sermon: God's Warning


John O. Reid
Given 23-Feb-13; Sermon #1144A; 34 minutes

Description: (show)

To watch world events but to ignore our spiritual progress and overcoming is a foolish and futile exercise. We need to watch how we conduct ourselves. The oil that the wise and foolish virgins were cautioned to acquire and guard can be subdivided into several aspects. For example, we need to attend to how we dress when we come before God, realizing that we are appearing before the throne of God. We need to regularly pray and study on a daily basis, keeping our minds chaste and pure, realizing that we have a special calling as children of light. We are cautioned not to make comparisons between speakers or presenters, realizing that every message has something positive for us to ingest. We need to realize that our calling is special, and that we should wisely invest the spiritual gifts, talents, and abilities God has entrusted to us. If we do not, they will be taken away and given to someone who will produce. We are cautioned that the last part of our spiritual journey will be far more demanding and treacherous than what has gone before. Using the lessons in Matthew 25, we need to improve the quality of our spiritual journey.




We find in Matthew 23 a warning to the people of God concerning the Pharisees telling them what to do, what to obey, but to not act as them; to obey them by all means, but to not act as they do, pompous, seeking position, and so forth. He then warns the Pharisees that heavy punishment is going to come to them for the beatings and killings of those God has sent to help His people.

He concludes in verse 37 by saying that He would have gathered Jerusalem’s children up under His wings, He really wanted to, but the problem was that they did not want any of it. They wanted their own way and had sinned, and had stoned those who came to help them, to save them.

In Matthew 24, He tells about the buildings coming down, and all that will be taking place, then He tells the things that are happening, that we have all looked at for so many years. He states in verse 36, “No one knows the day or the hour, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only,” when Jesus Christ returns. In verse 42 we are told to watch. In the early church we focused on world events mainly, that was alright to a certain degree, but if we are to be in God’s Kingdom we are to be watching how we conduct ourselves before God, as well as watching the world events. In verses 50-51, “The Master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

The previous scriptures are all profitable to consider, but they lead us to an area of the utmost importance that we probably overlooked to a great degree.

Matthew 25:1-10 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him!’ Then all those virgins arose 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, ‘No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly I say to you, I do not know you.’ Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.”

That is for us, to watch how we conduct ourselves.

Have we ever wondered what that oil is that is so important? Is it oil or does it represent a way of living, an attitude that we tend to lose sight of? What is the makeup of the oil that God is after?

I will mention five things (there are many, many more) that we should be considering. When we first started to attend church, Mr. Armstrong said that the veil has been split. Now we come right before God, right into His presence, come into the Holy of Holies, right to Him. We need to be properly dressed when we come before Him.

Exodus 28:1-2 “Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to Me as priest, Aaron, and Aaron’s sons: Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron’s garments, to sanctify him, that he may minister to Me as priest.

Exodus 28:40-43 For Aaron’s sons you shall make tunics, and make sashes for them. And you shall make hats for them, for glory and beauty. So you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him. You shall anoint them, consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to Me as priests. And you shall make for them linen trousers to cover their nakedness; they shall reach from the waist to the thighs. They shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they come into the tabernacle of meeting, or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, that they do not incur iniquity and die. It shall be a statute forever to him and his descendants after him.”

Referencing Ezekiel 44:16-19, today many in the church of God on Sabbath ignore this, and come in casual pants, no tie, and many of the ladies wear slacks rather than dresses. This is what is noticed by God.

II Timothy 2:15 Be diligent to show yourselves approved [show ourselves worthy, study] by God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the work of truth.

I am reminded of Mr. Armstrong when he said we should pray half an hour a day and study half hour a day. The ministers today are pleased if the people open their Bibles twice a week. We are special, I hope we really realize this. We are to pray and study daily. Have we let down in this area? To pray and study only if we have time? We should pray and study first.

I Thessalonians 4:3-5 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God.

Every minute of every day 30,000 people are viewing a porn site. They do it in the privacy of their own homes and nobody notices. Are we resisting this? The current dress styles, I could help but think of the dress designer Versace. He was a homosexual, he has since died, but he said that he would make women powerful, and indeed he has. If you notice the short skirts, revealing blouses, underwear ads, all these things come to our minds and take our minds off God. It is in Hollywood, it is on TV. and all of those types of things.

I Thessalonians 5:4-23 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober [self-controlled]. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.

