Matthew chapter 25, we're looking
at the first 13 verses of Matthew 25 today about what the kingdom
of heaven is likened to by the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus told
Pilate, if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants
fight. But my kingdom is not of this
world. My kingdom is not from here.
And that was in John chapter 18, around verse 36, that he
said that. And that text of scripture shows
that the Lord Jesus Christ's kingdom is not the political
kingdoms of this world. It's the kingdom of heaven. And
in the book of Daniel, it says, by the confession of King Nebuchadnezzar,
after God had compelled him to confess this, that the kingdom
of heaven rules over all the kingdoms of the world. So the
Lord Jesus Christ is king in heaven. That means he's king
over all. And so when he speaks about the
kingdom of heaven, he's speaking with authority of the king. It's
his kingdom. He's the one who is the sovereign
in the kingdom. And as I mentioned last time,
the kingdom of heaven is spoken of in scripture as the kingdom
of heaven, the kingdom of God, or simply the kingdom. And there's
four things about the kingdom of God and of heaven that are
taught to us from scripture, at least four. The first one
being, of course, that Christ is the king in this kingdom.
But the main thing about the kingdom of heaven is that it
is the sovereign rule of Christ as king in the hearts of his
people. It says in Luke chapter 17 and
verse 10, the kingdom of God is within you. And then he also
says in Matthew chapter 6, that we are taught to pray by Christ
the King, Thy will be done. That's subjection. It's a heart
subjection that is put there by the King in the hearts of
His people. The second thing we know about
the Kingdom of Heaven is that it represents a complete salvation
by the Lord Jesus Christ. when the rich young ruler came
to Jesus Christ and said to him, Master, what good thing must
I do to inherit the kingdom, to have eternal life? And Jesus
went on to say that it is harder for a rich man to enter into
the kingdom of heaven, so it's talking about entrance now into
the kingdom of heaven, than for a camel to go through the eye
of a needle. And the disciples were amazed at that statement
and they said, then who can be saved? So to enter the kingdom
of heaven has to do with salvation. So it's not only God's sovereign
rule recognized in the hearts of those in whose hearts he rules,
but it's also a complete salvation. The kingdom of God, the kingdom
of heaven is what we enter when we're saved. Jesus told Nicodemus,
unless you're born of God, you cannot see and cannot enter the
kingdom of heaven. And he further went on to say
that all those who are born of the Spirit look to Jesus Christ,
the one who in substitution was cursed by God for his people.
As Moses lifted the serpent up on the pole, all who looked to
that serpent lifted up by Moses according to the will of God.
were saved from the certainty of death by the bite of that
serpent. So everyone believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, who
was lifted up by God the Father and testified in scripture, the
law of God and the prophets, that he would be cursed for his
people as their sin atoning savior. All who trust him are also delivered
from the bite of sin and death and are given eternal life. They
will not perish. So, the Kingdom of God, secondly,
is our complete salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, the King.
Not only is it God's sovereign rule in our heart, by the indwelling
of the Spirit of Christ in us, but it is our complete salvation
by Him. We're saved. We enter the Kingdom
of God by Him. And the third aspect of the kingdom
of God is that it is made up of those who are called the congregation
or the church, the brethren, the sheep. And so that the kingdom
of heaven really is another synonym or a synonym for those who are
part of that kingdom. Jesus said to Peter and to his
disciples in Matthew 16, he said, whom do men say that I am? And
they said one thing, they said another, but he said, but whom
do you say that I am? And Peter said, thou art the
Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus said, blessed
art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood have not revealed
these things to you, but my Father, which is in heaven. And he said,
upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it, and I will give to you the keys
of the kingdom. So the church Christ would build
is called the kingdom and he gave the keys of that to the
apostles to bring the gospel into this world, to gather in
the sheep, to call out the captives from their captivity, to release
them, to give them light in their darkness and to bring them into
union by faith with the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay? So those are the three things
that we talked about last week about the Kingdom of Heaven.
It's important that we understand these things. And then the final
one is actually found in this chapter, Matthew 25 and verse
34. Look at this. He says, then shall the King,
Christ, say unto them on his right hand, those are his people,
come ye blessed of my Father. inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. So in this case, the
kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God is the culmination of
all of God's redemptive purpose realized by the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ in bringing his people into the inheritance God
gave to him as the king and their mediator. All that the father
has given to his son, he has given to his son with his people.
