Parables: Part 6 | The Parable of the Prepared and the Unprepared | Pastor Alex Himaya

11. Well, good morning, church. So good to be with you today. Would all of you at our campuses welcome all the other campuses and say we know you're here and we're glad you're here by putting your hands together. Today we especially want to welcome you guys at the Allen Gamble Correctional Facility. We're so excited that you're a part of what we're doing here today. You know, theologically, we believe this to be true, that one day can change every day. Amen. One day can change every day. That's exactly what happened on the very first Easter and this Holy Week, this year on Holy Week, I want to make some very clear request of you. On Palm Sunday, which is what we call a Gospel Sunday, which is the week before Easter, we want you inviting men and women and boys and girls who do not know Jesus Christ to that Gospel Sunday and we will present the Gospel on that day and we're praying that many men and women and boys and girls will cross that threshold, that faith line and give their lives to Jesus Christ. On Good Friday, we walk through the passion of the Christ and if you've not been a part of the Good Friday service, I would encourage you to come and be a part of it. It is entirely different than what happens on Saturday and Sunday and then on Saturday and Sunday, Easter weekend, I want us as a church to do everything that we can to change someone's life. By inviting them to come to know Jesus Christ, excuse me, thank you very much, I should do that more often, that blessing felt awesome. By inviting them to come to know Jesus Christ, by serving and let me just say this to you, if you're new around here, twice a year, we make this really big request at Christmas and at Easter and on those weekends, the request is for you to attend one and if you are a part of the Broken Arrow Campus, that's 7 a.m. on Sunday morning, okay, that's the one that you get to attend and then we want you to serve all of the other services. It's five hours, it's about what Jesus spent on the cross, that we're asking you to serve

to help other people come to know Jesus Christ and so I just want to challenge you, listen, this church has never been about comfort, it's always been about going to reach people who need Jesus. This is not a cruise ship where you are served Mai Tais at your lounge chair, this is a fishing vessel and we are going after men and women and boys and girls who need Jesus Christ and so we're asking you not to think about your lunch that weekend, okay, we're asking you to think about people who need to come into the kingdom, so we're inviting them, we're serving and then new, this Easter, we're doing something we've never done before, we're gonna do a special love offering on Easter weekend and people have said to me, why would you do that on Easter weekend, listen, the world who comes to visit us on Easter need to know we care about the whole world and so here's what we're asking you to do is to take one day salary, just one day, that's it, okay, so whatever you make annually, divide that by 365 and that equals your one day salary and we're asking everybody from the barista at Starbucks to the CEO of the largest company in Tulsa and everywhere in between to take one day and bring it on that Easter weekend to give it to feed hungry children around the world. 100% of that will go out. outside the walls of Battle Creek Church to feed the children through our partner called Convoy of Hope, who currently feeds 600,000 children around the world in 39 countries daily, but with a goal of reaching one million of them. And here's what I wanna say to you. They do this so well. We've been to Springfield, to their headquarters. When your church invests in ministries, we go see if they're doing what they say they're gonna do. And we go investigate it and look at it. And I'm just telling you, Convoy is one of the best charities in the world.

And I'm gonna tell you one of the reasons why. They make the local church in every country the hero. If you're investing in a charity that does not make the local church the hero, it's a bad investment. What I want you to know is when the charity leaves, the local church is still there. And so when we go into a country through Convoy and feed children, it's not a ministry who pops in, feeds children, and leaves. It's through a pastor. It's through a local church. It's through ministers like you who are working in a local church that will stay there and will have relationships and investment in those people. And then they're sharing the gospel. They're not just feeding the hungry. They're feeding the hungry, but they're sharing the gospel, helping them come to know Jesus Christ. So let's pray together all across the church this morning. Would you just take your hands and hold them open like this? And would you just ask the Holy Spirit to speak a word to you today? Father, today is your day. This is your day, and we thank you and believe that all things are to you, from you, for you, and through you. And so today, we wanna give you honor. And Father, I do pray for Battle Creek Church this season that we would be investing in people's lives

so that we could invite them to a place where they would come to know Jesus Christ on that Gospel Sunday, on Palm Sunday. And then on Good Friday, as we walk through the passion of Jesus, I pray you would capture our hearts again and anew. And on Easter weekend, that we would have people, men and women and boys and girls with us, and that lives would be changed, that we would be serving and welcoming people. But Father, on that day that we could give, and we pray that our one day, just one day salary, given over and above might feed children and save lives all over this world. Now today, as we dive into your word, let it come alive in our lives and change our lives. In Jesus' name we pray, and together we all say amen and amen. Now, just show of hands, how many of you would be honest enough to say, I am a procrastinator? Anybody, raise your hand. Okay, a lot of you have raised your hand. You often put off till tomorrow what you could easily do today. And here's the truth, we all have the ability to do that, to wait till the last minute, and then rush and rush and rush and get it all done. And of course, the quality of work suffers because of that. And some of you, you are good at lying to yourself

