Mark 13 and Matthew 24. Are. Basically the same. Message. Mark ends with this statement
when the Lord said what I say unto you, I say unto all watch. And he's referring to the second
coming of Jesus Christ. You know when he does return. I love
thinking about this. Everybody's gonna know who he
is. Somebody says, explain that to me. Well, I don't feel the
need to. I just know it's so. When he comes, it's gonna be
like the lightning shining from the east and going to the west.
Everybody will see. Everybody will know. How differently
will men view what is really important at that time? Let's do one that for a moment. How differently will men view
what is really important at that time upon his return? Judgment will take place. And
in Matthew chapter 25, the Lord gives three parables. Now look in verse 42 of chapter
24, what's there for, for you know not what hour your Lord
doth come. Now, I dare say there's not one
of us who have not thought about what does it mean to be ready
when he returns? What does that look like? Look
in verse 43, but know this, that if the good man of the house,
Matthew 24, had known in what watched the thief would come,
he would have watched and would not have suffered his house to
be broken up. Therefore, be ye also ready,
for in such an hour as you think not, the Son of Man cometh." What will that be like when he
returns? Now, I think it's so interesting
that the Lord gives three parables with regard to what it will be
like when he returns and when judgment begins. Verse one of
chapter 25, then, then, shall the kingdom of heaven be
likened unto 10 virgins, and he gives three parables in chapter
25. I'm sure you're probably familiar
with all three of them. The parable of the wise and the
foolish virgins. I've entitled this message the
parable of the virgins. And then the next parable is
of the talents that were given and some profited from those
talents and one fellow just saved his talent and hid it in the
dirt and the Lord called him a wicked and a slothful servant. And then there is the parable
of the last judgment, the sheep and the goats. And the sheep
are identified first as those that were chosen before the foundation
of the world, and they are identified by what they did here. And the
goats are identified by what they did not do. Three separate parables, and
I think this is so interesting. In these parables, you have two
representative people shown in a different angle. You have the
sheep and the goats, you have the People who used the talents
and the people who didn't. You have the wise virgins and
you have the foolish virgins. Two types of people in each parable,
and all of these people thought they should be accepted. All
of these people did. The goats said, we thought we
did those things. You're asking, when did we not
do these things? parent of the talents, the man
said, Lord, I thought I did the right thing. I hid your talent
in the dirt. Lo, here is what is thine. I
thought I did the right thing. And then the foolish virgins,
they said, Lord, Lord, they called him Lord. All of them called
him Lord. Lord, Lord, open to us. There's a sense of entitlement
in the way they said that. Lord, open to us. Well, you ought
to open to us. We want in. Open to us. So all
of these people thought that they should be allowed to enter
into heaven. But some were not. We read where the door was closed
to these foolish virgins. Now, wise and foolish. Me and you can be described tonight
by one of these people, either wise or foolish. Do you remember another parable
the Lord gave with regard to wise men and foolish men? Sure
you do. It's the conclusion of the Sermon
on the Mount where the Lord gave the parable of the wise man who
built his house upon a rock, and the foolish man who built
his house upon the sand. Turn back to Matthew chapter
seven with me for just a moment. Spend a few minutes on this to
see this concept of wise and foolish. God views you and me
right now either as a wise man or as a foolish man. man. Verse 24, Therefore, whosoever heareth
these sayings of mine, and doeth them. Now he's talking about
everything he said up to this point, the whole sermon on the
map, greatest sermon Well, every sermon in the Bible is the greatest
sermon ever preached, isn't it? I don't think I would be wrong
in saying that. The Sermon on the Mount's the greatest sermon
ever preached. Every sermon the Lord ever preached
was the greatest sermon ever preached. But it could be argued
that this is the greatest sermon ever preached. And he concludes
it with whoever hears what I've said and does what I've said. In the immediate context, in
chapter seven, he says in verse 13, enter ye in at the straight
gate. Now blessed is that man who does
it. He hears it and he does it. He enters in at that straight
gate and walks along that narrow way. Blessed is that man. And
then he says in verse 15, beware of false prophets. And you and
I better beware of false prophets. We better hear what's being said
when the Lord says you shall know them by their fruits. I said this last week. That doesn't
mean you're trying to examine people's lives and I'm a fruit
inspector. I'm inspecting your fruit to
see whether or not you're real or not. Go somewhere else and
do that. That's not what the Lord is talking
about when he says that. You'll know them by their doctrine.
You'll know them by their converts. What's that mean? If anybody
wants to know what I believe, let them ask you. If you say something different
from what I'm saying, I wouldn't preach anything. That's what
that means. You'll know them by their converts.
