Turn in your Bibles, please.
Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25. I want us to look at the parable
of the 10 virgins. We find this in the first 13
verses of Matthew 25. 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 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 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 you 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 cometh. I'm thankful for the chapter
and verse divisions that we have in our Bibles, but we should
all recognize that these were not in the original manuscripts. I said, I'm thankful for them.
What if we didn't have them? And I had announced a few minutes
ago, turn with me if you will, in the book of Matthew to the
parable of the 10 virgins. Some of us probably would still
be looking. They are helpful, but they're
not inspired. And I point this out to us for
this simple reason. Sometimes the subject of the
context in which we have our verses is forgotten. Let's remember
that this parable our Lord spoke was part of his answer. An answer to the question that
began in chapter 24 in verse 3, after he had told his disciples
that there would not be one stone left upon another stone in that
beautiful temple that they had just come out of, they asked
him, this is found in chapter 24 verse 3, tell us when shall
these things be? He had just spoken of the destruction
of the temple. When shall these things be? When
one stone will not be left upon another. And most, most of chapter
24 is taken up with the Lord answering that question, when
the destruction of Jerusalem would take place. Now we know
it took place in A.D. 70, but then a few years after
that, They came back and completely destroyed the temple. Not one
stone was left upon another. But that wasn't all of their
question. Their question also was, what shall be the sign of
thy coming and of the end of the world? And if you look here
in Matthew 25 down to verse 31, past our parable, We see that the Lord is still
dealing and answering that question. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He
set upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered
all nations, that is, all peoples, and they shall be separated one
from the other. When he comes a second time,
comes in glory, came the first time in humility, didn't he? He was poor. And yet when he
comes a second time, the next time he comes, he will come in
great glory, the glory of the angels, glory of his father,
and he will come to judge the world. I have three subjects from this
parable that I want to speak to us from this morning. Three
subjects. First of all, I want us to consider
the unexpectedness and suddenness of the Lord's second coming.
Verse six says, behold, the bridegroom cometh. Now, when I say the unexpectedness
of His second coming, I do not mean by that that people do not
expect that the Lord Jesus will come again. Most people who are
in any way familiar with Christianity know that we teach and believe
that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to come again, that there
is going to be an end to this world. that there is going to
be a judgment one day. Most people believe that. I understand even at this present
time because of things that are going on in our world, the war
in Europe, Ukraine, the uncertainty in our country and in many other
countries, the COVID plague that came upon this world and is still
here, that many people are thinking that the world is about to come
to an end. Many people believe. But I say
his second coming is unexpected in this sense, yes, Most people
believe that he will come again, but not today. Not today. Oh yeah, he's going to come again. We think that there's going to
be an end to this world, to this age as it now is. Yes, but not
today. Certainly not going to happen
today. But his coming is going to be
unexpected. These virgins, all 10 of them,
they expected that he was going to come. This was all part of
a wedding ceremony they were all familiar with. This was part
of the way they were married when the bridegroom would ride
with his bride from his house or rather from her house to his
house to spend the wedding night and there would be a wedding
party and it would be a time of jubilee and a time of singing
and praising and just a good time. They believed he was coming
but not Just now, not just now. Now this is not the only place
where the Lord Jesus taught about the unexpectedness of his coming. If you turn back into chapter
24 and verse 37, in answer to their question,
he said, but as the days of Noah were, So shall also the coming
of the Son of Man be. Well, how was it? How was it
in the days of Noah? What was going on? What was taking
place? Same thing that's taking place
today. Very same thing. You want to know what was taking
place in the days of Noah? Just open up your eyes and look
around you. Very same things were taking
place. Notice in verse 38. For as in
the days that were before the flood, they were eating and drinking. Most of us do that, don't we?
