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Stateline Ardmore Seventh-day Adventist Church

Norman McNulty

Sound Asleep

Our Father in heaven, we thank you so much for bringing us to your house of worship today.

Lord, we know that Jesus is coming soon and now more than ever we need to be setting our affections in the right places, on things above.

And Lord, I just pray that this morning we would set our minds on heavenly things, that our minds would be directed to the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, that we would ponder what Jesus is doing for us even now in the sanctuary above, and that this message would be a reminder and perhaps even a wake-up call of how important it is to be right with you.

So I pray that you would give me the words to speak and may you give each 1 of us ears to listen To hear what the Spirit has to say to us today This is my prayer in Jesus name Amen Well, I trust and pray by the grace of God that you came this morning to have an experience with Jesus, and not just a surface experience.

You know, it's a little bit late, or far more than a little bit late, to just come and play church.

It's more than a little late in earth's history just to go through the motions and check off that church service attendance just to get it done.

We're not just here to be playing church anymore.

God has raised up a people to proclaim a message to prepare the world for the coming of Jesus.

And I'm going to start by reading a statement from Review and Herald, August 19, 1890.

When the third angel's message is preached as it should be, power attends its proclamation and it becomes an abiding influence.

If the third angel's message hasn't become an abiding influence, That simply means that we're not preaching it the way it's supposed to be preached.

But it's supposed to be preached in such a way that power will attend its proclamation, continuing on.

It must be attended with divine power or it will accomplish nothing.

Now, Ellen White does something very interesting here.

The next thing she does, she connects the proclamation of the third angel's message to the parable of the bridegroom and the 10 virgins.

And here she says, I am often referred to the parable of the 10 virgins, 5 of whom were wise and 5 were foolish.

This parable has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter, for it has a special application to this time, and like the third angel's message, has been fulfilled, and will continue to be present truth till the close of time.

Ellen White, the servant of the Lord, God's prophet for the last days, says, I am often referred to the parable of the bridegroom.

If she was often referred to this parable, don't you think that we should hear about it often?

Because this parable has special application for this time.

And she says that it will continue to be present truth like the third angel's message till the close of time.

And I might add, now is the time to be hearing present truth in our churches.

Early writing, 63, Ellen White says, there's many truths contained in the Word of God, but it's present truth that the flock needs now, and she identifies the sanctuary in connection with the commandments of God and the 2300 days and the faith of Jesus.

You know, We can get off into all these other things, safe sermons, felt need sermons, feel good sermons, all these types of sermons, but is that really helping us to be prepared for the coming of Jesus?

Furthermore, is it preparing us as God's people to give a proclamation to prepare people to meet the Bridegroom?

This message is present truth for this time.

Now, we are going to get into Matthew 25 and we're going to read the verses, but let me just give you a hypothetical scenario.

You have heard your entire life that Jesus is coming soon.

On Tuesday morning, which by the way, Tuesday is October 22, and it just so happens that in the year 1844, October 22 fell on a Tuesday, so that's a side point of trivia, but here's the thing.

Let's just say Tuesday morning, you wake up and a nuclear bomb has gone off in New York City.

And by the end of the day, Prayer vigils throughout America have been formed, and by the next day, people are saying, we need to get back to God, and by the following Sunday, the leaders of the nation and the leaders of the churches come together and say, We've been playing games for far too long.

It's time to get back to being a Christian nation.

Let's make a Sunday Law." And we as Seventh-day Adventists, I'm telling you this as sure as I'm standing here, every 1 of us in this room would be shocked out of our minds, and you know you would be.

You're not planning on Tuesday for a nuclear bomb to go off and to have a Sunday law passed the following week, no you're not, it's business as usual.

We're sound asleep floating along, oh yeah 1 of these days Jesus is going to come, but not this week, not next week, and probably not even next year.

Oh yeah, we just had a little government shutdown, but praise the Lord things are back on track.

They're funding the government again, and we don't really need to worry about anything too much.

Let's just keep on working, making money, doing business as usual, and maybe 1 of these days this Jesus we've been preaching about will come again.

That's the condition of the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

That's why the parable of the bridegroom in Matthew 25 has special application for this time.

