Chapter 24 and 25 go together. There were no chapters and verses
written when the Word of God was written. And chapter 24,
verse 42, the Lord says, Watch therefore, for you know not what
hour your Lord doth come. Now, this is to everyone. The Lord is speaking to His disciples.
He's talking privately to His apostles, His disciples, and
probably the women and whoever. But this is to us, if we call
ourselves His disciples, if we are His disciples. Chapter 25,
verse 13, He says, Watch therefore, for you know neither the day
nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. And the Lord is
coming one of two ways for every one of us in here. He's coming
at the time of our death. If that precedes His second coming,
then He's coming for us. And so He tells us to be ready.
Watch. Go out to meet Him. The parable
we're going to look at, the cry came, the bridegroom cometh,
go out to meet Him. Christ said, come unto me. Come
unto me, all you that labor and heavy laden. I'll give you rest.
I'll give you life. Go to meet Him. And as time flies by, we
need to think about that cry more and more every day. The Bridegroom cometh. You'd
better go meet Him. You need to know Him. Watch therefore. So He's either
coming for us at the time of our death, and where will we
be? Will we be with Him or cast out? Do we have this oil? Do we have
this oil that we need in our vessels? And He's either coming
then or coming the second time for all of His people at once.
As said, this was spoken to His disciples, but this does us no
good if we don't take it personally. If you and I, every one of us
in here, beginning with me, the letters to the churches in Revelation
were to the preacher first and the people, and then he ended
up every letter by saying, he that hath ears to hear, whoever
has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches. This is one of the most solemn
passages in all of God's Word. Five women. had oil, and five
did not. Fifty-fifty. Five went in to
the marriage. Five were cast out. This is the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. More than just a parable, this
is reality. Chapter 24 was the story of a
servant, a steward, and we're all servants. We're all stewards
of the grace of God, responsible for what we've heard, what the
Lord has given us, the grace of God, the gospel of God. Verse
45 says there in chapter 24, Who is a faithful and wise servant,
whom his Lord hath made ruler over his house to give them meat
and due season? Blessed is that servant, whom
his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Whatever the Lord
has given us to do, so do. With all our might, so do, as
his servant, as his steward, as his witness. And verse 49,
though, says, if he's an evil servant, verse 48, and he says,
My Lord delayeth his coming. if he's an evil servant, if he's
not a true servant, if he or she says, well, the Lord is delaying. I have plenty of time. I have
plenty of time to get serious about religion. I have plenty
of time to worship when I get older, to go to the worship services,
to serve. I have plenty of time. I've got
other things to do right now. Verse 49, he begins to smite
his fellow servants. And we're all guilty of this. In many things we all offend.
We smite with the tongue. We hurt with our words. We hurt people with our indifference. And begin to eat and drink, giving
no thought to the coming of the Master. God is our belly, and
who in here is not guilty of these things to a degree? And
if the Lord does not turn us, we'll be cast out. Verse 50 and
51, the Lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh
not for him. He's not waiting. He's not watching.
