Matt.25:1-13

What is a Parable? (A story (not false) we put alongside the real story to give us the meaning of the real story.

What is the message of this Parable? It matters how we treat God's Word in our lives.

A Jewish wedding carried out on a Wedn., late in the evening, followed by festivities (for days). The bridegroom arrived late in the evening, escorted by the best man, to take his bride to his fathers house.

The focus in the Parable is not on the bride,but on the bridegroom. The ceremony speaks of the wedding that will take place in Heaven, following the rapture of the Church. The official union of Christ and the Church.

A group of ten virgins are preparing to escort the bridegroom, in the darkness of the night to take him to the ceremony. A vital cesessity for this group are the lamps to enable them to see in the dark night. We read however that this group of virgins is split in two groups. Five of them are wise, who took care to have enough oil in their lamps and the other five who  did not take care to have any supply of oil for their lamps, hence they are called Unwise. The unwise person-Matt.7:24-27.

There are two kinds of oil in Scripture:1.Lighting oil, Ex.27:20-21. 2. Anointing oil Ex.30: 

22-25. Here we have the Lighting oil.

The delay:It brought the unpreparedness of the unwise ones to the surface.A lifetime of neglect cannot be remedied in an instance.

The midnight cry. When the trumpet of God shall sound,there will be no time to get ready.

The five unwise virgins found a shut door to the wedding, like Noah's Ark, yet they were all

virgings, 2 Cor.11:2.

Jesus warned:Many shall come on that day.......I do not know you. Watch there fore.

I may know all about Jesus but not necessarily know Him personally. They lacked the personal relationship.

When we pay no attention to His Word, He does not listen to what we tell Him either.

The Second Coming of Christ  (Introduction)

What is it?  The return of the Lord Jesus  to this earth to take His Church out of this world and to give judgement to this ungodly world, 1 Thess. 4:13-18.

It is the greatest event in the history of the world. The Lord spoke about this event repeatedly, and warned His followers about it, Heb.9:27-38.

His coming was prophecied as early as Enoch's time, Jude :14-15.

The Old Testament is full of prophetic utterances about His coming, usually called 'The day ofthe Lord' ,Amos 5:18-19, Mal. 4:1-2. In the book of Daniel there are many utterances and visions concerning the events related to His coming, Dan.12:1-4. A book to be studied together with the Revelation.

The Lord Himself spoke extensively about His coming to warn and prepare his followers for this event, Matt.25:1-46, Luke 21:5-36.

What about the actual manner of His coming? (Rapture) 1 Thess.4:13-18.

1. The rapture of the Church, His actual coming in the air to meet the Church and take her to Heaven.

2. A period of 7 years follows this event, when in the absence of the Holy Spirit and the Gospel of Salvation a time of great tribulation will be unleashed upon the world, culminating in the battle of armageddon.

Preceding the Rapture, the world will be led into a state of calamities from natural disasters

and economic chaos. Great falling away from the Faith and a lukewarm Church.

Following Armageddon. Christ establishes a 1000 year reign on this earth, after which the final rebellion of man occurs against God. Destruction of present earth and Heavens, God

creates (renovates) a new earth and new heaven ,where the New Jerusalem will be with God,Christ, the Holy Spirit and the Church, Rev.21,22.

Is. 53:3-4. A man of Sorrows

Not His own sorrows or originating from His own conduct.

Sorrows: Pains, anguish of spirit, soul and body.

'The sorrows of death compassed me and the pains of hell.......' Ps.46:3.

No sorrows come from Christ, He is the Son of the Blessed. Mark 14:61. God is a happy

person, and what God is, Christ is, Ps.16:11, Heb.1:3.

The fulness of joy and these pleasures for evermore which are in Christ are not only for you, but for God Himself, Rom.8:26,30.

A man of sorrows, 'Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows'

Our griefs: Personal to us, many in number, sicknesses of all kinds, tensions that make us sick,fears , wounds, calamities-all distorting the mind, body and spirit, affecting the whole man and ending in death. The common portion of man.

Our sorrows,Men accept them as their lot, Anguish of spirit, soul and body, affliction from within and without, sore diseases.

A heavy burden was lifted from us, the whole human race and taken upon Jesus Christ.

The Lord Jesus was a man of sorrows. He was identified with me at Calvary. He was numbered with the transgressors. God made Him to be sin for us, He who knew no sin, 2 Cor.5:21.

He did not become sinful, 1John 1:5, 3:5. He did not become sick. His body saw no corruption, Ps.16:10. By going to Calvary, Christ took all our sins, and all our sicknesses

with Him to the Cross.He took the punishment of God's rightful anger for your sins and mine, the sins which brought this heavy burden upon us.

