Watch therefore

Good evening. You may be wondering, where's Eric? Clara started having contractions earlier today, and they're at the hospital. Eric texted me about 5 30 and said there's still no update. I'm sure you guys would probably know more than I would, but nothing yet. We wait for our little blessing, right? If you would turn in your songbook, hold on a second, I gotta read some scripture, don't I? Getting ahead of myself. If you would, turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter three. Matthew chapter three. We'll read the first 12 verses.

In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea and saying, repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias saying, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare you the way of the Lord, make his path straight. And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair and a leather and girdle about his loins and his meat was locusts and wild honey then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judea, and all the region round about Jordan, and were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins. But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

Bring forth therefore fruits, meat for repentance. And think not to say within yourselves, we have Abraham to our father, for I say unto you, God is able of these stones to raise up children to Abraham. And now also the ax is laid into the root of the trees, therefore every tree which bringeth not forth fruit, good fruit, is hewn down, cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance. He that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear. He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire, whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor and gather his weed into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Oh, Holy Heavenly Father, we praise your holy name. You are the only true and living God. And Lord, we are your humble servants. Have mercy on us as we go through this world. Lord, help us to keep our eyes on Christ.

Father, we thank you for all the blessings that you send our way. And we pray that you'd be with Isaac and Claire and the family as they receive this special little gift that you've given them, Lord. We know they're thankful. We're all thankful, Lord.

Be with us here tonight. You say that where two or three are gathered in your name, you'll be in the midst of us. And Lord, we're so thankful and appreciate that you are here with us. Bless the meeting, Lord, and bless your message. It's in Jesus' name we pray and give thanks.

Amen. All right, now turn in your songbook to page 17, Come Thou Fount. every blessing to my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never-ceasing call for songs of loudest praise Teach me some melodious sonnet, sung by flaming tongues above. Raise the mountain fixed upon it, mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my heavenly servant, And I hope by thy good pleasure, safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger, wandering round the floor of God. He to rescue me from danger, interposed his precious blood. O true grace, how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be. Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, climb my wandering heart to Thee. All right for our message turn with me to Matthew 25 Matthew 25 and We'll read the scripture here that we're gonna cover today, the first 13 verses. Verse one says, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

And five of them were wise and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.

And afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you none. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh." And back to verse one. The Apostle Matthew says, then. Turn with me back over here to Matthew 24. Let's look at these first three verses.

And Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. Now, this temple that they had, They had these huge marble stones, and they were white marble, and they had this green fleck all through it, and gold. The pillars were so big, they say, the old Jews say, that it would take three men standing like this to go all the way around, fingertip to fingertip. This temple was huge, and it was something to see. It was really beautiful, and they were proud of it.

And Jesus said, verse two, unto them, See you not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down. And as he said upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when these things shall be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world. Back in 25. The Lord says, then, he's referring to what they were asking him.

When are you going to tear this temple down? And when are you going to bring in the kingdom of heaven? Now, the kingdom of heaven is the church, the church that we know very well. In the Old Testament, the Jews would gather at their temple and they would worship. And if you read the rest of, let's see, I think it's 23, chapter 23, He pronounces seven woes unto the scribes and Pharisees, maybe chapter 24.

But it kind of lets you know why God tore this temple down. They made a mockery of the temple. They weren't doing proper sacrifices. They were just, they turned it into something for their own glory and their own righteousness. And he said, I'm going to destroy that. And I'm going to set up my own kingdom.

Let me read this to you from Daniel 2, 44. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed. And the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. These Jews were under the impression that the kingdom of heaven that Daniel spoke about, that the Lord would come as he did in our scripture here. They saw him face to face, he came. They thought that he was gonna set up a kingdom here on earth, that he would have his throne and live forever, and that he would take these Jews, because they were his chosen people, and he would elevate them to these great offices, and they would rule the whole world. But here in chapter 25, the Lord's gonna tell us what that kingdom of heaven is.

He says, the kingdom of heaven will be likened unto 10 virgins. Now, these people he was speaking to knew very well what he meant by the 10 virgins. The Jews had a custom that when the 10 people gathered, that's what they considered a congregation. And if they were 10 or more people, then they were obliged to build a synagogue.

