Welcome to One and All.

We are so glad that you joined us for today's message.

We are closing out our series, Marked for Life.

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All right, everybody.

Good to be back in the good old United States of America, Los Angeles, the place where God vacations.

And then when you travel, like I have been the last couple of weeks down in Australia, down in New Zealand, just on radio, it seems like 24-7 answering questions of people who are either seekers or who are believers who are struggling.

A lot of radio time, a lot of air time, but it's always good to come home, isn't it?

Always good to be home.

Matthew chapter 25, verse 1 through 12.

One of the things I got to do, most of you know that I lived for 10 years in New Zealand, raised my kids there.

is I got to return to the place called Muirwai Beach.

It's a place that I would go to when ministry would get a little tough, and I'd go out and just walk the beach and ask God to talk to me and try to hear words of encouragement or words of reproach sometimes.

Both come your way when you're talking to God.

It's a beautiful beach.

It's just untamed, and unlike the beaches, you know, you can go to Newport Beach, and that's a beautiful beach, but it's massed, people.

In New Zealand, the beaches are, you just don't have a lot of people there.

So if you're willing to walk more than probably 200 yards, you'll end up by yourself.

And you can walk for hours, just you on this untamed place, you, God, and the ocean.

And I thought, you know, this is a good time to talk to God.

And I thank God for where we are in the life of our church.

Thank God for how he's been patient with me.

And thank God that you put up with me for, what, 16 years now, been patient.

Yeah, that long, yeah.

It's been a tough journey, I know.

And I was hoping I'd get this great word from God, you know, maybe on vision or something like that.

And it's amazing when you spend time alone with God and you really listen is when you really start to hear.

And the word that I heard from him is, hey, who in your life, do you think this is just so God right here?

Who in your life do you need to forgive and who needs to forgive you?

You know, you're alone with God.

You think you're gonna get this great word.

And that is a great work, but isn't it the nature of the heart of God?

Then forgiveness and mercy is right at the core.

Now, the reason I bring that up is you and I are in the middle of what we call a discipleship movement, and we're asking important questions around this church.

We're asking, are we truly following Jesus?

Really?

Are we walking in the dust of the rabbi?

When we come to a fork in the road, do we go Jesus'way or do we go our own way?

Do we go with him or do we go away from him?

We're asking the question, are we playing a game or does Jesus truly live in us where our heart is his heart, our passions are his passions.

His desires become our desires.

We have been joined with Christ.

It's no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us.

And we've said, according to Matthew 25 or 24 that started this series, we've said that, yes, look at the signs of the times, but also be aware of the signs in your life.

Is there proof of life in your life that you're actually and truly.

A full devoted, fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ.

That you're not just speaking it, but you're doing something about it.

In Matthew 24, remember, Jesus warned the disciples, you're going to hear of wars and rumors of wars.

There's going to be earthquakes and floods and famines.

And because of these things, the cares of the world will call many people to fall away.

They'll just leave.

The cares of the world, money, power, entertainment, will be so distracted by those things that we'll think that somehow that we're following him, but we're not following him.

We're serving lesser loves and lesser gods.

And we also talked about how the struggle of life, when your life doesn't turn out the way you thought it would, when your marriage is on the rocks, when your children are estranged from you and from God, when all those things start falling apart around you, what do you do?

What is your response?

And the true, authentic, genuine believer, follower of Jesus, leans in, doesn't run away.

So these are signs of life.

They kind of come at you reminding you of who you really are.

So in order to help future generations, I think a lot of the parables Jesus tells, especially after Matthew 24, is to give you a kind of soul checkup so that you can ask yourself, so you can wake up, and you can ask the question, who am I really?

Where am I?

So my father-in-law, did you enjoy his message?

So here's an old samurai that's still doing the ministry, that's still asking himself those tough questions at 85.

And then Don Jackson came last week and talked to us about what are you doing with your time, your talents, your resources.

See, those are important questions to ask because they're indicative of a Christ follower.

And so I come to Matthew 25 in the parable of the 10 virgins, or it's really the 10 maidens.

I don't like 10 virgins because we think of something totally different in the Western world.

Let me read the passage because remember, we're going to the Bible.

We've turned a corner.

What does the Bible say?

Well, here's what it says.

At that time, this is Jesus speaking, the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins or maidens who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Five of them were foolish, five were wise.

The foolish ones took their lamps but didn't take any oil with them.

Now just stop right there.

Who takes a lamp and doesn't take oil?

That's like taking a flashlight without batteries.

Why would you do that?

The wise ones, however, took oil in their jars along with their lamps.

The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

At midnight, the cry rang out, Here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him.

Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps.

The foolish one said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out.

No, they replied, there may not be enough for both us and you.

Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.

While they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived.

The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut.

Later, the others also came.

Lord, Lord, they said, open the door for us.

But he replied, truly I tell you, I don't know you.

Wow.

Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Now, to unpack this in a short amount of time is going to be difficult, which is why we're going to be here until tomorrow.

And so, just kidding, to get the most out of this parable, We have to agree on a few things, okay?

Let's do some homework.

And then if you'll stay with me through the homework at the end, man, when the application is there, it's going to be powerful.

All of us are going to be changed.

