Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Watch Pt.3

Let's turn to Thessalonians. We'll pick up where we left off this morning, as we were talking about that need to be watchful, sober, because of the hour that we're living in. The watchfulness is, we saw, a multifaceted watchfulness. We're watching for the coming of the Lord (we're watching the signs of the times that we're living in, the circumstances that are around us), and then we're being very watchful of our own hearts (the fruit in our lives, a watchfulness of our attitude, our awareness of our own personal state). Paul spoke in Thessalonians, as we were looking [at those passages] this morning, and he said the thing we need to realize is that we're a people that have been called into the light, where it's easy to watch, it's easy to determine what's going on. He says in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 4, "But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief."

Now, the whole purpose of this teaching, beloved, is to be ready when the trumpet sounds. Jesus is coming back, and some day very soon that trumpet is going to sound. Can you imagine? I mean, we've talked about it for years. We've tried to imagine what it could be like, but eye has not seen and ear has not heard, it hasn't entered into the heart of man, the things that God has prepared for those that love Him. Amen? "I've gone to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I shall doubtless come again and receive you unto Myself, that where I am there you may be also" (John 14:2-3). Praise God! Think about it. He's coming back! And He's coming back, the Scripture says, for a bride--not a floozy, but a bride without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. He's coming back for a chaste virgin, one that's not polluted with the cares of this world, one that has no association whatsoever with the world's system, but a pure virgin separated only unto Him for His glory, who lives to honor Him. And as His bride, there's a preparation that's taking place right now, as we're waiting, as by faith and expectation we're hastening the Lord's return. The bride is making herself ready, the Scripture says. So you need some light to do that.

Some of you young ladies, you remember very clearly your wedding day. Greer was saying on the way to service tonight--she said every time we sing that chorus, just so vividly, the whole service comes back of our wedding. And so many of you can still remember that day--even as far back as Michael and Renee [Pastor humorously referring to a couple just married two weeks ago]. You can recall and remember that day and all of the preparation that took place. You didn't get up in the dark and just throw something on and put a little bit of mascara on and it happened to end up in your ear, or whatever, and here you go--and what you see, Michael, is what you get. And he said, Can I pray about it? No, it didn't happen that way. It's the most exciting day, in the natural, of your life, up until that time when the two of you begin to have children. Then you have another day, and you say the two combined are the most exciting times of your life. And life goes on as we honor God in our growth.

It's the same thing in our relationship with the Lord. There's the marriage, and then there's the sanctification that's taking place, the union, the growing alike. You've notice how people that have been married for a long time, they'll say the same thing or think the same thing at the same time or do something without even having to think about it--you know what the other person is thinking. And that's how we grow in our relationship, but it happens by walking in light; it happens by preparing ourselves and seeing what manner of man we are, continuing in the Word of God, as James says, and this day will not overtake you. "Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day [verse 5 says]: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. [Look what he says.] Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober."

This is where we left off this morning--a watchfulness, lives of sobriety. That word literally means lives that are under control; your flesh is not out of control. Soberness means a controlled, disciplined pursuit of God. As Paul says, "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). A watchfulness, an awareness of everything that's going on around us. "But let us [verse 8 says], who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." God has not appointed us to judgment, but there's a day of judgment coming. Are you making yourself ready? Are you aware of the hour, the time, or is there a slumbering spirit, in this age in which we're living? We're talking about the fact that much of the church is being vexed, much of the church is being lulled to sleep by the false doctrines of spiritual humanism, where the worship of the creature more than the Creator is taking place in our churches. There's more self-help available in churches today, a lot more messages of self-esteem than sanctification, a lot more talk about success than repentance, a lot more talk about image than Christlikeness. We're all told that nothing is our fault; we have these many diseases, and we can't help ourselves. It creates a slumber; it creates a substandard for Christians who are no longer Christlike.

