McLEAN BIBLE CHURCH OCTOBER 10, 2010 10:45 AM Thank you. We want to say a good morning to all of our friends at our Loudoun Campus, at our Prince William Campus, down in our Edge Community and around the world on our internet campus, when I say three, all of us here at Tysons are going to yell good morning to them and all of you guys will yell good morning to us. One, two, three! Good morning! It's great to be together as McLean Bible Church today. Now, you know we are in a series entitled people Jesus met, and beginning today, we come in our series to the last week of Jesus' earthly life. In this final week of his life, Jesus will meet memorable people. We are talking about Judas, we are talking about Pontius Pilate, we are talking about the thief on the cross and many more, but today we are going to talk to ten virgins who are were not so much people Jesus met but rather they were characters in a parable that Jesus told at the beginning of the last week of his earthly life. We want to go back 2,000 years and see what Jesus said and we wants to bring all of that forward and talk about what difference that that make for you and me our passage is Matthew 25, but before we begin, we need to say that in order to interpret this parable correctly, it's imperative we get the context right. What we mean by the context, we mean what is happening all around the passage we are studying. Remember, to interpret the Bible properly, we can't just pull a verse out of context, throw it up on the wall like a piece of spaghetti, and everyone sit around and say I don't know what it means, what do you think it means? For example, Judas went out and hangs himself. Jesus said go likewise and do the same Luke 10:37 and whatever you doest, do quickly, John 13:37. By taking the text out of context I built a case for Jesus saying for you to go hang yourself as quickly as possible. A text without a context is a pretext. It is a fabrication, it is a falsehood and it is a sure fire way to misinterpret the Bible. So let's ask the question what was the context in which the Lord Jesus Christ told this parable of the ten virgins. We have to go back to the beginning of Matthew 24, the chapter before it and in verse 3 of the chapter the Bible says as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Notice, if you would, please, that all of Matthew 24 and 25 were spoken privately to Jesus' disciples. This parable we are going to read was not spoken to the rabbis and it was not spoken to an unbelieving crowd. It was spoken to people who were already true born again believes. Do we all see this? Yes? Yes? Because this is critical to getting this parable interpreted right. Verse 3 continues, Matthew 24, the disciples came to him privately and said, tell us, when will these things happen and whether will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And for the next 31 versus of Matthew 24 Jesus speaks to them about this topic, about the signs of his second coming, but then beginning in Matthew 24 verse 36 and continuing through all of Matthew chapter 25 Jesus begins to stress a different point, a related point, but a different point, and what is this point he begins to stress? Well, he tells us in verse 42 of Matthew 24, Jesus said, be on the alert, for you do not know on what day your Lord will come.
And so the context of Matthew 25 and the parable of the ten virgins tell uses two very important things. Number one, that the target audience of this parable is believers in Jesus Christ who have made Jesus their Lord and number two, that the subject of the parable is all about believes living in such a way that they are prepared, that they are primed and ready for Jesus' return. Now, we got that, right? We got that. Yes. Okay. Now, we are ready to try and interpret this parable. Here we go, verse 1, Matthew 25, Jesus said at that time you say at what time, what is he talking at the time of his second coming. At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. The parable here is centered around a Jewish wedding ceremony at the time of Jesus it was customary for the groom to come to the bride's house and get his bride and the bride and groom would march at the front of a grand processional, march back to the groom's house for the actual ceremony. It was also customary at the time of Jesus for the bride to be attended by bridesmaids. Ten of them is the normal number. These are the ten virgins here in the parable, but in order to keep things really romantic, the groom would never tell any of the bride or anybody else exactly what time he was coming. He would show up, unannounced and many times unexpected. The final thing we need to know is that these bridal processions always took place at night. So each of the ten bridesmaids was expected to carry a torch and that's what these lamps are here in the parable. These torches were like sticks with rags on the top filled with flammable oil, but as you all know, after awhile they would burn out. So the bridesmaids were also expected to bring extra oil along with them so they could refurbish, so they could resupply their torch. Everybody with me? Here we go, verse 2. Five of these virgins, bridesmaids were foolish and five of them were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. But the five wise virgins took oil in flasks along with their lamps. We can speculate all day as to why these five foolish virgins