I'd like to add my word of thanksgiving
to Brother Fred's for the hospitality that has been shown, for the
fellowship that we have truly enjoyed in the gospel. I thank
you all for all that's been done. These conferences are not easy. I know that. The work that is
put in is work. It's not easy on a pastor. You
think, well, he doesn't have to preach. Well, let me tell
you something. He's got enough going on in his
brain to really take up all he can handle. Trying to make everything
right. Walter, thank you. Joe, thank
you. I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles and turn with
me to the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25. I'd like
to look at the first 13 verses of this passage and I will deal
with the verses as we come to them. But what is going to be
set forth by our Lord? This was a parable that our Lord
set forth, preached. Therefore, it is worthy to be
repeated. A parable is a heavenly story
with an earthly foundation, I guess you'd say. And He set forth in
this parable the way things are prior to the day of His second
coming. Secondly, He set forth the way things are at His second
coming, and then the way things shall be in the day of His judgment,
considering His church. I want us to consider, first
of all, the state of His kingdom prior to the day of His second
coming. I'm talking about right now.
The way things are right now. Verses 1 and 2 says, 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. Now, let's settle, first
of all, the kingdom of heaven. is the kingdom of heaven. It's the bride, it's the church,
it's the place where the gospel of God's free grace is being
preached. It's the gospel churches, it's
the grace churches where sovereign, saving, redeeming, electing,
regenerating grace is being preached. It's where Total depravity is
set forth, declaring exactly how men are as being born in
Adam. The unconditional election of
Almighty God, the particular redemption, limited atonement,
irresistible grace for all that Almighty God has elected in Christ
and Christ has redeemed by His precious blood and the preservation
of the persevering, of the saints. The kingdom of heaven is like
unto ten virgins. Now these ten virgins, these
are those that make a proclamation of believing the gospel. Now
I want us all to understand here, this is not talking about where
Arminianism, you know? Number one, you're not going
to find five wise virgins there. No, they're going to come out
from among them. They're going to be separate. But now, the
five wise virgin gives us a good indication. They're where they
can hear the gospel. Where they can hear the truth
of Christ. Now this kingdom, hold your place.
Just turn back a few pages. Matthew 13. Matthew chapter 13. The Lord, setting forth here,
continuing the same truth. Now, like I said, don't worry
about other places. You know, Brother Fred just said,
seek ye the Lord. Somebody will say, you know,
we all do it. You know, boy are we so and so.
No, I'm talking to us. This is us. Now, this is the
Kingdom of Heaven. Look at Matthew 13 verse 47. Again, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to a net that was cast into the sea and gathered
of every kind, which when it was full, they drew to shore,
set down, gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away. There is the kingdom of heaven
in every gospel church. This is what the Lord said. In every gospel church, there's
wheat and there's tares. There's sheep, there's goats. There's living and there's dead. And the kingdom of heaven is
like a giant net. And it's drawn, it's gathered
in, it's collected of every kind, every nature, every sort. The
good, The definition of it is the excellent, the pure, constituted
to answer the purpose for which they were created. That's what
it means. And the bad, the unfit, the worthless, the opposed. Now,
not necessarily, when you say the bad, it's not necessarily,
John Gill said this, not necessarily the outwardly evil in the sense
of just open, vile, ruthless, But those who have for a while
a show of grace. Something wrong that eventually
manifests itself. It's like those tares in wheat.
I read something this morning concerning those tares in that
parable in Matthew 13. Again, Mr. Gill made this statement.
I thought this is really amazing. He said the tares. In the Jewish understanding,
it was a plant that was called a zunin. I'd never heard of that. Z-U-N-I-N. Never heard of it,
Ron. That was a new one on me. Tares. And he said what it is, is that
zunin. It appears to be wheat and it
must be allowed to mature before any distinction can be made. It even is found because it is
so closely resembling true wheat that even if you plant it beside
wheat the roots of it will actually grow into the roots of the wheat. It's just that closely associated
with it. It said, but if it's eaten, it
causes nausea, you know? And I thought, that's amazing.
