Last Sunday of the Church Year—Being Ready with a Clean Conscience
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
“The kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins 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.
But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept.” (Matthew 25:1–5)
Real quick, I want you to open up your hymnal, OK, to page 225, and on page 225, that's the day and that's one of the morning hymns you can sing if you pray matins. I want you to look at stanza nine.
So the line that has a nine next to it up at the top on page 225. I want us to say that together real quick:
“Grant, O Lord, to keep us this day without sin.
O Lord, have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us.
O Lord, let Your mercy be upon us as our trust is in You.
O Lord, in You have I trusted. Let me never be confounded.”
We're asking Him to keep us this day without sin.
Page 228. Turn there. This time I'll just read it.
The collect for grace there on page 228. I'm just going to start at the “Defend us”:
“Defend us in the same with Your mighty power and grant that this day we fall into no sin, neither run into any kind of danger, but that all our doings, being ordered by Your governance, may be righteous in Your sight.”
Then I'd like you to turn to page 233, 233.
This is the collect for peace at the end of vespers, 233:
“O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good counsels and all just works, give to us, Your servants, that peace which the world cannot give, that our hearts may be set to obey Your commandments.”
And then I'd like you to turn to the Small Catechism. So if you start to go to 321, that's where it starts. But I want you to go to page 326 before we read “What do you believe according to these words?” On page 326 on the right side, I want us all to recite Jesus’ words about the Office of the Keys from the primary text. If you know him from heart, they're here too, if you want to look, but try to say him without it:
“The Lord Jesus breathed on His disciples and said, ‘Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.’” (John 20:22–23)
And let's say this next part together:
“What do you believe according to these words?
I believe that when the called ministers of Christ deal with us by His divine command, in particular, when they exclude openly unrepentant centers from the Christian congregation and absolve those who repent of their sins and want to do better, this is just as valid and certain, even in heaven, as if Christ, our dear Lord, dealt with us Himself, repent of their sins and want to do better.”
You can close your hymnal.
Last week I spent quite a bit of time talking about the fact that we're going to have to give an account for word and deed, that we are going to have rendered to us according to our works, what we have done in the body, whether good or evil. The Bible says it. And it's not just the Bible staring us. The Bible actually says that what you do in this life matters. There is a judgment. We must all stand, and we can't turn around and blame other people for why we did the things we did or said the things we did or thought them. We heard this.
It might sound unfamiliar to hear that and hear a sermon that focuses on that, especially in a Lutheran church, but we sing it several times a year in case you weren't paying attention. The hymn of the day last Sunday was “The Day Is Surely Drawing Near.” Listen to these two stanzas. Y'all sang them. And then I preached on it:
“The books are opened then to all,
A record truly telling
What each has done, both great and small,
When he on earth was dwelling,
And every heart be clearly seen,
And all be known as they have been
In thoughts and words and actions.Then woe to those who scorned the Lord
And sought but carnal pleasures.”
And Andy asked me what carnal means. Chili con carne, meat. Carnal pleasures are your fleshly sinful desires.
“So woe to those who scorned the Lord
And sought but carnal pleasures,
Who here despised His precious Word
And loved their earthly treasures.
With shame and trembling they will stand
And at the Judge’s stern command
To Satan be delivered.”
We sang that. And then I preached on it.
We must not be deceived. We must give an account. There is nothing that will remain secret or hidden. We must not be deceived into despising and casting aside God's Word in favor of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We must not store up treasures on this earth like money and other possessions and worldly pleasures, living only for what we can get in this world, because guess what? Everything in this world is going to be dissolved in the fire of God's everlasting wrath.
Do not be deceived. Scripture tells us:
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9–10)
“Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be weighed down with carousing, drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that Day come upon you unexpectedly.” (Luke 21:34)
Scripture says it.
Last Sunday's gospel on the judgment of the nations was a warning against the teachings that works are either of no consequence at all, or that our works make us right before God, merit the forgiveness of sins, and in and of themselves.
Today, our Lord Jesus said something else about the last day. He tells us to be ready. He tells us:
“Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming.” (Matthew 25:13)
It is certainly the case that be that part of being ready and watchful for our Lord's sudden return involves us being diligent in the performance of good works like our gospel last week taught. That's true. It's part of it.