All our sins, our griefs, our sorrows were entinguished,blotted out of God's sight in the fury

of Calvary,vanished from God's memory, Heb.10:17.

All the charges against us disappeared at Calvary. Christ nailed them there, taking them

out of the way,Col.2:14.

A man of sorrows.They have gone,the man Christ Jesus remains,the one and only mediator

between God and man, 1 Tim.2:5.

Behold my Servant, Is.42:1.

Behold the Lamb of God,,John1:29.

He was wounded for our.....Is.53.

Believe on the Lo5rd Jesus.....Acts 16:31.

2 Kings 3:1-20

A strange Alliance-three kings joined together against Moab: A godly king, a backslidden  king and a heathen king. All three make an alliance to fight the Moabites.

For seven days they go on without a thought for God or prayer, until suddenly they are brought to a halt due to lack of water. When a problem like that came they decided to seek the councel of the Prophet of God.

They enquired, 'Is there a Prophet of God?', and they went to find Elisha.

The water here would represent a beautiful type of the Spirit of God. They had no water and despite all their resources could not produce any.So they had to turn to God. There was no shortage as far as God was concerned. The shortage was on earth. They were told to dig  trnches and the following day the trenches were filled with water.There is no limit to what God can send. It matters not the barreness or the desert. If they had dug 100 times more they would have been filled. There is no limit as to the time or what He can do. We have some very dry places here today also and the movement of the Holy Spirit is needed. The hardness of the people or churches does not matter. God is able to send water to the hardest place. His arm is not waxed short. We cannot fabricate or work it up. Only God can send it.

The reason why they did not have any water:

A strange alliance: Jehoshaphat was a godly king. He inquired about a prophet, yet he was in the same trouble as the backslidden king of Israel and the heathen king. Jehoshaphat was in trouble because of his foolishness. Had he kept away from them he would have had plenty of water. 

In 2 Chron.19:1-3 we read, 'shouldest thou help the ungodly?' In spite of that he does the same thing again. He went with Jehoram and because of that he came into a dry patch. God already warned him.

Contrast Ezra 4:3. No alliance with the ungodly, even if they took offence. Ezra 6:14,21, built and prospered with the help of God. You cannot link up with darkness, be it in business, etc. No fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. Jehoshaphat went along, and did not even bother to pray. Had there been any water they would have continued along in their own mind. God brought them to a circumstance where they were compelled to seek God. So many in their prosperity think they can go along without God. Thank God for any circumstance that brings you back to God.

About Jehoram (2 Kings 3:1-2) 'He wrought evil but not like his father.....'  In 2 Kings 3:13-14, we have what God thought of him.That is what God thinks of a double minded person. God knew exactly where ho stood.

Laodicean christians. What God thinks of half hearted christians. Professing christianity but not in the heart. 2 Kings17:31-34, fearing God but serving other gods in the heart (no  one can serve two masters)

Elisha said,I would not even look at you, i.e no word from God for you if it were not for Jehoshaphat. He was foolish but not sinful. There is enough danger outside (Moab), let alone fighting on the inside.

We cannot defeat the Moabites unless we have the water first. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We need the Spirit.

They had no prayer, or anything. God could have given water straight away but He did nothing till they sought Him. They had to seek Him because they could not bring the supply alone.

When Elijah prayed after the drought rain came, but they could not otherwise do anything about it.

Jesus said,' If any man thirst let him come to Me and drink'  We cannot work it out. It comes down from above.

Some christians try to work it up with music, shouting, etc. It is God;s prerogative. We need the Spirit.

Some say we manage  without the Spirit. The prodigal son managed. The blind man managed somehow, so we manage without elecrtricity and you may have managed for many years, but you can manage better with the Spirit.

The three kings hsd to humble themselves, they had to lean the power of God.They could not do it alone. They journeyed for seven days and when they met a crisis then they had to come to the Word of God. Before they could get the water they had to get the Word of God. They had to do something before water came. They had to dig ditches. There might be something you have to do before you receive the filling you need.

A Christmas message Matt.1:18-25.

 The Christmas story narrated here by Matthew, reveals the drama of those days.

Matthew writes to tell us the main purpose of writing - the birth of Jesus Christ.

What is the message, what is the story?

 A young couple are engaged to be marrıed but surprısıngly and agaınst every norm of the day the gırl ıs found to be pregnant. What a dısgrace! The penalty accordıng to the Law of Moses ıs death by stonıng, but Joseph was a just man, a proper person, he loved Mary.

