Don’t Wait Until It’s Too Late

Good morning! My name is Matt Martinez and I am the pastor here.

I think all of us here know the feeling of trying to make the right decision. Should I move? Should I stay? Is this the right job? Do I date this person? Should we get married? Should we start a family? Is this the right school? Right career? What do I do with my kids when they act like that? Is this the right community? Church? Friends? Who should I vote for? (which you should seek God and then exercise that right this coming week). How do I want to live? What do I value? These are hard decisions that we spend so much time thinking about, discussing, praying about; and sometimes, we just don’t know.

In those times where clarity is not apparent, my wife will often say, “I just wish God would send an angel down with the answer to our questions written on golden tablets… then we will know...”

But in those moments, I have discovered a question that begins to lift the fog of uncertainty. The question is not “which job?” or “which city”. It is, “No matter what I end up doing, am I ready for Jesus to show up?”

If Jesus were to show up today, would he find me obediently following and doing his will? Would He find that I have been faithful in whatever He has given to me?

As your pastor, one of my main responsibilities (perhaps the responsibility) is to do all that I can so that you are ready for the return of Christ. Just as a doctor speaks about the unhealthy habits of your life and how to get better, my job is to speak to you about the spiritual nature of your souls, and eternal implications of the choices in your life (even if they are hard). My hope and prayer is to get you in front of Jesus, who can change, heal, transform, and ultimately save you.

So, over the next number of weeks, we will be speaking about the return of Jesus. And I will do everything in my power to make sure you are ready for Jesus when he comes again.

Let’s get started. Please open your Bibles to Matthew 25:1-13. If you need a Bible today, you can grab the Bible under your chair and turn to page 677. You will find our passage there.

We are a Bible-teaching church. That means we open up the Bible each week, we walk through every verse of our passage. Even if we read through difficult passages, we believe that God will speak to us, teach us, transform us, prepare us right from this Bible.

I would like to read just one verse to start because I think it gives us some helpful context for our passage. We will start reading where you see the big number 25 on page 677.

25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.”

In our passage today, Jesus will tell a story of a wedding celebration to help us determine if we are ready for his return. The people and setting he uses in this story were very familiar to listeners in the first century, perhaps not as familiar to us in the 21st century.

In Jesus’ day, there were three stages to a Jewish wedding. The first was engagement – a formal agreement made by the fathers. The second was betrothal – the ceremony where mutual promises are made. The third was marriage – approximately one year later when the bridegroom came at an unexpected time for his bride.

When the bridegroom came, the bridesmaids (our passage will call these women virgins). These women were like the bride’s crew. They would be with her during this time, they would celebrate with her, and they would go out first to meet the bridegroom as he came at the unexpected time. Then with a lot of celebrating, they would lead the bridegroom and his entourage back to the bride.

With that context, let’s read the whole story Jesus told.

Matthew 25:1-13
25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

Jesus is using this story to talk about his return one day to take all of His followers to be with him. Jesus is the bridegroom coming at a time we do not and will not know.

Jesus teaches that there will be wise people who are ready for the return of Jesus. And because they were ready, they will get to spend eternity with Him.

Jesus also teaches that there are people who are not ready for the return of Jesus. They may even claim to to be ready, but they are foolish people as the story says, and will not get to spend eternity with Jesus.

This story carries a lot of challenging truths, but Jesus seeks to help us get ready.

Followers of Jesus who are ready for his return understand:

1. Nobody can get ready for you.

One of the more disconcerting parts about this passage is found in verses 7-9. We read about the five wise and prepared virgins refusing to help the other five who are unprepared.

The questions you should be asking here are, ‘what’s wrong with helping others out?’ And the more important one, ‘shouldn’t we help others be prepared for Jesus to return?’

We all have people in our lives who are not followers or Jesus. We have people coming to this church every week, who are seeking Jesus, but perhaps not yet following Jesus. Is it not our role as followers of Jesus to help others get ready? I just mentioned at the beginning of this message, that it was my job to help you get ready for Jesus?

I do not believe that Jesus is calloused. I believe he is compassionate. I do not believe Jesus wants us to suffer, He sacrifices His own life to save us. So what is Jesus getting at here?

Jesus offers us a couple of clues in our passage. Let’s take a look at verse 10.

“But while they were away, the bridegroom returned, he took the people who were ready, and the door was shut.”

