Matthew 25, and we have the parable
of the virgins, and I read it to you. I read it to you. Our Lord said in verse 1, Then shall
the kingdom of heaven be like unto ten virgins, which took
their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And the
reason we learn, and there are three parables in this particular
chapter. But we learn the purpose of this
parable, starting back up in verse 45 up here, in chapter
24. This is the reason for this parable,
and our Lord gave it. He said, Who then is a faithful
and a wise servant, whom his Lord hath made rule over his
household, to give them their meat in due season? Blessed is
that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.
Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him brutal over all
his goods. But in it that evil servant shall
say in his heart, My Lord delayeth his coming, and shall begin to
smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken.
The Lord of that servant shall come in the day when he looketh
not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of. and shall
cut him asunder, and purport him his portion with the hypocrites,
thou shalt be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the kingdom
of heaven be like unto ten virgins, which took their lambs, and went
forth to meet the bridegroom." So we see this, that's what our
Lord's talking about. I'm going to appear one of these
days. I'm going to come. And if you're watching for my
coming, you'll get your reward. You'll
get me. And if you don't, you're going to be cut asunder and have
your portion with the hypocrites, with us weeping and gnashing
your teeth. And what our Lord in this parable of the ten virgins
does, He warns us of His second coming and to be prepared for
it. And He uses these ten virgins in this parable to teach us to
teach us how watchfulness, how we ought to be so watchful, and
how necessary heart religion is. I mean necessary heart religion
is. Religion is what God does for
a sinner. There's nothing superficial about
it. It's a supernatural act of God. It's a miracle when God saves
a man, when He changes his heart, gives him a new nature. And so
he uses this parable of the virgins here to show us how we ought
to be watchful, because he's coming. He's going to come for
us individually, he's going to come for us all at the same time.
And if you're not ready when he comes, I don't care what condition
you're in, if you're not ready when he comes, if you're not
watching for his coming, if you're not watching for him to come
to get you, You, beloved, I'm telling you, will be appointed
your portion with the hypocrites, and be cut asunder and cast asunder,
and for eternity there'll be nothing but weeping and gnashing
of teeth. And that's a horrible thing to
think about. I wouldn't want anybody, anybody to have to face
that. And there's three divisions here,
and there's one of them, we have the parable of the ten virgins
and the parable of the talents. And that parable of the talents,
our Lord teaches us that we ought to be diligent, faithful with
the goods, the gifts that God gives us. And then the third
one is when he separates the goats from the sheep. And that's
the great day of judgment and oh, how descriptive it is. Well,
let's go through this parable here and find out something about
these virgins, the ten virgins. First, our Lord puts them in
two classes, two classes. He says in verse 2, and five
of them were wise, five of them were foolish. There's ten virgins,
but five of them were wise, five of them were foolish. So he put
them into two classes. But let's talk about the wise
virgins first. Let's look at them first. Let's
look at how they entered into the marriage. And that's what
our Lord talks about, you know, that we're so one with Christ.
We're called the bride of Christ. And he's the bridegroom. And
Paul said, I espouse you to Christ as a chaste virgin. And God considers
us in Christ as His bride. And you must have on the wedding
garment. And Christ is the one who put
on that wedding garment. So let's talk about these wise
virgins and their entrance into the marriage. And then we'll
talk about the foolish. The first thing I want you to
know about these wise virgins and how they went into the marriage,
look what it says in verse 10. While the foolish went to buy,
the bridegroom came. Now watch this. And they that
were ready went in. They that were ready went in.
Now listen, when it says they that were ready went in, that
tells us that they went in just like that. Immediately. When they that were
ready went in. There was no purgatory. There
was no stopover place. There was no place for you to
go to wait. No place for you to be someplace
off here in the teeth or someplace where you wait till the Lord
calls you over. There was no soul sleep. There's
people that talk about soul sleep, that the soul just sleeps until
Christ comes and He raises everybody up. But no, no, they went in.
No soul sleep. The Scriptures tells us plainly.
