Parable of the Wise & Foolish Virgins (Matthew 24:26-25:13)

Welcome to Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. What the Bible means and how we know. For more talks and study materials, visit wednesdayintheword.com. Speaker 1: Good morning. You um you may be aware that according to the Mayan calendar, the world's going to end on December 21st this year. I'm planning to do all my cleaning on the 22nd. You are. That's good. Do all your cleaning on the at least postpone it until then, right? There have been a lot of movies, you know, and internet stories about it and people claiming it's true. Well, I plan on doing my Christmas shopping this year. So our parable today, I bring that up because our parable today is part of a discussion between Jesus and the disciples that is in the about the end times. So we're looking at Matthew 25, the parable of the wise and foolish virgins, and it's in it's uh that parable is part of the discussion or the teaching known as the Olivet Discourse, which is one of the three great sermons that Matthew records in his gospel. And this one takes place near the end of Jesus' life, and he is sitting on the Mount of Olives discussing with his disciples primarily what's happening next in the end times. So we're gonna run into two themes in this. We're gonna look at the larger context of the Olivet Discourse to understand our parable, and we're gonna run into two themes in that discourse. The first is a warning that Jesus is choosed not to give way to voices that say there's an emergency coming, some bogus emergency, that this is a sign that in the heavens of some cataclysmic events or uh some uh notion that's apocalyptic in its meaning. And Jesus will warn three times, don't listen to them, that no one knows the day and the hour, and anyone who proclaims to know it is is not right. So we shouldn't click with fear, we shouldn't believe the voices that make these claims that are untrue, and we shouldn't imagine significance where significance doesn't exist. So I figure half the room is depressed today and was going to be depressed no matter what, since it's the day after the election, so I just want to assure you the world did not end yesterday, and um God is still on his throne. And that relates to the second theme we're gonna find in his in this discourse, and that's and this is the one I think that comes up in the parable, and that is the warning he gives to believe to avoid the temptation to believe that nothing will ever change, that things are gonna go on exactly like as they are forever, and that there's judgment is never coming, Jesus is never returning, and that no accounting will be made for human lives on his second coming. So there's this voice that says, you know, it's it's just been so long propon pro what's the word I'm looking for? Postpone. That's the word I'm looking for, that it doesn't really matter. You can always get around later to thinking about the things of God. So I can tell you with absolute confidence that the day is coming when both Mitt Romney and Barack Obama will confess that Jesus is Lord. So that kind of puts it all in perspective. There's still um God is still in control and still knows what is going on, and He hasn't abandoned us. So whichever half of you is depressed and whichever half of you is happy, just be kind to the other half. All right. Well, we're gonna go through the details of the parable first, and then we're gonna back up and look at the larger context, and that's not typically the way I do it, but I want to do that today because the parable, at least in terms of background and the dynamic, is a little more straightforward, and it's the context that's a little more complicated, but I think that's where we're gonna get our clues as to what he's trying to say. So we're gonna start with Matthew 25, verses 1 through 13, and it's uh on page 37 in your handbook. So I'm gonna read through the whole parable and then go back and kind of give you the background, and then we're gonna back up and look at Matthew 24 in the context. So here's Matthew 25, verse 1 through 13. Then the kingdom of heaven will be compared to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the prudent took oil and flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout, Behold, the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the prudent, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered, No, there will not be enough for us, and you too. Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. Later the other virgins also came, saying, Lord, Lord, open for us, open up for us. But he said, Truly I say to you, I do not know you. Be on the alert then, for you do not know the day nor the hour. Okay, so what's the situation of our parable is Jewish weddings had three stages. There was engagement, there was betrothal, and then there was the final ceremony. So engagement was the formal agreement usually carried out between the fathers, maybe with or without the knowledge of the couple, but it was essentially a contract that these two people were going to get married, and that was the first step. Following the engagement, then was a betrothal period, and this consisted of a mutual promise that was made before witnesses, usually in the woman's parents' house, and often there was an exchange of money, like the a bride price or a dowry, and the man often gave payment to the woman's father, and that ratified the betrothal, so the the exchange of promises in front of witnesses and the exchange of gifts. And at this point, the man and woman were bound to each other, but they weren't actually husband and wife, so they didn't live together yet, but their union was considered so binding that if the man died, the woman was treated as a widow. The betrothal could not be canceled. If it was broken, they applied the divorce laws and treated it as a divorce. And we think this typically lasted