One reason the women cannot help is because of timing. It is not because they didn’t want to help, or shouldn’t help, it is because the bridegroom has come.

The opportunity (and all of them had an opportunity) to prepare had come and gone. Jesus commands each one of us to help others get ready, to share the Good News of his death and resurrection, and the saving of our sins. We are to be examples of Jesus and beacons of light in this dark world. We are to share that Jesus is coming back. But at some point, Jesus has to come back. And all of our helping will have to stop because Jesus has come.

The women cannot help anymore because the bridegroom has come.

The other reason the wise women cannot help the foolish ones is because it is impossible to borrow faith in Jesus. You cannot borrow someone else’s obedience and faithfulness.

Our relationship with God must be our own: not the culture’s, not our parents’, not our friends’, not what is cool. It must be something we believe in our hearts. We cannot rely on others to save us. People don’t save you. God saves you.

Nobody can get ready for you, only God makes you ready.

So, how do we know we are ready? This leads us to the second thing

Followers of Jesus who are ready for his return understand:

1. Nobody can get ready for you.

2. People focus on outward appearances, but God looks at the heart.

People can have the appearance of being a Christian. They can even do many of the Christian actions, but God examines their hearts. This can be really hard to see in the lives of others. It can even be hard to see in our own lives.

Take a look at our passage again. Look at all the similarities of the ten virgins:

• All had been invited to the banquet, and all wanted to go.
• All had gone out to wait for the bridegroom.
• All had their lamps, and all had some oil in their lamps at the beginning.
• All were in the right place at the right time.
• All fell asleep while waiting.
• All were awakened by the midnight cry, and all got up to prepare their lamps.

At the start, all appeared to be equally prepared for the bridegroom’s coming. The only difference was the oil in the jars. Their hearts were revealed. Some were ready for the person. Others just wanted what the person would bring them.

The same is true for people who call themselves Christians today.

You can carry the name of Christian. You can read your Bible every day and have all the knowledge to prove to people how much you know. You can know all the worship songs by heart. You can attend Renovation Church every Sunday and bring people along with you (and you should).

But there is a difference between spending time with God to get something from him, and spending time with God just to be with him.

Is God just a drawer in the spiritual dresser of your life. You just fit Him in, pull him out when you need Him or when it is convenient. Or is God the entire dresser in which all the drawers of your life fit into it?

Being ready for the return of Jesus, doesn’t mean you live a perfect life, but it does mean you are fully committed.

Let’s take a look at verse 13 once again: “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”

“Watch” does not mean look out the window at night. It does not mean go up on a mountain and wait. Even the wise virgins slept when it was time to sleep. Watch means: be spiritually awake! Be alive and alert to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit.

In verse 12, Jesus says, “Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.”

This is not a statement of excited condemnation. Jesus is not trying to catch us unprepared. Jesus wants to know us.

The wedding ceremony had already happened. The vows had been made, everyone knew that at some point that bridegroom was coming for the one he knew and loved.

Do you really know you are known and loved by Jesus? Do you know you can be?

There is still time. Are you ready?

Conclusion

My job is to make sure you are ready.

Do you know, for a fact, that you will be going to heaven when you die?

I did my first funeral when I was about 25. I hadn’t been in ministry long, when a friend I worked with in college called me to tell me her dad had been tragically killed.

I remember going to the family’s house and it was packed with people. Many of them were not followers of Jesus, including my friend. And many of them did not want a pastor there. But my friend did, and so when I saw down at the dining room table with 30 people all sitting around me.

I remember my friend sitting across from me and looking at me in the eyes and asking one question, “Matt, My dad didn’t believe in Jesus. Is he going to heaven?”

I still remember how quiet that room got as I answered.

“Jesus gives us every available chance to know and follow Him. I know that Jesus was reaching out to your dad in his last moments, to give him a chance.”

You can be saved, forgiven, and know Jesus right now. You can be ready for his return! It’s as simple as believing that he is the Son of God who came to rescue you by dying on the cross for your sins, and making him the king of your life. That is to turn from sin, walk away from your old life, and let him lead you in his love and his truth. If you do, you can be saved, forgiven, and spend eternity in heaven.

Are you ready to fully commit to Jesus?

If you need to do that today, let’s do it.

Gospel Presentation/Invitation