Prepared
Matthew 25: 1, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto aten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet bthe bridegroom.” [2]
I. Pure
A. Unblemished
B. Unique
II. Prepare
A. Unify
B. Unencumber
III. Purpose
A. Useful
B. Underestimate
Introduction: We have been hearing from Jesus what heaven is like for several weeks. As Jesus spoke these parables to His disciples there was that future tense shall which Jesus used. We are here in this place now so for us heaven is somewhere in our distant future. For some of us that distant future is closer than others. We do not know how close we are, and Jesus uses the term soon.
All we can say is, today we are one day sooner to meeting Jesus than yesterday. There is push to know what will happen. Personally, being surprised is not comforting. You might think after all this life has thrown at me, I would be accustomed to surprise and look gratefully at not knowing until the thing comes to fruition.
In 1 Corinthian 13:11-13, Paul spoke of apprehension of the unknown and what happens with maturity. “11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I ||thought as a child: but when I became a man, I wput away childish things. 12 For anow we see through a bglass, †darkly; but then cface to face: now I know yin part; but then dshall I know even as also eI am known. 13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” [2]
Let me paraphrase… When I was a kid, I did and spoke and acted stupidly. Now that I have lived into maturity, insecurity has gone away because I have put fear out of my sight. Yet now I don’t trust God with all I am because when I see myself even I am strange and backwards. When He finally gets me to where I am a mature Christian, then I will know as I am known. I will see Him as He has always seen me. Faith in the unknown and patiently waiting for that which I haven’t yet received are good things but when that eternal time comes that I will be with Jesus, the only thing that will remain will be the best thing. LOVE!
In the very next chapter, Paul instructs us to follow love and expect spiritual gifts, prophesying being the rather. Prophesy is bringing forth the word of God to those who need to hear it, Do that with love!
Paul was able to explain this because of all that He had been through. He had made his foolish mistakes by not asking Jesus and now he was done with that. The disciples who were listening to Jesus were not at that stage of spiritual maturity. They had Jesus with them, but they hadn’t learned to trust Him yet. They had to know what was going to happen. So, he used earthly stories to tell them. We have spent the last several weeks hearing those parables from Jesus.
Scripture: The scripture for this message is Matthew 25:1. Please Stand Under the reading of God’s word.
Prayer: Please be seated and keep your Bible open to the text.
Message: In Matthew 24 Jesus had been speaking to the disciples concerning the end times. Many signs and wonders would happen which we are seeing for ourselves right now. Does that mean that the end is within my lifetime? Only God knows that. That didn’t seem good enough for the disciples back then, so Jesus used many ideas to help them understand.
Notice that the focal scripture begins with the word “then.” In other words, after all the preliminary things prior to the end times which Jesus explained, then this which follows could be expected. When Jesus asked who people said that He was some responded that He was a prophet. Here Jesus is a prophet. He was forthtelling in that he was explaining the things that God The Father told Him to say. He was foretelling things to come that had not happened yet in this earthly realm. Then!
He talked about virgins. That is a person who has decided to stay pure from worldly sexual relationships. We assume that these were women but who knows. They were pure and unblemished sexually. That certainly made them unique.
The Catholic church once demanded chastity for nuns and priests conforming to the idea of purity from sexual matters of the flesh. It sounds good on the surface. Some of the apostles seemed to encourage those in ministry to abstain from marriage. If whatever you do causes you to be so distracted that you cannot concentrate on the ministry which you have accepted from God, you better leave it alone. Otherwise, do not use God for your excuse for not living and loving in this world. Jesus lived among us because He loves us. He didn’t leave heaven to not live here or understand what we go through. God has a purpose for some to be married and others not. Jesus said that if you are married it should be for a lifetime.
The virgins took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. I brought this little lantern with me today to illustrate. It is very simple to use. Much simpler than back in the time that Jesus was speaking to these folks. This lantern still needs what those lamps needed. For a lamp to work, it must be fueled with something. This lamp runs on batteries. Tose ran on oil. There is a place in the top of this lamp for extra batteries in case the batteries are dead when you need to erase the darkness during a power outage. What good is a lamp that work when you don’t need it and doesn’t work when you do need it? “2 cAnd five of them were dwise, and five were efoolish. 3 They that were efoolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:” [3]
Let’s look first at the five wise virgins. The text begins with the wise yet the foolish were explained first. There were ten in all. Half were prepared with their lamps They were ready, and they unified the lamp and the fuel for the purpose. All in one place where they could easily have it ready. They had enough fuel for when the time came to light the darkness away. They decided to be unencumbered by distraction when the time came to light their lamps. Nothing was going to prevent them from what they were there to do.
