Matthew 25:1-13 (READ)
This morning I have a life changing thought I want to interject into your life. What would you do today, if you knew tomorrow was to be your last day? We often think of people coming to the end of life, but we really don’t think about it enough. When we think of it we usually think of friends and relatives who are aging, but we don’t really think that tomorrow could be our own last day on earth. Jesus reminds us in this parable that none of us know the day or the hour of the coming of the Lord, or the day of our demise.
Three undertakers who had buried a lot of people, were burying someone one day when the younger, the quite younger of the three said "I wonder which one of you two we will be burying first." The next week, the younger man was the first to be buried.
It is good for us to think in these terms today, What would you do if tomorrow were your last day.
In verse 10 we have a powerful statement, it says the door was shut. There was a finality in that statement, the door was shut. Call it what you like, the coming of the Lord, or the passing of ones life. There is a finality the words sound. There is nothing more that can be done about sin, there is nothing more that can be done about life because the door has been shut.
When you looked at the title in the bulletin, or on the sign out front, you probably thought this was a message for the non-believers, but you are wrong, this is a message for the believers. This message here in the parable is for the church, these were virgins, these were members of the church. Five of them went out, five of them went in, five of them had no oil, and five of them had oil when they needed it. They all had lamps, they were all waiting for the bridegroom, they all arose and trimmed their lamps, then there is an embarkment for it says they were foolish and they were prudent or wise.
I am sure if I were to break up this congregation and talk to each one of you individually, most of you would say I have a lamp, I am waiting for the bridegroom. The question that concerns me however is this, DO YOU HAVE OIL IN THE LAMP TO KEEP YOU UNTIL THE BRIDEGROOM COMES? That is my burden this morning.
I am concerned because I read in the news comments from Christian leaders who are compromising the Scriptures, allowing all kinds of sins into the church. A few years ago in the Seattle area there was a church which made the headlines in the Seattle Times concerning how the pastor encouraged and participated in sexual immorality throughout the congregation. In 2 Timothy 3:13 says "But evil men and impostors will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived."
If you think you are in the comfort zone today, I want you to know there is no such thing in the Spiritual realm. We need to be constantly looking to see how much oil is in our lamps. Whether or not the light is sufficient when the Bridegroom comes, so you can go out and not be left out when the door is shut. You see we have an adversary. Peter said he goes around like a roaring lions seeking who he can devour.
That is why my message asks what would you do if tomorrow were your last day? And it could be. The news has been dominated with stories about political corruption, the governors of two states indicted and imprisoned, political scandals and sexual immorality that should turn your cheeks red to hear the stories, almost all happening to quote good church going people. Several years ago in New York City, the Bishop of St. John’s Pentecostal Church reportedly earned $250,000 a year by having his nuns "beg on the street". He was indicted for dismembering four women along with their thievery.
Am I shocking you today? Good. What I seek to point out in my introduction is that none of us are immune. None of us are beyond the potential of falling into the traps of the world’s system. That is why Jesus Christ left us this parable to warn us. It is not only important to have a lamp, it is not only important to get it burning, it is absolutely important to keep it burning until the bridegroom arrives.
Since the hour of the original deception since Eve was deceived in the garden, the heart of man has been infected with deceit. We can see it in the church. On the outside we see everything is alright, but on the inside we hide our true self, we wear our Christian masks because we don’t what people to see us as who we are, we deceive others, and we deceive ourselves. If God were to rip aside the curtain that hides out masks and reveal who we really are, how ashamed would we be to have our deception exposed.
Jesus ranked deceit along with fornication and murder in Mark 7:22. In Matthew 24:24 he said a spirit of deception would characterize the last days with the potential to lead astray even the very elect. Therefore we must keep the fires burning within our soul, we must keep our relationship with Jesus Christ aflame and not let the world system take out the light that was placed within our spirit when we first met Him.
My heart is stirred with this subject because I realize that it is not only possible for the nation to have its conscience seared, but also for believers to be seared as well, until they accept sin, and as the light begins to burn down, they get used to the darkness, and don’t even realize the oil is running out.
