The Wise and the Wicked Wait Together

Introduction

Several years ago, before Megan and I had children, we went camping in north Georgia. Now, already you can tell that I’m married to a good woman since she would let me take her camping for vacation. For those of you who know me well, especially then, you know that I’m a guy that takes a lot of pride in having my stuff together when it comes to camping. I mean, if they gave out honorary doctorates for camping, I’d like to think that I’d be under consideration. And so, we’d packed our car, which at the time was a Honda Element because they said you could camp in it, and we packed it to the gills with everything that you could ever need and then some for a great camping trip.

So, once we finally arrived in the mountains, we began to unload the car and set up camp. My main job was to set up the tent. So, I went and got the tent bag. Meticulously, I took the tent foot print, laid it out, and staked it down. Then, I got the tent itself, unrolled it on top of the footprint, and staked it down. And then, it hit me like taking a cold shower. I didn’t have the tent poles. I knew exactly where they were, and they weren’t in Georgia. And, I have to figure out how I’m going to tell this sweet, little brunette that I drove her 3.5 hours into the Georgia mountains the week of Thanksgiving, and I don’t have any place for us to sleep because of my own stupidity. Needless to say, we got to test out the whole, sleeping in the car theory for our vacation. And, to make matters worse, the next day, I pack us a bag to go backpacking up a mountain called “Blood Mountain” that climbs almost 5000 feet, and when we got there, I realized that I didn’t have any water and every, single thing we had to eat required you to mix it with water. It’s a miracle I’m still married. But, have you ever found yourself unprepared? Have you ever found yourself in a situation in which you knew that you were irreversibly unprepared, and there was nothing that you could do about it? This morning, we’re going to hear Jesus teaching his disciples and us through a parable told about those who are caught unprepared in the worst of ways.

God’s Word

Read

Two Classes of People

“five of them were foolish and five were wise” Jesus is explaining to his disciples what to expect with his return, and He speaks in a way that is helpful for us today. He says, “You should not worry about the time or date of my coming. It’s not for you to know. You should not worry about the persecution and the tribulation that will be around you. It’s part of my will and plan, and it’s not going to last forever. Instead, you should concern yourself only with being ready, being found in obedience, being found faithful when that day comes.” And, He begins to tell a series of parables to help his disciples better understand what readiness means and what readiness doesn’t mean. One of the themes that emerges as Jesus explains the need for readiness in the lives of his disciples is that there will only be two classes of people in the entirety of the universe when Jesus comes and fully consummates his Kingdom as the ruling and reigning King. In our world, people are divided into many different classes whether its income or race or religion or education or nationality. But, in Christ’s consummated Kingdom, there will only be two: wise or foolish, rewarded or condemned, blessed or destroyed. Beginning in chapter 24, we’ve seen these two classes described as the mourning or the rejoicing, Noah who was saved or his generation who was destroyed, the taken farmer or the left farmer, the taken millworker or the left millworker, the faithful servant or the wicked servant, and, now, the wise virgin or the foolish virgin.

APPLICATION: Brothers and sisters, Jesus is the dividing edge of eternity. What you do with him, what you think of him, whether or not you entrust your life to him will determine everything forever. For when He returns, there will be no other classifications, no other options, you are with him or He’s against you. You’re either among the prepared or the unprepared. You’re either the elect or the condemned. You’re either the true church or you are wrath-bound sinner. Where do you stand?

The Wise and the Wicked Grow Together

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“ten virgins…went to meet the bridegroom” I believe this is one of the most terrifying passages in the entirety of the New Testament. Jesus presents us with ten virgins who are awaiting the bridegroom. In many ways, these virgins would have functioned like bridesmaids in our day. Weddings were the most important social events within the ordinary village life, and the celebration would often last for a full week. It was tradition for the bridegroom, the husband-to-be, to begin the festivities by walking with his wedding party all the way from his house to the bride’s house. Once he was there, he would present his case to her family as to why they should give their daughter over to him. As a sign of honor to their daughters, they would make this last for hours and hours, delaying the bridegroom from going and receiving his bride. The delay was intended to communicate what a prize the bride was for her groom, and it typically went well into the night. Then, the groom would go and get his bride and all of her wedding party, and the wedding party would like torches and march like a parade through the village all the way to the groom’s house where the festivities would be. And so, Jesus introduces us to ten women who are a part of the bride’s wedding party who are to celebrate the bridegroom’s coming with torches.

