The Wise And The Foolish At The Bridegrooms Coming - Pt.1 Series

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

Text: Matthew 25:1-13

OPEN WITH PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING

It seems like Eschatological talk (that is, talk about the end times) is ramping us these days. I’ve begun to hear more and more people talking about the rapture, and the 2nd Coming of Christ. And the signs of the end – you know, things like war and famine, and plagues... and the truth is, they should be talking. Several news outlets are saying that by winter we’re going to see fuel prices skyrocket, food prices skyrocket, and it’s going to get really bad. We have wars and rumors of war. We have lunatic billionaires suggesting that we build something that blocks out 1/3 of the sun’s rays in order to prevent climate change… and other billionaires suggesting that everyone get vaccination papers… or better yet, a computer chip, and if you don’t have that, you get locked up, you can’t buy or sell. Sounds an awful lot like what we read in the Book of Revelation to me. We’ve got Russia invading Ukraine, China threatening Taiwan, and the US Military worrying about which pronoun to use. I’m just saying, it really does look like Christ may be returning sooner rather than later. Maybe even in our lifetimes. And a lot of people talk about the “signs” – the “birth pains” – the “Mark of the Beast”… And we should not be ignorant of such things. We should be aware. But I really want to share with you something that I feel gets neglected in all this talk about the End Times. I want to talk to you this morning about each of us as individuals rather than about all that’s going on in the world around us.

So if you’ll take your Bibles and open them up to Matthew 25:1-3, and follow along as I read from the Word of the Lord. (READ TEXT).

Now as we read through that, I want to call your attention first of all to the urgency of this passage. You notice that the wise virgins were ready, they heard God’s Word, and believed it, and because they believed it, they were ready for the Lord’s coming. The foolish virgins had heard the exact same Word, but they did not believe – as evidence by their lack of works (remember James says “faith without works is dead”), and they were therefore not prepared.

You see; whether it’s by rapture or rupture we’re all going to stand before the Lord… what do I mean by that? I mean whether we get raptured, or whether we die before the Lord’s Second Coming takes place, we’re still going to stand before Him. And if we believe that – does our life give evidence to that claim? You know, are we storing up treasures for ourselves here on earth, that will perish, or are we storing up treasures for ourselves in heaven, which will never perish? Are we building with wood, hay, and straw – which will all be destroyed? Or are we building with gold and precious stones? Because here’s what the Bible teaches us. None of us are promised tomorrow. We may be driving home after the service this morning, and be hit head on by a semi and be instantly brought into the presence of the Lord… or Christ may come tonight, because again, no man knows the day or the hour.

The question I’m asking you this morning is – are you ready to meet the Lord?

You know; I’ve seen the memes that say, “It’s 2022, we are now somewhere in-between Mad Max, Soylent Green, Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s ‘A Brave New World.’” There are so many dystopian future films out there in film and on TV that is was almost kind of priming the pump; so that when an actual pandemic did hit, everyone freaked out and there was a lot of panic, and fear, and anxiety… And we can look back over the last two years and see that this fear, and panic, and anxiety has led us closer to tyranny, it has caused anger and violence. And if that’s not bad enough, we have the so called “experts” telling us that the earth is warming… or is it cooling again? Who can keep up? They tell us that there’s going to be global over-population.

And the 24-hour news agencies are continually pushing out headlines designed to instill fear. The “Rona” is gonna’ get you, and if it doesn’t the Murder Hornets will, and if they don’t the “Monkey Pox” is coming, and the sun is going to burn out and we’ll all freeze, it will be “winter always, and Christmas never”. The oceans will rise and swallow up the coasts, (and yet the climate change alarmists continue to buy ocean front property).