Transcription

Connor:
You’re listening to The Bible Guys, a podcast where a couple of friends talk about the Bible in fun and practical ways.

Chris:
Hey everybody. Howdy, howdy. Howdy, howdy.

Jeff:
Howdy, howdy. I’m in a howdy, howdy mood today.

Chris:
In the movie, he says, hey, howdy, hey.

Jeff:
I have no idea.

Chris:
It’s Woody from Toy Story.

Jeff:
Oh, okay.

Chris:
Hey, howdy, hey. Good. Hey, right?

Jeff:
Yes. Howdy. Hey. Yeah.

Chris:
Hey, howdy. Hey. Okay. So, um, uh, not that, you know, well, it mattered.

Jeff:
It mattered a lot.

Chris:
I’m almost positive. I’m right. That’s Woody. And by the way, speaking of naming things, okay. Uh, we’re going to do a segment from Desiree called Bible verse or not.

Jeff:
Oh no, these are hard sometimes.

Chris:
By the way, this could be potentially, I haven’t even read these, but they could potentially be my favorite that she’s chosen because it says, let’s see if Jeff can figure out these five quotes if they’re verses from the Song of Solomon or lyrics from One Direction songs.

Jeff:
Oh, wow. Well, if you’ve never read the Song of Solomon, Song of Solomon is the PG 13 plus book in the Bible. Yes. It’s very, there’s a lot of intimacy between a husband and a wife and all that stuff. So, oh my goodness. So this is all going to be romance kind of lyrics. Yes.

Chris:
Yes. Okay. So see if you can get more than Jeff at home. Here we go. Okay. Ready? You’ve stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes. I don’t know. I know, I know.

Jeff:
Because she uses paraphrases a lot of times as opposed to translations.

Chris:
Or a translation like that’s an English standard version or something like that, right?

Jeff:
Okay.

Chris:
So you’ve stolen my heart with one glance of your eyes.

Jeff:
With one glance of your eyes. I’m going to say, One Direction.

Chris:
No! Song of Solomon! Is it really? Chapter 4, verse 9. With one glance of your eyes.

Jeff:
Look it up right now.

Chris:
Song of Solomon. You can do that quickly, right? Yes. Yep. Song of Solomon, chapter 4, verse 9. And tell me how the New Living Translation reads. Yeah. So we’ll see if it’s… because one glance of your eyes sounds so… It does.

Jeff:
It just doesn’t sound… It doesn’t sound like it’s from Song of Solomon. Song of Solomon, what? 4.9. 4.9. What does it say? Song of Songs 4. We’ll go to verse 9. It says, you have captured my heart, my treasure, my bride. You hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes.

Chris:
Oh, that’s pretty close. It’s just, it’s just condensed. Yeah. But the one glance of your eyes.

Jeff:
If it said you’d hold, you hold it hostage with one glance of your eyes. I would have known.

Chris:
No, no, you wouldn’t have. Okay. All right. Here’s the next one. I know that in the morning I’ll see the light upon the hill.

Jeff:
Gee, that sounds like Song of Solomon. Is it One Direction?

Chris:
I’m laughing because it sounds like both. What is it? I said Song of Solomon. It is One Direction.

Jeff:
I’m Ofer today.

Chris:
The story of my life. That’s their song. Apparently that’s in that song. Okay. All right. So you’re Ofer. So here’s number three.

Jeff:
You ready? Yes.

Chris:
There is no way I can explain your love.

Jeff:
Song of Solomon.

Chris:
It’s One Direction!

Jeff:
I don’t know, there’s no, I can’t, I don’t know.

Chris:
It’s from the song Better Than Words.

Jeff:
Okay.

Chris:
There’s no way I can explain your love. Okay. Okay, you’re going to redeem yourself, I’m sure of it.

Jeff:
Well, I don’t know.

Chris:
Okay, so you’re 0 for 3. Yes.

Jeff:
But, this might be, this is the worst performance in the history of the Bible, guys.

Chris:
Well, listen, to be fair, this is really hard.

Jeff:
I’m laughing. It would have been for you. You know all the One Direction songs. I’m laughing.

Chris:
No, I do not.

Jeff:
Well, you know more than I do. You just sang one.

Chris:
You don’t know the Story of My Life chorus?

