Bible Teaching

Calvary Temple Teaching Library

Look Up! Pt.3

Let's go ahead and turn back to Luke; chapter 12, we'll pick up where we were. It's just a good time of establishing in our hearts and minds the hour that we're in, the need to discipline our hearts and our minds to look up. Our redemption is drawing nigh, praise God! A time, a generation really, as we were talking this morning, where the church really doesn't have anything to say about the coming of the Lord. So where, other than here, are we getting that encouragement? Where, other than here this small group, this community of believers, are we being prompted to discipline ourselves to be free from the bondage, the cares of this world, the worldliness that is spoken of by the Lord when He refers to those that are earth-dwellers, those who are imbibing the spirit of the world? That judgment in Luke that says it is going to come upon all those who dwell upon the face of the whole earth. There are only two kingdoms that we were talking about this morning, and you are going to be a part of one of them. One is the enemy of God whose whole reason for being is to oppose the kingdom of God. Their wisdom lies against the knowledge of God, their treasures are instead of the presence of God; and outside of seeking the kingdom first, outside of preparing our hearts for the coming of the Lord and having eternal treasures, that is what we are going to be partaking of. There is no alternative, there is no middle ground. As true Christians we are absolutists. There is no existential approach in any of our reasoning; truth is not subjective to us. So, here we are a people that are walking in absolute truth and proclaiming absolute light, and yet, as our thinking in our minds is tainted and vexed, as we get distracted with temporal cares--That is what we were talking about.

So let's look back in this twelfth chapter of Luke. We were talking about the thirty-fourth verse: "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. [We need to constantly be looking up. Now, we're not talking about literally, because its dangerous enough with people on cell phones (isn't it?) without us believers driving around just looking up, putting back our sun roofs--and as we referred to them back in the '70's, the "Rapture Roof"--in your cars. The "looking up" is a heart attitude. As little children--We taught the kids, as I've shared with you before, that Jesus was coming in the clouds, and as little kids they were always looking at the clouds. It's not just a literal gathering; it's a spiritual preparation that we need to be emphasizing. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be.] Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;" That speaks of action, the girding of the loins. We all know what that is talking about. So often, when they were getting ready to involve themselves is some kind of physical activity--when we read about Elijah as he ran before the king back to the city when the storm was coming and he girded himself up, we know what that means; they would take those long robes and wrap them, and pull them up and tie them into their belts and make a pair of culottes out of them so they could run.

We're talking about action here, "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;" We're talking about preparation. What are we doing to prepare ourselves in this race? The Olympics are coming; all of the talk about blood doping and all of the drugs that people are on to cheat, making preparation for the games. What are you doing? I want to tell you something. If it was lawful to use spiritual blood doping to prepare for the rapture I'd do it, praise God! Whatever it takes to win! Whatever it takes to finish this course, whatever is lawful. Are you going to the full extent of preparation? Paul said it in Philippians, didn't he? "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). I exert myself; I put myself out to the full extent of my energy to obtain that prize. Paul goes on and says, "Some of you do it here for earthly gain, for a little crown." The wreath that they wore in the original Olympics, today it's a gold medal. Do you prize, are you preparing yourself for the coming of the Lord Jesus as these athletes are for those games that are coming in a few weeks? Whose prize means more to them?

You say, "Well, they're athletes, I'm not into those things." Well, maybe you're not interested in a gold medal and world acclaim; you're just interested in that corner office, the new home. You see, tragically many of us in this room are selling out for a lot less that world notoriety. Some of us are selling out for the latest fashion. Some of us are selling out for weird hairdos and pierced noses, better cars, a few bucks a month. Where is your treasure and what are you doing to acquire it? How distracted are we? You see, the one thing about these world class athletes, and we've talked about it before, if you're going to be a champion you have got to be, then, temperate in everything else. You have to have one obsession and that's to be the best. Are you obsessed with the coming of Jesus? When He comes will he find faith on the earth? Are you going to be of the greatest measure of faith possible when He comes? What kind of a heart do you have? Do you have a heart--isn't it interesting how we can have a heart to be champions for ourselves, but what about being a champion for Him? What about living our lives for His glory to really be able to focus on bringing God glory and honoring Him? "Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning;"