Look over at the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew for just a moment. We're all very familiar with this parable; we could all tell the story. But let's look at it again and, in light of hour that we're living in, ask ourselves the question: Is my lamp filled with oil? Am I fully ready? Chapter 25, Matthew--five wise, five foolish. The foolish, verse 3, took their lamps. Now, the implication is there that there was the proper lamp--it was capable of burning. It had, in fact, burned in the past, probably very brightly, but they "took no oil with them." They thought that what they had was enough. Can I ask you the question: Do you believe that what you have is enough to finish this race? Do you believe that what you have today is sufficient to cause you to stand against the wiles of the devil that are coming in this last day, when if it weren't shortened, even the very elect would not stand, the Scripture says? Then how are you viewing this thing? When God says even the very elect may not stand and you're saying "I've got enough; I can make it," how wise is that? When the Scripture says in the last days iniquity is going to abound and many who love Him today will grow cold, how does that correspond with our judgment that "I have sufficient. I'm OK. I'll make it"? When in these evil times it's going to wax worse and worse, the Scripture says--if things are going to get worse, shouldn't you become better? Shouldn't you become stronger? When the opposition becomes stronger shouldn't you be stronger? What are you doing to make yourself stronger today? What are you doing to prepare yourself against the seduction of Antichrist? Read Thessalonians. No one, no one outside of the redeemed is going to escape his deception. This is the age that we're coming into, and if your light be darkness, then how great is that darkness (Matthew 6:23). If you think you're OK and you're not, you're in deception and you're in death. There is no light in you. "But the wise [verse 4] took oil in their vessels with their lamps." They had excess. Can I ask you tonight: Do you have excess? When you look at your spiritual life and you look at what's going on in the world today, can you say, "I've got more than enough, praise God"? If you don't, you know where to get it, don't you? See, the five foolish knew where to get it and so do you. You get it right here on your knees. You get it right here in communion with Father. You get it right here in serving the Body of Christ and choosing to die to self. Do you have more than enough? Or are you barely getting by?

I'm a little better than I used to be, but I'm one of those people that runs my gas tank to E [empty]--the needle will lay on E for untold amounts of time, and I think, "I can go at least one more exit." I don't know why I do that. I do too know why I do it--I hate stopping. That's why I love driving in the motor home now. I can fill that baby up and run a thousand miles before I have to stop. And those that travel with us now are so glad there's a bathroom in it, because we used to run hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours without stopping. I'm one of those--I'd go and go. You say, What about if people have to go to the bathroom? Hold it. [Pastor] Jeff's bladder tripled over the years, in learning--he was one of those guys, every time you turned around [he needed to stop]. Not anymore! We fixed him.

Do you have more than enough, or are you taking a chance of running out? I have run out of gasoline--once that I can remember. God's been good to us in my stupidity! But I want to tell you something. I have no intention of cutting this one close. I want to stay on full. How about you? So as the Scripture speaks to us here, He says the wise are the ones that took not only the lamps filled, but sufficient oil with them. Now, the cool thing is found here in verse 5. It says, "While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept." Now, this has to do with another parable that was spoken. You know, you sow your seed in the ground--you go to bed, you rise up, you go to bed, you rise up--and it grows, you know not how, the parable says. It's talking about planting the Word of God and by faith waiting for it to produce after its own kind. You can't make it happen. As the laborer of the vineyard, we have patience waiting for that day. We're waiting right now.

This slumber that it's talking about is implying the fact that they were pursuing the natural course of life, but they were ready at any moment for the one preeminent event, the coming of the bridegroom. It's OK to be involved in your business and in your secular job. The Scripture tells us that we're to occupy until He comes. These people that think we're to somehow become members of a monastery somewhere, that we're to run into the mountains and hide and wait--no, that's against the Scriptures. It says that we're to occupy until He comes. We go on with our lives, and we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth until He comes. But we are in this world, not of it. We have one treasure and that's the Bridegroom, and everything we do is in preparation for that day. Today could be the day! This could be the day that Jesus comes!