And he'll cut him asunder. He'll cut him off. out of the
land of the living, and cut off from life, from mercy, from grace. And appoint him his portion where
he belongs, with the hypocrite." Those that were just playing
games. Those that were just acting apart. Those that were just going
through the motions of religion. And boy, our Lord said, there
will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. No repentance, no regrets,
but anger and bitterness and wrath and weeping and gnashing
of teeth. So these go together. Now he
gives this parable of the ten virgins, verse 1 of chapter 25. He says, the kingdom of heaven
will be likened unto ten virgins. that took their lamps and went
forth to meet the bridegroom. Kingdom of heaven. Our Lord came
preaching repentance, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
Repent. Turn from sin. Turn from this
untoward generation. Turn from self. Turn from this
world to God. Repentance toward God. He came
preaching the kingdom of heaven. God's kingdom. God has a kingdom. It's an unseen realm. Though
we cannot see it, it is very real. It's a realm, a kingdom
where He reigns and rules over His people right now. He really
does. He reigns and rules in their
hearts, in their minds. He's in control of them. They're
His servants. They're in His kingdom. There
are several things here mentioned, virgins and lamps and the bridegroom. It's talking about a marriage
of ten young women and all of them called virgins. They most
certainly all were, well, in this story they were, but it's
not the case with very many in here, that's for certain. We've
all been defiled by sin and by this world like Dinah of old. But nevertheless, the Lord says
His people someday will be presented to Him as chaste virgins. He's able. To present them to
Him thoughtless before the presence of His glory. Undefiled. Holy,
unblameable, unreprovable, undefiled in God's sight. He's the only
one who can do it. And they've got to have this oil. Oil. Ten young women, they're all
waiting on the bridegroom. Seem to be. They're all going
to a marriage. Seem to be. They all seem like
it. They all have lamps. They all
have lamps that are supposed to light the way. Now, this is
no fable. This is reality. Our Lord is
speaking of a true marriage, the marriage of the Lamb of the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is the bridegroom, and His people are
His bride, His church, the Lamb's wife. And they really are married
to Him. They really are waiting, awaiting
His coming, that consummation when they are united forever
to their bridegroom. And they're in love. He's in
love with them, and they're in love with Him. And they're just
waiting, and they just can't hardly wait for Him to come.
And they all say, Come quickly, Lord Jesus. Is that you? There's a marriage. And many
people, these lamps are a profession. These lamps are a profession
of faith. All ten of these young women
seemed to be waiting on the bridegroom. All ten of them said they were.
All ten of them looked like they were. All their lamps looked
similar. How many people right now are
sitting in pews of so-called churches all over the world,
saying they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, saying that they
love the Lord Jesus Christ, saying that they're waiting on His coming,
when our Lord said, it's just not so. They draw near to Me
with their lips and their hearts are far from them. Is it 50-50? In this run, see
this is very serious. What about in this run? Never
mind other people everywhere. What about us? This is to us. Do I have this oil? Many people
make a profession. Many say they're waiting. Many
have Bibles. These lamps may represent Bibles. David said, Thy word is a lamp
unto my feet, a light unto my path. Many people have Bibles. But do they have oil? Do they
have this oil? Most don't. Most don't. Do we have it? All right, verses
2 and 3, our Lord says, "...five of them were wise, and five were
foolish. They that were foolish took their
lamps, and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their
vessels with their lamps." They had vessels to go with these
lamps, and in those vessels were oil. They had these containers
or vessels wherein was contained oil. And all the while they were
waiting on the bridegroom, they kept replenishing their vessels
to make sure that they had this oil to light the way so that
they could meet their bridegroom. But the foolish didn't even have
vessels. They didn't even know they needed
oil. They didn't really care, but they had these little lamps.
Now, what is this vessel? The vessel is the heart. Out
of the heart are the issues of life, life or death. What's in
the heart will tell whether or not we're in the kingdom. What's in the heart? Our Lord
said to Nicodemus, who had a profession but no oil, he said, you must
be born again. Except a man be born of water
and of spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. You must
be born again. Life on this earth begins when? When the heart starts beating.
A little child is conceived in the womb, and that child is not
alive until that heart starts beating. And it's the same spiritually
speaking. Spiritual life does not begin
until God gives His people a new heart. Listen to Ezekiel. Let
me read it to you. Ezekiel 36, if you want to turn
there. Our Lord said in Ezekiel 36,
He said in verse 25, I will sprinkle clean water on you. And you shall
be clean. That's the blood of Christ. From
all your filthiness, from all your idols, you turn from idols
to serve the living God. I will cleanse you. A new heart
also will I give you. A new spirit will I put within
you. I'll take away the stony heart
out of your flesh. I'll give you a heart of flesh.
I'll put my spirit within you, cause you to walk in my statutes.