He said, but even experts, until it matures, you can't tell the
difference. It's got to be brought to fruition. That's why, you know, the workers,
In the parable, you want us to go out there and jerk up that
wheat for you? I mean, the tares for you? The Master said, no,
no, no, no, no. You leave them alone. You may
be pulling up wheat. How do you know what is the wheat
and what is the tare? Let it grow together and in the
end, in the harvest, the Lord said they'll be separated. Well, back in Matthew 25, it
said that the kingdom of heaven like the ten virgins, ten setting
forth the groups, a group, five wise, five foolish, that actually
made claim to possess a knowledge and a relationship of a spousal
to the bridegroom. They both claimed this. They both said, I'm one of his. I'm of the Lord's. They both
claim to believe the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace. Now this, again, I want to make
sure that I want to hear it. I need to hear it. Here again,
you don't have to try to convince me that man's free will religion. I grew up in that. I was raised
in that. I know what they believe. I know, you know, the Lord Jesus
Christ, they say, died for everybody. I know that ain't right. The
Lord said, I lay down my life for the sheep. And therefore,
He laid down His life for the sheep. Did He die for the goats? No, He didn't die for the goats.
He said that. Husbands, love your wife. as
Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it. That's what He
said. And so therefore, you don't have
to try to convince me that they're wrong. But here's the thing,
they both claim to believe the gospel of God's free grace. It's
not tried to. And then in 3 and 4 it says,
they that were foolish. Now there were five wise and
five 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. Now, these lamps, what were they? It was their profession of hope. It was their proclamation of
what they believed. This is the light in which I
walk. They all said, I believe Christ. This was their outward declaration
of their profession of hope in the Messiah. They both professed
faith in Christ. They both said, I believe the
truth as it's set forth in these scriptures. You ask them, what
do you believe about Ephesians 1? I believe that God Almighty,
I believe God elected a people. That's what I believe. I believe
that. That's what they said. But there
was a great difference between both groups. In the lamps of
the five wise virgins, the scripture declares that they had something
in their lamp. They had oil. They had oil. What was the oil? Well, it was
the oil of the Spirit of God. The Holy Spirit of God. The Spirit
of life. That oil was the life and love
of Christ in their soul. They had a hope of glory. Christ
was formed in them. The Spirit of God by whom the
light of Christ is revealed. They were taught of God. They
walked believe in the Lord. They knew what they were in themselves. They were led by God's Spirit. And they manifested the fruit
of God's Spirit in Galatians 5.22. The fruit of God's Spirit. Let's just look. Hold your place
right here. And just look. Right here. Galatians chapter
5 and verse 22, 23. but the fruit of the Spirit. Now if there's oil in the lamp,
Brother Scott used to say, it's going to get out on you. That's
what he'd say. It'll get out on you. Here's
what will be there. There will be love. There's going
to be love, first of all, love for God. Love for the God of
this Bible. Seek the Lord. Go back and see
what he just preached on. Seek the Lord. Capital L, capital
O, capital R, capital D. One that is a possessor of the
Spirit of God. God has taught him. The Spirit
of God has taught that man, that woman this. There is an electing
God in heaven. There's a redeeming God. There's
a regenerating God. And it's one God. Seek Him. Seek Him while He may be found.
Here's love. Love to God. And love for God's
people. They love the Gospel of God's
free grace. And they love those that believe
the same thing. Joy. Joy. joy in that covenant of God's
grace. Oh, why would the Lord choose
to set His affection upon me? Here's what Scripture says. Did
he look down from heaven and see that Marvin Stoniker would
choose him? Well, I tell you what, he looked down from heaven.
He looked, and this is what he saw. There's none good. No, not
one. And there's joy in the covenant
God, in the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, all that He's ever chosen.