So they all slumbered; they all go about the natural course of life. "And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." Now, look. They were all there in expectation; they were in the right place. They had lamps. When they heard the cry--look--they all arose. Not one of them says, "Oh, I think I'll sleep in. Tell me how the thing goes." They all rise up, expecting. Just like Samson shook himself and expected the power to be there, they rose up expecting to be ready. They didn't know they didn't have sufficient. They had judged themselves by themselves. Others had the same amount they had, so if it's good enough for them--that seems to be what's acceptable today. ". . . and [they] trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, [No way]. . . " Does that sound selfish? "No way." If you're thinking from the carnal perspective, it could sound selfish. "Why don't you share?" Do you want to know what their motive was? Their motive was not selfishness. Their motive was the glory of the bridegroom. "If we give you ours, nobody can show up for his glory." This is all about the glory of God! This is all about honoring the Bridegroom. Somebody's got to be ready. The Scripture says, "When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?" Are you making yourself ready?

". . . go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy [verse 10 says], the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut." Just like that door of Noah's ark was shut by the finger of God. The Lord closes doors that no man can open. Today's our day. Today's the day to get ready. This is the hour, the Scripture says. They came afterward, verse 11 says, and they said, "Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, [I don't know who you are]." "What do you mean You don't know who we are? We've prophesied in Your name. We've cast out devils in Your name. We preached in the streets." "I don't know you." I never approved you, is what that word "know" means. "I never approved. I can't approve of you, who choose to honor yourself over Me--who spent your time on yourself rather than preparing with sufficient oil." What is that oil? We all know that it's a type of the Holy Spirit. How much of your life is Spirit-led? How full are you of the Holy Ghost? How many of your thoughts are Spirit-originated, or do you think with the mind of the world? Do you let the natural mind set your course? Do you try to discern the Word of God from the natural perspective? If you do, it's foolishness. It's foolishness to seek to be a servant to the natural mind instead of the Lord. But the Word of God says the greatest among us is the servant of all. The Word of God says humble yourself and God will exalt you. The Word of God says give, then it'll be given unto you. The Word of God says if you want to save your life, you have to lose it, but if you try to control and keep your life, if you try to hold on to it, you'll lose it. If you lose it, you'll gain it again. Praise God! It's all the opposite of the natural mind.

"I never knew you. I never approved." And then listen to the admonition to you and me in verse 13: "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." Now, think about that. He went to the disciples in the garden when He was praying. They were slumbering, and He said, "Look, guys, watch and pray. There's a time of temptation that's coming that you need to prepare yourselves for. The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." Well, if we know that and we're saying, "My intention is to pray. I really intend to serve God. My heart is to do the Word of God, but I just can't seem. . . " then guess what. The flesh is weak. All that's saying is, do something about it. Bring some discipline to the flesh. Make, no longer, any provision for the flesh. Crucify, put your body under, Paul says. Now, we're not talking about works to salvation. We're not talking about that. We're talking about works to obedience. We're talking about working righteousness. We're talking about what happens after you've received, by faith and grace, the free gift of salvation. What are you doing to discipline yourself and to live a life that honors God, as the bride, to live only to please Him?

You know, that's the bride's role. In the natural, the wife's role is to seek to honor her husband, to please her husband, to make sure, as the Proverbs 31 woman, that her husband is esteemed in the gates. "Well, why should he get the esteem? I'm doing all the work here, and he's getting all the glory? What's that all about?" Love. Honor. Nowhere does the virtuous woman want any of the glory. Her contentment is in her husband being exalted, and she sits back and goes, "He's worthy. He's the reason I live." You say, "I don't understand that." Then maybe you ought to walk in the spirit and you would. That's the exact role that each of us has here as wife, the virtuous woman: to do everything we can to honor Him and to stay out of the limelight, to not even be seen, but to stand back and rejoice in the glory of our Husband because He's worthy. Is that how you're living your life? Some of you, that's foreign. I shared years ago--I made a comment a couple of years ago, and [Pastor] Chuck came to me afterwards and said, "I was really taken aback by your statement." I told him the one way that I really came to know and understand the love of God. He said he thought I was going to talk about how it related to loving your children and that bone of your bone and flesh of your flesh and all of those things, and I made the comment that I came to know the love of God through the love of my wife. Nothing helped me more than seeing the way that my wife was willing to serve me, to give me words of wisdom and counsel that I would speak across this sacred desk--sometimes I would mention that she had shared, but most of the time just teaching much of her experience. And it caused me to understand what it meant to be a faithful wife. Nothing has helped me more to see my role as a bride, as a wife, than the way Janet walked out her role, this virtuous woman who was more than willing to just stand in the background and let her husband have all the glory. That's why I shared with you a secular song, Wind Beneath My Wings.