“Five of them were foolish, and five were wise” Jesus tells us up front who they are. He tells us that from the ten women, five of them were foolish, or even more literally, stupid and silly. And, five of them are wise and prudent and diligent. But, here’s what’s terrifying about the story that Jesus is telling: Half of these women will end up shut out, unknown, and condemned, and half of them will end up feasting and celebrating and rejoicing with the bridegroom, and yet all of them, from the outside looking in, look the same. They seem to have a lot in common. Think about this. They all have the same invitation, and they all have the same response. They all want to celebrate the bridegroom. They all want to light their torches and parade through town in celebration of the bridegroom’s coming. They were not indifferent. They were not hostile. They were not against the bridegroom. They left their homes for the purpose of celebrating him. And, yet for half of them, they will be cast out as wicked servants with the door shut emphatically in their faces, and the bridegroom saying, “I do not know you!”

Jesus was making a point to his disciples then and to us now. Saying that you love Jesus and acting like you love Jesus and looking like you love Jesus does not mean that you love Jesus. In fact, in , Jesus says that many will come to him and say that they were preachers and that they did many mighty acts in his name and they will appear to all of these external truths that seem to be proof that they should in fact be celebrating his reign forever, and Jesus will say to them almost this exact same phrase that we see in our text: “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” That is, the company that you keep and the things that you say and the profession that you make does not mean that you are going to be with Jesus forever. In fact, there will be many, in this passage its 50 percent, who believe they should be in heaven and believe that they know Jesus and that Jesus has saved who will in fact be excluded from the Kingdom of God forever. They are not persecuting the church. They’re in the church. They’re not cursing Jesus. They’re singing hymns about Jesus. They’re not filled with hatred for Jesus, but the trouble is that they really are filled with love for him either, despite how things appear from the outside looking in. Jesus has made clear that within the church wise and the wicked grow together. The faithful and the unfaithful will grow together. The good and the bad will be mixed together. There will be weeds growing among the wheat. And, from the outside looking in, they will appear to be the same with the same response to the gospel and the same desire to be with Jesus, so much so, that they have deceived themselves into believing that they are included in the Kingdom when in fact they are not. And yet, their end will be, “I do not know you.”

Your

Seeming Christian Isn’t Christian

APPLICATION: You see, what is utterly terrifying about this passage is that you have a group of people who want to be known by Jesus and plan to be known by Jesus but aren’t known by Jesus. They intend to be with Jesus forever in his Kingdom, but Jesus will not have them. Oh brothers and sisters, seeming like a Christian doesn’t make you a Christian. Looking like a Christian doesn’t make you a Christian. Sounding like a Christian doesn’t make you a Christian. Planning to be in heaven, and believing there is a heaven, and even believing that Jesus is the only way to heaven is not enough to make you a Christian! For there are men and women all around us who believe it and look it and seem it and even teach it that will hear on the coming day, “I do not know you!” Think of what Paul says in the famous love chapter, . He says, “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.” Let us have ears to hear. It is perhaps most difficult to be generous with our money. But, you can be especially generous, even so generous as to give a way every dime and every nickel and every possession that you have for the benefit of others, and you can even claim to be doing it in Jesus’ name and for Jesus’ mission, but if you don’t have the love of Jesus Christ burning in your heart, it can seem Christian and it can look Christian and it sound Christian, but you aren’t a Christian. Paul goes further, if you say, I will die. I will give up my life in a fiery and gruesome death, and I will do it for Jesus Christ, but you don’t have the love of Jesus Christ radiating within you, it can seem Christian and it can look Christian and it sound Christian, but you aren’t a Christian. We live in a place that teaches everyone to seem Christian and to act Christian and to sound Christian, but, brothers and sisters, seeming Christian isn’t Christian. Do you have a love for Jesus Christ radiating in your hearts? If not, one day, the door will be shut in your face, and you will be told that you are not known by the Judge of heaven. And, you can quote your Christian resume and your Christian credentials all that you want. You can tell about your tithing and your church attendance and your Bible study. You can tell about your Christian busyness and your mission trip participation only to hear Christ say back to you, “I do not know you. You did all of these things but had no love in your heart!”

