As I announced this morning,
I'm going to be speaking for a few Sunday nights on what we
call the parables of our Lord. The Lord Jesus taught the people
He said, the disciples asked him, why do you teach in parables?
He said, because they do not see, and they do not hear, and
they do not understand. Therefore, I teach them in parables. Blessed are your eyes, they see,
and your ears, they hear, and your hearts, they understand.
What is a parable? There are several definitions. Here's one, a parable. is a short,
simple, familiar story from which a spiritual meaning can be gathered
or taught. That's a parable, a short, simple,
familiar story from which a spiritual meaning can be gathered or taught.
Someone said this, a parable is an earthly story with a heavenly
application. Another man made this statement.
the whole visible world. Now think about this. The whole visible world is a parable of the invisible world. The whole visible world, as we
know it, as we live in it and move in it and take part in it,
the whole visible world is a parable of the invisible world. or nature's
own language in the human heart, speaking for God. The Old Testament
types are a form of a parable. When they slew a lamb and brought the blood and put
it upon the altar and burned the body of the Lamb. It was
a picture of Christ's agony and suffering in the flesh on the
cross and the shedding of his blood. That's in a way a parable. When the high priest would slip
under the veil and come into the Holy of Holies, and there
was the Ark of the Covenant, and in that Ark, the broken law,
with a mercy seat over it and the cherubim, and the glory of
God about it in the smoke and incense, and he put that blood
on the mercy seat and it flowed down over the mercy seat, covering
the broken law. That's a picture, that's a parable.
That's a concrete, material, physical illustration of what
takes place in heaven. Christ's blood maketh atonement
for our sins. I read the story of a missionary
to the Indians back many, many years ago. He was talking with
an Indian who had been converted, who had come to knowledge of
Christ. And the Indian was desiring to
explain to the missionary what had happened to him. He wanted
to explain to the missionary the turning point in his spiritual
experience, the actual turning point in his relationship with
God. And the Indian gathered some
dry leaves. So he gathered some leaves and
stooped down on the ground and he put those leaves in a circle,
all the way around in a circle. He gathered the leaves, not saying
a word, just put the leaves in a circle. And then he looked
around and he found a worm and he got the worm out of the ground
and he put that worm right in the middle of that circle of
leaves and then he set the leaves on fire. He just set the fire
all the way around. And the leaves began to burn
all the way around that worm. And the worm crawled over here. He thought he could find a way
of escape. And he crawled over and the fire would drive him
back. And he crawled over here and the fire would drive him
back. And the missionary and the Indian just stood there in
silence and watched that worm in that circle of burning leaves
as he went over here and over there and over here. The story
goes he just curled up in the middle of that fire, awaiting
his fate. And when he did that, the Indian
reached down and picked him up, and took him over here and put
him in the cool earth and let him wiggle his way away. And
then he said to the missionary, thus helpless I lay. While the
wrath of God, due to my sins, advanced on every side, I tried
to escape, but there was no way out. And I gave up and cast myself
on the mercy of God. And our Lord Jesus Christ sovereignly
lovingly, mightily reached down and delivered my soul." Now,
that's beautiful. That's a parable. That's an illustration
of God's redeeming grace. That's a beautiful and simple
illustration of redemption. Now, how foolish it would be,
and this is what men do, and this is what I want to avoid
doing, and I warn all the preachers here tonight to avoid it. How
foolish it would be for me to debate about what type of leaves
made up that circle. But that's what men do. What
kind of leaves did he gather? Did he gather pine needles which
burned faster, perhaps, than another type of leaf? Or did
he gather oak leaves that burned more slowly, making the worm
a little more miserable? Were the leaves in a circle or
were they in a square? Now, if they were in a circle,
that reveals this, but if they were in a square, it reveals
something else. Isn't that stupid? That's foolish. And parables
are not to be dealt with in that way. Here's another thing they
might deal with. Why did he use a worm and not a grasshopper?
Well, a grasshopper could have leaped over the thigh, and a
worm couldn't. Well, why was the circle on flat
ground? Why wasn't the circle up on a
hill? It's torture. And always remember
this when you're dealing with a parable, it's torture. to the
parable and to the people to try to compel a parable to say
what it doesn't say, or to compel a parable to stand, as someone
said, on all four legs. What a parable is for is to illustrate
what our Lord is teaching at that time. And this parable that
Jay read to you a moment ago has a definite and certain meaning.