“Who then,” says Scripture, “is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his house, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, finds so doing. Assuredly, I say to you that he will make him ruler over all his goods.
But if that evil servant says in his heart, ‘My master is delaying his coming,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 24:45–51)
And St. Paul says this — this is a faithful saying to young pastors. He said it in particular:
“This is a faithful saying. And these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works.” (Titus 3:8)
I'm supposed to tell you to do it. And so it is part of us being ready for sure.
Today, our Lord Jesus is speaking of watchfulness and readiness from a different perspective, though. Focusing on the source of truly good works and what really essentially makes us ready for our Lord's sudden return on the last day, what makes us truly prepared by grace apart from works of the law, saving faith, having a clean conscience before God. That's what Jesus is talking about today.
The wise virgins knew that the Lord could come at any time, their bridegroom, and they knew where to go when they needed a clean conscience, and they knew what would give them a clean conscience and who. That's the wisdom of the wise virgins.
What makes the wise virgins ready for the bridegroom is that they have exactly what they need, whether awake or asleep. The foolish lack this and so are unable to deal with lacking what is necessary when their bridegroom finally arrives. They don't know where to go and what to do about a dirty conscience, a burdened conscience. And so they're caught unawares.
Consider the fact that they all slumbered and slept. The Bible uses the word sleep for falling asleep, but also for temporal death and for unbelief. St. Paul uses it both ways in First Thessalonians five that we heard today, if you're paying attention:
“Brethren, concerning the times and the seasons, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the Day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
For when they say, ‘Peace and safety!’ then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.” (1 Thessalonians 5:1–7)
This is a sleeping of unbelief. Here St. Paul speaks of that.
But then when he's talking later about another kind of sleep, just a few verses later, he says:
“For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.” (1 Thessalonians 5:9–10)
That's temporal death — whether He comes in glory and you're still alive, or you have fallen asleep in the Lord and He returns and raises your body up from the dead. Both ways.
It is important to note these two ways the Bible speaks of sleep besides literally sleeping so that we can understand our Lord's parable. The wise virgins are true, believing Christians who enter the kingdom of their heavenly Father when their Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, returns suddenly. The foolish virgins are those who outwardly appear to be Christians but who lack true and saving faith and are so caught unprepared for their Bridegroom's return and are cast into outer darkness and eternal fire.
Each set of five virgins are very different from one another when it comes to their ultimate destination, but they are the same in many ways. They are all dressed as virgins to greet the Bridegroom according to marriage customs of the time. They have the outward trappings. They’re like bridesmaids and groomsmen and all that stuff we have today. They all have lamps as well.
And when the Bridegroom was delayed, they all fell asleep. Can't see whether or not there's oil in the lamp until it doesn't light up. They had all the outward trappings the same, and they all fell asleep. They are all part of the visible church from what we can see, and they all fall asleep.
This falling asleep cannot be falling asleep in unbelief. Otherwise they'd all be foolish virgins. It also doesn't make sense for this to be temporal death exactly, since they are not dying in the parable. They are greeting the Bridegroom for this wedding feast and all the customs.
However, what may be in view here is the fact that whether you are dealing with a true believer or one that only appears to be a true believer, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and the wages of sin is death. And so the question is, when you sin, what are you going to do about it? Will you be the wise virgin or the foolish virgin?
Unless the Lord returns first, we all die. We will all fall asleep. And while Jesus, through His own saving death and resurrection from the dead, has made the Christian's death a doorway into eternal bliss, it is still a consequence of sin. We will die because we have sinned. And since all have sinned, all will die.
All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. All will die. All will fall asleep in this sense, whether they are wise or foolish. The Scriptures tell us:
“It is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” (Hebrews 9:27)
With this in mind — that both the wise and the foolish will fall into sin and die — we are shown the chief point of this parable.
The wise virgin with a lamp full of oil, ready to meet the Bridegroom in the middle of the night, is the Christian who has saving faith and knows where to go and when to go to maintain that saving faith and a clean conscience before God. All have sinned and will sin. But what each person does about that is what I want you to consider this morning.
You've already heard that there is a judgment and that our works, whether good or bad, are of consequence and we will be revealed, evaluated, and God will render to each one of us according to these works. That's why we ought to be very serious when we pray, “Keep us this day without sin,” or:
“Into Your hands I commit…”
“I thank You, my heavenly Father, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil.”
