Parable of the Ten Virgins

Transcript

well good evening everyone

uh you know this this parable has for a while every time i read it it just it kind of just it troubles me uh i mean you know one it's a warning uh from christ for us to be prepared for his return of course we think you know hey he could come tomorrow right so it's it's timely right we got to be prepared um and then you know the parable can be a little confusing confusing uh you know the virgins i think it's pretty easy that's those that know the truth

and the disturbing part is uh you know as the parable presents itself half of them

are rejected

from the kingdom and that's the part that kind of it's that's very disturbing uh to me so i want to take a closer look at it um you know we can kind of go in and dissect the parable

a little bit see what represents what and um and maybe take a look at some of the things that might

uh be stumbling blocks that might be guiding us

towards that group of the foolish that we don't want to be in uh you know some of these uh things can be can be quite subtle so that's what we're gonna take a look at uh this evening

so the first thing we'll do is

try to come up with a definition for a parable you know i think we probably all have a basic idea i came up with but when you try to look it up everyone's almost got like a different little opinion but so we'll just post a few of these up here a comparison of one thing with another a likeness a short story designed to teach some truth principle a moral lesson

a narrative fictitious but agreeable to the laws and usage of everyday life

a parable is a general term for a figurative saying

a parable may be spoken or acted so give us a rough you know little definition

you know something we may have been familiar with already but this is the style of teaching

that jesus used to try to bring forth some of these truths and principles

and it says he began to teach by the seaside

they that were gathered unto him a great multitude and he taught them many by parables and said unto them in his doctrine so this was going to be the mode of his teaching that he was going to use

and the topic you know i don't know how many parables there are there's a lot

and i'm not going to say they're all about the kingdom but a lot of them are and that was jesus's favorite topic the kingdom of god right he says this is why it was sent he went out there and that's what he spoke of all the time you know he's not here telling you know don't make mistakes don't sin be nice that's not the message he was trying to drive across it was all about the kingdom of god

and the parables of jesus you know they're yeah most of them are very short

pretty easy to remember but not always so easy to decipher

so why did why did jesus speak

in these parables and it's what the um it's what his disciples asked him and he said

and he said unto and he answered and said unto them because it is given unto you

to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven but to them it's not given so it's a bit strange right that's pretty exclusive right we live in a world today you can't be exclusive now while the gospel message was preached to everybody yet he says you know these are the mysteries of the kingdom the secrets that that are hidden

and they're they're only for you guys so why wasn't it for

everyone

he goes on he says because seeing they see not in hearing they hear not neither do they understand right they lack understanding for the people's heart has become gross

or callous

or hardened right like if we think of pharaoh who hardened his heart and then after a while you know god says well you've chosen your course i'll harden your heart right this is this is what these people have chosen the ears are dull of hearing they've closed their eyes

they didn't want to hear it right and jesus isn't saying you've got to listen to me he's not going to twist anybody's arm to listen if they don't listen they don't listen and these people just don't want to listen right and sometimes you know you can imagine how you know um i had a conversation with someone just the other day you asked me what do you think's going on i know you've been looking at this stuff and he goes do i even want to know and i said do you think he can change and turn to god maybe he went no no i can't be bothered i guess i just don't want to know and it can be frustrating i can you imagine knowing what jesus knew and just how frustrating that would be for him but he says hey that's their choice they can hear they cannot hear i'm not going to make them do anything

so you know these are the words of solomon right get wisdom and with all i get to get understanding right not just hear the words right i mean how many times i can say how many times i've read scriptures they do the daily readings and walk away and go i don't even know what i just read right i just read to to read it i didn't read it to understand and that's the that's the important part reading to understand get that word in you to understand

so to you know and that's what god's word um it reveals and it conceals

to those who have sincerity right so jesus is telling these parables he wants the people to think he wants them to say what's he talking about let me let me search it out right seek and you shall find knock and it shall be opened unto you i mean even the disciples didn't understand what he was talking about sometimes but they went to jesus and said uh we didn't get that what were you trying to say then he'd explain further so the scriptures are the same way you can read something i have no idea what that means and just close the book and walk away or you search out the matter right and that's what the word of god does it reveals and it conceals

its message

so for the sincere at heart you look you'll find it but for the natural man right but the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of god for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned

so that natural man the arrogant man thinks they know is it you're never gonna figure it out

so it's a special message

and so we should feel pretty privileged brothers and sisters that this truth has been revealed to us the gospel of salvation we know what it is and this should be something we hold dear to our hearts

so a god taught in parables he taught israel in psalm 78 he says give earl my people to my law

