Leading The Way

Guest (Male): From just a short walk to the White House, right in the heart of Washington D.C., welcome to a special episode of Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Dr. Youssef recently spoke at a Leading The Way Awake rally right in the center of busy Washington D.C., where local students and business people, government workers, families of all shapes and sizes were all challenged by a message from God's word and inspired by beautiful music.

This was an exciting evening. Dr. Youssef and the Leading The Way team, along with partner churches and organizations, clearly declared and showed by their service to the community the gospel of truth. Dr. Youssef brought a challenging and inspiring message that we want to share with you because we know that you too will be encouraged by this very special Leading The Way.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Thank you. Thank you very much. So good to be in Washington D.C. What a great honor and a privilege for me to be here in our second Great Awakening campaign. We started five years ago with a burden. We wanted people to covenant with us to pray on a daily basis for God to bring a third Great Awakening. For more than 500,000 people have signed up to pray daily for the third Great Awakening in America. I'm so honored and privileged to be part of that. We are here praying that God will use this as a spark to start the Great Awakening.

I really want to get serious with you today because you hear a lot in social media, a lot of talk about the end times, that we're living in the end times. I pray so. No matter what or how it takes place, Jesus tells us in Matthew 25. This is where I go. In Matthew 25, our Lord Jesus, after giving us this very, very serious warning in chapter 24, He gives us six signs. Our Lord called them the labor pains that are going to be taking place prior to the return of Christ. Then He immediately goes on to give us a story to illustrate the difference between those who truly are awake and ready for the return of Christ and those who are not.

You see the difference between those who truly surrendered to Him and those who pretend to be Christians. The parable is so incredible to me because He tells us about ten young women, ten virgins. In this parable, the Lord Jesus gives us basically a litmus test. It's a self-administered test. This test will reveal to you where you stand on the day of judgment. Where will you be? What will you say to the Savior? Which seems to be, as I said, closer and closer every day. This test will tell you if you are prepared to meet Jesus as your Redeemer, your Savior, and your friend, or as your judge.

In the same way, our Lord Jesus Christ is saying here in Matthew 25 about these ten young women, they were supposed to be part of a wedding party. Five of them were prepared for the groom to come, and five were not. Jesus is telling us about the tragedy of those who lookalike Christians, the tragedy of those who are merely professing Christians, the tragedy of those who are confessing one thing with their lips but they're living another way with their life, the tragedy of those who confuse church membership with being awake in the faith and waiting for Jesus.

Also one of the signs that Jesus gives in Matthew 24 of the nearness of His return is called the great falling away. 60% of so-called churchgoers who claim to be Christians do not believe the absolute essence of the gospel is a tragic situation in the church of Jesus Christ in America. It breaks my heart. When I see statistics like this for those who call themselves Christians but disbelieving Jesus, I wonder if we are not really at the end of the time. We are seeing the falling away.

But be that as it may, today can be the day of your redemption. Today is the day when you can be absolutely certain that Jesus and only Jesus is your Savior and Lord. Today is the day when you can declare your preparedness to pass the test. Today I plead with you to answer the question one way or the other. What question? Am I spiritually awake and prepared for the Lord Jesus to return to be my Savior and Redeemer, or not? Am I living and serving Him, or am I faking it somehow?

Back to the parable of the ten young women in Matthew 25. Ten young women, they were all expecting to be part of the wedding. Five of the ten were wise, and five were foolish. There is a reason why they're called wise. They showed wisdom in their lives and the way they lived their life. They were waiting for the bridegroom to come to return any moment. It doesn't matter whether it's today or many years from now. They were prepared. They were ready. They had oil in their lamp.

The foolish ones, sadly, on the other hand, they were totally unprepared. They got distracted by other things in life. They were neglecting the most important thing in life. They were not prepared for the test. In the story that Jesus tells, He reveals to us that these ten women had many things in common. They had all physically went to sleep because it was nighttime. They all were asleep. It is not that some were staying awake and some were not. They were all asleep physically. Suddenly the cry comes out: "The groom is coming! The groom is coming! The groom is coming!"

The five wise young women got up, and they put the oil in their lamp. They lit the lamp and they were ready to go. The foolish ones said, "Whoops, we don't have oil. We don't have oil. We have lamps, but we don't have oil. We have religion, but not salvation. We have tradition, but not the Holy Spirit. We have church membership, but not a transformed life."

They asked the five wise ones if they can borrow their oil. "No," said the wise ones. They said, "No, we only have sufficient oil for each of us." My beloved friends, please listen to me. I need to stop here to tell you that salvation is that oil. The Holy Spirit is that oil. Salvation is such a personal experience. You cannot inherit it. You cannot buy it. You cannot earn it. You cannot give it to another. It is an individual experience of being born again.