And now we see here the culmination of it. And this is what is talked
about in scripture as the marriage of the king's son with the bride
that he chose and gave to his son. Those are the church of
God redeemed out of every nation, tongue, kindred, and people in
all the world. Okay, that's the setting. Christ
is describing the kingdom of heaven. What is it like? Well,
it's God's sovereign rule in the hearts of his people by the
spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's their complete salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. All of them collectively make
up the people in this kingdom. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
going to give them what the Father has prepared for them before
the foundation of the world. Those are the four things. And
Christ is king over this kingdom. It's not of this world. And His
rule is sovereign, absolute, it includes, it's all comprehensive,
it includes everything in heaven and in earth. All angels, all
created things, the will of God, the purpose of God, the work
of God is accomplished by the King. And all that God the Father
has is in the hand of the King. And He gives it as it pleases
Him to whomsoever He will. This is the kingdom of God. Now,
in this text of scripture, in Matthew 25, what we see here
is the word, then. In chapter 25, verse 1, it says,
then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins.
Then refers to a time. And the time that he's speaking
about here is when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again. When the Lord Jesus Christ comes,
some will be compared to the five wise virgins and some will
be compared to the five foolish virgins. That's what he's speaking
about here. Verse 1, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened
unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet
the bridegroom. and five of them were wise and
five were foolish. The bridegroom is the son of
man. If you look at verse 13, he says, watch therefore for you know
neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh. That's the bridegroom. And we
know the son of man is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Messiah,
the mediator between God and men, the one who is both God
and man, the son of David, the son of God. So he says here that
at this time when Christ appears again, then the kingdom of heaven
will be compared or like these five virgins. Cooler. Okay, so in this sense, this
text of scripture here, this parable is what? It's a warning. and it's a comfort. Christ will
surely come again, nothing is more certain than that, and we
must be ready for his return. So the parable is a comfort to
many because it describes here something that is an immeasurable
blessing and joy to those who are given the kingdom of heaven. those who are brought in with
the bridegroom. Nothing surpasses the blessing,
the joy, and the wealth that's given to them. because they're
brought in with the bridegroom. We just sang the song, Loved
with Everlasting Love. What could surpass that? The
love of the Son of God in our nature, having taken to himself
into union with his own person, our own nature, because of his
love for us, that he might, in that nature, lay down his life
for his friends. those who were given to him of
his father as his bride and his wife. Nothing can compare to
that blessing. And so in that sense, this parable
is a great comfort, and it's a great promise of immeasurable
blessing and joy. When the gospel is preached throughout
the world in this time, and God's elect are gathered in by that,
then it's like sheep who are brought into the fold of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Good Shepherd. And like captives
who are taken from their homeland and now are scattered throughout
the world and in the captivity of foreign monarchs and foreign
countries and foreign people and foreign cultures, those same
strangers that are scattered throughout these lands by the
gospel preaching are delivered from their captivity. They are
released from that captivity, they're returned by their great
Redeemer, who gives them His victory, and they become His
spoils over His enemies and their enemies. They're brought back
to Him. so that he takes them out of the hand of their captors.
