

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the Bible, guys, so make sure you do that today, Matthew,

Chapter twenty five one through thirteen. It says, then the kingdom of heaven

will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The five who were

foolish didn't take enough olive oil for the lamps, but the other five were

wise enough to take along extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, they

all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, they were roused by the

shout look the bridegroom was coming, come out and meet him. All the

bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps, and then the five foolish ones to

ask the others please give us some of your oil, because our lamps are

going out. But the others replied, we don't have enough for all of

us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves. But while they

were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready

went with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. Later,

when the other five brides maids return, they stood outside calling Lord Lord

opened the door for us, but he called back, believe me, I

don't know you, so you too must keep watch for you to not know

the day or hour of my return. So he's talking about being prepared again.

Yeah, it really is. It's just a very extensive parable And obviously

there's some sad news for those who aren't prepared. Huh yeah, sure,

yeah, for those who you know. And by the way, but there's

good news for those that are, yes, right, And I was just

going to say, by the way, he uses a wedding on purpose,

right. So oftentimes in the New Testament and Ephesians, when he talks about

brides and you know, husbands and wife, he says, this is a

great mystery, right, because he's really talking about Christ in the church.

So so you know, in the Bible, we are. We are told

that God created the institute of marriage, institutional marriage to be a reflection of

our relationship with our heavenly Father, right, and so think about that.

It's just think about how unbelievable that is in the depth of it. And

then so Jesus uses this illustration to talk about you know, him and his

church and the ones who were there prepared and waiting, meaning they did everything

they could to anticipate and receive the bridegroom, and these other ones did not.

They were they were careless, they were foolish. And that's supposed to

indicate that people didn't get enough, give enough attention to it. They didn't

give enough you know, belief that you know, it was important enough.

And uh. And those are the ones who reject Christ. Those are the

ones who go through the world and and they you know, they and their

lives for themselves and at the last minute they're like, whoa, whoa,

whoa, you know, hurry up, let me let me come in,

even though I don't have the right ingredients here. Yeah, the other theologically,

the main point he's making here is being prepared and understanding nobody else's faith

prepares you for when the bridegroom arrives. Right, So it's a personal faith.

Right, we're responsible for our own spiritual condition. And how often have

I heard people so many times tell me, you know, if you ask

them, hey, if you died today or him person, I'm sure you

go to heaven, which I ask people often and they'll often go, oh,

well, you know, I came from a Christian family, so yes,

what right? The fact that your mom and dad are Christians doesn't get

you into heaven. The fact that your family has always believed in Jesus doesn't

get you there. Right, So you are personally responsible for your spiritual condition

to be prepared for when the Holy Spirit comes. This is when Jesus returns,

when the bridegroom comes. This is what Remember when we read in John

chapter three and Jesus talking to Nicodemus and he said you must be born again.

He goes, what are you talking about? Right? You couldn't put

all that together entering my mother's room. Yeah, yeah, right, And

so what he's saying is, listen, it's on you, you personally to

have a personal birth. Even twins are born separate, right, So he's

saying you have to have a personal birth. In the Kingdom. This is

a very similar illustration. Tomorrow we're going to read about Jesus. He's talking

about loaned money, he talks about final judgment. He's got all these illustrations

that are coming up, and they're all the same, all of them.

Are you are personally responsible for your spiritual condition to be ready when Jesus comes

back, And so so often I encourage people, man, don't risk eternity

on the fact that you come from a religious family, or from the fact

that you've always kind of known about Jesus. All right, the devil is

always known about Jesus, right, but he doesn't have faith in Christ.

And so this is one of those illustrations where there's a lot of people who

think that they should be allowed in. Right. Half the group here thinks

they should be allowed in, but they're not. He goes, listen,

I don't even know who you are, right, you weren't ready, and

now I don't know who you are. Hey, earlier, you know how

we had said it's very appropriate and kind of cool that he uses the illustration

of a wedding, you know, in a marriage this life application study Bible

No says, this is really cool. It says this parable isn't actually about

the wedding ceremony itself. Right on the wedding day, the bridegroom went to

the bride's house for the ceremony. Then the bride and groom, along with

a great procession, returned to the groom's house, where a feast took place

and then often lasted a full week. These ten bridesmaids were wanting to join

the procession, and they had hoped to take part in the marriage feast,

but when the groom didn't come at the expected time, five of them were

out of lamp oil. By the time they had purchased oil, it was

too late to join the feast. When Jesus returns to take his people to

heaven, we must be ready. Spiritual preparation cannot be bought or borrowed at

the last minute. A relationship with God must be our own. Which is

what you said. Yeah, yeah, that's really cool. It's really well

written, and I love I love the way that it puts it together like

that for you, because now you're thinking, big procession, Why were they

sitting there with what was the significance of having lamp oil? Is because they're