Paul said, I would not have you to be eager, brethren, concerning
them which sleep. Now, when he talks about sleep,
and he's talking about when you go to sleep, when we leave this
world, he's talking about we're going to rest when you have a
good night's sleep. And that's what he says, they
that are asleep in Christ, that when Christ shall come, the dead
in Christ shall rise forth, and then those that are with him. shall become those that are with
him. He told that thief, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. And so wherever Christ is at
in the bridegroom, that's where they're going to be. There was
no inquisition. There was no time that they brought
him up there and started questioning him and asking, did you do this? Did you do another thing? Did
you live this way? Did you live that way? There
was no inquisition, no judgment. They that were ready, they went
in immediately. And secondly, not only that,
but their entrance into the kingdom and into the marriage was this. They went in, watch what it says
now again in verse 10. They that were ready went in,
and watch this, with him. They went in with him. Oh my. Let me tell you something, his
people go anywhere if they go with him. Look over here in John chapter
20. Mary wanted our Lord Jesus Christ even in His death. She wanted to be with Him even
in His death. Look in John 20 with me for a
minute. To be with Him. That's the whole
key. To be with Him. To know Him.
To be joined to Him. You see, salvation is to know
a person. Salvation is to be in a person.
Salvation is to have a person and a relationship with a person.
You know, this idea that, you know, I'm trusting in the finished
work of Christ, that's a dangerous thing. That's a dangerous thing. There are going to be a lot of
folks that say, I trust in the finished work of Christ. Listen, I'm telling you something.
A finished work never dies for us. A finished work never put
away our sin. It's a person. It was a person
who did the work. You've got to know the person
who did the work. You can still talk about trusting the work,
but if you don't trust the person who did the work, the only thing
that makes the work worth anything is the person who did it. Salvation
is to have a perfect relationship with a person. I'll tell you, beloved, his people
glad to go with him wherever he is. Look what it said here
in verse 11 of chapter 20. Mary's at the tomb. She's at
the tomb, and she stood without at the sepulcher weeping. And
as she wept, she stooped down and looked into the sepulcher,
looked into the grave. And she saw two angels, wives,
sitting there, the one at the head and the other at the feet,
where the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman,
why are you weeping? Why are you crying so? She saith
unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord. And I know
not where they have laid Him. And there's multitudes of preachers
that take away the Lord. They take away His power. They
take away His blood. They take away His righteousness.
They take away His redemption. Meaning, by thou did they take
Him away. They say that Jesus loves you. Well, if the love
of Christ is for everybody, what good will the love of Christ
do any of us? If his love is not particular, what good would
it do any of us? And here's redemption. They take
away his redemption. He said, Jesus died forever,
man, and you got to make it effectual by your repentance and your faith.
If that's so, then, beloved, what good would the blood of
Christ do anybody? So Christ, beloved, he died for
his own. They take away that power. They
take away the Lord Jesus Christ. But they said, now show me where
you lay him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself
back," now listen to it, "'and saw Jesus standing, and knew
not that it was Jesus.'" How many times have we been so
sorrowful, so concerned, and so worried, and so troubled,
and so taken up with other things that the Lord Jesus would be
right there and must not see? That's why it's so wonderful
for us to come and hear the Gospel. That's why we need to come and
meet with the Lord's people. Because what the Gospel does,
it takes our minds, and it takes our affections, and it takes
all the things that we've been burdened with for the week, and
it brings us back, and focuses us, and brings us back to our
Lord Jesus Christ, and oh how desperately we need Him. And
that's why we come to hear about Him, and what He did for us,
because we need to know Him. Over and over and over. And look
what else happens now. And our Lord said in verse 15,
Woman, why are you weeping? Why are you crying so? Whom are
you looking for? And she supposed him to be in
the garden and said unto him, Sir, if you took him away someplace,
you took him someplace, tell me where you put him. And I'll
go get him and I'll take him away. I want to be with him if I ain't
got nothing but a body to sit with. And then our Lord said
unto her, and this is one of the most blessed things that
I, in the whole Word of God, Jesus says unto her, Mary. And immediately, what did she
say? Oh, master, master, master. I tell you, wherever he's at,
the Lord's people want to be with him. And, O Beloved, it
was our Lord's, this our Lord's, was and is our Lord's will that
we should be with Him. He said, Father, John 17, 24,
I will, that thou, they whom thou hast given me, be with me,
that they may behold the glory which you gave me before the
world, that they may be with me. You reckon we'll be with
Him one of these days? Oh my, we're with Him now, we're
in Him now. And He'll come and He'll meet
us and He'll take us to be with Him. I'll tell you, look over
in Revelations, look in Ephesians 2, 7, just a moment. I want you