Just about everyone we know. Eating and drinking, that's part
of life. We've got to eat, we've got to
drink to continue in this world. Marrying and giving in marriage,
people are getting married. I saw I think on the news just
recently over there in Ukraine how many marriages were performed
before they left. The ladies, the women are leaving
the country and the men are staying to fight and many of them got
married. Marriages taking place every
day in our world. Marrying and giving in marriage
until until the day Noah entered into the ark. Also along with the unexpectedness
of our Lord's coming is the suddenness of it. Once that shout was given, Someone
shouted, the scripture says the Lord Jesus Christ will come with
a shout of the archangel, the trump of God, just like here
in this parable. Someone shouted out, behold,
the bridegroom cometh, and no one had time as my Old preacher,
Brother Ralph Barnard used to say, no one had time to pack
a suitcase, grab a toothbrush or anything else. Boast, he would say that talking
about our lives in this world. Boast not thyself of tomorrow,
for thou knowest not what a day shall bring forth. And many people
die of a sudden. Not expected to die, not a long
lingering death, but they leave their house one morning on the
way to work and their life is snuffed out on the highway, on
the way, or they're at work and someone comes in with a rifle
or a gun and for whatever reason, they don't come back home. They
never sleep in their bed again. The suddenness, the unexpectedness,
yes, but the suddenness of the Lord's second coming. No time
to prepare. No time to get ready now. And I cannot help but notice
there in the text, in the parable in verse 10, at the end of that
verse, it says the door was shut. The door was shut. Makes me think about Noah. After
he had built that ark, I believe 120 years in building the ark,
no one believed it was going to rain, never had rained before.
Why would we think it's going to rain? Why would we think that
a ship, an ark up here on dry ground in the mountains is going
to float? It's going to see water. How
are you going to get it to the sea? No, the sea's coming here. No one expected it until Noah
was called into the ark. I just visualized that ark like
a gangplank, sort of, you know, a big opening. Had to be big
for those animals. Some of those animals were big.
Had to be big for them to go up into the ark. And the day came and God said,
Noah, come thou and your family into the ark. And it said in
such a way as though Noah went in unto the Lord. The Lord was
in that ark. Picture a type of Christ, I understand
that. But when Noah entered into that
ark and his wife and children, then the Lord, He shut them in. He closed the door. God did. Just like in this parable, the door was shut. Turn with
me to Luke chapter 13. We'll come back here in just
a moment. But look in Luke chapter 13. Verse 24. Luke chapter 13 in verse 24. Our Lord said, Strive. And he
said this, notice he was asked this question before that, verse
23. Then said one unto him, Lord,
are there few that be saved? Are there few that be saved?
That's not the question. That's not the question. The
question must be, how can I be saved? Not, are there few that
are going to be saved? No. How may I be saved? What must I do? That's what the
jailer asked, wasn't it? When he came out and spoke to
Paul and Silas, what must I do to be saved? He didn't say, are
there few that are going to be saved? No. But notice how our Lord answered
that question, strive to enter in at the straight gate for many
are saying to you will seek to enter in and shall not be able
when once the master of the house has risen up and has shut to
the door. And you began to stand without
and to knock at the door saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us and
he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence you
are. Now, if you don't get anything
else out of that passage of Scripture, please, please, please listen. When, when will men seek to enter
in and not be able? When? When the door is shut. Thank God today the door is not
shut. The door is not shut, but one
day it shall be. The unexpectedness and the suddenness
of our Lord's coming. That's the first subject. Let's
move on to the second subject. all of the Holy Spirit in the
work of regeneration. In other words, the 10 virgins,
they represent all who profess to be Christians. Now let's think
about these two groups. First of all, the wise virgins. Five were wise. Does this mean
that they were born with a higher IQ than other people? Of course
not. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 1,
the apostle said, for you see your calling brethren, how that
not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble
are called. Well, what do we know about these
wise virgins? Look in 2 Timothy. This is very
important. 2 Timothy. Chapter 3, verse 15. The apostle is writing to Timothy,
whose mother and grandmother were believers. He had been raised
in a home where the scriptures were read, no doubt, and believed. But Paul says to Timothy, and
that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures which are
able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ
Jesus. These wise virgins were those
who had been made wise unto salvation through the scriptures, through the word of God. Sometimes people will say, well,
you know, I can worship God out in the woods. I can worship God
in nature. No doubt you can, if you know
nature's God. But there's only one way that
you may know the truth, and that is in Christ Jesus. And that is from the Word of
God, the written Word of God. These who are called wise, no
doubt they had learned of their need. They're not going to learn that
anywhere else. This world will tell everyone,
well, you're okay. You're okay, I'm okay. Everyone,
we're fine. Oh, we may have a few errors
that we're guilty of, but basically we're all good people. These wise virgins, they had
learned that according to the word of God, they had a plague. A plague. Everyone knows what
a plague is. We're afraid of plagues, aren't
