Today on Real Life Radio. A quarter of the Bible is dedicated to God telling you about the future in advance. And Jesus, by the way, said it this way: I have told you these things before they come to pass. That when they do come to pass, you will know that I am the ego and me, that I am the eternal God. This is real life.
Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I'm David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God's Word, the Bible. Did you know there's an easy way to stay informed on the latest biblical events shaping our world today? Check out the Happening Now section at jackhibbs.com.
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Pastor Jack continues with his series called The Parables of Jesus and a message titled Parable of the Ten Virgins, Part 1. Whenever Jesus spoke to crowds, he often spoke on relatable stories, using common everyday themes that the Bible calls parables. And in this parable, Jesus is giving us a glimpse into the future. You see, we must not miss what the Bible predicted when it comes to the next prophetic event. But like the 10 virgins, there will be those who are prepared and those who will miss their chance of eternal life in heaven.
So we need to know what we believe when it comes to Jesus.
So today Pastor Jack teaches us that the world is focused on what it calls progressiveness and the Christian is rejoicing in the fact that the Bible shares in advance what's going to happen next.
Now with his message called Parable of the Ten Virgins, Part 1. Here's Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Huggs. And so, Father, we pray tonight that you'd minister to all of us that are here. Only you can do that. There are old-time seasoned saints.
There's people here that need to know Jesus. There's young and old alike. And, Father, we thank you that only you can do that under the name and in the name of Jesus Christ. And it's in His name we pray. And all God's people said, Amen.
Amen. Grab your Bibles tonight, church, and turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25. And we will read verses 1 to 13. And get into tonight's study of this parable, very famous parable.
One of the more recognizable parables, and I'm talking about, of course, the parable. of the ten virgins. The parable of the ten Virgins by the Time we come to the end of the next few weeks. You'll understand more about why 10 and why are they referred to in the parable as virgins and why Jesus. Taught this particular parable.
This is a timeless. Parable But I gotta tell you, in light of Our generation Right now, tonight, think of it. You and I Believer or non-believer? You and I tonight Or is the close as close to Jesus' coming as any other generation that has ever been right now. Think of it.
No one has ever been closer to the return of Jesus Christ. Then you and I right now And if I say it again... That you and I right now are even closer still. It's amazing to think. It is awesome to think.
The hope of the Christian. Is the return Of Jesus Christ.
So the parable of the ten virgins, Matthew chapter 25, beginning at verse 1. Follow along with me in your Bibles. Jesus said, Then the kingdom of heaven Shall be likened unto ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet. the bridegroom.
Now five of them were wise. and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.
Verse 6. And at midnight, a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.
And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil. For our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Nope. Lest there should not be enough for Us and you, but go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut.
Verse 11. Afterward, the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Assuredly I say to you, I do not know you. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. In which the Son of Man is coming.
amazing announcement regarding the events of the last days. And I hope tonight that you understand things a little bit more. We're going to methodically march our way through this. If you're taking notes tonight, jot this down, if you would, regarding the parable of the ten virgins, number one, it's found in verses one through five. And that is, know what you believe.
Will you write that down, please? Christian, know what you believe. Know this: it is absolutely critical that you understand. What the Bible says regarding this big word, eschatology. Eschatology means the study of future events as recorded in the Bible.
To know this numerous times in the Bible, Either Jesus Christ Himself, or maybe it's one of the prophets or one of the apostles, will write to us and say, don't be ignorant about this very thing. Why? Because as we approach, listen, everybody, what I love about tonight's message, by the way, you don't have to be a Christian. to agree with us tonight. You just have to have your eyes open.
Listen, as we approach what the Bible has recorded, which will be indicators of the last day's events. That Seem to be held off for a while, and people are wondering, and people are guessing and questioning. But once the end time events begin, the Bible says they're going to go very quick with the succession of time, very fast. In fact, do you remember when Jesus said in the book of Revelation 2,000 years ago, he said, Behold, I come quickly. And you've read that and you've wondered, what?
2,000 years is quick? That's not what he said. Unfortunately, The Bible, for us anyway, was not written in English. English is a very poor language when you're trying to read the Bible. The Bible is written in Hebrew and Greek and a little bit of Aramaic.
