Spot, Wrinkle, Or Blemish

I. Matthew 25:1-13 We think we have all the time in the world, like the ten virgins. We know that someday we will get serious, but not yet. Not today. Maybe tomorrow. Definitely if I get sick, or am on my deathbed. After all, Matthew 24:43 states that if we know when we are going to meet our maker, we will make sure to be ready, but we do not know. Remember the ten virgins. Someday never comes; we are given right now, over and over again.

A. What would we do if we were to get serious? Read the bible, pray a lot, raise our hands, dance, witness, speak in tongues in public. What would we NOT do? Cuss, drink, smoke, lie, lust, glutton, bad attitude, selfish, mean spirited, boastful, quit wasting time watching TV, spend more time with God in prayer, etc. Do you realize that these are all flaws in our lives that we currently have, that we are waiting on someday so that we can get rid of them.

II. There are very few (percentage-wise) people in the world who are rapists, murderers, child-molesters, serial killers, arsonists, extortioners, etc. Yet most of the world is going to hell. Why?

A. Ephesians 5:27 “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Christ is coming back for those who do not have spot, wrinkle or blemish. This is what he want you to do to get ready. Cleanse you spots.

1. God does care about the little picky things.

aa. For example,Exodus 3:5 God told Moses to take off his sandals for he was on holy ground. This is picky, yet God made Moses do this before he would continue his work.

bb. 2 Sam 6:6,7 tells the story about how the Ark of the Covenant was not suppposed to be touched ever, but someone did to save it, and they died. They brok the rules.

2. Not even a sparrow goes hungry or a hair goes unnumbered. He knows and sees all! No little thing we do goes unnoticed. Why did you start worrying about them when you decided to get serious, if they weren’t important?

3. We notice too. Don’t go pointing out others spots too much though. Luke 6:42 reminds us not to go pointing out others splinters in their eyes when we got logs in our own eyes.

II. Some of us like our spots; we call them beauty marks, yet we have to get rid of them. A. Luke 18:18-23. Remember the rich young ruler. One of his spots was riches, & when he was told that he should get rid of it, he walked away, unwilling (not unable) to get rid of his spot. He did not kill, commit adultery, or steal---and had never done these things, yet he had a small flaw, a spot. His riches possessed him. When asked to get rid of this spot to follow Christ, he just didn’t want to do it.

1. Do we have any of these that we don’t want to get rid of? If I were to say that you need to totally give up everything and spend all your time on God, what would you feel sad about giving up? What would you miss the most? Do you like your spots, or what!

2. Don’t we remember that “God hears not sinners.” When we have these spots in our life, we can’t even pray, much less be of any use to God.

aa. If you aren’t going to give up your old ways, and turn loose of your spots, then just give it all up and go back to Egypt. You give the rest of us a bad name, and we have to explain those to others (See Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggert, You, etc.)

B. When we keep out spots, wrinkles, and blemishes, we condem ourselves to being lukewarm Christians. Christians who are not willing to let go of old habits prove that they are not serious. Rev. 3:16 states that if you are lukewarm, he will spew you out of his mouth. He states that you would be better off hot or cold. Are you detestable in the sight of God? You had better take a good hard look.

1. Most of us revel in lukewarmness. We live there and we are okay.We don’t want to give up our favorite ________ that we spend so much of our time on. We enjoy gluttony, wasting time, smoking, drinking, etc. too much. We are watched by others; if we don’t do this, then we won’t fit in.

a. Our lukewarmness in this case will turn others off to Christ. They will see us and not be very impressed. They already got what we got. They don’t need to be a Christian for that.