Will you turn in your Bibles
with me today to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25. Then shall the kingdom of heaven
be likened unto ten virgins. which took their lamps and went
forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were wise and five
foolish. They that were foolish took their
lamps and took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their
vessels with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried,
they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry
made, behold, The bridegroom cometh, go you out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose
and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the
wise, give us of your all, for our lamps are gone out. But the
wise answered, saying, not so, lest there be not enough for
us and you. But go you rather to them that
sell and buy for yourselves. And while they went by, 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 cometh. The title of the message, Behold,
the Bridegroom Cometh. Behold, the Bridegroom Cometh. And I have four things that I
want us to consider from this parable, and I trust the Lord
will bless his word to all of us here this morning. First,
I want us to think about the time and place when the Lord
Jesus spoke this parable. The time and the place when he
spoke this parable. As to the time, it was spoken
on one of the days in the last week of our Lord's earthly life,
in the week of his crucifixion. If you look in chapter 26 and
verse 2, And this is a continuation. And
you know that after two days is the feast of the Passover
and the Son of Man is betrayed to be crucified. He spoke this
parable in the last week of his earthly life, probably on a Wednesday. He had been in the temple. been
in the temple all of this day, and he had been tested by the
religious hypocrites, asking him if it was right to pay tribute
to Caesar, asking him about the resurrection of the dead. And
then our Lord, while he was there in the temple, he pronounced
eight woes upon the religious leaders of that day. Eight woes,
that's in chapter 23 of Matthew. And he left the temple for the
last time. He who the Old Testament prophet
Haggai had said would come as the desire of all nations, that
he would come to that temple. He had come. He is the desire
of all nations. That is, he is the one in whom
all nations of the earth should be blessed. There's only one
savior for mankind, no matter what nation he may be from or
she may be from. There's only one savior. In the
seat of Abraham, the son of David, he is the only way to the father. He had come to his temple. He
came unto his own, the apostle John tells us in John chapter
one, that is to the nation of Israel. He came unto his own
and his own received him not. But to as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on his name, which were born not of blood, not of
the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. The new birth is a work of God. It is a creation. He hath created
us in Christ Jesus, the scripture says. Man can build things, can
put things together, but man cannot create. Only God is able
to create. And he created all things that
are out of nothing. He spoke the world into existence. And in the new birth, he creates
a new man. That's the reason those who are
born of the Spirit of God believe in Christ, love Christ, follow
Christ. Why? Because they are a new creation
in Christ Jesus. Old things have passed away.
Behold, all things have become new. So that's the time when
our Lord spoke this parable. as he left the temple there for
the last day. And as to the place where he
spoke this parable, he was sitting upon the Mount of Olives. Now
the temple was built upon a mount in Jerusalem, and over against
the temple was the Mount of Olives. And when our Lord came out of
the temple, his disciples said unto him, do you see this beautiful
place? This beautiful temple that was
built and adorned by Herod. It was built, of course, by Ezra
when they came back out of 70 years captivity in Babylon. Do
you see this temple? And the Lord said, not one stone
will be left upon another. And we know that was fulfilled
in AD 70. When Titus came and you go to
Jerusalem today and you see on that temple mount, what do you
see? You see a mosque. You see a mosque. God, listen,
God put to an end all of those blood sacrifices, which only
pictured his one sacrifice for sin. They will not sacrifice,
the Jews will not sacrifice, but only in the place where God
had designated. And they can't sacrifice. Where's
the blood? Where's the blood? That's the
question that everyone should ask. Where is the blood? Preacher, where's the blood in
your preaching? Teacher, where's the blood in
your teaching? Believer, where's the blood in
your profession? For without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sins. He was setting upon the Mount
of Olives and his disciples came to him after he had declared
there's not going to be one stone left upon another. And they asked
him two questions. Number one, when shall this be? When shall this be? When shall
these things be? And what shall be the sign of
thy coming and the end of the world? That's the time of the
giving of this parable. That's the place where our Lord
gave this parable. And second, that's the occasion
of speaking this parable to answer the questions that his disciples
ask of him. When shall these things be? What
shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world?
Now he answered these two questions in what we have here in Matthew
24. And he revealed this fact about
his coming, if you notice in 24, chapter 24 and verse 36. He revealed that no man knows,
not even the holy angels, But of that day and hour, speaking
of his second coming, of that day and hour knoweth no man,
no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. Even though our Lord declared
that, And I don't see how anyone could misunderstand what he said. But that has not kept men over
the years from setting dates, setting dates as to when the
Lord Jesus Christ is going to come again. And they've got it
all figured out. They've got some formula that
they've worked out from some scripture. And they can tell
you. And they've deceived people.
