Matthew 25:1–13 (ESV)
"Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ But the wise answered, saying, ‘Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.’ And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Dear fellow redeemed: Some are wise and some are foolish. While there are several ways that we might think of wisdom, surely foresight is a big one. A wise person can foresee or anticipate the natural results of her actions and he acts accordingly. It’s a foolish driver who goes fast on icy roads; a wise driver leaves room to stop. It’s a foolish teenager who quits high school; a wise student foresees the need for a diploma and educational preparation for life. It’s a foolish hiker who goes out into the mountains unprepared; a wise outdoorsman foresees the need for food, clothes, and gear to survive and return. It is a foolish man or woman who lets their love blind them to the character of the person they are dating; a wise person foresees that living a lifetime with someone is easier when they share the most important things, including faith in Christ.
A foolish person will not be ready when they are called before God at the final judgment. A wise person foresees the reality of final judgment and will watch and be ready.
That’s the point Jesus is making in this parable. God’s word will tell us…
WHAT WE NEED TO BE READY
I. We Need Saving Faith
II. Obtained from the Means of Grace
I. We Need Saving Faith
As we learned last week, this is part of Jesus great discourse on His coming on the last day in glory to render judgment upon all people. On that last day everyone will fall into one of two groups, those who are welcomed into heaven and those who are not. Jesus spoke these words (and Matthew relates them) because they help to tell us how we are to be in one group and not the other.
Like the wise virgins, we need to possess something to a great and enduring degree. It needs to be something that we can draw on when needed, something that gives rise to love and devotion toward God and love and service toward others.
What we need is saving faith.
And what is that?
Like the oil in the lamp, our faith is something that shines forth in our lives. It isn’t a good work that fits us for heaven, but it takes hold of that which does – the righteousness of Christ, and THEN it shines forth in gratitude at Gods unmerited love for us. It is NOT just a vague spirituality, but faith in Jesus Christ as Savior. Romans 3:21–24 (NIV84) But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
This faith is a gift to us, just as life itself is a gift to us.
Saving faith isn’t a mere emotion, for it seizes Christ and heaven even in the midst of sorrow, despair, or fear. It isn’t a mere intellectual understanding, because it trusts in God who is far beyond our understanding. It isn’t mere intellectual assent, because we trust in what we cannot see or know; we see life in the cross, an instrument of death, and blessing even in the suffering and crosses that we may carry. Faith isn’t some kind of special experience, because the newly baptized baby and the aged on the point of death have this faith.
Saving faith is practical.
It is the frame of reference in which we understand everything – not just the world as God’s creation but, by faith, we understand the reality of God’s love.
– You greet your family in the morning knowing that they are beloved of God.
– You face the news headlines knowing that the evil in the world is the same sin we all deal with each day. We know that the remedy is the cross above all, for the cross has set aside the wrath of God toward man.
Saving faith gives us confidence that the troubles of life work for our good, whether the pink slip, the bad economy, the daily grind, or the shocking report from the doctor.
Saving faith is the spiritual life by which we trust in the promises of God and that shows in a life of repentance and in the expression of love toward God and our neighbor. It is the spiritual life that is informed as we grow in the knowledge of God’s word, and that is strengthened as we receive the promises of the gospel.
How necessary is it?
As our text clearly teaches, with it we go into the great wedding feast, without it we are locked outside forever.
With it we receive the crown of life, Revelation 2:10 (NIV84) … Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life.
II. Obtained from the Means of Grace
So true wisdom is in remaining faithful, remaining in the faith. That is what the foolish virgins lacked when the bridegroom arrived. They had not been watching, and they were not ready. What Jesus tells us by means of a picture here He has said in so many ways throughout the Scriptures, from the Old Testament when the people would turn their trust to idols, to the new testament warnings against trusting in things like wealth, to the false faith in our own goodness that Paul warns about.
True wisdom is that we remain in the faith, and so receive the forgiveness, life and salvation that Christ won for us. Romans 10:9 (NIV84) … if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
But how can we do this? Some of you may even be worried that your faith is weak. You may have doubts about some part of God’s word. You may wonder if you have this faith.
If you have ever "tried to believe," or "tried to believe harder," or "tried to have a stronger faith," you must know that you can’t just clench you fists, furrow your brow, and have a stronger faith by your own effort.
If you have sought out what you thought was the "feeling of believing" through the thrilling music or the preaching that sends goose bumps up your spine, you have maybe found a thrill, but not something that endures into the dark of night or into the shadow of death, or that isn’t overshadowed by some other emotion that carries us away.
If you have sought to find a greater faith through reason, weighing the claims of God in your own feeble intellect, then you have found that there are always unanswered questions. As God told Job, even if he understood all the secrets of creation, he would not be able to comprehend the ways of God to man.
I tried them all.
But faith does not come from our wills, or in our emotions, or in our intellect. It comes as a gift of God when we are where he is, and He is found in the cross and all it represents. As Paul says, 1 Corinthians 1:18 (NIV84) 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
God is found in this world where the cross, that is, the gospel, is – in reading, preaching, and in the sacraments. Where can you go in wisdom to buy oil for your lamps so that when the bridegroom comes, you are ready. Where can you go in wisdom to grow in faith so that when you breath your last, or when the glory of Christ Himself shines over the horizon on the last day, you will look up with a heart full of joy and not sorrow, gladness and not fear, on the morning of eternal life.
To many, what we do this morning seems like foolishness. We gather here and we hear words spoken some hundreds or even thousands of years ago. Our biggest decoration is an instrument of torture and execution. We come here for our weddings, our baptisms, our funerals as well as our weekly gatherings.
We come here because of all the places in the world Christ is here. He is here in His word and sacrament. (And yes He is in the hospital room or the foxhole or the dinner table where the gospel is.) But the special thing is that He promises, Matthew 18:20 (NIV84) For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." It isn’t the church or the decoration, but the living word of God. Such words may be thousands of years old – because He is that faithful.
Just as we trust those we know, and not strangers, our faith in Christ is strengthened as we get to know Him. He promises, John 8:31 (ESV) So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples",
So if you experience doubts, if you don’t feel the presence of God in your life, if you fear the future, if you are in anguish over your sins and shortcomings, you aren’t going to find faith in feelings – or anywhere in yourself, but in Christ. And Christ is where His word and sacrament are.
This is true wisdom, to simply hear the word and promises of the gospel. Listen as Jesus says, "Rejoice, I forgive you all your sins." Listen as He promises, "I will never leave you or forsake you." Hang on His words as he invites, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Savor His promises when he says, "In my father’s house are many mansions… I go to prepare a place for you."
The reign of Christ has begun. He has defeated death, and He offers the gift of life to you – in His gospel promises, in His word. There is wisdom!
AMEN.
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