How do you relate to the Lord? Can you relate that way? And you know, God's blessed me with another woman that is doing the same thing. I'm blessed! Praise God! I deserve it. [Pastor's humor.] No, I'm blessed. I am so thankful for the gifts that God has given me in these helpmeets. I just assured her, as we were watching a segment this afternoon of The First Wives Club--it's a funny movie, if any of you have seen it. We were watching part of that, and I said, "One thing that you can be sure of: I'll never leave you for a younger woman." She said, "If you do, you'll get arrested." But the learning of what it means to be that wife, and that's how we respond to Jesus. It's not about us. It's about honoring our Husband. It's about Him being glorified in the gates.

Watch, the Scriptures says. But, you know, the problem is, especially with us here in our fellowship--turn over to Revelation for just a second, the book of Revelation, the third chapter. We're a people that are pretty disciplined. We're a people that are as serious about serving God as any group of folks that I'm aware of. There are probably better out there; I just haven't run into them yet, but there's always somebody better. But we're doing a decent job. The danger is in comparing ourselves by ourselves, comparing ourselves with other people, comparing ourselves with others' efforts. No, there's only one standard, and that's perfection. We are being conformed into the image of Christ. And there's a spirit here that the Lord speaks to in His letters to the churches, in the book of Revelation, and I think one that we need to take to heart is the letter to Sardis. He says in the third chapter, ". . . I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Now, I'm not talking to all of us, but I'm talking to some among us--those that are living on their past efforts, those whose lamps burned brightly at one point but not sufficient to finish this race. We started this study in Timothy where Paul said, "I have finished the race; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, and not for me alone but all that love His appearing" (2 Timothy 4:7-8). "I had sufficient to finish this thing." It's not what you were; it's what you are.

Somebody asked me as I was coming in, "Did you go racing this weekend? How did you do?" Well, this weekend I was Charlie Brown--last week's hero, this week's goat. You're only as good as your last race, which means I'm a loser now, looking to win again. In our Christian lives, is it sufficient? Can you look back on your life--you know, I looked back on my life and I thought, OK, it should be enough. I mean, Lord! I walked away from potential gain and fame to go preach the gospel. I was rejected of my family and lost all of my inheritance for the name of Jesus. I left my natural family and moved all the way across the nation to be obedient. I lived in subsidized housing. On at least two occasions I gave away every penny that I had to the gospel. Every penny I had, everything that I had saved, everything I could get my hands on, on two occasions, gave it all away. I've stood and proclaimed this message to the place where my name has become a byword--not just disliked, but hated by thousands of people. I've studied Your Word. I've prayed. But you know what? That was all yesterday, and there's no merit for today. None of it carries over. You know what that makes me? An unprofitable servant. Isn't that what the Scripture says? You've only done what it's your duty to do. You know that? It's called being a Christian; it's just called being a Christian. It's what you're supposed to do. It's what all of us are supposed to do. There's no merit in it. There's no glory in it. It's what you're supposed to do, and you're supposed to prepare yourself to do even more. How much oil do you have? Do you have more than enough? Do you have more than enough, or do you have the testimony that you were alive but now you're dead--the church at Sardis? The testimony is, you're a spiritual person, you're walking in the spirit, you're a new creature, you've been born again, old things have passed away and all things become new. That is what happened, but what are you today? How many of you keep falling back to your experience of "when I was born again" and "when I gave up all to follow the Lord"? What are you doing today?