And this return of the Lord Jesus Christ in history, when he comes
again, this will be the close of history and it will be the
culmination of this in-gathering. Now the gospel goes out, now
the sheep are gathered, the captives are set free. Those who sit in
darkness, light is shined into them. But then when Christ returns,
it will be the close. It will be the finality of that
ingathering. All the sheep then will be gathered
in. Some of those who are gathered
in will already be with Christ in glory. They had died in their
bodies, their bodies sleep in the grave, but when the Lord
Jesus Christ comes, he will bring them with him. Others who are
living at the time when Christ comes again, whose bodies are
still alive, their bodies will be changed in a moment, in an
instant of time. the Lord Jesus Christ will change
them and their sinful bodies will be changed to be like his
glorious spiritual body. No more will sin have any effect
on them. Their minds won't think sin,
they won't be tempted by sin and their bodies will be so equipped
to understand all things even as they know. They will know
the Lord Jesus Christ in the intimacy that's beyond comprehension. He will fully disclose himself
to his people And that's described here by this marriage. They will
enter in. But this parable is also a great
warning because it says that the Lord Jesus Christ will come
at a time when there will be others who are not brought in
but will be left out. It says here in in verse 10,
he says, while they went to buy, these unwise, these foolish virgins,
went to buy the oil for their lambs, the bridegroom came, and
they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and
the door was shut. The rest were left out, just
like at Noah's. When the flood was poured out
on the world in Noah's day, God shut the ark. The door of the
ark was closed and those inside were safe. They were brought
up out of the judgment of that flood and preserved through it. being in the ark, just like believers
are in the Lord Jesus Christ, but the rest were outside. They
suffered the outpouring of God's judgment in their own person
without an ark, without a covering. And so we see that here. It's
a time of great comfort for the believer. It's a time of great
warning for the unbeliever. Now, I want to go through this
parable with you, beginning at verse one, so that we can see
this. The first thing I want to say here is that it's often
the case in my own experience that when I have read these parables
in scripture, and you probably have had this experience too,
when you read these parables, what happens? Sometimes, oftentimes,
we who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, we become anxious about
our own condition. We become fearful. And we wonder,
is there something about me, when I consider myself, is there
something about me that would indicate that I am not truly
the Lord's? And so we began to examine ourselves,
and we get fearful, and we wonder. We listen carefully during the
sermon to see if we can lay hold, grasp hold of some promise of
God, that we can see that our salvation also is secure, that
we are saved people, that we're not the foolish virgins. But
please understand that this parable was given to divide between the
true and the false. And notice as we go through here
what characterizes the true, the five who are called the five
wise virgins from the five foolish virgins. You will find as we
go through this that the difference was not something about them. It was about their king, about
their bridegroom. And we're going to see that here.
Notice, he says, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened
unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet
the bridegroom. So I want to go through this
with you and try to help correlate each of these things to the spiritual
meaning of it. The virgins here are 10. It doesn't mean that there's
10 people or 10 different women at the coming of Christ. It's
not a literal 10. It's a representative number.
And it doesn't mean either that there's going to be a complete
50-50. between the people who are lost and saved. The five
and five doesn't mean that there's exactly the same number of people
who are lost and the same number of people who are saved. Understand
that it's signifying the differences. It's signifying the different
types of people. It also is true here that they're
all called virgins. But yet some of them were left
outside. Some of them were shut out. And
he says to those, I never knew you at the end. When it says
in verse 12, the Lord answered, verily I say to you, I know you
not. I never knew you. So we know
that the term virgins here doesn't mean those all who are truly
the Lord's people, truly saved. It can't mean that. But what
it does mean, those who claim to be, who identify themselves
with the kingdom, they want to be identified as those who will
enter into the kingdom. There's a lot of people who think
that they are going to be accepted by God. But the question is,
what's the difference between those who are accepted and those
who are not? And that's what we want to see
here. So the virgins represent here, the 10, represent all who
have an interest in or have a claim on or a profession of being accepted
by the king. They will be accepted. They expect
to be accepted on that day when the Lord Jesus comes again. And
how many people are like that? We were at the wedding this last
Sunday, and I met with people who were professedly non-believers
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Did they think they were going
to be left out of God's blessings in heaven? Absolutely not. They
were all convinced, I'm sure, that they had, at least that
they would say that they were, they would say that they were
convinced that they had a part in heaven, that they weren't
going to be left out. Because if you ask people in general,
especially when you come to their funeral, the people who are still
living will claim then that they had an interest, that they're
even looking down on us now. It's rare to find someone who
says, like that story I heard about the men all rowing in the
boat who were prisoners and the prince comes in and he says,
I'm going to free one of you. And all of them, he asked in
turn, why are you here? He said, well, it's really not
at fault. I mean, I was put here unjustly and so on. They all,
to the man, confessed the fact that it really wasn't my fault.
And he found one rogue there who said, yeah, I deserve to
be here. And that's the one the prince took out from the rowboat,
the ship where they were rowing. Because the difference here is
not in what people think about their acceptability before God. It's not our sincerity that makes
the difference. It's not our wisdom. It's not
our prayers. It's not what we do. It's what
the king thinks. That's what's important here.
