These notes come from a Bible study was taught 7/1/11 by Pastor Don Moore. We covered Matthew 25:1-8 in this Bible study, the 7-13 the following week.

Matthew 25:1-13 is often used to beat up the sheep.

Jesus begins his teaching in Matthew 24 with speaking about the signs of the times and knowing that the end is at hand.  He speaks about the faithful servant and the evil servant.

Matthew 24:45-51 “Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?  Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing.  Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.  But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’  and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards,  the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

This sets the context for Matthew 25 about the ten virgins, five wise/five foolish.  The important thing to remember in this story is that ALL ARE VIRGINS.  All are saints with the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus.  All are called.

Matthew 22:14 For many are called, but few are chosen.

All the virgins are called to go to the wedding feast of the Lamb which is being prepaid. We need to up our game to make sure we are prepared.  We are to judge ourselves in this, not try to determine who is and isn’t prepared. We need to figure out what we need to do in our lives to make sure we have oil in our lamps, that we are prepared. We need to look forward to being called and discern those areas that we need to work on in our lives. 

To properly discern the meaning of a Scripture, we need to ask ourselves who is speaking and who is he talking to? In Matthew 25, Jesus is speaking and he is speaking about the spiritual Kingdom. He is talking to his disciples.

Matthew 25:1 Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

He was talking about the Spiritual Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom.  But we are also told that the Kingdom of God is at hand, that we can reach out and touch it. Also, the Kingdom of God is within you.  We should experience the Kingdom of God on earth, not wait until we die.  

A parable is a story, and this one is set in a factual spiritual setting and experience. 

Notice the term SHALL BE LIKENED TO – that means it is also prophetic, futuristic.

So, for this parable, the Kingdom of God is in existence at the time of Jesus’ telling and is also in existence now and in the future.

At a future time this will happen.  

The LAMPS – The virgins bring their lamps and come to wait on the Groom who is coming for His Bride. The virgins are not his Bride. The ones waiting for the Groom are the FRIENDS of the Bride.  The Bride is the Church and the saints in the Church.  The Groom is going to come with His friends, the inside core of relations He calls friends – angles, apostles, etc.  Remember, in Chapter 24 it says that Jesus is coming in the clouds to gather His Bride, to separate the sheep from the goats. He is taking a remnant of the elite. He is coming to get the elect that can’t be fooled.

Matthew 24:30-31 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. 

The word, rapture, is not in the Bible. The early apostles did not use that term. It wasn’t used until the 1800′s.  Also Mary is not considered a co-redeemer with Christ until some false teachings came out in 1844.  

What is called the rapture today was termed the blessed hope, the quickening, the snatching away.

The Wedding of Christ is in the spiritual realm.  The angels and apostles come in the clouds. During this quickening, blessed hope, Jesus’ feet do not touch the ground, He is in the clouds. 

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first.  Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.

Matthew 24:29-31 Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.  And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Matthew 24:36-39  But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.  For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. 

When Jesus comes, everyone will know about it.

Matthew 24:40-44  Then two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill: one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming.  But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into.  Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.

It doesn’t say what season, time, or hour.  Just that we must be ready. If the Gospel and prophesy doesn’t cause you to change your heart, how you are living and acting, how can you be called as a believer? When we repent we change. We are a living, breathing organism and we change – we don’t do the same old, same old.

Matthew 25, is for all saints, Messianic and those who are not Jewish

1 Corinthians 15:50-58 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.”“ O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?” The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

The banquet table is ready and we are to come to the feast. Remember the parable where Jesus sends his servants out to the highways and byways to find guests for the feast because the invited guests found excuses not to attend. 

Jesus is looking for virgins with no spot or blemish, who are ready and looking for Him. (Now we can only achieve this by the Blood of the Lamb, not in our own works or our own righteousness.)  We are to be prepared as the bride. 

Matthew 25:2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 

What is the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins?  PREPAREDNESS

Matthew 25:3-4 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

The oil is the Holy spirit.  When we are saved we are sealed with the Holy Spirit. In the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, we receive the power of the Holy Spirit. Many receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and then do nothing with it. They let their oil diminish. But Jesus is looking for those who will stir up the gifts and the Spirit within themselves and keep their oil fresh. We can be saved and not use our oil. We can serve God and not be filled with oil, but when we keep our oil levels high, and obey God, much can be done for the Kingdom. The work of the Holy Spirit and operating in the gifts of the Spirit advance the Kingdom. With oil in our lamps we light the world and Jesus wants us to be the light of the World. The gifts of the Spirit are not just for us, but to edify others, and to shine Jesus’ light into the World.