We're going to talk a little bit about the light, the readiness as the servants of the Bridegroom. It's a very interesting thing, as we examine our own hearts. In the Scriptures we are spoken of as the Bride of Christ. As you look at the parable of the virgins, though, we're not. It's not talking about the Bride; it's just the Bridegroom and the servants of the Bridegroom. So, the way we look at ourselves as the Bride of Christ, the wife of Christ, is a little different than how we look at ourselves as the servants, those that are serving Him as the representatives, those who are going to herald, those who are making provision for, looking to and hastening unto the day of the Lord as His ambassadors. What are we doing to point to the coming of the Lord? What are we doing to prepare ourselves for the glory of God? The rapture of the church isn't just about your individual redemption; it's about the glory of God. It's about honoring the Bridegroom. What are we doing to glorify Him in our daily preparation?

"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; And ye yourselves [individuals, specifically you, what are you doing? Not, "What is the church doing?" What are you doing?] And ye yourselves, like unto men that wait for their lord, when He will return from the wedding;" Now, remember what's going on here. We're talking about a couple of different things as we're looking at this wedding and the way the ancient weddings used to occur. The wedding preparation and all that would take place, all of the hoopla would go on for days, some say as much as a week, that would take place at the bride's home. Then the bridegroom would come and receive the bride at the house of the bride and take her and usher her back to his house. Most of the time, of course, we realize that the way they were living in those days, is that it would be back to the father's house and whether he had a place of his own, we see that families lived corporately and there were patriarchs; the children didn't go off and move to this city or that city, they lived there on the family plot and dad, the old man, was the patriarch. He was there and he oversaw the whole operation and the brides were brought in and made a part of that community.

This bridegroom is now bringing this bride back and as they would come back into the area that was the abode of the bridegroom, there were those who were part of the bridegroom's entourage; those who were part of that community, those who were there on the groom's side. It used to be that you'd go to weddings and were asked, "Are you family of the bride or family of the groom?" (Are you the Hatfields or the McCoys?) So we're talking here about those who associate with the bridegroom. The emphasis isn't on the bride; it's on the bridegroom here. And those that are part of the bridegrooms entourage, those are there waiting to hear that he is coming.

The emphasis isn't the wife; the emphasis is the bridegroom. He's coming and he's got a wife with him, but the bridegroom is coming. It's about Jesus, it's about honoring Him; it's about giving Him His glory, His recognition. It's not about us, the bride; it's about honoring God with our lives, it's about the servants of God ready to rise up and honor Him. The five wise and the five foolish virgins that are here that would go out in light and bring the processional. The servants of the bridegroom that were at the home making ready and now everything would be made ready for when the bridegroom returned to his house. "And ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately [Everything is ready. Now we, as the bride, are to making ourselves ready, and we as the servants of the groom are to be making ourselves ready. However the analogy goes, whatever is most applicable to what we are addressing, and we can address ourselves in both areas because we fulfill both roles. The real emphasis of all of this is readiness, isn't it? Immediately they opened. Readiness. The emphasis is preparation.] Blessed are those [verse 37] servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching." Watch and pray, Jesus said, that ye enter not into temptation. Be alert.

You know what you're going to see here? You're going to see the same principle being applied here in just a moment, in the five wise and five foolish virgins; you're going to see here at the end of this chapter, the same principle as was applied to Gideon's three hundred. The Lord is looking for warriors; He's looking for people who are ready in this hour to glorify Him, to obey, to serve, that are not distracted. There's an interesting word--and we're going to look at it in Matthew in just a moment--concerning the five wise and the five foolish, it says, "and they slumbered and slept." There are two different Greek words. "Slumbered" the Greek word for "slumbered" is making reference to nodding off. You're weary. Don't you hate that feeling? You're trying to stay awake and we've all experienced that.

