ENTRY & END TIMES | A Cry For Readiness | Matthew 25:1-13 | Philip Anthony Mitchell

be seated. If you are a guest we welcome you to 2018-2019 and to these holy encounters we're having with our Lord and Savior. To all of our digital disciples you are our family in cities all across America and around the world we love you. We pray for you. We have plans for you and we thankful that you are tuned in right now from wherever you are and to those of you who have crept into this gathering and you're not a follower of Christ we are thankful that you are here as well. We want you to know that you can belong before you believe. You can be amongst us before you believe and our prayer for you is that during a moment of worship a moment of prayer a moment of proclamation or invitation that you would be brought into this spiritual family not to be a member of a church per se but to be amongst the family of God to be those who are amongst the redeemed to say that your name has been recorded in the lambs book of life to know that if you died in a car crash on the way home you would not be eternally separated from God but that you would be in eternity with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in a series called entry and end times in which we are studying Matthew chapter 21 through 25 together. We are in the end of that series the final chapter of that series. And in this series we are unpacking the final words prophetic words and the final actions of the Lord Jesus Christ and hear me. I want to remind you that final words are very important especially when someone is on their deathbed or someone is facing death whatever they say last is very important. So final words are very significant and there are no more significant final words than the final words of Christ in the final days of his life before he was crucified for you and me. For those of us who are followers of Christ it has to be more than just church and more than just Sunday morning. We have to learn to love the scriptures and love the words of Christ. We have to learn to take them seriously. We have to tattoo them to our heart and live by them and think about them and absorb them. And these words that we are studying these final words of Christ before he was executed are very important and should be taken seriously. Our text is coming from the first 13 verses of our final chapter of this series Matthew 25 verses 1 through 13. And the title of this message is a cry for readiness. Spirit of the living God. Breathe on the proclamation of your word through this weakened earth and vessel. And minister to the hearts of the sons and daughters who are under the sound of my voice. And I'm asking you that the unbeliever who was under the sound of my voice would tremble at the weight of your holy word. That they would come to the foot of the cross and know you as a savior. Lest they know you as a wrathful judge. This I pray in the mighty and the majestic And the matchless name of our Lord and soon coming King The Lord Jesus Christ. Family Beyond my calling to pastor a local church It was in February of 23 when God also issued to me a call for traveling evangelistic itinerant ministry It was something I had no desire to do no longing to do I have no desire to leave my wife and my children or not be here on a sunday But God called me to travel and to preach and to bring the message of the gospel to wherever he will send these feet God bless the feet of those that are prepared to bring the gospel of good news And in my traveling I've traveled thousands and tens of thousands of miles and gone through many airports in many cities And just even last week as I was traveling to new york Man, we arrived at the airport just minutes before the plane was boarding and about to take off There is an announcement that the boarding door is about to be closed And for those of you who have flown before you know once that boarding door is closed There is nothing anybody going to do in the terminal to get that door to be open And you have seen this scene before People who are late for a flight running through an airport to try to make it to their gate on time Not prepared to be there early just trying to get in Before the doors have closed knowing in their mind if they miss that flight Gosh They will be left in that airport While they watch everybody else take off to a destination That they will no longer be able to go to family This is the same imagery that we approach in this powerful text Of the lord jesus christ that we are about to study one of the most powerful and serious parabolic stories That jesus ever taught in fact This parable that we approach this morning is so serious and the gravity of it is so serious Especially for those who will be caught off guard in the end that many times this week I found myself pushing away from my study and burst into tears falling on my knees I wept for everyone. I knew who was not saved I Wept for everybody who's sitting rooms like this who was not saved every time I read through matthew chapter 25 Man, I just burst into tears when I think about the implications of what jesus taught in this chapter And what he taught at the beginning of this chapter You recall that in this series our lord has come to what is the final week of his earthly life in ministry He is just days from being executed on a roman cross for your sins and for mine In response to a question. He gives the longest answer recorded anywhere of his ministry and scripture He prophesied to his followers the signs of the end of the age I believe