That is why I ask the question, what would you do if tomorrow were your last day? I have three things I believe we would do if we knew.
1. I believe everyone would bring their experience with God up to date. If there is anyone who hears this message this morning and you don’t bring things up to date, you are foolish. There were five virgins who were ready, and five who were foolish. There are some of you who are ready, and some who are not. You may be sitting beside someone who is ready, or not. It could be husband and wife. It could be parent and child. Five had oil, and five had none. Five had an experience and five had none. Five depended on yesterdays blessings and five had oil for today and they went in. How we become experts at fooling ourselves to believing everything is right inside, when it is not. God looks not at the outward appearance, but God looks on the inside, he looks at the heart. He sees the oil. There needs to be an up to date experience in God. We cannot inherit our experience. We need to get involved, we need to keep the oil flowing.
A bachelor moved into a new complex and he was having trouble making coffee. He asked a neighbor is she would help him. Mrs. Olson gladly responded and help him make a pot, showing him how. A week later she saw him and asked how the coffee making was doing. He said at first it was great, but the last few days it has been horrible, by the way how often are you suppose to change the grounds?
The spiritual life gets the same as coffee, it gets stale and bitter and black, and what good is it but to be thrown out and trodden under foot. You have to change the grounds everyday or you might get sick of the coffee. Lets apply it to the spiritual. You have to be filled with the Spirit daily, you have to come up to date in your relationship with God daily, you have to put new grounds into the coffee pot or you will get bitter and people won’t want to be around you. So if you believed that tomorrow were your last day, I believe you would get your experience up to date, you would change the grounds of your spiritual life. Are you sure you are alive today, or are you living off an experience 15-20 years ago. Today if Jesus Christ has touched you, you will be alive and ready for the day of the coming of the Lord, but I believe there is a second thing you would do if you knew that tomorrow was going to be the last day.
2. You would be kind and forgiving to one another. How do I know this? I have been to funerals where I have heard people say if only I had known this was going to be their last day, there are things I would have made right. But church, there is a more important day coming when you are going to stand before God and give account. Are you going to find out at that time you did not follow through with the most Christian thing we are to do, forgiving one another. This is the hardest things for a Christian to do in his or her life. Now I want you to listen to me as I explain this.
A church needs to take a spiritual bath every few months. The reason for it is that we don’t come to church once a week, at least we shouldn’t, and if you are, I hope after today you will make a new decision to come more. Some of us are here almost every night it seems, and consequently, we get to know each other and sometimes familiarity breeds contempt. Because we become interwoven in each others lives, if we don’t have a constant cleansing from bitterness and resentment and hurt feelings, and a critical nature, this church will explode. In fact this lack of cleansing causes church splits. I am talking about me, I am talking about you. If we don’t overlook injustices, even when we have a right we have to have forgiveness. If you are involved in the church, I can just about guarantee you that within a years time, someone is going to do something wrong to you, or your children, and we need to learn how to handle it by bathing ourselves in the cleansing power of the Holy Spirit to bring forgiveness.
We are human, we are flesh and we have to come to the place where we realize we are going to be occasionally mistreated, people are even going to disappoint us. And we are going to have to come down to the alter and get all the hatred, bitterness, revenge and disappointment out of our spirit. It has been said that doing of an injury puts you below your enemy. Revenging an enemy puts you even with your enemy. Forgiving an injury puts you above your enemy. A man who revenges is like a boomerang. He eventually shoots himself. In hatred everyone loses. Did you know that hatred ruins your disposition, it ruins your looks. Hatred ruins your health. Hatred will elevate your blood pressure. It causes strokes and heart attacks. People, we would all be doing better if we did what God calls us to do and forgive. If you believed that tomorrow were your last day, I believe there would be some phone calls this afternoon. There would be some contacts made today. Could I be so bold to say that for some of you who have divorced and there is hatred for that former spouse you would do something today. But you say, Pastor, you don’t know what he or she did, but I know, I know how they hurt me and did wrong to me. Now I say this in love, but I have discovered in counseling it takes two to tangle. I say you need to go to them, call or write and ask them to forgive you. Perhaps you had gone to a church before where you had a falling out with a pastor, you got cross way with God’s people and inside you still have bitterness and hurts, you need to clear the conscious. I tell you Jesus is coming and we need to get these things taken care of. Say amen. You must get to that person as quick as you can, and you need to settle the account so God can bless you.
