WEBVTT

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Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and from our Lord and

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Savior Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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Oliver Sacks was a British neurologist who moved to the states in

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1960, and he spent most of his life

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examining patients and writing up case studies.

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There's one case study in particular

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I remember it was of a musician and his wife.

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Oliver Sacks had visited them in their home.

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He had conducted the examination and after he was finished, the

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musician's wife had set a table of pastries and coffee so that they

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could sit around and talk. And the musician began humming a tune and

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greedily devouring the pastries and Dr.

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Sacks stood off in the back.

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And talked to the man's wife.

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In the room

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there was this wall that was filled with paintings.

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And Dr.

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Sacks said, I didn't know that your husband was interested in art.

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And she said, oh, he's not just interested in art

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he is an artist. And Dr.

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Sachs said, well, which of these paintings did he do?

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And she said all of them which was surprising because they were such a

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variety of styles. And she told Dr.

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Sachs

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she said, you know, I hung the paintings up chronologically. And so he

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looked and they are on one side

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were these very classical representational, realistic style with clean

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detailed lines

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and true to life color.

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And then, as you moved, you saw something that was more

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impressionistic with muted lines and mingled colors.

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And then at the end there was what she called abstract expressionism,

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sharp bold, black lines and a splash of color.

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She said, you know, I look at that wall and I see my husband's

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development into a brilliant artist.

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Dr.

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Sachs looked at the paintings.

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He looked at the patient.

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And he felt compassion and didn't say a thing.

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Later, when he rode up the case study, he tells you what he saw.

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That wall was not a testimony to this man's development into a

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brilliant artist.

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The wall was a testimony of the man's increasing suffering and

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distress.

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His neurological condition affected his vision, deteriorated his

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visual acuity.

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So once he could see the world clearly and represented it art, but by

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the end by the end, he was so distressed that all he could make were

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black slashes and a dot of color.

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That painting was not abstract expressionism.

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It was a painting of his distress.

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I thought about that case study, when I read this, parable of Jesus

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for this morning.

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Because this parable,

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is a picture of Jesus in distress.

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I'm not saying that Jesus had a neurological condition.

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I'm not saying that Jesus was ill and didn't know how to tell

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Parables.

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He knew exactly what he was doing.

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But what this Parable is, is a representation of how Jesus preaches

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the kingdom in a world that is in distress, because no one is

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listening.

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This is the end of Jesus ministry.

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He has been in Jerusalem talking with the religious leaders and

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authorities.

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They have been listening to him.

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Right?

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And they have been arguing with him and yet at this point, the

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conversation has broken down.

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We are told that no one asked him any more questions.

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And now that the conversation is over, Jesus takes leave of Jerusalem.

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The last time before he will enter again

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and in his passion, and as he walks away, he looks once more with

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longing and lament and says, Jerusalem, Jerusalem.

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You who have stormed the prophets and killed those who are sent to

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you.

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How often would I have longed to have gathered my children, like a hen

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gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not.

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And he gathers the few disciples

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he has, he goes up to the Mount of Olives and he watches as they will

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now, break apart one will betray him, another deny them.

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All of them.

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All of them will leave him.

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And in the middle of that distress, he tells this parable.

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And he does it for two reasons.

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He does it because he wants to catch your attention and call you to

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listen.

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Jesus catches your attention and calls you to listen.

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That's the theme of this sermon.

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Jesus catches your attention.

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How does he do that?

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Well, he does it

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by revealing to you, that there will be a day of judgment.

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This Parable may not seem that shocking to you were accustomed to it

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happening during the end of the church year in Advent.

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But if you listen to this, Parable in the larger picture of Matthew,

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it's shocking.

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Earlier in Matthew, Jesus described the reign of God

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in this way he said that his Father doesn't want any of the little

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ones to perish. And it is like a man who has a hundred sheep

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and when one of those sheep wanders away, what does he do?

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He leaves the 99 and he goes, and he searches for the sheep, that is

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wandering.

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And when he finds that sheep, he brings it in his arms, and he comes

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back and he throws a feast.

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 of great rejoicing for there is more joy in one wandering sheep

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that was found then in 99 that were never lost.

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That was the beginning of the ministry.

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Now,

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the bridegroom comes there are 10 bridesmaids 5 are wise 5 are foolish

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and the foolish ones are wandering.

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They're looking for oil because they want all oil for their lamps and

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the bridegroom comes and what does he do?

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Does he leave the five wise and go out searching for the five foolish.

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Does he find them in the dark?

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At the merchants places

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trying to buy their oil? Does he gather them together

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and lead them home and enter into the marriage feast with all of

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the Bridesmaids and celebrate, the joy of the lost having been found?

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No. What the bridegroom does is he takes the five wise into the feast

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and he shuts the door.

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And that isn't shocking enough

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earlier in his ministry, in he Sermon, on the Mount,

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Jesus tells us what life is like, in the Kingdom.

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Ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock

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and the door will be opened unto you.

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And now we have five foolish bridesmaids

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who ask

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can I have some of your oil?

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I won't have enough.

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And they don't receive.

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They're told go buy some for yourself.

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And so they go seeking.

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They go to find a merchant at this hour to get oil.

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They get that oil, they come back

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and what do they find?

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They find that the door has been closed.

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They ask and don't receive, they seek and don't find.

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And so they knock, they knock at the door

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Lord, Lord open for us.

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And what happens, the door does not open.