So the kingdom of heaven is the church. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the king, and we are his humble servants. And we meet, just like it said here, we meet our Lord when we come here tonight. He says, we're two or three gathered to be in the midst of us. We come right here to the church, to his kingdom, and we meet with him. He says, likened unto 10 virgins which took their lamps, And these lamps, that is our individual selves, our own person, they all took themselves to church to meet with the Lord.

And they went forth to meet the bridegroom. Isaiah 54, I'll read this to you here. Isaiah 54, five, for thy maker is thine husband, The Lord of hosts is his name, and I redeem her, the Holy One of Israel. The God of the whole earth shall he be called. This is who we come to meet. The Son of God himself is sitting here with us tonight, and this was by his design. No more temple, no more people taking that temple and turning it into something for themselves that they seem to draw some self-righteousness out of. He'll set up his church and he'll feed his people.

Now verses two through four, it says five of them are wise and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. The oil that's spoken of here is the Holy Spirit. You see, five of these virgins were foolish. They did not have the Holy Spirit. Five were wise. They had the Holy Spirit. God gave them that Holy Spirit.

And what he's telling us here is that in his church, there will be believers and non-believers in this congregation. There'll be those who God has made alive spiritually, regenerated them, and there will be those who just simply profess to believe. All right here together, this is his church.

And it reminds us of the tares and the weed. If you would turn with me to Matthew 13. Read verses 24 through 30. This is the parable of the weeds. Matthew 13, 24 says, another parable put he forth unto them saying, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field.

But while the men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? From whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, an enemy hath done this. The servant said unto him, wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

But he said, nay, lest while you gather up the tares, you read up also the wheat with them. Let them both grow together until the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn. His precious wheat are his people. And they're gonna be right in this same church, right in the congregation with his people. And down here at verse five, it says, While the bridegroom tarried, they all slept and slumbered. They all slept and slumbered while the bridegroom tarried. What's taking so long? What's taking so long? We know that he's coming back. He set these churches up 2000 years ago. These apostles didn't really know at first what his plan was, but he sent the 12 apostles out and they set up churches all around.

The kingdom of heaven. Turn with me to 2 Peter 3. 2 Peter 3. Verses 8 and 9. But beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years is one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness, his promise of his return.

But as long suffering to us word, here's why, why he's there. Not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He's not gonna cut it short just to make us happy. God is saving a people from their sin. It may be another 2,000 years before he returns. We don't know the hour. We don't know when that's going to be. But know this, he has a people that he's going to save, and in his time. We are the most impatient people, but God has all patience. He has his plan already made out, and he's going to keep it. Nothing's going to change that. Why is he tearing? because he's gonna wait, and he's gonna make sure that he saves all of his people from their sins. Back in Matthew 25, verse five, it says, while he tarried, they all slumbered and slept. They got tired, dead, lifeless, and sleepy, even the wise virgins. Even the wise virgins. Those who are spiritually alive will get tired.

The cares of this world, whether it be whatever, health, love, finances, there's a lot of things that consume our thoughts and take our eyes off of Christ. Just like those children in the Old Testament out in the wilderness when Moses lifted up that serpent. While they looked at him, they lived. They took their eyes off of him, they died. We're to keep our eyes on Christ at all times. That's the lesson being taught. Keeping our eyes on Christ. Don't let this world get between you and Christ. Keep your eyes on him. But people get tired. And these slumber and slept virgins, you've got the foolish ones, they're asleep like death. They just don't have any spiritual life. They never had that life. But the wise virgins, they get tired.

One time I heard about this guy, this disc jockey back in the 60s. He was trying to do some publicity stunt and he decided he was going to set a world record for staying awake the longest. And he made it a really long time. I think it's somewhere around 50 days. But towards the end, he started hallucinating. He was having a hard, hard time. And they finally got him to go to sleep. And he slept for like a week solid. And after that, he spent the rest of his life totally insane. There was no brain left. Our bodies physically need rest. And if you go a long time without it, you'll understand what I mean. But we're talking about spiritual things here. Spiritual sleepiness, just getting tired. And he warns us against that. He warns us.

