Wedding Prep for a Post Apocalyptic World

The Wedding Feast of the Lamb and the Call to Be Ready

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now here's a message.

From Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew the 25th chapter. Jesus said 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 and 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 the other virgins all 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. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Y 'all ever participated in a wedding rehearsal?

Foolishness, Wisdom, and the Meaning of the Oil

Kind of an important thing you know weddings are a big deal right and and rehearsals are the time when family comes together all the people who are participating in the wedding who are flying in from out of town the bridesmaids the groomsmen you know and the pastor sometimes it's a time to kind of make sure that we got all of our I's dotted our T's crossed so that we don't mess things up right and one of my favorite pastors who's now with Christ Pastor Ron Hodel he would always do this thing he had this this tradition he would do during wedding rehearsals when they would do the procession in and everybody would get into their places and they got to the part where if this were the real wedding right he would actually have some words to say and he would always do this it was always fun he would go marriage marriage is what bring us together today right and it was everybody would just lose it it was just the funniest thing ever.

And boy do I miss Pastor Hodel and his wry sense of humor. What a wonderful fellow. But all of that being said here's the point you'll note that our parable in our gospel text today is a parable about virgins and a wedding feast that they're getting ready to go to.

Right. And that being the case think of this text is kind of like a wedding rehearsal and the sad part is is that there are five foolish among these these young ladies and there are five who are wise.

Now we're going to have to interpret this biblically when we talk about foolishness we must interpret foolishness the way scripture interprets foolishness. So who is it that says in their heart that there is no God.

Is it the wise. Is it the learned. Is it the scholar. Is it the one who runs the Nobel Peace Prize. No it's the fool who says in his heart there is no God. That's foolishness. And when we consider wisdom scriptures very clear the fear of the Lord the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.

And here then begins to mark how we're going to look at this parable which I think again is a lot like a wedding rehearsal. We need to know where our parts are and what we need to bring to this wedding feast that we've all been invited to.

And by the way we've all been invited to this wedding feast earlier in the gospel of Matthew we didn't cover in this lectionary. But earlier in the gospel of Matthew there is a parable that Jesus tells about a king who has prepared a wedding feast and he sends out notifications to all the A-listers the people who were initially invited to let them know I've prepared the wedding feast.

We're ready come on down let's do this thing. Right. And people would say yeah you know I just bought some Twitter stock and you know I need to check my portfolio and I just bought a cow and wouldn't.

You know just got married and well me and the missus were still on the honeymoon you know. And so nobody on the a-list wanted to come and the king was a little miffed about this. Right. So what does the king do.

He tells his servants you go out and you invite everybody. Right. You just invite everybody. And so they do. The servants go out and they go on Hill and Dale and Street and Avenue and everybody is invited.

And I mean everybody from the town drunk the town hooker that the druggies the cobbler the the baker the candlestick maker everybody's invited and don't worry about the clothes. Because when you show up you all get Armani suits and wonderful dresses and things like this everything the king doesn't spare a single expense.

Right. So note this. We're all invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb and the people who are not ready and who do not end up there it's just complete and utter foolishness. Remember this God doesn't really damn people people damn themselves.

And that's kind of the point here. You don't want to be saved. You don't want to trust in Christ. You don't want to be forgiven. You don't want to have eternal life. Fine. Have it your way. Right. It's foolishness.

But that's well the reality despite the fact that Christ has bled and died for the sins of the whole world and that everybody from Adam and Eve all the way to the last person born at the end of the age everybody is invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.

Sadly great number of them will not be there. So five were wise five were foolish. And when the foolish they took their lamps they took no oil with them but the wise they took flasks of oil with their lamps.

And it's always kind of fun. You know when I do my sermon prep you know I like seeing how other people have handled this text. And there's some pretty miserable sermons out there. And always the question is because everybody knows the big deciding factor is do you have oil or not.

Right. And of course we all kind of know that that's what's going on here. And so we want to make sure we have that oil because you wouldn't want to show up without oil. That seems to be the deciding factor as to whether things go positively or negatively for you.

So what is it. How is one saved. Are they saved by doing gooder. Are being intentional by trying harder. This time Jesus I'm gonna shine myself up and I'm gonna be the shiniest penny in your little coin bag because I can I really can be good this time Jesus I mean it this time.