It's used of our Lord, it's an earthly story to illustrate a
spiritual truth. Now let's look at it. There was
to be a wedding. In chapter 25 of Matthew, verse 1. Then shall
the kingdom of heaven be likened to ten virgins, which took their
lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. There was to
be a wedding. And I found out that the most important part,
now all weddings were not alike. You had the weddings of the rich
and the weddings of the poor. The weddings of the old and the
weddings of the young. All the weddings are not alike.
Our Lord selected this particular type of wedding. And there are
some characteristics of this type of wedding. One of the things
was this. The most important part of the
wedding was at night. And these ten virgins were a
part of a processional. Now, this is what happened. The
bridegroom lived in a certain place, and the bride lived in
another place with her father and mother. And at a certain
time at night, the bridegroom would go to the bride's home,
the home of the father. It was perhaps a big home, a
fine home, a palatial home, or not so palatial. But anyway,
he would leave his home and come in this direction. And when he
got a certain distance from the bride's home, There would be
people waiting, a processional of people. And in this processional,
they selected many young maidens, called them young virgins here.
And these young maidens, these virgins, carried lamps. That's at night. They would be
marching at night. The outdoor part of the processional
was conducted by torchlight. And there may be 10 young women,
or 15, or 20, or even more. I'll tell you in a few moments
about the number 10. But anyway, these girls, each
one of them had a cup, and it had a long rod on the cup. The cup was filled with oil.
And they had rags and rosin, rags and rosin, that they would
light, and it would make a blaze, a torch. And all of these girls
carried torches at night, and they would march with the bridegroom
when he came, all waited on him. They would sit around and talk,
and the bridegroom would come, and then they'd all fall in around
him and behind him, and they would march together with their
torches burning to the bride's home. When they got to the bride's
home, the door opened, And all of them went in, and the door
was shut, and the wedding feast began. The feast and the dance
and the ceremonies and all these things began. Well, in this story
that our Lord told, he said there's going to be a wedding. And the
ten virgins took their lamps and went forth from their homes,
wherever they were, they went to this certain place, and they
waited on the bridegroom. He was to come at a certain time.
But the coming of the bridegroom was delayed, so the virgins waited,
and their lamps were already burning in this stove, already
burning, because when the bridegroom came, they said, our lamps are
going out. All of them had a fire, all of
them had a torch, all of them had a cup. And they were sitting
around talking, and the bridegroom didn't come, the time and fashion
he didn't come, and some of them napped, and some of them talked,
and they talked about the bridegroom, and they talked about the wedding,
and they talked about the bride, and they talked about one another,
and they just bisted and sat around. Finally the story says
that they all fell asleep. They all fell asleep. By this
time their lamps were all flickering and dying down, and they fell
asleep. And at midnight, this is late.
But at midnight there was a cry made, verse 6, Behold, the bridegroom
cometh! And all of the virgins awoke,
and they were all aroused. And the scripture says they began
to trim their lamps. Look at verse 8. Five of the
girls were foolish, and five were wise. The wise ones brought
extra oil. They were prepared for a wait.
And they brought extra oil, and they had plenty of oil in their
cups. Their lamps, just like the other girls, were glowing
deep and flickering and dying. And they just turned it up. They
had more oil that they put right into the cups and filled their
cups. The other girls had no supply
of oil at all. And their lamps were going out, and they turned
to these girls, and they said, Give us some of your oil. We
don't have any oil. We can't be in the processional.
We can't meet the bridegroom. We can't serve our purpose if
we don't have oil. And they said, No, we can't give
you our oil. If we do, there won't be enough
for us. Go where they sell it and buy you some oil. So they
left, and the bridegroom came. And while they were gone, The
bridegroom and the five wise virgins formed the processional
and went to the house, our Lord said. And the door opened and
they all went in and the door was shut. And the wedding feast
began. The processional was over. The
preparation was over. The planning was over. The feast
began. And these girls came then and
knocked at the door and they said, Open unto us. Lord opened
unto us, verse 12, but he answered and said, Verily I say unto you,
I know you not." What's there for? For you know neither the
day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. Now, what's
the heavenly meaning of this earthly story? Well, I know first
of all that the Bridegroom is Christ. There's no question about
that. The Bridegroom coming. Go ye
out to meet the Bridegroom. But the coming of the Bridegroom
is something else. It is our Lord. He is the Bridegroom.
Let's not discuss the fact surrounding his coming. But it's either one of two things.
The coming of the Bridegroom, it may be his second coming.
It may be for some of us. Actually, some of us may still
be living when Christ comes. Scripture says we shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed. But now, in the case of most
of us, I say that the coming of the Bridegroom here is death. That's what I believe is death.