And here in verse six, he says, and at midnight, there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. In the Old Testament, the prophets used to cry this, same cry, behold, your Lord cometh. And he did. And now the preachers, God's faithful ministers that stand in the pulpits week after week, declaring the gospel, they're saying the same thing. He's coming back. He's coming back to take us home. That's what we're looking for, isn't it? Go ye out and meet him. Go ye out and meet the bridegroom. Prepare to meet your God. He's coming.

In verse seven, then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps, the wise ones and the foolish ones, the ones who had spiritual life and the ones who did not. The ones who did not, they're just going through the motions. They see other people doing things in the church. They got some kind of intelligence enough to figure the Bible, what it says is true. They hear people talking, but their heart's just not in it. They're just lukewarm at best. But they all rose up and they trimmed their lamps. Now that word trimmed, It means to put in proper order, to decorate. It also means specifically to snuff a wick.

Now you picture these lamps with the oil and the people with spiritual life, that flame is burning and it lights their life. Without that spiritual, the Holy Spirit living in us, we don't see anything spiritual. But we got that lamp and we have to go back to God constantly, give us the spirit, give us the spirit to get us through, to help us to see and understand. And then when you take it like, I had the old kerosene heater one time, I couldn't get that daggone thing to light up. And I had to realize that the wick had been burnt and it was hard. So I went in and I cut that wick and now, the flame much brighter, much more heat, much more light. That's what they're talking about here. Trimming your lamp.

Soul search yourself. Go to God in prayer. Keep asking for that spirit. Keep trimming away at the things that take you away from God. The things that allow you to be taken away by the cares of the world. So they trim their lamps, and verse eight, the foolish said unto the wise, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. They realize something's different. They're starting to get nervous. They have no spiritual life. You can't redeem your brother.

Psalm 49, I'll read this to you, you don't have to turn. Psalm 49, verses seven through nine. None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, for the redemption of their souls is precious and it ceases forever. And he should still live forever and not see corruption. We can't give what God has given to us to anyone else.

I imagine Isaac, He prayed for Esau. He wanted God to forgive him. He wanted God to save him. We all have children and we all have a desire, loved ones, brothers, sisters, parents. We want them to hear the gospel. We want them to believe. There's nothing we can do about that. We cannot save them. Salvation is of the Lord only, period.

Foolish said to the wise, give us your oil, for our lamps are gone out. Their lamps were never lit in the first place. They just thought they were lit. They thought they were no different than everybody else at the church. But the wise answered, say not so, verse nine, lest there be not enough for us and you, but go you rather, to them that sell and buy for yourselves. The wise virgins shared wisdom with these foolish virgins. They didn't lie to them. They told them to go, go to the one who sells what you're wanting and buy it. Turn with me to Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55. The wise virgins told him to go out and buy it. Isaiah 55 says, ho, everyone that thirsts, come ye to the waters.

And he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat. Ye come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. You can't buy, you can't buy salvation. You can't buy your spirit. You can't buy the oil to put into this lamp. Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfies not?

Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear, and come unto me. Herein your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. Behold, I've given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts.

And here's what they were really telling him. Let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. They told him the truth. You've been sitting here all along with us. You've been hearing a faithful preacher tell you the truth. One more time for you. You need oil in your lamp. Go to God. Go to God.

He's the only one that can have mercy and forgive sins. This is his business. And verse 10, while they went to buy, they went out and actually went to try to buy it. So what do you do when you go out and try to buy this? You turn to your works. You turn to works for salvation, and we all know God does not accept our works for salvation. He's not going to do that. He never does. They went to buy, but they didn't go to Christ for grace. They went some other way, and they turned to their own works and missed Christ.

Because while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. Here he is, the Lord has finally returned. And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage. They that were ready, turn with me to Revelation 19. I've got you reading a lot of different scripture here, but God's word is so much better than what I can say. They that were ready, those wise virgins, those that had the Holy Spirit put in them in a regenerated life.