Right. Is that is that how we're saved by our good works. No I must tell you you cannot be good enough. You can't. And you're gonna know every one of these virgins they're virgins. Which is kind of an interesting thing.

If you think about it how does one become a virgin again it. Well this is not talking about that kind of virginity. It's talking about spiritual virginity of actually being forgiven. So everybody in this parable has been virgin eyes by the shed blood of Christ.

Christ has died for the sins of the whole world. So what then is the oil. Do you believe this or not. Do you think that you are a sinner in need of grace and forgiveness and mercy. Or do you think that you're just okay that I can make it on my own.

Thanks for the offer Jesus. But really if I'm not that bad. Right. And you're gonna note here here's the sad bit is that there are plenty of people who show up to church who do not have oil. They legitimately do not have faith.

They come to church with the attitude like this. Well God requires me to go to church. Well it says in the scriptures you should not. You got to keep the Sabbath day holy. Right. So we got to go to church.

So I went to church. Check. You see I got that checked off my list. You see what I did there. God. I went to church. Hmm. I expect my brownie points in my rewards. Thank you God. Right. And so that's how people come to church.

They come to church with this attitude. I got to do the thing so I did the thing. So God has to bless me. Right. But you're gonna know they don't have any faith. Cain had that same idea. If you read back in the book of Genesis Cain and Abel.

Right. Cain offered a salad to God. Which by the way you can do that there are grain offerings and things like this. He offered the first fruits of his produce as a farmer to God. And Abel offered up well a sacrifice of an animal of a sheep of a lamb.

And it says in the text that God had regard for Abel and then his sacrifice. But God had no regard for Cain. You know why. Cuz Cain had no faith. He was going through all the religious motions. I offered an offering to God.

He told me he wanted an offering. I gave him an offering. Here you go. God did he have faith in God. No not at all. Hebrews makes that clear. Abel's the one who had faith. And God had regard for Abel.

And so we're gonna note the scriptures are clear. If a law had been given by which men must be saved and we would be saved by the law. But by the law no human being will be justified in God's sight. You cannot be good enough.

You cannot be holy enough righteous enough or anything even close to that all of us. Scripture describes us as well dead in trespasses and sins. All of us are ungodly. All of us need to be forgiven. So the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And that fear recognizes that I'm a sinner. You're a sinner. And that we cannot on our own merits earn salvation and eternal life. Instead God has seen fit in his great mercy to send his son to bleed and to die for your sins in mind who are enemies of God.

And we are ungodly. And God has sent Jesus to be the all-sufficient propitiatory sacrifice so that we can be reckoned righteous because he was reckoned sinful in our place. You'll note that Jesus lays down his life for his bride the church.

And he washes away her sins and makes her clean. And he clothes her in white. What royal wedding gowns. All because of his great love and mercy. And he does this as a gift. But the foolish they don't.

They don't think they need faith. Faith. Yeah that's no big deal. I'm not that bad. It's a mere flesh wound. Don't be so dramatic. Right. Again it's just utter foolishness. So the bridegroom was delayed.

The text says. And we're going to note the intention of Christ was to be delayed. That's kind of the point. It's been almost 2 ,000 years now. Next year is 2023 10 years from that is the 2 ,000 year anniversary of the death burial resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

2 ,000 years. That's quite a delay. You know I know a thing or two about delays. When I was a kid my mother and father they divorced. And my mom you know when you when you are a single mother you kind of have to take your kids everywhere with you when you when you go places.

It's kind of a requirement because you can't leave them too much unattended. But from time to time my mom would cheat all. Right she would actually leave us in the car unattended. If she was gonna go into a place real quick and come out.

But sometimes she would get delayed. What she thought was gonna be quick ends up turning into a delay. And one time oh well my mother made the mistake we were in her duster. You guys remember Dodge Dusters.

What a miserably awful cars. Those things were the ugly terrible. They're just. But they were cheap. Okay a single mom can afford a duster. So we were in a parking lot and my mom ran into this place. I don't know if it was a bank or something like that left my brother and I in the car unattended.

