Well we're coming back this week
to Matthew 25. In Matthew 24 and 25 there is
very clear teaching about the end of all things, the end of
this world. Our Lord Jesus Christ makes it
absolutely plain. and it is so clear. The context
when he gave this teaching in Matthew 24 and 25 is the few
days before the crucifixion. He's in Jerusalem in the few
days before the crucifixion and a few years before AD 70 when
the Emperor Titus destroyed Rome. As I've said before, you can
go to Rome today, you can see the memorial in ancient Rome
of the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. It was the triumph
over a rebellion. But what it really was, was the
fulfillment of what God had said concerning the rejection that
this nominal people of his had of the Christ of God and Him
coming. And in Daniel, it is perfectly
clear, in Daniel chapter 9, the prophecy is absolutely clear
about when Messiah would come and when He had made an end of
sin, when by His offering He had redeemed His people from
the curse of the law, that place would be torn down. The temple,
which was but a picture of Christ and what He would do, God said
that would be it, it would be finished forever. And have you
noticed? 2,000 years on, nearly, It's
still not been rebuilt and it will never be rebuilt and sacrifice
will never ever take place there again because God has decreed
it. Christ made an end of sacrifice. But the words in Matthew 24 and
25, whilst they talk about that destruction of Jerusalem, they're
also clearly speaking of the end of all things, the end of
this creation, the end of this world, of this created order
and its replacement, its subjugation by the kingdom of God, the kingdom
of God which must be triumphant. Now, so that we don't presume
and so that we don't start to get clever and think that we
know things that are actually hidden from us, the words are
deliberately mixed up. The words in Matthew 24, at times
it's hard to tell when our Lord is speaking about A.D. 70 and when he's speaking about
the end of things still to come. It's not at all clear and I believe
that is absolutely deliberate. that we don't wander around thinking,
right, it's going to be next Thursday morning at 10 a.m. Because
we just do not know. But for example, in chapter 24,
verse 34, Jesus says, verily I say unto you, this generation
shall not pass, the people he was speaking to, till all these
things be fulfilled. Well, I think that is clearly
speaking about A.D. 70. It was in their lifetimes,
the lifetimes of most of them. That's what he was talking about
then, but he's also mixed in with it, speaking about the end
of all things. This is a powerful message, and
the point to get is this, that the end is coming, and that the
end is certain. Peter writes in his epistle,
one of his epistles, about those who say, like they do today,
and they always have done, where is the promise of his coming?
Well, you know, you say that he's coming again, but he hasn't
come so far. Everything's just carrying on
as it always was. But he says, beware, because
that's what it was like in the days of the flood. They thought
everything would just carry on as it always had. And of course
it didn't. It didn't. God brought judgment
on them. And when that judgment comes,
there is a great division. Just as there was in the days
of Noah, some found grace, a few, a handful found grace, and the
rest were left to the just judgment of their sins. God's people at
the end of this creation will be taken to glory, and the rest
left for judgment. Please don't swallow the lie
of modern religion that everybody will go to heaven. It just is
not true, it is not what God's Word teaches by any means. The
flood, as I've said, the flood of Noah's day stands as testament
to God's judgment falling as He said it would. He said it
would fall, and it did fall. And they said, oh, don't talk
nonsense, that judgment isn't coming, and they carried on as
they were, But Noah kept building his ark, and Noah kept preaching
righteousness, the righteousness of God, and that the only escape
from the judgment was to be in the ark, which was such a picture
of Christ. And they ignored him, and it
says, when the day came, God shut them into the ark, and the
flood came and swept all the rest away. You see, there is
an urgent need to be ready. Verse 44 of chapter 24, Therefore
be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the
Son of Man cometh. Be ready, because you don't know
when he's coming. All we know is for certain absolutely
certain He is coming. In Matthew 25, in the first 13
verses, we have a parable. You know, the Lord spoke many
parables. Parable, an earthly story with a heavenly meaning.
He told this parable to teach us the importance of being prepared,
of giving diligence to readiness for the return of the Lord, for
the end of this creation in which we live, for the coming flood
of judgment. He said be ready and he told
this story, this earthly story with a heavenly meaning about
the wise and the foolish virgins, the wise and the foolish bridesmaids. It seems to be the pattern of
some weddings in that society. I can't honestly say I understand
it, and I can't honestly say I can find a reliable historian
to tell me about it, but it seems that the wedding was along these
lines, that The bridegroom would come with his friends to the
house of the bride on an arranged day, but at a time that you didn't
know. And generally speaking, it would
be at night. It would be a night-time approach.