about a year, the betrothal period. So at the end of the betrothal period was the wedding ceremony itself, and that's the setting for our parable. So on the day agreed upon, the groom and his friends would come to claim his bride, and the bride would usually wait for the groom at her father's house, and this great crowd of friends and family would gather, uh, probably some at the groom's house and some at the bride's house. They'd spill out into the streets and in the area in front of the house, and they'd gather to celebrate. So the groom would come and collect his bride and escort her back to his family home for a feast. She'd probably ride on a donkey while the groom and all the attendants would form this kind of exuberant parade, you know, taking her back, escorting her back to the feast. And typically this happy group would take the longest route possible so they could meander through the streets in the village so all their friends and family could come out and cheer them on their way. And the feast was usually held at the groom's father's house or if he had his own house at his house. And if the groom was, say, from another city, then the bride, um, it could be very well late in the day when um when all this took place. And typically the attendants and the guests would need lamps in case it was dark when the procession arrived, and both the groom's friends and the brides would carry these small lamps to light the way as they have this happy procession. And typically the marriages took place during the summer months when it was warm and cloudless, so it uh minimize it because that's not the rainy season. So among the guests were the in the procession we have in our story are these ten young women, each has a lamp and which is lit as they wait for the groom. Now it's not clear whether they're waiting at the groom's house for the procession to arrive for the feast, or they're waiting at the bride's house for the groom to arrive there to collect his bride. It could be either place, the story works either place. Either way, their responsibility would be the same, which would be to run out and light the way as the groom approaches, and then to be part of the parade to escort back to the house. So they need light and they need to be alert to the arrival of the groom, whether they're waiting at the his home or her home. So I found commentators that claim that say it's it's both ways, and I actually don't think it matters, because either way they have to do the same job. So they all have lamps and their lamps are burning, and the difference between them is that some have extra oil to replenish their uh their lamps and some don't. So the procession takes longer than anticipated. The w women presumably place their lamps on some ledge or some sheltered place and fall asleep and uh while they're waiting. Now, the quest the other question that scholars like to debate on this is were they lamps or were they torches? So were they actual like lamps like we think of hurricane lamps or the ancient version of those, or were they oil-soaked rags on a stick rather than a standing lamp? The Greek word here usually refers to a torch, this kind of oil-soaked rags on a torch. And the phrase in verse 7, trimmed their lamps, is literally put their torches in order, so it could mean either one. Um either in either way, they're going to have a reservoir of oil either in the standing lamp or soaked into the rags, which is gonna burn, and then they're gonna need more. So I'm actually not sure it matters, because either way, their their the action is in the the same. The oil that they have is gonna burn out and they have to replenish it in some way. Okay, so finally the parade is visible, the cry goes out, the bridegroom has come, the family and friends rush out into the street to meet them, and the five foolish women quickly realize their mistake, their lamps are burning out, and they have nothing to replenish them. So they gather around the other five and say, uh, give us some of your oil, and only to be told we don't have enough. You know, basically solve your own problem. So they go off to find more oil. And since in a village everyone typically knows everybody else, that shouldn't be a problem, even in the middle of the night. So in the meantime, the bride and groom arrive. Um I tend to think they're arriving at the groom's house, but it could be the other way around. Eventually, of course, the crowd sweeps into the house and the door is shut, and in the final scene, we have the five women returning and banging on the door and shout, open the door to us, and the answer is sorry, I don't know you. And again, we're kind of left with a missing scene because in Middle Eastern culture that first no is not the final answer. That first no is the the opening salvo of the negotiations. So that would be the audience, Jesus' audience would be expecting some kind of bartering or negotiating or discussion, but instead they're left hanging. We don't know. Did the bridegroom relent and let them in or not? Did they keep pleading for their case or arguing, or do they give up and turn away and we don't know? So the locked door is what they deserve, but we don't know in the end what they actually received. But my suspicion is because the door is locked and the scene ends, that's that's the end of the story. So one question that also comes up is why pick ten women for this parable? This parable could have been a parable of ten young men and it would have served the same purpose. Both men and women would have been among the waiting guests, so he could have picked either gender, and why pick ten of them? Why couldn't he have just picked one of each, you know, one of each type? Wouldn't that have served the same purpose? And thoughtful answers are bound on that. The one that makes the most sense to me is that in the Gospels, the church is always referred to in the feminine as