I am Mack Lyon in Search of the Lord’s Way. A faithful member of our staff has just returned from a well-earned vacation. He and his wife took their two children and went to Disney World. They have been talking about this trip-- and saving their money-- and getting ready for several months now. You know-- all of us are destined to take a journey into eternity one of these days! Oh, what an exciting thought that is! None of us knows our departure date, so, we need to prepare for it now, don’t you think? Say, are you ready? That's what our study is about today.
Thank you, thank you, most sincerely my friend, for inviting us into your home today. Your interest in spiritual things is an inspiration to us. We believe God is very much alive, and not only interested in us, but He is involved in our lives as well. We also believe He speaks to us through His Bible, and reveals to us the way to live that is far, far, superior to anyway that we have ever known. And the Lord's way is the only way to heaven, friend. We pray God will bless our study together.
In the book, "Leaves of Gold", an anthology of memorable phrases and prayers and inspirational verses edited by Clyde F. Lytle, I came upon a story of an oriental king, whose servant was also his personal friend. One day the king impatiently presented that servant with a golden bell, and he said, "If you ever find a greater fool than you are, give this bell to him." Well, years passed and the king lay on his death bed. He called the servant and said, "I am going on a long journey, and alas, I am ill prepared." "Is it an unexpected journey?" “Oh, No," was the king’s reply, "on the contrary, I have been forewarned these many years, but so engrossing have been the cares of government and the pleasures of court that I've given this matter little attention.” Then-- the servant silently handed him the golden bell. At last he had found a greater fool than himself.
Our message today is "Prepare to Meet Your God." If you think you might want-- or need-- a printed copy, or a CD or an audio cassette tape of it, free, everything's free, write us, In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083. By e-mail the address is searchtv@searchtv.org. Or you may use our toll-free telephone number, if you like. It is 1-800-321-8633. You can download the script, or hear it or see the program in its entirety again twenty-four hours a day at our website-- www.searchtv.org. Well, there's a lot more information there that would be of interest to you, too. Visit that site, will you? Ken Helterbrand's going to lead us now as we sing and then we will be back for Bible reading and prayer.
Our Bible reading today is in the book of Matthew, the 25th chapter, beginning at verse 1 through verse 13. “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they are slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him! Then all those virgins arose 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, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us! But he answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” Now let us go to God in prayer. Holy Father, Righteous God, we appear before You today in prayer giving You thanks for the great blessing of Jesus’ teaching by parables; and for this parable especially that we have studied on preparedness and getting ready for the coming of the Lord so that we can go and be with Him throughout eternity. We pray Your blessings on our study today and upon every soul who is studying with us. In the lovely name of Jesus we pray, Amen!
The use of parables was common among the Jews of Jesus' day. So it is nothing less than we would expect of the master teacher that He would teach in parables, too. Of course, no one ever taught the parables as effectively as Jesus did. The idea of a parable is to lay or to place a thing alongside or beside the other one for the purpose of a comparison. A parable is usually somewhat of a lengthy story drawn from nature or human experience, the object of which is to teach a spiritual lesson. I heard a "parable" defined recently as an "illustration.” But, it isn't a mere illustration. An illustration is a demonstration or a clarification, whereas a parable contains much more truth for those who are able to glean that truth from its full meaning. Neither is it a "fable." A fable attributes to nature the qualities and characteristics that are not natural-- or don't really belong. (For example, in a fable animals and trees are often heard talking, or seen talking. Other inanimate things like tables and cars are often seen performing human activities. We see a lot of that in TV commercials nowadays.) But, a parable is always true-- I mean it’s the way it really was-- or is. Neither is a parable a myth. A myth is told for the truth, while a parable is the vehicle used to convey the truth. Well, so much for all of that. Jesus was the master at laying physical truths, common to human experiences alongside spiritual truths that were less familiar to His audiences, in order to teach them.