There are times--especially I hate it when you're driving. We've done that. I drive a lot of long hours and you're just going along and it gets to the place where you've got the windows down and the radio up, and you're slapping yourself. I was having to do that not too long ago. The other night, literally, I'm slapping myself. I'm trying to stay awake and it's horrible, it's bad. You have to be very careful when that's happening because you think you're okay. I remember we did that one time. We were all so tired. We were traveling, I was preaching all over the place and we were in a private plane and were flying back. I was trying to help the pilot. We were all whipped, we'd been to a number of different areas in ministry and were coming back and finally I realized--I kind of woke up with a start and realized that I had fallen asleep and I was trying to keep him awake. I looked over and sure enough the pilot is sound asleep. Now, a little different than like with cars, we were on autopilot. But autopilot just kind of directs you into a general area. Autopilot--how many of you have heard of the Darwin Award? Have any of you ever heard of that? It's like the stupidest things people do. You're probably related to some of these folks. Talking about autopilot: A guy bought a motor home, driving down the road, put it on cruise control and went back to the refrigerator to get a drink. Cruise control is not autopilot, okay? Yeah, they're out there folks. Nodding off, so I woke up, we're on autopilot, I woke the pilot up and we were like here [indicating]. Now, when you're coming from the west to the east and you're going to Washington and you get here [indicating] you're here. From here on it's water if you're going east. If we had kept sleeping we would have just flown until it ran out of fuel and landed in the Atlantic somewhere.

Are you nodding off? One thing about nodding is you keep coming back. Or are you so far gone--I mean, you're cutting wood, you're drooling, your face is stuck to the pillow? That's what it means to sleep in this Greek word. They slumbered and slept. Are you slumbering or sleeping? Are you doing everything you can to stay alert? Are you prepared? Let me tell you something. If you have sufficient oil, it's okay to slumber but it's never okay to sleep. Because the sleeping, those that slept, is a spirit of self-indulgence. They were the same ones who had not had sufficient oil before the enduring and the waiting process. They go hand in hand, laziness, the serving of self instead of the denying of self for the glory of God. So let's see what he says here in this thing. He said, "Blessed are those who are found watching."

We saw this morning that He is coming at a time when we think not, and if we knew the hour we would be prepared. The hour is now. The return of the Lord is imminent, momentary. There is nothing that has to take place; He can come at any moment. He talks about the wisdom of that man in verse 42, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his lord shall make ruler over his household...Blessed is that servant, [verse 43] whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing."

You see, everything that we're doing now in preparation is going to cause also the benefit of eternal reward and service to be able to glorify the Lord through our obedience, through the fruit of our lives, and I don't know how it's going to work itself out in the kingdom that is to come, but we're going to continue to serve Him. We're going to continue to worship Him. And there are going to be rewards, great and small. Heaven is not a socialistic, communistic place. There are going to be people of greater prominence and preeminence in heaven. We already know that. Not everybody is going to sit on one of the twenty-four thrones. And there are degrees of punishment and penalty in hell. It's interesting that Jesus refers to that in the context of being ready for His return. Look what He says as we look down through this. "Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Of a truth [verse 44] I say unto you, that he will make him ruler over all that he hath. But and if that servant say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to [live for himself and live contrary to obedience in serving the community and preferring others better than himself] beat the menservants and maidens, and to eat and drink, and to be drunken; The lord of that servant will come in a day when he looketh not for him, and at an hour when he is not aware, and will cut him in sunder, and will appoint him his portion with the unbelievers. And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required:"

We've been given a lot, folks. As a people we've known the grace of God, the mercy of God. We've been entrusted with His Holy Spirit and the power of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. We've been taught the Word of God; we've been, as a people, instructed to honor God in our obedience and to feed ourselves the Word of God and to be conformed to His image. And yet in this hour can we be seduced, can we be vexed, can we be put to sleep in the surfeiting and drunkenness that Luke 21 talks about? According to this teaching of Jesus we can. "But blessed is the man who when the Lord returns He finds watching." Are you as keenly watching today as you've always been or have you been distracted? What are you doing to prepare yourself and to make yourself more ready? "I've been ready, but I'm more ready." Are you? Or are you living off of doctrine and not practical application of these principles? "Oh yeah, I believe in healing." When was the last time you got healed? "I believe in the coming of the Lord." When is the last time you really looked for Him and made a decision against the temporal for the eternal? That's what it's all about in reality. It's not about what you believe, it's about what you're living. The exact opposite of what the world's system teaches.