and lying to others, and you say, I like to procrastinate because I work better under pressure. How many have said that before, right? And here's the truth, we all need to be better prepared. And by temptation, I'm a procrastinator and can fall into that. And I would say for years, I perform better under pressure because it's true that ADHD people have another gear that they can find when they feel pressure. But just the confession on my part, and I'm not confessing for you, I'm confessing for me, there's another part of my personality that's more afraid of appearing incompetent. And so consequently, I fight off that temptation and move into another one where many times I'm over prepared. And so on one side, there's ADHD, and on the other side, anxiety. And these two temptations seem to go hand in hand for me. But I don't know about you, but we, you and I, all live in a world where if we need something, we can get it in like two days. One day, sometimes, right? You need batteries, click, right? You need groceries, click. You need a date to the wedding, that's another sermon, right? But we assume that availability equals readiness,

but Jesus tells a story, the one we're gonna look at today, where a door closes. And there's no amount of running to the store that can fix it. And it's not meant to scare us, but it is meant to wake us up. And today, I want us to look at one of Jesus' parables about preparation. Not about getting things done on time, but about spiritual preparation. And I want us to be ready for when Jesus returns. It's found in Matthew 25. Let's go look at it today in verse one. It says, the kingdom of heaven. Remember, most of these parables are about the kingdom of heaven. kingdom of heaven will be like 10 bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Now, circle this word bridesmaids in your Bible and that Greek word is often translated, many of your Bibles use the word virgin here. This parable is known either as the parable of 10 bridesmaids or the parable of the 10 virgins. That Greek word simply means unmarried woman. But the translators here are doing some explanation. They're not saying that these 10 virgins are gonna marry this one guy, okay? This is not the Book of Mormon, it's the word of God, right? And it's saying that these are attendants

to the bride, right? So bridesmaids, that's a good translation that gives a little bit of explanation but I want you to keep in mind they are described as virgins. And these young women would carry lamps, really torches, if you will, and their torches had a cloth wrapped around the top of it that had been dipped in oil. And they would light the torch and hold them up and light the way for the bridegroom from the city gate all the way to the bride's house. They would go out to the gate and meet him and they would march with their torches to bring him to his bride. That was their job, right? A lot more dangerous than today's weddings. Now look at verse two. It says five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. The five who were foolish didn't take enough olive oil for their lamps but the other five were wise enough to take along extra olive oil. And they would dip their torches in the oil and they would light them but they needed extra oil. This is something that sits in my office. This is an actual Olympic torch that brought the fire from Olympus to Salt Lake in 2002. And it was the one that carried the fire from Olympus to Salt Lake.

And inside of this, you could pull this thing out and there's a fuel source here. I think it's butane, right? And so this is a modern day example of what we're talking about in this particular sermon. In this case, you would need extras of these along the way, right? But you are anticipating that you're gonna run out, that this may take a while. And so you needed to bring extra olive oil with you. In fact, what Jesus is saying in this parable is that five of them brought enough. The other five weren't ready. They weren't prepared, right? The five anticipated this could take a minute and the other five, they just weren't ready and they weren't prepared, okay? So let's keep reading, look at verse five. It says, when the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight, they were roused by the shout, look, the bridegroom is coming, come out and meet him. Now, a couple of years ago, I taught a whole sermon on what a Galilean wedding is like. And I've asked our team actually to put the link to that sermon in our sermon note apps in the app today where you can simply click on that link. And this week, if you wanna go back and hear the context of what a Galilean wedding is like, the link has been provided for you

in the app in the notes today. That's the context of the story that Jesus is telling, a Galilean wedding. The same kind of a wedding that he grew up seeing played out as a kid. The same kind of a wedding that he performed his first miracle in Cana of Galilee at. But to give you the context, let me just explain this whole process. Of all the events on a social calendar, a Galilean wedding was the biggest of the events all year long. The whole village, in fact, many times multiple villages, would show up for it. And Jesus often used that whole ceremony as an illustration to communicate theological truths. Weddings back then were much different than weddings today. Today starts with an engagement, right? Where the guy gets down on one knee and he asks the bride if she will marry him. She gives, he gives her a ring. And I've said before, I think we should flip that, right? Where she gives him a Blackstone grill or something else, right? But they set the date and they do all the planning. And by planning, I mean pick out the flowers, right? And a dress, a very expensive dress she will never ever wear again, right? The guy rents a tux that 30 other guys have had on before him.