Me and you have the same hope. We have the same way of being
saved. And then he says in verse 21, not everyone that saith unto
me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he that
doeth the will of my father, which is in heaven. And we're
going to come back to that toward the end of the message. Uh, but
here they say, Lord, Lord, he said, you're saying Lord, Lord,
doesn't really mean anything. It's that one who do it, the
will of my father, which is in heaven. And then in verse 24,
therefore, whosoever here at these things of mine and do it. I will liken him unto a wise
man which built his house upon a rock." Now you know that that
is what Luke calls built his house upon a foundation. And
that foundation that the man built on is Christ only. Let me tell you what that looks
like. only. If you look in Hebrews
chapter six, verses one and two, this is such an important passage
of scripture. It's where Paul or whoever wrote
Hebrews said, we ought not have to lay again the foundation.
You ought to be grounded on this. You ought to be built on this.
And if you're not built on this foundation, you got problems. You got problems. Now, what is
this foundation? The foundation of repentance
from dead works. Have you ever seen that all your
works are dead works and the only foundation you have is Christ?
Is that real to you? The next thing he said was faith
toward God. Have you ever seen that the only
hope you have is the object of your faith, the foundation, Christ
Jesus, the God man, who he is and what he did, and you have
nothing else? That's the only foundation you
have. And then the next thing he mentioned in Hebrews chapter
six, verse two, you can look this up for yourself, it's such
an important passage of scripture, but he talks about the doctrine
of baptisms. Now all baptism represents is
union with the Lord Jesus Christ. What you're saying when you're
baptized, you're saying the only hope I have, the only foundation
I have, is that when Jesus Christ lived, I was in him. When he
died, I was in him. When he was raised, I was in
him. That's the only foundation I have. union with the Lord Jesus
Christ. I have nothing else. And that's
the foundation this man was building his household. And then the next
thing that is mentioned is the doctrine of the laying on of
hands. And that's talking about the transfer of guilt. Now, this
is the only hope I have, that my sin was transferred to Jesus
Christ, the Lord, and became his, and he put it away, and
his perfect righteousness, his obedience, his law-keeping is
transferred to me and becomes mine. That's the foundation I'm
building on. And then there's the doctrine
of resurrection. Listen, this is the only hope
I have. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?
God justified him. Who is he that condemneth? It's
Christ that died, yea, rather that's risen again. Who's even
at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.
All my hope is in that foundation. It's Christ that died and was
raised again. And the doctrine of eternal judgment
is the sixth thing he mentions. Eternal judgment. Now I got to
thinking about that. laid upon the eternal work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, here's the only hope I
have, that everything Christ did is eternal. It never had
a beginning, and it'll never have an ending, and there's nothing
I can do in time to mess it up. That is my hope. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus. Now that's building your house
on the foundation, upon the rock. Now, we have this story of these
two men who built a house, one on a rock, the other on the sand. And I dare say the houses probably
look very similar. Maybe the one that was built
on the sand was bigger and prettier because they had more money to
spend on their house because they didn't have to waste money
on the foundation. It looked good. You have these two houses. Verse 25, this man who built
his house upon a rock, the rain descended, the floods came, and
the winds blew and beat upon that house. That's what we call
life. That's what we call life. And it fell not, because it was
founded. on a rock, Christ Jesus the Lord. Now let me tell you something.
If you have any other foundation, you're a fool. If I have any
other foundation, I am a fool. Christ is the foundation. Verse 26, and everyone that heareth
these sayings of mine and doeth them not shall be likened unto
a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand, no foundation,
and life comes, the rain descends, the floods come, the winds blow
and beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall
of it. So we see early the Lord contrasts
the wise and the foolish. This is the first part of his
ministry, and now Fast forward to three years later, right before
his death. This is in his last few days
of life before his crucifixion. He's giving these parables with
regard to his second return and judgment day. And he gives this
parable of the wise and the foolish virgins. Let's go back to Matthew
chapter 25, verse one. Then shall the kingdom of heaven
be likened unto ten virgins which took their lambs and went forth
to meet the bridegroom. Now, five of them were wise and
five were foolish. And they that were foolish took
their lambs and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in
their vessels with their lambs. Now, like the wise and foolish
builders, the difference was in something that couldn't be
seen by the naked eye. You saw these, you couldn't see
the foundations these houses were built on. They looked the
same. It was something you couldn't
see. Well, these wise and foolish virgins were the same. They both
had a lamp. They looked very similar. Maybe the exact same,
I don't know. But the difference was in something
you could not see. One had oil. The other did not
have oil. They look the same. They both
profess to believe the gospel. It's not like they believe differently,
at least by way of outward profession, it looked the same. They both
had this lamp. But one had oil and one did not
have oil. But here's the thing that I want
us to think about. The five foolish virgins did
not have what was needed when the bridegroom returned. Now,
that's the point. That's the main point. They did
not possess what was needed when the bridegroom They didn't have
oil, Christ in you, the hope of glory, the oil of his grace,
the oil of his spirit, his work, his work. They did not have that
which they needed, his work, the oil of his grace, the oil
of his spirit. Perhaps they could give a Proper definition of grace, textbook
definition. They could give a textbook definition
in this lamp, this outward perfection. They could believe the doctrine
of grace. They even stand for total depravity.