Here's the thing.

To understand what's going on here, we have to understand the most beautiful thing in the human experience.

And I'm going to get in trouble for saying that.

But the most beautiful thing in the human experience, I'm convinced, is marriage and the consummation of marriage.

It is a beautiful thing.

And it's really sad that the God of the West has become sex, not romance, but sex.

And that's unfortunate because the kind of intimacy that God is after with us is very sacred.

And the kind of intimacy between husband and wife is a gift from God.

It's meant to illustrate the type of oneness that God seeks with us.

I've said all along that marriage, God gave it to us as a symbol, a metaphor.

And one of the metaphors is, first of all, God gave us marriage to conform us to his image.

Right?

Because in marriage, if you don't learn to sacrifice and to forgive and to show mercy, you're not going to stay married very long.

So God gives us this gift of marriage to make us like himself.

But the other thing that he does is in the gift of intimacy between husband and wife, he wants to symbolize the kind of closeness.

God sits with you and me.

This is why he uses the metaphor of spiritual adultery.

He says that when his people seek from other things what they can only truly get from him, then it's like committing adultery against the God who loves them.

Now, I want you to think.

Think with me for a moment.

We've got to go down this path just for a second.

Love, as we said before, is the highest value in our universe.

All people desire love.

They revel in love and relationship more than anything else.

That's why you can have all the money in the world and be miserable.

If you're alone, if you don't feel loved, you're empty no matter how much stuff you have.

But there's a lot of people that trade the money for the love.

They would rather have the security of money, even if it meant they're in a relationship of no love.

That's why they're miserable.

Because their soul knows very well that love and relationship is far more valuable than money.

Second, you can have all the power in the world.

And no deep, intimate relationship.

And be riddled with depression.

You know what was interesting about this trip is that Robin didn't go with me.

So every time I experienced something that was just wonderful, like Muirwai Beach, the ocean, or a relationship, the first question I ask, where's Robin?

Because there's a hollowness to it when you don't share it with somebody, right?

So I'm not giving you rocket science.

We know we're wired to live like this.

And the reason we're wired to live like this is because you and I have been created in the image of God.

He also loves and compels us into a love relationship.

The reason you're wired the way you are is because you came from God.

Love and intimacy and relationship has nothing to do with an evolutionary cycle.

Some mothers eat their young, right?

You and I tend to love them.

Now, that doesn't mean that challenges don't come with love and relationship.

It can be bitter, but it can be sweet as well.

I got to give credit here.

Tim Hawkins, one of my favorite comedians, just a new release came out and he said, you know, so he asked this simple question.

What about Job in the Bible, he says?

You ever thought about Job in the Bible?

And he says, you know, me, Tim Hawkins says, me, I just got blessed with a good wife.

Of course, he has to say that.

He's on stage.

But he says, not every guy is blessed with a good wife.

Sorry, he says.

Think about Job in the Old Testament.

His wife must have been a real piece of work.

I mean, the devil took everything from Job.

Killed his kids, killed his servants, killed his livestock, covered Job in boils and sores.

But Job's wife did not die.

And Hawkins says, that's saying something right there, isn't it?

Hey, devil, Job's wife's right over there.

I know, trust me, leave her.

Now, some of you women want a husband joke.

Well, that's for another day.

But the reality is, it just goes to show, you know, even though we risk, if the marriage turns south, man, it can ruin your entire life.

It just can.

Ask any man, man, if his relationship with his woman is not good, nothing else is good.

If it's good, he can move out into his world powerfully and effectively.

Same is true vice versa.

And yet, even though we know there's great risk, we're still willing to enter into this covenant.

Why?

Because we desire love.

And there's nothing more human than love, marriage, and the consummation of marriage as the two become one.

Let me say it again.

I know I'm being redundant, but we've got to get this.

Make no mistake, intimacy between a man and a woman in the context of marriage is perhaps the most beautiful thing in the human experience.

It is a sacred thing that culture has desacralized.

And that's unfortunate because God wants to consecrate his relationship with us by entering into us through the Holy Spirit where we become one in heart and mind.

And it's hard to use that illustration today.

As a matter of fact, the staff, they always warn me, Jeff, don't use the word penetrate.

They don't like that.

Because I always say the Holy Spirit penetrates us, and then we get God's heart and his mind.

But it's only because we've desacralized this thing that's beautiful.

This is why the hallmark of all God's grievances against his people is spiritual adultery, infidelity on the part of his people, as we unite ourselves to other things that can never deliver what only God can deliver.

Okay?

So set that aside, love, relationship, risk, covenant.

God is so into us.

that he gave us this special gift to show us that he feels about us the way we feel about a husband or wife, that he will pursue us, run after us, and risk rejection for the sake of love, intimacy, relationship.

So in Matthew 25, as Jesus tells the parable, He's going to use this kind of marriage metaphor, but you got to get all the stages of it.

So here we go.

Number one, in marriage or marriage in Christ's day, first, you had the betrothal, right?

And that's where the bride would be purchased.

So the father would go to the father of the bride and purchase the bride for his son.

Now, before you get all uppity over your culture and how much better it is than every other culture, remember there's a few things going on here.

