Christ's Wisdom for His Bride

Christ the Bridegroom Seeking His Bride

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.

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, well, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered, truly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. This is the gospel of the Lord.

In the name of Jesus. All right, we've got an interesting text today. Wise and foolish virgins, and there's a wedding feast, and there's a wedding, and there's this whole bridal thing going on. What are we supposed to do with it?

Well, I would note here, I'm going to do something a little bit odd. I'm going to use a text from earlier in the year to kind of help us out. If you were to think of it this way, Jesus always is on the quest to save his bride.

It's kind of a big theme of scripture. And if we were to go back into the Old Testament, notable patriarchs of the Old Testament procured their brides at wells. I know that seems kind of a weird thing to say, but it's true.

If you think about Isaac, when Isaac, you know, when Abraham was ready for Isaac to have a wife, he sent one of his servants, and his servants went back to Paddam Aram, and there he met Rachel. Sorry, Rebecca.

He met Rebecca at the well, and then she became the bride of Isaac. And then Jacob, after he had swindled, I think that's the right verb, swindled the blessing from his brother, and he got it for himself by deceiving dad, which is a very interesting and sketchy story.

But all of that being said, he decided that it was in his best interest to keep breathing if he left town, and so he headed back to Paddam Aram himself, and when he got there, first place he got to was a well, and wouldn't you know it, he laid eyes on his bride for the first time, Rachel.

Moses, the same was Zipporah. You know, when Moses had fled Egypt after Pharaoh wanted to kill him because Moses killed a couple of Egyptian dudes, well, Moses, he was on the run, and he went from Egypt to Midian, and he also rescued his wife, who was a shepherdess at a well.

Fascinating set of circumstances. So if we were to go back to John chapter 4, and that Samaritan woman at the well, and look at it in this light, Jesus is procuring for himself his bride, now we've got an interesting story going on, because you'll note that because Christ in our gospel text today, this parable of the virgins, the foolish and the wise, Jesus is hours away from being crucified for our sins.

That's how far into the book of Matthew we are. So let's go back in time, let's take a look at a woman who kind of exemplifies the difference between foolishness and wisdom, and that is this woman from Samaria.

So it says here in the gospel of John chapter 4, a woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus happened to be in a town near Sychar, that's modern day Nablus, which is nestled between Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal in the West Bank today, and so he's not supposed to be there, Jews don't really go through Samaria, that's not a thing that they do, they try to avoid Samaria at all costs, and of course, men don't talk to women, and Jewish men especially don't talk to Samaritan women, this whole thing is rather interesting.

So a woman from Samaria came to draw water, it happened to be the sixth hour, noon, she didn't want people to see her because she's really not welcomed and we'll learn why, and so Jesus said to her give me a drink.

His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food, so the Samaritan woman said to him, how is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria, for Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.

Jesus answered her, wonderful answer by the way, if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. What a kind, loving, wooing kind of answer.

This woman's a little bit snarky, and Jesus responds, if you knew the gift of God, well this is chapter 4 of the Gospel of John and we should know by now because in chapter 3 it says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.

Jesus is basically saying, listen I don't want to brag on myself but I'm the gift of God for you honey. Now he didn't quite say it like that but you kind of get the idea. He's wooing his bride. The church is the bride of Christ, and so he gives a really interesting answer, trying to draw her into a conversation that has more to do with Christ, the spiritual, eternal life, the forgiveness of sins, than having to do with the tedious task of drawing water out of a well.

So if you knew the gift of God and who it is that is saying to you give me a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, sir, you have nothing to draw water with and the well is deep.

Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself as did his sons in his livestock. So note, this woman at this point is similar to the foolish virgins of our text.

What's her focus? The here and the now and the temporal. Her focus is in the world. Where your treasure is, your heart will be also. She's completely oblivious to the true things of the spirit and we wouldn't expect otherwise.

She is a false worshiper of God because she's a follower of the religion of the Samaritans, which is a weird Frankenstein of a religion, the best way I can put it. But Jesus here, again, this is where he's meeting his bride.

Something else is going on here. And so Jesus, kindly, doesn't engage her in words of snark or return her snarkiness with anger. He says, listen, everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again.

Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life. Eternal life? That's interesting that Christ here has focused on the eternal.

But watch this. This woman misinterprets Christ's words, thinking only of the temporal, not the eternal. Thinking only of what she can see, smell, taste, and touch rather than the true spiritual. The woman said to her, sir, give me this water so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.

The foolishness of unbelief still persists. And Jesus here at this point plays a card that well, only he can play because he's God. He knows every one of us from the inside out. Jesus knows all of the evil that you've committed.

Jesus also knows all the things that you are most proud of. Jesus knows the things that you fear the most. Jesus knows everything and every detail of your life, even to the point of having all of your hairs on your head numbered.

And for some of you, that's a small number. Just saying. All of that being said, Jesus says to the woman, you go call your husband and come here. The woman answered him, I have no husband. What an answer.

She's right, but she's totally wrong. She's deflecting on purpose. She doesn't want to get into that conversation. So Jesus drops the bomb on her. You're right in saying I have no husband. For you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband.

What you have said is true. And here's where we have to work this theme out. Jesus is basically saying, listen, the guy you're shacking up with right now, I know you've had a bunch of failed marriages, and we don't get the details as to why she has all those failed marriages.

But this is a woman who's not looked upon very well in her own village. We know this by the fact that she has to slink out to get water at noon. And so Jesus says, listen, you've had five husbands. What you've said is true, but Jesus here desires and seeks to legitimately be the husband that she has been looking for.

And you can't think of it in crass physical terms here. Jesus is the bridegroom. And I would remind you what the scriptures so wonderfully teach us in the book of Ephesians chapter 5. Verse 25. Husbands, love your wives as Christ has loved the church and gave himself up for her, so that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, so that she might be holy and without blemish.

What a great husband. What a great groom Jesus is. He finds his bride in the midst of her sin, in the throes of her ungodliness, in the guilt of her shame, in the muck of her unworthiness. And what does he do?

Rather than give her a scolding and say, I don't want to have anything to do with you, he instead goes to the cross, bleeds and dies for her sins. And in the washing of baptism, washes away all of her filth and muck.

And then in the righteousness that comes from faith, he clothes her in splendor without spot or wrinkle, so that she may not be put to shame. And that's what Jesus is doing in this text. And you'll note, up to this point, the woman has been completely foolish in her responses.

She doesn't even recognize her husband, our husband, as Christians. And so the woman said to him, Sir, I perceive you are a prophet. Our fathers worshipped on this mountain, but you say, you Jews say, that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship.

She decides to change the subject to one of those forbidden subjects, the ones you're not supposed to talk about at Christmas and Thanksgiving, religion and politics. She goes for the jugular and goes right to the religion question, knowing that this is where the conversation's supposed to break down.

Because she's had this conversation before. She's seen this conversation and how it spins out of control. She's at this point doing everything she can to not be pursued by this lover, to rebuff him. Jesus said to her, Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.

This hour is coming. Ah, the hour of Christ's death. The hour of Christ's resurrection. The hour when Christ is nailed to the cross and he is suffering and bleeding and dying for this woman's sins, your sins and mine.

That hour did come. And in that hour, Christ cried out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? He was forsaken so that we can be forgiven and cherished. You remember your wedding vows, some of you?

I promise to love, honor, and cherish. Cherish is a wonderful word. And it shows that love that Christ has. Here he cherishes this woman who is part of his bride. And he desires for her to be one who worships the Father in spirit and in truth.

That's why he goes to the cross to die for her. That's why he's wooing her. So Jesus said, Listen, you worship what you do not know. You Samaritans are wrong. However, we, we Jews, we worship what we know for salvation is from the Jews.

But the hour is coming and is now here when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. The Father is seeking such people to worship him. Check that out. God, the Father, is the seeker.

Not you, not me, not anyone else. God is the one. He is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit and he is truth and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. And now something bizarre happens and absolutely fascinating.

The woman said to him, I know that Messiah is coming. He was called the Christ. When he comes, he will tell us all things. And almost kind of in a legendary way. Think of Zorro. I mentioned Zorro here before.