the bride of Christ, and if Jesus is wanting to make a comparison about the church, it would be appropriate and natural for him to choose women for the parable and to choose a lot of them. Okay, so interpretation of this parable varies widely. I should warn you the last three we're gonna do before Christmas are all hard. So we're saving the hardest for last. Enjoy them. Um and but the harder they are, the more differences you're gonna find in interpretation. So I'm gonna give you my best shot. It's not I I don't want to claim that this is the only view or the final view or the be all and end all because they're these are difficult parables and there are a lot of interpretations on them. So um just I'll give you my best shot, but take it with a grain of salt, these are the harder parables. So if you pick up five different commentaries, you'll probably get five pretty different answers, or maybe five answers along a theme, but commentators differ. The point that most everyone agrees on is that this parable is about being ready for the kingdom of God. So being ready when the kingdom of God comes, where the the interpretations start to diverge is what does it take to be ready? And what do we do to be ready, and what is Jesus advocating to be ready? And so you'll find interpretations that say we are to be obedient, we are to perform good works, we are to faithfully use our gifts, we are uh to be good evangelists, to spread the gospel, or s um things along that lines. And then there's another branch, and this is the branch I agree with, and that is that what we need is faith. And that the par the comparison is not necessarily are we ready for the kingdom of not, but are we ready for a delay in the coming of the kingdom? And that's a subtle but important difference. So it's not, I don't think the point of the parable so much is are you ready? Have you made a decision for Christ or not? But do you have what it takes to persevere? Do you have what it takes to get through this long haul? So, not are you ready, do you know who Jesus is, but are you ready for a delay if it's a long time coming? So let me show you how I get to that. We're gonna back up and explore the larger context because that's what turns my thinking. So we're gonna go all the way back to the beginning of chapter 24. Because, as I said, the setting for this parable is one of the discourses or extended teachings of Jesus, and this is the Olivet Discourse, because it's called that because Jesus spoke these words from the Mount of Olives in the last day of his life. So if you look back in 24, verses 1 through 3, we read, Jesus came out of the temple and was going away when his disciples came up to point out the temple building to him, and he said to them, Do you not see all these things? Truly I say to you, not one stone here will be left upon another which will not be torn down. As he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately, saying, Tell us when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and the end of the age? So that's the setting for our parable. This is a private discussion. We're told it's private between Jesus and the twelve, and he's sitting on the Mount of Olives. It's the final weeks before he goes into Jerusalem and will be crucified, and they're asking him, What's going to happen next? What's the sign of the second coming? And when will be the end of the age? So, however, we understand the parable, it has to fit in that context. So we know he's not speaking to the Pharisees, for instance. He's not speaking to the general public, and he's speaking to people who are already believers. So I think that reduces the likelihood of an interpretation that would suggest, have you made a decision for Christ? So just to set the stage a little further, Jesus had triumphantly entered Jerusalem at this point. He'd gone into the temple and cleansed it of all the greed and the and the money changers in the temple. That's where we get the where he says, Is it written? He said to them, My house will be called the house of prayer, but you're making it a den of robbers, and this is the second time. He throws them all out. He stops those who are passing through, and presumably those who are offering sacrifices, and he left leaves the temple and he never returns again. And he pronounces woe on the religious hypocrites of the day, and at the end of all that, this is actually back in Matthew 23, verse 37 through 39, he laments over Jerusalem, and he says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together the way a hen gathers her chicks and under her wings, and you were unwilling. Behold, your house is being left to you desolate. For I say to you, from now on you will not see me until you say, Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. So Jesus has just said this amazing thing that the temple's going to be left desolate, and he's not coming back, and the they won't see him until he comes in the name of the Lord. And the disciples go, Okay, you know that that desolate thing? What what are you talking about? Um so they come out and he says, Um in actually Mark gives us a little more detail in the same conversation. This is Mark 13, 1. As he was going out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, Teacher, behold what wonderful stones and what beautiful buildings. So I think they're not just admiring the temple, they're saying, okay, look how big and massive these stones are. They've stood for hundreds of years now. What do you mean they're going to be desolate? What you you didn't really mean that, did you? No one's going to be able to move these stones. No one can tear down the house of the Lord. They're immense and they're strong. So, you know, and this is an important place. So what are you saying? And that's what sets the stage for our discussion. So, in effect, Jesus had cut off the temple sacrifices by stopping all the activity in