And there was no way of knowing. The friends of the bridegroom
accompanied him, and the bridesmaids, their role was to have lamps
ready with oil, to go out to meet the bridegroom in the darkness,
and light the way, light the path. That was their job. There
was no pre-fixed time, but they had to be ready whenever he came,
because, Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not,
the Son of Man cometh. This is how the final triumph
of God's kingdom shall be. He shall come again. The signs
of the times, the days in which we live, the
weird things that are happening, the deception and the delusion
that is all around us, It's all pointing to the fact, you know
like we saw last week, you look at the seasons, we can tell that
winter's coming, the leaves are turning yellow and orange and
red, the leaves are falling off the trees. We know that winter's
coming, we know it's going to get colder, unless you're in
the southern hemisphere when the very opposite's happening.
But you know, you watch the signs of the times and Jesus said,
look at the signs of the times, well look at the deception that's
widespread in the world today like I don't think it's ever
been before. I think we're in such deception where sentient
human beings are in such a state of colossal unbelief. They have
believed a lie. Read the article that I've written
in the bulletin about the stupidity of what people take for truth,
what people are prepared to swallow as truth. No, We're in the end
days, and the end is coming, but none of us know when. We
don't know if it'll be in our lifetimes, we don't know if it'll
be today, we don't know when it will be. But the thing is,
it is going to come, and we're told to be ready. So let's look
at what the parable says. It talks about these ten virgins,
these bridesmaids. We see the virgins, the bridegroom,
and the marriage. Let's look at that first. virgins,
these bridesmaids, these represent professing believers, people
who say they are Christians, people who say they are expecting
the end of all things and God's kingdom to come and them to go
to heaven, to be in that eternal, that never-ending marriage supper
of the Lamb that we read about towards the end of Revelation.
The consummation of all things when Christ The Lord of hosts
takes his people to be with him, I and the children which God
has given me. He takes them to eternal glory where we shall
be one and he shall be our God and we shall be his people. That
objective of salvation. That end goal of the salvation
which Christ has accomplished is what all professing believers
claim to have an interest in. And there are ten of them pictured
here. There are ten of them. A Jewish synagogue congregation
was a minimum of ten. When there was ten there had
to be a synagogue. It's a complete number. We see it again and again.
There were ten commandments. There were ten plagues in Egypt.
It's a complete number. But of these ten who professed
to be the true, five were foolish and five were wise. And what
that is indicating is a true profession of faith and a false,
a mere profession of faith, nothing more than an outward profession.
Those that were true were wise because, as Paul wrote to Timothy
in 2 Timothy 3.15, the scriptures which are able to make you wise
unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. The wise ones
were wise unto salvation. There's no point looking like
the real thing if you're not wise unto salvation. There's
no point behaving like the real thing if you're going to hell
at the end anyway. All ten of them have lamps, and
for a while they all appear to glow the same. What's this glowing? What does it represent? It is
representing the light of the truth and wisdom and righteousness
of God in this sin-darkened world, the world which has been deluded
and darkened by the lies of Satan. This is the world we live in.
But there are those who are the people of God who have the light
of God. The people that walked in darkness,
says Isaiah, have seen a great light. Unto them has the light
shined. I am the light of the world,
said the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the light of the world,
for in him is light and no darkness at all, the light of the knowledge
of God. Where do we see the light of
the knowledge of the glory of God? In the face. of Jesus Christ. That's where we see it. We bear
the light of God in this world. That's what these lamps are speaking
of. And, you know, it's like in the letters to the churches
in Revelation, the candlesticks. The candlesticks are not the
lights, but they bear the light. The light they bear is the light
of the truth of God. And they're all waiting for the
bridegroom. And they're all presuming that
they're all going in with him to the marriage. And they're
all expecting the final confirmation and the final completion of salvation. They all superficially think
that they're like Hebrews 9.28 describes, them that look for
him, for Christ. He shall appear the second time
without sin unto salvation. He's coming again. In a twinkling
of an eye we shall all see him. but they're all growing weary
with waiting. Look in verse 5. While the bridegroom
tarried, they all slumbered and slept. Not just the foolish ones. The wise ones as well. They all
did. Why? Because the flesh is weak. The spirit is willing, but the
flesh is weak. They're all growing weary with
waiting. Are you, believer, growing weary
with waiting? Yes, the answer, I know the answer
is yes. God tells us in the flesh, you will, you will be like that.
