Devotions and thoughts of Dave the puny

A short sermon in Croatia

By the grace of God I have had another privelege to preach outside the borders of my motherland. This time in a small church in Beli Manastir, Croatia (near Osijek). I was preaching in English, so I had to have an interpreter. A good young man named Marko. Thank you, Marko! :)

Grace and peace to you, in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Dávid. I study at the bible school in Kolín - a town near Prague - the Czech capitol. And our school is taking part on the mission of the Horvath family in Osijek. So, basically, right now I’m a missionary O:-)

First of all, it is a wonderful privilege for me to stand here. What I mean is that here I stand, a complete stranger, a bible school student in Czech Republic, coming from Slovakia, about to preach a sermon in Croatia, speaking in English. So I appreciate this opportunity to share a word of God with you.

As I mentioned, I am only a student. And that means… that I’m still learning. Even now, I am not standing here as a “great preacher” or a missionary. I’m standing before you as one of you. As a brother in Christ. Nothing more, nothing less.

Turn your Bibles (if you will) to Matthew, chapter 25, verses 1 to 13.

“At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in 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 ones 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.’

“But 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. ‘Sir! Sir!’ they said. ‘Open the door for us!’ But he replied, ‘I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

What do we see in this parable? First of all, notice that it is a parable. Jesus is trying to illustrate something. Our part is to think about it and understand.

He starts by saying: “at that time the kingdom of heaven will be…” At what time? Well, Jesus is answering a question that His disciples asked Him at the beginning of the previous chapter. The question was: “what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?” So Jesus is answering these two questions. He is talking about the end of the age.

Notice He also speaks about the kingdom of heaven. Basically, this parable is about the kingdom of heaven at the end of the age.

Now, some of you may be wondering what exactly might this ‘kingdom of heaven be’. When I was younger, I used to think that the kindgom of heaven is the heaven itself. That it is the place where God the Father lives with all of the angels and righteous people after they die.

However, the Bible gives us a different picture. I don’t have enough time to completely explain it, but the fact is that the kingdom of heaven is right here, at this place. We are the citizens of it. We used to be citizens of the kingdom of this world, but we have entered the kingdom of heaven by believing in Jesus and obeying His word. And so now we do not belong to this world, but to the kingdom of heaven, where Jesus Christ is the King!

So, back to our parable. What we see here is that kingdom of heaven is likened to a rather unusual situation. There are 10 virgins. All of them await the bridegroom, all of them fall asleep.

I want us to think about it. John the baptist calls Jesus “the bridegroom” and and even Jesus likenes Himself to a bridegroom.. In this parable, 10 virgins are waiting on Him to show up and marry them.

You see, apostle Paul clearly calls the Church ”a pure virgin” that is to be presented to Christ as a bride to a bridegroom.

We have 10 virgins, all of them representing a part of the Church. At the end of the age, we find the Church asleep. Asleep. All of it. All ten virgins fell asleep. Suddenly, there is a loud cry! Some voice cries out - right in the midnight: “Wake up, wake up! The bridegroom is coming, He is almost there, almost with you!” The cry is pretty loud as we see all of them quickly waking up and trying to look their best.

And I want to testify, yes, even today, there are voices raising all over the Earth. There are voices shouting “wake up! Christ is near! He is coming! Wake up and be ready!”

And we see that the church is indeed waking up. It would almost look great. BUT… when the bridegroom arrives… half of the vrigins are gone. They are not there. They are not waiting for Him. They are momentarily indisposed. Nevermind, Jesus takes the other half with them and enters.

…

And you know the rest of the story.

…

Have you ever wondered what the difference was between those virgins who entered and those who didn’t enter?

all ten of them were pretty,

All ten of them were virgins,

All ten of them were well-dressed and equipped,

All ten of them fell asleep,

All ten of them woke up at the loud cry.

…

What’s the difference?

…

The Bible is clear. Half of them had enough oil, the other one did not. And they seemed content with it. At least until the bridegroom came. Then - all of a suden - they started to realize their precarious situation. And the first thing they could come up with was to beg for some oil from the 5 wise virgins. How foolish!

…

Oil in the Bible is always the symbol for the Holy Spirit (if it is a symbol).

Now what I want to tell you today, is that our bridegroom is coming. His arrival is very, very near. And we have to be careful. Let us not be one of those foolish virgins! You know, all of them belong to the bride of Christ. But only half of them is invited to the wedding! Half of them is staying outside!

Let us not be one of those foolish virgins!

The Holy Spirit makes all the difference. We have to understand:

it does not matter how good we look,

It does not matter how well-equipped we are.

What matters is whether we have the Holy Spirit or not. Are we empty? … Aren’t we doing the same as the foolish virgins were? “Give us some of your oil…” When we see a brother or a sister full of the Holy Spirit, bearing lots of His fruit - joy, peace, love - we admire him (or her) and we want a share of his love, of his joy and of his peace - and all kinds of fruit. But the power to love cannot be borrowed!

Let us not be one of those foolish virgins!

Without the oil, the lamp will give no light! Without the Holy Spirit, we cannot be the light we are supposed to be! But the power to be the light cannot be borrowed. We have to go and buy it. We have go right to the source. “I counsel you to buy from me…” says Jesus.

Alright, but how do we pay?

He wants nothing we have. He needs nothing we can offer Him. Our time? Our money? Our talents? No. The only thing He is interested in - is you. Is me. And He is calling today.

Can you hear His voice? He’s calling today: “come, come and buy from me. I will give you enough of the oil. You will be filled with my Spirit, your light will shine bright in this present darkness. But you have to pay. And I take nothing but you.”

And I want to encourage all of you. He loves, oh, how much He loves you! Do not hesitate! Give your all to Jesus. Surrender. Tell Him your life is now His. I can tell you that when I did this, it was the best decision of my life. Surrender. He loves you. He loves you… He will gladly pour out His Spirit on you and you will have the oil. And you will be the light in this present darkness. And when He comes - and it will be soon - you will enter the wedding with Him.

Do you want to be a wise virgin?

Do you want to be a bright light in this present age?

Do you want to be full of the Holy Spirit?

Then pray. But remember it will cost you. Leave nothing to yourself, give your all to Christ, the King of the kingdom of heaven… An the King of yours. Oh, and don’t worry. You can trust your Savior complely.