Christ is coming. Now, here's the reason I say
that. I wait for the coming of Christ for me. You wait for the
coming of Christ for you. You wait for the coming of the
Bridegroom. is going to be a wedding. The bride is the Church. Our
Lord is going to have a wedding, a wedding feast in which he shall
be glorified and honored. But his coming for me, if he
comes before I die, that will be his coming for me. But if
I die before the Lord's second coming, that will be his coming
for me. So whenever I go to meet the Lord, that's his coming.
That's the coming of the Lord. What about the ten virgins? Well,
the bridegroom is Christ. His coming is either his second
coming or his coming when the Master calls for you at death.
When you die, that will be the coming of the Lord for you. It
will all be over for you as far as this earth is concerned. Well,
who are the ten virgins? Well, the Jews made much of the
number ten in reference to men. And this is what they used to
say, if there were ten Jews in a certain place. They had a synagogue. Ten made up a congregation. That
was a congregation, ten people. If there were any less than ten
Jews, no synagogue, no congregation. This is the reason some believe
that Lydia and this little group were meeting down by the riverside.
They didn't have enough quorum for a congregation or for a synagogue,
so they met down by the riverside. But when there were ten or more,
they had a congregation. So what our Lord is saying here,
these ten virgins represent this congregation. It represents all
who have heard the gospel, all who profess to believe the gospel,
and all who profess an interest in the wedding or marriage supper
of the Lamb. These ten virgins. The bridegroom
was coming. They were all interested. They
were in the processional. They were part of the processional
according to them. They were looking for his coming,
they were talking about it, they were interested in it, and they
were part of it. That's the same thing concerning
a church. Everybody here has an interest
in eternity, in heaven, in the marriage of the Lamb, in Christ
Jesus, in his return, in death and eternity. We all have an
interest. So the ten virgins represent us, the congregation. Let's look at their lambs. They
all had lambs. In this way, it was really and
truly about these girls who went forth to meet the bridegroom.
There was very little difference. First of all, they were all virgins,
all young maidens. Next, they all had lamps. They
were all evidently dressed alike. They all were there for the same
purpose. That's right. They were there
for the same purpose. They were there for a processional. They
were there to take part in a wedding. They were there to take part
in the march from this place to where the wedding was going
to be held. They were all talking about the
wedding. Their likeness was remarkable. They all had lamps. They all
had fire. They were all talking about the
wedding. They were all a part of the wedding. All right, notice
this. It says in While the Bridegroom
Parried, verse 5, they slept. Now, I know a lot of preachers.
Every time I hear this parable preached, the fellow stops right
here and talks about the indifference of the Church in this day, and
how the Church has a tendency to sinfully grow indifferent
and careless, just like the world. They sleep just like the world.
Well, that's not what he says here at all. That's not what's
taught here at all. Really, what this indicates is
the ordinary affairs of life. Now, look at it just like it
is. They were expecting the bridegroom. All of these girls were there,
ten of them. I know five of them were wise and five were foolish.
Five took part in the procession in the inn and five didn't. Five
entered in with the bridegroom and five were shut out. But we
don't know that now. That hasn't occurred here. Really
and truly, if you would have walked up and they asked you,
pick out the foolish and the wise, you couldn't have done
it, because they were all young girls and they all had lamps
and they were all there for the same purpose, they were all dressed
alike, they were all talking with enthusiasm and eagerness
about the bridegroom, because you couldn't have discerned the
difference. And here's another thing about
this. These girls had been there a long time. There's a good possibility
they expected him at 7.30. just when it got dark, or 8 o'clock,
and they'd been there for 2, 3, 4 hours. And they'd run out
of conversation, and they began to lie down and sleep. That's
a normal thing. This is not necessarily a weakness,
but a necessity. And the same thing is true of
the church. The believer can't stay on his
knees all the time. The believer can't stay in his
Bible all the time, he has to work. He has to eat, he has to
sleep. He has family things to take
care of. He has his business to take care
of. He can't stay on his knees all the time. These girls had
to sleep. It doesn't mean they weren't
expecting the bridegroom. It doesn't mean that they weren't
anxious for his coming. It doesn't mean that they didn't
love him. It doesn't mean that they weren't a part of the procession.
They were just tired, and they lay down and slept. It may be that when the Lord
Jesus comes that I'll be sitting in there in that study when he
comes for me and I have a heart attack and I'll lay my head down
on the desk and die. And they say, well, he was about
to master his business. But now, brethren, I might be
over there lying in the bed at home taking a nap when he comes.