And she said these fatal words I'll be right back. And she wasn't okay she was delayed. And while she was delayed I decided this was time. You know I'm as five years old and it's too high time that I learned how to take a car out of park and put it into neutral.

Okay and I succeeded was able to yank that pull that thing over drag it down to neutral. And guess what. We weren't on a level parking lot and so much to my surprise during my mom's delay we while my brother and I in this duster just drifted down this hill and crashed into the wall of the building that my mom was in.

Thankfully the damage wasn't that great but everything got foggy after that in my memory because I think there was a spanking and things like this involved in it. But delays delays are these things where mischief can happen.

Right. So note here Christ says he's going to be delayed. I don't know when Jesus is gonna show up. I don't know if it's next Thursday. I don't know if he's showing up 500 years from now it's none of my business.

And if Jesus shows up 500 years from now guess what. You're all dead long dead by that time. Right. So the end of the world happens either when Jesus shows up or when you crump. It's just gonna be this way.

Right. So get used to your fleeting life. It's going quickly anyway. So the question is do you have lamp oil in your lamp. Do you trust Christ. Yes or no he's delayed. So no sometimes sometimes things just go that way.

And Jesus anticipates all of this and says that all of these virgins that they became drowsy and they slept. And this is not talking about the sleep of sin. Okay. Because in chapter 24 Jesus talks about be sure to stay awake.

Okay so stay awake here. But this isn't the sleep that he's talking about in chapter 24. Staying awake in chapter 24 has to do with not falling asleep again in your sin. Right. Have you guys ever taken um Benadryl holy smokes.

That stuff should be made illegal. Okay I remember one time I was having seasonal allergies. It was the spring until the pollen was getting into my head and I was at a friend's house and I was sneezing and I was just miserable.

And they said oh I have the perfect thing for you. Oh what is it Benadryl. Cool. I'll take some Benadryl. It'll clear you right up. Okay. He gave it to me at one in the afternoon I woke up somewhere around 7 or 8 and it was dark.

Okay. Cuz that stuff just whoo puts you right out. Right. That's think think of Benadryl. Like the sleep of sin. Okay you want to you want to engage in your sin. You don't want to stay awake. You want to you want to feed the beast.

Well you're gonna fall asleep. And sin is much more toxic than Benadryl. And it'll knock you out pretty hard. Christ says stay awake. But here the sleep that is being referred to in Matthew 25 is the sleep of death.

This is something that's going to happen to all of us. So it's a different kind of sleep. So at midnight there was a cry. Here's the bridegroom come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trim their lamps.

And the foolish said to the wise give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. Well yeah duh. You didn't bring any oil with you. Then the wise answered saying well since there will not be enough for us and for you go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.

And here we can see the complete foolishness of this entire thing. You're gonna note here you cannot believe in Jesus for somebody else. All right. You just can't. And being a Christian is not like having an heirloom.

All right. There are no. And I mean this there are no grandparents in the kingdom of God. There just aren't. All right. You can't say well I'm a Christian because my mom was a Christian and my and my grandparents were Christian.

So therefore I'm a Christian. It doesn't work that way. Everybody is a Christian by virtue of the fact that they trust and have faith in Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. And you cannot believe for another person.

You can't. It's impossible. You either believe or you don't believe. And it doesn't matter if your wife believes your husband believes your mother believes your father believes you. If you don't believe you don't have any oil.

And you're gonna note here this is where the terrifying aspect of this comes in. Today is the day of salvation. You cannot tell me with certainty that you will even be here tomorrow. Nor can I. And you're gonna note that when Jesus returns or when you die the day of salvation is done.

The door is shut. It cannot be opened. No prayers after that are going to avail. No repentance or crying and weeping will have any avail. Isaiah puts it this way. And Isaiah 55. Seek the Lord while he may be found.

Call upon him while he is near. And I assure you he is near right now. Scripture says where two or more gathered Christ is present. Christ is here today to forgive you of all of your sins and give you eternal life as a gift.

So let the wicked forsake his ways. Let the unrighteous man forsake his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord so that God may have compassion on him and to our God. For he will abundantly pardon. And that's the thing even though your sins be as scarlet Christ will wash away all of your sins and make you white as so snow.