But Zorro, he always wears a mask, right? And that's kind of the point of the incarnation. God has taken on human flesh and it's tough to spot deity hidden so well. Jesus at this point lifts the mask and winks and says, I who speak to you am he.

Out of his great love for his bride, he reveals himself to her. So just then his disciples came back. They marveled that he was talking with a woman. No one said, well what do you seek or why are you talking with her?

So the woman left her water jar and went away into town and said to the people, come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Can this be the Christ? And in the blink of an eye, in the twinkling of a moment, we see that something amazing has happened.

She has gone from being foolish to being wise. To being an unbeliever into a believer. Christ has got his wife. And it's beautiful when you think about it. Come see a man who told me all that I ever did.

Can this be the Christ? And so they all went out of the town and they were coming to him. The story continues and says many Samaritans from that town believed in Jesus because of the woman's testimony.

He told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them. And he stayed there for two days. And many more believed because of his word. They said to the woman, it is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and we know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.

Not just her, but her town and so many people now believe that Jesus is the Christ. And by believing they have life in his name. They've gone from being foolish to being wise. And this is all about that bride.

And so we go then to our gospel text which has these wonderful bridal themes. As Jesus is about to be crucified, he's got the wedding on his mind. He knows that he's going to the cross in order to sanctify, to redeem, to cleanse, and to glorify his sinful bride.

So Jesus then gives words of wisdom for his bride. He says, then the kingdom of heaven, it'll be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, five were wise.

The foolish ones, like everybody else on this planet, all they care about is what are we going to eat? What are we going to drink? How are we going to make our money? What's our next vacation? Always focused in on the temporal and the next big thing so that they can have that experience and add it to their bucket list because YOLO, you only live once, right?

And this is the focus of all human beings. It's always on the temporal. But you'll note that we human beings rarely take a real good look at the eternal. And when we do, we often think, well it's not that big of a problem.

I'll just make sure to give some money to the poor at Thanksgiving and that'll make me good with God. This is just nonsense. They really do not consider their own sin. They do not consider their own unworthiness.

They do not consider that Christ has bled and died for their sins and that salvation is only found in Him. So five were foolish, five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them.

Now, I've preached on this before over and over again. I agree with Luther. You'll note there's a lot of ink that's been spilled. If you read the commentaries, read the church fathers, you read the debates back and forth during and after the Protestant Reformation.

Everybody wants to know what this oil is. So back in the church fathers, you look at St. Augustine. St. Augustine said, well, that oil has to be charity. And I sit there and go, no, sorry Augustine, you're great.

But that's not what it is. Otherwise, we're saved by our works. I think Augustine has the wrong problem. Luther goes to the way other side. No, it's faith. It's got to be faith because we're only saved by grace through faith.

Luther, I agree with you. And then to concede to those who think it's probably deeper than this, looking at themes throughout the scripture, linking oil to the Holy Spirit, I think you can probably make a concession along those lines and say, if you want to think that this oil is the Holy Spirit, that makes sense.

Because what do we say in the catechism, in that third article of the creed? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength come to God or believe in Him, but the Holy Spirit through the gospel has made me.

So this idea then, the Holy Spirit is the one who woos us. The Holy Spirit is the one who draws us. The Holy Spirit is the one who then gives us faith. He raises us from the dead. He is the one who resuscitates us, regenerates us, and He, now being indwelt within us, is the one that produces within us the fruit of the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the source of our faith, and He works through His Word. And so you can think of the oil as the Word, of the Holy Spirit, and faith. They all kind of come together in one big package.

So, and you're going to note then, can you believe for somebody else? No. You cannot. And you're going to note then, you can't give your faith to anybody else, but today, can you help somebody have this faith?

Can you help somebody hear the voice of the Holy Spirit? Yes, you can do this today. You can share the gospel with your friends. You can confront them with their sin. Assure them of the forgiveness of sins that is in Christ.

Because we, like that Samaritan woman, none of us come to Jesus as godly people. We're all ungodly. The good news is for all sinners. Good news that they do not need to perish for their sins. But Christ, in His great love for His bride, has laid down His life for us.

And so call them to repentance. Preach the good news to them. So, the foolish took no flasks of oil with their lamps. So as the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. And here we've got to make a point.