Would you still say he was about to master his business? It may
be one of you men, I'll call on you to pray, and you'll stand
up to pray, and this congregation and the Lord will come right
in for you, and you'll drop dead of a heart attack praying, and
somebody will say, well, he went to meet the Lord in prayer. But
it could be one of you will get killed on a steel mill while
you're working. Does that mean you're not on
fire for God? Does that mean you're indifferent?
Does that mean you care? Not at all. And so I think, with
some of the men I've been reading, that this is a wrong application
when we begin to talk here about indifference and carelessness
and the Church slumbering. I'll tell you this. In the Church of the Lord Jesus
Christ, We all have times when we're on the mountain and times
when we're in the valley. We have times when we're enthusiastic
and times when we're not so enthusiastic. We have times when our souls
are cast down and other times when our souls are lifted up.
But I tell you, we're looking for his coming. rejoicing in
his mercy and resting in his blood." Well, these girls were
lying around sleeping. This was a necessity. They were
weary and they were tired. They were taking a nap, and suddenly
the voice sounded, the bridegroom coming! And everyone was around. Everyone was around. What's that
a picture of? It's a picture of this. And I
find this is true as a minister of the gospel, as a pastor. When life is ending, it doesn't
matter whether a person is getting real old or whether they are
getting real sick or whether they know they are about to die,
but when life is ending and eternity's doors are beginning to open,
everybody gets interested in the coming of the Lord. Everybody
gets interested in religion. Everybody is aroused, everybody
with a lamp. Everybody with a lamp, everybody
with any profession at all, begins to inspect and examine the condition
of that lamp and begin to try to raise the flame. And that's when the difference
in the virgins appeared, right there, right there. These girls
were sitting around, and someone taking a nap, someone hollered,
the bridegroom coming, and they all jumped up. And they began
to examine and trim their lamps. And the five wise virgins began
to raise their wicks, or whatever they had, and the lamp just burned
brightly. And the other girls began to
work with theirs, and there wasn't anything there. They were cold,
and they were dead, and they were blackened, and they began
to scramble around and search and hunt for some oil, and they
didn't have any oil. And they panicked. And they said,
let's get some oil from these that have it, and share your
oil with us. And they said, we can't share
our oil with you. We're not the source of oil.
We're not the fountain of life. You'll have to go to those that
sell it. And while they were gone, the bridegroom came, and
he took those that were ready, and went in, and the scripture
says he shut the door. Now, the difference, all had
a knowledge of his coming, all of these virgins. as all the
Church has a knowledge of Christ's coming. All not only had a knowledge
of his coming, but all had some interest in his coming. These
girls had an interest, the wives and the foes. They had an interest
in his coming. They were interested. Thirdly,
all had lamps. All had the outward facilities
or the outward evidence of having a part in the processional. They
were everyone fully intending to be in that wedding. They were
everyone, the wise and the foolish, fully intending to be in that
wedding. But the foolish discovered too late that they didn't have
the only thing that was of really vital importance, and that's
all. They didn't have it. Now, what is this all? All they
had was a lamp, but no light. They had a lamp, but no oil.
What is this oil? Well, turn to John 7, if you
will. What is this oil? In John chapter 7, I want you
to look at verse 37. John chapter 7. Now, Spurgeon
said this, the oil, first of all, is the secret work of regeneration. It's the work of God's Spirit.
This was what our Lord talked to Nicodemus about. He said,
Nicodemus, you've got the profession, you've got the external, you've
got the claims, you've got all these things, but you don't have
the birth, the life, you don't have the regenerating work of
God's spirit, without which no man will enter the kingdom of
God, the secret regenerating work of the Holy Spirit. Spurgeon
went on, he said, this all is not only the secret work of regeneration,
but it's the very presence and life of God in the soul. It's
not just a claim, it's a possession. It's not just a profession, it
is an inward presence of the living God. Thirdly, it is the
actual presence of Christ and the love of Christ in the heart. Now look at John 7. Our Lord
Jesus Christ was at the feast. This was a religious feast, it
was a custom, a tradition of the Jews down through the years.