So today is the day of salvation. There's a day when the door will be shut. The day when it will be too late. And if you allow that day to creep up on you unawares it's like well showing up at a wedding that you were supposed to be in but you even weren't even there for the rehearsal.

You don't even know that you were supposed to bring oil. Right. So that day is coming. But today right now the the sellers of oil are still have their shops open. Who are the sellers of oil. Last time we talked about this I made it clear.

I'm one of them. Where do we get oil. Answer. We get it from the scriptures from the writings of the prophets and the Apostles. Faith comes by hearing hearing by the Word of Christ. Today oil is being given to you free gratis by this pastor.

I am a seller of oil. We never charge for it. Always and again salvation and faith these are free gift given by God. And this is the only place. These are the only places where God's Word is faithfully preached and taught where you can receive the oil of God to put into your lamp.

And he gives it to you for free. And so the foolish virgins decide at midnight who's gonna have their church open at midnight on the day of Jesus's return. By the way the day Jesus shows up Kongsvinger is done.

Right. It served its purpose. Yet remember watching the the Artemis rocket take off this week. Right. Those two booster rockets on the side once it got to a particular altitude those things dropped off and fell away.

Kongsvinger serves its purpose now to make disciples of all nations and to baptize and to teach all that Christ is commanded. But when Christ returns this church is as useless as a booster rocket has spent all of its fuel.

It served its purpose. There's nothing more that we can do for you or for anybody else on the day that Christ returns or the day you die. So the foolish virgins they head off into the night to go look for somebody who would sell them oil.

And while they were going the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast. The door was shut afterwards the other virgins came also saying Lord Lord open to us. But he answered truly I say to you I don't know you watch.

Therefore you know neither the day nor the hour. Now when people hear those phrases you don't know the day or the hour or that when Jesus returns it's gonna be like a thief in the night. Oftentimes those words are spoken as if they're somehow supposed to be like a lightning bolt from heaven that creates kind of anxiety and terror inside of you.

But here's where our epistle text is super helpful. You're gonna know the Apostle Paul talks about the fact that Jesus's return is going to be just like a thief in the night. But he's not sitting here trying to terrorize you Christians.

No he's actually trying to comfort you. Because here's the thing if you have faith in Christ are you ready for Jesus his return. Yeah. Is there anything else that you need to take care of. Nope. Not a thing.

Not one thing at all. So if you were to step outside slip on a frozen banana peel and hit your head on the sidewalk and die. Okay after church do you have anything to fear. No. If Jesus shows up this afternoon is there a football game for the Vikings today.

If there is I'll pray for you. I just you know. But if you're watching the Vikings football game today you have a heart attack and you die. Which could happen because you're watching the wrong team. Okay.

But if that happens is it. Do you have anything to fear. No. If Jesus shows up does it. Do you have anything to fear. Nothing. So listen to what Paul says concerning the times and the seasons. Brothers you have no need to have anything written to you.

You yourselves you're fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying there's peace there's security. Then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come on a pregnant woman and they will not escape.

But watch this. But you are not in darkness. You're not in darkness brothers for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you all are children of light. You are the children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.

So you know Paul's making it very clear. Yeah. It's true that Jesus's return is gonna be like a thief in the night if you're a foolish unbelieving virgin. But if you have trust in Jesus and you really legitimately have called out to him to have mercy on you and he's forgiven you of all of your sins.

Well when he shows up it's not gonna be like a thief in the night for you. You are already children now children now of not the darkness but of the light of the day. So then let us not sleep as others do but let us keep awake and let us be sober.

Those who sleep sleep at night. Those who get drunk get drunk at night. But since we already now belong to the day let us let us be sober having put on the breastplate of faith and love and for a helmet the hope of salvation for God has not destined us for wrath.

Those are important words. Note here destiny. Right. Destined God has not destined you or I or anyone who trusts in Christ that he has not destined us for wrath. Instead he has destined us to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep in death we might live with him.

And therefore encourage one another and build one another up just as you are doing brothers and sisters there isn't a sin that you've committed that hasn't been atoned for by Christ vicarious death on the cross for you.

So because we know that Jesus is returning. Note this then we are encouraged to what cast off the works of darkness to live as children of the day that is dawning. You'll note that when the world was created it always begins in darkness.

