Good morning and welcome in everybody. Today, we are going to take a look at a passage of scripture, but before we do that, I wanted to tell you a little story.
A lot of families like to visit each other during the holidays, and many times they will sit down at the dining room table and enjoy a nice home-cooked meal together, but there are great lengths that a loving wife will go through in order to prepare a fine meal such as this. They might start at the break of dawn, making sure that all of their pots and pans are in order. There are fresh vegetables to bring in from the garden, and plenty of potatoes to cut. There is bread dough to make, fresh meat to prepare, and even a kitchen table to set. The day passes very quickly, as the delicious aroma begins to permeate the entire house. When suppertime finally arrives, the meal that she spent so much time preparing it’s absolutely perfect, ready to serve to her grateful and hungry family. To get something perfect requires a lot of effort and preparations beforehand. A piano player prepares in advance for an upcoming recital. An Olympic gymnast prepares themselves for an upcoming competition. If you are ever going to put a good meal on the dining room table, you must start preparing. You cannot procrastinate, or put it off until later, you have to get busy right now! Obviously, if you procrastinate, nothing will be ready when the guests finally arrive.
This reminds me of the Christian Life.
Like a wife preparing a meal, Christians are called to prepare themselves for what is coming in the future. We must prepare our hearts and our minds for the day that we finally meet Jesus. We prepare ourselves by repenting of sin, and submitting to the perfect will of God. There is no time to wait, as this process must begin right now. As a wise wife prepares a meal beforehand so she is ready when her family arrives, we must prepare our hearts with the truth of scripture, so that we are ready to meet the Lord when He returns.
Matthew 25 ¹ Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. ² And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. ³ They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: ⁴ But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. ⁵ While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. ⁶ And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. ⁷ Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. ⁹ But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. ¹⁰ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. ¹¹ Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. ¹² But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. ¹³ Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
This whole passage is about preparing beforehand for what is coming in the future. We must be ready and prepared to meet the Lord Jesus by making sure that we have plenty of oil in our vessels. Like an oil lamp, each of us is a vessel that we need to fill up every day with the oil of the Holy Spirit, which is found in written form throughout the teachings of God’s Holy Word. In order to follow the narrow path of Christ, we need to see where we are going, and the light is found in the Lord Jesus Christ and the doctrines of our faith.
…..Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalms 119:105
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12
“As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” John 9:5
Those who truly believe in Jesus will repent of their sins. Through faith they will seek to do God’s will with all of their heart, turning from the darkness of wicked living and walking in the light of righteousness.
“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” John 12:46
Think of all the time that has been spent preparing missions to go to the Moon. Even the astronauts devoted many years to training, so they were prepared for the trip that was coming. Yet many people don’t even bother to prepare themselves for the greatest journey that any of us will ever embark; the trip to the throne of God on judgment Day. Somebody passes away and then all of a sudden they start listening to biblical instruction for a month. But then after everything settles down, they completely forget about God and return to what they were doing before. People who refuse to repent and prepare themselves, will be taken by God without any warning.
“Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.” Revelation 3:3
Noah spent his life preparing himself for God’s coming judgment and when it finally came, he and his family were delivered from the flood. But for everybody else, that day came upon them so quickly, that they couldn’t do anything about it at that point. They were partying in the world, rejoicing in the world, getting married in the world, and then died with the world. The same thing happened to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, who were wiped off the face of the Earth in a blink of an eye and without warning. The same thing will happen to all those who reject the path of repentance, and refuse to prepare themselves accordingly. To obtain eternal life, our lamps must be prepared and lit, burning with obedience, and watching for our Lord Jesus.
Luke 12 ³⁵ Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; ³⁶ And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately. ³⁷ Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them..
If people truly believe in Jesus, then they need to start preparing themselves by living for Jesus. Like creating a perfect meal, our lives need to become transformed into a living sacrifice unto God. To do this, we are going to need to roll up our sleeves and get busy, perfecting our lives into a pleasing flavor unto God, just like a really good….
……Home-Cooked Meal
Let’s think about these things for right now. We can be found on your web browser by searching, tlkjbc where you can find our diaries distributed through various platforms. We are not associated, nor affiliated with any other religious goups. You can get our entire podcast feeds directly, along with transcripts at tlkjbc.com or I suppose you could find us somewhere up here, in the Great Northern Minnesota woods. Peace to you all, and Lord willing, we will talk with you some more tomorrow. Till then, bye bye everybody.❤️
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