we see the headwinds of those things happening right now in our society And he prophesied to them the sign of his coming He teaches them about the great tribulation period a seven-year period in which the wrath of god will be poured out on the earth during the ministry or the The uh, let's just say the empire of the antichrist not ministry, but empire of the antichrist And in response to that teaching he will then give what appears to me in the scriptures three parables three Short stories two Anchor the severity of his prophetic words to his followers. He prophesied the end He prophesied his coming and then if they were not listening he gives them three parables three Illustrations so they will take serious and you and I will take serious his prophetic teachings about the end because nothing christ has said will fall to the floor In our last message together stay awake We unpack the first parable the parable of a faithful servant and an Unfaithful servant and the point of his message is that he wants those who name his name To be found faithful when he returns and to remind you that you are a owner of nothing But that you are a steward of everything and that we will Give an account for how you stewarded everything he entrusted to you in his life your marriage Your children your finances your body your time your resources. We will give an account for how we stewarded Managed all these things we think we own but we do not why we laugh at people say this is my life All gotta do all god gotta do is take that breath from you Like a rich man man who stacked all of this wealth and say now what should I do that I've stacked all this wealth I'll put up my foot and live with ease and the scripture says you fool god said to him Tonight your soul will be required of you now who will spend all that money you stacked up Just a reminder to both the believer and the atheist that everyone is a steward Watch this you're even a steward of the breath you have in your lungs and when god is ready. He'll take it from you So He teaches a parable about a faithful servant And an unfaithful servant then mathy records the second parable that we unpacked today A powerful with a dreadful ending. He says in mathy chapter 25 The second teaching about the second coming of the lord in mathy chapter 25 and verse 1 The lord gave this second parable then the kingdom of heaven will be like Ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom Five of them were wise or 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. So the lord begins the parable with a setting The setting of the parable is a wedding. We know it is a wedding by the key word bride groom So the setting is an ancient wedding in first century Palestine now watch in order for us to understand what we're about to read We have to understand something about ancient weddings in the first century Now while there is little information about all the details of weddings in the first century There are some things we know about weddings. I want to share some of those things with you right now Listen to me carefully in the first century weddings were grand Grand events very big very powerful very showy In the first century ad a man Would be betrothed to a woman When something that was like a form of engagement That was even more binding than the engagement we have today a betrothal soul binding it could only be separated by divorce Watch the nuances of the wedding Then after the man claimed the bride to be his with legal numptials He would leave to go prepare a place for his bride. This is so powerful He would take time to prepare a home for her To get his resources in order to make sure the bride had a safe place to be Then the bridegroom would travel to the house of the bride And he would take the bride from her house And he would walk with the bride back to his own house and a processional at night That was carried with light to light the road on the way back to the bridegroom's house They would arrive at the bridegroom's house For a massive feast and festival There will be a shaking of hands between the bride and the groom They will be legally married and then the wedding will continue on for about seven days Okay, this is how a wedding happened in the first century now I want you to notice in this first passage the people who are invited to the wedding Jesus said that there are 10 Virgins invited to the wedding Now the word virgins is not about their sexual purity But the word virgins only means they were young and age to give birth to children Now, I want you to notice how the lord distinguished these virgins by preparation Five of them are foolish Five of them are wise Five of them prepare for the wedding Five of them do not prepare for the wedding I want you to notice all 10 are invited and all 10 are given an assignment All 10 have an assignment in the wedding. They have a part to play in the wedding five of them prepare for their part The other five does not prepare for their part Five are thinking about their assignment The other five are not thinking about their assignment. I also want you to notice there's no third party here There's only five wise and five foolish. There is no middle ground There is no third option There is no other group And so when the lord is speaking there are only two groups invited to this wedding five who are wise Five who are foolish five who have oil and five who have no oil Five who understand their role and five who does not understand their role five who prepared And five who did not prepare five who were