So the father, first of all, there'd be wisdom in this, that you would get the families together and say, you know, they're compatible, that they would make a great marriage.

Let's arrange this marriage.

Here's the money.

And you would pay.

Now, why would you pay?

Well, still today they have what they call a dowry in Asia and a labola in Africa.

And you do, you pay these because you're still in places where you're going to lose a worker, a farmhand.

So if I've got a son and I go to this family and I say, let's arrange this marriage.

We're going to take your daughter.

She's going to be wed to my son.

Then when they're married, they're going to go back and live with the father.

Now, it's interesting today, it's usually the daughter's family who gets the son, isn't it?

It just works out that way.

But back then, that means this family's losing a farmhand.

Okay.

So there's got to be some kind of compensation.

And that's why the dowry or the labola is significant still today in African Asia.

We were just in Fiji.

Fiji still has labola.

And my friend Clive met this young Fijian girl, and she was talking about getting married soon.

And Clive asked her this question, well, is it a love marriage or an arranged marriage?

And her answer was, what?

What's the difference?

Because in these cultures, love is much more than an emotion.

It's an act of the will.

So you trust your father, your parents to arrange this marriage.

And then you decide not only emotion, but you decide as an act of the will to love this person for the rest of your life.

And can I remind you, those marriage tends to stay together more than marriages that are just based on emotion.

So to think that today that they're kind of forced into some arrangement, that's not the way it works at all.

There's an agreement no matter how many movies that you've seen.

Now, second, after the arrangement, the price was paid.

The groom-to-be would go back to his father's place into the insula.

You've heard me talk about this.

It's a house, the type of house they lived in the days of Jesus.

And this house had many rooms, but they would have to add rooms on because you had the grandparents.

Remember, the mother-in-law lived under the same roof as the sister-in-law.

Oh, my goodness.

You had the whole family together.

Today in America, in affluent West, we have to have our own room, our own house, everything.

But back then, everybody lived together, grandma, grandpa, everyone.

And I'm sure that conformed you to the image of Christ.

And so when you promised to marry someone, the son would go back to his father's house or insula and build on the room where they were now going to live.

So it depended on how far away he lived and how big the room was going to be based on the wealth of the family.

And then and only then could he return to get his bride.

Now, remember also, after that, according to what we know of first century arrangements, betrothal, and marriage, after the covenant was signed, before the groom to be would return back to his father's insula, there was an agreement made.

There was a covenant.

The bride would make the commitment to remain pure and faithful, and the groom also made that commitment and covenant, and also to remain diligent to keep building the insula, not get distracted by other things and make the bride wait, wait, and wait, but to be diligent, get it done, get it completed, and then return for the great wedding celebration.

In fact, the terms of the relationship at that point before the groom returned to the father's insula were sealed with a ceremonial sharing of a glass of wine before the two parted ways and entered a time of anticipation and preparation leading up to the final wedding feast.

And then third, the groom, when everything was completed, would return.

from the father's house, would take his bride.

There would be this big celebration.

The day or the hour was unknown.

Remember, we couldn't send an email.

We don't FaceTime.

You just had to be aware that one day the groom would return and you would have people watching.

And somebody maybe in the village would see the groom is on his way and they would have to run back and say, the groom is coming.

It's been a long time, but the groom is here.

And then the celebration, the wedding feast would begin.

Now, I want you to remember three words.

From now on, you're going to have to participate in this, okay?

Three words to remember.

Okay?

Anticipation, expectation, and preparation.

Remember the question we're asking.

We're asking the question, what do the people of God look like?

Those who are authentic, those who are true disciples and followers of Jesus, what do they look like?

How will they be living their lives when the groom or the bride or the groom returns and collects his bride, which in this case is Jesus and his church?

And three words summarize that.

Anticipation, expectation, and preparation.

Now here's the question.

What's the purpose of the bridesmaids?

Everyone knows the answer to that, right?

To wear an extremely ugly dress so the bride will stand out, right?

That's the purpose of the bridesmaid.

In our day and time, that's it.

Okay?

But in Jesus'time, the purpose of the bridesmaid or bridesmaids were to light the way for the bridegroom when he returns to collect his bride.

Now, every time I read this, I thought, here's the novel idea, return in daylight.

Come back in the daytime.

But the point of the parable is, that is the point.

You never know when they're going to come.

And it could be in the middle of the night.

So you have to have your lamps ready.

Don't just take your lamp.

Make sure you have oil that will burn all night.

Because you don't know how long it's going to take the groom to get to the house when he's first identified.

How far he'll have to travel before he makes his way to the village.

You've done this.

You usually show up at your house and maybe the power's turned off again and you go to get the flashlight out of the car and there's no batteries there or they're burned out because you put them in, what, two, three years ago and you think they're still going to be good.

Jesus says don't do that because it could be at any moment.

That is the difference between the foolish and the wise.

Both have a lamp.

But only one group of them, only five of them, had the oil to put into the lamp to light the way.

And we'll get into this just in a moment.

Go back to the text when it says in verse 5, the bridegroom was a long time coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

So in other words, they did not stay awake.

They were not spiritually woke.

Somehow they got distracted.

Something pulled them away.

They intended on doing the job.

They intended on achieving their calling.