The foolish ones thought, like so many people think, they can wait toward the end of their life and they will pray the prayer. They can wait until their dying days and then they will ask for forgiveness. They probably thought, "Well, God will feel sorry for us and let us get into His heaven." Or like so many people in our culture today, they think, "Well, if my good deeds outweigh my bad deeds, I can make it to heaven." No! There is such a thing as too late.

The Bible says when Noah invited his neighbors to come and enter into the boat of salvation for 120 years, he was a preacher of righteousness. When they finally rejected him and mocked him and he entered into the ark, the Bible says God shut the door. Somebody said to me, "How can a loving God do this?" Let me tell you about that loving God. He sent His Son, who co-eternally existed with Him in heaven, to die on a cross, a death of a sinner, in order to redeem you. He has been inviting you. He has been inviting you. Come before it is too late.

The day is coming when the opportunity for salvation will be no more. I weep over that because I never joke about hell because there are real people going there. When the opportunity comes for you to come to Christ and be eternally saved and you turn it down, it is possible you cannot come back again. When the door of mercy is shut, it will be too late. The time of salvation is now. The day of giving yourself to Christ to be the only Savior and Lord is today. The time to live for Christ is now. The time for confession and repentance is now.

These foolish ones realized, symbolically speaking, it is midnight. I repeat that because you have to understand. The reason why it was midnight for them means that the shops are closed. The churches are closed. Nobody can tell them about salvation anymore. We have gone. The believers have gone to heaven. It means that the door of salvation is shut. No more chances. It is too late.

The foolish ones tried to play on the sympathy of the bridegroom. They thought they could really play the sympathy card. In verse 13 of Matthew 25, they cried out to the bridegroom. Forgive me if I cry, because you know what the bridegroom said? "I don't know you." But we went to church every Christmas and Easter. "I don't know you." But we prayed on occasions. "I don't know you." But we did some good things. "I don't know you." But we are good people. "I don't know you."

That is why Jesus goes on to say, "Keep on watching because you do not know the day or the hour of His return." I am going to come back to this because that is a very serious matter. But first of all, I want to transport you to the Middle East where I come from. Back 2,000 years ago when our Lord Jesus Christ was telling this parable, His audience, His listeners, they already understood. They identified with what He was saying. They knew that there are three stages for a wedding.

The first stage is when the kids were young. The two sets of parents, the boy's parents and the girl's parents, would get together and they would say, "When our kids grow up, our son will marry your daughter." Agreed? Agreed. Then comes the second stage of the wedding. It is the betrothal. When the kids come of age and are ready to get married. This betrothal is much stronger than our engagement. No, it was much more serious, just like the Virgin Mary was betrothed to Joseph. It is a serious matter.

The third stage comes in, the marriage, the celebration, the feast, and the consummation of the marriage. Between the time of the betrothal and the time of the feasting and the celebration and the consummation, the bridegroom is busy. He is busy building an extension in his father's house to which he will bring his bride, and they are going to live in his father's house. That is why Jesus said in John chapter 14, "In my Father's house there are many rooms. When I go prepare a place for you, when I finish with that addition for you, I will come and take you to myself."

When it is ready, He is going to come and take us home. That house addition is being prepared for the time of the wedding and the wedding feast at the return of Christ. That is why believers in Jesus from all over the globe, from Africa, from Asia, from Latin America, from North America, from every corner of the globe, from Europe, are called the bride of Christ. The church of Christ is the bride of Christ, the universal church.

Often the quality of the addition in that father's house depends on the wealth of the father. Pray tell me who can be richer than our heavenly Father? Who can be richer than the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ? When the addition is ready, the groom will process on the main street. People will be running with him, kids, adults, everybody running, processing from the groom's house to the bride's father's house. With music and dancing and celebration along the road.

The crowd is shouting, "The groom is coming! Make way, the groom is coming! The groom is coming!" This shout increases in volume and intensity as the groom gets closer to the bride's house. Then when the groom fetches his bride and is heading back to his father's house, this parade gets bigger and the music gets louder and the dancing and the celebration.

Please do not miss this. What Jesus is telling us here in this parable, in this illustration, is that in His first coming, He invited whomsoever to come to Him and be part of His church, part of His bride. In His first coming, He betrothed all those who surrendered to Him, who accepted His invitation, who committed themselves to Him. In His first coming, He issued the invitation but only betroths those who loved Him back and those who surrender to Him with all of their heart. He betrothed only those who are willing to live with Him and wait for Him and serve Him and even die for Him if they have to.