Does he know me? Remember? I knew you not. I know you not, he said in verse
12. So what's important? What's the
one issue? Does the king know me? That's the issue. All right? So the ten represent all those
who think they have a part in the Kingdom of Heaven, in God's
blessings and in His King. They have a part there. They're
ready to appear, they think, before the King. They all went
to the, when they heard the cry, they all got up, they all went,
they all thought they were ready. But when they stood there before
the king, something happened. They were exposed as not being
true. Five of them were foolish. So
here he says, five, ten virgins which took their lamps and they
went forth to meet the bridegroom. The bridegroom is the Lord Jesus
Christ. The ten are those who claim to
have a part in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the blessings of heaven.
He's the king after all. Everything God has is his. And
verse two, and five of them were wise and five were foolish. So
here we see the difference. What's the difference? Five are
wise, five are foolish. What is this wisdom? What is
the wisdom that the five wise had that the five foolish did
not have? Well, in the parable, we see
that the five wise had taken oil in their lamps. And the five
foolish had not taken any oil in their lamps. So let's read
on. They that were foolish took their
lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their
vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried,
they all slumbered and slept. Five took oil, five didn't. All
of them, while the bridegroom took a long time to come, because
Christ coming doesn't seem like it's going to happen, it's been
so long, they all slumbered and slept. So what are these lamps? What are these vessels that hold
oil? What's the oil? Here's what we see, is that amongst
the ten virgins, they all had lamps. The lamps is that thing
that's supposed to produce light. They all had a profession. They
all confessed something. One of them, or five of them,
one group of them, had oil in their profession. The other had
no oil in theirs. So the five wise had taken the
oil, and the five foolish had not. So without the oil, there was
no true light in their lamps. When the bridegroom came, they
couldn't light them. And then it says, as I mentioned,
the bridegroom tarried, and they all slumbered and slept. And
at midnight, there was a cry made. At midnight? What is midnight? That's the time when the night
transitions to the beginning of the next day, doesn't it?
The night of Earth's history is closing. The dawn of the day
of Christ's reign in heaven with his people is about to occur.
Behold, the cry is sent out. Behold, the bridegroom cometh.
Go ye out to meet him. So here we see that it's brought
to a point here in our own personal lives. Christ is coming. We have to be ready to go meet
him. That's the issue. What's at issue
is, does the bridegroom know me? And he will know us if we
have oil in our profession. We're going to get to the more
detailed meaning of that in a moment. So the bridegroom cometh. The
shout has gone out. Then, verse 7, then all those
virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to
the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But
the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough
for us and you, but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for
yourselves. This is a little difficult to
understand here. First thing that you might think
is, well, if you have oil and I'm asking you for oil, why don't
you share some of it? Are you stingy? I mean, really. This is kind of the accusation
that people would bring. Well, you guys just think you
have the truth. And you think everyone else is going to go
to hell. No. No, we honor, we reverence the
Lord Jesus Christ who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life,
and no man comes to the Father but by me. It's not like we have
an arrogance about that. Our boast is Him, not us. We actually are humbled in ourselves,
knowing the sinfulness of our own heart. So we direct men to
Christ. Is that pride, to direct them
to the Son of God and His glory, away from ourselves? Call it
pride if you want to, but He is the one to whom all glory
belongs. Is it proud of God to say that
you have to worship me only? No. He's the only one worthy
of worship. To claim that you could worship
any other God would be false. That would be wrong. So no, it's
not pride to say there is whatever Christ says is true and I believe
it. That's not pride. That's a confession of salvation,
isn't it? So we don't have to take on as
if we have to defend ourselves against arrogance. No, I'm a
poor sinner and nothing at all. And Jesus Christ is my all in
all. And that's my only hope. You
call it pride if you want to, but if he's not my savior, I
have no hope. And so that's what we confess,
and people are offended by that. So when the foolish ask the wise,
give us of your oil, they prove themselves to be utterly foolish,
didn't they? Because where does this oil come
from? Well, first of all, what is this oil? What is it that
causes our profession to be true? It's the spirit of God, isn't
it? The Spirit of God in us. And what is the Spirit of God
in us but Christ in you? The hope of glory. Remember Colossians
127? If Christ is in us, we have a
confident expectation of glory. And glory is being brought into
the kingdom of heaven with the bridegroom. So what is the proof
of that? Christ in you, the hope of glory. It's not I that live, but Christ
liveth in me. And the life that I now live,
Paul said, Galatians 2.20, how do I live it? I live by the faith. of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. So this oil, then, is the spirit
of Christ in us, Christ in you, the hope of glory, and the result
of Christ in you, the hope of glory, is that we look to Christ
as our life. I live by the faith of the Son
of God. Christ is my life, Colossians
3. When he shall appear, when Christ
who is our life shall appear, Christ our life shall appear.
