Take your Bibles now and turn
with me to Matthew chapter 25. Let's read through these first 13 verses. 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. They that were foolish took their
lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their
vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried,
they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry
made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.
Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And
the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our
lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying,
Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather
to them that sell and buy for yourselves. 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. Afterward
came also the other virgin, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily
I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know
neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man Now this 25th chapter of Matthew
is broken up into three parts. Three parts. Verses 1 through
13 that I just read to you is the parable of the wise and the
foolish virgin. And it illustrates the necessity
of watchfulness and heart faith, looking for the blessed appearance
of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. We look. You know why we look? We have
an interest. I have an interest. I see in
the paper all the time where men and women are left great
inheritances. I don't go down to the reading,
do you? I don't have an interest in it. But now if my name was
mentioned, I'd be down there, wouldn't you? I'd be down there.
I want to hear what it was. We got a letter here a few days
ago. Kathy's dad's been dead for quite
a while now, about eight or nine years, but we got a letter from
an insurance company who said there was some insurance that
was carried on his mother, or on him, left to his mother and
they couldn't find the proper people to leave it to. It didn't
take us long to get the phone number and call. But it was all
a big mistake and we didn't... An interest. That's why we look.
That's why we look. We have an interest in his coming.
An interest in it. Those wise virgins had an inseparable
interest. in the bridegroom. And those
who look for Christ are those who have an interest in Him.
They loved Him who first loved them. They loved Him. They believed Him who said He'd
come back. This same Jesus, you see, carried
away into the heavens. He's coming back. He's coming
back. And they advantaged themselves,
these ones who looked. They've advantaged themselves
of the means, and they responded to the herald of His coming.
But these foolish versions had only the profession of an interest. They said, we're interested.
We're interested. We have an interest. We're looking.
But they weren't looking. They weren't looking. And then,
secondly, in verses 14 through 30, the parable of the talents.
And he illustrates here the necessity of diligence and faithfulness
to those he's made stewards of the manifold grace of God. And
then in verses 31 through 46, he describes the Day of Judgment. Now this morning, I want to just
focus our attention on the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. And the first thing I gather
from this parable is that there will always be a mixed multitude,
always be a mixed multitude when it comes to our assemblies in
this world. Don't ever imagine that everybody
that walks into this place has true saving faith. It's just
not so. I remember Brother Mahan said
one time, our Lord chose twelve and one of them was a devil.
And he said, I know his average is better than ours. always be a mixed multitude. Back in Matthew 7, verse 21,
he said, Not everyone that saith, Lord, Lord, that says to him,
that calls upon him, and says, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven. Now what on earth is he talking
about when he says, he that doeth the will of his Father? What's he talking about there?
Is he talking about a perfect obedience to the commandments
of God? Is that what he's saying? Only
those who have a perfect obedience to his Father's commandments?
Is he talking about winning God's approval by our works and will? Is that what he's talking about
there? Is He talking about that? Who are these people and how
can it be said of them that they do the will of God? Let me give
you several things. First of all, faith. Faith. This is the will of Him that
sent me. That's what Christ said. This
is the will of Him that sent me that everyone would see the
Son and believe on Him may have everlasting life. And I'll raise
Him up at the last day. Faith is the will of God. It's
the will of God. When a man believes, he does
the will of God. There's not much we can do. But
when he enables us to believe, we do the will of God. We do
the will of God. And then there's a new birth
involved in this thing. Of His own will begat He us with
the Word of Truth. Believers do the will of God
when they are born of God. They do the will of God. And
believers do the will of God as they long to be like Him.