There ıs now a crısıs ın the relatıonshıp! What ıs the answer? At thıs poınt God steps ınto the There ıs now a crısıs ın the relatıonshıp sıtu. He always steps ın when we come to a dead end. Many a tıme we thınk that God has abandoned us and we fınd no solutıons to our dıffıcultıes, but God ıs always on tıme.

Joseph ıs told by an Angel what the problem ıs about. It ıs not what Joseph thought. God explaıns Isaıah 55:8 Here God unfolds Hıs plan of Salvatıon Galatıans 4: 4-5. Who would ever thınk of such a solutıon? The relıgıous men of the day and the theologıans knew all about Hıs comıng but ın the end got everythıng wrong. In the end God had to turn to some shepherds to annuounce the joyous event. Joseph may not have understood the whole message but he obeyed  How about us when God speaks? Are we full of questıons and doubts?

 Who touched Me? Mark 5:25-34.

A strange incident during the earthly ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

A woman with a desperate need and a deperate action. She is called a daughter of Abraham ( a believer). A sick believer. with no healing, yet Christ took our infirmities and our sicknesses on the Cross Col.2:13-14.

She tried every remedy, but no result. According to the Law. she had to live apart from the community. She could not touch a Rabbi.

Many wanted to touch Christ during His ministry, but only this woman suceeded.

When we come to the end of our resources, Faith takes over, the end of our ways. God will respond to the touch of Faith. His followers did not recognize that touch of Faith, it seems, but Jesus felt it.

The woman could have been put off by sircumstances (crowd, noise, etc.). Her little mustard seed of faith moved a mountain. Does it to us? Is our faith a disgrace? Too little? Ask Godto do something about it. 

The disciples asked, 'Lord increase our faith' Luk.17.5-6.

We all want to see miracles and mighty works, but we need Apostolic Faith, Heb. 11:6. Are there mountains of unbelief in our hearts? One day the disciples were amazed to see a fig tree wither, but Jesus focussed them on the source of Faith, 'Have Faith of God'( living Faith) Faith is an extraordinay thing. We cannot analyze it, but by the Word of God we can define it-Heb.11:1. It means, to possess what you do not have and to see the invisible.

Jesus felt that touch of faith from that woman - the result-healing, deliverance from something impossible. When we put our whole weight on God, we can see the mountain removed.

God speaks-2

Does God speak to us? The categorical answer is YES, How?

He speaks to us when we are ready to listen, Rev.3:22. In what way? Primarily God speaks to us through His written Word (the Bible).2 Pet.1:19-21. This is the most sure way for us to receive His communications. His Word is inerrant. Paul, the Apostle, had the same attitude as Peter: 2 Tim.3:16.

Apart from the Scriptures, God has other means to communicate His will to us, but these are secondary to the message of the Bible. There are details in our lives that the Scriptures do not provide, e.g. what country to live in, what kind of work to do, etc. God speaks to us to reveal His will for our lives and shape us for Eternity. He chooses to whom He speaks and how He does it:

1.The inner witness of the Holy Spirit: Rom.8:16.

2. The still small voice: 1 Kings19:13.

3 Dreams and visions.

4.Revelation through another person.

5. Prophetic utterance.

Wheras the Word of God is inerrant, these secondary means can be subject to error and misinterprentation, especially when human factors are involved.

Some examples: Ananias was instructed by God to go and pray for Paul, Acts 9:10-12.

Peter saw the vision from God and was instructed to visit Cornelius, Acts 10:9-16.

Agabus prophesied about Paul's arrest and imprisonment in Jerusalem, Acts 21:10-11.

Joseph was warned by a dream to flee to Egypt, Matt.2:13.

TEST ALL THINGS, 1 Thess.5:21. 

God Speaks-1

Does God speak to us? The first reference in the Bible. Gen.1:6,9. This reveals the fact that God exists and has personality. Only a living being can speak and communicate.

God speaks to man, Gen 3:9-10. God establishes a two way communication with man (prayer does that).

God speaks to Abraham, Gen12.:1-4. God speaks to Moses, to lead His people out of slavery, Ex.3:6-8.

God speaks to His people to establish a Covenant with them, Ex.20:1-3.

God speaks again to His people through the Prophets to pull them out of idolatry. Hag.1:1-4, and then God stopped speaking to His people for 400 years, but He did not abandom them. Finally. God spoke again through His Son to establish a New Covenant, Heb.1:1-2. 

God speaks now on a higher level through the Holy Spirit to His Church, Acts13:1-3. 

The New Testament closes with the book of the Revelation, Christ's message to His Church, Rev.1-3.

Has God stopped speaking? No, Heb.3:1-5. God still speaks to us, when we are ready to listen, Heb.13:8.

We need to develop spiritual hearing, When we hear God speak, then we know He is alive and He hears us.