We've All Been Virginized

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 Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25

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, 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 they 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 to 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. Afterwards 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 do not know neither the day nor the hour. This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Hope, Eschatology, and the End of the World

All right, listen to these words, tail end of our epistle text today. Encourage one another with these words. We've steered into that portion of the church year where we spend a couple of weeks looking at the end of the world.

And I will say this, I always kind of point this out, that eschatology is one of these things. Eschatology, it means the study of the last things, the study of the last days. Eschatology is one of these things where many people in wingnut wackerdoodle-ism have, well, claimed that they have cracked certain codes in the Bible and have been able to play the game of pin the tail on the Antichrist.

And always and again, they seem to get it wrong. Currently, the whole world, or a lot of portions of the church world, are abuzz, postulating, speculating, is Trump the Antichrist, or is he Cyrus? Is Biden and Kamala Harris the Antichrist, or in league with the devil?

Who is the man of lawlessness? And all this stuff is nonsense. You'll note that the Apostle Paul, at no point in his career as an apostle, gave weekly prophetic updates regarding Emperor Nero. It just wasn't on his radar.

And the reason being is this, is that Christ has given us exactly what we need in order to patiently persevere in the end times. And the thing that we need the most in the persecution, the suffering, the difficulties, the temptation of this life of ours, the thing we need the most is hope.

We need hope. Have you taken a look at the world around us? It's utterly broken. Have you taken a look at your own life? You are utterly broken. I am tragically fractured and broken by sin, beyond repair.

I cannot repair it myself. That being the case, we need some hope. We sinners who know that we stand guilty before God, we need hope. We need hope that there is mercy. We need hope that there is forgiveness.

We need hope that there is love. We need hope that there is something better than this. That this world that is so broken and fractured is not all there is. That there is something more. And that's the point of eschatology.

The eschatology teaches us that there is hope. That there is a new world coming. And that Christ has redeemed each and every one of us. Pardoned and forgiven us. Clothed us in his righteousness. And the most amazing thing ever is that we collectively as the church, we are the bride of Christ.

Cherished and loved. And I don't know if you've noticed, but love seems to be severely missing in this world. Severely missing. I find it odd. I don't make an apology about this. I enjoy photography. Photography is an artistic expression.

And there are certain people whom I follow on YouTube who I respect as artists, as photographers. And I am blown away by the absolute hatred and vitriol that I see in the comment section of videos that are designed to teach you how to show beauty in the world.

It's just unbelievable. But the thing is, it's not out there only. It's in here inside of me. And so as we consider these texts today, I'm going to switch up my style just a little bit. We're going to do a little bit of a more Bible study look at our gospel text.

And we're going to weave in our epistle text together. Because as Paul says, encourage one another with these words. Biblical eschatology rightly grounded in a proper understanding of God's law and the forgiveness that is in Christ because of the gospel, the good news that he has bled and died for us, encourages us.

So let's take a look at Matthew 25, verses 1 to 13. This is a parable that is terribly misused and abused by people who do not rightly understand law and gospel, sin and grace, and forgiveness of sins.

And always and again in these texts, they try to either intentionally or even unintentionally sneak in this idea that we are saved by our works or saved by our sanctification. And when Christ says words like, Watch therefore, you know neither the day or the hour, he is not at all implying that you will not be saved if you don't clean up your act.

Have you repented enough? Have you borne enough of the fruit of the Spirit? That's not the point. And so as we consider this text, we're going to tear this apart, like I said, a little bit more Bible study style, so that we can understand the imagery that is in this parable and see if there's any hope for us in it.

Because in reality, if you rightly understand this and you do not sacrifice the biblical doctrine of salvation by grace through faith apart from works, there is much here to encourage and to comfort us.

Christ Died for the Whole World

Jesus said, Now there's a lot going on here, so let's tear this apart. Ten virgins. The ten virgins here clearly are representative, if you would, of the whole world. Of every human being. We're all represented here.

And I would note that if you're trying to figure out how many people will be saved and how many people will be damned by this parable, you'd come up with a 50 -50 split. But in next week's parable, it's a two-thirds, one-third.

Two-thirds saved, one-third damned. You see, Christ isn't giving us some kind of way of figuring out how many people are in the great multitude of those who are saved. That's not the point. Instead, we hear something here that is quite encouraging.

And I want you to consider the implications. The kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins. Now, the implications of what Christ is saying here in regards to Calvinism are actually quite devastating.

According to Calvinism, Christ has only died for the elect. But the reality is this. By Christ describing everybody on planet Earth as a virgin, that means that Christ's death on the cross was for everyone.