Jeff:
Well, I’ve heard the tune. Okay. All right, here we go. But if you’d asked me who sang that song, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you.

Chris:
Oh, really? Yeah. Okay. Here’s the next one. You are so beautiful, my love, in every part of you.

Jeff:
I’m going to say Song of Solomon. You are correct.

Chris:
Okay. You are correct.

Jeff:
I’m glad it cut off there.

Chris:
Do you still have chapter four up? That’s verse number seven. Verse number seven. Oh, no, no. Don’t read it. Don’t read it.

Jeff:
Okay.

Chris:
Don’t read it. Okay. Okay. Here’s the last one. Let’s read it later. Okay. Okay. The last one says… We’ll finish this last one. As soon as I left, I found the one I love.

Jeff:
As soon as I left, I found the one I love? Uh, I’m going to say Song of Solomon.

Chris:
Yes, because it’s the same verse, which is why I didn’t want you to read it. It’s chapter 4, verse 7. Okay. So read verse 7.

Jeff:
You are altogether beautiful, my darling, beautiful in every way. Yeah. That’s verse 7.

Chris:
What? Oh, she might have copy pasted it and forgot to change it or something. Yeah. As soon as I left, I found the one I love. It said 4, 7. Look, see? Okay. So it’s a different one. But either way, though, it’s Song of Solomon.

Jeff:
Yeah. For those of you who think that the Bible is boring, read Song of Solomon. Yeah. It’s just maybe not with the kids.

Chris:
Right. Right. Right.

Jeff:
Yeah. The rest of that chapter. That’s why I was, I was glad we cut it off at that point that because the rest of that chapter gets a little descriptive. Yeah. Yes. So there you go. Hey, romance between a husband and a wife is a beautiful thing. It’s a gift from God. It’s a gift from God. And so that’s what that book’s all about. So, okay. So my wife is like, of course the Bible guy, the Bible guy I’m married to doesn’t know any of the Song of Solomon verses.

Chris:
So I’m not sure there’s a lot of value in a lot of pastors memorizing that, unless they’re going to use it for their wives, right? Like be clever and cute and maybe romantic, I guess.

Jeff:
Well, there’s a lot of application, a lot of foreshadowing towards Christ in the church and a lot of those things. There’s a lot of things to teach from Song of Solomon is not a throwaway thing. It’s not a significantly doctrinal book. It’s a poetic book.

Chris:
I haven’t taught a message out of Song of Solomon since I’ve been a youth pastor.

Jeff:
Oh, really? Oh, we did a whole series on Song of Solomon a couple years ago. Did you? Before you came, yeah.

Chris:
Wow, cool.

Jeff:
We kept having to put up every service on the screens. We put up this PG-13 message because it was a marriage message, right? It was all about bringing romance back into the marriage.

Chris:
Wow, good for you.

Jeff:
So you haven’t preached on it in years, but well, you would have won that one because you know all the One Direction songs, right? But I should have known this other piece. So here we go. So it’s interesting that we did that one, Song of Solomons, because we’re talking about Jesus tells a parable about 10 bridesmaids. Yeah, there you go. Weddings. And so that’s the connection. Hey, we’re going to give you a mission project to do. Would you like us, follow us on Facebook? And would you then share us on Facebook with all of your friends and family? Because we know Facebook needs Jesus. Facebook needs a little bit of the Bible, guys. So make sure you do that today. Matthew chapter 25, 1 through 13, it says, Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten bridesmaids who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The five who were foolish didn’t take enough olive oil for their lamps, but the other five were wise enough to take along extra oil. When the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight they were roused by the shout, Look, the bridegroom is coming. Come out and meet him. All the bridesmaids got up and prepared their lamps, and then the five foolish ones asked the others, please give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out. But the others replied, we don’t have enough for all of us. Go to a shop and buy some for yourselves. But while they were gone to buy oil, the bridegroom came. Then those who were ready went with him to the marriage feast, and the door was locked. Later, when the other five bridesmaids returned, they stood outside calling, Lord, Lord, open the door for us. But he called back, believe me, I don’t know you. So you too must keep watch, for you do not know the day or hour of my return.” So he’s talking about being prepared again.