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It shut.

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And the voice says, truly, I never knew.

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Jesus catches our attention with this Parable because he wants us to

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know.

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There will be a day of judgment.

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And he wants you to watch for that day because on that day, there are

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no second chances.

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You don't get a do-over.

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There is a day of judgment and that is the end. Those who are wise

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unto salvation, enter into the kingdom, and those who are foolish

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they are castaway.

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And Jesus says this because the world that he is envisioning is a

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world

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that is not listening.

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And that pretty much describes our world.

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How many in America do you think are actually waiting for a day of

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judgement?

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No, we live in a world with a fool's god who always gives you a

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second chance.

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That's the god of America, Richard Niebuhr, Richard Niebuhr, once tried

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to articulate what the gospel would sound like in America. America

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the land of prosperity.  America the land of the providence of

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God, right?

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What would the gospel sound like in America?

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Well

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here's what Niebuhr said.

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Niebuhr said it'll sound like this. A

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God without wrath

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calls men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the

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ministry of Christ, without a cross.

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A god, without wrath calls men without sin into a kingdom without

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judgment by the ministry of Christ without a cross.

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And that is the god that we have in America.

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If anyone dares to talk about God, because our God has no wrath.

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Our God is always loving.

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He's always accepting.

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He's always tolerating.

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We're not waiting for a God to come on a day of judgement.

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Why?

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Because we have a God who is always waiting on us without judgment.

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He's supporting you and he's helping you and he's doing whatever you

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need.

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He's the god that will take you from rags to riches.

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He's the God

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who always give you a second chance.

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He's the God Who would never shut the door.

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And if he does shut the door well he opens a window.

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And Jesus wants you to know that that is a fool's.

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god.

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There is a God who has wrath.

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And he calls people who have sin into a kingdom where there is

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judgment.

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But,

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he does it by the ministry of Christ through a cross.

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That's how you are welcomed in.

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Jesus came into this world to know you.

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To know you better than your wife. To know, you better than your mother.

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To know you better than, you know yourself.

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He knows every deep dark and secret sin and he knows, he knows the

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punishment for that sin, because he has born it for you.

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And he has risen.

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He has risen now that you might know him to be the one who will

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always justify you.

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And so Jesus tells this Parable to catch your attention so that you

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are prepared on the day of judgment because you know, the one who

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justifies you.

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So Jesus catches our attention in this parable.

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And he calls us, he calls us to a life of listening.

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At the end of the parable, you hear the call.

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He says watch therefore for you know, neither the day, nor the hour.

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Now, how do you watch when you don't know the day or the hour?

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Well you watch by listening.

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That that man I told you about that.

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That Oliver Sacks visited that musician.

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He never did recover his neurological disorder, just got worse and it

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got so bad that he couldn't see things clearly at all.

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In fact, he is the one who was the title of the book.

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The Man Who mistook his wife for a hat.

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He couldn't see things clearly, but the reason he made it into that

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case study was because of this one odd quirk.

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Whenever he was listening to music

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he could function. If he was humming or he was singing or he was

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listening to music.

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He was able to put on his clothes.

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He was able to go and actually teach music.

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He was able to sit at a table and he eat pastries and drink coffee.

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But if there was a knock at the door that suddenly interrupted the

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music, he would sit there confounded because he didn't know where he

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was. This man lived,

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he lived by listening.

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And that's how it is for God's people. Jesus in this Parable calls you

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to live by listening and he does it in the strangest way.

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In that moment in the parable, but it is the most frightening is when

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the bridegroom speaks, right?

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And the bridegroom says, truly I say to you, I do not know you.

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That is a word of judgment that frightens us.

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But it's also a voice, a voice that we know.

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You see, if you've been a disciple following Jesus throughout the

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gospel of Matthew.

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You've heard those words, truly

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I say to you, 31 times, 31 times in 28 chapters.

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Jesus says, truly I say to you.

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This is the voice of the Lord that you recognize.

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He uses those words to unmask false religions as he looks at those who

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are pious in their

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prayers and gracious in their giving and harsh in their fasting.

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And he says, truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

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He uses it to unmask false religion and he uses it to reveal and point

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to that, which is real.

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Truly

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I say to you, never in Israel

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have I ever seen Ffaith, like, in this Centurion.

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Truly, I say to you.

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Faith has the power to move mountains.

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Truly

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I say to you, whatever sins are forgiven

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they are forgiven.

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Jesus calls us to listen to his voice here in this place.

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For he is the one who teaches you,

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guides you and how to live in this world.

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Yes, you can watch but you don't know the hour.

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But you watch because, you know, the person who is coming Jesus, who

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justifies you.

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You know, the five wise virgins, the Bridesmaids, they they almost

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made it into our Chapel windows.

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They were going to be in that window right there, right before this

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one in the transept, and they were going to be standing there holding

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their lamps that were burning as they were awaiting

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the Christ who comes in judgment, that's where they were going to be.

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I don't think they're going to be there anymore, were redesigning that

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window.

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It's still under discussion.

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And and I know that's disappointing, right, but but actually I think

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it's quite wise.

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Because God didn't call you to come here and look at wise bridesmaids

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in a window.

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No, he called you to come here and be the wise bridesmaids.

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Be the ones who listen.

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Because if you listen, you are ready for that day of judgement

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because, you know, the voice of the one who comes and on that day of

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judgment, he will stand there and justify you.

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Amen.