They came from everywhere. And they went through all of
the rituals and the ceremonies and whatever they did at this
Feast of the Tabernacles and all of the different things that
were commanded. And it was on the last day. And
these people had been there several days. They had folded up their
tents. They had gathered their children together. They had packed
up all of their equipment. They poured the water on the
altar, the ceremonies were over, the sermons were over, the rituals
were over, they packed everything up, they were getting ready to
leave. And as they left, on the last day, verse 37 of John 7,
our Lord stood and cried with a loud voice, If any man thirst,
let him come to me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers
of living water. This spake he of the Spirit,
which they that believe on him should receive." This is what
we're talking about, this is the awe. I'm waiting right now
for the Lord Jesus to come. I'm waiting for the Master to
come for me." As Mary and Martha sat in their house, someone came
in and said, the Master's come, and he's calling for you. And
someday I'll hear that someone, the Master's coming for me, either
at his return, which may be today, tomorrow, or whenever. But at
death, the Master's coming for me. I'll hear that one day. When
I have all of the externals, and I've talked about this great
marriage supper of I've talked about it, I've talked about it,
I think, reasonably and in an intelligent fashion. I believe
the word of God I say, I believe that Christ is coming, whether
premillennial or amillennial or whatever, I believe he's coming.
I believe there's going to be a marriage supper of the Lamb.
I believe that those who are in Christ and with Christ shall
forever dwell with Christ and the wicked shall be cast out.
And I fully intend to have a part in that processional, in that
great feast, in that great wedding. But I'll tell you what will determine
it when the Lord comes, and that's whether or not I have what this
oil here stands for, whatever it stands for. This is what our
Lord is teaching. He says down here in verse 13,
you watch, you know not the day nor the hour when the Son of
Man cometh. You watch for what? You examine for what? You examine
for your own personal faith and confidence in Christ, whether
or not you know him. Everybody here has some kind
of religious profession. Everybody here is fully intent. Like these virgins standing around
talking, five of them finally entered in, five of them were
shut out. And the scripture says that when they went in, he shut
the door. And it's too late to buy oil
then, it's too late to prepare our hearts then, it's too late
to get ready then. The door was shut, the wedding
had started, there's no influence after the wedding begins, there's
no influence after the ceremony begins, it's over. And they stand
without a knock and he says, I know you're not, I never knew
you, I know you're not, depart from me. Because they had no
oil. And this is what the scripture
is saying, turn to 2 Corinthians 11. You know, Peter said, Give
diligence to make your calling and election sure. And here in
2 Corinthians 11, no, it's chapter 13, verse 5, 2 Corinthians 13.5,
the Apostle Paul says, Examine yourselves, whether ye be in
the faith. know you not your own selves,
how that Jesus Christ is in you, except you be a reprobate." What
do we examine for? What do we search for? What do
we look for? We don't look for an outward
profession, because we all have that. We don't even look for
going through the motions, we all do that. We don't even look
for Bible study and prayer, we all do that. We don't even look
for knowledge of the doctrines, we all have that. We don't even
look for an expecting of his return, we all have that. Here's
what we look for. The Spurgeon said, the secret
work of regeneration in the soul. Have I been born of the Spirit
of God? Have I tasted the word of God? We look for the life
of God in the soul. We look for the fruit of the
Spirit in the soul. We look for the love of Christ
in the heart. That's what we're searching for.
or that the Spirit of God might give us a redeeming, saving knowledge
of Jesus Christ, the life of God in the soul. Let's pray together. Our merciful Father, we wait
before thee. Let every one of us in this congregation,
the pastor, Those who have been here for many years,
those who have been talking about and planning on the wedding processional,
the marriage supper of the Lamb, for many years, and those who
have only been sitting about with us for a short time, let
every one of us not wait until the voice sounds, the bridegroom
coming. But right now, to look into our
cups and into our hearts and into our souls and examine, do
we have the oil of life? Do we have the oil of salvation?
Do we have the secret work of the Spirit of God in regeneration?
Do we have the life and love of Christ in our hearts? Have
we been made anew? Is Christ our Lord and our King? Is Christ the sum and substance
and essence of our very being? Can we say with the Apostle Paul,
Christ is my life, Christ is my hope? We know something, our
Father, of what the Apostle said when he cried, I prevail till
Christ be born in you. The life of Christ, the truth
of Christ, the love of Christ, the person of Christ. We pray
earnestly, we wait before thee, and we pray earnestly that none
of us shall be among those tares that are gathered and bundled
and cast into the fire. That none of us shall be among
those foolish that wait for the sound of the bridegroom's voice
and then begin to try to find some more. That all of us might
give diligence to make right now our confidence in Christ
Our love for Christ, our hope in Christ, and our election,
sure, our calling, certain. Lord, leave us not to ourselves.
We know if we are left to ourselves, we'll perish. But if by thy grace,
thy Holy Spirit reveals unto us thy mercies in Christ, thy
grace in Christ, when he comes, our lamps will be burning. not
burning through our own effort, but burning through the oil of
our spirit that fills and floods our souls and our hearts. For
Christ's sake, and in his name, we pray thy mercies upon every
person here, saving mercies, redeeming mercies. Amen.