But somewhere along the way, life happened, and they were distracted, and they fell asleep.

At midnight, the cry rang out, here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him.

Jesus reemphasizes that the hour of his coming will be a surprise to many people, because no one knows the day or the hour.

And even though you can read the signs of the end of the times, only the father knows not even the son.

And then we're told that all the virgins woke up, trimmed their lamps, and then those who didn't have enough oil went to the others and asked for oil.

And they said, no, go buy some yourself.

Now, if you're not careful, you'll say, wait a minute, whatever happened to Christian charity?

Give them some oil for crying out loud.

But the point of the parable is the oil must be yours.

You can't get it from somebody else.

Let me go back.

Three powerful words, anticipation, expectation, preparation.

Can you repeat those with me?

Okay, anticipation, expectation, preparation.

Now, so far, have you seen the comparison or the similarities between the wedding of Jesus'day and our wedding with the bridegroom?

First, have we not been bought with a price?

Has God the Father not paid the price for the wedding?

Now, I don't know why most scholars don't deal with this, but in Jesus'time, the father of the groom paid the father of the bride, right?

And secured the relationship.

But in the salvation relationship, who pays for us?

God, but he pays himself.

Right?

See, this is the gospel.

And there's a not so subtle message here.

The first part is the fact that our real father is God.

Now, our earthly fathers are gifts from God, but it's the reason why I can tell a young boy or young girl who did not have a good relationship with their dad.

that I can say to them, it's okay, because your real father is God, and he will never let you down or leave you orphaned.

And so rather than playing the role of victim, which most of us like to do, let it turn your attention toward the God who will never forsake you.

Now, I'm not saying those pains aren't real.

Man, I don't want to belittle those.

Man, that would be foolish.

I'm simply saying there's a subtle message here.

God is your father.

And he loves you.

And when somebody says, how do I know he loves me?

Because he paid the highest price possible.

It's the highest labola ever.

He gave you what was most precious to him, not cash, but the son that he loves.

We've already established that love is greater than any amount of power or wealth.

And the love that God had for a son and being willing to give that son up for you speaks volumes.

Now, I said this in New Zealand in one of the radio broadcasts.

And a lady called in and said, I don't like this God.

I don't like this God who requires money, who requires a price of his own son, the blood of his own son.

And I like to remind her in a very simple way.

It's because you don't understand the nature of God.

Because you and I only want God to be a loving God who just loves us and that's it.

There's no other part to the divine nature of God.

He loves, do whatever you want, give it the good old college try and I love you and it'll all work out at the end.

But the God of the Bible is not only a God of love, he's a God of holiness, purity.

And because he's holy, that nature of God requires him to separate himself from all sin and impurity.

The problem is you and I are filled with sin and impurity.

Now, for those of you who've heard this before, this is the moment you pray because every weekend we have people here that are the first time and they've never heard the gospel.

So you're praying right now, even though you've heard this.

So those of you, it's new to you.

Remember God does love you, but God is also holy and the requirements of his holiness must be met.

And the requirements of his holiness is that all sin be punished.

So how can God keep the requirements of his holiness to separate himself from all sin?

and meet the requirements of his love that wants to forgive us and bring us into relationship.

And the answer is mind boggling.

It's brilliant in the mind of God.

What does he do?

He gives us his own son.

So the requirements of his holiness are met in that he takes our sins, puts them on the shoulders of Jesus Christ, and nails them to a tree, past, present, future.

And the requirement of God's love has been met because rather than punish you, he put your sins on his own son and gave you a gift that secures your eternity.

And so that is the gospel right there.

So you and I have been bought with a price and now Jesus is the groom and we are his bride.

So that Isaiah 62, even in the old Testament, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.

Ephesians 5 27, so that he, that is Jesus, might present the church, all of us to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such things that she might be holy and without blemish.

In other words, you and I have been bought with a price and now Jesus is the groom and we are his bride.

There's an expectation that you and I as the bride, all right, here we go.

You did the hard work.

Remain pure while we're waiting for the groom.

Yes, you and I have been made pure judiciously.

We've been declared pure and righteous through the blood of Jesus.

But we're also commanded, and this is what we conveniently leave out, to remain pure pragmatically through our will and intent.

That is, the desire of our heart is to follow God and to remain pure in all areas of life and living, to set ourselves apart as God's new community in the world.

So in 1 Corinthians 6, 20, you were bought with a price, therefore honor God with your bodies.

The dowry has been paid, so be faithful.

You with me?

Second, before Jesus left to go back to his father's insula, Remember what he said?

Do not let your hearts be troubled.

You believe in God, believe also in me.

My father's house has many rooms.

If it were not so, I would have told you and that I'm going there to prepare a place for you.

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

This is marriage language.

He's saying, I too am the groom.

I'm going back to my father's insulate.

In my father's house, there are many rooms, many rooms.

And there's one for you.

And when I'm ready, when it's prepared, when I'm finished, I'll come back to get you.

And on that day, there's going to be a huge celebration.

Now, before I get to that, remember what happened at the Last Supper?

Jesus shared a cup with his disciples as a means of symbolically sealing their covenant relationship.

The same way you do in the marriage ceremony before the groom, groom to be, returns to his father's insula.

