A Vigilant Faith

What does it look like to wait on the Lord?

You see we all have these moments in our life where we feel the Lord’s presence perhaps is distant from us.

In those moments it is vital that we remain ready for our Lord to show up.

Now he may show up in ways we do not expect.

But no matter what we must remember this.

One day the Lord is going to show up and we will not have a chance at a redo.

As was the case for the 10 virgins in the parable we are about to read.

Matthew 25:1–13 KJV 1900

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten 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. 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 not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

I want to ask you today.

Do you think of the consequences of your actions?

You know, here is the thing when thinking about our actions.

It requires an attribute called wisdom.

The opposite of this attribute was explained plainly in the passage we just read in verse three of Matthew 25...

Matthew 25:3 KJV 1900

They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

foolishness is not a quality that leads one to God.

the quality that leads to God is wisdom.

In fact we can go as far as to say...

I. Wisdom is Critical to our Faith

Now when I say wisdom, I am not talking about wisdom of the world.

The worlds wisdom is not always the wisdom of the Bible

While the worlds wisdom will possess book training or skill training wisdom by scripture is simply these three simple things....

What God had promised.

What Jesus had done.

What Jesus is going to do.

Here is the reality.

When we are wise in a Godly way we understand that he has sent a propitiation for our sins in Jesus Christ.

We understand that is only possible through our choice to follow Jesus christ by seeking repentance on our life of sin, turning to Him, and living for him.

And Lastly we understand that one day He is going to return for His people.

Now the question that is most pertinent for us today.

When He returns are we going to be ready?....

Matthew 25:8–10 KJV 1900

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.

Are we going to choose to be made whole and be a worshipper of His.

Or are we going to procrastinate despite the promise of a return.

That was the thing in today's scripture.

The first 5 found themselves wise.

They brought enough oil for their lamp. They patiently awaited the bridegroom.

They never questioned it.

Why because the Bridegroom had promised a return.

Now the other 5 decided that they needed no oil.

They weren’t ready for the return of the Bridegroom because they were foolish in their actions.

Here is the reality for us today....

II. We cannot be covered by the Salvation of another

You see the 5 who had forgotten their oil look to the other five.

Well we can just have some of yours right?

The five who had prepared knew they didn’t have enough oil to go around.

It was the foolish fives job to take care of their lamp as they awaited the bridegroom.

But the did not.

Friends I do not care how much you think that you’ve been a good person.

I do not care how good you think your family has been.

I don’t care who your parents are or who your grandparents are.

We all have a decision to make.

We have to decide if we are going to fall in the category of fools and not be ready for the Lord to return for us.

Or if we are going to fall in the category of wise and be ready for Hid return.

Now I would like to clarify here.

The scripture for today is discussing the Lords second coming the reality is that be it by the second coming or by death we all are limited in our time.

And as many of you know, we as humans have a tendency to procrastinate.

we want to put off til the very last moment.

But, we better not procrastinate when it comes to our Lord.

You see, we could find ourselves in the Lords wrath like Ananias was over in Acts.

there the Lord had enough of Ananias andAnanias was struck down in His lie.

Or we could find ourselves as the rich young ruler, holding on to our life until its to late.

Wherever, or however it is we have to understand the reality that it was appointed unto man a time to die.

here is the truth friends…

III. When the Bridegroom Comes You Better Be...

Well we can all complete this sentence, when the Bridegroom comes you better be ready.

There is no second chance beyond that moment.

When we have breathed our final breath we are either going to find ourselves celebrating in heaven.

Or sorrowful in Hell.

You see we make this into a tricky predicament.

We are taught in Matthew 25:13.…

Matthew 25:13 KJV 1900

Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

SO in our procrastination we find ourselves in a moment where we are trying to time out God.

We are healthy, so why would I die?

There is still good people in the world, so why would He return?

We aren’t arguing the validity or invalidity of those two statements.

rather brothers and sisters we are speaking of the foolishness of testing our God.

When we find ourselves in a mindset of “I have plenty of time”

Or we find ourselves believing that we are healthy and fine.

Or perhaps you can plug your own excuse into this situation

We find ourselves in a place where we are testing God’s omniscience and grace.

And friends that is a very dangerous place to be.

God is the one who provides our health.

He is the one who provides our time

he is the King of kings and Lord and lords and when we decide to test him their are consequences.

A man was once excited to visit with his bride to be. He had been gone for many weeks working out of town and he had hoped to come home and surprise her A week early.

As He pulled into her driveway he noticed there was an unusual car in the drive.

He approached the car trying to see if he could tell who’s it was but as he did not recognize it he assumed it be one of her friends and continued onto the porch.

Once on the porch he glanced in the window only to see his fiancé in the arms of another man.

He left her home never to return.

If Jesus came back for his church today, where would you be? Would you be right with Him?

Or would you be as the 5 foolish virgins.

You see the 5 foolish virgins missed the bridegroom simply cause of ignorance and excuses.

“well surely the others will share some oil with us”

“If we have to return for oil he will still let us in”

Friends, when the Bridegroom comes we better be ready for him.

Because that’s it.

We had better not think we will be able to talk our way out of it or convince Him that we have been good enough.

Friends you may fool those around you with a fake facade of who you are but when that day comes. Our ignorance will not be tolerated.

So really this brings us to a critical moment.

A moment where you are going to have to make a decision once again.

A moment where you will decide which master you are going to serve.

A moment where you must decide the trajectory of your life and your eternity.

A moment where Jesus has the opportunity to come and live in your heart.

So what’s it going to be?

As we prepare to sing this song today, will it be that you will neglect that call once again?

Please don’t.

Whatever it is today, salvation for the first time, rededication, baptism.

Would you come? Would you follow the Lord in obedience today?