Jesus' parables we are studying today is actually a continuation of His reply to the disciples' questions in the preceding chapter about, well, (1) the impending destruction of Jerusalem, and (2) the end of the world. He told them that the destruction of Jerusalem would be in their own lifetime (Matthew 24:34), but the time of his return and the end of the world was unknown. Only God knows when that will be (Matthew 24, verse 36). The message is that since no one knows when the Master will return to receive His own, we must be watchful and prepared to go at any time. It is as applicable today as it was the day that He spoke it.
It was the custom in the ancient east for the bridegroom, accompanied by his friends, to go to the bride's house to bring her over to his house for the wedding. And, she would be accompanied by her friends, to return with him to his home, or maybe to that of his parents for the wedding. The others would wait for him somewhere along the way-- it's supposed, that they would wait near his house maybe. In Jesus' parable, or He said, "they" were the ten virgins. And this all occurred at night, so they would be carrying lamps around, and each person would be carrying his own oil and his own lamps.
In this parable, the bridegroom (the coming Christ) delayed his coming for some reason. And the waiting virgins fell asleep. The Lord said, "They all slumbered and slept." The lamps continued to burn so their oil was being consumed, depleted. And at "midnight a cry was heard: Behold the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!" And Jesus said five of the virgins were "wise" because they came prepared for such an eventuality, brought enough oil, and they came prepared. The other five were said to be foolish because they had not done so. They were not prepared and their lamps went out. They tried to buy oil from the wise people, but to no avail. They were forced to go to the market place to buy oil. Meanwhile, while they were gone, the bridegroom came and the people who came prepared went with him to the marriage. But, by the time the others had found and bought oil, and had gotten back, it was too late. The bridegroom had returned and gone to the marriage, the door was closed and they were not permitted to enter.
Well, what was Jesus' lesson? Well, here it is, friend; hear me now: It is in verse thirteen of our text: "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming." Anyone who says he knows when Christ is coming, makes Christ a liar, doesn't he-- or she? It's the truth, then, that some day, no one knows when, then the risen and living Christ will come for His own. We have His word for that. He said, "I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." That is John 14, verses 2 and 3. And if you don't believe that, you can not be a Christian, friend.
Next, we learn from the Lord that while He delays His coming, some people (even some believers) will grow sleepy and even slumber. Peter said that during this period, some people, that he calls them "scoffers," will be heard saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation." Then he says, "...do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance" (2 Peter chapter 3, verses 4 through 9). But, some of us will be left standing outside, even though we were invited, because we were not ready-- we were unprepared. Jesus called those people "foolish people." Oh, friend, we must be ready when Jesus comes.
Oh yes! It is also clear that those who were unprepared when the bridegroom came were not given a second chance. Now some religious groups teach a second chance for us, and for salvation after death or after the Lord comes-- whichever comes first. However, this parable makes it quite clear that now is the time to make preparation. Neither you nor I will be given another chance later on, friend. It must be obvious to the careful student of the Bible that every one will be either prepared and accepted at the coming of Christ, or unprepared and rejected. That judgment is reserved for the Lord and for Him only. And will be based on the person's very own personal relationship with Him. The foolish virgins thought they would buy oil from the others, but they had none to spare. The Bible says, "Every one of us must give account of himself unto God." That is Romans 14:12. No sir-- or maam-- no one will be accepted or rejected because mother was such a good woman-- or because of what father did. No, we will not be admitted to the marriage because we were members of a good faithful church. It is a personal thing with every one of us, and each of us.
Back in the days of the Old Testament, in the times when God's people forsook Him for the idols of the heathen, God's anger was kindled against them (Joshua 23:16). He stopped fighting their battles and delivering them from the pagans who were their enemies that had infiltrated their culture. Consequently, they ceased to exist as a nation. And during those days of sin and impenitence, God said to them through the prophets, "Prepare to meet your God." That is Amos 4 and 12. And that's the message of Jesus' parable in the New Testament.
