Jesus Warned Us About People Who Think They're Saved

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What's going on, guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford Podcast. I'm Bryce. And today we are going to be talking about the parable of the 10 virgins. Because that's an easy one to understand. We're going to be talking about it. If you got your Bibles, we're going to be in Matthew chapter 25. And really the theme of this parable is like, are you ready? Like this parable should put the fear of God in your life and in my life. You know, I'll tell you a quick story as you're flipping to your Bible. I don't know about you. But every, so I've said this like a million times on the podcast. Like I'm terrified of planes. So every single time I get on a plane, I repent at least 10 times. Like it's like, you want to make sure, make sure, make sure like, hey, God, like you, you heard me, right? Like I'm repenting, but it's because you, you know, you're scared that your life is on the line. And so that's why you're repenting on the plane. I don't know if y'all do that on a roller coaster or on a plane or, you know, and I don't know how you do it, even though planes are safer than cars. It's like, for some reason, I sit in that chair and I repent. I repent eight times. That's because I'm like, you know, my life is on the line. And that's how, that's how I view it. And that's what this is really about is like, are you actually ready now? Context for like, uh, you know, a typical Galilean wedding. You have something called a betrothal where you basically have the man and the woman come together and they verbally agree. They're like, you want to get married? Yeah, I want to get married. You want to get married? Let's get married. And so they do that. They do the betrothal. And then the groom goes all the way back to his father's house and begins to build a room, a part of his father's house. You hear John chapter 14. Jesus says, it is necessary for me to leave so I can build rooms on my father's house. There's plenty of rooms for my children in my father's house that I'm building, right? So he goes back and builds the room. And so the, the, the wife, the bride groom, soon to be wife goes back to her house and puts on her wedding dress because she does not know. The day or the hour. And here are the, now what happens when they actually get married is that there's a massive feast. Basically the bride and the bride groom, they go into this room and they love each other for seven days in this room. And then after the seven days, they come out and all their families are there. But once the doors close before that seven days, you see the seven days while the bride and the groom are in the room and they're like loving each other really well in there for seven days, the, the, the families are, are eating together and celebrating and partying for seven days. And after the seven days, they're like, oh, I'm going to go to the wedding. And then after seven days, they open up, they go in there and they eat, right? So you're at Matthew 25 and we're in the second part. So we're in the post betrothal and it says, then the kingdom of heaven will be like 10 virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bride groom because they don't know the day or the hour that the groom will come back. Does that sound familiar? They don't know. And so the bride's bridal party has to be prepared for the arrival of the groom because once he comes, they have to go to the party and then they shut the doors. Nobody can be let in once they shut the doors. Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise for when the foolish took their lamps, verse three, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. As the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and slept. You know why I think that verse is so funny? Because you know, Christ is the bridegroom. You got so many TikTok prophets out here saying that God's going to return on a certain day and people selling all their belongings and going broke. And then. God doesn't return that day. And so we do not know the day or the hour that Christ will return. Let me just, I can't believe that I have to say this. If some TikTok prophet out there tells you that Christ is going to return or a day or on a specific day or an hour, do not listen to them. Don't listen to them. I just laugh when I hear that there's so much fear mongering that happens online with these TikTok prophets that are like, God is going to return on October 22nd of 2032. And I'm like, okay, I know. For a fact, I can mark that date as a day that he's probably not going to return because you just claim that he's knowing that day. Verse six. But at midnight, there was a cry. Here's the bridegroom. Come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose 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, since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves. And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went with him into the marriage feast, the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open up to us. But he answered, truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you know, neither the day nor the hour. You can't buy someone else's oil. What does oil represent? Oil oftentimes throughout scripture represents the Holy Spirit or intimacy with the Holy Spirit. Now, as believers, we believe that when we have faith in Jesus Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit. Evidence of the Holy Spirit in your life is that you are obeying the statutes of the Lord. That's what the book of Ezekiel will tell us. So if your life looks different before you claim to have started following Jesus until afterwards, if it does look different, then you're probably following Jesus. If it