Services/Sermon in ElkRiver 17.11.2019

May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the love of God our Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us now and forever. Amen.

Let us quieten this morning in opening prayer and thanksgiving. Holy and righteous God, beloved Heavenly Father, we come before your holy face this morning, dear Father, with thankful and prayerful hearts. Thankful that we were protected through the night as your children and being granted this new day of grace where we have awakened with joy and peace in our hearts. Remembering again that we were preserved through the night as your children.

And dear Father, there are many, many reasons for thanks on this day. Of course, for those temporal and earthly blessings. As you've promised, you've given us our food and clothing and homes in which we live. You have blessed us with loving friends and families. You have given us those kinds of escorts, those believing escorts, that help us and encourage us on our journey towards heaven.

But also, this morning, dear Father, we are mindful of the greatest gift and blessing, that blessing of your dear Son, whom you sent into this sinful world to suffer and die and to be raised victorious on that Easter morning, so that we, as your children, have hope one day of reunion joining you there in the glory of heaven.

Dear Father, today, you know us, you've created us. You also know how weak and poor we are and have been. For this reason, we are with prayerful hearts, that you would again bless us according to your holy and righteous will; that you would grant unto us this day the blessings that you know are necessary for each of us.

And as we gather around your holy word this morning, dear Father, we pray for your service blessing. Send your word those and break those crumbs of grace small enough that those who are weak and poor could be nourished and fed.

This morning, dear Father, we remember as we gather before your holy word those loved ones who are not able to gather with us; those elders who are in those care homes or in sick beds; those families who struggle with trials of this life; those military boys and men and women who are often far away in a lonely place of watching. Protect them all, dear Father, and give them strength on this day of grace.

But this morning, dear Father, we simply and humbly pray for your service blessing. We know it is your word and you divide it accordingly as you know we have need. So we include all of our unspoken thoughts into that prayer that your Son has taught when we say: Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters this morning, loving greetings. Of course, we live so close but yet it seems so often that we are separated by miles; we don't see each other as often as we would like. But so it is when we are given opportunities such as this from time to time we are thankful for God's blessings even in these ways.

And also greetings from the LLC office. Of course, you have close connection here in Elk River to the office but I would bring greetings from there nonetheless and I have been so very thankful that in the years that I have worked there it has been a wonderful blessing and also very thankful that God has preserved us there in mutual love and unity of the Spirit. It has been important to feel that during the time in which we live.

Today on the church calendar is the next to the last day of the church calendar year. Next Sunday will be Judgment Sunday and then the Sunday after that will be the time of Advent. The time of Advent is a very festive, very enjoyable time when we gather in Advent to wait for the celebration of Christmas. And you children, I know because I'm still a little boy at heart, love Christmas. Such festive times and opportunities when we can spend with family and loved ones.

As I've grown older and my family's grown, I so look forward to those opportunities when now we can spend them not only with our children but grandchildren. Additional gifts that God has given. When I was a little boy I waited to see what was underneath the Christmas tree, shake gifts and whatnot, but now as an older grandpa those gifts are different. Those are very special gifts.

As I mentioned the other evening as I was rocking one of my grandbabies, I used to think that grandpas had such a boring life but it's so different now when this grandpa can enjoy those blessings that God has given.

So today is what they call Vigilance Sunday and to be vigilant is to be watchful and so the theme for today's text all speak of being watchful. The gospel text for this Sunday is from the 25th chapter of Matthew and I will read the first 13 verses with that prayer of heart that God would bless according to his will. The words are as follows in Jesus name:

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom; and five of them were wise and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them; but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there came a cry, made, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, "Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out." But the wise answered saying, "Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves." And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, "Lord, Lord, open to us." But he answered and said, "Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore; for you know not neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Amen.

As was mentioned, the theme for today is watchfulness and this is also the main theme of this text that Jesus spoke this parable. It's a familiar portion of God's word. I remember hearing this parable spoken even as a little boy how there were ten virgins, five of them were wise and five were foolish. And as a little boy there were many things I pondered about this text and now as a big boy there are still many things I ponder about this text but may God give what he knows we need for this day.