The lamp is our Christian walk. In the book of Revelation the Angel of the Church is called a Lampstand, to give light and direction to the Church.

The Light of Christ manifests in the Church to reflect Jesus Christ. We want to reflect what the Lord has called the Church to be, and reject what is not of the Lord.

In Revelation 2, Jesus tells the Church at Ephesus that they have lost their first love and were not doing what God has assigned them to do.

The Holy Spirit does signs and wonders. It flows in us and through us.  It helps us to do supernatural missionary work. 

We are to be a spiritual lighthouse.  Our light is in earthen vessels.

2 Corinthians 4:7   But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.  

 The Holy Spirit is the oil in our vessels. Our bodies and minds are the work of the Holy Spirit.

Believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit, and the enemy will recognize that. When we go into atmosphere of the world, our body should glow with the presence of the Lord. When we walk into a room that is dark, because of the presence of the Lord, the atmosphere should change.

Matthew 25:5  But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.

The bridegroom was delayed. 

2 Peter 3:11-13   Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

By what we do, we can hasten the coming of the Lord. 

Notice that ALL slept – the wise and the foolish.

Matthew 25:6  “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 

Midnight is a dark time. He is not coming in the fullness of dawn. Things are going to be as bad as they get. The virgins are told to go out and meet the Lord.

ALL sleeping, the virgins, the Bride (Church).  Remember in the Garden when Jesus went to pray and the apostles slept. They could not watch one hour.

Jesus was weeping in the garden, knowing He had to go to the cross, but we didn’t wait with Him. Jesus set His face like flint to go to Jerusalem to die. He knew His purpose, to die the death to cover our sins. He knew He had to get to Jerusalem to do this, to go to the Cross. His grief was that His closest friends, who he lived with and ministered with, were all going to leave Him at this time of trial. 

Jesus prophesied this.  Mark 14:27 Then Jesus said to them, “All of you will be made to stumble because of Me this night, for it is written: ‘I will strike the  Shepherd,  and the sheep will be scattered.’ ”

Jesus watched his disciples disappear. He went to trial with no support. We want people to know that we know Jesus, not to deny Him.

Matthew 25:7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.

To trim a lamp, you cut the wick so that the lamp burns the oil efficiently and produces the brightest light. If there is too much wick soot can cause the lamp to smoke. We want to cut away what prevents us from doing the Kingdom work the way God wants us to do it. We want our robes to be clean and white. To do this, we need to cut the excess, do a thorough self-exam, and only keep what lines up with God, His Word, and His plan for our lives.

Matthew 25:8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 

When we don’t work with the Holy Ghost, keep Him continually filling us, our lamps will go out.  Have we really kept refreshing ourselves in the Holy Ghost? If not we are being presumptuous about the Holy Ghost.  

Pastor Don will continue this lesson in the next Bible study.

I hope this blesses you.

Heather

Taught June 22, 2011

God does things in seasons and times.  Many of those in the church who are over forty are playing church the way we always have and are not aware of the change in season or the times.  We need to get ready, get on the express, or we can sit and watch the tribulation. it is our choice.

Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesy.

There is a new prophetic voice in the Church.  We can’t use old church doctrine to romance the muslims.

Revelation 3:1 And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, “These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.“

The seven spirits of God – what are they?  We can find that out in Isaiah 11:1-4

Isaiah 11:1-4 There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD. His delight is in the fear of the LORD, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; but with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;  He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. 

The Rod, the stem of Jesse refers to Jesus.  

The seven spirits are:  The Spirit of the Lord, The Spirit of wisdom, the Spirit of understanding, the Spirit of counsel, the Spirit of might, the Spirit of knowledge, and the Spirit of the fear of the Lord.

In Revelation 3:1 it mentions the seven stars, angels of the seven Churches John will write to.  The people in this church at Sardis were physically alive but are spiritually dead. Sometimes, unless someone points out our spiritual death, we don’t know it.

People can think they have and are functioning in the Holy Spirit, but not realize they don’t have it.  

We all think we are good, wise, Biblically knowledgeable.  If we feel we are good we think that means we have the Holy Spirit.  We have formulas so our ego is pleased and we think we are okay.  We think we are validated in our own eyes.

When we accept the Lord we are born again and we have been sealed by the Holy Spirit, but that is different from receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit.  