Chris:
Yeah, it really is. It’s just a very extensive parable, and obviously there’s some sad news for those who aren’t prepared, huh? Yeah, sure. Yeah, for those who uh, you know, and by the way, but there’s good news for those that are, yes. And I was just going to say, by the way, he uses the, a wedding on purpose, right? So, so oftentimes, um, in the, in the new Testament and Ephesians, when he talks about, um, brides and, you know, husbands and wives, he says, this is a great mystery, right? Cause he’s really talking about Christ and the church. Right. So, so, you know, in the Bible, we are told that God created the Institute of Marriage, Institution of Marriage, to be a reflection of our relationship with our Heavenly Father.

Jeff:
Right. Right.

Chris:
And so think about that. It’s just, think about how unbelievable that is and the depth of it. And then, so Jesus uses this illustration to talk about, you know, him and his church and the ones who were there prepared and waiting, meaning they did everything they could to anticipate and receive the bridegroom. And these other ones did not. They were careless. They were foolish. And that’s supposed to indicate that people didn’t get enough, give enough attention to it. They didn’t give enough, you know, belief that, you know, it was important enough. And those are the ones who reject Christ. Those are the ones who go through the world and they, you know, they spend their lives for themselves. And at the last minute, they’re like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you know, hurry up. Let me come in, even though I didn’t have the right ingredients here. Yeah.

Jeff:
The other, theologically, the main point he’s making here is being prepared and understanding nobody else’s faith prepares you for when the bridegroom arrives, right? So it’s a personal faith, right? We’re responsible for our own spiritual condition. And how often have I heard people so many times tell me, you know, if you ask them, hey, if you died today, are you 100% sure you go to heaven? Which I ask people often. And they’ll often go, oh, well, you know, I came from a Christian family. So yes. What? Right? The fact that your mom and dad are Christians doesn’t get you into heaven. The fact that your family has always believed in Jesus doesn’t get you there. Right? So you are personally responsible for your spiritual condition to be prepared for when the Holy Spirit comes. This is when Jesus returns, when the Bridegroom comes. This is what, remember when we read in John chapter 3 and Jesus talking to Nicodemus and he said, you must be born again. He goes, what are you talking about? Right? And he couldn’t put all that together. Why don’t you get in enter my mother’s womb? Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so he, what he’s saying is, listen, it’s on you, you personally to have a personal birth, even twins are born separate. Right. Um, so he’s saying you have to have a personal birth into the kingdom. This is a very similar illustration. Uh, tomorrow we’re going to read about Jesus. He’s talking about loaned money. He talks about final judgment. He’s got all these illustrations that are coming up and they’re all the same. All of them are you are personally responsible for your spiritual condition to be ready when Jesus comes back. And so, so often I encourage people, man, don’t risk eternity on the fact that you come from a religious family, or from the fact that you’ve always kind of known about Jesus, right? The devil has always known about Jesus, right? But he doesn’t have faith in Christ. And so this is one of those illustrations where there’s a lot of people who think that they should be allowed in. Right? Half the group here thinks they should be allowed in, but they’re not. And he goes, listen, I don’t even know who you are. Right? You weren’t ready. And now I don’t know who you are.

Chris:
Hey, uh, earlier, you know how we had said it’s very appropriate and kind of cool that he uses the illustration of a wedding, you know, and a marriage, uh, this life application study Bible says it’s, this is really cool. It says this parable isn’t actually about the wedding ceremony itself. On the wedding day, the bridegroom went to the bride’s house for the ceremony. Then the bride and groom, along with the great procession, returned to the groom’s house, where a feast took place and then often lasted a full week. These ten bridesmaids were wanting to join the procession, and they had hoped to take part in the marriage feast. But when the groom didn’t come at the expected time, five of them were out of lamp oil, By the time they had purchased oil, it was too late to join the feast. When Jesus returns to take his people to heaven, we must be ready. Spiritual preparation cannot be bought or borrowed at the last minute. Our relationship with God must be our own, which is what you said. Yeah, that’s really cool. It’s just really well written.