Here he comes. He's coming in glory. The shout
goes out. The bridegroom cometh. What does the believer say in
response? Christ, who is my life? Do I find a value in myself?
Can I look within and see sincerity there to say, on the basis of
my sincerity, God accepts me? No. How about the basis of my
sorrow for my sin? No, it's never enough. My tears? No. Are my prayers pure enough? No. Are they earnest enough? No. Are they constant enough? No. Are they faithful enough? No. There's nothing about my
prayers I can trust. I can't trust my sincerity. I
can't trust my prayers. How about my desire? If the Lord
looks on my desires, he'll see that I truly want what's... No.
No. Because we know that Paul himself
said, Oh, wretched man that I am. He himself understood that he
was in himself, in his own person, his old sinful nature, a wretched
man. And King Solomon said in 1 Kings
8, 38, I think, he says that if any man, knowing the plague
of his own heart, looks to this temple, then hear thou in heaven
and forgive. So the believers, the way that
the light comes into the heart of a believer, what does it first
do? But convince us of the plague of our heart, of the sin of ourselves,
of our own wretchedness. So we have no cause, no basis,
no reason for hope because of what we find in ourselves. That's
the first principle of saving grace. The oil of the Spirit
of Christ in us convinces us to look away from, to abandon,
to forsake all hope in ourselves and do what? To find all beauty
in the bridegroom. You see, so the wise, the five
wise were made wise unto salvation, 2 Timothy 3.15. The scriptures are able to make
you wise unto salvation. How were they wise? They were
wise unto salvation. And what was that wisdom that
they had that made them wise to salvation? in the gospel,
the wisdom of Christ, that he knew how to do the will of God,
what God required, and he himself could fulfill it for us, and
he knew how to save sinners and bring them to himself so that
they would be holy and unblameable in his sight. That's what the
scriptures teach sinners who are made wise to salvation. You
see, it's not like we have, okay, I've achieved some level of understanding
of the scriptures. I'm wise now to salvation. Forget
it. You'll never get there. The more
I learn, the more I desire the sincere milk of the word. Don't
you find it to be so? That my salvation is Christ.
Entirely Christ. Only Christ. And all I find in
myself continuously, the older I get, the more I try to do right,
I find evil is present with me. Don't you? So that all we can
say about ourselves is that I am full of sin. And sin is all,
sin infects me in everything I think and do and say. I'm constantly
finding a cause to ask God to forgive me again for Christ's
sake. And I get so tired. Don't you? Of continually asking
for forgiveness, because I'm so foolish in myself. And yet, God has said, of Him
are you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us, what?
Wisdom. By His knowledge shall my righteous
servant justify many. It's the wisdom not of us, but
of our Savior that we rely on. Just like we rely on everything
else about Him. His prayers, His tears, His sincerity. even his faith. So the wise are
made wise unto salvation through the hearing of the gospel, which
tells them and directs them to only the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why they are the true
wise virgins. And the oil, again, is Christ
in you, the hope of glory, the spirit of Christ in us. How do
you know? Well, let me ask you this. How
can you be accepted? How can you be accepted into
heaven by the bridegroom? How can you be ready? How can
you be ready? Let's find out. Look at 1 Thessalonians
in chapter three. 1 Thessalonians in chapter three. This is just one place. We're
probably gonna have to limit ourselves in this answer. How
can you be ready? Christ is coming. He will appear,
when He appears there will be a joining to Him of His people
and there will be a cutting off or a separation from Him of those
who are not. How can you be ready like those
wise? First Thessalonians chapter 3
verse 11. Now God Himself and our Father
and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way to you. See here, the
triune God, don't you? God Our Father, our Lord Jesus
Christ, direct our way to you. Verse 12, 1 Thessalonians 3,
verse 12. And the Lord make you to increase
and abound in love one toward another and toward all men, even
as we do toward you. What is love that we have towards
others? Isn't it to desire and want for
them the thing we treasure most, isn't it? So that we're willing
to actually give of ourselves that they might have it. And
what do we treasure most as believers? To be found in Christ, to know,
to have life and to know him. Isn't that what you want for
your family, for your friends, for your brethren? You want that
most, so much so that you're willing to overlook their faults.