And Jesus said, every time you do this, do it in remembrance of me, of the price that's been paid to secure your salvation.

So yes, when you take communion, it is remembering what Christ has done to secure your salvation.

But it's also remembering, and here's what we conveniently forget again, it's remembering what you promised him, to remain pure.

That's why the Apostle Paul said, when you take communion, let a man or a woman examine himself or herself.

To see if there's any way in you that is not faithful to the groom when the groom returns.

Third, he's going to return one day and bring his bride home with him forever.

The day and the hour, the parable says, the same thing as Matthew 24 said, no one knows but the father, but make no mistake, the return is imminent.

The groom will come and only those who have set themselves apart, sanctified themselves to the Holy Spirit, and the bride will be the bridegroom.

and remain pure will go with the groom.

Now, you do know when Jesus tells this story, the disciples would be aware of stories of grooms returning and the bride had not remained faithful and true.

No wedding, no celebration.

The bride of Christ, the church then eagerly waits now.

The authentic, listen now, we're about to get into some good application here.

The bride of Christ, the church, eagerly waits and makes herself ready.

She sets herself apart, serving no other masters, loving no other gods, trusting no other idol.

She purifies herself, keeping herself holy and untainted, anticipating the wedding feast.

Now, can you imagine, can you imagine after all this work in the insula?

And the young man is thinking, dad, when?

Come on.

The paint's dry.

Let's go.

I need to go get my bride.

You know what's going on when you're 21, 22, whatever?

Let's go.

And the father has to keep saying, not yet, son.

It's not quite finished.

We can't go until it's finished.

But when it's finished, I'll let you know.

And finally, the day comes.

And I picture Jesus doing that.

Somehow, in this metaphor, saying to the father, let me, it's time to go.

It's time to go get the bride.

And God says, it's not quite ready yet.

The one that needs to hear and be saved has not quite heard, not yet been saved.

Let's wait.

But I'm sure Jesus is like the groom.

He says, let's go.

Let's get this thing done.

And finally, one day the father says, okay, son, guess what?

Today's the day.

And then there would be a parade and he would ride.

The groom would ride on a white horse symbolizing that purity.

He's kept himself pure as well.

They would blow the shofar, the trumpet, and you would hear the wedding party coming from miles away.

All right.

Now, isn't it interesting?

That when Jesus describes for John, while he's on the Isle of Patmos in the book of Revelation, the end of time, he says this in Revelation 19, then I saw heaven open and behold a white horse.

The one sitting on it is called faithful and true.

He's been faithful.

He's been true.

And in righteousness, he judges and makes war.

His eyes are like a flame of fire and on his head are many diadems.

These are crowns that represent power and authority.

And he has a name written that no one knows but himself.

He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God.

And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure.

Here we go again.

We're following him on white horses.

The language of purity, of faithfulness, of truth, just pour out of the Scripture.

So now what is the application of all this imagery?

anticipation, expectation, preparation.

Here's how you know you're on the right path, okay?

Here's how you know when the groom returns, you're going to be the bride and you're ready to go for the wedding celebration.

Number one, you're anticipating.

You're anticipating the second coming.

A few years ago, Pastor Phil introduced me to a man by the name of Joseph Nazarala.

He was a superstar in Egypt.

One of its most talented singer-songwriters, he had the number four.

third song, best recorded song in Egypt at the time we were meeting.

He's written and recorded over 70 worship songs for the underground church.

Because in Egypt, Christians only make up somewhere around 10% of the entire population and they are marginalized and persecuted and often killed.

So one day he had a dream.

Interesting man.

He envisioned in the dream people that he loved falling off a cliff.

And somehow, through the Holy Spirit, he equated that with the fact that he was allowing his friends to go into eternity without Jesus.

So he began passing out Bibles to all of his friends wherever he went.

He was a drive-by revelationary on buses, on trains, wherever he could go.

He passed out Bibles.

Not too long after that, he was drafted into the army.

But he says, Pastor Jeff, I served another general.

I passed out my master's instruction manual, the Bible, to everybody I could while I was in the armed forces.

They found out.

They sent him to prison.

They tortured him two hours every day for three months.

And all he had to do was say, I deny Jesus as my Savior and Lord.

Those are the words.

If you would just say them, he'd be released.

He said, Pastor Jeff, no way was I ever going to deny Jesus.

No way.

I said, why?

He said, because I'm the real deal.

And the real deal doesn't deny Jesus.

They beat him with iron rods, breaking his legs.

They burned his eyes with cigarettes.

They placed battery chargers on his private parts.

They tortured and beat and berated, trying to break him.

Finally, six guys with black hoods, wielding the knife, came into his cell and said, denounce Jesus or we will behead you.

This is the end.

Now, can we stop?

Can I ask you, what would you have done?

I don't say this judgmentally at all.

I'm just asking you, what would you have done?

ISIS is all around you.

You know what they do.

Would you have denied Jesus?

Every time I ask myself that question, the next one that pops into my mind is this.

Jeff, do you have too much on earth to live for?

Joseph Nazarela said, Pastor Jeff, I'll tell you what I did.

I told them no way I will ever denounce Jesus.

miraculously, he was released.

He got a job at the printing press.

Guess what he started printing?