we? And that plague, that sickness is sin. That disease is sin. They learned they had a need. They had a heart that's desperately
wicked and deceitful above all things. No doubt they had learned
that a person is a fool who trusts in his own heart. They learned their need. No doubt
they'd learned from the scriptures of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
had promised a savior from the beginning, and God had sent him
into this world, the Lord Jesus Christ. They believed. They believed, as that scripture
tells us, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through
faith which is in Christ Jesus. They had heard the message, they
had believed the message, they committed themselves unto the
Lord. I believe they were all able
to say, just like Paul, when he said, I know whom I have believed. And I am persuaded that he's
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day. And there's a pretty good definition
of faith, knowledge. I know whom. I have believed and am persuaded. There's a persuasion, a persuasion,
a testimony in your heart. That's the truth. That's the
word of God. That's the gospel. And I've committed
myself. I've committed unto him. What did Paul committed unto
him? I believe that he's able, he said, to keep that which I've
committed unto him against that day. I've committed my soul. I've committed the saving of
my soul to him, to Christ. He's the savior. They were wise
virgins and they've been made wise through the scriptures. I cannot overemphasize, I just
know this is so, I cannot overemphasize as a preacher the importance
of the word, the written word of God. To read it, to hear it, to believe
it, to heed it. There was a man in our service
last Wednesday night. He hasn't been here in a long
time. He's not a member of our congregation. I don't think he's
ever come except on Wednesdays. And he hasn't been here in a
long time. A long time. I'm so happy to
see him come back. But I noticed he didn't have
a Bible, which was strange because he's always had a Bible with
him. And I mentioned that to him after the service. And I
pointed this out. I said, we do use the Bible here. We do. We do. And I can't imagine sitting in
a service where we use the Bible, where we turn from verse to other
verses and other places and not having a Bible. The Word of God. They had been made wise unto
salvation through the Scriptures. Now these foolish, the five foolish
virgins, they're not called foolish because they were unconverted
in one sense of the word. All unconverted people are foolish. They're foolish because they
believe that they can be satisfied, they can find satisfaction somewhere
other than in Christ. I believe it was Augustine, you
know, that great defender of the faith in the 300 AD, I believe
is when he lived. But he made the statement, at
least it's attributed to him, that God has so created man that
there's a place, a vacuum maybe, that can never be filled except
by God. And man is in this world without
God seeking happiness in things, in fame, in money, in health,
in wealth, in all these things, but they can never bring happiness,
contentment, until the soul comes to rest in Christ. We'll never
find rest. Never find rest. They were foolish
virgins because they built their hope of salvation on anything
other than Christ. They were professing Christians,
yes, but no doubt they were trusting in morality. They were moral
people. They were good people. Some had
been raised in a home, a Christian home. And I've run into this
so many times when people have found out I'm a preacher, they
say, oh, you know, my, my uncle was a preacher. My, my granddad
was my neighbor. Thinking that just some connection
to a preacher that, that no, no, they were foolish in thinking
that there may be salvation in anything other than the person
and work of Jesus Christ. They thought themselves good
and they probably were relatively good people. But the one thing
that they did not see, they did not believe, they did not know,
is that the scripture tells us that all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. All of it. All of it. God's not going to accept filthy
rags. There's only one righteousness
that God will accept, and that's the righteousness of Jesus Christ,
that imputed righteousness. Let's move on to the third subject,
and I'll be brief. But the ten virgins, the wise
as the foolish, all went to sleep. Now, we're not surprised, are
we, when we read that the foolish virgins went to sleep. But what
about the wise? What about the wise? Well, they
also went to sleep. Now, we must point out, this
is not what we would call the dead sleep of sin. They did have
oil in their vessel. They're like the bride in the
Song of Solomon when he came and knocked for entrance and
she said, I'm asleep, but my heart's awake. Sleeping Christians. Am I asleep? Am I asleep? These were 10 wise
virgins. They were asleep. Three thoughts. First of all,
how is this sleeping of a believer possible? How is it possible
that a believer could go to sleep? I'm not talking about physical
sleep, you understand that. How is it possible that a child
of God could go to sleep? Well, I would answer, there's
two things to consider. It's possible because every child
of God still has an old nature. We have a new nature if we've
been born of the Spirit of God. And the new nature abominates
the very thought of ever allowing ourselves to get into such a
condition. But we also have a law in our
members, the Apostle Paul tells us of. A law which means when
I would do good, evil is present with me. When I would be awake,
burning with zeal in the things of God, I would be awake, but
evil's present with me. There's always that possibility
that I'll go to sleep. And second, it's possible because
we all have responsibilities in this world. We all do. And sometimes we allow these
responsibilities to become what the Word of God calls worldly
cares. Worldly cares. And worldly cares
always choke out the Word of God. That's how it's possible. Well,
how is this sleeping of a believer manifested? Well, it's manifested
in several ways. concerning what we call the cardinal
graces, that is love, hope, and faith. Faith, hope, and love.