We've been talking about that just recently, having to deal with the courts and civil authority in different areas lately with certain different members. In this incident that we've shared with you that we're in prayer with Rob. It's very obvious, there's no question whatsoever that the courts believe that our children belong to the state. There is absolutely no doubt. I hate to put a number on it, but just to reference our thought processes, there's probably not one judge in 10,000 that would properly understand and apply what your rights are as an American in the first amendment to the freedom of religion. But instead the courts say this, "You can believe whatever you want, but you can only do this."

Our relationship with the Lord is not about believing, it's about doing. You can't believe something and not do it. And that's the difference between the secular humanist, the social, the civil, and those of us who live in another realm of absolute truth and obedience. "If you love me you will keep my commandments." So, it's not enough to believe in the Second Coming of Jesus. It's not even enough to believe in the proper application of the Second Coming of Jesus. You see many people believe that Jesus is going to come but they don't believe in a pre-tribulation rapture. Some don't believe in a rapture at all, they believe that Jesus is going to come back and after we have won the world for the Kingdom of God, He's going to just come back and assume the oversight of it.

So whether you're an amillennialist, or you're an individual who holds to a post-tribulation position of the catching away of the church, or you're properly a pre-tribulation believer, it is going to be seen in how you act. If you say you believe in the imminent return of the Lord--the rapture of the church--then what are we doing to live separate from the world? The Blessed Hope, the Scripture says, creates in us a personal holiness, a separatist approach to secular worldly view. We, the true Christians, are anything but politically correct. Because if you're a friend of the world--political correctness--you are the enemy of God. And I'm not talking about getting caught up in all the specific beliefs of what the world system. I'm just talking about from the most basic premise, they deify and worship the creature; we worship the creator. They believe man is basically good; we believe man is totally depraved. Can't relate. So, what are you doing to prepare yourself for the ushering in of the eternal kingdom? You see, the rapture is not about getting you out of the world. The rapture is about getting you into the position of ushering the kingdom of God into a new heaven and a new earth. Perspective. We can't live in that New World in these bodies, so we've got to be changed.

Do you believe that? Why would we, then, live our lives in such a bizarre manner if the most certain thing that any of us face is death, then why wouldn't we use all of our life preparing for it? Think about that for just a moment. If you're certain you're going to face death--the most certain thing that we have is that we're going to die. And isn't it neat that God stated that's the most certain thing you'll face and He's given you a whole life to prepare for it. What are you doing with the time of preparation and how much of your time is being spent? Are you spending your whole life on the uncertain things that are going to pass away, that are going to burn, that have no meaning? And so He speaks to us here and He says, "And that servant, [verse 47] which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself...shall be beaten with many stripes..." Are you ready?

Turn over to Matthew 25 for just a second. Do you remember the last time we taught on the rapture of the church we mentioned the song, (I don't remember if it was a Larry Norman song or whatever) "I Wish We'd All Been Ready"? That one phrase that was in that song is so interesting, it went something like this, (I can't remember all the words, but...) "Life is filled with guns and war and everyone got trampled on the floor. I wish we'd all been ready. There's no time to change your mind, the Son has come and you've been left behind. I wish we'd all been ready." There won't be any time to change. The door is going to be closed. Those on the outside are going to say: "Lord, Lord." and He's going to say, "I never knew you." No time to change your time. No Court of Appeals.