Then there is the other group of people. The group of people who may have liked the groom. A lot of people like Jesus. Richard Dawkins, the big atheist, said, "I like Jesus. I admire Jesus." But they did not love Him with all of their heart. That group of people may admire the bridegroom but only as a teacher, as a prophet, as an example for love, but never surrender to Him as their Lord and Savior. Those who may have occasionally attended church but they have never been born again of the Spirit of God. Those who may have gone through the motions of Christianity but lived their lives for themselves.

Those are the foolish ones. Listen to me. The foolish ones are not the atheists, agnostics, pagans, or even the anti-Christian people. They were in the local churches. They were going, doing some charity work. Just like the example I gave you with a student in school. They go to the same church and they hear the same preacher. But the point of separation is between those who are prepared for the test and therefore succeed and those who are not.

In fact, in the story that Jesus tells us, He gives us seven things in common between the wise and the foolish. Both groups were invited. Both initially responded to the invitation, obviously because they were waiting. Both groups were part of the same visible church. Both groups had affection toward the bridegroom. Both groups confessed Jesus with their lips. Both believed that He is coming back. Both physically had fallen asleep at nighttime.

But as soon as the bridegroom showed up, all similarities ceased. Why? Because some were born again and others were not. In the Bible, oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit comes into your life, He causes inner changes in your life. The Holy Spirit causes inner transformation. The Holy Spirit causes you to be sold out for Christ. The Holy Spirit compels you to live for Christ, not for self.

I remember when I was converted to Christ, the whole town knew it because I was such a rebellious child of a believing family. That is why this self-administered test that Jesus gives us is simply this: Do I live my life in total expectation of that great day? No matter what you call yourself, no matter what you think yourself to be, no matter what your personal beliefs are and your personal views are, the question is, am I awake? Am I anticipating the joy of the day of the return of Christ, or am I not? That is the test.

Will you take the test? Let me ask you this. Does the thought of the return of Christ and judgment thrill you or scare you? Only you can answer that. I am not asking you if you have some religion. I am not asking if you had some religious experience. No, I am not asking you if you belong to a denomination or you have earthly membership. Jesus said, "You must be born again and be born of the Spirit of God."

Please listen to me. It is not what you do that is going to save you, but what you allow Christ to do in you is going to save you. You know the rich young ruler came and asked Jesus and said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" It is nothing you do. It is what you allow God to do in you. Is my life lived with that great day in mind? Of being accountable.

The Bible says we are going to give an account for every idle word that comes out of our mouth. That is why Jesus said, "Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of God." Not everyone. There are a lot of people who call Him Lord, especially if they need something. Because like a torch without oil is worthless, so is a professing Christian without Christ living in you. These five foolish young women professed outwardly but their lives did not substantiate their confession.

Someone may say, "But Michael, how can I be sure that I am living the life of those five wise women?" Beloved, listen carefully. First of all, by accepting the invitation to come to Him. By recognizing that only Jesus who died on the cross for you and rose from the dead can forgive you eternally. By accepting that His death on the cross is for you. By believing the fact that Jesus died your death, that He paid your debt, that He gave His life so that you might live with Him forever. By accepting the fact that He left the glories of heaven with the Father, with whom He co-existed before eternity, and came and died on that cross a sinner's death and rose again. That is your only ticket to heaven. Then live the rest of your life for Him.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining Dr. Michael Youssef as he passionately proclaims uncompromising truth on Leading The Way. This episode featured content from a recent special event that Dr. Youssef hosted. It was at the historic Constitution Hall, right in the busy capital of the nation, Washington D.C.

Awake rallies just like this one are being planned for additional cities in the coming months and years. So be sure to keep an eye out for where the next rally will be. We invite you to attend and be part of sparking the next great spiritual awakening for our nation and for our world.

As you listened today, maybe there were some spiritual questions that came to mind. We would like to invite you to speak with a Leading The Way pastor or counselor and explore those questions. You can begin your conversation today by filling out a short contact form at ltw.org/jesus.

We've been asleep for a long time. The world needs us to wake up.

Dr. Michael Youssef: Lord, we see how the world around us is getting darker and darker and bleaker and bleaker. Rise up the church of God. Wake up the church, Lord. Wake up your church.

Guest (Male): A movement is stirring. At events across the country, a remnant is crying out, cultivating hope, sowing seeds for this country's next great awakening. Come and see. Be a witness to what it looks like when this nation finally wakes up. Discover more at awakeamerica.com.

This program is brought to you by Leading The Way with Dr. Michael Youssef. Connect further with audio and video content at ltw.org.