Jeff:
And I love the way that it puts it together like that for you, because now you’re thinking big procession. Why were they sitting there with oil? What was the significance of having lamp oil? It’s because it’s supposed to be, you know how today in our world, people get married and after the reception, they get in the car and there’s cans on the back and driving around honking horns. Right. All that kind of stuff you’re throwing. Well, you’re not allowed to throw rice anymore. What do we throw now? Right. Yeah. Birdseed, birdseed or whatever. And so have that mind or that concept and just understand it was before the wedding on the way to the big feast. And they would do this where there would be the lamps. It would be a nighttime procession. It would get the attention to be like a parade. in the village everybody would celebrate and so these people were supposed to be ready and that was the idea is we are going to the party, we’re going to the celebration and they weren’t ready. They ran out of oil, they were not prepared and then they missed out and that’s what he’s highlighting. It’s not about the wedding, it’s about missing out.

Chris:
Well, can you imagine tying cans behind a car is a tradition that probably only got invented after the car was invented.

Jeff:
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you know, can you imagine? They used to tie them behind donkeys. You think so?

Chris:
No, I’m joking. But can you imagine us telling a parable about tying cans or something, and then all of a sudden, three or four thousand years later, somebody, you know, after there’s no, you know, cars anymore and everybody teleports everywhere. Remember, you know, Star Trek? Cars were a thing of the past. Then they would read that and go, what’s with the cans? What’s with that, right? Because tradition states this big procession going to the groom’s house, right? That’s something we wouldn’t necessarily understand because it’s not our tradition.

Jeff:
Have you ever seen a wedding in India or Nepal when they’re walking through the streets and everybody’s blowing the horns and they got the fireworks kind of They’re not fireworks, but they’re like handheld sparkler kind of things. I’ve seen clips of it, but I’ve not seen an actual wedding. It’s so chaotic and so crazy, but fun. Like you just get sucked into this craziness of the pageantry of all that. That’s what’s happening here. And that’s the image. And so what happened was the people who were supposed to make this party so great, were not prepared. So the bridegroom clearly wanted these bridesmaids a part of the wedding, right? Wanted them. So it’s not like, I want these five, don’t want these five. It was that all ten were invited, only some were prepared. And it’s the same thing for everybody you and I know. Everybody we know is invited, but not everybody’s prepared. And so one of our jobs is to make sure we are prepared, our family’s prepared, our friends are prepared, the people that God’s put us around are prepared for when Jesus returns. That’s a big deal. And that’s all about sharing the gospel and inviting them to have that born-again moment themselves. Invite Jesus into your life, repent of your sins, turn to Christ.

Chris:
Yeah. And, you know, it’s, you can connect anything to the gospel. You know, it doesn’t matter what kind of conversation you’re having with anybody. It doesn’t really matter if the conversation’s on, you know, God or it’s never been on God. There are ways, you literally learn ways to bring up the conversation and steer it toward God. And when you sort of learn those, I don’t want to say tactics, because it’s not,

Jeff:
Well, when you know scripture, everything, scripture covers almost all of life. So, when you really spend time in God’s word, and you really know it, the Holy Spirit has tools to bring up for the current circumstance, situation. We were talking about one time, I was looking for an opportunity to share the gospel with a young couple, and they were just talking about the baby, the baby, the baby, the baby, the baby, the baby. And the baby got sick, you know, like they do, burped up all formula or whatever. And so then, oh, my goodness. And then stuff. And then I said, you know, it’s funny. Did you know the Bible says that when we become Christians, we’re like babies to Jesus? And they were like, no, no, we didn’t know that. And I was like, it’s so funny. So I wonder if in all of our in our infancy, we wind up spitting up on Jesus all the time. They’re like, what? And so it turned into this conversation about Jesus. And it went, by the way, I’ve been wanting to ask a question. How do you become it? Literally, how do you become a Christian? What’s the question? It’s because they’re sitting here with this baby. They’re thinking, hey, we need to turn our life around. We need to get, right. But it was a baby throwing up, but knowing that the Bible says we are babes in Christ. Right. And you just turned it. Yeah. You just turn it. And it’s that way with everything, everything in life. If you know scripture, you can get back to Jesus.

Chris:
I was going to say it’s not necessarily a tactic, although there are tactics, but I was going to say sometimes what will happen is the Holy Spirit will just carry you.

Jeff:
Absolutely.