But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.

And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves. Now we exhort you, brethren, warn those who are unruly, comfort the fainthearted, uphold the weak, be patient with all. See that none renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourselves and for all.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is one of the things that we should have in our oil, doing all of these things. We could go through many more things that God wants us to have. I would like to cover one more point that Satan really is involved in. This is important to God because it says so much about who we are, and what our heart thinks.

Hebrews 10:21-25 And having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confessions of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as in the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

This is something that is going on in the church right now. Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves. Do we believe what God says as we see the Day approaching? I heard that some in the churches say, “I won’t come when so-and-so is speaking.” Some would say they would like to attend the Church of the Great God, but the commentaries of John Ritenbaugh are very negative. Church should be joyful and cheerful, and to hear what is happening in the world is too negative, and I will not attend there.

When we do this we tread on very dangerous ground. I can remember when we first came into the church, we had a minister, who was an evangelist, and when he spoke it was with dryness. He spoke in a monotone, and it drove me nuts. I said to myself, who can ever get anything out of this man? But a lady in the congregation, who I loved very much, got much out of whatever he gave, and whatever he did. I was young and foolish, I went to our local elder and said, “This man is really terrible, I’m not getting anything out of it.” He said, “Mr. Reid, you know what your problem is? You like to be entertained, that’s your problem.” He was right. I do not think I recognized it for years. I like something exciting, something really interesting.

We should realize there is something good in every message, and God does take note when we decline His services. Something we should all consider.

The lack of these and more reflects the low oil condition in those whose oil is of poor quality. Contrary to that is having the solid basics and more reflects the oil content of the five who are accepted. Our works reveal our hearts, it shows what and who we really are in these things.

Sometimes, because of the lack of things taking place in the world right now except the evil things, we think we can just make comments and do things and get away with it. But we cannot.

Revelation 3:14-22 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodicean write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and the True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: “I know your works, that you are neither cold or not. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.

Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.

Behold, I stand at the door and knock, if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”’”

This is the situation of the Laodiceans. Any of us could fall into this category. You can come to church and be well dressed, come every week and sit down and enjoy it, and still be found in the group whose oil was useless and worthless. Something to consider.

Matthew 25 is another aspect of the ten virgins that I do not think we consider and that is, birds of a feather flock together. People who think like this, like we just discussed, complaining and so forth, tend to get together and talk, and they feel comfortable. And it can make one feel comfortable, until the individual examination by Jesus Christ. Then there is no comfort. Our examination will not be a group examination, it will be an individual examination. This is what our heart is and what we are expected to be like.

I went to an agriculture college in San Francisco, California. One of the things we had to do was castrate piglets. We would take the piglets and throw them on their back, then we would turn their head sideways and we would sit on their head, so it could not bite us. Then we spread the back legs and do the job, then put black tar on it and put them over the fence. I could not believe it, there was not a sound, until we got down to the last ten or twelve. Then they screamed and hollered and bit, and did everything they could to avoid it.

I wonder if we are like that. There is something coming over the horizon and we just think the times are good. Once the piglets found out what was happening, they screamed and tried to get out of it. Is there a lesson there for us today? Can we feel comfortable? Safe? And to a large extent secure when serious things around us are taking place or when they are about to take place, we do not even see it.

Why did Jesus Christ delay His coming? To see what our oil level is. This is what it is all about, a good part of it.

Brethren, who are we? We are special and I want you to realize this.

Matthew 25:14-18 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a man traveling to a far country, who called his own servants and delivered his goods to them. And one he gave five talents, to another two, and another one, to each according to his own ability; and immediately he went on a journey. Then he who had received the five talents went and traded with them and made another five talents. And likewise he who had received two gained two more also. But he who had received one went and dug in the ground and hid his lord’s money.”

In this calling we have been given talents to accomplish. We have all been called, we are firstfruits, special people of God. Out of the billions of people on this earth, you have been selected. It is important to realize that. We each have received talent and gifts, power, ability to improve them.

Adam Clarke said,

The good that any man has he has received from God, as also the ability to improve that good. God's graces and temporal mercies are suited to the power which a man has of improving them. To give eminent gifts to persons incapable of properly improving them, would be only to lead into a snare. [It would be wrong. God does not do that.] The talent which each man has suits his own state best; and it is only pride and insanity which lead him to desire and envy the graces and talents of another. Five talents would be too much for some men: one talent would be too little. He who receives much, must make proportionate improvement; and, from him who has received little, the improvement only of that little will be required.