neglected to bring any extra oil. I mean, it doesn't make any sense. They knew they were going to need it, so why not bring it. Well, friend, who knows. All I can say is that spiritual folly never has a logical explanation. But, the important point for us here, is that the difference between the five wise virgins and the five foolish virgins, the variable between them was the level of preparedness for the grooms appearing that they had. That is the variable. How prepared were they for the groom to show up? Verse 5, the groom was a long time in arriving, however, so they all became drowsy and fell asleep, but at midnight the cry rang out, behold, he is here. Everyone go out to meet him. Then all ten virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps, but the foolish virgins said to the wise ones, give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out. But the wise virgins said, no, because there will not be enough for us, and you instead go to the dealers and buy some oil for yourselves. And while the five foolish virgins were on their way to buy oil, the groom arrived. And the virgins who were ready, there is our key word, the ones that were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. Once again, the custom of the day that after you had this that after you had the big bridal march to the groom's house, everyone in the march would go to the groom's house, the doors would be locked and shut so no one would break in and disturb the ceremony. Later on the other virgins arrived saying, sir, sir,
open the door for us. Whether they found oil at this time of night is unclear, but it doesn't matter, they missed the processional and it's too late to get in. Verse 12, but the groom replied, I tell you the truth, I don't know you. It's too late. And verse 13, here is Jesus' summation of the point of his parable. He says, therefore, be ready for you do not know the day or the hour wherein the son of man comes. Now, that's the end of our passage. It's the end of the parable, but we want to stop now, we want to ask our most important question. So, we are prepared, yes? Like the five wise virgins, yes. Here we go. Deep breath, want to hear all of you at our campuses, here we go, one, two, three. You say, Lon, this is a sweet story and I appreciate that and I'm not going out and hang myself like Judas, but what difference does any of this make to me? Let's talk about it. Let's begin by identifying the characters in the parable. First of all, the groom who was the groom? Well, the groom was the Lord Jesus Christ returning at his second coming, right? Who were the five wise virgins? Well the five wise virgins were followers of Christ, believers who had lived in such a way that they were prepared, they were ready to meet Jesus when he returned. They had stockpiled oil for their lamps. Now, how about the five foolish virgins, who were they? Well, a lot of people regard them as unbelievers who never embraced Jesus Christ when the door was open so after Christ comes and the door is shut and God's offer of salvation is withdrawn, they are left outside and it's too late. Now, I don't argue with any of that truth, because the Bible says, friends, that if we leave this earth without embracing Jesus Christ as our savior, God's offer of salvation is withdrawn in the afterlife to us. The parable in Luke 16, the story of the rich man in Lazarus. If you remember, he says between you and us, heaven and hell, a great canyon has been fixed, look, so that no one may cross over from where you are in hell to us. He says to the rich man, I'm sorry, you could have availed yourself of God's offer of mercy on earth. Here in the afterlife, it's gone, it's withdrawn. This is why the Apostle Paul said 2 Corinthians 6:2, behold, now, is the time of God's favor. Now, is the day of salvation. Folks, if you are here today and you have never trusted Jesus as a savior in a real and personal way, I am here on behalf of God to beg you, to plead with you to please do it now. I'm here to appeal to you and say, listen, now is the day of salvation, now is your opportunity. If you leave this earth, my friend and you haven't done it, the offer is gone. Don't miss the opportunity to become one of the children of God and to know your sins are forgiven, and to avail yourself of what Jesus did for you on the cross. Don't miss the opportunity. It's open now. You need to take it! But friends, this is not the point of Jesus' parable. Remember the context. The context here is all about believers being ready to meet the Lord at his return, and so the five foolish virgins here are believes who lived in such a way here on the earth that they were not ready to meet the Lord when he came. The point of Jesus' parable then is to challenge us as believers, to warn us as believers, to make sure that we have got oil in our lamp, to make sure that we are ready to meet him either at his second coming, or to meet him in heaven if we die as believers before his seconds coming occurs. And the reason for this is because as believers in Jesus Christ, whether it's at the Lord's second coming that we meet him face to face or whether it's when we show up in heaven after we die before he comes that we meet him face to face, either way, my friends, Jesus is going to measure, he is going to evaluate how we lived here on this earth. We are going to give an account to him of our earthly lives as believers.