Our faith, this is one way it's manifested that we are sleeping. Our faith grows weak. Our hope
grows weak. We've been begotten again unto
a living hope, a lively hope by the resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen, we've got an eternity
before us, a blessed eternity before us. That's our hope that
when we leave this world, that's not the end of our existence.
No, no, we're going to be with the Lord and we're going to enjoy
Him forever. But that hope, that expectation,
it begins to grow dim. And then our love, our love for
Christ, our love for the things of God, our love for his church
begins to grow cold. A believer can never lose his
first love, but he can leave his first love. We know that
because that was what the church at Ephesus had done. How does
it manifest concerning our zeal in the service of our Lord? We
become slothful, slow, where once we were fervent and we had
a zeal in the things of God. But now there's a lukewarmness,
almost an unconcern for the things of Christ. We're more concerned
for anything and other things than we are the things of Christ.
And then it's manifested by what we call the sins, little sins,
of omission and commission. And we forget that Solomon said,
the little foxes spoil the vines. The little peccadillos, that's
what we call them, the little sins. Well, let me mention this last
thing. How is this sleeping of a believer
to be avoided? How is it to be avoided? Well,
first of all, recognition. Recognize that we're capable
of going to sleep. We're capable. No one here, no
believer here, I don't care if it's a preacher, the Sunday school
teachers, the deacons, whoever, we're all capable of becoming
sleepy Christians, Christians asleep. Recognize that. The spirit is willing, the flesh
is weak. And number two, petition. Be careful, be careful to petition
the Lord to keep, to keep this from happening to you. It doesn't
happen overnight. It happens gradually, I'm sure,
over a period of time. And then we wake up one day and
we realize we're way out here in right field somewhere. I want you to turn with me to
Psalm 119. You know, David was a man, the scripture
says he was a man after God's own heart. He had his failures,
didn't he? He sure did. You know, after he committed
adultery and nine months went by, he was asleep. He committed adultery and he
was guilty for the murder of that woman's husband until the prophet came to him
and told him, thou art the man. But notice in this Psalm 119,
it's the longest Psalm, but I want you to look at several verses.
We'll just go through them, reading them. And we notice one thing
in particular. Let's begin in verse 25. My soul
cleaveth unto the dust. Quicken thou me according to
thy word. Verse 37, turn away mine eyes
from beholding vanity. Quicken thou me in thy way. Verse 40. Behold, I have longed
after thy precepts. Quicken me in thy righteousness. Verse 88. Quicken me after thy loving kindness,
so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. Verse 107. I'm afflicted very much. Quicken
me, O Lord, according unto thy word. Verse 149. Hear my voice according unto
thy lovingkindness, O Lord, quicken me according to thy judgment. 156. Great are thy tender mercies,
O Lord, quicken me according to thy judgments. And verse 159,
consider how I love thy precepts, quicken me, O Lord, according
to thy loving kindness. Do you see how many times David
prayed to the Lord, petitioned him, quicken me, quicken me,
quicken me. In several of those verses, I
don't know if you noticed it, we went through them pretty quick,
but he mentioned God's loving kindness, quicken me according
to the loving kindness. I saw this definition of that
word this past week, loving kindness. God's love in action. God's love in action. Quicken thou me according to
thy loving kindness. I pray that the Lord would bless
these words to each one of us here today.