That is a serious thing.
There is a judgment, and we’re praying that God would actually keep us from sin. If you go to private confession and absolution, the end of that confession of sins is: “I ask for grace and want to do better.” And the true Christian ought to want to do better.
And if you intend on going and sinning right after this, after you receive absolution, the absolution was not for you. It's for the believer who intends to go out and strive to sin no more. That's serious.
Now, you must understand that no one living, though, is justified, made right with God or merits eternal salvation by their works. I said it last week, but this is what is emphasized in particular in our gospel this morning. Both sets of virgins have good works.
They appear outwardly as virgins in the Bible. Baptized believers, those who have washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb, are referred to as virgins, because through Holy Baptism Christ has washed His Bride in water and the Word and made them pure virgins. The virgins all have the same dress and they all have lamps. This is the visible church, both the wheat and the weeds that will only be revealed on the last day.
They both have outward reception of Baptism and other means of grace, attendance at Divine Service, the foretaste of that wedding feast to come. And they have good works, but this isn't enough on its own. Human beings can outwardly receive the means of grace, have perfect attendance at Divine Service — and you should — and be diligent in all sorts of outwardly good works, because you should. They can do all of this, whether they trust that for Christ's sake they have a gracious and loving God or not.
They can even assent to the historical facts that God exists, that Jesus is the only-begotten Son of God, that He lived a perfect life, that He died for the sins of the world, that He really rose from the dead, and that He sits at the right hand of the Father and He's going to come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. All human beings can assent to those historical facts. The demons know these facts and they tremble.
The foolish virgins are those who outwardly belong to the church and have outwardly good works. They have all this the same as the wise virgins, but the foolish forget this vital fact: Faith does not mean simply a knowledge of a history such as the ungodly and devil have. Rather, it means a faith that believes not merely the history, but also the effect of the history. In other words, it believes this article — the forgiveness of sins.
We have grace, righteousness, and forgiveness of sins through Christ. That is where the oil is to be found. The clean conscience. Christ.
The foolish virgins do not have the absolutely essential resources needed to be ready for the Bridegroom's return — the one chief and critical element that makes all the outward trappings matter at all. Because attending Divine Service, Baptism, the Lord's Supper, and all the means of grace are of no benefit to you unless they are grasped by saving faith, unless you not only assent to the historical facts but you believe the effects on you — that your sins have been forgiven for Christ's sake.
You can have all these trappings you want, but you must have saving faith. And you need to know where to go when you sin, that your faith may be maintained by Christ and that you may continually have a clean conscience before God, because you always have a sinful nature in this life.
The foolish virgin is the person joined outwardly to the Christian congregation that doesn't know what to do when they sin. And so they buy into one or more of the deadly and poisonous false doctrines I warned of last week. They might ignore their sin in pride and self-confidence, claiming that they are good and a good-enough person that God will accept them. Or they might minimize their sin in an Epicurean delusion that their sins aren’t dangerous or harmful, saying that there will be “peace and safety” no matter what sins they commit, even sinning against conscience and willfully because of the gospel.
Or we might be duped when we hear a sermon on the last judgment and the importance of bearing good fruit like we heard last week. And we could be duped into despair and hopelessness, believing that our sins and failures must mean that God does not accept us for Christ's sake and that we will never be good enough.
For the foolish, this will become a vicious cycle where one seeks to get out of despair, they experience, or shame and guilt, in falling asleep in sin by ignoring the sins, minimizing them, or attacking people that are pointing out the Law of God to them — because we have been freed. Our conscience has been cleaned by the blood of Jesus, so we really don't need to buck against what God's Word says, even if we struggle to keep it in our life for all sorts of reasons, even if it's something we never did before and never heard from a pastor before and then realize it's in the Bible.
The Christian doesn't have to fear that. Your conscience has been purified by the blood of Jesus. You've got to know where to go when your conscience is burdened so you can’t be duped. And then you get into this cycle where you're going to minimize the Law instead, or cast it away, or ignore it to make it look as though it were possible for Christians to actually keep the Law in a way that's pleasing to God.