Jesus in many teachings often remembered the kingdom of God where he would say the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven is like. As God's children we also know what God's kingdom is like at least we know a part of what God's kingdom is like. For the child of God the kingdom of heaven is a very important and a very special place to be. The psalmist writes of how God's kingdom is like a nest where birds may lay their young.

Traveling here today, of course the trip from Buffalo to here is a very peaceful drive especially on a Sunday morning and as we looked as we traveled you could see that the earth, the trees, all of that is going to bed and rest and sleep for the winter. Leaves have fallen off the trees and in some ways it mirrors the life of man. In the spring of life there is the budding, the robust growth, all of that hopes, dreams and how those plants grow and we watched them grow and toil or watched them grow as God allows them to grow.

But in the fall of the year those plants grow back to the earth of which they came. Still also is the life of man but it's a peaceful existence for a child of God to be a part of God's kingdom. This nest in which the psalmist is written is that kind of peaceful place where we can lay our young, where our children can be born and raised, where we can be comforted and strengthened on our journey.

And I don't know that we ever in this life will fully comprehend the beauty of God's kingdom but maybe one day in the glory of heaven we will. Then as the songwriter even says our tongue will be loosed and we'll be able to sing praises.

So this kingdom of heaven, this kingdom of God as Jesus also spoke in the sermon on the mount to seek ye first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and everything else will be added to you. So this is the kingdom in which we live.

In this parable it's a sobering text in this that he says that God's kingdom will be likened unto ten virgins, five are wise and five foolish. It doesn't mean that in God's kingdom there are 50% wise and 50% foolish but it is only an illustration or a teaching.

Those wise servants, those wise virgins are those who are God's children who are believing who have endeavored by faith but these foolish virgins, they are those whose lamps have gone out, lamps of faith have gone out.

This 25th chapter of Matthew follows in the 24th chapter of Matthew a long dissertation of the end times that Jesus kept for his own. It was a warning, it was a caution. In that 24th chapter he talks about how take heed that no man would deceive you for many shall come in my name saying I am Christ and shall deceive many.

And then you remember those words when Jesus says and you shall hear of wars and rumors of wars see that ye be not troubled for all these things must come to pass but the end is not yet. For nations shall rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom; there shall be famines and pestilences and earthquakes in diverse places. All of these are the beginning of sorrows.

Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted and shall kill you and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended and shall betray one another and shall hate one another and many false prophets shall rise and deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound the love of many shall wax cold.

Jesus is speaking of the end times and this text also speaks of what things will be like in the end times. Later on in this 24th chapter it talks about how things will be as they were during the time of Noah and so on.

So when will the end of time come? The Bible has written, Peter has written that this earth that we know of, we look around and see, will one day be burned with fervent heat and everything that we see will be burned. That's going to be the end of all things.

But when will this take place? Remember the disciples at the time when Jesus ascended into the glory of heaven and Jesus had told them at that point in time that he would return again. So what did those disciples do? They waited and they were sitting there on Mount of Olives when an angel appeared to them and asked what are you doing here? And of course they were waiting for Jesus to return but they were instructed that they needed to go and they needed to go and work because the end was not yet.

That was 2000 years ago that they expected the world would end. When I was a little boy and I would hear the ministers talk about the end times and they would use the same text and they would use the same part of God's word and they would list those things and even as Paul has written to Timothy and Titus, young co-workers, of how perilous times will come and how difficult things will be, it felt as a little boy that surely the end of time must be close. It can't be far away because the world has become so evil and corrupt that how much longer will God allow this to go on before things come to an end.

I wondered if I would make it to 18 years old because then I would be an adult, legal adult, and then I wondered maybe someday I would get married but I thought that it probably won't even happen because the world would end before I got married.

But now we are living this year 2019 and the world still stands and things are as they've been from generation to generation and God has managed as he speaks in his word how he will regenerate things from generation to generation but he also encourages us to watch.