Peace. Peace has been wrought for me
before God by the blood of Christ. Long suffering. Long suffering. In His chastisement, I realize
this. It's because He loved me. Because I need a good whipping. That's what I need. Lord, you've
done that which is right. I deserve more than you gave
me. Longsuffering and goodness. Goodness toward others. Faith
in Christ. Meekness. Meekness. Let me tell you something. The
best illustration that I can give of meekness. Abraham and
Lot. They had a squabble. It was over grass, is what it
was. You know, their shepherds, respective shepherds. And they
got into a squabble, the shepherds did, over some pasture land,
you know. And Abraham came, he said, he
said, we're brethren. We're brethren. Look, you take
whatever you want. You take what you want. And here's
the meekness. I'll take whatever's left. Submission. Meekness is submission. It's
not weakness. It's submission to God's good
pleasure. He ruleth in the army of heaven
among the inhabitants there. He worketh all things after His
counsel of His own will. And Abraham said, Lot, you take
what you want. I'll take what's left. Meekness. That's a spirit where the Spirit
of God is found. It evidences temperance. Soberness of heart. Sincerity
concerning myself. Paul said, I am what I am by
the grace of God. I'm just a sinner saved by grace. Soberness concerning God. David
said, our God's in the heavens. He does as He will. There were
some wise ones, they had some oil in their lamps. Back in Matthew
25, it says the foolish, verse 3, took their lamps and they
took no oil with them. They had no oil. Now listen,
because I'm getting ready to give you an illustration here
from my personal life. They had a lamp of profession
that they believed the gospel. But the scripture said they had
no oil in their lamps. Now they are in a true church.
It is the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven. Let me
tell you what they had. They had their five points of
Calvinism down. They had five points of Calvinism,
but they had no oil. of life in Christ. I would like
them to be thorny ground hearers. They endured for a while, but
after a while, and let me just say something right here. There's
four kinds of hearers. There's four kinds of hearers
that the Lord set forth. And one that's lost, that dies
in trespasses and sins was all three of them, really. It don't
take long for me to forget. A believer has all four of them
in him. Because he's still got an old
man. The Lord has given him life, good ground. So whenever we start
looking at somebody else, I tell you what, I think he is. I think
that's a stony ground here right there. Well, I'm going to tell
you something. Every believer is a stony ground here in his
old man. Every believer is a wayside hearer. Let me tell you how quickly I
see that. Just ask me what I preached last
Sunday. I'm going to tell you like Maurice
Montgomery told me one time. I asked him, I said, what did
you preach this morning? This is his answer. He said,
well, it was out of the Bible. He liked me. I forget so quickly. Somebody say, you know, how could
you do that? I could do that. Listen, the
cares of this world. Ron, you leave me to me, and
I'm telling you, David, I'll just But for the grace of God, if
I was not kept by the power of God through faith, I would leave,
I would forget it, the cares of this world, I would spring
up quickly, leave me to myself, there is no root system to me,
I would wither. Paul said concerning that, oh
wretched man that I am. foolish virgins. They're sitting
in a gospel church and they're hearing the gospel and you ask
them what they believe. Let me give you the illustration
here. They have no oil in their lamps. If I told you this last
time I was here, forgive me and just listen to it again because
I like it. It's the best illustration I've got. My daughter, Becca,
when she was 18 years old, now she's a grown woman, got kids
and all this kind of stuff. She was 18 years old at this
time. And she came up to me and she said, Dad, I'm going to ask
you to baptize me. I want to confess the Lord in
baptism. And I said, OK, why? I want to hear it. You tell me
why. She said, I grew up, I grew up
hearing you preach the gospel. And she said, I understood everything
you said. And she said, I heard you give
illustrations. And she said, I've heard what
you don't believe. And I've heard Arminianism being
preached. And she said, I can tell by looking
at the Scriptures that you tell me to turn to. I can look in
Ephesians 1. I can look in 2 Thessalonians
2. She said, I can see where God elected a people. And she
said, I understood all. She said, I can give a good argument.
She said, I can argue with an Arminian and I can prove from
the Bible that Arminianism is wrong. And she said, I understand
it. And she said, I believe it. I
believe what you're saying is so because I can see it in this
Bible right here. But she said, I didn't have a
heart for it. I understand it. I told her, I said, Becca, That's
the best illustration I've ever heard in my life. I told her,
I said, I understand communism. I understand it. I can give you
a good argument for communism. I understand it. And I don't
believe it. I don't have a heart for it.