supposed to be you know how today in our in our world, people get

married and after the reception they get in the car and there's cans on the

back and driving around honking horns and right, all that kind of stuff you're

throwing. Well, you're not allowed to throw rice anymore. What do we

throw now? Right? Yeah? Bird seed or whatever. And so have

that mind or that concept, and just understand it was before the wedding,

on the way to the big feast, and they would do this where there

would be the lamps. It would be a nighttime procession. It would get

the attention to be like a parade in the village, everybody to celebrate.

And so these these people were supposed to be ready, and that was the

idea is we are going going to the party, We're going to the celebration.

And they weren't ready. They ran out of oil, they were not

prepared, and then they missed out. And that's what he's that's what he's

highlighting. It's not about the wedding, it's about missing out. Well,

can you imagine tying cans behind a car is a tradition that probably only get

invented after the car was invented. Yeah, yeah, yeah, So you

know, can you imagine used to time behind donkeys? You think so,

no, I'm joking the but can you imagine us us telling a parable about

tying cans or something, and then all of a sudden, three or four

thousand years later, somebody, you know, after there's no you know,

cars anymore, and everybody teleports everywhere. Remember you know Star Trek cars are

a thing of the past. Yes, then they would read that and go,

what's with the cans? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, that's with that,

right, because because tradition states this big procession going to the groom's house,

right, that's something we wouldn't necessarily understand because it's not our tradition is

have you ever seen a wedding in India or and Nepaul when they're walking through

the streets and everybody's blowing the horns and they got the fireworks kind of they're

not fireworks, but they're like handheld sparkler kind of thing. It's so chaotic

and so crazy but fun. Like you just get get sucked into this craziness

of the pageantry of all that. That's what's happening here, and that's that's

the image. And so what happened was the people who were supposed to make

this party so great were not prepared. So the bridegroom clearly wanted these bridemaids,

a part of the wedding right wanted them. So it's not like I

want these five, don't want these five. It was that all ten were

invited, only some were prepared. And it's the same thing for everybody.

You and I know everybody we know is invited, but not everybody's prepared.

And so one of our jobs is to make sure we are prepared, our

families prepared, our friends prepared, the people that God has put us around

are prepared for when Jesus returns. That's that's a big deal. And that's

all about sharing the Gospel and inviting them to have that born and again moment

themselves. Invite Jesus and the life, repent of your sins turn to Christ.

Yeah, and you know it's it's uh. You can connect anything to

the Gospel. You know, it doesn't matter what kind of conversation you're having

with anybody, doesn't really matter if the conversation's on you know, God,

or it's never been on God. There are ways you you literally learn ways

to bring up the conversation and spirit word God. And when you when you

sort of learn those Yeah, I don't want to say tactics because it's not

well. When you know scripture everything, This Scripture covers almost all of life,

right, So when you really spend time in God's Word and you really

know it, the Holy Spirit has tools to bring up for the current circumstances.

Situation we were talking about. One time I was looking for an opportunity

to share the Gospel with a young couple and they were just talking about the

baby, the baby, the baby, the baby, the baby, the

baby, and the baby got sick, you know, like they do,

burped up all a formula or whatever, and so there, oh my goodness,

and then stuff. And then I said, you know, it's funny.

Did you know the Bible says that when we become Christians were like babies

to Jesus. And they were like, no, no, we didn't know

that. And I was like, it's so funny. So I wonder if

in all of our in our infancy, we wind up spitting up on Jesus

all the time. They're like what, And so it turned into this conversation

about and it went by the way I've been wanting to ask a question,

how do you become it? Literally, how do you become a Christian?

What's the question? It's because they're sitting here with this baby. They're thinking,

hey, we need to turn our life around, we need to get

right. There was it, but it was a baby throwing up, but

knowing that the Bible says we are babes in Christ right, and just turned

it. Yeah, you just turn it. And it's that way with everything

everything in life. If you know scripture, you can get back to Jesus.