to see this. This is another blessed thing
about the gospel. It's our Lord's will and was
our Lord's will that we be with Him. And He'll meet us one of
these days and take us to be with Him. And how else are we
going to go unless we go with Him? How's she gonna get there without
Him? You know, back years ago, I'll
tell you all a little story. Years and years ago, when Mary
and I first made a profession, we got made a profession in a
Pentecostal meeting. Wild Pentecostalism. Tongue speaking,
you know, laying hands on people, falling out on the floor, and
all that stuff. That was wild. And so here we go, and I made
a profession and all that, and they'd always tell us, they said,
If you got one sin in your life when the Lord comes, you won't
get to go be with Him. And they said that, said that,
said that. You know, in Arginians, they really believe that. They
believe if the Lord comes and if you ain't, if you got one
sin, you don't get to go be with Him. And they kept saying that and
kept saying that. And finally, Mary asked one of them and said,
Well, what in the world did we get saved from if we can't go be
with Him? What's the reason of being saved if you can't go be
with Him? You see, that's the whole key
to it. It's not what you do or don't do, it's what He did. And
He said we should be with Him. How are we going to get there
without Him? We can't stand in God's presence without Him. We
can't have faith without Him. We can't have repentance without
Him. We can't have life without Him. We can't have sight without
Him. We can't have a new heart without
Him. We can't have righteousness without Him. We can't have justification
without Him. What have we got without Him?
And look what is going to happen here in Ephesians 2, in verse
7. What happens when we go to be with Him? I mean, they went
in with Him. It was intimate. They were with
Him. It says in verse 7 of Ephesians 2, He says that in the ages to
come, and that means, beloved, ages without ages, that in the
ages to come, When we are raised up to sit with Him in the heavenly
places as we are now, when He comes to get us, He might show
the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us through
Jesus Christ. While the ages go on and on,
we're going to continue to be learning about the goodness and
kindness and grace of God given us in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And, oh, beloved, I tell you, they went in with Him. The Scriptures
tells us that we're hidden with Him in God. The Scriptures tells
us that we were washed in His blood and covered with His righteousness. Oh, look in Revelation 7. I know
I'm having you look at a lot of things, but I like to do that.
I've done it down there in Silicon. I like folks to see. I learned
this from Brother Henry years and years ago. If you take people
and they look at it themselves in the Scripture, They, it stays
with them better and they understand it better. They can see it for
themselves and keep up with what's going on. So we're covered with
his righteousness. And look what it said here in
Revelation 7, 17, excuse me, 13. And one of the elders answers
saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes?
That's a bunch of people to know that you stand here and they've
got white robes on. Where did they come from? How
did they get here? And I said unto him, Sir, you're
the one that knows. And he said to me, These are
they which came out of great tribulation. It's through much
tribulation that we enter into the kingdom of God. Our Lord
said, In the world you shall have tribulation, but in me you
shall have peace. And these are they which came
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and
made them white as grass, and the blood of the Lamb." How does
red blood take black sinners and make them white as snow?
Therefore they are before the throne of God, now listen to
this, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He that sent
us on the throne, And they worshiped him that sent on the throne.
And listen to this, they shall hunger no more, thirst no more,
neither the sun going to be on them, or any heat. For the Lamb,
which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and
shall lead them as unto fountains of living waters, and God shall
wipe away all their tears. Christ did all that. We worship
Him, He wipes away the tears, He feeds us, He meets all of
our needs. And you know what else He did?
Why are we going to be with him? He went to prepare a place for
us. He said, I go to prepare a place for you. So don't let
your heart be troubled. I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go to prepare a place for you, you know what I'll do?
I'll come again. And I'll take you to be with
me where I am. And that's why when we get there,
beloved, I'm telling you, there'll be no one, no one, when we enter
in there with Him, whether we go individually or Christ comes
and gets us all at the same time, that when we get there to be
with Him and enter into that marriage with Him, there'll be
nobody there to argue with us or dispute our claim to be there. Huh? Oh, not an angel will be
able to say, what in the world are these folks doing here? Not
even the Father will find fault. Because you know why? We will
be with Him. Oh, we're accepted in the middle
of it. And then look what happens. It's
a joyous, joyous entrance. You know, they went in in the
sense, they that were ready went in, in verse 10, to the marriage. To the marriage. You know, when
people get married, always have a big celebration. Oh, they have,
you know, people get married and they have a, they have a,
when people get, it's a new beginning. It's a new life. It's a new beginning.