listening and five who were not listening No middle ground no other group Verse five 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 So I want you to notice in the parabolic story That the bridegroom is delayed that is the 10 virgins could not calculate the exact time That the bridegroom would arrive to the wedding Jesus help us I want you to notice that the bridegroom did not tell them the exact time that he would arrive to the wedding I want you to notice that all of them know that a wedding is going to happen But they do not know when the bridegroom would arrive I want you to know that the bridegroom was not afraid to delay his coming And I want you to notice that while he was delayed in the busyness of preparing for the wedding they all fell asleep It's nothing evil about them sleeping, but the time that elapsed caused them to get drowsy So they all fell asleep waiting For the bridegroom Watch who was not busy about being on time He was only busy about arriving when he was supposed to And then there was a cry here the bridegroom is coming there is an announcement That the bridegroom is on his way Then verse seven then all those Virgin's rose And trimmed their lamps and the foolish said to the wives. Oh, no 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 oil for yourselves Gosh, I want you to notice now in the story when there is an announcement that the groom is coming All ten virgins arise would watch this word expectation Even the virgins who were not prepared for the wedding they wake up with an expectation to be in the wedding They have no oil, but they expect to be in the wedding They have no oil, but they expect to play their part They have no oil, but they still think they're going to be a part of the processional anyway So the five four wise they rise with an expectation watch they are looking to meet the groom And the five four foolish they rise with an expectation although they are not prepared They too are looking to meet the groom watch Now they have an assignment in the wedding watch their part is to walk the streets With those torches or lamps to make sure that the processional can make it from the bride's house To the groom's house These weddings in the first century often happen at night They would use a torch with cloth on the end soaked in oil They would light that torch on fire That torch will only stay lit for about 15 minutes to a half an hour And so if you wanted to make it the whole distance you need extra oil If you wanted to make it the whole distance If they wanted to finish their Assignment they needed extra oil to keep pouring on to that rag if they did not have enough oil Their light would go out So the five wise virgins have extra oil with them They have enough oil to keep lighting their torch so they could finish the assignment that they was given The five foolish virgins or women do not have enough oil to make it the journey And when they hear the groom has come they are startled They realize they have dropped the bag They realize they are in trouble and now at the last minute they try to get ready By asking people who was prepared give us some of your oil Never mind the fact that while the master was delayed They could have went and got oil while they was waiting Come on, man They could have got oil before they fell asleep They could have got oil while they was delayed But now that they delay they fall asleep but everybody else never mind They try to prepare while they had watch this word time So Now they go begging the wise virgins give us some of your oil watch But the wise virgin says no watches if I give y'all some of our oil Then none of us will have enough to make it the rest of the journey Since we don't have enough for you and for me I got to stay focused on my task You got to handle your own task I got to keep the oil that I have so I can make it all the way to the end So the five say to them man, we cannot give you any of this oil watch because they are focused on their personal assignment Verse 10 and while they were going to buy oil The bridegroom came And those who were ready They went in with him to the marriage feast And the door Was shut So while the five foolish virgins are scampering to get ready at the last minute The bridegroom puts in his appearance He sees the five virgins who were ready when he came He takes them with him into the marriage feast The other five are on the outside He shuts the door behind him Notice the bridegroom did not wait For the five foolish virgins to get back from the marketplace He did not say let me wait for them to come back with the oil to let them in He did not hesitate to slam the door shut on the five virgins who was not ready He did not wait for them to get themselves together at the last minute He did not wait for them when the bridegroom came He shut the door And brought with him into the wedding Only The virgins Who were ready Now look at me Let me explain to you the people in the parable Which you should have picked this up by now Okay The bridegroom is christ The delay in his coming is the time period you and I are living in right now between his first coming And his second coming where people are getting drowsy With spiritual apathy And spiritual lethargy And falling asleep The wedding feast Is the final marriage you see in the scripture the union between christ And the redeemed church of jews and non-jews Gentiles and jews from all around the world from the beginning of time The Oil Represent what is necessary Watch to be faithful and obedient for the entire duration before