Paul writes to the congregation in Thessalonica that the end will come suddenly as a trump as a voice in the night, how quickly the end will come.

There are portions in God's word that speak of those good men of the house, those watchers of the house, and they said if you knew that a thief was coming tonight or a robber was coming to your house tonight surely you would stay up and watch.

Too often we become sleepy and tired and this is what happened in this parable that Jesus spoke. Those ten virgins they all became tired and they slept but then they heard the sound or the voice call that the Lord cometh.

And so when they awoke from their sleep those five foolish they went to trim their lamps meaning to light them and those lamps that Jesus would speak of here were those lamps that they used during the time of Jesus and they were little vessels that would carry just a little oil. They weren't very big; they're not like some of the oil lamps that we have today that can burn for days but these little lamps that they carried they had to refill their oil quite often in order that they would have oil when it was needed.

But these foolish had let that oil go out and when they realized that they didn't have oil first they asked the wise, the wise virgins, "Can you supply us with some of your oil?" The wise, the five wise virgins, they had oil in their lamps.

So what is the difference between a wise virgin and a foolish virgin? They were both virgins; they were both living in God's kingdom but those foolish virgins were like that angel in Asia Minor when John wrote in the book of Revelation he writes of that one angel who had a name of a child of God but was dead. He had a name only.

So a foolish virgin would be that kind of a virgin who has the name of a child of God only but a wise virgin had two parts: they had faith of the heart and they also were able to confess with their mouth that I'm a child of God. The foolish virgin only had that mouth of confession; they would confess that they are a child of God but there is no faith of the heart.

Jesus warns of these kinds. Remember on the sermon on the mount when Jesus speaks much about God's kingdom in that sermon and he speaks much about what it is for the child of God to live as a believer. He taught them many, many things. It begins in the fifth chapter of Matthew, fifth, sixth and seventh chapter. It's a long sermon but Jesus felt it very important not only to teach correct doctrine and teaching but also to warn as he did at the tail end in the seventh chapter of those false prophets that would come.

These false prophets are those who would be likened onto these foolish virgins. False prophets of course they're written of in scriptures and false prophets are very dangerous and Jesus warned of them.

Also in the previous chapter here, this 24th chapter, it talks about at the end of that 24th chapter about this good man of the house, how he would have watched if he would have known in what watch the thief would have come. He would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.

Therefore be also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of man cometh.

So then who then is a faithful and wise servant whom the Lord hath given ruler over his household to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord when he cometh shall find so doing. He will make him ruler over all of his goods.

But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, "My Lord delayeth his coming," and shall begin to smite his fellow servants and to eat and to drink and be drunken, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he look not for him and in an hour when he is not aware of and shall cut portion with the hypocrites and there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

And then Jesus has this parable of these foolish and wise virgins.

God's kingdom, dear brothers and sisters, has been that kind of a kingdom that the enemy of souls has hated from the beginning. The enemy of souls would do anything to destroy God's kingdom. He would also do anything to destroy our own simple childlike faith because he knows in so doing he will make us shipwreck and we won't make it to heaven.

So it's important that we watch first personally for ourselves but then also collectively as Jesus spoke and warned of those false prophets. Those false prophets are those kinds of preachers of heresy.

We have seen that for example in the Old Testament time when the heresy of Korah took place. Those false and evil servants rose from within from among God's children and the false prophets they have a very dangerous sermon.

Although they appear to be right and even on the right mission, they're clothed as sheep. As Jesus said, beware of them for they come as wolves in sheep's clothing. And the doctrine they preach, it doesn't have salvation.

But when we speak of them, those false prophets, Jesus explains. And we can become worried and concerned for the wrong reasons when we consider these matters.

Even when we think of this text that we have before us of these five wise and five foolish, it's so quickly that the child of God starts to search inward and asks this question that, am I one of those foolish virgins?

But dear child of God, not to worry. Those false prophets are known by their fruits and the fruits of these false prophets, it always divides and breaks the love in God's kingdom. Jesus said, they are known by their fruits.