and to help them under the burden of their own sin that they might
see their salvation is in Christ alone. In spite of our sinfulness,
in spite of our utter weakness, look away to Him. Okay, so the
Lord direct you to this, verse 13, to the end that He may establish your hearts unblameable
in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of
our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints." So here we see there
is a coincidence with the same time as in Matthew 25, verse
1. What is this time? At the coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ. How will they be ready? How are
the five wise virgins ready? Right here it is. God would do
something. He would establish your hearts
so that you would be unblameable in holiness before Him. Now, how in the world is that
going to be true of you and me? I don't find in my own self this
level of whatever holiness is. I mean, sometimes we wonder if
we know anything about it. in our experience, in our thoughts,
in our words, our motives, how can I possibly be unblameable?
I've met many believers who have died. Not one of them seemed
to me that before they died they felt unblameable in their own
holiness. Have you? I have yet to meet
one. Does that mean that I don't know
anyone who's a believer in Christ? No, what it means is that the
unblameableness and the holiness that God establishes our hearts
in and that we're found in before God is not an unblameableness
and a holiness that's intrinsic to us as part of our own character
or our motives, thoughts, and deeds. But what is it? Again, Christ in you, the hope
of glory. It's the Lord Jesus Christ, is
it not? Isn't he the one who by his own blood perfected his
people? The one offering of himself,
he sanctified his people with his own blood, forever perfected
them by that one offering. And in Hebrews 10 verse 19, by
his blood has made a way into the holiest. for us by His blood. So it's
the blood of Christ that makes us unblameable and holy in God's
sight. And for God to establish our
hearts in this means for him to convince us and to persuade
us so that we embrace Christ in glad trust, having known the
plague of our heart and the sinfulness of our actions and our thoughts
and motives and all of our nature, and having no hope and finding
all of our salvation in Him that He is suitable for sinners and
all sufficient to save us. And what happens? Look at that. God has provided and accepted
him for me. That's what substitution is about.
That's what salvation, that's what it means to be wise and
to salvation. To see my wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption in him. God has made him these
things to me and given me to him. Look at also 1 John. The book of 1 John in chapter
2. He says in 1 John 2, he says
in verse 28, and now, 1 John 2, 28, now little children abide
in him, abide in Christ. What does it mean to abide? It
means to stay. And it's in Christ. How do you abide in him? It's
synonymous with believing him, isn't it? It's this conscious
desire that God would find me in Him, and He would not consider
either my sin or any contribution I could possibly make, but look
upon me and receive me only for what He has provided and received
from Christ. Not only because my sin is so
bad, but mostly because Christ is so glorious. Who else could
be accepted by God but Him? And so there's no cause in me.
I can't provide what God requires. Only he knew it, only he could
do it. And that's what he did. And so he says here, abide in
him. Trust in him. Come to God by
the blood of Jesus with boldness. And that's the only way you can
come, is by his blood. So he says, that when he shall
appear, there it is, that time, when he shall appear. We may
have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming. How
can you have confidence before God in judgment? The only way
we can have confidence before God in judgment is if God considers
Christ only for me. Isn't it? If he says that God
himself has justified us and he considered Christ who died
and rose. That's my justification. See,
salvation is, in our experience, is coming to the light, coming
to the knowledge and the release of all the burden that we carry
trying to produce what we could never produce, but what yet God
requires of us and we cannot fulfill, and finding the fulfillment
of all God requires in what He provided in Christ. He only accepts
him, and he accepts him for his people. Look at 1 John 3, just
over the page. In verse 4, 1 John 3, whosoever
committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the
transgression of the law. And you know that he, Christ,
was manifested to take away our sins. Why was he revealed? Why did he come into the world?
To take away our sins. Did we do it? No. And in him is no sin. In other words, all who are in
Christ, not only in him person, in his own person, he has no
sin, but all who are in him also have no sin because they're in
him. He's our righteousness. Notice
he says, verse six, whosoever abideth in him, that's someone
who believes Christ, sinneth not. Now we talked about being
ready, we talked about being established in holiness before
God, in unblameable, in holiness. Here he says that the one who
is in Christ does not sin. I don't know about you, but I
haven't met that person yet. Have you? He doesn't say he tries
not to or that he doesn't practice certain sins, but he has some
others he's constantly doing. No, it doesn't say that. I mean,
that's the interpretation commonly given to this text of scripture. He doesn't practice sin. Well,
what sin do you not practice? Lying? How about covetousness? Good grief. Get honest with God's
word. The law is meant to shut our
mouths, not to leave us with a little, well, I have something
over here. No, we do not appear before God with the defense of
what we are in ourselves in any way. We don't come defending
ourselves by what we find in ourselves or have done or avoided.