the temple, and I think from that day forward he's saying the temple's not going to be uh any sacrifices in the temple are not sanct sanctioned by God. From now on, Jesus is going to be the sacrifice, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, and the the era or the responsibility of the temple to bear witness to that is coming to an end. And he makes this pronouncement about woe, and his disciples go, Wait a minute, what's going on? And his answer to that is not one stone is going to be left upon another another. The temple will in fact be torn down and it's not a safe place. Now, one of the tragic things that happened at the destruction of the temple in 70 AD when the Romans came through and leveled it, is that the Jewish people fled to the temple because they thought, surely this is a safe place. This is God's house, and his enemies will be stopped here, God will protect his own house. And it turns out that was one of the worst things they could have done because, of course, the trampling army came in, uh, invaded Jerusalem, and then conveniently destroyed everyone all in one place, where they were all nicely collected for them. And in fact, you see Jesus' advice to them in Luke, he says, When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by the armies, flee to the mountains. Don't go to the temple. The temple's gonna be leveled, you need to go to the mountains and get out. So he's saying, the day will come when evil is going to do its worst and when God will judge what only can be judged and will can no longer be fixed. So that's the topic of the discussion. Is this destruction of Jerusalem is gonna happen? How do we get through? How do we know when it's gonna happen, and when are you coming back? So Jesus launches into this discussion of the signs of the end of the age, and he tells three parables in a row, of which our parable is the second. So we're gonna look at the first one briefly, then come back to our parable, and next week we'll look at the third. But this whole step discussion, remember, is this private discussion between Jesus and the twelve, and he's trying to answer the question when is the end of the age and how will we know? So I'm gonna summarize the the kind of the gist of his teaching. If you're gonna don't ask me what all the details are, the abomination of desolation and all that. I don't know what all that means, and I'm not gonna teach that, but I think the gist of it is pretty clear. Um, and the first thing we notice is when his disciples ask them, he doesn't give them any secret knowledge. So he doesn't give them, you know, like some secret decoder ring to unlock the future or some calendar or something. He doesn't give them uh special knowledge or and he doesn't call for any extraordinary efforts on their part. Basically, he says, keep being faithful to the calling with which you've been called. So you've been called to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, those just keep doing that. Your marching orders you've been given remain in effect, your hope is still the same, your love of God, your need for God, the need for grace is not going to change. So simply do what God is calling you to do, which I find very comforting. So he doesn't say, you know, doesn't say you have to do some heroic uh measure of faith or extraordinary action. He basically says, continue to live the life of faith. We have good news for the lost, keep proclaiming it. We have hope for those who are struggling to keep telling them about the power of God in their lives, keep serving Christ and others. So then he goes into this about wars and famines and false prophets that will arise, and he compares the end to the flood, saying it's gonna look like just a normal day and it will happen uh all at once. And again, that's the part we're going to just fly by. I do not know what that means. And in fact, um there's a lot of disagreement on that. If you in fact, there's probably more disagreement among Christians over how the end times are gonna play out than over all other areas. Areas of theology put together. So, given the difficulty of the passages and the widespread disagreement, we ought to kind of hold our conclusions lightly. If you're really interested, though there is a book that takes this passage on in great detail. It's by R. C. Sproul, and it's called The Last Days According to Jesus. And he just goes through Matthew 24 and the Thessalonians passage. And actually, I find his arguments rather persuasive, so, but I'm not going to go through them here. So if you're really interested in it, I recommend that book to you. It's called The Last Days According to Jesus. And in his book himself, he talks about, remember, this is controversial and there are a lot of views. So anyway. So for our purposes today, what we need to remember is this parable is part of a discussion about the end of the age. So skip down to Matthew 24, 42, and this is where he summarizes and we get the first of our parables. Therefore, be on the alert, for you do not know which day your Lord is coming. But be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this reason, you must also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will. So he introduces this theme that's going to continue into the our parables. You don't know what day he is coming, so stay alert, be ready. We don't know the hour, the day, the moment is unclear. Could be tomorrow, could be in a hundred years, so pay attention, we don't know. And I think the thrust of that is it's very easy for us to think, you know, well, one of these days I'll get serious about the things of God. You know, one of these days I'll I'll maybe investigate the claims of Christianity or figure out this worship and prayer thing, but you know, I have a deadline at work and my taxes are due and the the kids have all these needs and I need a new job and my car's in the shop. So I'll just