Peter was born again, but not completely.  He still made errors.  After he received the praise of Jesus for recognizing that Jesus was the Christ, he immediately turned around and told Jesus not to go to the Cross.  Jesus rebuked him saying, get thee behind me satan.

We can be saved, born again, or spirits are born again, but there are still areas of our flesh that are still acting in the same way we did before we got born again.  We are works in process.

We receive the gifts of the Spirit by faith.  Everyone has been born again by the power of the Holy Spirit.  

In the Bible Jesus breathed on people to receive the Holy Spirit.  We don’t see many ministries with breathe on services.

John 20:21-23 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin so we turn to Jesus.  We receive the Holy Spirit when we are saved, but we don’t operate in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit until we receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.

The disciples in John 20 received the Holy Spirit when Jesus breathed on them, but they still had to travel to Jerusalem to receive the Holy Spirit to reside in them and give them the courage and power to do the work of the Lord. 

John 16:5-11 But now I go away to Him who sent Me, and none of you asks Me, ‘Where are You going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. Nevertheless I tell you the truth. It is to your advantage that I go away; for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me;  of righteousness, because I go to My Father and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 

The Baptism of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit resides in us, and we need to stir up the gifts of the Spirit.

2 Timothy 1:6 Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 

There is a laying on of the hands to receive the impartation gift of the Holy Spirit. Doubt and unbelief can block the ability to receive.

In our personal lives the true purpose of self is to meet with God, obey GOd, and deal with our flesh.  Come to church prepared to worship and minister to God.

The Holy Spirit will guide us in our lives.  For example, Paul wanted to go to Macedonia, but initially the Holy Spirit forbade him to go there.  Later he was sent there and God had people in place for Paul to do the work God wanted him to do.  Had Paul gone earlier to to Macedonia he would not have been as effective and would not have had the people in place.

1 Corinthians 12 speaks of the Spirit, and how we are one body in Christ and the gifts of the Spirit are to edify the Body of Christ. 

Josh McDowell says that we are the last Christian generation.

The Spirit of Christ brings wholeness, completeness, health, prosperity and salvation.

When the Holy Spirit comes to reside we need to choose righteousness and acceptable cultural behavior.  THe Holy Spirit helps us to operate and do what Jesus did.  And don’t forget that Jesus gave many of His sermons through His sermons through His actions, healing, feeding and freeing those who were bound.  

Revelation 3:2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God.

God wants our work to be perfect.  We can do works, good works, but they may not be the perfect works that God wants us to do.  We have to assess if our works are the ones God wants us to be doing.  Sometimes we do works but we do them halfheartedly.  God wants us to give 120% and do the works with a right heart.  If God doesn’t want us doing a particular work, it may be that we are doing it out of our flesh.

If the Church focuses on missions and charity, but doesn’t also teach the Word of God the Church is out of balance.  

The power is always with us, the main thing is the Word.  God equips us to do what He calls us to do.

Revelation 3:3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you. 

Jesus will come as a thief, and we will not know the hour of his coming.  The Bible tells us what will happen so we will be prepared.  His main thing is the heart and minds of the people.  We need to make sure our minds and hearts line up with God’s will.

Revelation 3:4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 

There are always a few people, church people, who do the right thing.  There is the enemy in the Church, but there is also a remnant. The Bride of Christ is a small group, not all believers (remember the 10 virgins – all virgins were saved, not all had enough oil).  Know the season, keep sanctified, keep the love of the Lord pure. Be discerning of worship and your inner heart.  Don’t focus on lifestyle, but on the love and obedience of God.  God is concerned about the heart.  God judges.

We want to stay undefiled.

Revelation 3:5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 

Some today teach universal salvation, but there is no such thing. One who is impure can have their name blotted from the Book of Life.

Revelation 3:7-10 And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:  “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.  Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie—indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you. Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.

These believers persevere and Jesus will keep them in the hour of their trial. We are to guard our selves and keep your eye on what you are supposed to do. There will be tribulation and testing, but we need to be faithful.  This happened in modern times too from the 1730′s to 1900′s.  And this opened doors all over the world.

Revelation 3:12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name. 

A new name of God, one that has not been blasphemed on the earth, a name that is not known to the enemy. When we go into places of darkness, the enemy will have to respond to us, for we have the seal of God, an anointing of God on us. 

God knows the pressure of our cares, accusations and situations, and these can be altered. We will be sent and are able to deliver a word in season to people in need and in situations that are difficult.  They will respond in kind even if they don’t want to.  We are covered with the blood.  

I hope this teaching blesses you.

Heather