You'll keep my judgments. Verse 31 says, you'll remember
your own evil ways and your doings that were not good. You'll loathe
yourselves in your own sight for your iniquity and your abomination. And verse 37 says, I will be
inquired of this. They're going to ask me for it
when I put this new heart in them, when I put a heart in my
people. When I break their proud heart,
when I break it over their own sin and rejection of God, of
Christ, I'll give them a new heart broken over their sin,
a heart to cry out unto God, a heart to call, a heart to seek. I'll give them a heart to ask
for mercy. I'll give them a heart to ask
to be saved. And they'll ask, and I'll hear
them, and I'll send this water and wash their souls in the precious
blood of the Lamb. out of the heart of the issues
of life. I'll fill their hearts with love
for my Son, with desire for my Son, with life. I'll put life
in them. That's what this oil is. Oil
is life. He that hath the Son hath life.
That is a need for the Son. I've already lost somebody. That's
how serious this is. Out of the heart of the issues
of life, is there a heart affection? Is there a need for Christ? Is
there a longing for the Lord Jesus Christ? Is there a true
heart's desire to win Christ and be found in Him? Oh, that
by might know Him, Paul said. Wise virgins, it says, had oil
in their vessels and their lamps. Wise, they are made wise by God. We preach this Word of God. Our ladies teach our young people
the Word of God which is able to make us wise unto salvation. But only God can give a new heart. I pray and I pray and I hope
and I ask the Lord to speak that the wind bloweth where it listeth.
But this is a fact of the matter. Unless the Lord gives somebody
a new heart, And thus the Lord fills their heart with Christ,
with faith in Christ, with love for Christ, a heart full of repentance,
and not going in the kingdom. And I don't care what they look
like, how they act, or what they say. They don't have these vessels
full of oil. The heart is the vessel, and
this oil is life. The oil is faith without faith.
We're not going to please God. We're not going to see God. Blood,
it's the blood of Christ cut into the heart of every believer
to find his profession of faith, to find his hope of salvation,
to find her hope of heaven, and you'll find the blood of Jesus
Christ. That's what you'll find on the
doorpost and the little of their heart, in their mind, in their
heart. It's the Spirit of God. Any man
hath not the Spirit of Christ, he's none of His. And at birth, at the new birth,
our Lord anoints us with oil like the child in the field of
Ezekiel. It says, when I passed by you,
it was a time of love. And I said, live. And He said,
I spread my skirt upon you, and I washed you from all your filth,
and then I anointed you with oil. And the wise have this wisdom
from above. If any man lack wisdom, what
did James say? If any man lack this wisdom,
let him ask. Let him ask. And Christ is made
unto us what? Wisdom. Righteousness. This oil
is righteousness, sanctification, redemption. If we don't have
this, we're not in the kingdom. More than just words, this is
the oil of life. This is the water of life. This is what our Lord anoints
His people with. And so the wise were made wise
by God, thank God. He gave them vessels, told them
to keep replenishing their vessels. How do you replenish your vessel?
How do you have your heart filled? Where do you go? Go to Him who
gives the heart. You go to Him who anoints with
oil. Our Lord said, if any man asks,
he'll receive. Come unto Me, our Lord said.