And that's how the cult the Seventh-day Adventist cult came into being. The group that has a contract
on our building here, Seventh-day Adventist, and I, when I was
dealing with them, speaking with them, I went back and read again
in the book, The Kingdom of Cults, what it is the Seventh-day Adventists
believe. And they have many false teachings. But let me just mention two,
and it all resulted, here's the point, it all resulted by a man
fixing a date. This is when Jesus is going to
come back again. And of course he didn't. And
then they revised that. And that's what they always do,
every one of them. They fix a day, the Lord doesn't
come back. Oh, I've got to recalculate. And then they fix another day
and they're wrong again. But out of that, out of that
cult comes this teaching that the body we know of a believer,
a child of God, when The Lord comes for him, his body sleeps,
we use that term, sleeps in the ground. But they teach also that
the soul sleeps. The soul of the believer sleeps
in the ground until the Lord comes again. Well, there's so
many scriptures to refute that. One that comes to my mind so
easily is the words of the Lord Jesus Christ to that thief that
he saved the day he was crucified. He didn't say your soul will
sleep until I come again. No, he said today thou shalt
be with me in paradise. And Paul said to depart and to
be with Christ, which is far better. far better than remaining
in this world. Another era false teaching that
they have devised is there's no eternal punishment. And of
course, this is what so many would love to believe, that the
Lord Jesus Christ was not really telling the truth, I guess, when
he said that man's soul will be destroyed. in hell, will suffer
in hell. I mentioned this in a message
recently. He spoke more about hell than
any other man in the scripture. And no one surely can accuse
him of not being a person of love, of love. In fact, he loved his people
so much he gave his life for us. Well, no man knows. That's one thing our Lord told
his disciples that day. But I mention that only to point
out that they said he always has brought reproach upon the
name of Christ. And it always will. He said no
man knows, not even the holy angels know. Only the Father. What is this glorious truth?
It is His second coming. His second coming and Titus,
the Apostle Paul calls it the blessed hope. What is the blessed
hope of every child of God here this morning? It is that Christ
is going to come again to receive us unto Himself. That's a blessed
hope. Amen. And especially to the church
when it's going through persecution. And many, especially in the early
days of the church and in places in the world today, there's great
persecution of God's people. And this is a blessed hope that
Christ is coming again. The Bible clearly teaches that
Christ is going to come again. You know, when our Lord ascended
back unto the Father, this is recorded in Acts chapter one,
that angel, when his disciples were gazing up into heaven, as
he ascended up into heaven, the angel said, why? This same Jesus
is going to come again. And like manner, he's going to
come again. But I want you to look with me
at three truths now that our Lord did reveal in Matthew 24
about His coming, His second coming. We're all agreed, are
we not? He's going to come again. The
Word of God prophesied that He would come the first time He
came. The Word of God declares He's
coming again, and He will come again. He is the truth. With Him, there's not a shadow
of turning. Yes, He will come again. And
our Lord at least revealed these three things about His coming
in Matthew 24. First, it shall be sudden. In verse 27, His coming shall be sudden. For
as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto
the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. You've
seen the lightning flash, how quickly it runs across the sky. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians
15, he tells us it's going to be in the twinkling of an eye. Now, I don't know if you can
even measure that. In the twinkling of an eye, he's
going to come again and it's going to be sudden. Sudden. He could come right now. His coming is going to be sudden.
Brother Ralph Barnard used to say, no time to pack a suitcase. No time to grab a toothbrush.
No, prepare to meet thy God. He's coming again. It's going
to be sudden. And second, it's going to be
visible. When he said here in this text,
it shall be like the lightning in verse 27. For as the lightning cometh out
of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also
the coming of the Son of Man be. It's going to be visible. That passage we read in Revelation
chapter one tells us every eye shall see him. Now, on a stormy
night, so dark, you can't see the moon. It's there. You can't see a star in the sky. They're all there. But I tell
you one thing you can see, you can see a flash of lightning.
His coming is going to be visible. And number three, it's going
to be unexpected. unexpected. Look at that in verses
37, Matthew 24, verse 37 through 39. But as the days of Noah were,
so shall also the coming of the son of man be. For as in the
days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking,
marrying and giving in marriage until the day that Noah entered
into the ark. and knew not until the flood
came and took them all away, so shall also the coming of the
Son of Man be. In Hebrews chapter 11, when the
apostle refers to Noah, it tells us that he moved with fear. He
moved with fear. God spoke to him. Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. He lived in a wicked society,
in a wicked time. And Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord, and God revealed to Noah that he was going to
destroy all flesh outside of this ark that he was to prepare. Now, it had never rained before. Have you thought about that?