Now, when Ellen White says, This parable has been and will be fulfilled to the very letter, I'm just going to make a side point by saying this parable was fulfilled to the very letter through the history of the Millerite movement.

Now I'm not going to take the time to talk about how it was fulfilled through them.

But the midnight cry phase was when they set the date for October 22.

That's when the parable was fulfilled to the very letter through the Millerite movement.

But it's also going to be fulfilled to the very letter through the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the movement God has raised up for the last days.

And we're going to see how that happens in our scripture reading of Matthew chapter 25.

Before I get into those verses of scripture, though, I have a couple of statements to read to you as well from the pen of inspiration.

The first 1 is Prophets and Kings, page 626.

Christians should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise.

Are you just floating along, oh, 1 of these days maybe it will happen?

Or are you living your life in such a way as saying, the rest of the world is going to be overtaken as if it's an overwhelming surprise, but I'm not a child of darkness.

This preparation they should make by diligently studying the word of God and striving to conform their lives to its precepts.

Too many times today now Seventh-day Adventists are saying, oh, the Word of God and the doctrines we've followed, they're so old-fashioned.

Let's just celebrate the supremacy of Jesus Christ and the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

There's a movement out there called the 1 Project that's leading such a charge.

Continuing, the tremendous issues of eternity demand of us something besides an imaginary religion, a religion of words and forms where truth is kept in the outer core.

She says the tremendous issues of eternity demand of us something besides an imaginary religion.

Do you have an imaginary religion where you believe in an imaginary Jesus that only helps you in an emergency?

Listen, we as Seventh-day Adventists, we should understand the tremendous issues of eternity.

If we are connected to Jesus, our High Priest and our Savior in the most holy place of the heavenly sanctuary, we will understand that we are facing tremendous issues of eternity.

And yet here we are, a Laodicean, lukewarm church, so many of us floating along as if we have an imaginary religion where our religion consists of 5 minute morning and evening worships and maybe a couple of hours on Sabbath coming to church.

We are facing something far greater than just child's play here.

We need to be beyond an imaginary religion.

Testimonies, Volume 8, page 28, says something very similar.

Transgression has almost reached its limit.

Confusion fills the world, and a great terror is soon to come upon human beings.

We who know the truth should be preparing for what is soon to break upon the world as an overwhelming surprise." Again, overwhelming surprise, overwhelming surprise, and yet the church is sleeping.

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom." Here Jesus is speaking of His kingdom, of His church.

He likens it to 10 virgins, and virgins represent pure women, a woman represents the Church, obviously, and this is a pure Church who take their lamps and they go forth to meet the Bridegroom.

And we know from Psalms 119, 105 that the lamp represents the Word of God.

Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.

So here is a pure church that is a Bible-believing church that has the truths of Scripture and it goes forth to meet the bridegroom, meaning it is expecting Jesus to come back.

This is God's last day church, a pure church, a Bible believing church who expects Jesus to come back in the clouds.

Now let me say something straight to you.

All 10 women have the lamps, meaning they have the truths of the Word of God.

So let me tell you something, if you're a professed Seventh-day Adventist and you don't believe what the Bible says about creation, you're not 1 of the virgins.

If you're a professed Seventh-day Adventist and you don't believe what the Bible says about Daniel 8, 14, you're not a virgin.

This is speaking of people who believe in the truths of the word of God for the last days that are to prepare a people for the coming of Jesus.

This represents God's pure church, because sometimes we'll say, oh, well, yeah, they're all sleeping, but I'm a wise virgin because I have the truths of scripture.

The foolish virgins must be those people who believe in evolution." That's not what the parable means.

The parable is describing a pure church who has the lamp of the word of God, and based on the truths of scripture, they understand, they see the 3 angels' messages, that we are living in the hour of his judgment, that we are to proclaim with a loud voice the everlasting Gospel, that we are to proclaim that Babylon has fallen, that there is a crisis coming of facing the beast and his image and the mark and the number of his name.

And so we take our lamps and we proclaim the messages, and we're going forth to meet the Bridegroom.

And yet In the midst of having the truths of the word of God, verse 2 says, 5 of them were wise and 5 were foolish.

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