doesn't, then you're probably following a different Jesus than us Christians do. But Ephesians tells us that the Holy Spirit is the seal on our hearts so that we know that we know that we know we can be confident in our salvation because it's not about what we can do. It's not about what we can do to enter into eternity in heaven with the Lord, but it is what Christ has done for us and faith in that what he has done on the cross. We received this gift of the Holy Spirit as a seal on our hearts so that we know that we know that we know. And then John chapter 14 tells us that the Holy Spirit is a helper to teach us things and bring conviction into life. This is how we can understand the scriptures is how we can be convicted of sin and grow in the Lord and be sanctified. And so, you know, we can't just bank on like, this is why it's so important to like really do a heart check. This is why you're following Jesus. Like, are you following Jesus because your boyfriend or girlfriend follows Jesus or your family follows Jesus? Like, like following Jesus has to be yours, your relationship. And you know why it's so funny because it's like, hey, you know, in the story, they're like, hey, can we borrow some of your oil? Like, you can't borrow mine. You can't borrow my intimacy. You know, like if, if, if you told me all the facts about your parents and then I went and I wrote a book about all the facts about your parents. I stamped my name as the author on that book. And I was like, yeah, I know so-and-so's parents personally. I know your parents personally. You would say, no, no, no, you don't know my parents personally. You just know facts about my parents. I would say, well, what makes me different from you? We both know the same stuff. And you would say, I've laughed with my parents. I've cried with my parents. I have experiences with my parents. I have sweat with my parents. I have actual equity in with my parents because we have actual experiences together. Just because you know facts about Jesus doesn't mean you have a relationship with him. Doesn't mean you've cried. And laughed and shed tears and experienced with him and invited him into your life. There's two different things. You can read this thing for 80 years and not have a friendship with the Lord. And so this oil in your lamp is the intimacy of the Holy Spirit in your life. What is stoking the fire in your life? Is it just intellectual knowledge? No, no, no. I grew up in private Christian school. I grew up in church. I knew of Jesus for 17 years. I had the intellectual knowledge, but it was on December 25th of 2020 that the 18 inches between my head and my heart finally, finally. Connected. I began a relationship with the Lord. Do you have an actual relationship? Because that's where the security comes from. Because if this was about any, if this had anything to do with what we could do to get into heaven, then we would have something to boast about and not Jesus. Jesus gets all the glory. So you can't buy someone else's oil. The same way I can't buy the life and the experience that you have with your parents that I just don't know. Same thing with Michael Jordan. Like I could tell you a million facts about Michael Jordan or even more personally. Chipper Jones. I'm a Braves fan. I can tell you a ton of facts about Chipper Jones, but I've never had experiences with Chipper Jones. We've never experienced things together and laughing because that's what real relationship looks like. You know, that that's what it means to have a relationship. And so are you actually ready? Are you ready for Christ's return? Do you know him now? You're not going to get him. You're not going to get to heaven. He's going to go, oh, shocker. Can't believe you made it in here. The book of life has your name on it. If you have faith in Christ, you know, God, he knows you. And I think that's the ultimate question. Like, does he know you? Because once those doors are shut, it's game over. This passage should give us fear of God in your life. It should make you and I reflect on our own life and go, yeah, does God actually know me? Is he involved in my everyday life? Is he involved in the end? and outs of my life. Do we have those experiences together? I'm not saying you have to cry, you have to laugh, but I use that as an example to say there is a difference. That is an indicator of relationship with God. Do you wrestle with God? That's why I think it's so funny when Jesus addresses the prayers. He's like, you know, when you pray, do not throw up these lofty words and the fancy vocabulary. Like my prayer time with God may look different than yours, and that's okay. But sometimes my prayers, if I'm being completely vulnerable, sometimes my prayers are like, dang, God, I'm pissed right now. I can't believe this person hurt me. I can't believe they did this to me. I can't believe this. Or, I mean, God, I'm extremely grieved right now. My heart is heavy. I mean, God, thank you for what you're doing. This was awesome. I can't believe we experienced it. I can't tell you the amount of times I've seen something absolutely bananas. I've been like, God, what the heck did I just see? I know you saw that too. What the heck did I just see? What did I witness? That was crazy. Because there's this level of relationship that we have. It doesn't rob God of reverence because he deserves our reverence and respect. That's what fear of God is, a deep, reverent love for God. But there's this relationship that you build with the Lord that you can't manufacture it. Do you have that relationship? Do you have that intimacy? Does he know you? Because when Christ returns, time's out. Go buy your own oil. Hey, quick break. I want to talk about victory by covenant eyes, and I want to be real with you for a minute. If you're struggling