It had never rained before, as far as we know. And I believe
we're correct in this. It had never rained before. God
had watered the earth with a mist, with a dew. And God tells him
to prepare an ark. And it also tells us that he
was a preacher of righteousness, not man's righteousness. That's
what so many People are preaching today man's righteousness. You
need to do better. You need to make a change. You
need to clean up your life. You need to start going to church.
Oh, they've got all kinds of things you need to do to establish
your righteousness. That wasn't what Noah preached. Noah preached the righteousness,
which is a righteousness imputed. It's the righteousness of Christ. It's a perfect righteousness
that God accepts. And with that righteousness declares
a person justified, just as if he had never sinned. That's what
he preached for 120 years. And I imagine most people thought
he was crazy. Just like today when people hear
that the Lord is going to come again. Oh, I've heard that all
my life. That's what Peter talks about,
isn't it? That scoffers will come in the
last day. And that's what they're going
to say. Oh, I've heard that. Everything continues as it always
has been. That's not true. That's not true. Everything hasn't continued as
it has always been, and the flood is a demonstration. And the geologists,
they can tell you, you can see for yourself in the rocks, things
haven't always continued as they were in the beginning. There
was a flood. Just as the word of God says,
and everyone outside the ark died in the flood. Only those
in the ark were saved. Noah, his wife, three sons, and
their wives. Eight souls were saved. Our Lord says they were eating,
they were drinking. I wouldn't doubt they were having
a big time. Saturday night dance, the barn
dance. Big time, what's going on by
all. And every once in a while, they
just throw in this gist. That old crazy guy out there
building the ark. There's no water around here.
He's crazy. Well, until the day that Noah
entered into the ark. And do you know who called him
into that ark? God did. And do you know who closed the
door? God did. That's what the scripture says. It's coming. It's going to be
sudden, it's going to be visible, and it's going to be unexpected.
Therefore, God, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave this parable. And that's my third point. What
are we to take away from this parable? Well, this parable illustrates
what the Lord had taught. If you notice in chapter 24 in
verse 42, after speaking about Noah, he said, what's there for? For you know
not what hour your Lord doth come. Now look at the end of
the parable, Matthew 25, verse 13, the very same words. Watch
therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour wherein
the Son of Man cometh. His coming will be unexpected. And this parable is to emphasize
that we must be ready. We must be ready. You notice
in verse 10 of the parable, we read, and while they went to
buy, the bridegroom came and they that were ready, they that
were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was
shut. Now here's some things to remember
about a Jewish wedding at that time. A couple, the bride and
the bridegroom, they didn't meet at a synagogue or in the temple
at an announced hour and exchange their vows. That's the way most
weddings are today. Send out invitations on a certain
date at a certain time. You're invited to attend the
marriage of so and so. That's not the way a marriage
was conducted at that time, among the Jews at least. On the day
of the wedding, the bridegroom, and usually he would have some
attendance, they would go to the house of the bride. And whatever
ceremony was going to take place would take place there in the
house or in the home of the bride. And they might remain there for
several hours. It wasn't a fixed time. I mean,
no one knew how long they might remain there. And then when they
left that place, they would go to the bridegroom's home where
the marriage would be celebrated. And along the way, it would be
a very festive time, of course, a celebration. And along the
way, Those that were invited would be with torches, lights,
or lamps to light up the way to the home of the bridegroom. Now in the parable, five were
wise in that they took their lamps, their torches, and they
took oil. And five were foolish. They took their lamps, but they
didn't take any oil. The wives, they took oil along
with their lamps. They were ready. They were ready
if he came in an hour, if he came in two hours, if he came
in three hours. No matter what time he was to
come, the bridegroom and the group, they were ready. Why? Because they had taken along
oil for their lamps. Have you ever noticed in this
parable, I know you're familiar with the parable, you've probably
read it many times, heard it read many times, but have you
ever noticed this? That in this parable, the Lord
mentions the bridegroom four times. Notice in verse one, then
shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins, which
took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Verse five, while the bridegroom
tarried. Verse six, behold, the bridegroom
cometh. And verse 10, and while they
went to buy, the bridegroom came. Our Lord mentions the bridegroom
four times in these 13 verses, but do you notice he never mentioned
the bride? Never mentioned the bride. Now we know that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the heavenly bridegroom. John the Baptist, in John chapter
three, referred to himself as the friend of the bridegroom,
speaking of Christ. And our Lord, if you turn back
just a few pages to Matthew nine, our Lord referred to himself
as the bridegroom. In Matthew chapter nine, in verse
14, Then came to him the disciples
of John saying, why do we and the Pharisees fast off, but thy
disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, can
the children of the bride chamber mourn? You see, he's referring