Well, I was going to say, it's not necessarily a tactic,

although there are tactics, but I was going to say, sometimes what will

happen is the Holy Spirit will just carry you absolutely just He'll just give you

the words to say. And there have been so many times where we're just

talking with somebody and all of a sudden, I just felt like God's like,

bring this up, and you're like, I don't want to that up,

you know, But in God, in his wisdom, we'll just sort

of guide the conversation and the next thing you know, you're talking about Him,

You're talking about you know, the Gospel, and well, do you

remember a couple days ago when we were reading and he was talking about many

of you are going to be arrested and you're going to stand before kings and

governors. Don't worry about what you're going to say. The Holy Spirit will

tell you right, that's right. It's the same thing when you're standing in

front of your friends and family. If you're full of God's words, the

Holy Spirit has all the tools he needs to be able to get, you

know, get the Gospel to your friends and family, so you don't have

to worry about what you're going to say. Just to be willing. Yeah,

And I just a couple of weeks ago, we had this seminar.

It was a mental health seminar, and right afterwards there was about maybe I

don't know, four hundred ish people who showed up. It was really great.

And then afterwards there was a girl who said, I want to talk

to you, and Pastor is okay if we talk and I was okay.

So we kind of went off to the side and and basically as she was

talking, I was like, I think she's talking about becoming a Christian right,

And then right before I was ready to say it, thinking like,

oh, I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna find a way to just, you

know, bring this home. And then sure enough, she ruined it for

me. She's like, so I was really wondering, how does a person

get to heaven. I'm like, you took it away from me. What

must I do to be saved? But be saved sir? So it was

just pretty awesome. But I had the opportunity to lead her to Christ and

just told her. I just said, hey, I'll just give you my

my story. And what I did was I just basically told her what it

was like when somebody told me first about the gospel. And when somebody told

me they said, hey, pretend I'm gonna buy you a gift. I

would earn it, I would go out, I would purchase it, and

you believe this gift is for you, but it's not yours till you reach

out and you take it. And I just explained that whole thing to them,

to her and and sure enough, man, she prayed to receive Christ.

That's great, And that was the way to do it is tell my

story of salvation and somehow give the Gospel in the midst of my story,

right, yeah, which is really cool. Yeah. And the reality is

it's not too difficult to learn a couple of Bible verses to point them in

that direction. John three sixteen super useful to be able to say God loved

the whole world so much gave his one and only son, Everyone who believes

in him will not perish but have everlasting life. If you can't memorize any

other verse, that's one. Right. What you're saying is you're going to

put your faith in trust in Jesus because he paid the price for your sin.

Paul and Peter both answer questions when people say what might say to be

saved. They would talk about repenting of our sin, turning away from our

sin, turning to God and believing call on the name of the Lord,

and you will be saved, right, they say. Peter also adds in,

you have to believe that Jesus is the son of God and God Raisinghi

from the dead. Right. So there's a few of these little elements there

that if we just understand how to explain to somebody it's a faith thing,

it's not a works thing, and that Jesus paid the price I love using

Romans six twenty three. Right, the wages of sin is death. Right,

that's the bad news, But this is all about good news. The

good news is right that wages says this, But the free gift of God

is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Sometimes it's just that one

verse. Sure, our sins have consequences, but that's not what God's all

about. God's not about the consequences. God's about rescuing us, and Jesus

paid the price. It's just a free gift. What do you do with

the free gift? You accept it? Right, So there's lots of times

I've only just used one scripture combined with my story what God did with me,

and yeah, people respond because you're not it's not your words and it's

not your work. God loves them more than you do. And God's Holy

Spirit has already been doing work on the ends in their heart. And so

it's just about offering a path for them to walk down, because the Holy

Spirit is the one is drawing them, right, And so you God's using

you to use some words, but it's ultimately the Holy Spirit that's drawing drawing

them to Christ. And so it's more about the willingness than it is about

the words. Yeah, well, this this parable with the ten Bridesmaids reminds

us that we should always be alert and be ready. So whether whether you

know, death ends an opportunity for any of us to make a decision forever,

right, So either either either James tells us, Hey, our life

is but a vapor. It's like a mist. It's here for one minute,

it's gone the next. We don't know about tomorrow. Don't ever brag

about tomorrow because because you're not guaranteed tomorrow. So so death is around the

corner at any moment. Uh, Jesus can come at any moment, and

both of those things should have us on guard, just to let people know,

you know he's coming. Uh, you know, life, life is

short. He's the answer. Be ready. Yeah, today's the day of

salvation. You don't want to be caught on the outside looking in. That's

right, right, that's good. Well, hey, that's our time,

so hopefully we will see you tomorrow on the Bible guys, h