incline your ears to the words of my mouth i will open my mouth in a parable

now the parable he's and then it goes on the the psalm goes on and it speaks about the exodus right the marvelous things he did in the sight of their fathers and it also speaks about the wilderness

that stubborn and rebellious generation right so this was an actual event that took place that god was going to use to teach his people how often does god say remember i'm the one that brought you up out of egypt right and rebellion don't be rebellious like they were in the wilderness so this was i think they call this an enacted parable it's a real event and it's used to teach a lesson and god did that as well

so let's dissect the um the parable a little bit here obviously the bridegroom that's that's pretty easy that's jesus uh the ten virgins um that's the ecclesia you know ten is the number of completeness so it's the holoclesia both

wise and foolish

uh second corinthians uh paul speaking of false doctrine he says i've espoused you to one husband that i may present you as a chaste virgin unto christ right so we've got two women we've got the truth we've got the virgin the truth and then we've got the harlot right the apostasy

um and so here we've got the ten virgins

so i don't think that the um you know fifty percent are rejected uh i don't think that i don't think that's the case uh you we look at the parable of the talents and one-third are rejected so i don't think that no those numbers really have anything to do with it i think they're bringing us to the number five

the number five is uh of course represents grace in the scriptures right so all members of the ecclesia

have had received uh the grace of god shine upon them by having that understanding of the gospel message

so the timing so it's kind of presented

in the parable as though like it's written to those who are alive

at the return of christ so of course we again we think christ is going to return pretty soon you know possibly this is uh you know directed towards us but can certainly be valuable for for any age

so that there's uh you know these three type judgment um parables like right in a row the faithful and wise at the end of chapter 24 at the end of the uh all of that prophecy and then you got the the virgins and then you get the parallel of the talents right after that so this is how they kind of read so who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his lord hath made ruler over his household to give them food in due season blessed is that servant

whom when his lord cometh shall find him so doing right so of course if he's you know i know it says in the uh in the parable that they slept and some might think that meant you know that's those who sleep in the ground will be raised and of course uh um you know that could be i i don't think it is in this case um so here we see you know what's he going to find them doing well if you did you just you're just in the ground of course so he wants you to be busy serving the ecclesia right in the many ways that we can

and the parable of the talents is is this man he uh he goes to his servants gives him the goods and then he takes this long journey and that but then after a while he comes back to those servants and he's going to settle up the accounts with them and of course the virgins uh they took their lamps and they went out to meet the bridegroom so it kind of presents itself to uh to those that are alive i think at his return

so speaking of the slumbered and slipped i think this is more of a spiritual sleep

in thessalonians paul says therefore let us not sleep as others do but let us watch and be sober for those who sleep sleep at night and those who get drunk or drunk at night but let us who of the day be sober putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet uh the hope of salvation so this is more of a spiritual sleep one of the other translation has it added as

sleepwalking through life right and you know it can be a danger for us because there's a lot of things vying for our attention that want to get into our minds

and so to to be sleepwalking through i mean uh you know

i've been to meeting and i've been there and i stayed through the whole meeting and yet my mind was a mile away

right that's sleepwalking right spiritually just sleepwalking right through it

and paul says you know the hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believe the night is nearly over the day is almost fear so let's put aside the deeds of darkness

and put on the armor of light

so same type of thing just wake up from this you know you're sleepwalking spiritually just kind of going through the motions let's wake up and i think i think this can be again a um a cause of trouble for us again a lot of things vying for our attention

and jesus uh

jesus get you know this is the letter to the laodicean ecclesia he wrote seven letters it's the last one

it's the only one that speaks of his return behold i stand at the door and knock

you know does this relate to that ecclesia of the state of the age

when christ's return well it certainly could

uh he says i know thy works that thou art neither cold nor heart

i would though that you were called off part so then because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot i spew you out of my mouth and i spit you out right i don't want to have my coffee my hot coffee in the morning constantly going to the microwave to reheat it because i don't want it to be lukewarm because that's exactly what i do with lukewarm coffee i spit it out

or a nice hot day you want an iced coffee oh and it's so good and it's so refreshing

yet when the ice melts it's been sitting there and it's lukewarm well you just you just throw it away it's no good

and jesus goes on he says because thou sayest

i am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and know us not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked

right they thought everything was okay but they were blind to their spiritual state they thought everything's going great but he says no you're blind

and as many as i love i rebuke and chase and he tells them be zealous therefore and repent