Now, it can happen at the rapture or it can happen on your way home from church tonight. A guy could run that light up there at the corner and you're dead. It will probably be somebody on a cell phone driving a mini van. Aren't you thankful for the new law? D.C. has a new law. It's going to be in all the states, you're going to get ticketed if you don't have a hands-free unit. That's not the problem. You give them a hands-free unit and it just lets them shave, eat... The problem is you're not paying attention. You're talking on the phone and you should be driving. Yeah, it ticks me off. The last four times I've almost been hit, somebody had a cell phone in their hand. I don't want to be crude but there's a great bumper sticker out about cell phones that asks the question, "Could you drive any better if that was relocated?" Are you ready if the cell phone bandit gets you tonight? Are you looking up, have you made preparation, are your treasures eternal, are they heavenly? Do you realize that your life is just a vapor? You don't have any promises. The one thing is sure: you're going to die. What have we done to prepare ourselves?

Chapter 25, the parable of the five wise and the five foolish virgins. The key to this whole thing is verse 13, "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh." The key principles here we've taught numerous times in the past. Some of us here are very familiar with them, more than others. The interesting thing is verse one, "Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins..." The first interesting thing is they're all virgins. Their virginity is implying that they are not partakers of the world; they are people that are living separate, lives of separation, lives of observable purity. And it says that of these ten virgins they all went forth to meet the bridegroom. They were all doing what they were supposed to be doing at that moment: Virgins preparing to meet the bridegroom. But five were wise and five were foolish. Who were these foolish people? They were virgins. Who were these foolish people? They were out about the Father's business, going to meet the bridegroom. What makes them foolish? They didn't have enough oil to finish. They didn't realize the need for patience or consistency or daily preparation. Sufficient for the day! It's not what you did yesterday; it's what you're doing when He returns. If you are not continuously replenishing yourself, you're going to be empty when He comes, you're not going to be ready.

We've said it so many times: You can't live off of what you used to live off of in this hour, the day of opposition. The intensity; iniquity is abounding. The seduction! It's not that it's worse; it's that it is more available than it has ever been. People are not worse; there are more of them. People are not worse; they are less restrained. See, that's what is wrong with society today. We talk about the '50's and people were more moral. No they weren't! The people were just a perverse in the '50's as they are today. The hearts of men were just as wicked in the '50's as they are today. There are just fewer restraints today. What has been more socially tolerable allows what was in man to be more freely expressed. People were just as wicked then as they are today. There are just no restraints. What is going to happen if Jesus tarries? I'll tell you what's going to happen: Sodom and Gomorrah. And what are you doing to protect yourself?

We've talked to you before about this. If you have the Internet in your house and you don't have a filter and you don't have locks and you don't know what your family is doing, pick a category--there are only two, wise or foolish--and ask which one you think you're in. It doesn't have to be pornography. Whether it's the Internet or those stupid little palm game things. Whatever it is that is sucking the intelligence and time out of our society. Whatever is removing your children from the family unit. Today it's Internet and little video games and it used to just be "Leave it to Beaver," the little kid just sitting in front of the tube, the babysitter. It doesn't matter what it is. What are you doing to build the family unit? What are you doing to build your relationship in the community? What are you doing to better prepare your heart for the coming of Jesus, to establish eternal treasures? Now, remember what we're talking about--We're not talking about legalism, total abstinence; we're not saying it is sin to watch television or to play games--We're talking about if you're going to be a master in this area, you're going to have to be temperate in all others. What I'm pointing out to you is this: I'm asking you the question, what is your treasure? What do you spend the most time in? What are you pre-occupied with? What are you trying to be a master of?

Five wise and five foolish. What made the wise, wise and the foolish, foolish? "They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:" They were virgins, they went to meet the bridegroom, took their lamps, one thing made them foolish, they didn't have sufficient oil. How full are you tonight? That's what determines which category you are in. Do you have more than enough? Do you have more Holy Ghost than enough? "I can take whatever comes and have some left over." That's the issue that's what it means to be prepared for the coming of the Lord. Or do you just sputter into the house and just make it through the day. You know, you can cut things awful close.