get to that stuff later. And that's I think what he's um part of the force of his argument here is be ready. There is there is a day when it is coming and you can't put it off forever. So listen now, listen early. And then he is going to introduce the second theme, which is in uh let's look at 24, 45 through 51. This is the first of the three parables. Who then is the faithful and sensible slave with whom his master whom his master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. Truly I say to you that he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But if that evil slave says in his heart, My master is not coming for a long time, and begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eat and drink with drug drunkards, the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour when he does not know, and will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So this is the first of our three parables. And by the way, that in verse 51, that cut him to pieces is probably a metaphor for being scourged or being beaten with a whip, because the if you've seen the passion of the Christ, you know that that kind of beating with a rip would literally cut your back to pieces. So it's not a literal, you know, dismember him. It's uh most people think that's a metaphor for being beaten. So we're not going to look at this parable in detail, but I want to draw out what I think is the main point and then show you how it these three parables are going to start working together. Because I think if we want to understand the con our parable of the ten versions, we have to understand this one. Because each one kind of picks up on the theme and takes it a little farther. So in the master and slave, he introduces the idea that the kingdom is going to be delayed and asks the question, are you still living like it's coming? So the dynamic here is the kingdom is delayed, and are you going to live like it? And what's that's the difference between the two slaves. So the first one in 4546, um, who is the faithful and sensible slave whom the master put in charge of his household to give them their food at the proper time? Blessed is that slave whom his master finds so doing when he comes. So the good slave lives like his master's coming back and continues to do whatever calling the master has given him to do. So he acts as if his master is going to return at any moment, that it's important what his master thinks, and he faithfully does his calling. So notice he's just giving, providing food and doing his normal household duties. He's not heroic actions, he's just doing whatever the master gave him to do. But the evil slave in 48 and 49, my master is not coming back for a long time and begin to beat his fellow slaves and eat and drink with records. So he looks and says, Whoa, I have all the time in the world. I can do whatever I want, and the master is never going to know about it. So the problem with the wicked slave is that when he thought his master would be gone, he abandoned his master's expectations. He didn't care what the master thought, and he didn't live like it. And when the master came back, he was caught and punished. So if you want to put that in a just as so statement, I would say, just as the good slave continued to live as if his master's return was imminent, even though his master was delayed, so we should continue to live as if Jesus' return is imminent. And all that implies. So we all living like judgment is coming, living like righteousness matters, living like the world is temporal and not our home, living like God is in control, not us. All those things we've we've talked about over the semester. So this parable introduces the question: when God's kingdom is delayed, how are you going to respond? Are you going to live like it's coming or are you going to abandon it? So do you live as if there are God who cares about righteousness, or do you live as if do you live as if judgment is coming and all this is passing away? Or do you live as if there is no God, God won't know what you're doing, He doesn't care what you're doing, you know. So, like a child when his parent leaves the room, you can do whatever you want, you won't get caught. So, having introduced this idea of the delay, then, he goes right into the parable we just looked at, our parable of the ten virgins. And that's one of the reasons I think the dynamic of this parable is not so much are we ready for the kingdom to come, but are we ready for a delay in the kingdom coming? Because the difference between the wise and foolish virgins was they were both prepared in the sense that they both had lambs, but one was ready to endure a delay and one wasn't. One had what it takes. So I would put this as I would do a just as so statement for this parable is just as the wise versions were prepared for a delay in the coming of the bridegroom, so we too should be prepared to endure a delay in the coming of God's kingdom. So the question is, how do we do that? That's the million-dollar question people disagree on. What do we do to be ready? Um so most people agree the foolish versions were foolish because they were not ready, um, but they differ on what does it take to be ready? And the the you can find answers in pretty much two categories or two basic themes. One is faith and one is good works of some kind. Good works. Good works or service. So one is you have to have a strong mature and saving faith, and I'll tell you that's the one I land on. And the other one is that you have to obediently do your calling or service of some kind, and that's you know, there are different answers within those themes. But the one that makes the most sense to me is that we need faith to endure a delay in the coming of the kingdom, because how do we make it through until Christ comes again? So from the rest of Scripture, like think about our James study and our Galatians study last year. It's the