There is an inward struggle, an inward desire to be like Christ. And when a man has that desire,
he does the will of God. He does the will of God. And
believers do the will of God when they love one another. When they love one another. Believers
do the will of God when they pray. They do the will of God
when they persevere in the faith to salvation. Actually, in all
they do, they do the will of God, for it is God that worketh
in them both to will and to do His good pleasure. They do the
will of God. But the natural man can't do
the will of God. He won't, and he can't. Now, there's a people in this
world called of God, regenerated by Spirit, who are being saved,
who have done and are doing right now the will of God. It's the
will of God that we assemble in this place. That's right. It's the will of God. And in
God's providence, He brings it to pass. He actually brings it
to pass. And there are people in our midst
who lay claim to these things, but have never done the will
of God. They're professors of faith,
having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. And
there will be, so long as the church is left in this world,
a mixed multitude who gather in her assemblies. And these
five wise virgins and these five foolish virgins, they all went
out together. Isn't that what it says? They
all went together, side by side, hand in hand. But there was a difference. And
the difference was that the foolish had no oil in the lamp. No oil. No oil. Oil here, I believe, speaks of
the Holy Spirit of God. They had nothing with them to
generate light in the lamp. Nothing with them. Nothing within
them. It said the five wise virgins
took oil in their vessels. In their vessels. That's not our business to separate
goats and sheep and tares and wheat, and I'm not attempting
to do that this morning. We're plainly taught that if
we try to do that, if we try to do that, we'll always select
the wrong one. We'll always cut out the wrong
one. But just think about this. Think
about what a horrible thing it was when Locke was down in Sodom. And he was found on the streets
of Sodom. Think what a horrible thing that
is. But think how much more horrible a thing it would be to be found
that way in Zion rather than in Sodom. It's one thing for
the Lord to come and find a man in the bar. It's another thing
for the Lord to come and find a man in unbelief in the church. What a horrible thing it would
be to be found in such a place. There's always going to be a
mixed congregation. And then secondly, I see here
a warning. All these virgins had lamps,
but only five, the oil of the Spirit of grace to generate light
out of darkness. And I thought about that. And
you know, we've got men and women who are baptized. Baptized. Personally, quite a few people
are baptized. Some men are baptized. Some are
baptized into Christ. Now, there's a difference. There's
a difference. Some wear the Master's name.
Others wear His nature. They bear His nature. Some belong
to the church. Some belong to Christ. And there's
a difference. It's one thing to have your name
on the roll here. It's another thing entirely to
have your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. And some sing about the blood.
I did. I did for years. Sang about the
blood. One day I was washed in it. And
there's a difference. There's a difference. All ten
of these women were called virgins. Five actually were. Actually, what? Professors of
religion who have only an outward profession of faith are not justified
before God. Only those who are in Christ
can be said to be chaste virgins. That's how he'll present it in
that day. Chaste virgins before the Lord. And all ten virgins went out
to meet the Lord. Both the wise and the foolish
separated themselves from their families and from their friends
and from jobs. And both the wise and foolish
professed to love and trust and follow the Lord Jesus Christ.
But only those five wise virgins had an inward principle of grace. And that's what our hope is.
It's Christ in you. It's those inward principles
of grace that He instills in our heart that causes our motives
to be right. that causes our thoughts to be
tuned to Him, that gives us an understanding of the mysteries
of God. Those who have no oil have no
light. And those who have no light cannot
find their way to the bridegroom. And then thirdly, the Lord teaches
us in this parable that all ten virgins, both the wise and the
foolish, were all asleep. Every one of them was asleep. That ought not to be so, but
our Lord said it shall be true, both of the believer and the
unbeliever, that they should be surprised at His second coming. In the Song of Solomon, chapter
5 and verse 2, I'll just read it for you. The bride said, I
sleep But my heart waketh. My heart waketh. The believer's
sleep is not the same as the unbeliever's sleep. The unbeliever
sleeps with the sleep of spiritual death. He sleeps and slumbers
and he's not awakened. The gospel doesn't awaken him.
The Spirit of God doesn't awaken him. None of these things move
him. He sleeps the sleep of death. Though he's warned, he sleeps
through it. Though he hears message after
message after message, he sleeps through it. He sleeps the sleep
of death. Never been awakened from their
death and depravity. Never been conquered by the grace
of God. Never been made meat to receive
the inheritance. with the saints of life. She
sleeps the sleep of the foolish. She has eyes, but she sees not. She has ears, but she hears not. She has a heart. She has the
ability to reason, but she doesn't understand. Unbelievers sleep
with a false assurance. Believers sleep What causes him to sleep? I believe
the same reason, the foolish sleep. I believe it's caused by a sinful
nature. His sleep is also caused by what
he is. But when he's awakened, he's
awakened in a state of readiness. He doesn't sleep that sleep of
spiritual death. Our Lord told His disciples,
He said, carry ye here and watch. And I'm going over here and pray.
They couldn't make it, could they? What happened? They went
to sleep. They went to sleep. And He came
back and He shook them and He said, can't you just stay awake
for a little while? And He went back over to pray.
And when He came back, they were sound asleep. Sound asleep. What caused them to sleep? This
flesh. This flesh. I preached this to you last week.