It's the starting of a new life. Two become one. And they start
this new life. It's a new beginning. And then
they have a feast. There's always lots of food at
a wedding. And then they have wine to drink.
So they can make merry, and they can have some joy in their heart.
And that's a new beginning. And that's just a joyous instance.
And that's the way it's going to be when we enter in with our
Lord Jesus Christ. We go to the marriage supper
of the Lamb. And you're talking about a new
beginning. Whoo! That's why our Lord said, we're
bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. And behold, Paul said,
I'll show you a mystery, that we're married to Christ and we
become one with Him, just like in the marriage of two become
one, in Christ we're one. We're one God, we're holy in
Him, and we're going to have a feast, and our Lord said, said
He had girded Himself and went set, and He Himself would serve
us. We'll sit down with Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob, and all the marriage supper of the Lamb.
We enter in there, and what a feast! And we'll drink wine that the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself provides. But even he turned water into
wine, and they got up, and they said, well, they always save
the worst of the last, but this, he saved the best of the last.
You know what? The wine was the best, the water,
he turned water into it. Now, oh my, but now listen to
what happens now. Back up there in verse 10 of
Matthew 25. They that were ready, the bridegroom
came, and they that were ready, and he's going to come. And they
never really went in with him to the marriage, and the door
was shut. The door was shut. That shows
us, beloved, that the entrance into the presence of God and
going in with Christ, that the entrance of the righteous in
glory, is eternal. I mean, it's eternal. The door was shut for two reasons.
to shut in the righteous and shut out the wicked, shut in
the wise and shut out the foolish. You know, in Noah, the Scriptures
tells us that when Noah went into the ark, God said there's
only one door in that ark. And He told Noah and his family,
said, come down into the ark. And the Scripture says that Noah
and his wife and their three sons and their three wives enter
into the ark. And the Scripture says that God
shut them in. Now why was they shut in? Because
that's where the righteous is at. They're in Christ. They're
shut in. Shut in to Christ. Shut in to righteousness. Shut
in to the holiness of God. Shut in. And there's nothing.
And listen. When all those folks wanted to
get in that ark, believe me, when that water started coming
up, that water got to Brandon and Brandon and Brandon never
done before, got to their ankles, got to their knees, got to their
waist. Mothers just trying to hold up
their children. Got to their chest. And the boat, the ark hadn't
started floating yet. Don't you know they was beating
on that thing? No, no, no! We have to build
this ark! Let us in! Let us in! Finally, that ark took off. So wait a minute. God loves you. Why did he shut
you out? Wait a minute. You know where
the love of God's at? It's only in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're not in Christ,
you know what it is? The wrath of God abides on those
outside of Christ. I mean, listen, God's angry with
the wicked every day. Folks don't like to hear that,
but that's the truth. People need to hear that. People need
to understand that. You know, and you look at yourself
and you think, I'm a pretty good person. Don't ever say, listen,
there's nothing. God Himself says, our Lord said,
none's good but God. None's good but God. They're
good folks, they just need Jesus. If they're good, they don't need
Christ. Our Lord said, there's none righteous, no, not one.
There's none that doeth good, no, not one. Let's get that out
of our vocabulary. There's no good person. And I'm telling you, beloved,
the only place in the world that the love of God is manifested
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only place where salvation
is at is in the Lord Jesus Christ. The only place in the world where
God will accept you is in Jesus Christ. The only place in the
world where God will hear you call on Him is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I'll tell you what, beloved,
the door is open right now. that one of these days it's going
to be shut and it'll be shut for eternity. The door shut on
my father. The door shut on my mother. The door shut on my uncle. I
lived with an uncle of mine for years and he was good to me.
Took me in when I was 10 years old. Sent me to school, bought
me new clothes, treated me like I was his own son for years.
