Wedding Prep for a Post Apocalyptic World
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Date: Last Sunday of the Church Year
Text: Matthew 25:1-13
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- 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
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- Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.
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- And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 25th chapter.
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- Jesus said, The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
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- Five of them were foolish and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them.
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- But the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. And as the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
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- 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,
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered,
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- Truly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
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- This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. Y 'all ever participated in a wedding rehearsal?
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- Kind of an important thing. You know, weddings are a big deal, right? 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, and even the pastor sometimes.
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- 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?
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- And one of my favorite pastors, who's now with Christ, Pastor Ron Hodel, he would always do this thing, he had this tradition he would do during wedding rehearsals.
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- 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,
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- Mawage, mawage is wabwing das togeta today, right? And it was, and everybody would just lose it, it was just the funniest thing ever, and boy do
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- I miss Pastor Hodel and his wry sense of humor, what a wonderful fellow. But all of that being said, here's the point.
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- 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?
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- And that being the case, think of this text as kind of like a wedding rehearsal. And the sad part is, is that there are five foolish among these young ladies, and there are five who are wise.
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- Now we're going to have to interpret this biblically. When we talk about foolishness, we must interpret foolishness the way scripture interprets foolishness.
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- So who is it that says in their heart that there is no God? Is it the wise?
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- Is it the learned? Is it the scholar? Is it the one who wins the
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- Nobel Peace Prize? No, it's the fool who says in his heart, there is no
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- God. That's foolishness. And when we consider wisdom, scripture's very clear, the fear of the
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- 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
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- 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.
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- And by the way, we've all been invited to this wedding feast. Earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, we didn't cover it in this lectionary, but earlier in the
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- 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
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- 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?
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- And people would say, yeah, you know, I just bought some Twitter stock, and I need to check my portfolio, and I just bought a cow, and wouldn't you know it, we just got married, and well, me and the missus, we're still on the honeymoon, you know?
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- And so nobody on the A -list wanted to come, and the king was a little miffed about this, right?
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- So what does the king do? He tells his servants, you go out and you invite everybody, right? Just invite everybody.
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- And so they do, the servants go out, and they go on Hill and Dale and Street and Avenue, and everybody is invited.
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- And I mean everybody, from the town drunk, the town hooker, the druggies, the cobbler, the baker, the candlestick maker, everybody's invited.
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- 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?
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- 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.
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- Remember this, God doesn't really damn people, people damn themselves.
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- 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?
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- 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, a great number of them will not be there.
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- 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.
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- And it's always kind of fun, when I do my sermon prep, I like seeing how other people have handled this text, and there's some pretty miserable sermons out there.
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- And always the question is, because everybody knows, the big deciding factor is, do you have oil or not, right?
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- 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.
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- So what is it? How is one saved? Are they saved by doing gooder, or being intentional, by trying harder?
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- This time, Jesus, I'm going to shine myself up, and I'm going to be the shiniest penny in your little coin bag, because I really can be good this time,
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- Jesus. I mean it this time, right? Is that how we're saved? By our good works?
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- No, I must tell you, you cannot be good enough. You can't.
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- And you're going to 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?
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- Well, this is not talking about that kind of virginity, it's talking about spiritual virginity, of actually being forgiven.
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- So everybody in this parable has been virginized by the shed blood of Christ.
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- Christ has died for the sins of the whole world. So what then is the oil? Do you believe this or not?
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- 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?
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- That I can make it on my own, thanks for the offer, Jesus, but really, I'm not that bad, right?
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- And you're going to note here, here's the sad bit, is that there are plenty of people who show up to church who do not have oil.
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- They legitimately do not have faith. They come to church with the attitude like this, well,
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- God requires me to go to church, well, it says in the scriptures, you gotta keep the
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- Sabbath day holy, right, so we gotta go to church, so I went to church, check, see,
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- I got that checked off my list, did you see what I did there, God, I went to church, I expect my brownie points and my rewards, thank you,
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- God, right? And so that's how people come to church, they come to church with this attitude, I gotta do the thing, so I did the thing, so God has to bless me, right?