We just got a motorcycle not long ago. It was brand new. I didn't know any of the gauges on it so I was looking and it showed it had some fuel left, and I've already confessed before you that I'm one of those guys that believe in allowing the needle to rest on "E" for about three days and then count to ten. But anyway, we were coming in and we rolled into the garage. The next day I got up and did a little bit of work on it, because also I can't leave anything alone I had to modify it within twenty-four hours. So, we were putting a new exhaust on it and a free flow filter, because you have got to have more horsepower (nothing has been built with sufficient horsepower in my opinion) and we were wanting to get this thing breathing a little bit, so we changed over and put the new exhaust on it and the free flow filter. And we said, "All right, it's ready, man!" Now we know that it's going to have to be reprogrammed, the fuel curve is going to have to be changed a little bit because it is breathing a little more so we need to get some more fuel to it. (It's all done by computer so you have to take it down and get it all downloaded and done.) So we sit there and we're going to check it out. "Listen to the sound of these new pipes." So we hit start, "ynnnn, ynnnn." It won't start. So I thought, "Surely these little modifications didn't change this thing so radically that it won't even start!" "It could've." "No, it couldn't, there's no possible way." "What do you think is wrong?" "I don't know." I said, "I wonder if it has gas." I mean, we just drove it into the garage that night. Drove it in--it didn't die--shut if off and that was all the fuel there was. We got home, fell into the garage, but didn't have more than enough.

Wouldn't it be a shame to run out the night before Jesus came back and you made it clear to the church and just sputtered in here to prayer and ran out, and then the Lord came? You all know what we believe from a perspective of grace. You know that we teach and believe that it is harder to backslide and lose our salvation than many Armenians teach, but we do believe it is possible. Jesus just taught it right here as we read in Luke. You don't have to be a theologian to realize that these people were virgins, they were obedient, they had lamps and they were lost. You can do everything right but not finish correctly and be lost. Are you ready? Are we living for His glory? Are we doing what we think is enough, or are we doing more than enough? "This should be good enough. God should accept this. This should be good enough, this is as good as they're doing." Can I just end with this for tonight? Don't take any chances. Keep your vessels and your lamps full and you'll be ready.

Father, we thank you for the Word of God tonight and we just ask that in this hour we'd be a people ready, doing more than enough; seeking, praying, serving, honoring You, talking about You, living for You, looking for You at every moment. "More than enough," is our heart's prayer, that You might be all in all, living our lives for the glory of the Bridegroom. Make it real we ask, Father, in Jesus' name.

Let's stand before the Lord tonight. As Gary plays for us we will take just a moment. Meditate upon what the Spirit of God is saying to you tonight. The oil that is spoken of is the presence, the person, of the Holy Spirit. Are you full of the anointing of God? Is the fullness of the Spirit what you are seeking daily to prepare yourself to be a faithful servant to the bridegroom? Are you strengthening yourself that you might serve Him better? It's not about you; we're strong to serve Him. We're just unprofitable servants; this is about Jesus being exalted. Let's sing it together and just thank Him for that privilege.

"Jesus I am thirsty..." Thank You Jesus. Hallelujah! Lord, it is our heart's desire. We're not ignorant of our enemy's devices. We see the seductions, we know the environment that we live in. Our theology is correct, but we need more of You, Lord. I want more of You, but that is not enough; I need to take more of You. It's all available; everything that pertains to life and godliness is readily accessible to me. It's not enough to want it; You shall take power after the Holy Ghost has come upon you and be witnesses unto me. lambano, take sufficient, necessary to glorify God. We say we want more, why don't we take it? The five foolish knew exactly where to get the oil; they went and got it when it became important to them, but it just became important too late. You know where to get the oil. Your perspective of its value will change, but if it's too late, I wish we'd all been ready. Put the worth on it today, be ready today. Hear "well done" today, that He might be all in all. It's our heart's desire, Father, to glorify You. Make us servants worthy. In Jesus' name, Amen. Hallelujah! Before you go, turn to somebody next to you and say, "Get more than enough." Amen. Go in peace, God's love go with you.

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