That is called purpose! What is your purpose? Is it to fit into the world and not make waves? If that is the purpose of the church today, we are doing great. That is not my purpose. My purpose is to follow the will of my Lord. Sometimes I falter. Sometimes I fall and fail. I pray that there is always someone there to make sure that I don’t jump up and hurt someone or myself by getting back at it too quickly. There is always that one with more faith and we can count on that. Right? Can we?
“4 But the dwise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 While the bridegroom ftarried, they all gslumbered and hslept. 6 And at midnight there was ia cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. 7 Then all those virgins arose, and ktrimmed their lamps. 8 And the efoolish said unto the dwise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are ||gone out. 9 But the dwise answered, saying, Not so; llest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.” [4]
We are speaking of faith here. Faith in God is not faith that those who have will have enough to give to you when you have failed to have enough faith to carry on. Faith in God is having faith for that time when the light seems to be fading and all that is left is that faith which you have accumulated for such a time as this. Your momma and your daddy cannot give you the faith to keep going when you think that darkness has overcome you and God is expecting you to light the way for others to find Him. There is coming a day all right.
“10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and mthey that were ready went in with him to the nmarriage: and othe door was shut. 11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, opLord, Lord, open to us. 12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, qI know you not. 13 rWatch therefore, rfor ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” [5]
Prayer:
Invitation: There are some here today who don’t want to hear this message. Things are not the same as they used to be and preacher, you need to get on with the new program. My faith may be weak, but my faith is still in the only one who can save me. As for me and my house as Joshua once said.
There is a darkness that God is allowing to envelope this world. Churches are not full as they once were. Governments are expecting people to be more dependent on them who want to stay in their appointed positions. Distraction is all around, and it is harder to love enough to keep telling the truth.
Then the light comes. That one who has not had a very loud voice for many years speaks through a life of faith and the church is full again. What does it take to light the way when the bridegroom shows up? It takes faith that fuels the soul and nothing else can replace that.
Each day we find ourselves at a crossroads either leaving our station to wander off to prepare for that which we have not prepared for yet or keeping our lamps full and ready to light His way. Are you still full of faith or are you running on empty? Better come to this gas station and fill up. It’s here. It’s right here in this book and He is still speaking. He is right here in this book. Are you in His?
a Luke 19:13.
b ch. 9:15. John 3:29. Comp. Eph. 5:29, 30, 32. Rev. 19:7. & 21:2, 9.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Mt 25:1). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
|| Or, reasoned. See ver. 5.
w Gk. as ver. 10, 11. Rom. 3:31. ch. 2:6. & 15:24, 26. 2 Cor. 3:7, 11, 13, 14. Gal. 3:17. & 5:4, 11. 2 Tim. 1:10.
a So Job 36:26. 2 Cor. 3:18. & 4:18. & 5:7. Phil. 3:12.
b Wisd. 7:26. Ecclus. 12:11. James 1:23 in the Gk.
† Gr. in a riddle. Num. 12:8 (Gk.).
c So Matt. 5:8. 1 John 3:2. Rev. 22:4.
y ver. 10, 12. ch. 12:27.
d Matt. 11:27 (Gk.).
e See ch. 8:3.
[2] Ibid., 1 Co 13:11–13). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
c ch. 13:47. & 22:10.
d ver. 4, 8, 9. ch. 7:24. & 10:16. & 24:45.
e ver. 3:8. See ch. 5:22.
e ver. 3:8. See ch. 5:22.
[3] Ibid., Mt 25:2–3). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
d ver. 4, 8, 9. ch. 7:24. & 10:16. & 24:45.
f ch. 24:48 (Gk.).
g 2 Pet. 2:3.
h 1 Thess. 5:6.
i See ch. 24:31.
k So Luke 12:35. See ch. 23:29.
e ver. 3:8. See ch. 5:22.
d ver. 4, 8, 9. ch. 7:24. & 10:16. & 24:45.
|| Or, going out. Comp. ver. 7.
d ver. 4, 8, 9. ch. 7:24. & 10:16. & 24:45.
l Comp. Ps. 49:7.
[4] Ibid., Mt 25:4–9). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
m ch. 24:44.
n See ch. 22:2.
o Luke 13:25.
o Luke 13:25.
p So ch. 7:21, 22. Luke 6:46.
q ch. 7:23.
r See ch. 24:42.
r See ch. 24:42.
[5] Ibid., Mt 25:10–13). (2009). Logos Research Systems, Inc.