If you believe that tomorrow would be your last you would take care of it. God forgave every sin that you committed, but he also calls you to forgive your neighbor who has trespassed against you. Do you have a problem with someone at work? Do you have a need for healing with your children? You might not have another day to settle accounts. The Bible says the door was shut. Get a supply of oil today, will you I plead.
Finally, number three. If you knew that tomorrow were the last day, you would not put off things of eternal value. I want to mention a few of them now. You would not put off the biblical truth of tithing. God said to Malachi to tell the people of Israel, "You robbed me. You took the money you were to give and spent it on yourself. And if you knew that you were going to stand before God tomorrow and hear him say, you robbed me, you kept money from me and spent it on yourself and prevented people from being saved, kept buildings from being built, kept ministry from reaching out to the people of God, what would you do today, before you leave here? The answer to welfare and government support in America is not another program, it is the church reaching out to people, changing their circumstances and elevating people to becoming functional in society, and that happens when people tithe and provide the resources the church needs to meet the challenge of changing people.
If Jesus were coming tomorrow, I believe you would be water baptized today. That is why I can’t wait until we get a baptismal tank here on the platform so we can made that easily available to all those who are coming into the Kingdom.
I believe if you knew that tomorrow were to be your last day, you would do the work of the evangelist. You would want to see those friends and neighbors, family members who don’t know Jesus birthed in the Kingdom, and you would share in your last hours the gospel message of Christ.
I believe if you knew that tomorrow were to be your last day, you would confess of hidden sins, sins nobody knows about but you hide in the attic of your heart.
What would you do today if you knew tomorrow would be your last. The Bible says, midnight the cry came, five virgins were ready, and five were not.
It is about midnight church. People are afraid of what could take place in the world today. There is bomb that could be dropped now that could causes your eyes to melt and your tongue to dissolve in your mouth. Bible prophesy tells us in the last days their eyes shall fall from their sockets and their tongues consumed in their mouth. It also tells us that in the last days there will be a cry for peace and safety. Church, I want to tell you. here is a cry in the land for peace. Peace, peace, at any cost. The Bible says when they cry that, sudden destruction is going to come on the world. There are small wars around the world. And a big one looming in Iraq. Why is it we are not moving to stop the games in Iraq? It is because of the huge oil deposits we don’t want to destroy. The world needs the oil, that is why there is an oil for food relief program with the Iraqis. The Bible says in the last days they shall suck their treasures out of the sands and the seas. Where do you find the greatest oil deposits? In the under the sands and the seas.
What if you know that tomorrow were to be your last day? What would you do if you knew that Jesus was coming tomorrow. It will be the greatest kidnapping story every told, millions of people disappearing. Planes will crash, trains will pile up, driverless cars out of control on the highways. It will be the day of the greatest disaster for non-believers. I believe this church will experience its greatest attendance the day after the Lord comes, people will flock to churches around the world, but it will be just one day too late. The doors will be shut.
Some of you have not opened you heart to Christ, and someday you will walk to the door and find that it has been shut.
Let’s bow our heads. With every eye closed. What if you knew that tomorrow was to be the last day. I want to give a two fold alter call. I am talking to good people, people who have followed the Golden Rule, people who have lived a good life, a life better then I have lived, yet you know that you are not right with God and you want to know Jesus, raise your hand right now, I want to pray for you so you will be right with God. If you mean business, I want you to stand so I can pray for you. What would you do today, if you know that tomorrow was your last day? (Invite them to come to the alter)
I want to now ask Christians who have harbored some of those things which I have spoken of to come to the alter and set things right with God and seek him for how to deal with hurts and rebellion. Come down to the alter....