Our Lord said in Isaiah 55, if any man come and buy wine and
milk without money, without price, why do you spend money for that
which is not bread? Somebody that's out there doing
anything and everything but seeking, waiting on the Lord? We're waiting
on the Lord. That's why we come here. God's
people come to hear about the Lord who's coming. And it makes
His coming nearer. It hastens His coming. And we
come to hear about it. This is proof you're waiting
on Him. But whereas these foolish virgins, they had no heart, they
had no oil, they weren't waiting on Him. They just looked like
it. They just act like it. They didn't want to appear to
be different. So they were religious. And our
Lord rebukes us and admonishes us by saying, Why are you spending
your money and your time for that which is not bread, your
labor for that which satisfies not? What will it profit a man
or a woman to gain the whole world and lose their soul? This
is what our Lord is talking about, is life, the difference between
life or death. Do we have this oil in our vessels? And He says, "...incline your
ear and come unto Me, and herein your soul will live." But the bridegroom tarried, in
verse 5. The bridegroom tarried. He tarried. He did not say when
He was coming. He never told anyone when He
was coming. No man knoweth the hour. And this is what our Lord,
in His wisdom, this is wise on His part because this proves
who's waiting. Proves who's waiting. Because
those that are waiting are always waiting. Blessed is that servant whom
the Lord finds so doing, he said. But the other one, no. What was
the difference between that good servant who was so doing and
the other one who said, well, I've got plenty of time, I'll
do other things? What was the difference? The servant who was
found so doing loved his master. By the grace of God, God put
in his heart a love for his master, and he was waiting on it. He
said, I'm going to do what I'm doing, waiting on my master. He said he's coming, and I'm
just going to wait on him. A true story of a preacher years
ago who had a young son. He's in London, England, back
in the days of coaches, horse and carriage, buggy. And he had
business to attend to in town, and he took his young son with
him. And he dropped him off at the front of a business there
in town and knew the man and said, take care of him until
I come back. And told the son, wait on me, I'll be back to get
you. And he dropped him off there and the man left and did business.
And don't you know, he forgot about that boy. Headed for home
and forgot about that boy and suddenly remembered. My parents did that with me as
a child. I fell asleep on the pew one
Sunday night and they went home. They said it was an accident.
But they did come back, so I guess it was. and found them. Nevertheless,
this man, he suddenly realized, and he went rushing back, and
he was worried about that boy, and he went rushing back, that
horse as fast as he could make it go, it carried, and he pulled
up to that business, and there he sat. There that little boy
sat. And he jumped down and hugged
his neck and said, Son, I'm so glad to see you, I'm so glad
to see you here, worried about you. He said, Well, Dad, he told
me to wait on you. And I knew He'd come for me. Oh, blessed is... What would
you do differently if you knew the Lord was going to come tonight? Well, here we are. We wouldn't
do anything different. This is how you know. Who's looking
for Him? People that aren't looking for
Him, really. Other things. Got other things to do. The bridegroom tarried. He was
coming. He didn't say when he was coming.
And they all appeared to be waiting, and the Scripture says about
many to have a form of godliness, but deny the power of it. And
the power is the gospel. The power is the Spirit of God
who gives them a heart and a desire, an intense desire for Christ. And that's how you know. But
they all slumbered and slept. And we all do, you know. We live
in this world and through many things we become weary in our
watching. We become lethargical, somewhat
complacent. We all do. We all fall asleep
when we should be watching, even believers. You know, it just
happens to a preacher and people alike. At first, it was just
like the ark, you know. Working on the ark at first,
don't you know, people were just enthused about it. Noah and his
son, and as time went by, you know, it's hard to get out of
bed in the morning to work on that ark. 120 years, until most
of the world was saying, that's a bunch of foolishness. No rain
is going to fall, it's not going to happen. No, Noah got out of
bed, and he said, Sham, Ham, Japheth, get out of bed. The rains are coming, and we've
got to be in that ark. Are you sure about this, Dad?
I'm as sure as God is. But they all slumbered and slept,
and my dad pointed this out in his message that I listened to.
He said, there's nothing wrong with sleeping. You've got to
sleep sometimes. We all sleep. He giveth His beloved sleep.