The testimony that you were alive but you're dead. Listen, verse 2. Here's the study that we're dealing with: watchfulness. "Be watchful, [See, here's what I'm trying to do in this fellowship.] and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die. . . " You see, other than the spy that we have among us, or spies, that I've talked about, there are others that I wonder, What are you doing here; why are you still here? You know the course that we're on, and on a daily basis you try to justify the reason that you're not doing what everybody else is doing and will argue the fact that, "Well, I love the Lord." That was yesterday. But now as children of the light, if you are a child of light, you will subject yourself to light, you will subject yourself to the Word of God, that reproves, rebukes, instructs unto righteousness. If you are a child of light, you will accept the chastening of the Lord as the love of God. Yes, it's grievous for the moment, but it works in us the peaceable fruit of righteousness, the Scripture says. I know why God's disciplining me--because He loves me. I know why brothers and sisters are bringing rebuke to me and trying to motivate me--because they love me. The strengthening of that that's about to die.

". . . for I have not found thy works perfect. . . " (verse 2). Now, that word "perfect" means complete. In other words, what he's saying here is, you've stagnated. Your works are not complete; you're not going on. You're in the process of dying instead of growing. Where are you as an individual tonight? Where are we as a fellowship tonight? Past glory--are we going to grow or stagnate and die? Are we going to rest on our laurels? Are we going to rest on our reputation? Are we satisfied that we have a lamp that once burned brightly for Jesus? Or are we doing whatever it takes to store up oil sufficient to finish this course that we're on? "Remember [verse 3] therefore how thou hast [past] received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with me in white: for they are worthy. He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels."

"Hold fast, repent, and watch, or I will come as a thief." Now, the majority of us here, I think, are in good shape. I'm talking to those few that are dying, that believe that what you have is sufficient and what you had is meritorious. What are you doing to make yourself ready? What are you doing to adorn yourself for that great wedding? The Scripture speaks very clearly to us and says that we, as a people, must be watchful or that day will overtake us. Verse 11, "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown." And so we have this admonition to prepare ourselves. Revelation 16, verse 15 says, "Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame." "I come as a thief, a time when men know not." The parable says that the Lord is detaining His coming, and so we begin to beat the servants that are around us and we begin to live for ourselves and vaunt ourselves as stewards that are foolish, that are wasting the precious gift of serving in the Kingdom, of building up others in the most holy faith. When you think not, the Son of Man comes. Do you have sufficient oil tonight?

Let's bow our heads. Father, we thank You for Your Word. We're living in a day when we're told on every side, "It's OK. God loves you. Don't worry about your condition--it's a disease. God will understand." It's not about you; it's about the Bridegroom. Let us not sleep as others, Paul said in Thessalonians, but let us watch and be sober. We're living in a generation of sleepers, and God's looking for three hundred that will watch. "And I will deliver by the watchful," God said. Let's stand before the Lord tonight.

Just before we dismiss, I want to do something that we're going to do for awhile until the Lord leads in another way. We've been so blessed to be able to conduct our weddings in a very biblical manner, with the families, just as it was in the biblical times, when the fathers would come together and, in agreement, set course for our young people. A responsibility that the church had usurped centuries ago, and we're trying to put things back in order. But I think in the process, we also missed part of the blessing. The Scripture says that there's an authority given to those that are the anointed of God, that they could speak peace upon a household and if that household would believe that and receive it, that it would remain upon them. So I'd like to have Michael and Renee just come, and Keith and Patty can come with them and George and Sarah [the parents] and stand with them. We're just going to lay hands upon these young people and recognize this union and speak peace upon this household, and it will remain in proportion to their faith. So we just ask you to join with us and believe God and celebrate this union that God has brought to pass in our midst. Praise God. Let's pray together.

Hallelujah! Father, we come, and by the authority of the name of Jesus we do speak peace upon this household. You declared, Father, that according to their faith it would remain upon them in direct proportion. Strengthen their hands. Cause them to honor You in word and in deed, and for that, Father, we will give You all the glory and all of the honor, in Jesus' name. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! We do delight in it, Father, and we thank You for Your goodness, in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Watch! The Son of Man is coming." Amen. Go in peace; God's love go with you.

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