In today’s episode, Pastor Jack Hibbs continues his exploration of the Parables of Jesus with a focus on the Ten Virgins. This narrative underscores the importance of knowing and living what you believe as a Christian. As we navigate through the cultural and scriptural context of this parable, Pastor Jack challenges listeners to understand the symbolism of oil as the Holy Spirit and the significance of being spiritually vigilant and prepared. Tune in for a compelling discussion on living in readiness and expectancy in these turbulent times.
00:23:39 Pastor Jack’s Call to Prayer and Connection
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Today on Real Life Radio.
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Every Christian that is ready will be a Christian who’s saved. Everyone who’s saved will be a true Christian. They’ll be ready. You don’t have to worry about being a Christian and not being ready. The Holy Spirit will make you ready as you yield to Him.
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This is Real Life. Welcome to Real Life Radio with Pastor Jack Hibbs. I’m David Jay, thanking you for joining us today as we listen, learn, and are challenged by God’s Word, the Bible. Do you ever find yourself longing for a deeper spiritual walk? For many believers, the Holy Spirit is just a mysterious idea we hear about on Sundays but rarely live out on Mondays. What if his presence could transform your daily life, fueling you with hope and power and unstoppable joy? What if his guidance could help you navigate through decisions, strengthen relationships, and bring genuine peace to your soul? This month, Pastor Jack Hibbs is featuring Living Water by Chuck Smith. It’s a down-to-earth look at the Holy Spirit who can revolutionize the way you connect with God. Inside, you’ll uncover practical biblical insights to help you walk and step with the Spirit right where you are. No hype, no cliches, just real answers for everyday challenges.
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This book changed my life. Authored by my pastor, Chuck Smith, the book Living Water, incredible.
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Living Water is available for a gift of any amount at jackhibbs.com slash real radio. That’s jackhibbs.com slash real radio. On today’s edition of Real Life Radio, Pastor Jack now continues with his series called The Parables of Jesus and a message titled Parable of the Ten Virgins Part Two. Now, whenever Jesus spoke to the crowds, he often spoke using relatable stories with common everyday themes that the Bible calls parables. In this parable, Jesus is speaking to us about expectancy. You see, as Christians, we need not only to be ready, but we need to be looking forward to the Lord’s return. And in this parable, the ten virgins knew they were to have oil ready for their lamps, but only five had plenty of oil and were prepared to meet Jesus. And today, Pastor Jack tells us that the Holy Spirit is displayed or symbolized in Scripture as anointing oil. Our salvation through Christ means that we have the Holy Spirit in our lives, and as we yield to Him, He’ll make us ready for eternity. Now, with his message called Parable of the Ten Virgins, Part 2, here’s pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs.
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Church, grab your Bibles tonight and turn, if you would, to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 25, ultimately, we will cover verses 1 to 13 someday, but not tonight. I know not last week, not tonight. And again, we’ve come here and we’re just letting God lead us. through this particular parable. It’s just too important. We’re talking about, of course, the parable of the 10 virgins, and it’s a challenge for anybody teaching this, and here’s the reason why. It’s not that we don’t understand it. You could click onto 10 of your favorite teaching pastor’s websites and get 10 different teachings about this particular parable. And that doesn’t mean anyone is doing an injustice to it. It just announces the depth of this particular parable and the meaning of it. And when I say that, I mean for us to really get into it in its original context, we would have to study the culture of the first century era. Some of the things still exist today in the Middle East regarding marriage and ceremonies and receptions. that we’ll see tonight and that we’ll look at tonight and read through, but… There’s a lot of amazing unpacking of application that comes out of this particular parable. And so tonight we’re looking at the parable of the 10 virgins, part two, and our message. Follow along with me if you would. We’ll read it, and then tonight we will be in an interesting challenge, I trust. Matthew 25, verse one. Then Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven is likened unto 10 virgins, virgins, ten maidens, the word is also translated correctly, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. So they not only have oil in their lamps, they’ve got little crews or a skin full of oil. And so they’re ready. And so verse five says, but while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. 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. 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. Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. Verse 12, but… He answered and said to them, Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch, therefore, verse 13 announces, and this is a thrust, by the way. Bible students, mark verse 13. This is the reason for the parable. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the son of man or the bridegroom is coming. It’s all about being ready. That’s the thrust of the parable. It’s not about weddings and preparing for weddings. Technically, as we’ll see tonight, it’s not even about oil, though we will talk a lot about oil tonight and what it means. It’s about being ready. If you’re a careful listener and if you’re kind of putting on your CSI mindset for a that your Christian, what? Spiritual investigation abilities. Again, it’s not about the oil, but being ready, but you’ll see how what is symbolized by the oil prepares you or is in fact the source of you being ready. It’s very interesting. And so as we look at this, I want you guys to lean a little bit back upon last time, last week together, and tonight. So mark this down, verses 1 through 5. We know this, that the parable of the ten virgins is about, number one, knowing what you believe. Church, listen, did the virgins, all 10 of them, know that they were involved in a celebration soon to happen? The answer to that is yes. Did they know that they were to have lamps? The answer of that is yes. Did they know that they were supposed to have oil? Yes. Did they know that they were supposed to be ready? The answer is yes. So what went wrong? It matters greatly that you know what you believe. And knowing what you believe, in reality, will change or affect your life completely. Do you know what you believe? And so in verse one, we read here that the kingdom of heaven is likened. So Jesus is saying, this is what the church age from the day of Pentecost to the end of the church age, which by the way, uh, Pentecost began with the descent, the coming of the Holy Spirit, and the church was born, and the church will be delivered into the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ, again, by the power of the Holy Spirit, when he, in a sense, remember, he came down to give birth to the church And the Holy Spirit, the same player, the same worker, will deposit, or I should say hand over the church to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then from that moment on, the Holy Spirit will do a special work in the earth. In the Bible, the book of Joel, for example, and Peter, 1 Peter talks about all that stuff. But… The kingdom of heaven is the church age. And Jesus likens it to ten virgins. He didn’t say that they’re believers. He didn’t say that they’re all born again. He says that they’re ten maidens. And they know something. They know that the… Lord is coming back in this picture portrayed as the bridegroom. They know that there’s certain things expected of them. But just because they know it, it doesn’t mean that they are actually, or all of them are actually saved. And this is a serious thing that you need to understand regarding this parable. Not all 10 are saved. But the parable is not about salvation. The parable is about being ready. By the way, listen, every Christian that is ready will be a Christian who’s saved. Everyone who’s saved will be a true Christian. They’ll be ready. You don’t have to worry about being a Christian and not being ready. The Holy Spirit will make you ready as you yield to him. And that’s a very, very important thing. So the whole of this parable is about, write it down if you would, expectancy. Expectancy. Write that down. And again, verse 13 is the entire purpose for the parable. Watch therefore. That’s what Jesus is getting at. Watch. The word in Greek is intense word. It means to be wide-eyed, scanning. The horizon, looking. Can I use this word? It’s a word you don’t hear anymore. It’s to prowl the horizon. You are vigilant. That’s another word we don’t hear anymore. It’s a great word, vigilant. What are you doing? I’m looking. Oh, come on, don’t be so serious. No, I’m looking. But what does that looking mean? Does it mean you walk around, you know, in a white robe? You don’t go to work because Jesus could come back? you’re just a bum because Jesus could come back. No, that’s not what it means. It means that as you’re living life, notice here, it mentions that they were sleeping. That’s not a sin to be sleeping in this parable. It means that they were living life. You gotta go to work, you gotta go to bed. In this case, they were invited to a wedding, and in that culture, a bunch of people, listen, this is kinda cool. I actually love this. Are you listening? We do it all wrong here in the West. In those days, and in fact, there’s a couple that attend this church. They actually did this. This is radical. The announcement is made, I’m gonna get married. Joseph and Mary, for example. We’re gonna get married. They set a date. It’s at least a year away from their engagement. And it’s well known. But listen, there’s a time as they approach, there’s things that are getting ready. By the way, while the bridegroom is away, he is preparing a house for his new wife. Sound familiar? You know a carpenter who went away to prepare a house for you. and he’s gonna come back and pick you up. What’s that all about? It’s exactly what that culture completely understood. It makes perfect sense to them. Jesus is engaged to the church, those who believe in him, trust him, and he went away to prepare a place, and when he comes back, he’s gonna take his bride, the church, with him where he’s at. You can read more about that, by the way, in Isaiah chapter 26. A tremendous comment about that. But it’s a beautiful, beautiful picture, but about a week before the wedding takes place, check this out, you are summonsed to the gathering. The groom and the bride-to-be, they’re going to have their service, but the community comes to the reception. The service is a little bit more private. When that happens, the announcement is made. This parable parallels that perfectly. What you don’t see here, but it is implied because it’s understood by the culture, that when the bridegroom comes, what’s not mentioned, but it’s understood, is that the bridegroom is coming, but also with his wife, his honey, his sweetheart. And so from this understanding, some people have taken this parable to say, well, this must be something that happens at the second coming of Christ, because the bride of Christ comes with Christ in the second coming, Revelation 19. It could. But when Jesus is watched, therefore, because you don’t know when it’s going to happen. Now that brings us right back to the pre-rapture concept because the second coming, according to the book of, am I confusing you? The second coming, according to the book of Daniel, is a day that is actually known in that time period. So it’s very interesting. The first coming of Jesus Christ was known in the book of Daniel. It announced it. And the second coming of Christ to Israel, we looked at that last week, will be known to that generation based upon, again, the book of Daniel. What is not known is the hour in which your Lord comes. And that is a reference to what is called expectancy or the doctrine of eminency. Eminency is the Lord could come for his people at any given moments. It’s exactly, remember last week we studied in detail the we statements of Paul. Remember, Paul was believing that in his life, Jesus was gonna come back, and he made mention of that clearly. It wasn’t until he was told that he was gonna be executed in 2 Timothy chapter four that he says that he has loved the Lord’s coming, the Lord’s return. Very awesome, very exciting.