There was evening and then there was morning the first day there was evening and there was morning the second day and on and on. Right. And how did Jews reckon days. The new day began when the Sun set.

The new day always begins in darkness. And I think there's a significance to this because you know each and every one of us we were born in the darkness of sin. The day that we are living in right now is well we're not quite through the darkness yet.

But there's a day coming when Jesus will dawn and we will see the Son of God with our own eyes. And so we know that that's the case. So Paul is admonishing us to live like children of the day now even in the midst of the darkness of this world that we live in.

And when we live as children of the day then our good works shine before our neighbors as a testimony to the faithfulness and the mercy and the grace of God. And with that one last thing we have to work in our Isaiah text here.

The New Heavens and New Earth as the True Post-Apocalyptic World

So having prepared now you are now thoroughly prepared. We've done the wedding the wedding rehearsal for the feet thing that's coming. You know that you guys need to bring your oil trust in Christ. Everything will go well for you.

Here we need to talk about something over and again. The end of the world is described as what the apocalypse. Right. And you'll note that Hollywood has their own ideas about what a post-apocalyptic world looks like.

Right. A post-apocalyptic world looks like something like the planet of the apes. Right. Where things where civilization has disappeared monkeys have taken over and the Statue of Liberty lies in ruins in the sands of of the Hudson River.

Right. Or post-apocalyptic world like all the cities have been ruined and wrecked. It's Mad Max and things like this. Or you got zombies running around. And it's always described in the most awful terrible.

Everything's out of control kind of scenarios. Right. Hogwash couldn't be more wrong. Okay you guys want to know what a post-apocalyptic world looks like. We look at our Old Testament text. Here's what a post-apocalyptic world looks like.

Because you know all those other scenarios they're ungodly. They don't recognize. The apocalypse is brought on by Christ in order to bring about the new heavens and the new earth. And here's what our text says.

Behold I create new heavens and a new earth. The former things shall not be remembered or even come to mind but be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For behold I create Jerusalem to be a joy and her people to be a gladness.

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in an infant who lives but a few days. Or an old man who does not fill out his days.

They shall build houses and inhabit him. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be.

And my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity. They shall be the offspring of the blessed of Yahweh and their descendants with them.

Before they call I will answer. And while they are yet speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox and the dust shall be the serpents food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all of my holy mountain says the Lord.

That's what a post-apocalyptic world looks like. Paradise restored paradise we given we lost it because of our sin and rebellion against God and God in his rich grace and in his mercy gives it back to us.

And he gives it to the whole earth. Listen in Revelation it says. Then I saw the new heaven in the new earth. The first heaven in the first earth had passed away. The sea was no more. I saw the holy city in the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be them with them as their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying or pain anymore for the former things have passed away. And Jesus said the one who was on the throne says behold I am making all things new.

The end of the world is not something to fear. The end of the world is something to look forward to. For those outside of Christ it is a day of terror and darkness and thick smoke weeping and gnashing of teeth and of the wrath of God.

But for all who in Christ is the day of rejoicing a day of new beginnings. The first order of business is a blowout party where God has fitted all the bills and the wine from what I hear is going to be spectacular.

All right. And the food. Absolutely amazing. First order of business. And then new heavens. New earth. A world without end. A world without death. A world without pain no crying. And we can see our God finally face to face.

That is what the post-apocalyptic world really is like. So how does one get there. Only by faith. Repent of your works of darkness. Recognize that you have sinned grievously against God. Say the truth about yourself that you are a sinner and cry out to God for mercy.

And he will forgive. Today is the day of salvation. And he richly pardons and promises all of this to give to you as a gift as an inheritance because of his great love and mercy and grace for you me sinners and those who perish they do so foolishly.

That's their own choice. They're right. They don't have to be forgiven. Nobody has to be forgiven. And no one has to trust in Christ if they don't want to. But let us not be foolish but let us be wise and let our hope be in the one who's going to bring this new earth and who's going to give it to us as a wedding gift in the name of Jesus.

Amen. If you would like to support the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church you can do so by sending a tax-free donation to Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744 and again that address is Kungsvinger Lutheran Church 15950 470th Avenue Northwest Oslo Minnesota 56744.

We thank you for your support. All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message. And again thank you for listening.