In fact, a good way to think of it is that His all-sufficient sacrifice was truly for the sins of the whole world. So when you hear passages in Scripture that say of Christ, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, then you know that Christ has bled and died for all.

Or in 1 John, John says that Christ has died for our sins, but not only for our sins, but for the sins of the whole world. And it doesn't mean merely the elect. It means everybody. Christ's sacrifice on the cross left no sin undied for.

And that is good news for us. And so you'll note the cross then, and I'm going to make up a word here, the cross virginizes all of us. Each and every one of us who are guilty of rank idolatry, rank blasphemy, of not keeping God's word, of sinning against each other in such horrible ways, in our murders, in our adulteries, in our thefts, in our lies, in our coveting.

All of these things we are guilty of, and we understand that we have lost our purity. But Christ on the cross, by bleeding and dying for us, He restores that pristine state. Everybody on the cross has been virginized.

And it's a beautiful picture if you consider it. But immediately I can hear you say, well, pastor, wait a second here. Well, if everybody's been virginized, then how is it that some people go to hell?

You're going to note it has nothing to do with them not being bled for or died for. What's the dividing line in this text? You're either foolish or wise. And I want you to think about this. How foolish do you have to be to be bled for, died for, to have all of your sins pardoned, and you being reconciled to the Father, and you persisting in sin and unbelief?

And then on the last day, foolishly wandering off into the darkness rather than coming into the wedding feast. Foolishness indeed. In fact, a good way to think of it, when we look at how Scripture interprets Scripture in the Proverbs, it doesn't say of those who deny the existence of God that they are great scholars.

It doesn't say of them that they are the educated, the learned, that they are the people who are wise. Instead, what does the Scripture say? The fool says in his heart, there is no God. The fool says this.

And yet, it's our learned professors of philosophy at our local universities who are the ones who make it a point of trying to knock your faith in Christ out of you using all kinds of means, and they think of themselves to be wise.

But the Scripture reveals to us the truth. They are utter fools. Then what is wisdom? Well, the Proverbs help us again here. The Proverbs tell us that the fear of the Lord, the fear of Yahweh, is the beginning of wisdom.

What does that mean? What kind of fear are we talking about? Are we talking about cowering in the corner while we wait for God to beat us with His belt?

No.

The fear of the Lord is a right understanding that we have sinned against our Holy Creator, that we have come up short, fallen way, way short of the glory of God, recognizing that He is in the right, we are in the wrong, and calling out to Him and asking Him to forgive, to pardon, and to have mercy.

That's wisdom.

And that's what the dividing line is. You either believe or you don't believe. It's not that you're not bled for or died for if you don't believe. It's that you're foolish. That's the problem. And so with this, then, we continue into our parable.

So five of them were foolish, five were wise, and when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. And oil here is not referring to good works. Oil is referring to faith. If it were good works, then Christ teaches salvation by works, but He's not.

This is the oil of faith. Give me oil in my lamp. Keep it burning, burning, burning. Give me oil in my lamp, I pray. Lord, continue to sustain, to build, to nurture the faith that You have given me in You.

And as the text goes on, it says, then, The bridegroom was delayed, and they all became drowsy, and they slept. Now what is this referring to? And this is where our epistle text helps us out. 1 Thessalonians 4 says, We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve, as others do who have no hope.

For since we believe that Jesus died and rose, even so through Jesus God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep. This is the sleep of death. Now, over and again, I keep pointing this out, and I'll continue to point it out.

The end of the world is coming sooner for some of us than others. If Jesus doesn't show up in the next 10, 50, 100 years, well, I have news for you. There's going to be 100 turnover here at Kongsvinger.

There's going to be 100 turnover. Because if Christ doesn't show up for another 100 years, we're all going to fall asleep. And that's the point. As Christians, we recognize that death is a sleep. It is a temporary affair.

It is not something that lasts forever. Death doesn't get the last word because Christ has conquered death. And so falling asleep is how this goes. But you're going to note, it says, because the bridegroom was delayed.

Believe me when I tell you that Christ is quite busy. He's not sitting there twiddling his thumbs, wondering what to do next, and maybe figuring out how to play another round of solitaire on His bedroom floor.

That's not what He's doing. He's running the universe. And as a result of it, it's His prerogative to be delayed. He can be delayed as long as He wants, but He will never be late. But the point is this, is that we should recognize that He is delayed, and so if we fall asleep, the day you fall asleep, that's the end of the world for you.

Not a bad way to think about it. I always think that if Christ decides that He's going to continue to be delayed and I should fall asleep because God has a sense of humor, I always make a joke about the fact that nobody knows the day or the hour and Christ is coming on a day when no one expects Him.