they've lost their enthusiasm apathy had set in they become indifferent

they were they're not excited about the truth about the coming of christ

right they've lost it all they're just caught up in other things and again these these uh you know what we're talking about here with these virgins the foolish ones they're not those that left the truth they're not unbelievers

they're in the ecclesia

and yet this could be their attitude no zeal

anymore i definitely i think a challenge for us again a lot of things that are trying to occupy

our mind so a few things few observations of the wise and foolish again i think i think they're all baptized christadelphians knowing the true true gospel they've made a commitment

they're looking for the return of christ

and yet you know they all slumber it's a bit surprising even the wise slumber so that is going to be a challenge to some extent

that kind of sleepwalking spiritually can be a challenge to all of us

right they all have oil in the land

however the wise have this extra oil with them and we'll try to decipher what that might mean

the wise of course are accepted and the foolish are rejected

and you know his here's a guy here in anguish because jesus is coming i've been looking for it but i'm not ready i haven't read this you know and i imagine to some extent we're all going to be like that to some extent but you know they're rejected and they'll be weeping and gnashing of teeth right there weeping is just why did i why was i so career focused why was why did that dominate i had opportunity again you know we've got this great blessing

to understand the gospel of salvation what are we doing with it is it that important to us right we you've got it we've got to nurture it

so the oil what might the oil represent

of course thy word is a lamp unto my feet a light unto my path

for the commandment is a lamp and the law is the light and reproofs over construction of the way of life so the oil would represent

uh the word of god right keep your lamps filled keep our minds filled with the word of god there's all sorts of things coming in to our minds all the time

you know someone not even aware of always coming into our minds we've got to offset that

by bringing in the word of god

and god told moses command the children of israel that they bring unto the pure olive oil beaten for the light to cause the lamps to burn continually

right israel had to lay but to extract

the oil from the olive

as we must labor and the truth to maintain that pure light of the gospel right we're warned you know many times not to fall for the false gospels that will come up in the false teaching so stick a nose in that word it's got to produce something

and i think i think that's what maybe that extra oil is is what is the impact

of the gospel in our lives what type of an impact does this have on us you know we can just know that i can know the promises to abraham but how does it affect my life am i developing a god-like character

and so there are many ways in which we can struggle with this we can take in the word but not let it develop us right be not conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of our mind right it's the only way that happens is by the word of god by changing it changes our thinking from that carnal thinker to the spiritually minded if we're not taking in the word of god you know then we're going to revert right back to that cardinal minded man

and you can't be hearers only right james that would be doers of the word not here is only deceiving our own selves right we uh we're really good at that you know we don't need a satan the devil or whatever to tempt us to deceive us the flesh is good at it right and you know it's not okay just to be hearers of the word just to know

it's gonna be our faith has to come has to come in action

and peter tells us to give diligence make it the utmost importance to make your calling and election sure

and then he encourages us to grow in our faith by adding virtue knowledge self-control patience godliness brotherly kindness and love

now these things you know self-control and patience these aren't things of the flesh right so we have to you have to work at them uh you know knowledge of god and of jesus well that's foolishness to mankind

uh so these things are things that we have to um

have to really work on and what i'm what i'm talking about is how you know the gospel having an impact i'm not talking about

boy i tell you i hope christ does not come this week because i have had a terrible week i have been so consumed at work i i'm not even praying and i've cast aside the word of god and i've just been it's been crazy i'm not talking about a bad couple of weeks

uh it says that um in verse 8 of matthew there it says that the oil had gone on then there's a little footnote that says or going out right like it's a process right this isn't just a bad couple of weeks

but it's it's a lifetime it's just been you know you're up here at your baptism and it's slowly

been kind of creeping a little downhill right yeah you know maybe you develop some bad habits right or maybe not even bad habits but just not good spiritual habits

um you know all this stuff can be a little you know just kind of slowly

creeps in

and i think you know this next one can be it can definitely be a struggle for us right let you shine let your light shine before men uh are we comfortable doing that right that we feel like yeah you know a little uncomfortable i don't want you know let your light shine and doctrine indeed you know do we try to hide it and that can be something that makes us a little uncomfortable

you know the disciples were told go into all the world preach the gospel to every creature you know does this command apply to us

we know what's going to take place on this earth god's judgments are coming and then there's going to be a great day

i think we're supposed to be watchmen we're supposed to be telling people what's going to come but of course we we can fall into i don't want to be offensive

i don't want to put anybody off and you got to be politically correct and these are some excuses that perhaps or ah they won't listen some of those things are pretty