I just don't have a heart for it. I don't want to be a communist. I understand what... We had five
wise and five foolish. And they both sat under the same
gospel. One of them had a heart for it.
And the other didn't. There was no oil there. I mean,
they talked a good fight. They talked a good game. They could understand each other.
But five of them didn't care. They just didn't care. The Spirit
of God says in this passage in while the bridegroom, verse 5,
tarried. They all slumbered and slept. Now I want you to notice what's
being said here now. We're still sitting in a grace
church. And there's five wise and five foolish virgins. And
what they did, they did something that just really appeared again
to be so similar. The wise, and I'm going to tell
you what what's happening right here. These five wise, they all
did something. They all did something. And what
the wise did, they were the ones, the ones sensible to their need
of Christ. They were wise to trust Him by
faith, for mercy and righteousness and pardon and justification
before God. Wise to cast themselves upon Him for mercy. But here's
what they did. They slumbered. Now, in Song
of Solomon, I'll read this for you. Song of Solomon 5 and verse
2, it uses a word here that says sleep. Verse 2, 5-2, I sleep,
but my heart waketh. It's the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undefiled. My head is filled with dew, my
locks with the drops of night. Let me tell you what she was
doing. And there's not a believer in this room today that doesn't
do the same thing. She dozed. She became drowsy. You ever tried to stay awake
when you're so sleepy? You're thinking, I wish he'd
hurry up with this message. I'm getting so tired, I just
can't hardly. You know, man, I hope he didn't see me. Here's what she was doing. She
was nodding, and she'll admit, in the frailty of my flesh, battling
with that old man, regenerated, enlightened by God's grace, alive
to her need of Him, and still, she's sitting there, warring
within herself, always reminded of the danger of that slumbering
disposition. It's not that she was insensitive
to Christ. She's sensitive to Him. She's wise in possessing the
oil that's in Him. But being found tempted. Tempted. Tempted with the cares
of this world. How many times have you said,
since I started preaching, and me too. We just all say this. Man, I'll be sitting here, Joe,
preaching something in my mind all of a sudden. I'm catching
myself. Good thing I've got a set of notes. I'll catch myself thinking,
where did that come from? What am I doing? Man, I know
better than that. The cares, the trades, the pleasure,
the wrangling over trivial nothing. Slumbering. Slumbering while
the glory of God. I wish I could truly enter in,
Fred, what you just preached. I mean, I wish I could grasp
hold of that and just enjoy the fullness of it. Is it not like that with you?
I mean, it's really, really, you know, slumbering. But the foolish was doing something
very, very similar. to what the wise were doing.
The wise were slumbering. And they'll admit. And the foolish
will say the same thing. But they're sleeping. It's a
sleep of death. Total blindness. Now, obviously
not in their own estimation of themselves, but they're foolish
nonetheless. Why? Because there's no oil there. There's nothing to enliven them,
invigorate them to the truth of the Gospel. It's not there.
It's just not there. They know it. They know it. But there's no joy and love and
peace and faith. And they'll act in a certain
way. But the Scripture declares that
some are slumbering and some are asleep. Now let me give you
another illustration. If I'm asleep, and Glenda walks
in and she says, Marvin, I mean, I'm going to wake up. She'll
wake me up. If she touches me, I'll wake up. But I went into
surgery one time, and they put a needle in my arm, and they
told me, said, now just a few minutes, I'm going to go ahead
and give you something. And they said, oh, we'll put
you out. And I'm telling you, buddy, the next thing I remember,
I woke up. And when they put that anesthesia
in me, they say that they just bring you down to about as close
as you can get to dying without dying. And I'm telling you, until
they either give you something else or shut it off, I don't
know what they do, but until then, you ain't waking up. I
mean, you come over and shake me all you want to. I ain't waking
up. Not until it's time. I don't
want to know what they're going to do to me. I don't want to
feel it. I don't want to feel nothing.