You will be like that. You know, even those with the
best of intentions, the disciples who were with Christ in Gethsemane.
Just wait here a little while while I go yonder and pray, he
said. And he came back, and he found them sleeping. Could ye
not watch with me one hour? Could ye not? Or like the Shulamite,
you know, the Bride of the Beloved in Song of Solomon chapter 5
and verse 2, she says, I sleep but my heart waketh. My heart
is awake and alive to the things of God but my flesh is sleeping,
I'm sleeping. As Matthew 26 41 says, the spirit
indeed is willing but the flesh is weak. But the message here
is don't grow weary. Come on, don't. Be aware of it.
You know, often the best, the starting point for the answer
to a problem is to recognize the problem for what it is, the
weakness of the flesh. Be aware of it. Don't grow weary. Remember how things are with
God. Peter, in answering that thing,
where is the promise of his coming? Things just carry on like they
always have. He says, don't you realize that one day with the
Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
God is outside of time. He doesn't tarry. Habakkuk chapter
2 verse 3, the promises of God, he says concerning it, what God
has said he will do, he said, though it tarry, by which he
means though it seems to you in the flesh to tarry, to delay,
to be late, Wait for it. And again and again, the scriptures
encourage us to patience, patiently waiting. Wait for it patiently. Don't give up. Don't flag. Don't let your flesh slumber
and sleep. Keep looking. Keep waiting. On
the tiptoe of faith, you can't go to sleep standing on your
tiptoes. So spiritually, keep awake. Keep looking. Because
as Habakkuk says, it will surely come. It will not tarry. It will not delay indefinitely.
Now all these ten virgins looked superficially the same, but five
by divine wisdom, the wisdom of God, the wisdom which makes
us wise unto salvation, by divine wisdom they are ready for the
coming of the Bridegroom, and five are not. Don't read any
more into 5 and 5 than simply that there is a division of that
which is true from that which only appears to be true but is
really false. Don't read any more into it than
that. But learn this lesson. This is the key point. Of all
who call themselves Christians, and there are very, very, very
many in the world today, of all who call themselves Christians,
all those who even go so far as associating with other Christians,
even those who associate with other Christians in true churches,
now we're narrowing it down, aren't we? There are very few
of those, relatively speaking. Even those who associate with
true Christians in true churches, as well as the many in the false
churches, a significant number, this is what Scripture teaches,
a significant number will in fact be eternally lost. That's the stark warning. That's
the stark warning not to be unwise. Look at the readiness of the
wise with me. Look in verse 2 of chapter 25.
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 a
vessel with oil in it to keep the lamp topped up so that the
lamp would be burning when the bridegroom came. They had oil
in their vessels to feed the lamps whenever the bridegroom
should come. What is this oil? What's the
oil speaking of? Answer? I'm sure it's the life
of God in the born-again soul. This is what it is. That's why
ye must be born again. That's why the Spirit moves where
it listeth. You don't know where the wind's
coming from, just like you don't know where the Spirit comes from.
But the Spirit comes and implants new life in the new birth, in
the sinner saved by grace. This oil is the life of God in
the born-again soul, and it's imparted by the Holy Spirit of
God. This is it. Not of him that wills,
nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy. It isn't
according to the will of man, nor of the will of the flesh,
but of the will of God. God gives His Spirit to whom
He will. It is His choice that is the
determining factor. justified by the redemption that
Christ has accomplished. Those that are true are truly
justified. They're declared in the court
of the justice of God to be not guilty of sin, to be cleared
of all charges. Who shall bring anything to the
charge of God's elect? Christ has died. Nobody can cause
any charge to stick, for Christ has already removed the charge
sheet. He's paid for it. He's dealt
with it. Justice is satisfied. There's
no sweeping under the carpet. He's done it. These people who
have the oil of God in their souls, the oil of the life of
God in their souls, are justified by Christ. They're sanctified
by Christ. Sanctified? What must we be to
enter the heaven of God? Answer, as holy as God. God will accept nothing less. We must be made holy. We are
made the righteousness of God in Him, in Christ. And that qualifies
us, makes us meet, makes us fit for the kingdom of God. We are
sanctified, says Hebrews, Hebrews 10 verses 10 and verse 14, we
are sanctified through the works that we do? No, it doesn't say
that. It says, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once
for all, once for all time, not a repeated mass as the Catholics
say, absolutely not. Through the body of Jesus Christ
once for all, once for all of his people. and only His people,
His people, that elect multitude which no man can number, of every
tribe and tongue and kindred. For it says in verse 14 of Hebrews
10, by one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. Perfected forever? Qualified
for heaven. This oil makes a redeemed sinner
like God in holiness. Do you realize that? This oil
of God that we must have makes the redeemed sinner like God
in holiness, and therefore fitted for the eternal sinless fellowship
of God. And how do we experience it?