pretty easy

now make known his deeds

among the people

be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of your hope that's in you i i remember i think i was shortly baptized and i was staying over a friend of mine's house and i got up early the next day and i said all right i gotta go and he's like well what are you gonna go i'm going to church and he says i thought we'd hang out and uh you know the wife was gonna make breakfast and stuff i said nah i gotta go to church and he and he asked me a really tough question he said why

and i don't even remember what i said but it was it was lame right and i remember driving i'm gone that was that was not a good response i was not ready to give an answer so uh you know and from then on anytime i would go out for dinner with a friend or have breakfast with a friend just meet up with a friend somewhere i was always ready i always had a game plan to oh this is how i'm gonna bring it up i know what he's interested in this is how i'm gonna bring up the topic i'm not gonna be caught off guard again right so so these are things that you know we got to practice

you know do we feel like jeremiah i remember jeremiah says you know i am not going to mention him anymore nor speak any more in his name right he was mocked people didn't want to listen to him they hated him and then he says i'm not going to do it anymore but but his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones i was weary with forbearing and i could not refrain

you know do we do we feel like that has that gospel message had that much of an impact on our lives that i have to talk about it were we comfortable maybe not talking about it

because the answer is not silence

jesus said whoever whoever so therefore shall confess or acknowledge me before men him i will confess also before my father who's in heaven but whosoever shall deny or disown me we think our silence is just not i just won't say anything that'll be okay it's like disowning him before man

him will i also deny before my father

and paul says if we deny him he also will

deny us

and then you've got legion over here and god of course heals and he says go and tell what great things the lord has done for you

um you know when was the last time we did that when was the last time we told someone what the lord has done for us what he means to us

the seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word but the worries of life ah the worries of life come in who doesn't have those right you can be in the faith and then all of a sudden have one of those trials come into your life and if young if you don't get a good foundation if you don't have good spiritual habits they can knock you right down knock you right off the the their narrow path

and then there's the deceitfulness of wealth

chokes the word and making it unfruitful that you know that wealth is um you know there's a security to the wealth i mean it's nice to have you know money in your checking account when the bills come in you're not sweating it and you can pay them that's that's a nice feeling

but when it replaces the security and trust we get from god

it's a problem

it makes you unfruitful

right and what what happens to the unfruitful branch well he god cuts off every branch in me prices you know it's again it's in christ in me you bear no fruit you get cut off

so those are certainly some things in our time that can that we can struggle with

and um by the way if anyone's got any comments or something just just shout them out i think i think there'll be plenty of time

at the end for discussion too but just feel free to shout it out and he says and take heed to yourselves

less than any times your hearts be overcharged with surfacing right that's uh over indulgence gluttony and drunkenness and the cares of this life so that day comes upon you unaware so that's that's his message to us and then he says for as a snare it shall come on all them that dwell on the whole face of the earth so he's saying get yourself out of the world that's what the world's doing and it's going to be a big problem you shouldn't be there right with the drunkenness taking in the life that we have right we look forward to the to the second life that we're gonna have

and then he says watch ye therefore

and pray always so we're watching um it's it it can mean to uh awake out of inactivity

uh to keep awake right so that's what he's telling us hey watch your behavior right wake up you've been sleepwalking

right and then the key pray always that you can escape

these things so just how important prayer is and when you're slumping when you're caught up in the cares of this life what prayer is tough

so he's telling you pray always so you can escape this thing because this is going to be a challenge for you when i come because the world is going to be doing all those things and we know we're drawn to it so pray always you can escape it

so then we come to the the parable of the talents right so we one servant gets uh you know the five he produces five more the second servant gets two talents and he produces two more

and then he get the servant he's got one talent but he doesn't produce anything he produces nothing

um and that's just not going to be acceptable

um

we're supposed to be servants all right i beseech you therefore brother and by the mercies of god that you present your body is a living sacrifice

right you're wholly acceptable unto god it's your reasonable service and it's reasonable for you to be servants uh to be a living sacrifice right way to serve one another uh and there's plenty of um

there's plenty of ways to serve in the ecclesia you know uh we've got some very uh fine teachers you know brother rich deneen's got a talent he is a teacher by profession he's a trained teacher and he's willing to offer up those services for the ecclesia he's got to do it right brother phil's got great great with the av stuff great with the technology and so he offers up that service that talent that he's been given to serve right and you know and i don't have that talent for the av stuff and so phil tells me don't touch that get over there and get out of the way right so but we can all find a way uh within the ecclesia in a way to serve but you can't produce nothing and what was he remember he he says i was fearful can't be afraid gonna step up and you're just gonna produce whatever your ability is

uh and god will know

because this is what happens to the slothful right he's called wicked and slothful the unprofitable servant he gets cast into outer darkness