2 Corinthians 5:10 says we, believers must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. This is in heaven. Heaven is not at stake. Heaven is based on the blood of Christ. That doesn't change. This is our performance review, when we get to heaven as believers, watch that each one of us may receive what is due us for the things we did while in our bodies while we were here on earth whether good or bad. Or to put it in terms of this parable, whether it's at his second coming or whether it's when we meet him in heaven, God will measure how much oil is in our lamp for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, you say, well, Lon, if that's true, how do I accumulate oil in my lamp? How do I amass and lay up oil for my lamp? Well, friends, the answer is simple, every time you and I as believers do anything here on earth to honor the Lord Jesus Christ from serving him to obeying him, to sharing him with others, to standing up for him in our family or in our workplace, anything we do to honor the Lord with our life immediately increases how much oil we have in our lamps when we meet the Lord. And in light of this, the advice that the five wise virgins gave the five foolish virgins was really good advice. What did the five wise virgins say? Verse 9 Matthew 25, they said go buy some oil for yourselves. Now, as 25 th century believers today, this is God's advice for you and me. God in this parable says to us, don't wait until it's too late like the five foolish virgins did, go get oil in your lamp for the Lord now. This is the so what. For you and me as believers today, whatever we are going to do for Jesus, we need to do it now. You know, some of us here have been saying, well, I'm going to let Jesus be Lord of my life some day. And some of us here have been saying I'm going to start speaking to lost people at work or in my family or in my neighborhood or at my school some day. And some of us here have been saying, well, you know, I'm going to start living a life of biblical obedience to God some day and I will start giving to the work of God some day, and I will start serving the Lord with my discretionary time some day, and I will start having quiet time some day, and I will pray for the lost souls of men and women around me some day, and I will lead a small group some day, and I will lead a Bible study some day, and I'm going to have family devotions every night some day. Friends, in the parable Jesus says, I'm not interested in some day. What I'm interested in is now. Some day doesn't lay up oil for your lamp. It's when we do things now that we get oil in our lamp, and, you know, when you look through the pages of the word of God, you will find that every great man and woman of God in the Bible and every great man and woman of God down through history for that matter, those people didn't live for the Lord in the realm of some day. They lived for the Lord in the realm of right now. Abraham, God said, leave your land, leave your people, leave your friends, leave your family, leave your job, leave your home, and follow me, and Abraham said, Lord, I will do it right now. Nehemiah said I want you to go back and rebuild the wall, and he said, okay, I will do it right now. The people of Nineveh, they said God commands you to repent and they said, okay, I will do it right now. Elisha, he was approached by Elijah, and he was plowing with his oxen and plow and he said, God is calling you into the ministry as a prophet. He said I will leave my ox and plow and follow you right now. Peter and Andrew, Jesus went by them while they were mending their nets and said follow me, and the Bible says they dropped their nets and said, Lord, we will follow you now. And the Apostle Paul, Acts 9:20 says immediately, right now he began to proclaim Jesus? The synagogue saying he is the son of God.
You see, my friends, wise men and women understand that when it comes to accumulating oil in our lamps for the Lord, some day must mean now, lost opportunities for God don't come back. They don't come back. You know, even the Lord Jesus lived this way. He said in John chapter 9:4, I must work the works of him who sent me now. While it's still day, for the night is coming when no man can work. This reminds me of the great old hymn, work for the night is coming. Work through the morning hours. Work while the dew is sparkling, work through the springing flowers, work when the day grows brighter, work in the glow sun. Work for the night is coming, when man's work is done. (Applause). Now, listen, the singing was terrible, but the message is powerful. All right? The point is we have got to make hay when the sun shines. We have got to work for the Lord while we have got the opportunity. We have got to lay up oil in our lamps now, when we can, because there will come a day we won't be able to. And God is not looking for some day, Christians, he is looking for right now Christians. You know, many of us here know the name Dwight L. Moody. He was the evangelist of the 19 th Century, when Moody dies in 191,899 his biographer said he had been personal responsible for leading over 1 million people to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe that? A million people, one man. Well, in 1860 when Moody was 22 years old, he wasn't an evangelist, and he wasn't even thinking about going in the ministry full time. He was working in Chicago, and one week a Sunday school teacher in the Church where Moody was attending got sick and asked Moody to sub for him and teach his class of one girls. >> Moody said, and I quote without exception, they were the most frivolous set of girls I ever met. They loved in my face and I felt like opening the door and telling them to get out and never come back. Well the next week. The Sunday day school teacher who had fallen ill came to cease Moody at his place of employment and the teacher said I have had a hemorrhage in my lungs the doctor says I cannot live in Chicago on Lake Michigan anymore, I'm leaving town. I'm told that I'm going to die, but Moody could see that something else was bothering this man, so he asked him, and the man said, well, I have never led any of my Sunday day school class to Christ. I have been meaning to, but I just haven't. I guess I have done them more harm than good. And Moody said, well, suppose you and I go tell them right now. Later Moody wrote, the man consented and we started out together. It was one of the best journeys I ever had on earth. Moody said we went to the house of one of the girls and the teacher talked to her about her soul. There was no laughing then. Before long, tears filled her eyes and after explaining the way of life to her, the teacher suggested that we have prayer, and he asked me, Moody said, to pray. I d never done such a thing in my life as to ask God to convert a young lady right then and there, but we prayed and God answered our prayers. Well, friends, for the next ten days, Moody and this teacher went from home to home to home and it wasn't long before they had led every single girl in that Sunday school class to Christ. And when the teacher left town on his final trip, the entire class of girls went with Moody down to the train station. Moody said what a meeting that was. We tried to sing, but we all broke down in tears. The last we saw of that dying teacher, he was standing on the platform of the rear car, his finger pointing upward telling us that he would see us all in heaven, end of quote, praise the