Bibles.

Until they found him again.

And then the company fired him.

By the way, you might want to do some homework on Joseph Nazarela.

He was the guy who stood at ground zero after 9-11 and begged the Americans not to allow a mosque to be built.

He shouted, wake up America.

ISIS is killing my fellow Christians.

They come into our villages.

They burn our houses.

They rape our women.

They thaw off our arms and legs.

They want to place a memorial right here to show that they chopped off the head of a major American city to give their followers the confidence that infidels can be brought low.

So in 2016, Joseph and I sat over at what was then the CCB Cafe.

And he told me about a place called Mokhtem.

Mokhtem is the place where 10% of the Christians in Egypt live.

It's a garbage dump.

And they pilfer through the garbage dump trying to find something of value to survive.

Plums, trash, poverty, disease.

An intriguing story happened.

That there's a mountain, just kind of rock in the side of the hill.

And the Christians kind of took up residence there.

And the Muslims came in and told them they had to leave.

And the Christians said, this is the only place we have.

It's our home.

And the story is that a Muslim cleric said, I'll tell you what, in your Bible, it says, if you have faith, you can move mountains.

So if this mountain moves, then you can keep the land.

And an earthquake happened a couple of weeks later.

And they let them keep the land.

And that's where they live.

And they built in the face of the hill, a church that you can Google.

There's all kinds of incredible images.

It's a real place that seats thousands and thousands of people as they meet every Sunday together to celebrate.

their love and their hope in Christ.

Inside the mountain, they built a church.

Over time, they moved over 140,000 tons of rock.

They worked mostly at night during Muslim fast periods when the guards who might harass them went home to eat.

They blasted dynamite at the same time as the loud sound for the Ramadan feast.

And then a Polish sculptor that I encourage you to read as much as you can about, intriguing story, has carved biblical scenes into the sandstone all around the cliffs.

Now, here's what I've learned in my travels through Africa, India, Fiji, and other places around the world where Christians pay a huge price for their faith.

Here's what I've learned.

Their ultimate dreams are not here.

It's like sometimes poverty is a gift.

That it helps you see this is not your homeland.

And there is a city not made with hands.

And they patiently await for Christ's return.

And so every service is hundreds of tens of thousands together.

They always close their service by saying, Yeshua, come.

Yeshua, come.

They shout out loud.

One side, Yeshua, come.

Yeshua, come.

They're begging Christ to return because they know this life has nothing of real substance to offer them.

Can I ask us, is that us?

Do we leave here thinking, please, Jesus, come back?

Or is there a part of you that's afraid?

Can I tell you why?

For some of us, we don't understand that we've been purchased.

Our price has been paid.

We've been bought with a price.

We are saved by grace through faith.

Some of us have never gotten hold of that.

We're still operating under merits and works.

And somehow we think that God's favor with us or God's acceptance of us has to do with how good we were last week.

And if that's you, you'll never have joy and you'll always fear the coming.

You'll never anticipate the coming of Christ.

Some of you, you just don't have purity of will.

I can't judge you because I don't know you, but some of your wills are not pure.

You have no intention of being holy, of setting yourself apart.

You've got one foot in two kingdoms, and that's why your soul is so miserable.

Not too long ago, a very good friend of mine sent his daughter over here to work with us.

And...

It was a difficult situation because this was a very close friend of mine and I would do anything for his family.

Unfortunately, it didn't work out very well.

And so most of you never got to know her, never got to meet her.

We finally sent her home.

I said, man, I've got to have a hard conversation with my friend at some point.

When do I do that?

And as we talked, I was just there, and we got on the phone one day, talked to each other, and I said, man, I've got to tell you something.

He says, I'm not surprised.

He said, I've been telling my daughter for so long, until you make up your mind which world you want to live in, you're going to be miserable.

To say you're a Christ follower, but to engage in sleeping with every boy that comes across your path and being addicted to alcohol the way you are.

See, just make up your mind.

Either go live in the world and be like that or go live here.

Because if you try to live in both worlds, you are going to be miserable, if not suicidal.

Some of you have never had your will changed.

And you have a foot in both worlds.

And it's why you're miserable.

And it's why you're afraid of the Lord's return.

Some of you have greater loves and you know it.

You pursue power, money, position more than you do Christ.

He's kind of an afterthought.

And as I've said before, your hope and your plan is to get Jesus on board with where you're going in your life.

And so when he starts to destroy your lesser loves, you rebel and run away from God.

But it's only because you've never truly been with him.

And so the thought of Christ's return brings fear.

See, the only time that Christ's return will be expected and anticipated is when you not only understand that you're saved by grace through faith and you've been bought with a price, but when your will is changed because the spirit of the living God has entered into you and given you new passions and new loves and new desires.

You're not perfect.

Oh, my goodness, no.

You're not perfect, but you wish you were.

You wish you were because of your great love for him.

Do you long for the return of Christ?

I mean, do you, oh, I wish it was tomorrow.

If you don't pray for a Jesus revelation, that you can see your life as it truly is, and then let me give you the warning that I'll always give you.

If you pray for a Jesus revelation, he's probably going to bring tragedy into your life because the only way he can wake you up is when he strips everything out from underneath you.

Do you see this, folks?