I just read that in Psalm 127, I believe it is. It says, if
the Lord doesn't build the house, they labor in vain that build
it. If He doesn't watch the city, it's vain for you to get up and
watch. For the watchman, it's vain. If the Lord's not watching
it, it's vain for you to watch. But He says, He giveth His beloved
sleep. So He says, go to sleep. Because
He is watching. And if he built it, it's not
coming down. That gave me such comfort. So
slumbering and sleeping is just this human nature, but we're
waiting on it. And we go through troubles and
trials that make us weary, and we're watching, and lethargy,
and times of day, like the disciples, they fell asleep, and our Lord
Our Lord's most crucial hour in the garden when He's sweating
blood. They fell asleep. But you know, Sammy, it says
they fell asleep for sorrow. For sorrow. He told them He's
leaving. He told them they were going
to kill Him. And they didn't understand. They didn't know
why all this was going to happen. Have you ever fallen asleep for
sorrow? Oh, have you not? Fall asleep with a burden of
sin or a burden of whatever? on your heart and mind praying,
Lord, come. Please come. Let the sun rise
and take me out. Anybody? Everybody. All of God's
people fall asleep for sorrow. And at midnight, at midnight, at the darkest hour, Verse 6,
at midnight there was a cry made. Paul keeps writing in his epistle
and other epistles, saying, the trump shall sound. Yes, he said,
it shall sound. When? At midnight. That's in the darkest time. And people, it is most certainly
the last hours of the last days. Look around you. The world is
in darkness. But we're not in darkness even
as others. Like the children of Israel in
Egypt, that cloudy pillar was a light unto them. They had light
in their dwellings. We're not sleeping as do others.
We're sleeping, we're resting in Christ, but not sleeping the
sleep of death. Some people are. Maybe in this
room right now. This is no mere parable, folks. This is the words of life. Our
Lord said, you've got to have this oil in your lamp. And He
says plainly, it's to be had. All you've got to do is ask for
it. And at midnight the cry, behold,
the bridegroom cometh. That was just what five of them
were waiting on. Oh, they berated themselves for
sleeping, but they got up and boy, they all trimmed their lamps.
Look at it. Verse 7, all the virgins arose
and trimmed their lamps. You know, every person, every
person on earth, every living human being, when they get in
danger, get sick or go to the hospital or someone else dies
that they love, they get near death or someone else dies, they
try to start trimming their lamps. Reaching for a professed profession. Reaching for some hope. Reaching
for some help. Reaching for some light. Reaching
for something to give them some hope that they're in the Kingdom.
And the foolish didn't have any oil. They'd never bothered before
now. They never bothered. And so they
didn't have any light. They said in verse 8, our lamps
have gone out. We're in darkness. We don't know where to turn. Our lamps are gone out in darkness.
No hope, no light, no help, despair. You know, death is going to be
a dark time for a lot of people. A dark time. It's not a dark time for God's
people. It's the opposite. There's that
old, silly old song that some Johnny Cash used to sing, you've
got to walk that lonesome valley. You've got to walk it all by
yourself. Oh, that's not true. That's not what Psalm 23 says.
It says, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I'll fear no evil. Why? Thou art with me. And it's not a dark valley. If
Christ is with you, he'll light the way. And when you come to
your deathbed, it's not going to be a dark experience. It's
going to be like waking up in the sunshine. Oh, it's brilliant. But for most people, they have no oil. They didn't
care until the time came. And they say to the wives, Eight,
give us of your oil. You know, many in their last
hours call for the priest. Give me some help. Call for the
preacher. I've gone to the deathbed of
many people. Call for the preacher. Call for their friends. Call
for their family. Call for Christian friends. Somebody
help me. I can't help you. Several I've
stood by their dying bed that gave no thought to God during
their lifetime. And I told them, this is not
the time to start seeking God. Verse 9, the wise said to No, we can't give you our oil.
We can't give you our oil, lest there be not enough for us. Go
where they're selling by for yourself. You know, the true seeker, the
true child of God, God has given him grace. He said, My grace
is sufficient. We don't have more grace than
we need. We have just enough, don't we?