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You’re listening to Real Life with Pastor Jack Hibbs. You know, to hear more episodes and maybe catch up in the series, just go to jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. And for now, let’s get back to our teaching. Once again, here’s Pastor Jack.
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Remember, the doctrine of expectancy is, for example, found in Titus 2.13, that we are to be looking for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing. By the way, that’s all good news. The blessed hope and glorious appearing. The second coming is what the Bible says is a great and terrible day of the Lord. The second coming is very, very violent for the earth and very destructive. The rapture is altogether joyous and a blessed thing. While we look for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. And then remember last time, the expectancy or the expectation of Christ’s return. Jesus is the one who actually introduced it in John 14, 1. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me, for in my Father’s house are many mansions. And if it were not so, if that’s not true, I would have told you. I go now to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am, there you may be also. There’s not a Greek scholar in the universe that would say, well, that’s Jesus picking you up in the atmosphere and bringing you back down to earth. That’s impossible. There’s not a Greek scholar that will stand behind that. All scholars understand that the text, the context demands this understanding. Jesus left earth and he went to his father’s house. He’s preparing a place. He’s gonna come and get those of John 14, one, two, and three, and take them to where he’s been, where he’s at. That is awesome. If you don’t believe in what is known as the premillennial, pre-tribulation rapture, then you gotta cut John 14 right out of your Bible. You gotta take it out. And so this is a very important thing. So watch this. The parable tonight, as we look at this, is a parable about being watchful. But I want to focus tonight on the source of being watchful. Okay? I want to take a totally different approach. Not that I want to to be different. It’s just that all the stuff I’ve read and all the stuff I’ve looked at, not one of the teachers covered the source of how you’re ready. The source of being ready. How can I be ready? Look, we’re humans. We’re mere humans. And as a Christian, I need all the help I can get, amen? So how can I be ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ? What makes me able to have the impossible happen in my life? It’s not you, and it’s not me. It’s the Holy Spirit’s presence in our lives, and we’re gonna talk about what that means. So will you look with me, verses two to five? We’re still on that one point, know what you believe. It’s this. When he announces there, verse two, that five of them were wise, you oughta circle that. Now, five of them were wise. You oughta circle that, okay? And five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and or but took no oil with them. Now, verse four, you oughta circle verse four. But the wise took oil in their vessels or skins with their lamps, verse five, but while the bridegroom was delayed, They all slumbered and slept. They lived their lives, and the bridegroom did not return as quickly as they had hoped. Meaning, they were to be, listen everybody, efficient. They were to be governing their time. Even though they were invited, watch, like that couple I’m going to tell you about. They all gathered for the reception. They’re waiting. And this guy, now he didn’t do seven days, but he called all of his friends. Okay, and for three days, they didn’t know when he was gonna come during those three days. This happened. A guy from this church did this. And in this case, in the scriptural, in the Bible case, you’re waiting there for a week. And he could come the first day. He could come the third day. He could come the second day. He could come, you gotta be ready. But look, once he comes, then the reception lasts seven days. Isn’t that neat? That is really cool. And so waiting is part of the thing, but you don’t know if he’s gonna come the first day or the third day or the seventh day. So you are to conduct, listen, you’re to conduct yourselves wisely knowing it could take a while. How about for us? It could take 2,000 years. How about for us right now? We’re seeing all these things going on in the globe around us. What does that mean to us? It could be soon. We hope it’s soon, but it could be soon. Know what you believe. And I wonder, listen, as we get into this, what comes to your mind when you hear words like this? Authentic. Authentic means real. Organic, that means pure. Okay, what about fundamental? That means basic, foundational. Original means first. The important thing about these words is when you look at the Bible and you read the Bible, let the Bible speak to you for what it says. Ladies and gentlemen, church family, friends and foes, listen, when you read the Bible, don’t try to tell it what it should tell you. You need to approach the Bible and let it speak to you. It’s alive. The Holy Spirit will see to that. So as we look to this parable, and tonight we wanna focus on what source is it that