How’s Your Lamp? (September 11, 2022)
Sermon Outline for Sunday, September 11, 2022
Pastor Andy Lambert
PASSAGES: Matthew 25:1–13; Mark 7:6; Romans 3:10; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Mark 13:35–37; John 4:35; Romans 13:11; 1 Corinthians 15:58; Luke 21:34–35; Romans 10:3; Matthew 7:21–23; Luke 13:25–27
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
2 Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
3 For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them,
4 but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
5 As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept.
6 But at midnight there was a cry, ‘Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’
7 Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.
8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’
9 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.’
10 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.
11 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’
12 But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
13 Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.
Let’s talk about a wedding and ten people who were to attend that day. There are wise and foolish attendees or believers who were to attend and Christ tells us three things about them that can be applied to the lives of Christians today:
• The ten attendees (all professing believers) take their lamps (lives or testimonies) and go forth to meet the bridegroom. All believers take their lives and go forth, professing a testimony that they live for christ and look to Christ. All professing believers (whether genuine or just religionists and church people) go forth to meet the lord. However, as they go forth some (five) are wise and some (five) are foolish.
• The foolish attendees (believers) take no oil except what they already have in their lamps (lives). They have no provision of righteousness beyond themselves, beyond their own righteousness. They have no supply of the Holy Spirit.
Mark 7:6 “And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me;”
Romans 3:10 “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;”
• The wise attendees (believers) take oil; they do not depend upon what they have in their lamps (lives). As they go forth through life to meet the bridegroom (Christ), they lay hold of additional oil, the provision of righteousness, the supply of God’s Spirit.
2 Corinthians 5:21 “21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
The main duty of the attendees (believers) is to meet and light the path for the bridegroom.
All ten attendees (believers) had lamps and they were all called to participate int he marriage feast. The lack of provision by the foolish could not be seen until the Bridegroom actually came.
How foolish! To depend only on the oil in one’s lamp or life. No one has enough oil, enough righteousness, to make oneself perfect, that is, to make oneself acceptable to God.
When Christ comes, He must find righteousness in a person if that person is to be allowed in God’s presence.
Christ said something interesting in verse 5 of Matthew 25. There is a long delay before the bridegroom came and all ten attendees slumbered and slept, not just the foolish ones.
• The idea is that the bridegroom waited much longer than was expected. The attendees had lit their lamps expecting the Bridegroom at any moment, but he never came. As they waited and waited, the night wore on and on.
• All the attendees slumbered and slept. This is true throughout life. Even the wise grow weary and find it difficult to stay awake and alert, to say at peak performance all the time. No believer, whoever he or she is, walks anywhere as close as they should. The world is too dark and the darkness is too heavy for the believer to see enough light so that he or she can always be victorious over the pull of heavy eyelids.
• His body is too weak to be always laboring
• His mind is too undeveloped to be always concentrating
• His energy is too limited to be always driving
• His spirit is too young to be alway sacrificing
• His motives are too self-centered to be always walking unselfishly
Mark 13:35-37 “Therefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or when the rooster crows, or in the morning — lest he come suddenly and find you asleep. And what I say to you I say to all: Stay awake.”
John 4:35 “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, then comes the harvest’? Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest.”
Romans 13:11 “Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.”
1 Corinthians 15:58 “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.”
An important question needs to be answered. Remember the fervent zeal we had when we were first saved? Why does it die out as times passes by?
• We have not lost all love for Christ, but we have left our first love
• We have not stopped all worship of God, but we have lost our first duty to worship
• We have not ceased all witness for Christ, but we have cooled our first passion
• We have not turned from all righteousness, but we have been diverted from our first attention
NOTE that all the attendees allowed themselves to slumber, then the slumber led to sleep. We must guard against slumbering, against cooling off. A little slumber and a little cooling of fervor for just a little while may not seem too serious; but the first step, as small as it may seem, leads to heavy eyelids.
In verses 6-9, we have the summons that the Bridegroom is coming. All arise and prepare their lamps. All the attendees (professing believers) arise, for the shout pierces the air and shocks the attendees. Not one remains asleep. Each leaps up and all begin to immediately prepare their lamps.
All the foolish discover a shocking fact: their lamps are burned out. The bridegroom had not come while their lamps were burning, and now their lamps had used up all the oil they had. They became frantic, for they saw that they were not prepared. They didn’t have the oil (righteousness) necessary to burn their lamps (lives) for the bridegroom’s coming.
Luke 21:34-35 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth.”
Romans 10:3 “For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.”
All the wise had enough for their own lamps, but not enough to share.
The door will be shut; the foolish will cry for entrance; the foolish will be rejected.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’
Luke 13:25-27 “When once the master of the house has risen and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, open to us,’ then he will answer you, ‘I do not know where you come from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of evil!’
Pastor Andy Lambert ~ pastorandy@cvcog.church
Call/Text: 205.642.8744 ext 101