Parable of the Ten Virgins
Hi everyone. Today is the Last Day in the church calendar. Jesus is teaching the parable of the Ten Virgins which is the whole church. He warns them to be ready for His Second Coming. How is that done? You are ready when you have faith in Jesus which comes by hearing the Word of God. The lessons and sermon are printed below as well as the audio of the whole service. May you receive it as a blessing in the name of Jesus. Pastor Pautz
Divine Service
Lutheran Service Book (LSB) hymnal
Opening Hymn #544 O Love How Deep
Invocation p. 184
The Confession of Sins
The Absolution
The Psalm 126
The Gloria Patri
The Kyrie p. 186
The Gloria in Excelsis
The Salutation and Collect p. 189
The Old Testament (See Printed Scriptures below)
The Epistle
The Gospel
Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
The Nicene Creed p. 191
Hymn of the Day#516 Awake, Awake, The Night Is Flying
The Sermon
The Offertory p. 192
Prayer of the Church
The Service of the Sacrament
Preface p. 194
Sanctus p. 195
The Lord’s Prayer p. 196
The Words of Our Lord p. 197
The Pax Domini
The Agnus Dei p. 198
Distribution
Distribution Hymn #438 A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth
Distribution Hymn #458 Christ Jesus Lay In Death’s Strong Bands
Distribution Hymn #756 Why Should Cross And Trial Grieve Me
The Nunc Dimittis p. 199
The Thanksgiving p. 200
The Salutation
The Benedicamus p. 201
The Benediction p 202
Closing Hymn #421 Jesus Grant That Balm And Healing
Isaiah 65:17-25 The Glorious New Creation
17 “ For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying. 20 “ No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, Nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; For the child shall die one hundred years old, But the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; They shall not plant and another eat; For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of My people, And My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain, Nor bring forth children for trouble; For they shall be the descendants of the blessed of the LORD, And their offspring with them. 24 “ It shall come to pass That before they call, I will answer; And while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, The lion shall eat straw like the ox, And dust shall be the serpent’s food. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” Says the LORD.
1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 The Day of the Lord
1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. 2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. 3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. 4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. 5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. 6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. 7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. 8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. 9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. 11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
Matthew 25:1-13 The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins
1 “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. 3 Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 6 “And at midnight a cry was heard: ‘Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!’ 7 Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ 9 But the wise answered, saying, ‘No,lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.’ 10 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. 11 “Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ 12 But he answered and said, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.’ 13 “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.
Sermon Notes
Grace and mercy to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Lord has written in today’s Gospel lesson, Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open to us!’ But Jesus 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. Thus far the text.
Let us pray, Creator Father, who alone knows the day and the hour of the Last Day, keep us in the faith and protect us from the evil one; in the name of Jesus. Amen.
We fall asleep so easily and yet the Lord tells us to be ready and watching for Him? We could never do it! Even the bridesmaids can’t keep their eyes open. They fall asleep. That is, they lived out their lives waiting for Christ’s second coming, but died before He came. The foolish and the wise have this in common: they die. The difference between the foolish and the wise is that the wise ones had oil for their lamps.
Well, what’s the oil? What is it you need to be ready when the Bridegroom comes? The oil is faith in Jesus Christ. The Word.
In the Bible, lamps were lit with oil and oil was put upon people to anoint them as God’s chosen ones. Oil was made from olives which were pressed and crushed. Think of your Lord on the cross, crushed by your sins. Pressed under the weight of God’s wrath and judgment. Squeezed by your sins until there was no life left in Him. Squeezed until the water and blood of the holy sacraments poured out of the side of Jesus.
That oil, or faith as it were, is given to you. It is faith in Jesus that fills up your lamps in Holy Baptism and every time you eat and drink Christ’s Body and Blood. Faith is poured into your lamps as you hear God’s Word and the preaching of the Gospel. The thing about the Christian faith is that it is the Bridegroom Himself who has prepared you for His return by giving you faith in Jesus! You don’t even have to go get it. He gives it to us. The Bridegroom Himself makes us ready so we may receive Him when He comes on the last day. Even if you fall asleep, that is, even when you die, faith in Jesus makes you ready for the day the trumpet sounds and Christ returns in all His glory. You, brothers and sisters in Christ, are ready. Water. Word. Body. Blood. Faith stocked up. Ready to go when the shout goes out!
So what about those foolish virgins? They aren’t ready. The have no faith (no oil). They thought they didn’t have to go and hear God’s Word. They didn’t need to go and eat and drink Christ’s body and blood. They didn’t have to learn the Scriptures and have Christ fill their vessels with faith.
In this life they despised the Word and Baptism and Supper. They figured that when Jesus comes back, they’d be in just because they had good intentions or they were nice people or they lived good lives or had their name on a church’s membership rolls. But they had no oil. No faith in Jesus.
They THOUGHT they were fine but on the Last Day they’ll be running around trying to get some faith and there won’t be anymore. For when the Lord comes on that Last Day, there will be no more time for preaching and hearing God’s Word. And the foolish ones will beat on the door of the wedding hall (the door to heaven) and Jesus will say, “I don’t know who you are!”
There’s a warning there for whenever you are tempted to despise Christ’s means of grace! A warning for whenever you take your God-given faith in Jesus for granted.
And yet you, pure and wise virgins, you are ready. Your faith in Jesus is stocked up because you are stocked up with Jesus. With His Word. His Baptism. His Body and His Blood. His forgiveness. Our Lord is coming and He WILL be here soon! But you’re ready. You’re ready because the Bridegroom has made you ready and wise. Oh sure, you may drift off during a sermon here and there and you may close your eyes in death for a time. But when the Lord arrives, that shout is going to wake you up! And you are going to be full of joy and gladness that now Christ has come for you. And He’s going to gather us up and bring us to His eternal wedding feast of which you will have a foretaste here, this morning. The End is near! Come quickly, Lord Jesus! For you are ready; in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes understanding, guard you and keep you in Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
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