makes us ready, it’s symbolized in this parable by the oil. The oil. Now, the Holy Spirit has been symbolized or displayed typologically throughout Scripture as being oil. There’s the anointing oil of the Old Testament, which symbolized the Holy Spirit. Remember when the kings of Israel were anointed kings, what happened? The priest came and poured oil on the top of his head all the way down to his feet. I mean, he was covered in oil. When we anoint people today with oil, again, we are unscriptural because we don’t want to destroy their clothing. Amen. But we dab a little oil on somebody. I’m sure the Lord doesn’t care about the volume of oil. It’s all about the faith regarding what’s going on. But to be anointed with oil. You’ve read that in the Bible. Did you anoint him or her with oil? And that’s great. You’re to do that. But listen, in the old days, it was not only poured out upon them and it covered them, But it was so meaningful. It signified their position. It signified the Lord’s presence. That’s the covering, the oil upon him. That this man or this woman or this temple utensils were dedicated to God. It spoke of God’s absolute possession of this person. and sanctification to God’s use. And so with that, it’s organic, and it’s authentic, and it’s fundamental, and it’s original that oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit throughout Scripture, both Old and New Testament alike. In Exodus chapter 30, the Bible tells us, verse 31, and you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, this shall be a holy oil, anointing oil to me says God throughout your generations it shall not be poured on man’s flesh nor shall you make any other like it by the way when he says poured on man’s flesh poured upon those who are unclean or not appointed. According to its, look, he says, don’t make another one like it according to its composition. It is holy and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it, a mimic, a knockoff, a false representation. Or whoever puts any on it on an outsider shall be cut off from his people or from the nation Israel. This is serious business. God says, you try to do a knockoff of the anointing oil that I’ve prescribed, and it’s going to cost you your life. It’s so serious to God. It’s taking ministry and making it false. False. speaks of a false prophet. It speaks of a fake, false ministry. One that looks real, but God knows that’s not the right oil. That’s fake.
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pastor and Bible teacher, Jack Hibbs, here on Real Life Radio with his message called Parable of the Ten Virgins, Part Two. Thanks for joining us today. You know, this message is part of Pastor Jack’s series called The Parables of Jesus. It’s a series that highlights the teachings of Jesus while he was ministering right here on this earth. And we’ll continue on the next edition of Real Life Radio.
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Everyone, it’s almost impossible to keep up with what’s going on in the world today. I think we’ve all come to that realization. My goodness, just the news regarding Israel and Israel’s neighborhood. We’re looking at what’s going on in North Korea. We’re seeing what’s happening in China and other parts of the world. It’s just overwhelming. But I want to encourage all of you. Be in the Word of God now and more systematically than ever before. In fact, as we are in this season of maybe the first quarter or second quarter of the year, I want to encourage you to join me actually at 5 a.m. Pacific Time, 5 a.m. Pacific Time, And whatever time zone you’re in, you can join me at my Facebook page live for five minutes as we are praying together with people all around the world. And you can leave your prayer request right there. You can leave it in the comment section and people will be praying for you. So listen, with all that’s taking place in the world, you don’t have to walk through this alone. There’ll be others with you to pray with you and love on you. But friends, more than ever, If you draw near to Jesus and practice the presence of God more and more, it means you’re gonna have to turn some things off and minimize the distractions. You will see some pretty miraculous things start to happen in your life. So I encourage you to do that very thing. So listen, 5 a.m., you can do it. West Coast time, 5 a.m. For those of you who are in Cape Town, South Africa, it’s 3 o’clock in the afternoon. And listen, we’d love to have you. And even if you can’t be with us live, you can always view it, pray with us, and leave your prayer request there at the comment section.
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The Lift Daily Prayer. That’s every day on Pastor Jack’s Facebook page. That’s at 5 a.m. Pacific time, so don’t miss it. Make it a habit if you would. Come get prayed for and join Pastor Jack in the Word. That’s the Lift Daily Prayer every day this year on Pastor Jack’s Facebook page. Be sure to join us. You’ll enjoy it. This program is made possible by the generous contributions of you, our listeners. Visit us at jackhibbs.com. That’s jackhibbs.com. Until next time, Pastor Jack Hibbs and all of us here at Real Life Radio wish for you solid and steady growth in Christ and in His Word. We’ll see you next time here on Real Life Radio.