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- But you're gonna note, they don't have any faith, Cain had that same idea, if you read back in the book of Genesis, Cain and Abel, right,
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- 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?
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- Because Cain had no faith, he was going through all the religious motions,
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- 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?
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- 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, then 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
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- 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,
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- God has seen fit in his great mercy to send his son to bleed and to die for your sins and mine, who are enemies of God, and we are ungodly, and God has sent
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- 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 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,
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- 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 gonna 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,
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- 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 are a single mother, you kind of have to take your kids everywhere with 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 just 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, do you guys remember
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- Dodge dusters? What a miserably awful car those things were, ugly, terrible, but they were cheap, okay, a single mom could afford a duster, so we were in a parking lot, and my mom ran into this place,
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- 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,
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- I'll be right back, and she wasn't, okay, she was delayed, and while she was delayed,
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- I decided this was time, you know, I was five years old, and it's 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, well, 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 are these things where mischief can happen, right, so note here,
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- Christ says he's going to be delayed, I don't know when Jesus is gonna show up,
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- 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
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- 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
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- Christ, yes or no, he's delayed, so note, 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,
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- Jesus talks about, be sure to stay awake, okay, he says 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
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- Benadryl, holy smokes, that stuff should be made illegal, okay,
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- 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,
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- 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,
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- I woke up somewhere around seven or eight, and it was dark, okay, because that stuff just puts you right out, right, think of Benadryl like the sleep of sin, okay, you wanna engage in your sin, you don't wanna stay awake, you wanna 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,
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- 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 gonna 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 trimmed 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
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- 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,
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- I'm a Christian because my mom was a Christian, and my grandparents were Christians, so therefore,
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- 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, 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
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- 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,
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- Isaiah puts it this way in 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 are gathered,
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- 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
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- 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,
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- Christ will wash away all of your sins and make you white as 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 weren't even there for the rehearsal, you don't even know that you were supposed to bring oil, right?
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- So that day is coming, but today, right now, the sellers of oil are still, have their shops open, who are the sellers of oil?
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- The last time we talked about this, I made it clear, I'm one of them, where do we get oil?
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- 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.
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- Today, oil is being given to you free, gratis, by this pastor,
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- I am a seller of oil, we never charge for it. Always and again, salvation and faith, these are a 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.
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- And so the foolish virgins decide at midnight who's gonna have their church open at midnight on the day of Jesus' return.
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- By the way, the day Jesus shows up, Kongsvinger is done, all right? It served its purpose.
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- Yeah, remember watching the Artemis rocket take off this week, right? Those two booster rockets on the side.
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- 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 has commanded.
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- But when Christ returns, this church is as useless as a booster rocket that has spent all of its fuel.
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- It's 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.
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- So, the foolish virgins, they head off into the night to go look for somebody who would sell them oil.
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- And while they were going, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.
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- Afterwards, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered truly,
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- I say to you, I don't know you. Watch, therefore, you know neither the day nor the hour.
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- Now, when people hear those phrases, you don't know the day or the hour, or that when Jesus returns, it's going to 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.
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- But here's where our epistle text is super helpful. You're going to note the apostle Paul talks about the fact that Jesus' return is going to be just like a thief in the night.
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- But he's not sitting here trying to terrorize you Christians. No, he's actually trying to comfort you because here's the thing.
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- If you have faith in Christ, are you ready for Jesus' return?
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- Yeah. Is there anything else that you need to take care of? Nope, not a thing.
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- 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?
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- No. If Jesus shows up this afternoon, is there a football game for the
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- Vikings today? If there is, I'll pray for you. I just, you know. But if you're watching the
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- Vikings football game today and you have a heart attack and you die, which could happen because you're watching the wrong team, okay.
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- But if that happens, do you have anything to fear? No. If Jesus shows up, do you have anything to fear?
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- Nothing. So listen to what Paul says. Concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you.
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- You yourselves are 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.
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- But watch this. But you are not in darkness. You are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief.