They go to a church, they walk down an aisle, and they say, I do. Very different back in Jesus. Day instead of the engagement. It was called a betrothal, right? It was a legal Covenant that the man the woman and their families their parents entered into Together if you remember Joseph and Mary were betrothed to be married They were in that betrothal period when Jesus was born and the preparation For the wedding was very different as well. The man would go back to his house and prepare a room He would build a room onto his parents house still done this way by the way in the Middle East to this very day and the woman goes back to her house and waits her job was to wait and to be Ready, and she had to be ready because she never knew the date of the wedding The man by the way did not know the date of the wedding either Only his father knew the date and once the preparations were all set He would say to his son son go get your bride He would jump up filled with joy, right and all of his buddies would go with him They would mount up on horses. They would ride to the city gate of her Village and they would shout and the bridesmaids would come and with their torches they would escort him To her home and day after day. She's waiting and wondering is this the day is this the day? Is this the day and when that day came she had to be ready. She had to be Waiting and that's the story that Jesus is telling here Now, let me point out something else that the bridegroom would show up. And in this case, he showed up. Look what it says at Midnight now, is that strange? Well, of course, it's strange, right? The point is they needed to be ready Whatever time he showed up, by the way, this is where the phrase biblically the midnight cry Comes from what but what was quite honestly more likely to be shocking in that day than it being at midnight What was to those listening to Jesus tell this story? What was the fact that five bridesmaids? Didn't bring enough oil That's the shocking part in this story. In fact, it's scandalous, right? This would have been posted about on social media all over the place

You would have seen a dozen tick tocks about it The Today Show would do a whole segment on it and this whole story is not told in isolation It's told in context and not just the context or cultural context of a Galilean wedding But in the immediate context of what Jesus is talking about in these chapters together We've said it many times in this series that Matthew 24 and 25 they go together, right? Jesus didn't stop talking this is the same speech that he's been giving through both of these chapters and Jesus has been telling his disciples about eternity about the judgment the judgment on Jerusalem the judgment on the world He's been talking about his second coming right? So this midnight cry is not really about a Galilean wedding It is about Jesus the groom coming to get his bride And so they they want to know the win, but Jesus tells them the what the how and the why in fact Let's go back to Matthew 24 go back one chapter and and let me give you some context Okay later Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives His disciples came to him privately and said what sign will signal the return? Your return and the end of the world now what Jesus had just said to these guys is that whole temple is Gonna be destroyed one day and they were shocked or shook as the kids say today, right? They're crashing out is what's happened and Jesus fills them in on some of the details Okay, so let's go to verse 6 look at verse 6. It says you will hear of wars and threats of wars. I Didn't sound like today I've never been in a day where threats of wars and rumors of wars is more prevalent than it is the day we live in Nation will go to war against nation kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines I've been told multiple times by convoy and our partners that the famine that is happening in Africa is the worst famine in 50 years The famine that's happening across the Middle East because of war and destruction and power shifting and money Is the worst it's been in our my lifetime Famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. It sounds incredibly familiar to us today Then Jesus goes on to talk to them about being arrested and killed He said he says some will turn away and will walk away from the faith and false Teachers will show up and lie to their faces and he says that sin will run rampant and love will grow cold And if you can't see that pattern in the world today

I'm not sure how to help you. It's all around us every day, but these are the signs that the end is near. Look at verse 27. He says, for as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. In other words, he will come back suddenly. It will happen in an instant. People will be caught unprepared, and there will be going on with normal going on of life as if nothing is happening. And Jesus compares it to the days of Noah, right? And later to the days of Lot. I'm working on a sermon called Noah Lot about the days of Noah and the days of Lot. Look, when the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah's days. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time, right up to the time that Noah entered the boat. Verse 39, people didn't realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. Literally, they will be caught unprepared. He says in verse 43, if a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, biblically, this is known as the thief in the night, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into.

You must also, application, you must also be ready all the time for the Son of Man will come when least expected. Now, church, write this down, and not just on your page or in your app, but in your heart. Jesus will do what he says he will do. He will always do what he says he will do. And if you think he won't, you will get caught off guard. He will always fulfill his word. So in that context, Jesus is telling this story about 10 virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish, okay? So let's go back to that story in Matthew chapter 25, and it says, all the bridesmaids, say all. All. All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps. Then the five foolish ones asked the others, please give us some of your oil because our lamps are going out. But the others replied, we don't have enough for all of us. Go to the shop and buy some for yourselves. So let's set the stage here. These five foolish bridesmaids had just enough oil to light their torch and get it lit. And immediately, it starts to flicker, and they quickly went out. They were out of oil. This is a lot like when Jesus spoke about the seed and the soils, which is what we're gonna do next Sunday.

