Don't Miss the Moment, by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture:  Matthew 25:1-13

25:1  "Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom.
25:2  Five of them were foolish, and five were wise.
25:3  When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them;
25:4  but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.
25:5  As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept.
25:6  But at midnight there was a shout, 'Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.'
25:7  Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.
25:8  The foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.'
25:9  But the wise replied, 'No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'
25:10  And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut.
25:11  Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, 'Lord, lord, open to us.'
25:12  But he replied, 'Truly I tell you, I do not know you.'
25:13  Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

          Some say the Lord is returning quickly, returning soon and we must watch day by day, even minute by minute.

          Others say there is much to come first, and that we are about as close to the end of days as Paul and Silas were close.  Still, "the heathen rage," the nations war, and evil seems to multiply by day by day.

          I think perhaps in every age the rigors of daily life seem such that people think the Lord must be returning at any moment.  When I was a child I recall hearing people say "I'll do this, or I'll do that ... if the Lord tarries."  They were always prepared to do one thing or another, to go here or there, but only "if the Lord tarried."  For the world seemed in such a state that surely the Lord must return at any moment and save them from the craziness they saw around them.  Everyone loves a good ending to a story, and in the minds of many people, "enough is enough."

          A quote attributed to Marcus Tullus Cicero reads, "The budget should be balanced, the treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt.  The mobs should be forced to work and not depend on government for subsistence."

          Sound familiar?

          How about this one ... "The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers."  It's a quote attributed by Plato to Socrates.

             And then there is this one: "I see no hope for the future of our people if they are dependent on frivolous youth of today, for certainly all youth are reckless beyond

words... When I was young, we were taught to be discreet and respectful of elders, but the present youth are exceedingly wise [disrespectful] and impatient of restraint," a quote from Hesiod in the 8th century B.C.

             Some things don't change very much, certainly not human nature.

             When I was a youth, these verses from Matthew 25 were scary, downright frightening.  When you're a child it's difficult to concentrate on anything from moment to moment.  You're supposed to clean up your room, and you forget.  You were supposed to take the trash out, and you forget.  Feed the dog, and you forget, do your homework and you put it off, and you forget.

             In Matthew 25 the five foolish virgins, or young girls, were probably told by their parents to be sure and refill their lamps so they would be ready in case there was a long wait for the bridegroom.  But they didn't do that.  

             Somehow as a child I knew there was a deadly seriousness about this story.  If I forgot to clean my room, I got scolded, neglected to take the trash out, again a scolding.  Not feed the dog, leave my homework undone.....there were degrees of punishment, but tomorrow was another day, and I knew my mother would still wash and iron my clothes, feed me, and love me.

             The five virgins would not be so lucky, it was explained to me.  They didn't just get shut out of the party, didn't just miss a night of good food and good times.  Theirs was a story of missing out on eternity.  Follow their example and you were shut out of good times forever, you were shut out from God, forever and even longer than forever.  Even to a young boy, that was frightening.

             Frightening as it was, it didn't seem fair.  Didn't seem fair that something so small should have such dire consequences.  But, as we all learn in growing up, life isn't fair.

             From the very beginning, back in Genesis 6:3, we are told that God's spirit will not always strive with ours.  We have only so many days on this earth, the number of which are unknown to us, to make up our mind to whom we belong.  When God calls us home, there is no time out while we play eeny, mene, miney, moe.  We either belong to God Almighty, accepting the gift of life that His son Jesus Christ bought for us on the cross with His shed blood, or we have lost it all.

             For us there is no second chance while we run off to refill our lives with His spirit.  For there is no "refilling" at the moment of death.  His door is closed and locked to us if we are not one with Christ, and the only message we hear is "truly I tell you, I do not know you."  Chilling words.

             Whatever you do, whatever is going on in your life right now, don't wait.  There is no guarantee of life to us even over the next few minutes.  Hebrews 9:27 reminds us, "And as it is appointed to men once to die, but after this the judgment..."

             When we get to that point there is no time for comparative decisions, for second chances, for considering the alternatives.  At that critical point the decision -- to not decide for Christ is to decide -- has been made, all other chances disappear, Hell awaits.

             Hell awaits not because God didn't do everything He could, short of abridging the free will He gave us, to keep us out of hell.  In His own Word, 2nd Peter 3:9, we read, "The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance."

             Now, be clear, this has nothing to do with the return to earth of Jesus Christ.  People die every day, and Jesus has not returned yet.  People all over the world worry about Armageddon, about the return of Christ, about the Rapture,  and yet none of this has happened, but eternity has slipped up on us.  According to the calculations of the CIA World Factbook, 155,000 human beings die worldwide each day; eternity slipped up on them when they weren't looking. 

             For many of them, they slipped into eternity without Christ, without the gift of His righteousness, the free gift bought for them with His life, death, burial and resurrection.  Death took only an instant, but in that instant, they missed the moment.

             I urge you not to miss the moment.  Don't let those around you miss the moment.  For the five foolish young women, there was no reprieve, no second chance.  They were not ready for what awaited them.

             Accept the gift of life Jesus Christ offers.  Join with a group of believers in a local church, be ready when the bridegroom returns.  Don't miss the moment.