How do we experience it now in the body of this flesh? We experience
it by faith. It's by faith that we experience
it, by looking unto the faithful works of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Spiritually, You must have a lighted lamp, fed with heavenly oil,
ready for the coming of the bridegroom for his church. He is coming
again to take his church, his true people, to be with him at
that marriage supper in eternal glory. How can you be ready?
You must have that lamp. Fed by heavenly oil. That's the
only way. God's Word bids you come and
buy that oil. Do you know that? Where am I
going to get this oil? Where am I going to get it? Look at
Isaiah 55. You know these words, but hear them again. Isaiah 55,
verses 1 and 2. Ho, everyone that thirsteth. Are you thirsty? for the things
of God? Do you have a soul thirst for
the things of God? A hunger for the things of God?
Blessed, said Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount, blessed are they
that do hunger and thirst for righteousness. Why? Why are they
blessed? Because they shall be filled,
not with their own righteousness and their own water of life,
but that which God gives. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. Who is the water? Who is the
water of life? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He that has no
money, it's not going to cost you anything. You don't have
anything, you don't need anything with which you can pay the price.
He that has no money, come ye, buy and eat. Ye, come, buy wine
and milk without money and without price. Why are you spending money
for that which is not bread? You're trying the broken cisterns,
as Jeremiah puts it. You're not coming to the fountain
of living waters. You're expending your labor for
that which satisfies not. He says in another place, you're
earning wages to put them in your pockets which have holes
in. The money just falls straight through. You don't get any richer.
You're just flogging yourself to death for no good reason.
I know that's talking about physical things, but the implication and
the clear teaching is spiritual. those going after a righteousness
of their own. It is futile. It is pointless. Come and buy oil and wine and
milk and all the good things that you need for eternal life.
Come without money and without price. Come, because it's the
free gift of God by sovereign grace. Hearken diligently unto
me. This is God speaking to all of
us. Eat that which is good and let your soul delight itself
in fatness, in goodness, in the grace of God. This is the oil
that makes the redeemed sinner like God in holiness that is
experienced by faith and spiritually you must have it. It's bought
just like the water of life. End of Revelation 22 and verse
17. Let him that is a thirst for
this water of life. Are you thirsty? Are you hungry?
And whosoever will Let him take of the water of life freely.
Let him take it. Have you been brought out of
darkness to see something of the truth of God? You know, it
says that this is what God does. He brings you out of the darkness
of sin and unbelief to see something of the light of God. And in 1
Peter 2, verse 9, he talks about the God who has called you, you
believers, out of darkness into his marvelous light. Marvelous
light. Wonderful. The grace of God is
marvelous. It's beyond human invention.
It's beyond human imagination. His marvelous light, out of the
darkness of this world. So are you ready now for Christ's
return? Are you ready now? If He came
now in the sky, if He came now, He'd be seen. Every eye in the
world would see Him. I know we live on a globe, but
that doesn't matter. Every eye will see Him. There
is no need to think that there are physical barriers to the
fulfillment of the purposes of God. Every eye shall see Him.
Those that are rising to heavenly bliss and those that are dreading
the judgment that will come, If you're ready, it's because
you have oil in your vessel to feed the lamp when He comes.
Lord, remember me. This should be your prayer. Lord,
remember me as that thief on the cross. Lord, remember me
when you come into your kingdom. Verily I say unto you, said Jesus
to that man, this day you shall be with me. in Paradise. Oh,
how we need that oil. We used to sing lots of trivial
choruses, but I think this one, really, the more I think about
it, there are some that I really don't like looking back. I have
decided to follow Jesus. No, no, no. I'll never sing in
that again. I don't like that. God chose
me, not the other way around. But this one, Give me oil in
my lamp, keep me burning. Give me oil in my lamp, I pray.
Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning, keep me burning till
the break of day. Sing Hosannas, yeah, you remember
it? Yeah, of course we do. Yeah, that's good. This is what
we should pray. Give me oil in my lamp. I want
to be amongst the wise virgins when Christ comes again. Though
my flesh I know is weak and it might slumber at times and it
might sleep, give me oil constantly. You know, this state of readiness,
Spurgeon illustrated the point like this. He told the account
of a man who used to live near the Great Lakes in North America,
and often used to cross one of the lakes on a ferry. And, you
know, like all big patches of water, and those lakes, if you've
never lived any... I know some of you are very familiar, but
if you've never lived anywhere near them or been near them,
you just don't have any idea. I mean, our lakes in this country
are like little tiny puddles compared to these. These are
enormous great inland seas. And if a storm would blow up,
then it would be really quite rough. And many people used to
go on the ferry across this lake. And one day, this guy just thought,
in a little shop near the ferry terminal, he thought, do you
know something? I think I'm going to buy a life jacket. And he
went and bought himself a life jacket. And his other passengers
laughed at him. What have you got that for? We're
just going across the lake, look it's fine, what's the problem?
None of these has ever sunk before. And he had his life jacket with
him. But the time came when a storm
blew up and the boat sank. And he was saved because he had
his life jacket. And the others were not ready
for the sinking. You know something, a little unreadiness might greatly
trouble you when your life ends. Think of it. Now you think, oh,
I don't need to be ready because my life's not going to end. But
come that day when it does and it takes you by surprise, a little
unreadiness might greatly trouble you, might greatly distress you
in that day. You see, some of those people
that drowned had lived so close to where they could have got
a life jacket before they got on that boat. You know, they
passed the same shop by the ferry terminal. They could have got
a life jacket before they got on that boat, but they didn't.
They kept saying, like so many do, do you say this? Oh, well,
yes, it'll happen to others, but it won't happen to me. I'm
going to live a good long life, and I'm only going to die when
I'm good and ready, when I'm a really old person and it's
all gone before me, like the one or two that we see in the
media. No, it's not going to happen to me. And so they didn't
bother to buy a life jacket for that journey. And others were
careless. They did buy a life jacket, but
they bought the wrong one. They bought a faulty one. When it comes to the oil of the
life of God, there are lots of phonies. There are lots of counterfeits. There are people who are buying
into a religion where it isn't the oil of the life of God, it
isn't the gospel of grace that saves from sin. They're putting
their trust in faulty life jackets. Others attempted to cling to
the life jackets of others, like these foolish virgins. Oh, give
us some of your oil, they said to the wives. No, not so, you
can't have it. You must have your own. Get it now. while all seems smooth and calm,
you know where to go. Come to Christ in faith. Come
to Him believing, Lord, give me that oil. of eternal life,
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. If you wait for the storm to
sink the vessel, it's too late to go looking to buy a life jacket
then. Look at the entrance of the wise
in verse 6, verse 6 of Matthew 25. At midnight there was a cry
made, behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. There's
the announcement, a sudden and unexpected announcement. In the
hour that ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Is he going to
come today? Oh, I don't think so. Tomorrow?
No, I wouldn't have thought. Next year? Maybe not, no. No,
maybe a few years down the line. In an hour that you think not.
That's when the foolish realized that they had none of the necessary
oil. When the announcement went out that he's here, they've got
none of the necessary oil. The need they had foolishly overlooked
was now screaming at them. Look what they say in verse 9
and 10, in verse 8, they said, give us of your oil to the wise. They said, give us some of yours,
please, we haven't got any. Give us some, our lamps won't
work. Our lamps have gone out. But the wise said, not so, lest
there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them
that sell and buy for yourselves. 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. When they
went off to try to buy, it was too late. It was too late, because
while they were away buying, trying to buy, those ready went
in with the bridegroom, and the door was shut. Is that not starkly
final? The door was shut. The day to
be ready is today, not on that day, finally, as a last dash. And note also, while we're at
it, that the wise went in straight away. It was an immediate entrance. When he came, they immediately
went in. There is no hint of any of that
erroneous idea of purgatory, where you are qualified to a
point, but then you go to have a few more stripes laid on you
to make you fit. No, that's false, that's utterly
false. How can you believe the doctrine
of a church that preaches such absolute error compared with
the truth of scripture? No. There's no state of limbo,
none whatsoever. Straight into paradise. This
day, Jesus to the thief on the cross, this day you shall be
with me in paradise. If we die before He returns,
what does it say? To be absent from the body is
to be present with the Lord. If we're alive when He comes
back, our flesh is changed in a moment in the twinkling of
an eye from this sinful body. into a likeness of his glorious
body. The wise shall see the Redeemer. Job was wise unto salvation. He said in Job 19.25, I know
that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter
day upon the earth, and the worms destroy this body, yet in my
flesh shall I see God. That will be that day. And they
went in with him. Is that not such a comfort? They that were ready went in
with him, with him, not struggling on their own to find the way.