It is so foolish not to make such preparation because, in spite of the fact that no one knows when the Lord is coming, "The living know that they shall die." That is Ecclesiastes 9 and 5. And it’s a direct quote from God. Why, we would believe that if we read it in the Farmers Almanac, wouldn't we, friend? It's happening all around us every day. Our loved ones, our friends, our acquaintances, our next door neighbors are dropping off every day. And some day, friend, it will be our turn-- yours-- and-- mine. Yes, yes, it will be.
"Prepare to meet your God." What a sobering thought!-- that the time is coming when we will meet God-- no, no, now, not some judge who lives down the street, but God, the Creator and the Ruler and the righteous Judge of the universe. We'll meet Him face to face to give account for all our deeds. The Bible says, "We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that each of us, and every one of us, may receive the things done in the body, according to that which he has done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men..." (2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verses 10 and 11). Once more the Scripture says, "There is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:13). Like the five foolish virgins, the foolish, the unprepared people-- when Jesus comes-- well, they will cry out, "Lord, Lord, open unto us." But the Master will reply, "Assuredly … I don’t know you." We are often asked if we believe in the reality of hell. Certainly so! If anyone believes in Christ, he has to believe in hell as a real place, because Christ taught more about it than anyone else ever did, friend.
But, there's a positive side to that matter, too. The prepared people will be admitted to the marriage of the Lamb; the marriage of the Lamb in heaven, friend. Heaven is a real place, too. Perhaps by now, you are saying, "Well, how do I prepare? What do I do? Tell me now how to get ready. Do it now! Let's get on with it." That's great! Listen carefully now.
You see, we are all destined to miss heaven unless we prepare not to do it. Because, according to Romans 3:9, we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. But, "...where sin abounded, [God's] grace abounded much more," with the way to be saved by the death of His Son on the cross (Romans 5 and 12). So, we begin by believing that the crucified Jesus was (and is) the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus said, "...if you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins" (John 8:24). But, in spite of what you may have heard, that isn't all of it, friend. The apostle Paul was inspired by the Holy Spirit to say in the concluding part of his sermon on Mar's Hill: "God...commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. And He has given assurance of Him by raising Him from the dead" (Acts 17, verses 30 and 31). God loves you and He want to enter in with you, wants you to enter in with Him into the marriage (meaning heaven). Finally, one statement from our Lord will suffice. He said, and I firmly believe it, friend, "He who believes and is baptized will be saved." You will find that in Mark 16:16. Have you? Will you now-- will you be ready? Let us pray. Thank You, Lord, for the teaching you gave us on readiness. We prepare that some soul hearing us today will come to You-- believing, repenting, and be baptized for the remission of his sins. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen!
Is it possible for a Christian, a person who has at one time believed in Christ and been baptized, is it possible for him to go back in sin and miss heaven? Well, let us see what the Bible says about that, what you say? It's altogether probable I'm speaking to someone-- perhaps many someones in that very condition right now. What must they do to prepare to meet God? From the text of the epistle of First John, it is obvious that it's written to church members even though the word "church" doesn't even appear anywhere in that epistle.
Anyway, it says, "If we [Christians] say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous" (1 John chapter 1, verse 8 through chapter 2, verse 2). And in chapter five, verses 16 and 17, God continues to say, "If anyone sees his brother (that would be a brother in Christ, of course) sinning a sin, which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He [that is, God] will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is sin not leading to death." So, the child of God who has erred from the strait and narrow way of the Lord, friend, (Matthew 7:13), let him repent and pray to God for forgiveness and another start. If his sin is against other people, or is known by other people, he should make amends for it by confessing or admitting such sin and seeking the prayers and the forgiveness of other people. Simon the sorcerer in Acts chapter 8, verses 9 to 25 is a good example of that. He had believed and been baptized and had sinned again-- or kept on sinning, one or the other. And Phillip told him, "Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity. Then Simon answered and said, Pray to the Lord for me..." Perhaps you, my friend, need to go to that and prepare to meet your God. I hope you will, if that is your need today.
If you would like a free printed copy of this message to study more, then you may have one. We have given you the address, and you are at liberty to write us or call us and we would be happy to send you a copy of it. God bless you now. Be with us next week. We love you.
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