When Jesus uses the language of marriage, he reveals his ultimate goal for our lives, courtship, covenant, contentment, purity.

God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in him.

But to get us to that point, he's got to strip everything away from us.

The reason our brothers and sisters in India and Africa anticipate the return is because they know this world has nothing of real substance to offer them.

And you and I live under the illusion of affluence, and it's all a lie.

We are the most susceptible to falling asleep because we have too many distractions.

Anticipation.

Second, expectation.

I'll do this quickly and then finish.

Please stay with me.

The word expectation, and please, we're almost done, but stay focused, okay?

Expectation.

The Greek word is apokaradokia.

It means to gaze into the future with hope.

And the word itself assumes, this is beautiful, that there will be times when the bride, while the groom is away, will say, oh man, it's been a long time.

Does the groom still love me?

Why does he tarry?

Does he not know my situation?

I'm lonely.

I miss him.

Does he not miss my love and my company?

I don't know if you know this, but Robin and I broke up.

My wife broke up three times before we got married.

Three times.

And finally she begged me and I said, okay.

No, no, we broke up.

Yeah, you know better than that.

But we broke up three times because she was in Africa and I was here and we didn't communicate well.

So there were times I think, well, she's obviously found somebody else.

I need to move on with life.

Do you know the Bible assumes that you're going to feel those ways?

The Bible assumes that there are going to be times when you think, man, did I miss something?

Why has he not come for me?

Does he not love me?

And the Bible says it's actually okay to go through that as long as you take those emotions and drag them to what you know to be certain.

Now, stay with me.

One of the frustrations I have is in the original language, this word that we translate hope, it's far too weak because the Greek word does not mean hope like you and I say hope, but it's the closest we can get.

The Greek word actually means profound certainty.

Because when you don't think of hope, we think, well, it might happen, it might not.

That's not the word in the original language.

It's a word that means profound certainty.

You can be certain.

And you can be certain because Jesus rose from the dead.

Now, that's another sermon.

We're going to move into that in our Easter series starting next week.

But the reason you and I can be certain, oh, it's beautiful.

2 Corinthians 1.22, and he has identified us as his own by placing the Holy Spirit in our hearts as the first installment that guarantees everything he has promised.

See.

The groom left the bride in Jesus'day, and she had nothing really to hold on to other than a promise.

You and I have a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.

And you know what it is?

Oh, man, when the light turned on for me when I was younger, this is fantastic.

Here's what you have.

Every time you win a victory over sin.

Every time you say no to a temptation, every time you conquer hate, jealousy, bitterness, every time you forgive, love, and show mercy, every time everything inside you wants to do the wrong thing and you're not doing the right, it's proof you're the real deal.

You're the real deal.

So as I'm walking down the beach and God is saying to me, okay, you want a word?

Here's my word.

Who do you need to forgive?

If I go away and forgive, once again, I'm not perfect, but proof there's a deposit guaranteeing what is to come.

So anticipation, expectation, and finally preparation.

Preparation.

The foolish maidens, they simply did not prepare for the return of the groom.

Now, why?

Were they lazy?

Oh, I can't be bothered with the oil.

Were they not serious?

Ah, maybe he'll come, maybe he won't.

Were they unbelieving?

Maybe.

They just look like, but they didn't really, but were they apathetic?

Who knows?

But the point is the delay.

Remember I told you, when you look at a parable, parables move from heavy to light and light to heavy.

So they try to give you a human experience that is like to move you into a spiritual experience, which is very heavy.

And you try to look for that one thing in the parable that's out of place or that's unique, and that's what you hone in on.

In this parable, the issue is we don't know exactly why they didn't have oil.

We just know they didn't.

And they thought they could get it later.

And when they tried to get it later, it was too late.

Oh man, this is it.

This is the parable of the meaning.

Do you know how many people say, I've heard young men say, I'll sow my wild oats and then later I'll come to Jesus.

No, you won't.

No, you won't.

A middle-aged man will say, well, I got to go out and make my fortune first.

When I've made all my money, then I'll come and serve Jesus.

No, you won't.

No, you won't.

An older man, well, you know, I've been thinking about life's questions.

I got to philosophize about all this.

And one day I'll come to the conclusion.

No, you won't.

No, you won't.

Or once I achieve this, I'll go hard after God.

No, you won't.

You see what I'm saying?

That's the point of the parable.

You're in the audience right now saying, I hear this.

You know, one day I'll think about these things.

No, you won't.

No, you won't.

Today's the day of salvation.

And you don't know if you're going to have tomorrow.

You don't know if you're even going to have next year.

You don't know if you're going to have the next hour.

Those who are marked for life, they are prepared now.

They're waiting now, not waiting for something to happen, not thinking one day I'll do this.

They're doing it now.

And here's the other thing.

The wedding party's made up of much more than the maidens.

So why does Jesus just talk about the maidens?

And the reason is because that's the job they were given, which means you and I are given some job in the kingdom of God.

That's what Don was trying to tell you last week.

What is your responsibility in the kingdom of God?

Are you doing it?

What investment are you making in God's kingdom?

Those who are watching, those who are spiritually woke, those who are ready for the return of God aren't saying, you know, one day I'll get involved.