But we live in God's kingdom. And this kingdom is that kind of kingdom that cares for its own. And we have a shepherd, the Lord of life, Jesus Himself, as the shepherd of His kingdom.

And this shepherd is that kind of a shepherd that loves its sheep. And He gave His life for us. And we can today, with confidence of faith, trust and believe that we will, because He's leading us that way, make it one day to the glory of heaven.

But this parable is sobering to think. Because, it says, when these foolish woke up and they heard this sound and this message that the bridegroom's coming, they had been waiting a long, long time for this bridegroom. And their journey was not easy, just as your journey neither is easy.

How did the Apostle Paul write? You know, Paul was once an unbelieving person. He was called from darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. But Paul said, of the Apostles, He is the least. And of the sinners, He is the chief.

I think all of us resonate with how the Apostle writes. Do you feel as if your journey, dear child of God, has been so successful that you can boast and to say that I've always been watchful. I've always been ready. I've always been vigilant when the enemy of souls comes to battle valiantly against Him?

I think it's the opposite. Too often, brothers and sisters, we tire. We become sleepy. Old Testament prophet became tired and sleepy. He needed to be awakened out of his sleep where he was able to see God's kingdom as this kind of a beautiful saving kingdom.

But in our text, both the wise and the foolish slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, "Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go out to meet Him." And all of those virgins rose and they went and trimmed their lamps.

But the foolish said unto the wise, "Give us of your oil for our lamps are gone out." They were not in a safe or a saved position but rather, they were in that dire straits of unbelief.

And the wise answered, and when they asked of their oil, they said, "We can't give of our oil lest there not be enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves."

I'm sure some of you would have a more clear understanding of what this part of this text means. Why couldn't the wise give to the foolish? We know that faith is a personal gift that God has given. But our faith also, I think, is quite small.

Remember, many, many times when the disciples asked Jesus to increase our faith. We also today ask that would God increase our faith?

Remember Jesus' teaching also nearing the end of his life when he told his disciples that if you had the faith of a mustard seed, you would be able to tell that mountain to move from there to the ocean and it would happen.

So, how little faith there was. And so, in this sense, we don't have much faith to share.

On the other hand, as the apostle Peter has written, be ready at any time to tell of those who come asking of your hope and joy of salvation. This is the mission of God's kingdom, is to share this message of the gospel to all who would believe.

And so, to the penitent sinner, there is always forgiveness and there is always the gospel given.

I remember when I think of this not being able to share the oil, some of the older brothers have spoken of this sharing of the oil. And they have spoken in this way that we cannot share our oil with those who do not want to believe.

Remember Jesus said that we do not place our pearls before swine to be eaten and trampled of them. The Bible says that to the poor is the gospel preached.

So, these foolish are those who had gone the way and their faith had gone out. People would have wanted to come into God's kingdom in any other way except through the door as Jesus has mentioned. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Anyone that would come in any other way is as a thief and a robber.

They have spoken of those robbers of grace or those thieves of grace who would come and try to enter into God's kingdom in any other way but through the door.

We were visiting last night at home and we were visiting of a situation that happened many years ago with Maggie's father and her grandfather. Her grandfather was once a minister. He lived on the west coast but he went into a small heresy there on the west coast. He left faith.

It was this way for many, many years that he wasn't believing. Very nice man. I remember him. He lived for some years after we were married. I got to visit with him some. And a very gentle man and a loving grandfather. But he was not a believer and neither was grandma. Both of them had gone to that heresy.

Unfortunately grandma died in unbelief. But grandpa, he was granted grace to believe later on in his life. And it happened in this way that there were many times when the families were departing where grandpa would ask of his son in kind of a flippant way that he told me those words.

And grandpa, Maggie's dad, he knew what grandpa wanted. He wanted to hear those words of the gospel. But my father-in-law, he could not preach that gospel to him. He says his mouth was closed. And he even mentioned to me many times how troubling that was.

Why is it that I haven't been able to preach the gospel when my dad asks in this kind of way? He felt that he wasn't doing right. But nonetheless, it never came that he was able to preach the gospel to his father when he asked in this way.