I want to be out. Liken that to somebody that's
sleeping naturally and somebody that's, you know, dead in trespasses
and sins. One of them, you wake up. There's
nothing there to wake up. There's no oil there. They will
sleep totally dead in trespasses and sins. Now that's the way
things are right now. Now secondly, let's consider
the state of Christ's kingdom at His second coming. Now remember,
this is a grace church. Scripture declares in verse 6,
and at midnight. when you thought not. When's
the Son of Man gonna come home, come back? In a day that you
think not. Had somebody say, you think the
Lord's coming back today? I said, no, I don't think so.
Well, then it's gonna probably be a day just like today. I just
don't think so. Here's what I think. We're gonna
have these, and then we're gonna eat some lunch, and I'm gonna
pack up, I'm gonna go back, Fred's gonna pack, y'all gonna go home,
That's what I think is going to happen. But it's going to
be a day just like today. Scripture says at midnight there
was a cry made, behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. Like a thief in the night, behold
the trump of God shall sound And the dead are going to hear
it. The dead in the grave are going to hear it. The dead in
Christ are going to hear it. Everybody is going to hear it.
Everybody is going to hear that call of justice. It's over. It's over. What's
going to be going on at this time? Well, businesses are going
to be running and motels are going to be having people. We're
going to be over there and the world is going to be engrossed
in the cares of itself Churches are still going to be filled
with tares and wheat. There's going to be a true worship. And there's still going to be
that, you know, a false understanding. And the Scripture declares, Behold,
the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him. And everybody
will. We're all going to stand before
God. And the Scripture says in verse
7, Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. got
their lamps together, their professions together. Everything, this is
where I'm walking. This is my life. This is what
I believe. This is what I have right now.
Right up until now, everything appears to be the same. Everything's
the same. I believe what you believe. But
there's no life there. And who knows that there's no
life there? One person. God knows it. God
knows it. You say, well don't you think
The ones that don't have it knows it. No, the heart is desperately
wicked. Above all things, deceitful.
Deceitful. There's no deception like a dead
heart. A dead heart. Well, my dead heart
nature will lie to me and say, you're okay. You sat under this preacher. You went to this church. You
had scriptures. You could see in the scriptures.
They all got up and trimmed their lamps. Not just took the wick
and knocked it off and you know, get that black junk off, you
know, so we get a good burn. That trimmed their lamps. It
is to put their lamps in order, to arrange it. I like this one.
Garnish and polish it. and make it ready. You know,
just get that thing, get your rag and cover up. Get it all
shiny. And the wise arose out of their
slumbering, sleepy frame. Now, and just, y'all let's just
be honest. Now we're all just like this.
None of us grasp what we would desire to grasp. Man, I've heard
Some of the best preaching I've ever heard in my life here right
now. And I'm telling you, I'm thinking to myself, how quickly
I've forgotten 98% of what was said. Lord help me, I'm so sorry. But
all of a sudden, the wives, they wake up, now they're vividly
awake. And they're ready. They're ready to meet the bridegroom. That's what it says in just a
second. They all rose and trimmed and polished up their lamps.
And the foolish did the same thing. Still dead in trespasses
and sin. But now they are awakened to
the seriousness of the hour. Now they know that they're going
to meet God. That's what they know. They know
they're going to meet God. And they're trying to make their
lamp look as presentable, wouldn't you? I would, I would. I'd want
to do the, listen, if I knew, you know, I mean, if I was going
to meet the president, I'd think, you know what, Glenda, is my
tie straight, my gig line straight? Y'all in the military, you know,
is the shirt, is everything in line here? My tie tack, right
there. I don't have any. I'm going to
get squared away, you know what I'm saying? And that's what they're
all doing. They want it to appear that their
lamp is genuine and it's real. But there's a shocking realization
all of a sudden with the foolish. Something now has just grasped
hold of them that they didn't realize before. Verse 8, And
the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our
lamps are gone out. Now, this is an amazing passage
of scripture to me. All of a sudden, they realize
they don't have any oil. It doesn't say they realized
the true need of it, but they'd heard it. That's just like telling
somebody that is an unregenerate. Faith in Christ is our only hope. They hear the Word. I understand
the Word you're saying. I just don't know what you mean.