Revelation 19 verse 7, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready. She didn't do anything. She didn't lift a finger. Don't think that this is about works because the next verse clears that up. was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, washed with the blood of Christ.

For the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. Blessed are they which are called. These wise virgins were called, and the foolish ones were not. They heard the call, didn't know what to do.

Been sitting there all along, just lukewarm, not hot, not cold, just going through the motions. The bridegroom came, and those that were ready went in with him to the marriage, And the door was shut, just like on that ark. Noah preached for 100, 120 years, I'm not sure what he did. We never read of one person who believed, not one person other than his seven family members that went in that ark with him. And when they got in that ark, the door was shut. What do you think was going on outside that ark when it started raining? People started realizing that Old Noah was telling us the truth. Didn't have any care, no care whatsoever. They thought he was lying to them. Didn't know what he was talking about.

Verse 11, afterward came also the other virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. Now they've been made to see a little more clearly, these foolish virgins. There's going to come a time when every mouth is going to confess the Lord Jesus as the Son of God. Everyone, even the foolish virgins. There's a time coming when everybody's going to see him for what he truly is.

But he answered and said to them, verily I say unto you, I know you not. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. These people were told by the Lord, the Son of God, the one who took away all the sins of his people. I never knew you.

I didn't love you. There's going to be a lot of sad people when the Lord comes back and he starts to put his sheep at his right hand and he starts putting his goats at his left hand. There's going to be a lot of goats that we love and care deeply about. And I imagine to think about it really, really hurts.

Salvations of the Lord. Jonah learned that lesson. God told Jonah, go preach against Nineveh. Jonah said, I know you're going to save those people. He didn't want them to get saved. So what's Jonah do? Nineveh's this way. Jonah goes that way. And God prepared a whale to swallow him up.

His eyes were looking inside. I know who should be saved, not these horrible sinners in Nineveh. They're the worst of the worst. They don't deserve to be saved. God takes him, puts him in the belly of a whale. It's dark. I don't think there's any windows in there. I don't think you can see through the blowhole. No light coming in. He couldn't see anything.

And all he had to deal with was God. And after three days, he come up with five of the most wonderful words you'll ever hear. Salvation is of the Lord. No matter how bad we want to save someone that's sitting right next to us in this church, it may be that's not God's will.

Watch, therefore. Verse 13, watch. That word watch simply means keep awake. Keep awake. Pray. Watch your own self. There's something we don't hear a lot about. We're sinners. Do we really? And we're forgiven of our sins. And I know that any sin that I commit tomorrow has already been forgiven. But a heart in me that has the Holy Spirit Shouldn't I, as a child of God, feel bad for that? Shouldn't I not try? And there's no salvation in this. This is just our own feelings of wanting to not do those things that our Lord had to go to the cross and pay for with his life, just to cover the sins that we have.

Keeping awake. in ordinances, in prayer, hearing the word, keeping the Lord's supper. Watch over your heart, the thoughts and affections of it, over our words, our actions, life, conversation. Watch, keep awake. against all sin and unbelief. It's easy for us to look around as we go through this world.

It's hard for us to keep our eyes and thoughts on Him at all times. Your job, somebody's life might be dependent on you being focused at your job. It's impossible for us to physically keep our eyes on Christ. It is not impossible for us to keep our eyes on Christ spiritually. We keep him in our thoughts. As we go through this world, we can keep our eyes on him. Watch out for Satan's temptations.

Remember when the Lord went into the garden of Gethsemane, he took Peter, James, and John with him. He said, you stay here and pray. I'm going to go pray. And he prayed at that time that God would, if it were possible, take this cup from him. He came back three times and these guys were all asleep. He said, the flesh is, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Spiritually speaking, we can stay awake. Spiritually speaking, keep our eyes on Christ. Watch therefore.

For you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. But he's coming. He tells us He's coming. He does not lie. He says it's going to be quick. Watch, therefore. Watch ourselves. Keep our eyes on Christ. The kingdom of heaven is at hand. And He tells us that when you see these things, the time's near. His coming is near. We've been seeing these things for 2,000 years, haven't we? Times got to be running out. All right. I pray that that was a blessing for you.

Watch therefore

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