rest of Scripture does not teach that we have to do something enough. We don't have to do enough good works, we don't have to convert enough souls, we don't have to perform enough service, we can't be median enough or righteous enough. Now, all those things are good things to do, but they're not the thing that gets us from here to there, gets us through to the coming of the kingdom. But the question is, do we have saving faith? And if we have saving faith or mature faith, when those trials come, when the test comes, when life gets hard, that's what gets us through. So I would refine my just as so statement a little further, just as the wise virgins had enough oil to endure a delay in the coming of the bridegroom, so we need a strong, mature, saving faith to get us through the delay in the coming of God's kingdom. So when the world looks crazy, when disaster hits, when the middle of those trials are just, you know, the minor frustrations of daily life, what is it that gets us through? It's counting on God, counting that he is coming, that he will establish his kingdom, that he will eventually right all the wrongs and wipe away every tear, that he will eventually judge what needs to be judged and fixed what needs to be fixed, and we're counting on him to do that. We're counting on him to make us the people he wants us to be to get us through no matter what. So enduring the delay is not something we do for God. Enduring the delay is something God does for us. He gives us the faith to get us through. And I may be stretching the analogy a bit here, but well I'll just yes bear with me if I am. Faith is not something you can borrow from someone else. So you can't borrow, we can borrow many things from each other, but we can't borrow each other's faith. So you won't get into the kingdom of God because your parents have strong faith, or your spouse has strong faith, or someone you lean on has strong faith. You have to have your own. And every b believer will enter into the kingdom based on whether or not he or she personally trusts in Jesus. So that's the only thing that gets us in. There's only one question on the final. Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who died on the cross to pay the price for your sins? That's the only question, and the only way to get that right is trusting in it, to believe that. So the Christian life is a long haul, or as Eugene Peterson said, it's a long obedience in the same direction. The encouragement is the bridegroom will come, Jesus will return, that promise is guaranteed, but there's a long haul, a long wait in the meantime. And notice though that I think one other conclusion, not only from this parable, but the others we've looked at, is the kingdom has a door that can and does close. That judgment is coming, and there will be a day when it is too late. There will be a day when it's too late to decide or to recognize that Jesus is Lord. So we've seen that in several parables so far, and I think that this parable continues that. Um the parable in the context teaches us that the arrival is unknown. No one knows when Jesus is coming back, so speculation about that day or its hour is pointless, but it does claim he's coming, it will come, and we need to live like it's coming. So when that door comes, it will close. And part of the encouragement now is be on the alert. Stay, don't postpone thinking about the things of God. Don't postpone um figuring out whether or not you trust him or not. Now's the time, because the door is open now, but it won't always be open. So in the in a few minutes we have left, I want to kind of talk a little bit then about how we get through that. So the temptation during the delay is to give up or to renounce God's goodness. So when you're faced with that temptation, you're waiting for something, whatever it is, how do you get through, whether we're waiting ultimately for God to come back or just an answer to a prayer, how do we get through with that? So let me give you an example from my life. Um, it took my husband and and I about a year to decide that we were going to get married, because we're both very analytical type people. So we couldn't just make a decision, we had to like analyze it to death. So it you know, it was like a year of going back and forth. So to make a long story short, for me it became a big test of my faith because I was I knew I wanted to marry Dave, and it just seemed like God was procrastinating, at least procrastinating, and at times I thought he was going to deny it altogether. And neither of those thrilled me because I kept thinking, well, what kind of a God is this? I mean, what could possibly be wrong with Dave and I getting married? We were both Christians, we were like one of the same things out of life, we were, you know, we were good friends, you know, we can go through all these reasons and go, why would God say no? There was no reason. And so the temptation when you're waiting for an answer that doesn't seem to come is to say, well, if God was good, he'd give me that, and he's not, so he's not good, and if he's not good, then I can't trust him, and I better start taking care of myself. And that's the temptation during the delay to say, God is no longer trusty. If he if he was really, really good, he'd give me what I want. And he's not giving me what I want, so I better stop trusting him, and I better take matters into my own hands and look out for myself, and that is the essence of sin. Taking matters into my own hands, saying, I'm gonna get what I want, I'm not gonna wait for God. That's the essence of rebellion and sin. The flip side, faith is counting on him no matter what, no matter how long you wait, no matter what the answer is or how long we wait for it. Now you can figure out Dave and I eventually got married. In fact, we celebrated our 30th anniversary this year, and I look back and I say, Why the delay? You know, it could