I don't understand what you're talking about. Oil. Okay, I hear
all of a sudden, I hear now that you guys over here, you've got
oil in your lamp. And I realize now, it says our
lamps are gone out. No, they never had any oil. Look
at verse 3. The foolish took their lamps
and they took no oil. They didn't have any oil. But
it's gone out now in their understanding of it. I realize now something's
wrong here. Something's wrong. Give us of
your oil. They knew that there was something
they lacked. But still, until the Spirit of
God opens a man or woman's heart to their true need of Christ,
you can hear all the words you want, but it doesn't mean anything. It's like a dog. You're talking
to a dog. Spot, I want you to get outside
and I don't want you to get in that flower bed ever again. Don't
ever do it again. Now how much do you think he
really understood what you said? He didn't understand. That's
the carnal heart. I mean, they realize something. I don't have something. And the
something I don't have is oil. I don't have life. I don't have...
They didn't realize what... So what do they do? They go to
the wise. They go to the wise and they
said, you know, We want you to give us your oil. They still
didn't know the one to whom they should seek. They didn't know
to go to Christ. They still didn't know that.
This is the carnal man. This is the flesh. The flesh
is always going to go to the flesh. Give us what you've got. Can you imagine somebody coming
up and saying, give me life in Christ. Walter, give me life
in Christ. Well, give me faith. Give me
faith. You know what you're going to
say? You're going to say the same thing that these guys said. I can't do that. How am I going to do? You're talking to the wrong person. They realized their lamp had
gone out. And they go to the flesh. They
go to the arm of the flesh in verse 8. They said to the wise,
Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise,
verse 9, answered saying, Not so, lest there be not enough
for us and you. But go you rather to them that
sell and buy for yourselves. It wasn't that they were maliciously
being insensitive. They just spoke in the realization
of this truth. I can't give you oil. I can't give you what I can't
give you. I don't have it. The wise possessed
that which was given them from God. God gave them life. God gave them spirit. A gift
that could neither be taken away removed the gifts of God without
repentance. There is no giving it away. No,
this is not enough for us. What a revelation this is. What did
they say to the foolish? They said the same thing that
the Spirit of God had taught them. You go to them that sell
and buy. Isaiah 55. Buy with that money, with that
price. How are you going to put a price
on that? You that are broke, go buy what
you can't put a price on. Buy only from Him. Go where God
Almighty alone can give. Lastly, in the day of God's judgment,
this is what's going to happen. Verse 10, And while they went
to buy, the bridegroom came, and they
that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the
door was shut. Now let me just kind of wrap this up and give
you a quick understanding. From verse 6, see where it says,
And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom,
through verse 10. Now we just kind of went over
those verses just a few minutes ago, just kind of lightly expounded
on them to kind of give us an understanding. But let me tell
you the time frame for that right now in reality. In the twinkling
of an eye. Before you can even, not even
a real blink, just kind of a quiver. Before you knew it. Before they
could even, I walked out the house one day, And it'd been
snowing, it's cold out there where I live. And man, I stepped
on the ice. I hit the ground before I knew
I was falling. I really did. I didn't even know I was falling.
All of a sudden, I was on the ground. Not even, I couldn't
even think as fast as I hit the ground. It'd be faster than that. They are going to realize the
trump of God is going to sound. There is going to be a vivid
realization of something. They still don't know. They still
don't know. They still don't have any oil.
But they are going to realize now something is wrong because
they asked for something. They realized my light is not
burning. And I think the horror of realizing
that. And the scripture says, and while
they went to buy, It's too late. It's too late. There's still no heart to come
to Him. They went somewhere. Where'd they go, Joe? I don't
know where they went. But they didn't go to Him. They wouldn't
come to Christ before and they're not coming now. They're still
not coming. The bridegroom came and here's
the beauty. Verse 10. The bridegroom came
and they that were ready. They were ready. All the sweet words. They were
ready. They were found to be in Christ. They were redeemed by His precious
blood. They were pure in Christ. The Lord had borne their guilt.
They had nothing to answer for. There is therefore, right now,
no condemnation to them that be in Christ Jesus. Right now.