Here's the difference, and this is always the difference. While
they saw the Bible taught the doctrine of total depravity,
I've heard people say this over the years. Boy, that proves,
that shows depravity doesn't it? That shows depravity, talking
about something they see or something that somebody's done. The point of total depravity
is are you totally, completely depraved and evil? Is that you? Now these people without oil
didn't need oil. It wasn't an issue with them.
They liked their lamp. Their lamp was pretty. You know,
when you go to a store, I mean, when Lynn goes and looks for
lamps, you know, she's looking for a good looking lamp. And
I understand that, but the only thing that counts is does it
work? Does the light come on? You know, that's what a lamp
for, is light. Well, these people saw no need
for that. They had no oil in their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried,
They all slumbered and slept. Now, you've got to understand
this about a wedding. I've read this in several sources,
so I'm assuming it's true. In a wedding in those days, there
were three parts of the wedding. First, it was initiated by the
bride and the groom's father. You didn't choose your own mate
during those days, which was still like that. I'm sure all
us parents think that. As long as it's not us, I want
to choose my own. But at any rate, there's something
to that, isn't it? It was initiated by the father. Our wedding to
our husband was initiated by the father. And then the second
part of the marriage was when the promises and the vows were
all made. It was called the betrothal.
And then the third part of the marriage was usually about a
year later, the consummation of the marriage. And the brides
were bridesmaids. And there were 10 of them. And
I thought, what's the significance of 10? There's probably some
significance. I don't know what it is. But I did read where there
were usually 10 bridesmaids in a wedding. And five of these
bridesmaids waiting for that time of the consummation when
they went in with for the wedding party they were waiting for him
to come now while the bridegroom tarried verse five they all slumbered
and slept now some have said this is incidental of course
you'll fall asleep if you're waiting till midnight uh... but
in the bible it's never good to slumber and sleep is it it's
always negative but Wise virgins and the foolish virgins at this
time look just alike. You know what they were all doing?
Slumbering and sleeping, all 10 of them. Somebody says, well,
that's not right. Well, I don't suppose it is,
but the point of the matter is, is that even the wise virgins
have a sinful, evil nature still, just like the foolish virgins
is nothing but that. And there are times when you
can't tell the difference. They were both, all 10 were slumbering
and sleeping. Verse 6, and at midnight, there
was a cry made, behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. This is the great gospel message
and it's a reference to the second coming of Christ. He's coming,
go out to meet him. Then all the virgins arose and
trimmed their lamps, but the foolish had a problem. They didn't have any oil. Now,
they could have got oil, but they didn't. It wasn't important
to them. They were proud of their lamps.
This is a beautiful lamp. Kind of, I thought of the scripture,
they had a form of godliness, but denied the power thereof.
They had a form in that lamp, it looked good, but they did
not have any oil in their lamps. Verse eight, and the foolish
said unto the wise, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone
out. Now, I used to kind of feel sorry
for these thoughtless, foolish virgins, why couldn't they give
them a little bit of oil? Seems like they could have. Well,
here's the point. You can't give somebody else
grace. You cannot give somebody else
grace. If your parents have grace, doesn't mean you'll have grace.
If your children have grace, you can't give it to your parents.
Your parents can't give it to your children. You can't give
somebody grace. The only place to get grace is
the place from where it comes, the God of all grace. So she says, or they said, the
foolish said, 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. Verse 10. And while they went
out to buy, the bridegroom came. And they that were ready went
in with him to the marriage and the door, was shut. Now three things are said in
that verse. The bridegroom came. The folks with the oil in their
lamps went in and the door was shut. The door was closed. They that were ready went in
while the others were away when the bridegroom came and the door
was shut. Now, how are they ready? It's
just they thought we're ready. They thought we're ready. I've
heard people talk about, you know, you need to be ready. You
need to be ready. And I, you know, I'm, well, give
me all the things you're doing to make you ready. You know,
I mean, I don't think you're ready. You know, when people
say that to me, I think, you know, you're not ready. You gotta be
ready. You gotta be ready. What makes somebody ready? I
know how to answer that question. When he returns, may I be found
in him. That's the only thing that makes
you ready. When he returns, Paul said, oh,
that I may win Christ and be found in him. Not having my own righteousness.