be 31, but but what I realized is that God used that delay to bring me to a point where I was willing to say, I will do what you want, not what I want. I will trust you, even if it means you take this thing away from me. And he had to humble me and break my pride and my independence so that I would I had to learn to say, okay, you're God, I'm not. We'll do it your way, and I'll follow you no matter what. Even if it means giving up this man that I want to marry. Your will, not mine. Now, in his grace, he gave him to me anyway. I remind myself of that some days. I'm sure we all do. But no, I'm just kidding. Tape, if you're listening, I love you. You gotta be careful what you say on tape. Anyway, what God was teaching me is that he had to be my first priority, not me, my first priority. And I had to want what he wanted, even if it didn't look to me like it was a good thing. So that's the temptation and the delay to start to stop trusting God and to start trusting in yourself. So I think what we have to realize is God allows deprivation. Um there are times when he lets a need go unmet. So whether you're faced with a delay for ultimate righteousness or some desire for whatever reasons God allows them. So it may be that you're single and you wish you were married, or you're married and you wish you were not, or you wish you had more money, or you had more children, or less children, or more good things, or better grades, or a new job, or whatever, new boss. Whatever it is, all of us have something in our life that we look at and we go, if I just had that, I'd be happy. If I just had that, then everything would be okay. And God may allow that need to go unfulfilled for a long time. And the temptation is to cease trusting him and to start taking matters into your own hands. That's what we want to avoid. So the ish the promises of the gospel is that God is good and he does have our best interests at heart, and that the he will ultimately fulfill the desires, the deepest desires of our hearts, but we have to trust him that he's gonna get us there. And I think that's part of the point of the parable of the pearl of great price, which we're not gonna look at this quarter, but at least part of that point of that parable is if we only had eyes to see how truly wonderful the kingdom of God is, we would gladly suffer this now to gain it. Or as Paul says in Romans 8.18, for I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. That's the hope of the gospel, that one day we're gonna get to heaven and we're gonna look back on all this hard stuff, and it really is hard, and go, you know what, I'd do it again. To get to this, I'd do it again in a minute. It's a drop in the bucket compared to what's coming. Or to use my analogy from last week, we all we have to do is take out the trash and God's gonna give us a million dollars. So what we go through now feels hard, seems impossible, but the promise of the gospel is we're gonna one day go, oh, I get it, I understand, and I would gladly do that again. So the blessings we have come from God, not our own doing. That that's the flaw in our logic, is the premise. If God is good, he'd give me what I want. There's the flaw. Not necessarily. I mean, what parent in here gives your child everything your child wants? You know, you know that we they don't always want what's good for them, and neither do we. So the flaw in that logic is if God is good, he'd give me what I want. No, not necessarily. He is good and he'll give you what you need. So the whatever that thing is that you're thinking, if I just had that, I'd be happy. Um the temptation is to start stop trusting God and start trusting yourself, don't believe it, because there's always something else. We think, you know, if I'll just be happy when I finish high school, or I'll just be happy when I get out of college, or when I when I get that job, or when I get that new job, or when I get married, or when I have children, or when the children finally go to school, or or when the kids grow up, and then or I'll be happy when I retire and I can stop working, and there's always something. So there's that little nagging voice that says, Is this all there is? And in a sense, it should say that, because this is not all there is. The good stuff is not yet. It is coming, and it's found in trusting God, and there's no other way to get there than to trust him. That's why um C. S. Lewis, you know, he titled um, he called this the Shadowlands in his books, The Chronicles of Narnia, because this is just a shadow of what's to come. The real thing, the best thing is coming. So the temptation is to stop trusting while they while it's delayed, and what we need to get through the delay is faith, to continue clinging to what we know is true, to hang on to that mature, strong, saving faith that says, yes, it's hard, but God will get me through, and I'm gonna stick with him no matter what. Just on time. Let me pray for us and I'll give you a chance to ask some questions. Father, thank you that um you do give us what we need and not what we deserve. And we know these are hard parables, and there's a lot of um dispute and and differences and understanding them, and I just pray that you would blow away anything that was untrue, um, not your word and not proper, and that you would be um writing things that are true in our hearts, making us people who trust you and who believe them, um, and who live like you're coming back, and that it matters what you think. And um trusting you not just for our daily bread and uh eat the moments of our lives, but for the big things as well faith, salvation, grace, um, and the things that turn on the nations turn on in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word with Krisan Marotta. What the Bible means and how we know. For notes and study questions, visit wednesdayintheword.com. We hope you'll join us again, and may God richly bless you.