the wedding The five wise virgins are brothers and sisters who are truly saved Who have passed from life to death? They are indwelt by the holy spirit They tell you when they knew they life had changed they feel convicted over sin They rise they think about christ. They are praying and seeking christ They have a real genuine desire to know christ The five foolish virgins are everybody watch who are in churches Men and women who think they are christians But are really separated from god The five foolish virgins are people who have been in church their whole life Or people who attend gatherings they represent men and women around the whole world who think they are in good standing with god But they are not prepared for him when he comes They are living a false christian life. They have They have no oil It represents all of us who have been raised in church, but are not really saved It represents all of us who have been born into christian homes, but are not really saved It represents all of us who know christian lingo, but are not really saved It represents all of us who attend sunday morning gatherings But are not really saved and represents all of us who show up for christmas and resurrection sunday only But are not really saved and represents people who have christian lingo and christian post who say god's name But their life does not match their confession Okay Now pay attention I want you to notice that the wise virgins did not give oil to the foolish virgins Let me explain to you what that means it means that watch watch Salvation is not transferable Readiness is not transferable. You cannot give readiness away to somebody else This is why in the story, jesus said the wise virgins said no to the foolish virgins We can't give you our oil because you cannot give somebody your salvation Okay, you cannot give somebody your readiness i.e. What jesus is trying to communicate everybody when he comes will be responsible for being ready on their own I'm talking to all of you teenagers who was raised in christian homes and you think the face of your parents is going to get you into heaven I'm talking to all of you who have christian friends and you think the face of your friends are going to get you into heaven I'm talking to all of you who have a saved spouse and you think the saved spouse is going to get you into heaven I'm talking to all of you Who have out out um out growths and And and and you look like a christian on the outside But in the inside you are far away from god. Listen to me. You can have christian friends You can attend a christian church. You can go to christian conferences. Listen to christian podcasts read christian books and not be a believer And the reason they could not give them the oil watch because you cannot transfer readiness to somebody else You must be ready when the lord return for Your self Every teenager you better be ready for yourself. There are people listening to me right now You're young and you think i'll get ready when i'm older. Let me tell you right now There are teenagers. I know died in car crashes in a box and at 19 years of age. They are in hell right now I Know a group of teenagers that died in a car crash headed to the prom and if they was not saved they are separated from christ right now And since christ will come Immediately after the tribulation Which will be triggered by the rapture of the church which should happen at any day at any moment Is why jesus keeps prophesying throughout all centuries to every christian life. You need to be ready when now You need to be ready now You need to be ready now The scripture calls you a fool Who think you're christian and you are not My question for you. Do you ever feel conviction for sin? Do you have a love for christ? Do you have a desire for the word? Do you attend church because somebody invited you or are you coming because you want to hear The proclamation of god's word. Can you mark the time when you cross from death to life? Do you know for a fact that your name is written in the book of life? Do you know if you died in a car crash and away from this gathering if you got clipped? Do you know you would end up in glory and not an eternal damnation? Do you know that? Could you answer those questions? Are you ready to meet christ if he came seven years from now? Or are you ready to meet christ if you took your last breath? How are we ready to meet christ? What does readiness look like the lord is telling all believers that I want you to live with a consciousness of readiness How do you live ready as a believer? Look at me, please We know that you are ready when you live with a consciousness that the end is coming We know that you are ready when you live with an expectation to see christ I'm telling y'all there are too many of us who say we love christ, but you have no desire to be with him You are so attached to this life. You have no longing to be with christ We know that you are ready Watch when you are faithful in every season of your life in whatever state You find yourself in whether you're rich or poor Whether you live in the city or in the country whether you're single or married We know that you're ready when you're living faithful when you're being obedient When you're reading the word when you have a prayer life when you wake up in the morning with a desire to obey christ It does not mean you're perfect But it means that something has happened in your heart and you're longing to be pleasing in the sight of christ We know that you're ready And for those who think that this is a