again there's weeping and gnashing of teeth jesus mentions that weeping ash five times

he says that

so we've got to be able to produce

to produce something

and you know the the the servant who's got the five talents whale produces the one with two but doesn't matter they both get the same

commendation from christ well done good and faithful servant you have been faithful with a few things i will put you in charge of many things come and share my happiness right you know the the one who produced nothing was just um he was idle right he hid it

and he was fearful that's not going to be acceptable

to christ at the at the judgment seat

so then you kind of get this strange um request from the from the foolish onto the hey give us give us your oil

and you know it's like hey you can't really we can't share this right they say no wait we can't we can't do that because you know no no man can redeem his brother we all go before that judgment seat

uh by ourselves

right the foolish were dull sluggish they didn't make the necessary personal preparations

for the important position which they had been called to it is a very important position which we've been called to and it deserves

uh that we pay attention to it deserves our attention now so possibly that's what that could mean but i i think it might this might fit a little bit better

this passage from revelation jesus saying he who is unjust let him be unjust still

he who is filthy let him be filthy still he is who righteous let him be righteous still

he who is holy let him be holy still

and behold i am coming quickly my reward is with me to give everyone according to his work i think what he's saying there is hey listen when i come it's too late

the probation period's over you have today right we've got today to change we don't know when he's coming but when he comes yeah it's too late to change

so

so i've got this slide here and then after this i've got a little um self-assessment right little things that we need to be aware of and you know we're very deceptive right we can deceive ourselves so it's something we don't want to do

i didn't really feel all that comfortable giving praise to phil and rich so i'm going to make up for that now

i happen to be very good at taking the splinters out of my brother's eyes i do it to phil and rich all the time and i know you're thinking well that's easy with those two yes it is

but um if you want i can do it with you but we'll take that you know and really just give a good look at it look at stuff in the mirror and see where we need to work on but this is uh obviously a quote you've probably seen it especially recently from uh brother thomas's book on elvis israel and it certainly does apply to the times we're living in and applies to uh topic tonight so it says the future movements of russia are notable signs of the times because they are predicted in the scriptures of truth when russia makes its great move for the building up of its image empire then let the reader know that the end of all things as that present constitute is at hand the long expected but stealthy advent of the king of israel will be on the eve of becoming a fact and salvation will be to those who not only look for it

but have trimmed their lamps by believing the gospel of the kingdom unto the obedience of faith and the perfection thereof and fruits meet for repentance

and so quite timely brother thomas was

quite a bible student so here is a little self-assessment

uh beware when you notice these things in your walk when prayer becomes difficult

beware when you no longer enjoy reading the word of god boy if you if you're hitting on these top two you're in trouble right you got to make some changes

uh because these two will affect um will affect your prayer life and your reading and it affects everything else that comes with it um when attending an ecclesial function is it's a burden

don't want to go

when sinful living becomes a lifestyle in the name of grace

uh you know shall we continues in sin that grace may abound or have you heard the um the phrase um

it's better to ask for forgiveness than permission it's not a way to live

when you eat more than you pray

for you guys that know brother jim boyco he must pray seven eight times a day i'd say at least

when your heart no longer desires to see the lord there's no excitement there i've been waiting for 50 years i don't have any excitement anymore i love you butch

when you no longer share the word with others that's not what you want to talk about you know when you're when you're when you're steeped yeah like we like to talk to one another right talk about our hope talking about talk about the signs of the times talk about a collegial things and then you go out into the world you talk to your world friends and whatnot it's like ah really this is what we're talking about it's boring it's meaningless however when you're spiritually weak that's what you want to be talking about those worldly things that's how you know you'll be in a little trouble when your faith becomes a burden i don't want to go to meeting

right when idols take the place of god again you know get all these things vying for our attention who's our god right facebook tv internet i fall into all of those things very easy right it's so subtle it just creeps in next thing you know you spent all weekend binge watching something on netflix right

and beware when you seek

the earthly things rather than the spiritual things right those temporary things become way more important than the internal things

and they dominate uh thinking

so these are just a few i'm sure you could add to them uh this is something that i saw

on a christadelphian social media thing i don't know four years ago maybe i don't know who did it but um i jotted it down and said i'll use that in the class someday today is the day now

the foolish and the wise i know what we're all doing we're all going yeah i could work on number four number eight number ten those could be some right the y's

will see where they are and make adjustments

the foolish will see where they are and not do anything

so brothers and sisters our time

is running out we're gonna stay awake the days are quickly flying

when our lord shall come again