Because all who do that are trusting their own works. But the oil
of the Spirit of Christ in us teaches us this, in the wisdom
of our salvation, that salvation is by what? Grace alone. And in Romans chapter 11, verse
5 and 6, he says, and if it be by grace, then is it no more
of works. Otherwise, grace is no more grace. So it has to be all of grace
and that wisdom is given to us to know if it's all of grace
then it has to be outside of me in spite of my sin and in
Christ alone. And that person so taught of
God being in Christ does not sin. God sees no sin. They have
been given a new spirit and they do not sin. They don't sin. That's amazing, isn't it? And
why? Because of something in me? No. Christ in you, the hope
of glory. Christ for you, your justification
before God. So how can you be ready? God
has to provide this for you. He has to give it to you. He
has to give you this oil. What are you going to do? Are
you going to come to Him with your faith? No, you're going
to come to Him for faith, to see this. In other words, the
one who is the bridegroom has to give you the water of everlasting
life, doesn't he? If you knew the gift of God and
who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, you would have
asked of Him and He would have given you living water. Ask Him. Ask, seek, knock. All who ask,
receive. All who seek, find. All who knock,
it's open to them. So the foolish never asked the
bridegroom. They never looked to Christ only.
They always reserved some expectation that their lamp could be lit.
by something within themselves that God would accept them for
on the basis of their own works, their own holiness or something
like this. But the believer is taught because
of the plague of your heart and the sinfulness not only of your
actions but your nature and the glory of Christ that God sent
his son and that if he delivered up his son to death he didn't
do it in vain. He wouldn't have done it for
nothing. Therefore if it is by Christ because of Christ crucified,
then it has to be all of Him. He didn't leave you a little
part to fill up. It's all of grace. That's the
wisdom taught to us by the Spirit of God. That's the promise of
the New Covenant that God would write it on our hearts by the
Spirit of God. That's what 2 Corinthians 3 is
about. So to be ready means to be given this grace of God to
see our all in Christ. That's confidence, isn't it?
Can you have confidence any other way? No. If you do, you're a
liar and a pretender. But you can have complete confidence
in Christ when God has shown you His full accomplishments
in the gospel, can't you? If God says, having therefore,
brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
period. Stop. That's it. That's the only
access. Okay? It's the blood of Jesus. Go to God on that basis. Lord,
His blood is sufficient to make me unblameable in holiness before
you, to bring me to yourself, to cause
me to stay there, not leave, but with faith. Look at one more
text of scripture in John, the book of John in chapter 6. In
chapter 6. How can you be ready for Christ's
appearance? You have to be found in Him.
How can you be in Christ? God has to put you there. How
can you know you're in Christ? If Christ is in you, how do I
know Christ is in me? John chapter 6. Look at this. In verse 56, he says, In John 6, 56, he that eateth
my flesh and drinketh my blood dwelleth in me. He abides in
me. He's in me and he stays there,
and I in him. You see the union? And what's
the evidence of it? He eats my flesh. He drinks my
blood. What does that mean? As a poor
sinner, thirsting and hungering after the forgiveness of sins
from God on the basis of Christ's shed blood and His own righteousness,
I continually avail myself of what God has said concerning
Him. I want God to find me in Him. and to look upon me as he looks
upon his son, and on no other basis and receive me as he receives
his son. I want him to glorify himself
in that act of his own design and providing and his own pleasing
to his glory. I want it to be all Christ. Don't
you? I know that very statement in
itself is mingled with doubt and unbelief, but yet, through
the trials of life were continually brought. Notice in Matthew 25,
all of these virgins, all ten of them slumbered and slept.
They were all sleeping when the bridegroom came. What does that
mean? It means that believers can look just like unbelievers.