If your readiness has anything to do with your righteousness,
you're not ready. The only folks who are ready
are those folks who are found in him. And let me tell you something
about these people. They don't have their own righteousness.
Would that be you? They do not have their own righteousness. But that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, oh may I then in him be. That is who is ready. Now, these people, we already
heard Kara sing about it. Christ is all they have. Remember
the words of that song. Not only is he all they have,
he's all they need. And not only is he all they need,
he's all they want. Now that is the person who is
ready. They went in, they were drawn
in, and they were welcomed in, and the scripture says the door
was shut. There's a finality to that. They
were shut in, eternally. And everybody else was shut out. I think of the ark. You remember
when the door was shut? And I have no doubt the door
was shut before the rain started coming down. There they're in,
in obedience to God, God brought them in, and once the rain starts
coming down, you reckon there were people walking on the door
saying, Lord, open to us. Open to us, let us in! But the
door was shut. Now, If you come to Christ, you'll
not be shut out. Ain't nobody gonna be shut out
that comes by Him and only by Him. The door is open. Him that comes to me, I will
in no wise cast out. But if the door is shut in your
face, it's because you refuse to come by Christ. You can't
blame God's sovereignty, even be a victim of God's sovereignty.
The reason you were shut out is because you refused to come
God's way. You tried to come some other
way. And you wouldn't, you had no need for the wedding garment.
You had no need for his righteousness. You tried to come some other
way. But I love being able to say
this. Door's not shut yet. I can say this to everybody here. Door's not shut yet. But the
time is coming when the door will be shut. The door was shut, verse 11.
Afterward, afterward, came also the other
virgins saying, Lord, Lord, open us. Notice that it didn't say anything
about them bringing oil. Not a word about oil. They still
didn't have oil. And they still didn't get it.
They still didn't see their need of oil. And notice the way they
talked to the Lord, opened us. You don't talk to the Lord that
way. You're like, The leper, Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean, but here they are making demands of the Lord. There's
a sense, open to us. Not please open to us for Christ's
sake, open to us. They're commanding the Lord.
That lets us know that they had no idea who the Lord really was,
or they wouldn't have talked that way. And notice the repetition,
Lord, Lord. Now, back to Matthew 7, just
for a moment. They used the Lord's name twice. Verse 21, not everyone that saith
unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he
that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Now many will say unto me in
that day, Lord, Lord, there we go again, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your
name? We preached in your name. In your name, we've cast out
devils. We've had works of power. In
your name, we've done many wonderful works, not just a few, many. And I mean, these were not average,
they were wonderful. They thought they had everything
they needed. What a resume. We've preached in your name.
We've cast out demons in your name. We've done many wonderful
works in your name. You know what they never did? They never did His will. What's
His will? What must we do that we might
work the works of God? This is the work of God, that
you believe on him whom he hath sent. That's what they never
did. Verse 23, and then when I profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me. Ye that work,
iniquity. Look back to our text. Verse 11, afterwards came also
the other virgin saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. They thought
they ought to be let in. But he answered and said, same
thing he said to these other fellows. Verily I say unto you,
I don't know you. I know you not. And what that
means is, listen, he knew all about them. Doesn't mean he didn't
know who they were. Doesn't mean he didn't know what
they had done and what they had. He knew all about them. But what
that means is I never loved you. I never knew you to be one who
loved me. I never knew you to be one who
adored my person. I never knew you to be one who
trusted me only to where I was all you had. You're a stranger
to that. Depart from me. I never knew
you. And he says to these people who
demanded an entrance, I don't know you. Watch therefore, verse 13, for
you know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man
cometh. When he shall come, with trumpet
sound, oh may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness
alone, faultless to stand before the throne, on Christ the solid
rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. Let's pray. Lord give us the grace, the favor
that only you can give to know that our only hope is the oil
of thy grace, the oil of thy spirit, The only foundation,
Christ Jesus, the Lord. Lord, make that real and powerful
to each person here that we might truly lay on the rock and have
the oil of your grace in our lamps. Bless us for Christ's
sake. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen.