The Wise And Foolish At The Bridegrooms Coming Part Two Series

The Wise and Foolish at the Bridegroom’s Coming (Part Two)

Text: Matthew 25:1-13

OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING

Well if you remember from last time, we began looking at the ten virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish. All then had their lamps, and we talked about how those lamps are a lot like a profession of faith. But the oil is the actual faith – the oil is saving faith. And only five of those ten had oil. They were called wise, whereas the those who didn’t have the oil are called foolish. And I can think of nothing more foolish than thinking that God is going to let you into heaven without having received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. Thinking “Oh, God will let me in because I’m a likable person… because I’m special, because I’m rich, because I’m popular, because I did something, or said something, or acted and behaved in a certain way.”

THAT IS FOOLISH!

God’s Word tells us that Jesus is the way (the truth and the life). It tells us that “no one comes to the Father except by and through Jesus!” Jesus is the Door we must enter through. It’s not by your might, or your power, or your wit, or your charm. It’s not based on ANYTHING you have done, or will do. Salvation belongs to the Lord. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone! The five foolish virgins didn’t have that. They had made a profession of faith, but lacked the faith they were professing.

So this morning, we’re going to continue on with this passage here in Matthew 25:1-13, and pray that God would speak to our hearts through His Word, and open our eyes so that we can see the wonders within His Word. (READ TEXT).

Now remember; just before this, in Matthew 24, Jesus had been talking to the disciples and He told them about the destruction of the temple. This naturally caused some anxiety in the disciples, and so they asked Him some questions. They asked Him, “When will these things, be? What will be the sign of Your coming, and the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). And Jesus answers their questions, He tells them what to look for when the temple is to be destroyed (which happened in most of their lifetimes – 70 AD), and also the signs of His 2nd Coming. But He closes that conversation with a warning. First He tells them (Matt. 24:36), “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.” And then Jesus warns them about falling asleep… or becoming lax… He warns them about falling into the trap of thinking that He’s not actually coming back. And that is actually what leads us into our text here in chapter 25 about the wise and foolish virgins.

So if we go back to our text in Matthew 25, we see in verses 5 and 6 that the virgins should have heeded the warning. Verse 5, “As the Bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.” But look at verse 6, “But at midnight there was a cry ‘Here is the Bridegroom! Come out to meet Him.’” Now really quickly; compare that with Matthew 24:31, “And He will send out His angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” Now keep your place in Matthew 25, but turn over to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” In all three of those passages we see a shout, a cry, trumpet blasts… some kind of announcement – the Bridegroom is coming! And then what happens? Those who are His go to meet Him.

Now I don’t know about ya’ll but that’s exciting to me. To think that we are close to the Bridegroom’s coming, makes me really – super – excited!

But what’s the point of Jesus’ teaching here? What are we supposed to do with this knowledge? Well; let me just say this – the purpose of studying eschatology isn’t so that you can write a best-selling novel, or make YouTube videos speculating about the end times events. It isn’t so that you can hide yourself away in some fortress, stockpiling ammo and non-perishable food items.