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- For you all are children of light. You are the children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness.
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- So you'll note Paul's making it very clear. Yeah, it's true. Jesus' return is going to be like a thief in the night if you're a foolish, unbelieving virgin.
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- But if you 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 going to be like a thief in the night for you.
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- You are already children now. Children now of not the darkness, but of the light of the day.
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- So then let us not sleep as others do, but let us keep awake and let us be sober.
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- 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 be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation.
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- For God has not destined us for wrath. Those are important words.
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- Note here, destiny, right? Destined. God has not destined you or I or anyone who trusts in Christ.
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- He has not destined us for wrath. Instead, he has destined us to obtain salvation through our
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- 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.
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- Brothers and sisters, there isn't a sin that you've committed that hasn't been atoned for by Christ's vicarious death on the cross for you.
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- So because we know that Jesus is returning, note this then, we are encouraged to what?
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- Cast off the works of darkness, to live as children of the day that is dawning.
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- 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.
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- There was evening and there was morning, the second day, and on and on, right? And how did
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- Jews reckon days? The new day began when the sun set. The new day always begins in darkness.
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- And I think there's a significance to this. Because you note, each and every one of us, we were born in the darkness of sin.
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- The day that we are living in right now is, well, we're not quite through the darkness yet.
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- But there's a day coming when Jesus will dawn and we will see the
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- Son of God with our own eyes. And so we know that that's the case.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- And with that, one last thing. We have to work in our Isaiah text here. So having prepared now, you are now thoroughly prepared.
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- We've done the wedding rehearsal for the thing that's coming. You know that you guys need to bring your oil.
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- 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?
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- The apocalypse, right? And you'll note that Hollywood has their own ideas about what a post -apocalyptic world looks like, right?
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- A post -apocalyptic world looks like something like the planet of the apes, right? Where civilization has disappeared, monkeys have taken over, and the
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- Statue of Liberty lies in ruins in the sands of the Hudson River, right?
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- Or post -apocalyptic world, like all the cities have been ruined and wrecked. It's Mad Max and things like this.
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- Or you've got zombies running around, and it's always described in the most awful, terrible, everything's out of control kind of scenarios, right?
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- Hogwash. Couldn't be more wrong. You guys want to know what a post -apocalyptic world looks like?
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- We look at our Old Testament text. Here's what a post -apocalyptic world looks like, because all those other scenarios, they're ungodly.
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- They don't recognize that 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.
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- 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
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- I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy and her people to be a gladness.
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- 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.
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- No more shall there be an infant who lives but a few days or an old man who does not fill out his days.
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- They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- Before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.
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- The wolf and the lamb will graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox, and the dust shall be the serpent's food.
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- They shall not hurt or destroy in all of my holy mountain, says the Lord. That's what the post -apocalyptic world looks like.
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- Paradise restored. Paradise regiven. 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.
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- Listen, in Revelation it says, Then I saw the new heaven and the new earth. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
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- The sea was no more. I saw the holy city and the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
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- 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 with them as their
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- God, and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more.
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- Neither shall there be mourning nor crying or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
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- And Jesus said, The one who was on the throne says, Behold, I am making all things new.
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- The end of the world is not something to fear. The end of the world is something to look forward to.
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- 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.
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- But for all who are in Christ, it is a 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
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- I hear, is going to be spectacular. All right? And the food, absolutely amazing.
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- 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
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- God finally face to face. That is what the post -apocalyptic world really is like.
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- So how does one get there? Only by faith. Repent of your works of darkness.
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- Recognize that you have sinned grievously against God. Say the truth about yourself, that you are a sinner.
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- 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 and me, sinners.
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- And those who perish, they do so foolishly. That's their own choice.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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
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- Avenue NW, Oslo, Minnesota 56744 And again that address is
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- Kungsvinger Lutheran Church, 15950 470th
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- Avenue NW, Oslo, Minnesota 56744 We thank you for your support.
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- All of our teaching messages may be freely distributed as long as you do not edit or change the content of the message.