When Jesus says, Behold, I come quickly, the word in the Greek means, behold, when these things start to happen, man, I'm going to come fast. It's not that I'm going to come soon. He's saying when the end time events begin to tick or click off, When you start to see these things, and you can point to chapter and verse of your Bible and the headline news, Jesus said, I'm coming fast. It won't be long.
So this is a tremendous challenge. As Christians, we need to know what we believe. Because as the world around us begins to question and ask questions and to make fun of or to believe, And what the Bible has to say, they're going to come to us for answers and where to know them. They're going to get their answers from us as we lead them in the Word of God. First thing, mark it down if you would, the first two verses.
Then the kingdom of heaven, remember what that means? The kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God is interchangeable, it means the church age. From the day of Pentecost to the departure of the church, the church age, Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of God shall be likened. If I were to tell you what it's going to be like, Jesus said it's like this.
Ten virgins who took their lamps. went out to meet the bridegroom.
Now, five of them, verse 2, says, were wise and five were foolish. Stop right there. The Bible says in Hosea chapter 4, verse 6, that my people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge. You've got 10 virgins in the parable. Jesus' point is to communicate to us, which what he lands on in verse 13 is to be ready.
Watch! It's a very powerful word. We'll get to it in a week or two or three. The word means to be wide-eyed, vigilant, scanning. The horizon.
This is the way a believer is supposed to be living in every age of the Christian church. Always scanning current events, knowing the word of God, having a pulse, as it were, on the culture locally and the culture globally. Know what's going on.
Now we've got to fight Our human nature to bury our head in the sand. It is human nature to not want to know. We love good news. Don't tell me bad news. And I understand that.
I understand that. But Jesus is telling us the good news is what's coming. It's what we possess in our heart, but the best of news is yet coming. Christ is coming back. The Bible says Jesus is going to return.
But why do we believe this? Oh, you crazy Christians.
Well, we are crazy for a reason. The reason is Jesus said I'm coming back. And so yeah, we're crazy about it. We talk about it, we dream about it, we pray about it. And we get ready about it.
It's pretty exciting. But be careful because God says, my people are destroyed for a lack of not knowing what they should know. I think you'll agree with me that you and I are living in amazing biblical times, and my goodness, the relevance of it all. I don't have the time to go down, but I'm going to run off just a few things. But as the world around us is marching towards a progressiveness, Think about it, the world right now thinks it's being liberated.
There's a lot of people super happy in the world right now with the way things are going. You understand that? They think things are going fantastic.
Well, you may not think so, but wait a minute, you should think so. You should think things are going amazing. You see, it's your perspective. If you're looking at the world saying, oh my goodness, all this stuff's happening, isn't it fantastic? Versus the Christian who's looking at the world saying, Wow, look at all this stuff happening, isn't it fantastic?
Because the Bible said there would be days like this? You see the difference? One group is saying, Utopia is coming. And it's all around the world. We're looking for Super leaders these days.
Global leaders, we're looking for people, someone. to pull us out of all the earth's trauma. And look, if you know history, that's how Adolf Hitler came into power. He promised the German nation economic recovery and peace. And Pride in the German way of thinking and the German way of living.
And the Germans were in a severe depression. It was very, very bad for the German people. And listen, always in a time of deep depression, it is the human nature to reach out and grab onto hope, grab onto something or someone. And you'll either grab onto Jesus, or you'll grab onto this woman, or this man, or this gold, or silver, or whatever. You'll grab onto something for hope.
And what we want to argue with you tonight is, we want you to. Grab onto Jesus for hope. Because listen. He will never, never let you down, ever. And the great thing is, when the world seems to be at its darkest moment, Christ will come, Christ will return.
You're listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com. And for now, let's get back to our teaching. Once again, here's Pastor Jack.
Biblically, The days and age in which you and I live in right now have been predicted in the Bible. Mark this down, Bible students. You need to remember tonight as we go through this study that. In your Bible, 27% of your Bible. Is written to that topic, or dedicated to that topic, I should say, of eschatology, Bible prophecy.
That's amazing. Listen. I'm not here to beat up on anybody. But the Jehovah's Witnesses do not have 27% of their writings dedicated to Bible prophecy. Same with Mormonism.
Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, none of them. The Bible has twenty-seven percent. A quarter of the Bible is dedicated to God telling you about the future in advance. And Jesus, by the way, said it this way: I have told you these things before they come to pass. That when they do come to pass, you will know that I am, that I am the eternal God.
Wow, that's awesome. Only God can tell the future in advance with perfect accuracy. God doesn't come close. Coming close makes you a false prophet. God hits the nail on the head every time.
And so, if you're a skeptic tonight, if you're a doubter, and I appreciate that, I respect that, you need to look at this 27% of Bible prophecy. Why should you trust in the God of the Bible? Why should you give him your life? Why should you lean on him for your salvation and forgiveness? Number one reason in my book, it's how I got saved personally.
A message not too different than the one you're hearing tonight is that God is a prophetic God. If He's God, and look, I believe this. Only the God who knows all things should be worthy of your worship. And God says, right on. That's right.
I'm going to tell you 27% of what's going to happen in the world. I'm going to write it down in my book. And by the way, 100% of it is everything that matters.
So that you can know that I'm the one. It is awesome to think. And I love that. He um In a sense, he's pre-recorded. His word to us that we might know.
Now this topic gets a lot of people. Kind of concerned because it either will spawn in new faith. Or it will cause someone to push back. There's no gray area in this. And for example, listen to this.
2 Peter 3, verse 3 says, Knowing this first. Can you mark this down, church? 2 Peter 3, verse 3. And I'm going to ask you as I read this verse: are we not living in these days? 2 Peter 3:3, knowing this first.
Wake up, understand something, don't be offended. That scoffers will come in the last days. walking according to their own lusts and saying, Where is the promise? of his coming. Or, translation, my grandma thought he was going to come back.
Right, for since the fathers have fallen asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning. Oh man, people have been talking about Jesus coming back for so long. Where is the promise of his coming? The word means, yeah, he said it, the Bible says it ain't gonna happen. Scoffers, mockers, making fun of what God has promised.
Church, are we living in that age? It is awesome. It is amazing. I've told you before, I want to say it again. You find somebody making fun of Jesus coming back, give them a kiss.
Hug'em! Give them a Bible. Turn to 2 Peter 3:3 and say, man, dude, you're in the Bible! Right here, look, it's talking about you right here. It's amazing.
You're making fun of Jesus' return, and look at this your name right here. What's your name? Joe? Joe, I bet I know your last name, Scuffer. All right.
Hi, Joe Scuffer. Listen, Christian, these are crazy days, but when somebody says, oh man, Jesus is coming back, woo, hey, give him a hug. It's amazing. God's word anticipates this. The point of the parable tonight is not, by the way, Regarding pre-tribulation rapture view, or mid-tribulation rapture view, or post-tribulation rapture view, we'll talk about that in later studies.
It's not about Various views. It's all about understanding. That you need to be ready to meet Christ. You need to be ready to meet Jesus. And it's all important.
So know what you believe. It's very important. Luke chapter 12, verse 42. Listen to how important it is for you and I to know what we believe. And maybe I should put it this way: we better know what we claim to believe.
Right? Because how can you really believe something if you can't defend it?
Now I won't do this right now. We'll reserve the test later. But what if I were to walk up to you and say, As a Christian now, listen, this is fundamental. Christianity, if I were to walk up to you and say, Can you define for me Sin. You should be able to boom boom boom boom Yeah.
Well, because you need to know what Jesus did on the cross regarding that sin. How can you appreciate Jesus if you don't know what he did regarding sin? If I were to walk up to you and ask you, tell me about Sanctification. What? Up?
Well then how do you know? The power of it in your life, if you don't know what the Bible says about it. Are you with me? These are fundamental, these are things that are so basic. That to be really a Christian you need to know what you believe.
You need to know and you need to be able to defend it. I'm not saying you need to be a theologian. I'm saying, listen, look. When you see somebody in love, They have spent so much time looking at each other. He can say of her, she's got a little mole right there.
And sh when she smiles there's a dimple there. And you know what? When you look at her, this eye's a little bit more blue than that. I mean, he'll tell you stuff. Add nausea to you.
TMI. Ha ha ha. Why? Because they're in love. And they they Study each other.
And She'll know his middle name even. And it's just amazing. Do you remember that show? I don't think it's around anymore, but when I was a little kid growing up, I was just a baby. when there was a program called the Newly Wed Game.