This isn't the sleep of falling back into sin. That's a theme in Scripture, by the way. You know, falling back into sin and going back to sleeping. People, they do awful things in the dark. And so as a result of it, sleep sometimes in the Scripture is mentioned as this idea of going back, falling asleep, and thinking only of the temporal things and letting the sin and the concepts of the world overtake us and we go back to the dominion of darkness.

That's not what this is talking about here. This is talking about what happens to all of us if Christ continues to tarry. And you'll note, He seems to be taking His dear, sweet time because it's been 2 ,000 years.

Almost 2 ,000 years. It'll be 2 ,000 years in the year 2030 since Christ has been ascended into Heaven. 2 ,000 years. And you sit there and go, what's He waiting on? Well, it's not His will that any should perish.

If it's not His will that any should perish, then the remainder of the bride of Christ isn't in yet. Christ loves His bride that much that He delays for her sake. Think of it this way. If Jesus came back in 1862, where would we be?

So you'll note Christ's delay of 2 ,000 years has made it so that we have been brought into the fold. We have been invited to this marriage feast. And so Christ has taken His dear, sweet time, and I say if He wants to take longer, He's welcome to.

He knows what He's doing. He'll be here when He's good and ready. But the day of grace does come to an end. And that's really the hint here at this text. That's really one of the points that Christ is making.

So, they fell asleep, which is the sleep of death, and at midnight, the day when Jesus returns in glory to judge the living and the dead, there was a cry, here is the bridegroom, come out to meet Him.

And everybody pops out of their graves. And 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, well, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.

Who buys oil in the middle of the night? You'll note they can offer no help. When the day of judgment comes, I cannot help you. I can help you today, but I cannot help you on the day of judgment. On the day of judgment, I will be otherwise occupied.

Right? That's kind of the point. And so will you. And so your neighbors who are dead in trespasses and sins like these foolish virgins, they cannot be helped by you on that day. This is the day when we help them.

So, since we cannot, there will not be enough for us and for you, you go rather to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And so while they were going, foolish virgins looking for oil that they can purchase in the middle of the night, this is getting foolisher by the minute.

Is that a word? And they were going to buy. Then the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and then the door was shut. The end. Hmm. And here's where we have to note this.

If you do not hear the Word of God, you are not ready. If you will not hear the words of Christ and the calls of Scripture to repent, and the words of Scripture which reveal to us that all of this that we see is coming to an end.

Every last bit of it. In fact, all of the schemes of human governments and peoples and conspiracy people and all this kind of stuff, it's all going to come crashing down in one cataclysmic day. Why are you investing so much time and effort on stuff that is going to burn?

Right? It's because you're only thinking of the temporal. And so we must understand this. As Lutherans, we do not believe in once saved, always saved. We recognize that the temptations of the devil, the world, and our own sinful flesh can lead us back into darkness.

That we can forfeit this great faith in salvation that we have. All you've got to do is throw Jesus and chuck Him behind you. Stop coming to church. Stop hearing the Word. Stop hearing that your sins are forgiven.

Stop eating the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins. And over a short amount of time, like the weeds in my yard, you'll go back to being wild and foolish. And so these are words of wisdom from Christ in a sense of a warning.

Right? So, the door was shut. Afterwards, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. He answered, truly I say to you, I don't know you. So watch, therefore, for you know neither the day or the hour.

So be assured of this. This fact only. That Christ has bled and died for you and for me. And it is utterly foolish that anybody ends up in hell. It is not God's will that any should perish. And any who do, it is their fault.

It is their foolishness that brought them to the brink and then threw them into the pit of disaster, which awaits everybody who persists in sin and unbelief. So brothers and sisters, rejoice in this fact that Christ has bled and died for you, that He's saved you, that He's given you His Holy Spirit, that He's forgiven you of all of your trespasses and sins and He continues to sustain us now with the faith that He has given us through the Word, through the Sacraments so that we would not hear those horrible words depart from me, I never knew you.

And instead we will hear as we hear in next week's Gospel, well done good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Master. All of this is by grace through faith, by the husband who loved his wife so much that he laid down his life for her.

In the name of Jesus, Amen.

Christ's Delay, Judgment, and the Call to Readiness

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