Last Sunday of the Church Year + Matthew 25:1-13 + November 25, 2018

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

Jesus asks in Luke 18:8, “When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” It’s a chilling question. The church will continue forever. There will be believers in Christ throughout all of history, but in the last days that number will be small. Jesus says something similar in Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” So it will be, and already is, that the number of those who truly believe Christ are few and far between in spite of the size of visible Christendom. Paul’s words in Romans 9:6 that “they are not all Israel who are of Israel” should serve as a warning to anyone who imagines that simply being a member of the church will save them. For many who were physical Israelites were not true Israelites.

The Church’s year ends with this warning by way of the parable of the ten virgins. Ten virgins await the coming of the Bridegroom. Five were wise. Five were foolish. All ten brought their lamps with them but the foolish did not bring oil with their lamps. They assumed the Bridegroom would come quickly. But they had no word that that would be the case. The wise, on the other hand, took their lamps and oil in their vessels. The Bridegroom was delayed and all ten virgins fell asleep, only to be awakened by the cry, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!” The wise virgins were able to add their oil to their lamps. The foolish had no oil for their lamps and the wise, showing themselves wise, would not share with the foolish ones. Instead they told the foolish virgins, “Go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves.” The parable ends with the wise, prepared virgins entering the wedding feast with bridegroom while the foolish maidens pound on the closed door. The difference has between the wise and the foolish virgins, up to this point, has been that the some are prepared and others are not. But at the end Christ shows us how wide the chasm is between the wise and foolish. “Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.” All ten virgins were outwardly and visibly part of the wedding party. Only half were actually known by bridegroom by their wisdom and preparation. The condemnation of the foolish is the same as that of the false Christians in Matthew 7 who prophesy, cast out demons and do wonders in Christ’s name. “I never knew you. Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”

What is the will of His Father in heaven? That you “watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” You are to be wise, like the five wise virgins, and prepare for Christ’s coming in such a way that you will be continually prepared. The five foolish virgins thought it was enough if they were a part of the wedding party outwardly. So today many think it is enough it they are outwardly part of visible Christendom. Too many are “cultural Christians” who attend a church, participating in some of its programs, listen to Christian music, and have Christian decorations in their homes. They look like Christians, like they are part of the wedding party which waits for the heavenly Bridegroom. But they have no oil in their lamp. The oil is faith. They imagine they have faith because they look like Christians and behave morally, but they don’t get for themselves oil, true faith, because they neglect the study of God’s Word, nor do they hear it and meditate on what they have heard. “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” says the Apostle, but many despise the Word and carry no oil in their vessel.

This is a warning to all of us who have been baptized into Christ. Christ wants His Christians to be as the five wise virgins. He says in Luke 12:35, “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning.” We are to be continually prepared for His coming, with the oil of faith in our lamps. It is necessary that we daily replenish the oil of faith in the vessel of our hearts. If we do not daily replenish our faith through reading, hearing, and meditating on the Word then our faith will become depleted by the time the Bridegroom returns or we die and meet the Lord. The oil of faith is not simply information, knowing the articles of the Christian faith. Faith is a heartfelt confidence and trust in God’s Word, that it is not only true, but that it is true for the individual. Faith clings to God’s Word in the Gospel. Faith believes the promise that “whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Faith treasures the Word of God and is sustained by it. Faith believes that by Christ’s death my sins are paid for and everything Christ earned in His perfect life is credited to me. Faith clings to Christ, His death and His merits, and has them all. This is the oil we are to be daily replenishing through the Word, for the Word is the only place where the Holy Spirit gives us this faith, strengthens it, and supports it.

St. Paul says the same thing in the Epistle lesson. We are to watch and be sober, “putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation” (1 Thess. 5:8). The breastplate covers the heart, so our hearts are to be covered with faith in the promise of the Gospel. It is also the breastplate of love because faith in the heart works through love toward our neighbors. Where there is genuine faith in Christ there will be truly good works done for our neighbor as Christ taught us in last week’s gospel lesson. The hope of salvation is to be as helmet, protecting our thoughts and desires. We use the word ‘hope’ when we wish for something that may or may not happen. But this is not how the Scriptures use the word hope. We do not simply wish for salvation, but we know that our salvation is certain because it is founded upon God’s promise and God cannot lie. Hope is the certain confidence in what God promises us. This hope is to protect our minds and thoughts against temptation and doubt. The we know that “the Lord so comes as thief in the night.” But by faith we know this day will certainly come. Not only do we know that to be true but we look forward to it, for on that day we experience our full redemption.

“When the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?” He most certainly will. His bride, the holy church, will continue throughout all ages “and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). There will always be church, the body of the faithful, spread out across all lands. There will always be those who are wise virgins with the oil of faith in the vessels of their hearts, awaiting the coming of their Bridegroom, though it will not be everyone who outwardly belongs to the church. So the parable is a warning to keep our lamps burning brightly. But it is also comfort for those who believe. The one we wait for is not judge but the heavenly Bridegroom who comes to call His faithful people to Himself to an eternity of joy and rejoicing. That feast will be in the new heavens and the new earth. The old with all its temptation and sin, disease and decay, sorrow and consternation “shall not be remembered or come to mind” (Isaiah 65:18). “The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, nor the voice of crying” (Isaiah 65:19). Weeping and crying will be for the foolish, outside the shut door. But for you and all who daily trust Christ the Bridegroom, you have this future as a sure and certain hope.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.