You don't wanna miss next Sunday, where the farmer scatters the seed on the rocky soil, and it shot up really, really quick. But because there wasn't a deep root system, the plant ends up dying. So these women run out of oil. Now, today's equivalent would be for the bridemaid to not bring a charger for her phone, right? And her phone dies, and if you're a bridesmaid without a phone to constantly be taking pictures of the bride and posting them on social media, what are you even doing at the wedding, right? And notice, they ask the other bridesmaids for some oil, and they say, no, you have to go buy some. What's the application? Here's the application. Saving grace is not transferable. No one can be saved for you. So they rush out and try to buy some extra oil. Look at verse 10. Verse 10 says, but while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. They were not ready for when the bridegroom came. And the lesson for all of us is simple. They didn't do what they were supposed to do. Now, listen, Jesus will always do what he says he will do, but they didn't do what they were supposed to do. And if he's always gonna do what he says he will do,

then he expects us to do what we're supposed to do. And here's the point. Now is the time for preparing for Jesus' return. Then will be too late. It only can be done now. Never wait for then, when now is the time. And I want you to notice that these girls did not lack intent. They wanted to be there. They did not lack desire either. They had been planning for this for years. They wanted to be there, but they weren't ready. There was a lack of preparation. And they didn't do what they were supposed to do, and because of that, it cost them great joy. And look, when Jesus comes, there's gonna be two classes of people, some who are prepared and some who are unprepared. And it really will come down to this. Some are going to be invited to come in, and some are going to be left out. And this is one of the most uncomfortable parables Jesus ever told because it's not about unbelievers It's about people who thought they were Ready, I want you to notice that both groups claimed to be believers. Jesus is speaking to his followers and the notion is that some of the followers were not true followers of Jesus we know of at least one of them Judas, right? He was standing there and he was part of this story and not only was he not prepared He was ready to sell Jesus out when it became Convenient the story is about two groups of people those who were outwardly believers and those who were truly

Believers on the inside and the outside the the first group professes to know Jesus they claim to be followers They even can act like Christians, but when it comes down to it They don't really believe because they don't have a saving faith Some people are Christian in name only They're good churchgoers they attend every week they belong to a community group, maybe they found a great place of service They've done everything right except for the one thing that really really matters They don't have a real saving faith relationship with God and because they thought they could skate through life on appearances They play the part good enough, but one day it will catch up to them and they will be found Unprepared they didn't do what they were supposed to do. Well, what are they supposed to do? Well, weren't they supposed to attend church and serve? Being a community group and it's supposed to be givers. Yes, all of that is an important part of our faith journey But you can't leave out the most important thing the lordship of Jesus Christ And as a pastor, sometimes I'm afraid that we've made all of this a bit too comfortable That the chairs are too comfortable that the HVAC Is too comfortable what we do with your kids is so good and so comfortable that you could end up thinking you're in because you're here That we've made it a bit too easy And what we do not want you to think is that if you're good with all of this comfort, you're good with the Lord that You could misinterpret comfort around here with the lordship of Jesus Christ in your life that somehow He's comfortable with you living any way that you want to live. Listen, this is serious business Jesus is not pulling any punches in this story. Look at verse 11 Later when the other five bridesmaids returned they stood outside calling Lord Lord open the door for us, but but he called back. Believe me. I don't know you Now put this back in today's context. Let's say you're invited to your best friend's wedding You did all the things you went through all The motions right you got the tux or you are the dress You got your hair all did up and you spent time writing the best speech for the reception afterwards You even show up to the rehearsal But the next day on the wedding the wedding day when everyone's supposed to show up at the church you were asleep