Matthew 25:19-23 “After a long time the lord of those servants came and settled accounts with them. So he who had received five talents came and brought five other talents, saying, ‘Lord, you delivered to me five talents; look, I have gained five more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’ He also who had received two talents came and said, ‘Lord, you delivered to me two talents; look, I have gained two more talents besides them.’ His lord said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.’

Now how about the man who did not do anything with his talent? We will see how serious this all is here shortly. Now we will read verses 24-29.

Matthew 25:24-29 “Then he who had received the one talent came and said, ‘Lord, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you have not sown, and gathering where you have not scattered seed. And I was afraid, and went and hid your talent in the ground. Look, there you have what is yours.’ But his lord answered and said to him, ‘You wicked and lazy servant, you knew that I reap where I have not sown, and gather where I have not scattered seed. So you ought to have deposited my money with the bankers [or somewhere where it would grow or that would cause it to grow] and at my coming I would have received back my own with interest. Therefore take the talent from him, and give it to him who has ten talents. For to everyone who has, more will be given, and he will have abundance; but from him who does not have, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the unprofitable servant into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’”

Now brethren, why does Jesus Christ delay His return?

Revelation 12:3-4 And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

I did a rough estimate of my own and estimated that Satan drew 50 billion angels with him to earth. Did we ever stop to consider the turmoil that God went through? Mr. Armstrong talked about it once in a while and he said, look at all the pock marks on all the planets and we can see the tremendous war that took place in heaven. God does not want this to happen again. It was a war on a scale that we cannot possibly imagine. It must have been really something!

This is why you and I are being tested and tried. God does not want that to happen again. Thus we are told that he who endures through all the trials and garbage that Satan brings upon us, is what we have to suffer through while being steadfast to God, and this is going to qualify us for His Kingdom. And He will never have that war again, as far as we can tell. Why? So that God will never have a repeat of the rebellious disaster that Satan produced in His Kingdom. Those of us that do this, who come through all of this, will take on the nature and the mind of God, and we will be saved and we will produce an environment that will be absolutely stunning and almost impossible to believe.

Now, brethren, we live in an environment where anything goes and this environment letting down is a way of life, and I do not see God stepping in yet. No one seems to notice the droughts and the hurricanes, as far as that is concerned that is just "Mother Nature." They do not see God there at all.

I recently heard a politician say, “We don't need God, take God out.” Three times they asked him if he wanted God in the Democratic platform and then finally they came to a decision to put God in, but they still screamed, “We don’t want Him!” It is totally unbelievable that this is the country we live in.

We are all getting older and with age comes the things that age produces. We are not the people we used to be, and we tend to let down, but we cannot let this happen. This is something we have to fight no matter what age we are and no matter what condition we are in.

I gave a sermonette some years ago on a wagon train going to Oregon—“the promised land”—and the trip was evidently uneventful, until they got to the Columbia Gorge. Today it is no big thing to watch, we can drive our cars right through and enjoy it, but back then you had to take the wagon train through the river and struggle to get through it. It was not an easy feat and people lost their lives in the process.

So the trip went smooth up until the last part, the gorge was the most dangerous. And brethren, it is the same with us. The last part of our journey is going to be the most difficult. It is difficult now and it will only get worse.

What is this promised land that awaits us?

Matthew 25:31-40 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me!’”

You see the care, love, and concern that we are supposed to have. This chapter is a matter of life and death when you think about it. Those who did not have the loyalty died and they will not be in the Kingdom, but those who were loyal will be in the Kingdom. Then He goes on to say,

Matthew 25:42-46 ‘for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me. ’Then they also will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

We have eternal life facing us, brethren, and it is such a wonderful opportunity, and this particular section of Scripture is not to be taken lightly. Jesus Christ gave it for a reason, that we might understand that this is a matter of life and death for us.

Now turn to John 4:16-18 for a last scripture.

John 4:15-18 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.” Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have well said, ‘I have no husband,’ for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; in that you spoke truly.”

If Jesus Christ knew this much about the woman at the well, how much more does He know about you and I? So let us learn the lessons of Matthew 25 and work to increase the quality of our oil.

JOR/cdm/drm












 


 
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