with corn, most people will tell you the answer is more willpower. Try harder. Be more disciplined. But that is not actually how change happens. Real freedom does not come from white-knuckling it alone. It comes from bringing the struggle into the light. Scripture already told us this. As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. Carry each other's burdens. Accountability is not some modern self-help idea. It is God's design. And that is exactly what victory is built on. Yes, there is content filtering, and that matters. But the heart of it is accountability. Connecting you with trusted people who encourage you, walk with you, and help you build habits that actually last. Plus, community support so you are never doing this alone. And it is all built on a Christian worldview, which means the goal is not just behavior change. The goal is becoming who God made you to be. Freedom is rarely immediate, but it belongs to the people who refuse to give up. So if you are ready for that next step, start your journey today with victory by covenant. Go to covenanteyes.com and use code bryce30 to get a free 30-day trial and start living in freedom today. Again, that is covenanteyes.com, code bryce30. The five whys, and that's what it is. Whys. Whys. Well, Bryce, I don't have time. I don't have time. You make time for the things you care about. You don't have time for Jesus, but you can stay with your boyfriend or girlfriend four hours every single day of the week, seven days a week. You have time for that. Bryce, I don't have time. Yeah, you spend your whole Sunday watching the NFL football ticket, but you don't have time to go to church. Well, Bryce, I mean, I have school in the morning. I have practice after school. Okay, wake up an hour earlier. Use your time in the car for worship music. Pray to the Lord. Pray with him throughout the day. Invite him into your life. Like, you make time for the things you care about. The whys will be prepared. You know what would be a disgrace? Is if you thought you had a relationship with God and you stand before God on judgment day and he is not at all what you thought he'd be like. Can you imagine how crazy that would be? Because when you read Matthew chapter 7, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out demons in your name? You do recognize that there's 10 virgins in here. There's five people who think they're right and five people who are confident that they're right. The five whys and the five foolish. And they get there and they say, Lord, Lord, like, let us in. Come on, man, we were part of the bridal party. And he said, no, I don't even know you. Who are you? You're some poser. You're a faker. The real fear are those who think that they're right with God and that would be such a letdown if you just have all this intellectual knowledge about Jesus and you stand before him and he's not at all what you thought he was. And can I just ask you a challenging question? Like, do you read your Bible? This is his love letter. We get a peek into God's heart and character by reading this thing. Do you even know him? Have you even read the thing that he's left to you? What does that look like in your life? And I don't mean like reading 10 chapters a day and not absorbing it. Like, do you know him? Have you practiced his presence? Have you sat in his presence? Have you prayed to him? Walmart Plus. Just $120 a year can save you time. And over $700. Visit samsclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club. Annual plan only. Auto renews. TNC apply. When you shop Kroger Delivery, you can expect the savings you love and fresh groceries delivered right to your door. Our refrigerated trucks keep your items fresh while our associates are committed to getting every detail right. Carefully selecting. And packing your order with care. Because bringing you fresh, quality groceries is what we do best. And right now, enjoy $20 off your first online order of $75 or more. Restrictions apply. See site for details. Kroger. Fresh for everyone. Man, I just like, I'm so afraid for this, for this generation right now. With this immediate gratification. We fail to slow down. Fail to sit. Fail to grow with the Lord. Fail to build relationship. And I'm afraid. And this passage should put the fear of God in your life. You go like, man, am I really growing with God? Like, am I doing the thing? What's going on? It should be something that we think about. We question. Be a good, respectful skeptic. Be honest with yourself. And you don't think so. Pray Psalm 139. Lord, search my heart. Am I really right with you or not? And I want to pray for you. That you would build intimate relationship with the Lord. And that the Holy Spirit would be your helper, convictor, and teacher. This is John 14 says, Lord Jesus, we thank you for who you are. Lord, we want to know you intimately. We want to be like the five wise virgins. God, we thank you that we have the ability to join you at the wedding feast. And know you for an eternity. And so God, right now in this life, in this breath, for whatever time we have, each of us listening. God, would you give us wisdom and strength to prepare and be wise. Have intimacy with you. Develop deeper relationship with you. And through developing deeper relationship, we will have confidence in you. Lord, we love you. We thank you. We praise you. And it's in your name we pray. Amen. Walmart Plus. Yep. Sam's Club Plus membership now comes with Walmart Plus at no extra cost. Just 120 bucks a year can save you time and over $700. Visit samsclub.com. Come join us. Sam's Club. Annual plan only. Auto renews. TNC apply. Carefully selecting and packing your order with care. And right now. Enjoy $20 off your first online order of $75 or more. Restrictions apply. Kroger. Fresh for everyone.