It turned out then that his dad ended up in a nursing home. And he had a dream one night. And the dream was this, that his son had died. And it was his last connection to God's kingdom.

He awoke in a panic. And he called for the nurse and had the nurse call Maggie's dad. And asked Lenny, would you come to the nursing home your dad wants to see you this morning?

So, of course, Lenny went there not knowing what he would find. And when he entered that room, he saw there, laying in the bed, a shriveled dying man who was fearing for his life.

And he asked that Lenny, "Is that you?" And Lenny says, "Yes, it's me." He said, "How can it be? You died last night in my dream." Lenny said, "No, it's me, I'm here, father."

And there, his father asked, "Can I return to God's kingdom? Can I believe my sins forgiven?"

No greater love than any one of us, that we could preach the gospel to a sinner, to our child. No greater joy, but for Lenny to be able to preach the gospel to his father. He was allowed to return to the father's house.

But I've thought sometimes, and I don't know, but could it be this, when he was one of those foolish virgins, and he asked of Lenny to share his oil with him, where Lenny couldn't until the father had awakened him to the knowledge and depth of sin from where he had gone.

There is abundant grace and forgiveness in God's kingdom. It's also a wonderful blessing and a gift, although it doesn't feel so nice, that we recognize and understand our sinfulness. God is a gift.

How many of you today like to know and realize how sinful you are? The apostle Paul prayed that thorn that was in his flesh would be removed. The Bible said he prayed three times that it would be removed, but God left it there so that it wasn't his strength that he was able to make it, but rather the grace and strength of God to heaven.

So that thorn that's in our flesh, we also would wish it to be removed. But if we recognize it to be a thorn and sin, then there's also abundant grace and forgiveness to cover.

This is that which God's kingdom is.

God's that morning after Lenny visited with his father, he called me. I was at work, and I still remember that phone call when he with such joy relayed how his father had been granted grace to believe faith.

But he said, would you please go this afternoon and visit with him and also reassure him of the gospel, because I don't feel like the gospel that I preached was very sufficient.

I assured him that the gospel is God's. The gospel is preached by faulty children, but the gospel is God's. And it was sufficient.

But nonetheless, I went there that evening, and I saw there in that bed a different kind of grandpa. He was now a man waiting patiently, or maybe impatiently, I don't know, for the angels of God to come to carry him home.

It was only a few short days later that the angels did come. I think this also speaks in our text of those who were gathered into the granaries of heaven. But also, it speaks soberly of those who did not and were those kinds of foolish ones who came knocking after the bridegroom came. It was too late.

And they were ready to go to the marriage, but the door was shut.

Brothers and sisters, it is the theme of today to watch. We don't know. Again, this last few weeks, we're reminded of how quickly life can come to an end.

When our brother Nels Kotla was taken from this life to eternity, our day also is coming. It's a great victory when a righteous man is called home. Blessing. It is a blessing of blessings.

Brothers and sisters, we are today traveling towards heaven. Your footsteps are following in the bloody footsteps of Jesus.

And you needn't look inwardly today to find anything good. If you look inwardly, you will probably only find that kind of a foolish virgin.

But don't look inwardly. Look to the middle cross of Golgotha where Jesus shed his innocent blood drops for you and for me.

The victory has been won. God will have been to the Lord. God has granted us grace and life and he has promised to carry us one day to the glory of heaven.

God, all that is required of us is to remain believing.

Uplift your hearts today my dear travel friends and believe all of your sins forgiven in Jesus name and the precious atoning blood.

In Jesus name and blood all sins are forgiven.

In Jesus name and blood all sins are forgiven.

In Jesus name and blood all sins are forgiven.

This gospel strengthens us and carries us one day.

This gospel adds drops of oil to that vessel. The oil will not run out if that gospel is heard and believed.

Brothers and sisters if there's a doubting one that is I can I still hear the gospel? I want to believe with each of you and so believing I know we will make it one day to heaven.

In Jesus name amen.