The Wise and the Foolish Wait Together

“they all became drowsy and slept” Now, you’ll notice that as the virgins went to the bridegroom that they waited for him together when he was delayed. And, it’s here that we see what separates the wise from the foolish. These virgins had one job, one mission, one responsibility, and it was to light their torch and celebrate the bridegroom. But, only half of them were prepared. Only half of them had taken their responsibility so seriously that they would be able to last until the end. Only half of them were prepared for a delay. You see, the foolish virgins wanted to celebrate, but they didn’t want to sacrifice. They came for a feast, not an endurance test. Emotionally, they liked the prize to be won, but, realistically, they didn’t like the price to be paid. They responded with external, emotional, excitable reactions. But, not the wise. The wise virgins prepared themselves to stay as long as it took. Their love and passion for the bridegroom drove them to proper preparation that would allow them to last the long haul. They were never worried as to whether or not their lamps would burn out; instead of worry, their hearts wondered and waited in anticipation of his arrival.

The wise and the foolish wait together on the Last Day. The wise and the foolish will together endure the tribulation and face the weariness of this age. And, the foolish will burn out and their faith cool off and their love will show itself artificial. But, for the wise, their anticipation will grow and their passion will increase and their joy will be defiant because every day of waiting is but a day of preparing for the glory that is to be revealed to them. All seven uses of the word ‘wise’ in the book of Matthew, which is half of the uses in the entire NT, deal directly with enduring and navigating tribulation and trial. Jesus says that the wise man builds his house upon the rock of his promises and that the storms and tribulations will beat agains his house, but his house will stand!

Tribulation and Time Increase Reward and Condemnation

APPLICATION: You see, tribulation and time are the great separators of the wise and the foolish. The wise burn hotter and the foolish burn out. Tribulation and time will either increase your reward or increase your condemnation. For those whose love for God is fake, time and tribulation will stifle your passion and you will feel yourself drifting further and further away from caring about the things of God. And, the longer you live apart from Christ the greater your sins mount and the greater the wrath of God is stored up against you. Time is not your friend for it increases the severity of God’s judgement against you. And, when you stand at the gates of Heaven, you will find the door shut in your face. And, you will plead for someone to give you just a little oil, just a little love, just a little grace, just a little mercy, but grace and mercy and love and deliverance are not transferrable. You will be judged only through your standing before Almighty God.

Unthreatened Joy

APPLICATION: But, the wise, the faithful, the ready will find a different experience entirely. The longer you live, the more that you endure, the more you draw near to Christ. You will walk the difficult and narrow path, and you will face the hardship of this age. But, again and again, you run to Christ and you trust Christ, that even though you can’t see him and even though He feels a long time delayed, that He is coming for you. And, through every trial and every tribulation and every moment of weary waiting, you are increasing the reward that you will enjoy forever with him in glory. And, on that day, when the Bridegroom comes for his bride, you will be welcomed into the banquet, and you will eat at his table from his bounty with his church. You will laugh and dance and celebrate, and in your rejoicing, you will realize suddenly that the joy this time has no threat! This celebration, this feast, this unthreatened joy is your new and forever normal.

Are you ready? Is your love for Jesus growing colder or hotter with tribulations and time? This morning, brothers and sisters, it’s not too late. It’s not too late to prepare and be wise for the day of his appearing.