Good to me. Died when he was 85 and I went
to visit him right before he passed. Still no interest. Me and Charlie Penning went to
see. The door shut him out. The door shut on him that day. You don't want the door to shut
on you. I'm telling you, you don't want that. Of everything
that there is in this world, what you don't want, you don't
want God to shut that door on you. You know, I hope it ain't shut
now. I hope you haven't went to the
place where you have ignored Him and resisted Him and put
Him off and said, one of these days, I intend to. I'm going
to try. I intend to get baptized. I intend to stand up and confess
Christ one of these days. I just want to make sure. Listen,
you can't be sure of yourself. The only place there's surety
at is in Christ. And our Lord, the only reason
the door's shut for two reasons, to shut in the righteous, shut
out the wicked. Our Lord has the keys of David.
And he says, he that hath the Lord gave him the keys of David,
that when he opens, no man can shut. The door's open right now.
When he opens, no man can shut. And then when he shuts, no man
can open. And he said that, tell the church
of Philadelphia this. This is the church, and he has
something good to say. And I said, tell the church in Philadelphia,
that place where Brother Lee loves at, tell them that I have
the keys of David. And I opened. And oh, bless His holy name,
it's open. He's the door. And no man can shut. But when
I shut, there's nobody can ever open that door. Huh? And all
beloved, look what it says here. The virgins that went in with
him, they were prepared. They were ready. It says again
there in verse 10. They that were ready. They were
ready. They were ready. Look what it says up here in
verse 44 of chapter 20. They that were ready. Therefore be ye also ready, for
in such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh, for in
such an hour as ye think not the Son of Man cometh." Huh? Oh my! Now they weren't ready
by nature. These virgins weren't ready by
nature. Back here in our text, look what
it says in verse 5. These virgins weren't ready by
birth. These folks that were ready and went in with Him, look
what it says in verse 5. They weren't ready by nature. It says
in verse 5, while the bridegroom, Terry, while he waited, they
all slumbered and slept. They were all slain by nature.
They all slumbered and slept. David said, let me not sleep
the dead. Keep me from the sleep of death.
That's setting dead to the flames of God. But Christ made them
ready. The Lord Jesus Christ made them
ready. He made them ready in His life.
He took that law and he obeyed it at third room and stand. And
then he bore the curse of that law for those who broke it. And
all the sins of God's elect from all time was put on him. And
when justice came and drew his sword and punished him and stabbed
him through his heart and was dripping in blood, Because He
was hung there, our sins were on Him, our guilt was on Him,
everything against us was on Him, and God smote Him in our
room instead, and He put our sin away by the sacrifice of
Himself. And He was raised again from
the dead, and because He is raised from the dead, we have our justification
in Him, in Him alone. So they weren't ready. And how
in the world did they get made ready? There's only one way in
the world you can be made ready. And that's for the Holy Ghost
to regenerate you. You must be born again. You must
be born again. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He says,
you know, that they must be born by the Spirit, by the water,
and by the Spirit. And a new birth is something,
beloved, that you cannot do for yourself. You have nothing to
do with your first birth, and you have nothing to do with your
second birth. It don't sound reasonable. It
don't sound logical, but our Lord Jesus said, except you be
born again. He don't tell you how to do it.
He says it has to be done. And He said the wind will blow
where it will. And the Holy Spirit comes and
it blows where it will. And beloved, sometimes it blows
real soft and sometimes it comes as a rushing mighty wind. But
it's got to come. And when it comes, it's got to
take that heart of stone out and put in a heart of flesh.
When it comes, it's got to take that mind that's so darkened
with sin, so darkened with self-righteousness, so darkened with self-confidence.
It's got to take that old, filthy, ungodly mind. You've got that
darkened mind, and he's got to enlighten that understanding.