Maybe this will give you a little bit more information or insight
into it. Over in 1 Thessalonians 5. Paul said we've not been appointed
unto death. but to obtain salvation by our
Lord Jesus Christ who died for us." Now listen to this, that
whether we wake or sleep, whichever state we are in, whether we wake
or sleep, we should live together with Him. The God of glory spoke
this world into existence to manifest His glory in the salvation
of chosen sinners through the person and work of His Son, Jesus
Christ. And this Christ came in the fullness
of time and accomplished that salvation and ascended up on
high where He reigns as Lord over all things. And He sees
to all things pertaining to the salvation of His elect. When
His elect are gathered into the fold, when the last sinner hears
His voice, then shall the Son of God come and appear again. And everything is going to come
to an end. All earthly relationships, all time, all systems of government,
all means of living, every earthly care. Nothing will matter in
that day. Nothing will matter in that day
except whether or not you have oil in your lamp. That's the
only thing that's going to matter in that day. Your interest in
Him. Your relationship with Him. Nothing's going to matter in
that day except you're being received into His arms. And then, fourthly, this parable
teaches us this. Christ tarries. He tarries. Why would the bridegroom tarry?
Well, there's all kinds of reasons given in the Scriptures, but
there are two primary reasons. First of all, he cherished to
accomplish his father's will. God worketh all things after
the counsel of his own will. Even the death of Christ was
according to that counsel. The calling of his elect is according
to that counsel. All of the means of grace is
according to that counsel. He tarries to accomplish the
Father's purpose. In Romans 8, verse 28, he tells
us that we ought to know this. But Paul says, and we know. We know. What do we know? We
know that all things work together for good to them who love God,
to them who are the called according to His purpose. All of these
things. What things? All things. All
things. Working together like cogs in
a big machine. That's how Don described it. Cogs in a huge machine. All of these cogs turning just
the right ratio, spinning this one just the right amount of
time, everything just right. It's meshed in and works together. All of those things. And these
things are working, working, working until that day. Until that day. And in this working
together, our patience is exercised, our desires for Him are aroused,
and the mystery of iniquity is being fulfilled. Our God worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. And then secondly,
our Lord cherished to gather in all His elect. Peter said,
He hold just like He did in the days of Noah. He preserved this
earth. This earth, it was watered by
a mist that came up from the ground. It had never rained.
And He preserved this earth. He kept this earth until the
day He determined to put it under water. And in that day, He took
this man who found grace in his eyes, and He took those other
seven souls, and He put them into that ark and shut the door.
And Peter said, by that same word which that world before
the flood was kept in store, so is it kept right now. So is
it kept right now. And here's what he says. He said,
God is longsuffering to us for it, not willing that any should
perish. None of his elect are going to
perish. None of them. You reckon there is something
out there, somebody that can alter the will of God? No, sir. No, sir. He is going
to save every one of His elect. He is not willing that one of
them should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
And they all will. And when that last one will,
time is going to be no more. Time is going to be no more.
He is longsuffering to us. He is not longsuffering toward
this world. This world's under the wrath
of God. This world's already been judged. He's not long-suffering
toward this world. He's not long-suffering hoping
that he can just get somebody in any way he can. That's not
what's going on. He's long-suffering toward his
elect. And when the last one comes through
the door, that's it. It's over. And he'll appear in
that day. And then lastly, this parable
teaches us that there is coming a day when effort and interest
are too late. When the bridegroom appears,
it's too late to worry about oil in your lamp, too late to
go where the oil can be gotten, too late for prayer, too late
for Bible reading, and too late for hearing and seeking. It's
all over then. These virgins came then and they
cried. They cried. But they cried to
a shut door. The door had been shut. And when
the Lord did answer them, here is what He said, I know you not. Brethren, the one indelible mark
of the faith of God's elect is that they cannot and will not
resist the working of the Holy Spirit of God. They move by Him. They do all the things that the
Holy Spirit of God said they'll do. They do. All the means that
He's decreed to you are going to be used. Don't get it in your
head. Well, I just don't think that's
the way I want to be saved. I want to be saved this way. What you better do is get this
book down and find out how God saved sinners. And advantage
yourself of the means. Could be, God will save you.
Could be. His work in the hearts of men
causes desperation that cannot be set aside. And by His presence
and power, they all repent and believe, and they all seek the
Lord, and they all submit to the Gospel, and they all enter
into His rest. Every one of them. Every one
of them. And those who leave, those who
go out, John said, went out from us, for they were not of us.
If they had been of us, they no doubt would have continued
with it. Why? Because those who continue, continue
by the power and presence of God's Holy Spirit. That's why. May God be pleased to teach us
this lesson this morning. Thank you.