game I think the words of christ is something we should just be playing around with you You think this is just noise that i'm making I want you to watch how christ finished the parable As a matter of fact before i read this live verse everybody look i'm going to give you homework You take notes right? I want everybody i'm giving you homework See I want everybody this week Before now before next sunday I want you to read revelation 19 20 and 21 You could do it in 10 minutes Before you come back here next week. I want everybody to read revelation 19 20 and 21 I want you to read the picture that jesus prophesied about the final wedding the world would ever know And i want you to read about people who will end up in the wedding and what's going to happen to people on the outside of the wedding I want you to read i want you to read so you would never say i did not know I want you to read so you will be informed I want to keep encouraging you if you attend 2019 to read the scriptures for yourself And everybody before this time next week you would have read revelation 19 20 and 21 so you can see with your own eyes the final wedding in history Who is invited to that wedding? Who will be rewarded at that wedding and what happens to everybody who was not prepared for that wedding? I bet you'll change the way that you pray Some of you are going to come back here next week and you won't stand here while we worship You're going to lift your hands and thank god that you're saved I promise you some of y'all are going to come here next week and you're going to you're going to kneel down and thank god that you're saved When you read what's going to happen in the end for those of you who are really saved Man, you're going to have something else to be thankful for more than a house more than a car more than money You're going to thank god your name is recorded in the lambs book of life And for those of you who have friends who are not saved you're going to pray for them different after you read those three chapters Now for everybody who takes the word of christ as a joke Listen to how he finished the parable The last verses he said in matthew chapter 25 and verse 11 After the other virgins came also Saying lord lord open to us But he answered truly I say to you I do not know you Man lord help us jesus watch therefore For you know neither the day nor the hour Now pay attention, please listen to me The virgins who were not ready which represents everyone who thinks they are saved They come And they cry lord lord open the door to us How do I know that these virgins represent people who think they are christians? Because the atheists would not say lord And those in false religions would not say lord the only people that would call him lord of people who think they are christians They've been in church for years I'm gonna die and have the shock of their life when they realize all this time I was not ready to meet my savior who I thought was my savior They're gonna cry and say lord lord let us in and he will say I do not know you Notice there is no loss of salvation. He did not say I don't know you anymore No Laws of salvation in the text he's talking to people just like you who the scripture will call a fool Sitting in this room listen to me across this camera who think you belong to christ, but you are in danger of hellfire This is why he gives the warning at the end watch therefore for you do not know the hour that I will return And the reason I wept over this text Because it's one thing for people all across this country and all across social media who mock Jesus. We know they're not saved They don't care But the thing that is more dreadful Are people that sit in this room every week you listen to proclamation You log on across the camera you listen to proclamation you show up you stand in this room and you watch real christians sing You watch real christians worship You watch real christians lift their hands and you stand here thinking as long as I come i'm all right with god And what is more dreadful is to be sitting in rooms like this without The covering of the blood on your soul man And this is why over and over again the lord warns about people who will die with a terrible shock I'm listen. You know how dreadful it is to actually sat in rooms like this Die wake up on the other side and see a hand that says you cannot enter If you can't enter into the kingdom of christ Watch there is only one other option Last year in october We held a gathering at gateway center arena And we said the gathering was for the family of 28 19 The gathering sat 5300 people Men and women were showing up hours early And the arena filled all the way up to the brim 5300 people in that arena watch the fire marshal came and shut the door And said nobody else can't get in And although we as a church made a mistake and underestimated how many people were shown We didn't know how many people was listening to 28 19 And some 10 000 people showed up on that morning No Now although we made a mistake and we apologized for that mistake. There was a lesson from that day. I will never forget We had staff on the outside of the arena Who said when the door was closed they saw people banging on the door who could not get in They saw people arguing with the fire marshal and could not get in they could not change his mind They seen people on the outside crying and shedding tears because they could not get in they realized They was not ready. They did not get there on time. They can't get in they don't have a seat They wept they cried