And then he's got to take your affections, and he's got to turn
your affections and your desires from loving yourself to loving
him. He's got to give you a will in
the day of His power, or you will not come to Him. He said,
you ain't got the will to come, or you will not come to Me. And
He said, I'll make you willing in the day of My power. You got
to be made willing to come. You ever wonder why you don't
come? You ever wonder why you don't understand? You ever wonder
why it don't have no effect on you? It's because you're not
been regenerated yet. And only God can give you that
new birth. And I'll tell you what, when
God gives you that new birth, when God gives you that new heart,
that new understanding, when that happens, you know the first
thing you do? Is you start crying out to Him. You know what you'll
do while you're sitting up there in your seat? If God starts doing
the work in your heart, doing the work in your soul, you start
saying, Lord, I need You. I need You. Lord, I need you. I don't want
to be lost. I want to know you. I want to know you. I need you. I'm helpless. I'm hopeless. I don't have no
ability. And I'm telling you that if God's
ever started to work in your heart, you know what you'll start
doing? You'll start in your heart, start turning toward Him. You'll
start looking to Him. You'll start coming to Him. I know what I'm talking about
now. Huh? And oh, then He made them ready,
not only by regeneration and converting them by His blessed
grace, but He made them ready by giving them the righteousness
of Christ. By giving them that wedding garment. He takes the righteousness of
Christ, that snow-white garment, and covers you with that. And
that's why it says there, Broke were made white, glistening white. We have the very righteousness
of God given to us because God made Christ to be sin, who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
And oh beloved, that had to be a great and radical change made
in them to make them ready. Now you keep Matthew 25 and look
with me in John chapter 1, just a moment. John's Gospel chapter
1. John's Gospel chapter 1. We're
talking about this new birth, about Christ making you ready.
They all slumbered and slept. They were no different than the
foolish. They all slumbered and slept. Look here in John chapter
1. They had a great and radical
change made in them to make them ready. It says down here in verse
12 of John's Gospel, chapter 1, verse 12. But as many as received
him, to them gave he the power, gave them the right, gave them
the privilege to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name. Now watch this. This is how they
come to receive him and came to believe on his name. They
were born, not of blood. Now I've got a son and I've got
a daughter. They're my blood. But that has
nothing to do with getting into the kingdom of God. Nothing.
Nothing whatsoever. Now watch what else happens.
Nor the will of the flesh. My flesh wills the flesh of my
children and my grandchildren. But if not flesh, can I save
them? And the will of your flesh, you can will all you want to
to start living right and to start doing better. And to join
a church, you can will all you want to, but it's the will of
the flesh, and it will never amount to anything. Nor of the
will of man, but we're born of God. Flesh, will, and blood. Anything that you've got does
not win. Let me tell you a story here. Let me give you an illustration.
I don't want to take too long. There was this man who crossed
the Great Lakes, the Great Lakes up in Michigan and New York up
there. They have, in Wisconsin, they
got these great huge lakes. They're big, as big as oceans.
Ocean ships come in there and unload cargo and everything.
Big, big lakes, you know. Some of you have been there.
And all, when he'd go, he'd take a life preserver with him on
the boat, just in case he needed it. But one night he was on the
ship crossing that Great Lakes, and they sounded an alarm. But
he was ready. He put on his life vest, and
he was ready, but it was a false alarm. He went back to his bed,
went back to sleep, and he had a dream. And he began to dream
he was aboard a great, great big ship out on the sea. Great
big boat out on the ship. And then when he was out on this
ship, on this great sea, a great, great terrible storm began to
rise up. Oh, it got awful. And they saw
in that dream, he said, he saw some men with life preservers
on them. And they're standing on that ship and everybody was
mocking them, laughing at them. The sea was calm. The sea was
quiet. And they were standing on the
deck and they had their life preservers on. This in this dream. And they
began to laugh at him because the weather's calm, sea was smooth.
And then all of the boat wasn't rocking. Nothing. And then all
of a sudden that storm comes. And that boat began to rock back
and forth. Tanks would go from one side
to the other. And them folks sitting on that
deck, they was ready in his dream. They had on their life preservers.
Now nobody's mocking. They started saying, oh my, oh,
I wish I had one of those life preservers on. While it was calm
and she was calm, they didn't need it. And in his dream he
heard different ones make these statements. One man said, I was
going to buy one of those life preservers. I was going to one
of these guys. I had every intention to buy
me one of them. In fact, I lived right across
the street from where they were sold. But I was in a hurry. I
meant to have one. And you've heard this said many,
many times. The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Everybody intends to. Another one said, I've been across
this ocean, this sea, so many times without a life preserver.
that I'd try it one time again. He was washed overboard. He said, oh my, I thought I'd
try it one more time. He said, I've lived long and
things have been pretty good. Oh, wait a while. I'm trying
to go across another year. But he didn't make it that time.