Remember that? And uh they would ask questions like, you know, stuff like that. Does your wife, you know have a birthmark. And they start, it's all very funny and all this stuff. But it's pretty bad if the guy's married to his wife and the guy gets the wrong answer, he holds up the answer and it's the wrong answer.
What's your wife's middle name? Yeah. Not good. As a Christian, you should know what God has done for you. Why?
Because someone's going to ask us, what makes you a Christian? You better have the answer. Jesus said, or the word of God says, my people perish. My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge.
So this is very, very important.
Okay? Luke 12, 42. And the Lord said, Who then is a faithful and wise steward? Who knows how to govern their life? Whom is Master will make ruler over his household.
He's talking about when he returns. To give them their portion of food in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his master will find him so doing when he comes. He's talking about himself when he returns. Truly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all that he has.
But if that servant says in his heart, notice it doesn't come out of his mouth. It's in his heart. It's his doctrine. It's his way of thinking. My master delays his coming.
I don't think he's coming back soon. Notice the result of that kind of thinking. He begins to beat the male and female servants. And to eat and drink and be drunk, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and in an hour when he's not aware, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. What's important about this statement, Jesus makes now listen carefully.
Are you listening? Jesus, this word in Luke 12, Jesus is not saying that this person was a believer and goes to hell or gets lost because something happened. What's here is that there's a person who says they believe. They're in the gathering of the True believers, they look like a believer, they might talk like a believer, but they're not holding, listen, they're not holding truly in action the doctrines of the believer, the teachings. You see, he says in his heart, I don't think my Lord's coming back.
You notice that? He looks just like us, but he's not excited about the Lord's return. He could care less. And how would you know?
Well, I don't know unless you follow him around town. And if you followed him around town, look, he begins to be very, or he is very sloppy about his witness. regarding Jesus. He's living Like the world. He's violent.
Look, Jesus said that person's very slack. They beat people. They're mean. They're drunk. They're living for themselves.
Now, you might sit here tonight and say, Well, I don't beat people and I don't get drunk.
Well, it Fill in the blank. It could be that you're so impressed with yourself that there's no room for God in your life. It could be that you're trusting in your money. No place for God, okay? Very, very important.
Jesus is not saying someone's going to lose their salvation. This person never had it. Pastor and Bible teacher Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio, with his message called Parable of the Ten Virgins, Part 1. Thanks for being with us today. You know this message is part of Pastor Jack's series called The Parables of Jesus.
It's a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was ministering here on this earth and will continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio. Pastor Jack, we've got a great book of the month this month. It's called Living Water and written by Chuck Smith. And from what I understand, and the listeners might not know this, but you and Chuck Smith, you go back quite a bit, is that right? Yeah, amazing, first of all.
Just the Jesus revolution, the Jesus movement. A lot of people kind of think of Greg Laurie in that, but the truth of the matter is, Greg Laurie was a byproduct, as I, as so many thousands of others, all because one man decided to obey God and really go against, so to speak, church rules in those days. What he decided to do is, let's do the Bible verse by verse. Let's do the Bible and nothing else.
So, you know, the concept of the Holy Spirit can be difficult to understand for a lot of Christians. What I specifically like about this book is the focus on the Holy Spirit.
So, how do you think Living Water, this book, stands out from other books about the Holy Spirit?
Well, Chuck Smith had what might be one of the most unique ways of teaching. Teaching the Bible because even from his pulpit, in the thousands and thousands of people that attended his sermons, he just spoke to you as though you were sitting at a coffee table with him. That simple. He taught in such a way that you remembered. You remembered what you heard, you remembered what was taught, and in this case, you'll remember what is written because, frankly, it's just plump with Bible.
And it is just a tremendously powerful book regarding the power, frankly, of the Holy Spirit active in your life. And so it's a highly recommended book. It changed my life. It made things that are normally complicated by people. Pastor Chuck just brought it down so simply and powerfully.
So it's such a great resource. I hope everybody gets it and will be blessed by it as much as I have been and as I am. to be honest with you. Yeah. Living Water by Pastor Chuck Smith.
It's available right now for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That's jackhibbs.com slash real radio. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That's jackhibbs.com.
Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We'll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
