Don't be a moron!
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· 19 viewsWe must be ready to receive Jesus at His coming.
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“Do not worry if the preaching of the Bible offends people! Man has been offending God for centuries.” John MacArthur
The Bible is book that offends many! Although Jesus’ intention was never to offend, some of the words He used are offensive to our generation.
In one of the parables, Jesus used a word that is very offensive nowadays.
Read Matthew 25:1-13
The offensive word is in verse 2: “moron” (insensatas)
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines “moron” with two meanings:
Moron
usually offensive: a mildly mentally retarded person
2: a very stupid person
usually offensive: a mildly mentally retarded person.
a very stupid person.
Coincidentally, last week, we learned how the stubbornness and stupidity of the Israelite brought many sufferings until they repented and took action for good.
We’ll not focus on the word, but how it relates to the teaching in which it was used: “The kingdom of heaven”
The groom is coming to his wedding.
The groom is coming to his wedding.
The groom represents Christ, and the virgins represent people in general.
The invitees should be ready.
The invitees should be ready.
Weddings usually started at night. That’s the reason why the virgins (maids, girl friends of the bride) took their lamps. The groom and his friends would leave the groom’s house and come to the bride’s house to lead her in procession to his house where the couple would live and the banquet was celebrated.
Therefore, it was expected that the bride and her party would be ready, just waiting for the arrival of the groom.
“When the (moron) foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,” 3
Daaah! Lamps without oil are useless! They were not ready for his arrival!
“but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.” 4
These five got prepared! They were ready to Him.
He will come when no one expect Him.
He will come when no one expect Him.
“While the bridegroom was delaying, they all went to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’” 5-6
No one expected him to come at that time! That’s when he came!
Since no one knows the day nor the hour (13), we must be on the alert.
The parable was to make clear what he had just told them in the previous chapter:
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
“Therefore be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. “But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. “For this reason you also must be ready; for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think He will.
The wedding will not be canceled.
The wedding will not be canceled.
God’s plan is perfect and He does not delay.
God’s plan is perfect and He does not delay.
The very well-known saying, “God delays, but He does not forget!” is not true. He neither forget nor delays!
Several years after Jesus went back to Heaven, some were asking,
and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.”
For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
Peter answered them saying,
But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.
2 Pe 3:8-9
At the right moment, Jesus will come back to take His bride, the Church, and take her to Heaven to celebrate the wedding:
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.” It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, “Write, ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ ” And he said to me, “These are true words of God.”
“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready.”
Only those ready will enter to the feast.
Only those ready will enter to the feast.
“And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast;” 10
These words eliminates the idea of Universalism, the thinking that everybody will go to Heaven. If that were true, Hell would be empty, and Jesus would be a liar.
Those who were not ready asked the ready ones: “Give us of your oil...”
If oil represents the Holy Spirit, only God can give it to you. When? When you receive Jesus, you do not receive Him in flesh and bones, but His Spirit. You must get your own oil.
Are you ready? How do you know you are ready? Are you expecting Him?
The moron will not join the celebration.
The moron will not join the celebration.
It was too late for them.
It was too late for them.
“…and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also came, saying, “Lord, lord, open up for us.”
They had their chance to get ready, but they didn’t. They thought like many still think: “there will be time”, or “when I get old”, “after I had enjoyed life”.
It is an invitation to eternal life!
Don’t you think that is “very stupid” (moron) to reject such invitation?
The unforgivable sin consists in rejecting too many times the invitation to receive Christ, the groom. You do not know how many chances you’ll have. Jesus knock at your door repeatedly, but there will be a day when He will no longer knock. That’s when the door is shut for you. Then, it is too late!
They did not know the groom.
They did not know the groom.
Most people think that because they have religion or because they have been “good people”, God will let them enter into the kingdom of heaven.
First of all, there is no religion that can save; second, before God, there are no good people, only sinners.
Then, How can a person go to Heaven?
Look at the groom’s answer: “Truly I say to you, I do not know you.”
In the N.T., there are two verbs translated as “to know”. One (ginosco) refers to intellectual knowledge (to know about, to have knowledge of). Illust. Knowing the President...
The other verb (oida) refers to personal knowledge, relationship with.
Which one do you think the groom when he said, “I do not know you”?
A similar situation is described by Matthew, that’s when Jesus told them:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’
Mat 7:21-23
It is the personal relationship with Christ (the groom) the only thing that gives us access to his house.
It is the personal relationship with Christ (the groom) what gives us access to his house.
Do you have that relationship? Are you going to be smart or a moron?