They went in with him. He put his arms around them and
took them in. The Lord of hosts You know, who
is the King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the
King of glory. Lift up your heads, O ye gates,
the Lord of hosts, the Lord of His hosts. Behold, I and the
children whom He has given me. These are the ones that go in
with Him, with Him, clothed in God's righteousness because of
Him, washed in Christ's blood. to be fed eternally by the Lamb
in the midst of the throne. That's what it says in Revelation
7 and verse 17 about the people of God, to be fed by the Lamb
in the midst of the throne. There and then, Christ's prayer
is answered. Which prayer? The prayer he prayed
in John 17, 24. Father, I will, that they whom
you have given me, the ones who have that oil of the Spirit of
God in their lamps, that they whom you have given me be with
me where I am, and they may behold my glory. That day, that prayer
is answered in full when His people behold His glory. Though
they had slumbered and slept like the foolish at times in
this life, when the moment came, they had the required oil in
their lamps. They had the required life of
God in the soul. Their lamps shone, and they went
in with Him. And verse 10, the door was shut. When he closes the door, no man
can open it. He says that in Revelation. He
is the one that opens and closes and nobody can reverse it. That
door was shut. That door was not left ajar.
It wasn't left partly open for the latecomers to squeeze in.
No, it was shut. Look at the exclusion of the
foolish. They had lamps of profession.
They had lamps which looked like the truth of a Christian profession,
but they had no oil of grace. You must have the oil of grace
in your soul. And when they went to buy at
the last minute in panic, they were shut out forever. The door
was shut, not left ajar. You know what it says in the
wisdom of Scripture and in the wisdom books, Ecclesiastes 11
verse 3, the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
be. You know, you chop a tree down,
a big heavy tree, and it comes crashing down, and that's where
it's going to lie. It's not going to get up. Once
it's cut down, it's not going to get up and point the other
way. That's where it's going to be. In Revelation 22 verse
11, it is put much more starkly and clearly. He that is unjust
when he dies, when the end comes, let him be unjust still. And
he which is filthy, let him be filthy still, and thereby barred
from the kingdom and eternity of God. And he that is righteous,
made the righteousness of God in Christ, let him be righteous
still forever, for that will be his state. And he that is
holy, let him be holy still. If you are made righteous and
holy in Christ, that's how you will enter eternal glory, and
that's how you will be forever. So be careful to heed the Lord's
warning here while it is still the day of salvation. It is.
Today is the day of salvation. Be careful not to presume. The foolish virgins, they were
church members. They appeared like the true virgins,
the wise virgins. They appeared with lamps that
once seemed to shine, but without the oil of eternal life. Hear
the call, listen, hear, you say, I haven't got it. Well, you may
not have it now, but hear the call. There's a call that goes
out to you. Seek ye the Lord, it's in Isaiah 55, six and seven. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found. Today is the day of salvation.
Call ye upon him, Lord, save me from my sins. Show me your
truth. Lead me and guide me into all
truth. Call ye upon the Lord while he
is near. Let the wicked, who is wicked?
All of us by nature are wicked. The wickedness of unbelief, the
wickedness of not believing God. Let the wicked forsake his way
and the unrighteous man his thoughts. This is all really speaking about
unrighteous thoughts of God, unrighteous thoughts to God,
the wickedness of unbelief in God. And let him return unto
the Lord, and he, God, will have mercy upon him. And to our God,
For he will, but I'm such a sinner, God will abundantly pardon. I
ask you, could the stakes be any higher? Could they? Could
the separation that is coming be any more stark? That door
being shut, the wise going in and the unwise hearing those
chilling words, I never knew you, I don't know who you are.
Whomsoever, says Romans 10 and verse 13, whosoever shall call
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. No ifs, no buts. Amen.