No, they're involved now.

They're using their time, talents, and yes, monies for the expansion of the kingdom of God.

And they're hoping that very soon they'll hear the words, well done, good and faithful servant.

You've been faithful with much.

Now I'm going to give them.

You've been faithful with little, now I'm going to give you much.

Enter into your joy, into your rest.

Now, let me end like this.

Man, I really went over.

See, when I go away, I have a lot to say when I come back.

So I'm almost finished.

Let me do this.

Remember, we started the series with this idea.

I said, you know, you and I think it's been a long time.

And because it's been so long, maybe we missed it.

And I showed you how it's only been 25 generations from now back to the time of Jesus.

2077, all the way back to the beginning of the world or the beginning of people in Mesopotamia.

But here's the other thing.

Jesus receives his people every day.

In a way, he may not have come yet to the physical earth, but he receives people by the thousands every day.

You know, the people who die, there's a funeral in this place, it seems like every day.

There are thousands of people every day that find themselves in the presence of the Lord, which is why Jesus says, ooh, you better get your act together right now.

Because you don't know.

I'm 58.

No, wait a minute.

I'm 59.

I have no guarantee.

Every year I live past this, I told you about my history, is an extra year.

Is an extra year.

Make your decision then.

Now.

Take all of that.

I want to show you something.

Enjoy this.

Have a look at the screen.

Our journey in the church began in the early 1960s, actually.

I was a sophomore in high school, and that's when I started coming here.

So I was baptized in 1961 at what was then the West Covina Church of Christ.

At that time, we had a Sunday when all the youth would invite their friends.

And the church at that time probably had 200 people.

Now I look back and wonder if those people that started this little tiny church ever imagined in their wildest dreams that we would be a global church.

We occasionally drive by the old campus.

On the corner of 20 and Lark Ellen in West Covina, it brings back many memories of the old West Covina Church of Christ.

We were baptized in the old sanctuary.

We were married in the old sanctuary.

Our kids were baptized there.

My parents were baptized there.

You know, over the years, we've seen, you know, many, many changes, some very physical, obviously.

of the buildings.

But beyond just the buildings, the concept really was the people.

There are still people that attend here that were part of that original youth group.

The people stuck with it, and they were committed to the overall goal of building the kingdom.

They not only stuck with it, people have stepped up and volunteered.

I think we've always considered outreach a priority.

I think we've always been a sending out church, and I think that gets people involved.

makes them really care about what's going on at church.

We're looking forward to when West Camino can finally have a permanent home.

I can hardly wait until the first service we have in the new property.

I will be there.

You know, when God does something and he does it so well, and the big news that I have for you is that we've been able to purchase the original property of this church.

And our West Covina campus is going to move into that sometime this year as we get everything worked out, but they'll be moving in there this year.

One of the beautiful things God said to me on the beach that I didn't want to give away too soon was, hey, just chill.

I got this.

I'll take care of this.

And it's amazing.

You pray, you pray, and then it's like you find out very seldom are you waiting on God.

He's waiting on you.

He's waiting on your attitude to be right, on you to be in a position where you can handle it.

And that's not only me, that's everyone.

He's waiting on us.

I am so thankful that he trusts us to give us such a beautiful gift like this.

But make no mistake, it's going to take everybody, all of us.

And we're going to change the world.

We're changing the world now, but we changed the world first starting in our own community.

We got this valley surrounded.

Watch out.

Revival is coming.

Can we just give God a prayer of thanksgiving?

Father, you are immeasurably more, and you do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine.

To think that you would take us back to where it all began, when people sacrificed so much to get us right here on the San Dimas campus, and now to go back and to have a presence there.

And to see people like Richard and Elaine Lucas who sacrificed so much to get us here now, giving us the opportunity to stay awake and to know the awesome responsibility that we have and privilege we have of helping people far from God come near.

To go back to the place where you started with so many good people.

with a guy like Ron Keller and a pastor like Chuck Boer, who gave their lives and used their gifts, and now here we are, ready to use ours.

Thank you.

This is something that we know that only you could do.

Thank you for doing immeasurably more than we could ever hope for, ask for, or imagine.

And thank you for the way that you're growing West Covina, and Upland, and Rancho, and San Dimas, and our care center.

Thank you that you've kept your word and your promise.

We expected nothing different.

Help us to remain faithful, to stay awake, and to live our lives for a kingdom that is unshakable.

When we go to that insula that has many rooms and that we're part of a kingdom not made with hands.

In Christ's name, everybody said.

So grateful for the sermon that Jeff has given us.

I hope it has blessed you.

And if it has, and it's been making you think about wanting to decide to become a Christ follower, I want to encourage you to go to oneandall.church.com.

And from there, you just fill out this information and somebody would get back to you and help you along your new journey.

If you enjoyed today's sermon, I want to encourage you to go to our YouTube channel.

and find our conversations videos.

They are posted every week after the sermon, and I get to sit here on this couch and talk to the speaker about their message, go a little bit deeper, and just talk about current topics that resonate with you.

They are such a good resource for you if you want a little more information or if you want a good midweek conversation.

I encourage you, go find them.

I hope you have a blessed week.

And we'll end as we always do with one hope, one life in Christ.