they argued they fuss they fell down on the floor They banged the door never changed the heart of the fire marshal And what we saw that day was the frustration in the eyes of many women who realized They're on the outside while people are on the inside And that imagery was imprinted into my brain because I thought to myself when they brought me that testimony I thought this is what it would be like in the end The lord will come He will gather into his arena all of the sons and daughters from around the world That truly belonged to him and then will come all of those who thought they were saved banging on the door of the kingdom They see the reapers behind them to take them to hell and they're banging on the door of the kingdom Lord, please let us in please let us in please They're gonna be in for the shock of their life and no matter how much they bang they will not change the mind Of the lord And the exhortation of the text Is for those who are really saved to live With readiness in your spirit faithful obedient Sacrificing laboring serving giving praying like we're living and expecting the messiah to come back to get us And for everyone else under the sign of what you already know who you are those of you if something don't shift You're gonna be banging on the doors of the kingdom and you're not gonna get in But now I want you to know the doors are open Right now as i'm talking to you the doors are open it has not yet closed and while the And while the doors are open you still have an opportunity to come inside When every head bowed and every eye closed i'm talking to you man I'm talking to you brother i'm talking to your sister the door is open, but it's only open until you die Man you already know who you are You've been in church your whole life, but you're not saved You show up here every sunday, but you're not safe You've been doing christian lingo, but you're not saved you know who you are you have no real desire for christ You have no real life that's pursuing holiness Man you're wallowing out in sin but coming to church you have christian lingo, but you have not really been filled with the spirit The lord is calling you right now the door is open You're in the room. You're watching across this camera I'm talking to you if that's you i want to pray for you right now This is between you and god I want to pray for you right now. This is i see your hand brother. This is between you and god I see you my brother. This is between you and god if i'm talking to you And you say pastor that's me pray for me i'm talking to you the door is open This is your opportunity to walk through i can't do it only to i see that hand only the spirit of god can do it One god is calling you Two the door is open for you to walk through three lift up your hand if i'm talking to you just lift it high I see those hands just just just lift them Nobody can't see no embarrassment. No shame Man All right put those hands down Everybody who lifted your hand if you're christian just pray just start the room stop spectating come on pray Open up your mouth and just pray just just stir the room everybody who lifted your hand with your own mouth Right there in your seat. You can pray in your heart the lord gay. Just start confessing your sin Tell god you're sorry for all your sin. Ask him to forgive you for all your sin Surrender your life to him come on you do that for yourself He knew this day would come when he will meet you right here in this moment You do it for yourself. He's catching tears that's falling from eyes all across this room do it for yourself Surrender come through the door the door is open run in before it closes on you Run in before it closes on you Run in before it closes on you Run in before it closes on you throw yourself at the feet of christ Tell him your sinner Tell him to forgive you for your sin. Tell him you're sorry Come on pray church. What's wrong with y'all pray We're trying to stop people from going to hell pray Come on run in while the door is open to you Run in the door is open to you run in run in Surrender he already knew this moment would come I can't save you. I can't transfer my salvation to you. You got to be ready for yourself Come on run in run in Run in run in run in Run into the savior whose arms are open wide Run in run run into the savior whose arms are open wide run in Run in Run in Run in and now father in the name Of jesus keep praying I pray for every person god who you are rescuing right now I pray for every man every woman who has placed their faith in you I pray for all of those who are your children that you predestined before the foundation of the world I thank you god that they belong to you. I thank you that you're feeling them with your spirit I thank you that you're recording their name in the lambs book of life I thank you god lord that you are passing them from death to life I thank you that right now they're being awakened right now their eyes are being opened right now They're being transformed right now. They're being made your sons and daughters right now Their souls are being saved I pray god you would give them a furious hunger for your word and for your presence and for community I pray you radically transform their life I Thank you god that they belong to you now And now father you said when one sinner repents all of heaven rejoices. So we rejoice right now god We were choice. We were choice We were choice. We celebrate come on somebody celebrate somebody celebrate celebrate Somebody celebrate Celebrate celebrate Somebody celebrate Celebrate