Buddy, you want to talk about being ready. They were ready.
I want you to know this. I want right now, while I'm still
standing here, while the Lord has yet to come back, because
we're all still here, I'm convinced of that. I'm convinced where
He says two or three are gathered together in my name, I'm convinced
there's two or three of us here. I pray to God that I'm one of
them. And for you too. The Lord said I'm in the midst
of you. But for right now, to know that
I have no sin, no guilt to answer for. Oh, it's present with me. I said to answer for. It has
been put away. There's no guilt. robed in His righteousness. Stand
before God complete. Accepted in the Beloved. Now,
a man or woman is ready. They are ready to meet God. They
have no guilt to answer for. They are holy in Christ. Accepted
in the Beloved. At peace with God. God Almighty
looks and sees the blood. Passes over. They're ready to
meet God. They're ready. God's people are
ready to meet God. It says, while they went to buy,
the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with
Him. Boy, that's a sweet thought. Yeah. Who are you with? I'm with
Him. I'm with Him. You know. I'm with
Him. Went in with Him to the marriage. And the door was shut. The door
was shut. Noah preached 120 years. 120 years. He was a preacher
of righteousness. That's what the Scripture says.
He was a preacher of righteousness. And he preached the Gospel for
120 years. And the Scripture says in that
day, when the Lord set His time, His wife, his three sons, and
their wives, and those animals went in the ark. Picture of Christ. There's the haven of rest. There's
the hope, city of refuge right there. And God shut the door. And all the knocking. God shut the door. And afterward,
verse 11, came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. The door shut. I looked up the wording of Lord,
Lord, many words in Scriptures that are pronounced the same
way. Lord. I looked up this one right here.
Lord, Lord, the first definition of that word right there, sovereign. Everybody in hell now knows God's
sovereign. They know now. I would say this,
everybody's a five-point calvinist in hell. That's right. I mean,
they don't have any oil. Everybody, Lord, Lord, You to
whom all things give witness, creation, providence, salvation,
Lord, open to us. And here's the most horrifying
words I can think of. Verse 12, He answered and said,
Verily I say unto you. Now this is the one speaking Heaven and earth are going to
pass away, but His Word is not going to pass away. I say unto
you, I know you not. He knew them in their conduct
of rebellion. He knew their gracelessness,
their faithlessness, their foolishness, trusting in their own self-righteous
works. But He never knew them in mercy.
Never knew them in grace. He never knew them as one given
unto Him of His Father. I never knew you. Listen in closing
on this last verse. Listen to this word of caution
and encouragement. Watch therefore. And let me tell
you what a believer will do right now. He'll say as old John Newton. Lord, if I've never known you
before today, Lord, would you save me? Would you save me right
now? This is what a believer is going
to say. A believer is not going to say, I came to the Lord back
when I was 17, 24, 27. No, here's what a believer will
say, Lord, I come now. I come right now. He that cometh.
He that cometh unto me. I will in no wise cast out. And
this is what a believer is going to say, Lord, Lord, You see it. Lord, You see it. You see it. He that cometh. Lord, I know
this. The only reason I'm coming is
because You came to me. The only reason I call is because
You called me first. The only reason I love You, You
love me first. But Lord, I'm coming. I need You. Lord, save
me. Lord, have mercy on me. Lord,
don't leave me to myself. Lord, don't leave me to perish.
Lord, I believe You. I trust You. Lord, make Your
calling and election sure. What else can I do? What else? Watch therefore, for
You know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man
cometh. Lord, I know You coming back.
I know You are. Lord, You said You were. I know
you're going to return. Lord, I know this. I know the
dead in Christ are going to rise first. And I know that we which
are alive and remain on this earth are going to meet them
in the air. We're not going to prevent them. I know that. Lord,
I know you're coming back for your people. Lord, would you
come back for me? Like an old thief on a cross. Lord, would
you remember? I want you to remember you. I want God to remember. Lord,
I want you to remember me. Because Lord, if you don't remember,
I don't have any hope. I know that. I don't have anything
that I can trust in save you. I pray God bless this word to
our hearts for Christ's sake. Amen.