Another run down to get his life preserver on. Pulled it on and
found out it was bad. It wasn't any good. It was no
good. Had a bad profession. That's
what people have, bad professions. When it comes time to go in with
Christ, what you got on won't be good enough. They said, how'd
you come in here without that wedding garment on? And another
put on his wife for surgery, and he was really pleased with
himself, and then he was worked overboard in the storm. His belt
was counterfeit. Probably came from China. Counterfeit. False. And he said the right
one was so expensive, the cheapest looked just as good as the best. Someone told him it would be
able to stand the test. He didn't care. It looked genuine.
It met his needs until the storm came. And I'll tell you this,
beloved, a religion that don't cost you anything ain't worth
anything. Our Lord said, except you deny yourself and come after
me and take up your cross, you're not my disciple. And one young
man, he got out into the water, and he clung to somebody else
who had a life preserver on, and he said, let me hold on to
you. You're a bell to hold us both up. But no, no, it won't do it. And then that man, after that
dream, he thought of this parable. Thought of this parable. Oh,
my. Everybody intends to. People said, I'll try just one
more time. I'll try to go across one more time. Another one, he
gets a bad one. How many bad professions have
people made? How many people went in and out of the church
because somebody's talked them into something? How many have
got a counterfeit, been handed a counterfeit? How many has went and bought
the cheapest wine and found out it wouldn't hold them up? Huh? And I tell you what, the life
preserver won't hold two, it's just for one. And that's what
I say, you must be born again. Huh? Now let's look at the exclusion
of these five foolish It says here, there again, they said,
now the door was shut. In verse 10, the door was shut.
There was a complete severance between those inside, those wise
that were inside, and the foolish that were outside. And let me
tell you, this separation, this severance was perfectly just.
Look what it says in verse 6. It was perfectly, their severance
was perfectly just. And at midnight there was a cry
made. And I'm making the cry right
now. I'm making the cry. Behold, the bridegroom's coming!
Go out and meet him! Go out and meet him. Go out and
meet him. And one night went out, and it
says, they all, in verse 7, they all, those virgins, arose and
trimmed their lamps, and they all, and they says, and the foolish
said unto the wise, give us of your oil. Said, our lamps are
gone out. You know what that oil is? That's
the Holy Spirit. That's the new birth. If you
ain't got that, you ain't got no light. And while they went
to buy, the bridegroom came. And he says, not so answered
the wise, lest there be not enough for us and for you. That borrowed
oil is all I got. You go rather than sell and buy
for yourselves. And all of a sudden, while they
were going to buy, While they were going to try to get something,
while they were going to try to go get ready, the bright room
came. And let me tell you something,
you've had all your life, you've had all your life to get ready. And if you're cut off and the
door's shut on you, it'll be a just shutting. Want it? It will be a just shutting. You've had your whole life, and
the more you sit on the gospel, the more responsible you are. Oh, my. And then look what else,
the disclusion was final, too. The disclusion was final. Afterward came unto the Burgess
there in verse 11, that they said there in verse, Lord, Lord,
open to us. And the answer said unto him,
I know you, I don't know you, I don't know you. I don't know
you. And I'll tell you something,
beloved, there's no hope beyond the grave. Look with me in Revelation
22. There's no hope beyond the grave. People seem to think that death
changes everything, that you know, this is, this is, preachers
has done this. preachers have so lied to people,
so deceived people, and they have told folks, you know, that,
oh, mom and daddy, you know, they were such good people. And
I, there's folks here who bear witness to this, that one fellow,
one of their kinfolk died here a year or so ago, and several
months, a while back, and died of cancer. And they told his
wife, the preacher told his wife, says, you know, said, you'll
get to go be with him because you took such good care of him,
and you loved him, and you stayed with him through thick and thin. That fella, you know, he never
knocked on the church house door, never read the Gospel, but I'll
tell you one thing, I believe he's all right now. I believe
he's at peace. There ain't no peace for the
wicked, God said. The only peace you're going to
have, you're going to have it in this world, or you'll sure
never have none in the world to come. And oh, look what he said here.
There's no hope beyond the grave. As the tree falls, so shall it
lay. And look what he said here in
Revelations 22 and 10. Our Lord Jesus, talking to John,
he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this
book. Now why? Because the time is at hand.