And sleep is that activity where you're looking as close as possible
to death. There's no movement. There's
no hearing. They're not looking. They look
like they've fallen asleep. They have. The bridegroom comes. What happens? They oiled their
lamp. Their profession was backed up
by a true gift of salvation given to them, causing them to find
their all in Christ and to lay hold on eternal life in Him. God did that. He established
their hearts in that. Now, going on in Matthew 25,
he says, verse 10, while they were, they went, oh, I'm sorry.
It says, In verse six, at midnight there was a cry, behold the bridegroom
cometh, go ye out to meet him. Then all the virgins arose and
trimmed their lamps, and the foolish said to the wise, give
us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. They really proved their foolishness
here by asking oil of these others, didn't they? You don't get oil
from another person. Who gives you grace? Who gives
you salvation? You have to go to Christ. But
the wise answer is saying, not so, lest there be not enough
for us and you. But go ye rather to them that
sell and buy for yourselves. In Isaiah 55, he tells us, you
that are hungry, you that are thirsty, come buy. And yet he
says, without money and without price. The price is too high,
you can't afford it. Don't attempt to pay for it.
You come with nothing. Take it freely. So you see here,
there's something also here, is that those who are wise, not
only were they wise given the salvation, but they were continually
coming to Christ as needy sinners, drawing salvation and life from
Him. There was this intercourse of
communion between them and Christ on the basis of his saving work
from his word. He had given himself to them
in his word, the gospel, and had received him with glad hearts,
and they were constantly drawing of his, from his word, on the
basis of his word, this salvation that's in him alone. And that
was the giving of Christ and the receiving of the believer. So there was a communion. Faith
is that way by which God connects us to him. And in that, Christ
knew them and they knew him. You see that? And that communion
is fulfilled in eternity when Christ fully discloses himself
to us and we will know then even as we are known and there's that
love that is so immeasurable and incomprehensible that will
be consummated then in the marriage supper of the Lamb and his people.
And so we see this here, that the wise now enter in. They told
them, you go buy, but these foolish didn't understand that the only
way they could buy is without money, by grace alone, and so
they never went to the bridegroom, so they were left outside. He
says the door was shut. The door being shut means that
we're enclosed with Christ alone. He doesn't have the rest of the
wicked. All of our sin is put out. All the afflictions and
trials of life are gone now. We're with him in this intimate
love of delight beyond comprehension, and everything else is shut out.
Not only that, but it's a door of separation, just like in the
flood of Noah's day. All the lost will be forever
shut out. You gotta be ready. Look to Christ.
Look to Christ. Look at what he says, verse 11.
We don't know. What God does, though, in the
hearts of His people is He brings them to this in their lives daily
and throughout their lives, the intensity of their dependence
upon the salvation God has promised in the Lord Jesus Christ increases,
that intensity increases. That's called the growing of
faith. We take it in and we need more of it, don't you? I have
to know, is it true that I can be saved by grace alone, in Christ
alone, for his sake alone? In spite of my sins, in spite
of this plague of my heart, I can believe that he has conquered
my enemy? Yes, that's the message of the
gospel. And as these five wise virgins
were made to understand that their salvation was in Christ,
so they were given this grace by him. He's the one, the king
gave them this oil. He gave them his spirit. And
they come to him at the end of time, just like they came to
him in life. What a blessing it is. So that we who are fearful
of these things, what are we to do? Lord, what do I do? Go to Christ. Go to Him. Don't
look for this value in yourself. All you're gonna find there is
a pollution and corruption and a reason for being outcast. But
when you see Him, then you'll have every confidence God can
receive me for His sake. He can, because God provided
and has accepted Him. Let's pray. Lord, we trust that
the Lord Jesus Christ is everything, all-sufficient for our salvation,
everything that we need, and we pray, Lord, that you would
give us this grace of your own Spirit, that we might be drawn
to Him and compelled to lay hold upon Him and to take life from
Him and salvation according to your promises and your words,
that as needy sinners we can ask, we can seek, we can knock,
and you've promised to give to all who ask, seek, and knock,
and we pray, Lord, that you would so give us life where we were
dead, you would give us forgiveness where we were sinful, you would
cleanse our hearts where we were filthy, and you would provide
us a beauty when we were in the rags of our own self-righteousness,
in the dunghill of our own ruin, and you would lift us up because
of the Lord Jesus Christ and His blood alone. In His name
we pray, in Him we trust. Amen.