Chris:
He’ll just give you the words to say. And there have been so many times where we’re just talking with somebody and all of a sudden I just felt like God’s like, bring this up. Yeah. And you’re like, I don’t want to bring that up, you know, but, but, but it’s in God and his wisdom will just sort of guide the conversation. And the next thing you know, you’re talking about him, you’re talking about, you know, the gospel and,

Jeff:
Well, do you remember a couple days ago when we were reading and he was talking about how many of you are going to be arrested, you’re going to stand before kings and governors, don’t worry about what you’re going to say, the Holy Spirit will tell you. Right, that’s right. It’s the same thing when you’re standing in front of your friends and family. If you’re full of God’s words, the Holy Spirit has all the tools he needs to be able to get to you. to get the gospel to your friends and family. So you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to say. You just have to be willing.

Chris:
Yeah. Just a couple of weeks ago, we had this seminar. It was a mental health seminar. And right afterwards, there was about maybe, I don’t know, 400-ish people who showed up. It was really great. And then afterwards, there was a girl who said, I want to talk to you. And pastor, is it okay if we talk? And I was, okay. So we kind of went off to the side. And basically, as she was talking, I was like, I think she’s talking about becoming a Christian, right? And then right before I was ready to say it, thinking like, Oh, I’m going to, I’m going to, I’m going to find a way to just, you know, bring this home. And then sure enough, she ruined it for me. She’s like, so I was really wondering, how does a person get to heaven? I’m like,

Jeff:
You took it away from me. What must I do to be saved?

Chris:
What must I do to be saved, sir? So it was just pretty awesome. But I had the opportunity to lead her to Christ and just told her. I just said, hey, I’ll just give you my story. And what I did was I just basically told her what it was like when somebody told me first about the gospel. And when somebody told me, they said, hey, pretend I’m going to buy you a gift. I would earn it. I would go out, I would purchase it. You believe this gift is for you, but it’s not yours until you reach out and you take it.” And I just explained that whole thing to them, or to her. And sure enough, man, she prayed to receive Christ. That’s great. And that was the way to do it, is tell my story of salvation and somehow give the gospel in the midst of my story. Right, right. Yeah, which is really cool.

Jeff:
Yeah, and the reality is it’s not too difficult to learn a couple Bible verses to point them in that direction. John 3, 16, super useful to be able to say God loved the whole world so much, gave his one and only son. Everyone who believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. If you can’t memorize any other verse, that’s one. Right. Right. What you’re saying is you’re going to put your faith and trust in Jesus. because he paid the price for your sin. Paul and Peter both answered questions when people said, what must I do to be saved? They would talk about repenting of our sin, turning away from our sin, turning to God, and believing. Call on the name of the Lord and you will be saved, right? They say. Peter also adds in, you have to believe that Jesus is the Son of God and God raised him from the dead, right? So there’s a few of these little elements there that if we just understand how to explain to somebody it’s a faith thing, it’s not a works thing, and that Jesus paid the price. I love using Romans 6.23, right? The wages of sin is death, right? That’s the bad news, but this is all about good news. The good news is that wages the sins of us, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Sometimes it’s just that one verse. Sure, our sins have consequences, but that’s not what God’s all about. God’s not about the consequences. God’s about rescuing us, and Jesus paid the price. It’s just a free gift. What do you do with a free gift? You accept it. So there’s lots of times I’ve only just used one scripture combined with my story, what God did with me, and yeah, people respond. Because it’s not your words and it’s not your work. God loves them more than you do, and God’s Holy Spirit has already been doing work in their heart. And so it’s just about offering a path for them to walk down, because the Holy Spirit’s the one that’s drawing them, right? And so God’s using you to use some words, but it’s ultimately the Holy Spirit that’s drawing them to Christ. And so it’s more about the willingness than it is about the words.

Chris:
Yeah. Well, this parable with the 10 bridesmaids reminds us that we should always be alert and be ready. So whether, you know, death ends an opportunity for any of us to make a decision forever, right? So either James tells us, hey, our life is but a vapor. It’s like a mist. It’s here for one minute. It’s gone the next. We don’t know about tomorrow. Don’t ever brag about tomorrow because you’re not guaranteed tomorrow. So death is around the corner at any moment. Jesus can come at any moment. And both of those things should have us on guard just to let people know, you know, he’s coming. You know, life, life is short. He’s the answer. Be ready.

Jeff:
Yeah. Today’s the day of salvation. You don’t want to be caught on the outside looking in.

Chris:
That’s right. Right. That’s good. Well, hey, that’s our time. So hopefully we will see you tomorrow on The Bible Guys.