The bright gloom comes. And this is what he says. The
time is ready. He that's unjust, let him be
unjust to you. If you're unjust when Christ
comes, you'll be unjust through all eternity. You know what else
he says? And he which is filthy, let him
be filthy still. Then they will clean you up.
And he that is righteous, let him be righteous still. And he
that's holy, let him be holy still. Whichever way, when the
time is at hand, eternity finds you. That's the way you'll be
throughout eternity. And I'm not trying to scare you. I'm
just telling you the truth. I'm just telling you what this
blessed book says. I just read it to you. Now, look with me
again over here. Yeah, well. And all I'm telling you, beloved,
I've lost my notes somewhere. I've stuck them somewhere in
here. But anyway, I know this. Look back over here in Matthew
25 with me. And just look at that. I'll tell you what happened
here in Matthew 25. And that's why you've got to
be born again. That's why you must be born again. And here they come. Death comes. And our Lord Jesus Christ tells
us that wherever hell death finds us, that's the way we're going
to be. There we go, right there. Didn't bat a Scott. Stuck it
over there. And the door was shut. It was
just. It was just. The severance was just. And I
showed you there how this, beyond the grave, death won't change
your relationship with God. And let me tell you something
else back over here. And it says, the door was shut on those who
were called virgins. They were called virgins. That
means as far as the world was concerned, they had good characters. They were without reproach. They
were church members. They had lamps. And you know
what the lamps is? The Word of God. They had it. And they kept company with the
wise virgins. They kept company with the saints.
They kept company with the wise virgins. And for a while, there
was no difference between the two. There was no difference. The foolish acted in the same
way as the wise who went in with the bridegroom. It says they
went forth. It says in verse 1, they went
forth. The same way as those who went in. And they took their
lamps with them. The scriptures tells us there
in verse 3, they took their lamps with them. But watch what it
says, they took no oil. They took their lamps, but they
didn't take any oil. They didn't need that new birth. And they
went to sleep and woke up when the other ones did. They trimmed
their lamps in verse 3, just like the other ones did. Do you
know what the difference was there in verse 3? They that were
foolish took no oil with them. They had never had that supernatural
work of God done in their heart and in their soul. They didn't
have the Spirit of Christ. They'd never been regenerated,
hadn't been given a new heart. And those who were shut out knew
something about words and prayer. And they came down in verse 11,
and they said, Lord, Lord. They'd heard about Jesus. They'd
heard He was Lord. And they said, Lord, Lord, open
to us. They were earnest. They run out
to buy some oil. They were trying to get ready,
but it was too late. They had prayer. They had no
way of doubting the Lord until they tried it themselves. And
what did our Lord Jesus Christ say? I know you not. And beloved, it's necessary,
it's necessary, it's necessary to know the Lord Jesus Christ
by the power of the Holy Ghost. And that's why Job, you know
what Job said about it in Job 22, 21? He said, acquaint now
thyself with him and be at peace. Acquaint yourself with him, and
I urge you, I urge every one of you, go home and seek the Lord. Those
of you who don't know Christ, go home and seek Him. Start right
now, start seeking the Lord. Because I tell you, we all know
somebody that the bridegroom came and they weren't ready and
they just snap of a finger and the door was shut. Don't let
that happen to you. For Christ's sake, don't let
that happen to you. Don't let that happen to you. Don't go
to hell off of a church bench. Our Father, in the blessed, glorious
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, I pray that you teach us. Teach us how how to trust You and look to
You. Lord, we pray that You would put an earnest in our heart that
we would always be looking, always be prepared, be ready for Your
coming. And Lord Jesus, You made us ready. You saved us by Your Spirit,
washed us in Your blood. But Lord, there are some among
us who are not ready. And I ask You, for Christ's sake,
For the blessed Holy Spirit, go out and touch and meet and
change and regenerate. Give life. Make them
to know Christ. Make them to know our Lord Jesus.
Lord, we don't want to see anyone shut out. Oh, we don't. We don't. So God, do a work. Do the work that only you can
do. Make this gospel effectual. Make the Word effectual. Make
the Word to fall on good soil. Lord, magnify Your grace. We
ask in Your holy and blessed Name. Amen. Amen.