It's a lie. You can't. So you don't need to be worried about it. You don't have to relax it. You can't keep the Law perfectly in a way that's going to please God. So just let His Law be what it is. Let God be God. Let His Law be His Law. Don't try to relax it because it ain't going to work.
Yes, you will be judged. The books will be opened. You will give an account for every thought, word, and deed. Those who scorned the Lord, despised His Word, and sought only fleshly pleasures and earthly treasures will be handed over to Satan by the Lord Jesus. This is serious.
But you are called not to behave as a foolish, false Christian in the face of this knowledge. You are called to be wise and watchful. You must let it sink deep down in your heart that this stanza from last week's hymn of the day is also true according to Scripture:
“O Jesus, who my debt didst pay
And for my sin wast smitten,
Within the Book of Life, O may
My name be also written.
I will not doubt, I trust in Thee;
From Satan Thou hast made me free
And from all condemnation.”
Nowhere to go.
When we grow weary and drowsy from the weight of our sinful flesh in this life, our Lord says to us, “Wake up, you who sleep!” “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Matthew 11:28)
“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has eternal life, and shall not come into the judgment of the wicked, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:24)
Understand that our Lord is coming sooner than anyone expects. Do not be deceived. Do not fall asleep with a lamp that is devoid of the oil of saving faith through unrepentance of any kind. Sin is dangerous and there is a judgment on the last day. Heed that warning.
As St. John tells us in his first letter to the Church:
“My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin.” (1 John 2:1)
Just like we pray all the time that we would not sin.
We must always be as the wise virgins, knowing that we will slumber in one way or another. So we must also know where to get the oil. Always know where to get that oil that keeps us safe for eternal life and purifies our drowsy conscience from dead works to serve the living God.
And that's why St. John, right after he says, “Little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin,” he says this next sentence:
“And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:1–2)
The whole world. Far beyond just your sins — the whole world.
When your conscience is burdened with the occasion to sin, when your heart has even become hardened through the deceitfulness of sin after making a practice through manifest sin against the Law of God and the Law of God has caused you to realize this — do not be like those foolish virgins who let their lamps go dry. Go to the marketplace and fill your lamp with what will restore repentance and saving faith in you and will make you ready for the glorious return of our Lord Jesus, that you do not meet that day with trembling fear at the coming destruction, but that with great relief and joy, you will see the Lord in His advent as your loving King and Savior.
Remember where the marketplace is before it is too late.
The gospel does not give us counsel and aid against sin in only one way. God is superabundantly generous in His grace.
First, through the spoken Word, by which the forgiveness of sins is preached in the whole world. This is the particular office of the Gospel.
Second, through Baptism.
Third, through the Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Fourth, through the Power of the Keys.
Also through the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren — “where two or three are gathered” and other such verses. A lot more than two or three are gathered here.
If you continue in these, you will never be without that oil that keeps you safe for eternal life, for that great Day of the Lord. If you continue in these, you have no reason to fear. You will know the truth and the truth will make you free, and no one can snatch you from the Lord’s hand. If you continue in these, our Lord paid the debt that you owed, and He wants to confirm that fact and seal you in it over and over and over again, because we daily sin much and are in much need of grace.
Come to Him now in faith, and you will see His gracious face sooner than you expect. You who cling to Him now in faith through the means of grace have no reason to fear.
“There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)
He has canceled the record of debt that stood against us by nailing it to His cross. The wrath of the Heavenly Father has been abated — propitiated, satisfied — in the blood of Jesus.
“My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin.
And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” (1 John 2:1–2)
Let us pray. Lord Jesus Christ, just as all the virgins in Your parable slumbered and slept while the bridegroom delay, so also do we in our flesh and blood fall into weakness, distraction, and the sleep of sins. Though outwardly we carry lamps as those who belong to Your Church, inwardly we are often weighed down with self-will, blindness, and delusions that draw us away from You. But You, faithful Savior, we miserable hearts call upon today. Awaken us by Your grace, fill us with the oil of true and saving faith, and let us be found by You alert and ready at Your appearing. Grant by grace that we may joyfully behold You and Your elect in Your kingdom and brightness with eternal dwelling, that we may be known to them and thus appear in the city, in heavenly Jerusalem, with the multitude of many thousands of angels and the communion of the firstborn who are recorded in heaven, unto Your praise and honor, for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one true God, now and forever. Amen.
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