to himself clearly as the bridegroom. Can the children of the bride
chamber mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? Why
is it that your disciples don't fast? The disciples of John and
the Pharisees, they fast. Our Lord said, well, as long
as the bridegroom is with them, referring to himself, they don't
fast. But notice, when the bridegroom
shall be taken from them, then they shall fast. Why is it, do
you wonder the Lord didn't mention the bride in this parable? He
mentions the bridegroom. Well, I'm going to say this. It would be very confusing if
he did. Because obviously the wise virgins
represent the church. Those who are ready when the
Lord comes. When he comes again, he's coming
for his church. And his bride are those who are
truly his by faith. The wise virgins make up the
bride. They make up the church. They're
the ones who go in in his parable. Remember the point of the parable
is be ready. Be ready. They're the ones who
go in and they're the ones he's coming for in his sermon. On the mount, he contrasted the
wise and the foolish. As here, there's a contrast between
the wise virgins and the foolish virgins. In his sermon on the
mount, he contrasted the wise builder from the foolish builder. The wise builder is the one who
builds his house on the rock. The foolish builder is he who
builds his house upon the sand. In the visible, in the professing
church today, in the so-called Christian church today, over
a billion people, well, I think over four billion people, in
the so-called Christian church, the visible Christian church, There are those who are simply
professors, and then there are those who are possessors. There are those who built upon
the rock, and I trust everyone in this building that we're built
upon the rock. And if you have not built upon
the rock, then you see yourself as a foolish builder. because
the Lord's going to come and you're going to be left out. The wise builder builds upon
Christ the rock. You say, well, what is the sand
that people build on, these foolish virgins? Well, some build on
their baptism. Well, you know, when I was a
baby, they tell me they took me down to the front of some
church building and sprinkled some water on my face and said
I was a member of the Church of God. That's what they trust
in. That's what they're building
their hope of heaven on. Others say, well, you know, everybody
has a good opinion of me. I'm a good neighbor. I do good
works. Building on the sand. There's
only one rock. There's only one savior. And
only those who are built upon him are going to enter in to
the marriage, the marriage of the lamb, the marriage supper
of the lamb. Now, here's my fourth point. Give me just a minute. The Lord, I want you to see something.
The Lord Jesus, by speaking this parable, he associates his second
coming with a marriage. What do we associate with a marriage? Joy. Joy. That's what we associate with
a marriage. How many times have I stood here
or in some other place and the bridegroom is standing over here
and his attendants and that door opens back there and the bride
comes walking in and you can just see his face light up with
joy, with joy, happiness. His bride. And the point I'm
making is that when the Lord comes again, it's a time of joy
for believers, for the children of God. It's a time of great
joy. It is a blessed hope. Our Lord
is coming again, and He's coming for us to take us to be with
Him, that where He is, there we may be also. Great joy. Great joy! And I don't know why
it seems like those of us who believe in God's sovereign grace,
and we do, and preach it and proclaim it, but for some reason,
we shy away from preaching on our Lord's second coming. And
this, this ought not to be. It's an important truth, just
like other important truths in the word of God. And I wrote
down just a few things associated with this joy when the Lord comes
again. Number one, we shall see him
who loved us and gave himself to redeem us. Can you imagine
what that's going to be like? To look into the face of him
who loves you, loves you so much, He shed His precious blood to
redeem you, to save you from your sins. That's joy, isn't
it? Yes. Number two, we shall receive
our glorified body, fashioned like unto His glorious body.
And I know you young people, you don't think much about it,
but if God lets you live long enough, you're going to see.
This old body, it starts wearing out. It really does. And some people, not just in
old age, but some people at a very young age, yeah, but we're going
to have a new body. We're going to have a glorious
body. It's going to be a body like his. And number three, we're going
to be done with sin. Can you imagine that? You go
to bed every night, if you're like me, and you say, Lord, forgive
me. Forgive me for the sins I've
committed this day. And some of them you remember,
and some of them you don't even remember. But you know what? You'll never
pray that prayer again. You'll be done with sin once
and forever. Number four. we shall be reunited
with loved ones who were saved and have gone on before us. Now, I have a tendency not to speak about this, but I tell
you, I look forward. I've been pastor here from the
beginning. I was thinking the other day,
and I can just go over this one and this one who's passed away
since I've been their pastor, was their pastor. I tell you
what, I look forward to seeing them again. And I do. Don't you? That's a time of joy. Yes. And I'll tell you the last thing
about joy. We're going to understand some
things that we don't understand today. Some providences, some
of you going through trials and afflictions and difficulties,
and you say, why? Why me? You're going to understand
that God led you, directed you, that infinite wisdom, infinite
power has worked all these things out for your good and for his
glory. Be no doubt about it. Behold,
the bridegroom cometh. Amen? Maybe today. Maybe today. OK, let's sing a
hymn.