IDEA: A crisis reveals what we are; it seldom makes us what we are.
TEXT: "Then 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. 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!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming" (Matthew 25:1-13).
PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that what they bring into a situation is what they have in that situation.
How do you know what people are? What reveals character? What reveals faith?
There is a possible implication from the story of the ten young women invited to a wedding. Five were called wise and five were foolish.
I. These women were called "wise" and "foolish." What revealed that about them?
As an observer, would you have known this before the wedding procession?
The bridegroom appeared and the distinction was immediately evident.
Did the crisis make five of them "wise" and five of them "foolish"?
The return of Jesus will reveal what we are. Many who look like true disciples will be shown not to be, and many who may not have been regarded as true disciples will be shown to be.
II. Our true condition before God is often revealed in a crisis.
You can get a preview of the final judgment by the way you respond to lesser crises now.
Andrew Fuller: "A man has only as much religion as he can command in trial."
William Taylor: "Nothing will more correctly reveal what is in a man than the coming upon him of some crushing and unlooked-for crisis."
Trials don't make us; they reveal us. If you want to know if you are a person of faith, look back to some crisis and ask yourself, "How did I respond to Christ in that crisis?