You didn't set the alarms. You didn't set the reminder. You just missed it Maybe you're hungover from the bachelorette party or the bachelor party Maybe you didn't care enough to be responsible. But but let me tell you what we're talking about here today is a thousand times more important Than a wedding party What we're talking about is your salvation What we're talking about is forever and eternity and some of you under the sound of my voice today You're not ready. And if you're not ready, you will hear Jesus say I don't know you and That seems very ungracious, doesn't it? That it kind of sounds like if the bridegroom had any mercy at all. He would say it's alright. It's alright You know what? Come on in. I understand. I can't expect you to be ready all the time Now don't get the wrong impression. It doesn't mean that Jesus is unmerciful. He's being merciful right now and Jesus is merciful to men and women who betray him and abandon him. He's offering them the opportunity They don't deserve they can be a part of the wedding feast They can serve the bridegroom and in his mercy. He's also warning them and us But beforehand so that we and they will be entirely ready for his return. I Don't know if you remember as a kid I remember as a kid my parents leaving for several hours and leaving us with a task to do Something like, you know, unload the dishwasher, right? And you procrastinated all day long, but didn't you hear that garage door go up? And you suddenly remembered. And you ran to the kitchen, to the dishwasher, and the application was that if you thought, you thought if you looked busy, that your parents would be pleased with you in that moment, but it's not enough to look busy. Jesus has to be the Lord of your life. Notice this is not five virgins and five not so virgins.

They're all virgins. In other words, outwardly, they all seem fine. They had all the religious prerequisites for salvation, but inwardly, they were unprepared. They think they're ready because they've done all the things but Jesus said, you aren't ready because you did not know me. Look, there's a big difference between knowing about Jesus and really knowing Jesus. There's a difference between saving faith and the type of religion that just goes through all of the motions. And Jesus brings it all home for us. Look what he says in verse 13. So you too must keep watch for you do not know the hour of my return. Who is he talking to here? The Pharisees? No. Pagans? No. Roman soldiers? No. He's talking to disciples. Those who had followed him for three years, who heard every single word. And to them, he said, to you, the secrets of the kingdom I made known. And how about you today? You just heard the secrets of the kingdom today.

That's what a parable is, right? But this parable is also a warning. And the question is, what are you gonna do with the warning today? We need to be shook and realize that we need to be ready. And it starts by making Jesus the Lord of your life. Now listen, you cannot call Jesus Lord and think you get your own say. If he's the Lord of our lives, he trumps everything that we want, everything that we desire, everything that we expect, right? But making him Lord, we allow him to call all the shots in all of our lives. Let's pray together, across all of our campuses. And as you bow your heads and you close your eyes, I want you just to think about for a second, what are the things in your life that could actually indicate that you're ready? And full of the Holy Spirit. You could go through the list of the fruits of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. You just go through the list, right? Love, are you full of love? Do you love your neighbor and your enemy? Are you in control of your emotions, your anger and your sadness? Are you fully convicted when you do something wrong? See, the indicator is not that you never do anything wrong,

the indicator is the conviction of the Holy Spirit in your life. And maybe you're here today and you say, pastor, I've been around church a long time, and I don't really know that Jesus is my Lord, my Savior, my forgiver. Maybe this is your first time here and you would say the same thing. I don't know that Jesus is my Lord, but I would like to know. I wanna pray for you right now and I wanna ask believers all around the room to also pray for you. Lord, we pray right now for every man, woman, boy, and girl under the sound of my voice that does not have assurance of Lordship of Jesus in their lives, salvation in their lives, that today they would cross that face line and they would come to know you personally. And if you're here today and that's you, you wanna give your life to Jesus, you wanna settle this thing once and for all, bow your knee and confess with your tongue that Jesus is Lord. I wanna lead you in a prayer helping you do just that. And I want you to pray it out loud after me. You're gonna hear men and women at every campus pray, but this is an issue. individual decision, and if that's you today, would you say, dear God, I know I'm a sinner.

Today I ask you to forgive me for all of my sin. Jesus, come into my life to be my Lord, my Savior, my forgiver, in the best way that I know how. I turn my back on my sin, and I trust you alone, Jesus, to save me. Thank you for saving me. Before we say amen, let me just say that the message today out of this parable is not just about you being ready. It's also maybe even more about who we know that's not ready. And with Easter and Holy Week around the corner, this is the best time to invest in people and to invite them. To a place where they can come to know Jesus Christ. Would you pray right now about who the Lord has put you in context with and in relationship with that may not be ready? And ask him to lay a name or a face, or names or faces, on your mind and in your heart. And would you pray for those men and women and boys and girls right now? And would you pray that God would use you this year in their life to give you anointing and courage and favor, to invite and bring with you those people that he's laid on our hearts? And Father, I thank you for men and women and boys and girls who just settled their salvation in this place today. We give you glory for that. We can't save anybody, but we thank you.

You desire to save all. And Lord, we pray for those that you just laid on your kids' hearts. We pray for them wherever they are all over this city. That you, by your Spirit, would begin drawing them on that end of the equation that they would be ready and receptive when the invite comes. Expand your kingdom through this, your bride. In Jesus' name we pray, and together we all say, amen and amen. Would you thank the Lord for meeting with us?