Lord! Praise the Lord! (Applause). Now, listen, that's a great story, but there is more, because, friends, this experience radically altered the course of Dwight l Moody a life. He I had got a taste of another world and cared no more for making money for some days afterward, the greatest struggle of my life took place, should I give up business, and give myself to Christian work or should I not, Moody concluded by saying I have never regretted my choice. End of quote. Now, we need to ask the question, what exactly was it about this situation that so radically affected the life of Dwight L. Moody and the answer is Moody saw a man who up to this point had been saying some day, Lord, some day, Lord. Some day I'm going to lead these girls to Christ, suddenly say right now, Lord, I'm going to go try to do it. And he saw what God did with that change of attitude, and Moody decided that he was going to go from being a some day Christian to being a right now Christian. And, friends, there are over one million souls in heaven today who are sure glad Moody did. And now, I want to go from preaching to meddling, if I can, and I want to say to every one of us here that as followers of Jesus Christ, this is what God wants from you and me. He wants us to go from saying some day, Lord, to saying, okay, Lord, right now, what do you want me to do right now? You know, let me say in conclusion, that next spring, the spring of 2011, Lord willing, I will be celebrating my 40 th birthday as a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. I came to Christ in 1971 and I have been walking with the Lord for 40 years praise G d. I was led to Christ by a street preacher named Bob Eckhart. He would drive to Chapel Hill where I was going to school and he would stand on the street corners and hand out tracts and try to share the Lord. When I came to Christ, Bob Eckhart sat me down and challenged me to read the parable. Ten virgins which I did and he said, Lon, you need to be a wise virgin. He said challenge me, Lon, you need to serve the Lord with your life. And he challenged me not only with words, but he challenged me with his own example of living like this, and he said, Lon, your goal in life is not to make a lot of money, it's not to be a big shot, it's not to get a lot of power. Your goal in your life is to amass as much oil in your lamp for Jesus as you possibly can. Folks, I got to tell you 40 years later, I thank the Lord every day that I took Bob Eckhart's advice, that I followed his example because as I look back now over 40 years, I realize, you know what, all of the opportunities that the Lord gave me in those 40 years, all of the wonderful chances I had to serve him, friends, they re not recoverable. I can't go back and recreate all of that. I can't go back and get that back now, and I'm so glad. I am so glad that when I meet the Lord Jesus Christ I have got 40 years of certainly not being perfect, but 40 years of trying really hard to serve Christ and honor Christ and do what Jesus asked me to do, that I can lay at his feet and present to him and say, Lord, here, this I did for you. I did it for you. Now, listen to me, you may say, well, Lon, that doesn't help me. I have got a bunch of year that's have gone by that I didn't take advantage of for the Lord. Friends, forget about that. Never too late to start. It's never too late to start. You got today. We can start today. You got tomorrow. We can start today and go into tomorrow. Listen, folks, being a scratch golfer when you get to heaven makes no difference. Having a well decorated house when you get to heaven makes no difference. Having designer clothes and shoes makes no difference. Being a big shot at work makes no difference. The only thing that matters is what we lay at
the Lord's feet and say, Lord, this is the oil that's in my lamp for you. That's the only thing that's going to matter. So I want to challenge you as your pastor. And I want to challenge you as your friend, just like Bob Eckhart challenged me, friends, go do what the five wise virgins said. Get some oil for your lamp. Serve the Lord now. Have your devotions now. Share Christ now. You know, lead a small group now, be in a Bible study now, whatever the Lord is asking you to do, don't say some day I will, Lord, do it now. Do it now. Because you know, friends, far too often some day never happens. So here is the question I would like to leave you with that you can think about or talk to other people about going home or at lunch. Here is the question, where is God asking me or where is God asking you to do something for him now? And then the follow up question, I guess, is am I willing to do it now. May God help you. May God help us all. Let's pray. Dear Lord Jesus, I thank you for speaking to us today from this parable. And I thank you for challenging us not to live in the world of some day Christianity, but to live in the world of right now. Serving of the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, even though he is in heaven with you, I thank you for Bob Eckhart who sat me down as a young man and said, Lon, don't waste your time on all of this other stuff, spend your time accumulating oil for your lamp. So when you meet the Lord, you can present it to him. And, Father, I play you would speak to each of us here and communicate that same message deeply to us, and if we need a change in our priorities, Lord, if we need a change in our heart, that you would help accomplish that change today. God, make us men and women who are ready to meet the Lord as much as we can be. Make us men and women who have oil in our lamp because we have spent time right now putting Jesus first in every aspect of our life. So change our lives because we were here today. Because we sat under the teaching of the word of God, and we pray these things in Jesus' name, and what did God's people say. >> Amen! >> Amen! Don't forget our interest meeting, God bless you. Have a good week. See you. (Music).