That's what the text says. That's what Jesus says. That being the case, I'm pretty sure that if I have to fall asleep, God's going to cause me to fall asleep on a Thursday because nobody expects the end of the world on a Thursday.

And I can just see people at my funeral going, Of course He died on a Thursday. It makes perfect sense. He kept joking about that for decades. It was the oldest joke ever. We stopped laughing at it the third time He told it.

Yeah, I see this. I see this. I know how it works. But all of that being said, the end of the world has come for members of Kongsvinger. We've buried several handful of people since I've been here. And the end of the world has already come for them.

And so the end of the world will come for you if Christ continues to delay. But do not worry. You already practice death and resurrection on a daily basis. When you go to sleep, you practice dying. When you awaken, you practice resurrection.

And if you have insomnia, you even have more practice than everybody else. So, I have insomnia. It's a curse that I got from my grandfather who gave it to my father who gave it to me. Oh, I think I pass it on to my son as well.

But you get the idea. So, he was delayed, they all became drowsy, and they slept. But note this, brothers and sisters. There is a day coming when Christ will get on with it. He will come. And the text says, At midnight there was a cry, here is the bridegroom, come out to meet him.

This is the day of judgment. This is the day when the dead in Christ and everybody in the world will rise. Consider in this context our epistle text. Paul says, I left until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with the cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. And notice in this text, it uses the phrase, asleep and rise.

Death is sleep for the Christian. But also note this. We do not believe the idea of the Jehovah's Witnesses or the Seventh-day Adventists and this idea of soul sleep. That's ridiculous. Because the text says that when Christ returns, God will bring back with him those who have fallen asleep.

They're presently with him. As Paul says, To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. And so the day will come. And you'll note that this text rules out also this idea that there's some kind of a secret rapture.

That Jesus is going to secretly return, snatch the church up, and then it's seven years of, well, Mr. Toad's wild ride with the beast, the harlot, the dragon, and all that. You get the idea. That's not it at all.

Instead, you can see that when Christ returns, it says that he returns with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. Well, if he was trying to do this secretly, you don't blast the trumpet of God, and you don't have the archangel cry out.

You don't do any of those things because then you lose the element of surprise and secrecy. But not only that, it says in this text that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

If you believe in the rapture, then you believe that those of us who are alive do precede those who fall asleep. It gets everything backwards, upside down, inside out. And a little bit of another note here.

Have you ever heard somebody say, you can't trust the Bible because that apostle Paul, he believed that he would be alive when Jesus returned. That's not his point. That's not his point at all. You see, when he says, for this we declare to you, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, we will not precede those who have fallen asleep.

This gets at the idea that the we here being referred to is the body of Christ. Paul is every much as part of the body of Christ today as you and I are. And if he were alive at the day of the coming of the Lord, then this would apply to him, but even though he's not, it tells us this, that despite the devils raging, despite the dragons conjuring up of the beast and the false prophet and waging war against the saints, that on the day that Jesus returns, there will be those on earth who believe.

The devil will not prevail. The gates of hell, as Christ has said, will not prevail against the church. There will be those who believe, who trust in Christ on the day that Jesus returns. And then, it says, that then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

And that's where then our parable continues. You see, Christ has come. The bridegroom has arrived. There's a cry, here is the bridegroom. And the virgins rose, rose from the sleep of death, all of them.

The virgins rose, and they 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.

Faith, False Assurance, and the Day of Salvation

Hmm.

Can you believe for another person? Can you take a portion of your faith in Jesus and give it to somebody else? You can't. Now, three years ago, when I preached this text, I made the point that you've got to figure out who the dealers are.

Who are these dealers that sell oil? The answer is, you're looking at them. You guys remember, like, those really crazy commercials where some guy would, you know, we, in Southern California when I was growing up, we had Cal Worthington and his dog Spot, and he was always having these insane deals.

You can get a 1978 Datsun B210. I'm taking $500 off if you come in right now, and you've got 0 financing for the next 12 months. That's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot. And everybody, wherever you grew up, there was always some guy on the telly that did this, right?

Well, I want you to think of this. I'm Crazy Rose, bro, and I'm the seller of oil. In fact, you're not going to believe the deal I have for you today. I'm giving all the oil away for free. I'm giving it away for free today.

I'm giving it away for free next week. You need some oil on Monday, just give me a call. I'll give you some oil for free. In fact, I'm so crazy as a dealer of oil, I'm going to take 50 off even zero so that you have even more freeness to the oil that I'm giving you.

And that's the point. The dealers of oil are the churches. Congs of Inger Lutheran Church here in Oslo, Minnesota. We've set up a great oil-selling industry, and we're giving it all away for free. And that's the point.