No one. We don't have enough to give
anybody else. Can you spare any grace? You need all you can get, don't
you? And if you could, you'd give
it, but you can't. You have to keep getting it every
day. Like that widow woman, you have to keep going to the barrel
and reaching down. And you tell them, you go to the barrel. I
need grace. I can't help you. You go to the
barrel. You go where I got it. Daily grace. Just enough. Cannot,
will not part with any. Go buy for yourself. But the
fool, that fool, they said before though, oh, there's plenty of
time. I'd rather do this, I'd rather
do that. I'll play awhile, and then if I get old, then I'll
get serious. And our Lord said, it's too late. Verse 10, so when they went to
buy, now we're serious, and the bridegroom came, and they that
were ready went in with him to the marriage. We've seen some
people go in. Right before our eyes, we've
seen some brothers and sisters go in. You saw your dad go into
the marriage. You saw your sister go into the
marriage. Oh yeah, I saw my sister go into
the marriage. You saw your mother go into the marriage. Your mother,
your dad, go into the marriage. We've seen them going into the
marriage. And right before our eyes, the righteous parish, Isaiah
said, and no men take it to heart. Well, God's people do. They see
them going in. Remember the disciples, Lazarus
was asleep, or dead. And the Lord said, I'm going
to Lazarus. And they said, what's wrong?
He said, he's sleeping. They said, well, okay, we'll go with
you. And then the Lord finally said, he's dead. They said, let's
go die with him. Let's go die with him. I want to go home. They went in, and then the door
was shut. When the last one goes in, and
our Lord just said that, didn't He? That trumpet shall sound,
He'll gather together His elect on the four wheel. This is no
parable. This is the truth. to gather His people from the
four winds and the four corners of the earth, His people that
have made a covenant with Him through Christ, His people that
are waiting on Him, His people that have been given a new heart,
been given a love for Christ, that worship God in spirit, really
do rejoice in Christ Jesus and see the vanity of this world
and are seeking Him, looking for Him, waiting on Him, calling
on Him, hoping in Him, trusting in Him. Loving Him. And they all go in. And when
the last one goes in, the door is shut. Go with me. So our Lord says
in verse 11, Afterwards came the other virgins, saying, Lord,
open to us. He answered and said, Verily
I say unto you, I know you not. And maybe some will say, well,
there's my dad or there's my brother. And he'll tell you,
like remember the rich man, Father Abraham? It's me. There's my brother. There's my
sister. There's my father. There's my husband or wife. And
our Lord says, but they never say, well, there's my Lord Jesus.
There's my Christ. There's my hope. And he says, I never knew you.
You never knew me. You never cared for me, and so I don't
care for you. You never cared for my sons.
And go with me to Proverbs 1. This is probably the most solemn,
sobering, fearful passage of Scripture in all of God's Word. I don't know of another more
solemn than this. Proverbs 1, and it goes perfectly with what
our Lord just said. In verses 4, verse 23, this is good, where
we begin. Wisdom, verse 20, Wisdom crieth
without, she uttereth her voice in the streets. She crieth in
the cheap places, the gospel cries. The openings of the gate
and the city, she uttereth her word. How long, you simple one?
How long are you going to love simplicity and vanity? Scorners
delight in scorn and fools that hate my way. Turn at my reproof. I'll pour out, I'll pour you,
fill your vessels with oil of my Spirit on you. I'll make known
my words unto you. But because I have called and
you refused, I stretched out my hand and no man regarded. You said it not, my counsel,
and would not of my reproof. I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation,
when everything is destroyed, your destruction cometh as a
whirlpool, when distress and anguish come upon you, then shall
they call upon me, but I will not answer. They shall seek me
early, but they shall not find me. They hated knowledge. did not choose the fear of the
Lord. They chose other things. They would not of my counsel.
They despised my reproof. Therefore shall they eat of the
fruit of their own way and be filled with their own devices. The turning away of the simple
shall slay them. That is, the things of this world,
the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. Soap bubbles But
whoso hearkeneth unto me shall dwell safely, and shall be quiet
from fear of evil." And he says, today is the day of salvation.
Now, seek the Lord while he may be found. Let the unrighteous
man turn, and he'll abundantly pardon. And when they called,
he said, I'll answer right now.