Because here, you will receive from me the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ that He has bled and died for your sins. That even though your sins be as scarlet, and you be the farthest thing in the world from being a virgin, Christ has bled and died for you, and He reconciles you to the Father, and He will make you new, and gives you all of the new earth as an inheritance for free because He's paid the price for you.

But I must caution you, and that is that at the moment, the plans are to keep the oil store open, but I don't know when Jesus is returning. So today is the day of salvation. If Christ is not returned by this time next week, we're open for business, and we're giving it all away for free because He's told us to, and He makes it possible for us to do that.

But note, the day that Jesus returns, it's a mandatory holiday for all sellers of oil. In fact, it's not even a work day at all. It begins with a party and goes into the eternal Sabbath rest. So if you dilly-dally, if you delay, if you need this oil, if you need forgiveness, if you need reconciliation with God, and you need to hear this Gospel and have the Holy Spirit work in you faith, well, there's no better day than today.

The deal doesn't get any sweeter. It's free today. But when Christ returns, the doors are shuttered. I'm going fishing for a long time. If you'd like to join me, get your oil. It's free today. You get the idea, right?

So think of then the foolishness here. They don't have any faith, and the wise rightly say, you've got to go to the dealers in oil to get some oil, but the thing is that the foolish foolishly believe that the churches would be open on the Day of Judgment.

They're not.

They will all be closed. So while they were going to buy, which is foolish, the bridegroom came. Those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. But don't let that pass you by for a second.

There's a big blowout party at the end of the world and the beginning of the new one, and it's going to be amazing. There's going to be hugs and kisses, reunions, smiles, tears, songs and joy, wine and good food and fellowship.

It's going to be spectacular, and we're all invited. And you're going to note in this text, even the foolish virgins were invited to this wedding feast. Had they had oil, they would be enjoying this amazing party that Christ is throwing, and rightly so.

And so, brothers and sisters, think of the hope. Think of the party. Think of being there sitting at the table, eating, and seeing Christ face to face. Seeing the glory of our Lord. Seeing each other in bodies that will not wear out, in a world without sin, where there is no hatred, there is no rancor, there is no theft, there is no murder, no adultery, no coveting,.

No lies.

In a world where we will perfectly love God and love each other perfectly. Perfectly loved. Perfectly loved. And that's just the threshold. The first step into that new world. This is hope, brothers and sisters.

This is the point of our salvation. This is what we are looking forward to. And it is appropriate then that it begins with such a feast, such a party, such an event. And so sadly, the foolish, the ones who say in their heart there is no God, were not prepared.

And so they went off into the darkness looking for an open church and found none. So the other virgins came saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. He answered, I don't know you.

I don't know you.

Watching, Repentance, and Encouragement for the Church

So watch therefore. You know neither the day nor the hour. Now consider then what Christ says here.

Watch.

What exactly are we watching for or watching against? You're gonna note that if we are saved by grace through faith apart from works, and that is what the scripture says, then watching is well akin to what we sang in our opening hymn.

Noting that the devil is actively at work trying to figure out how to knock that faith out of you. To take you and turn you upside down in such a way that you willingly pour your oil out. I guess I don't need that oil after all,.

Do I?

By deceiving us with apostasy, false doctrine, false gospels, false Jesuses, false spirits. By deceiving us to be complacent in our sin. To just presume on the mercy of God rather than actually repent and trust in the forgiveness of sins.

Or worse, taking what Christ has done for us on the cross and turning it into licentiousness. And despising Christ and His word. And in effect, crucifying Him again. So indeed, we are called to watch by Christ because these are the enemies and the temptations that would have us pour out our oil that we so preciously have right now.

And exchange it for foolishness. That which doesn't save. That which doesn't give us any hope at all. Exchange our confidence for doubt. Exchange mercy for legalism. It's a very sad thing. So indeed, we must continue to watch.

You don't know the day or the hour that Christ is returning. But again, Paul in pointing out the eschatological future that we have says to encourage one another with these words. So brothers and sisters, be encouraged.

You are in Christ. Your sins are forgiven. You have been made a virgin. Christ has died for your sins and is giving you the kingdom and the oil all as a free gift. So be at peace with God. Be at peace with each other.

And be at peace knowing that even though the world is tumultuous and the world has gone to hell in a handbasket, it's dangerous and scary and anxiety creating. Note this, that Christ is in charge and that all of that will give way to the new earth and that we have the new earth given to us by Christ.

By His blood He paid for you and me. And He has written us into the will and we have an inheritance that is unfading. So be encouraged. As we get closer and closer to the end of the world, we need not fear.

Instead, we can patiently endure because of the great hope that we have all given to us as a gift by Christ. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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