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3:34Good morning. Open your Bibles to Matthew chapter 25. We'll be reading, our message will be from there this morning. Let Christ be all and I be nothing. These songs have really prepared our hearts with that thought, for that's really the underlying theme of this message. I struggled with coming up with a title for this. This is the parable of the ten virgins, but it's more about Christ's admonition, Christ's command, or put even more strongly, Christ's warning to be prepared for his return. I think you'll see that in the action that unfolds in the sermon today.

4:27You know, if you were like me yesterday, you were outside. doing something, what were you doing? Anybody wrapping their pipes? Anybody covering their plants? Anybody bringing them inside? Yeah. You were busy preparing for something that you know is coming. You were given a warning that cold weather is coming. And it's not enough just to know the cold weather is coming. You have to do some things. Because once the cold weather comes, And the freeze happens, if you didn't wrap your pipes, what's going to happen to those pipes?

5:04They're going to burst. What's going to happen to the plants if you don't bring them inside? They're going to die, and you can't get that day back, right? Once it freezes, it's all over. If you didn't prepare, it's too late. So the Lord providentially even prepared your hearts for this parable today. I've got to share this story about a time when I was unprepared. When I was in the Marine Corps a long time ago, I flew a helicopter called the AH-1W Cobra. It was an attack helicopter. Two pilots flew with a grand assortment of rockets and missiles and bullets. And one time I was undergoing a night training flight. We were preparing for this flight. We had days to prepare for it, and it was a big mission. I was very excited to be a part of it. Multiple helicopters. It included jet aircraft that were going to drop bombs. It included artillery support and ground forces. And it was going to be quite the exciting training mission. Okay, it was just a training mission.

6:16Well, as the day got closer, the day of the mission arrived, and this was going to be flown at night with night vision goggles, another amazing technology device that we can put on our helmets and enables us to see at night. Well, that afternoon, we pre-positioned our helicopters out closer to the mission area and waited for night to fall. And as the sun went down and it got dark, we climbed into our helicopters, ready to start this mission that we'd planned for for so many days. And I pulled out my night vision goggles and put them on my helmet.

6:48And I flipped them down and I saw nothing. Fortunately, so flip back there, the battery was dead. Well, it's okay, I have another battery. I flipped the switch to the other battery, and I saw nothing. Both the batteries on my night vision goggles were dead, and I didn't have a spare. And we were out so far away from anything, there was no place I could go to get a spare. With all that I had done that I thought was prepared, I was not prepared for that flight.

7:21I'll just let you imagine what happened next. You can ask me later. I was a student pilot, the instructor pilot. Well, He was a Marine, too. That's right. Back to our parable. Before we read it, this parable is about several people who were not prepared for their mission as well. Even more important, this parable is about the importance of being spiritually prepared for Christ's return to the earth. It's about the importance of being spiritually prepared for Christ's return to the earth. Now, I've been reading a lot about this parable. There's been a lot written about this parable.

8:05Many want to explain it as an allegory with every detail having some sort of secret meaning. Others insist that we must know every detail of first-century Jewish weddings to make sense of this parable. I actually find that it's very straightforward, it's very simple. And let me give you the bottom line up front of this parable. Okay, so as we read it, you'll see that it teaches four things. First of all, it teaches us that Christ is coming again.

8:35Christ is coming again. Secondly, it teaches that when he does, he's coming to judge sinners and to reward the righteous. This should be something that you've probably read in the Bible somewhere in many places, right? And lastly, he teaches that his coming will be sudden and unexpected at a time actually when we least expect it. And finally, he teaches there will be no second chance. There will be no second chance for sinners to come to repentance and redemption.

9:08In spite of God's patience and his warnings and the clarity of the gospel, many will not be prepared. They'll put it off, too busy with the temporal while ignoring the eternal. Nursing secret sins while giving a façade of righteousness. Wanting the blessings of God, but refusing to bow the knee to his lordship. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. There will come a day when the door will be shut and people can knock all they want, but the opportunity for redemption, which the door has been opened for thousands of years, will be gone forever. That day will come. That's the message of this parable.

9:58So before we read it, let's look at the context of it. This is what's referred to as the Olivet Discourse. This is Jesus' last sermon that he preaches before his crucifixion. And he spends two chapters answering two simple questions the disciples asked, all the way at the beginning of Matthew chapter 24. The disciples ask, they ask him two things. They ask him about when he's going to establish his kingdom. He asks them, when will these things be, and what will be the sign of your coming?

10:31And the end of your age. And Jesus gives a lengthy answer to these two questions. And the parable that we're going to look at today is part of that answer. Most of chapter 24 is Jesus answers the questions about the signs of his coming. What's going to be some clues that's getting close? And he gives that answer in most of chapter 24 by comparing the signs to labor pains, to birth pains, which come in rapid succession right before his coming.

11:03Then Jesus answers the question about the time of his coming very precisely. He tells them, No one will know the day or the hour. So the time of his coming is not revealed to us. It's going to be unexpected. So we know the signs, but we don't know the exact time of his coming. So how are we to then live? How are we to live in light of this uncertainty? He follows this answer with one command.

11:35This is what his followers are to do while we're waiting for the unknown hour of his return. We are to be ready. We're to watch and be ready. And that's what we're going to see in this parable. Let's begin reading in Matthew chapter 25. I'll read starting at verse 1. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out. To meet the bridegroom. Now, five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight, a cry was heard: Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you. But rather go to those who sell and buy for yourselves.

12:44And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. Afterward, the other virgins came, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. I look at this lesson in five parts. I'll give you my outline. It's not very complicated. It's so simple, I didn't even put it up on the slide. I'll just tell it what it is right now. Okay, first, verses one through five is about the bridegroom, the bridesmaids. The bridesmaids Are presented and they're waiting. So the first five verses about the bridesmaids. Verses six and seven is about the bridegroom's arrival. The bridegroom arrives. Verses eight and nine, you have the bridesmaid's crisis.

13:48The bridesmaid's crisis. Verses 10 and 12, you have admission and omission. Admission and omission. And lastly, verse 13 is the lesson of the parable. Here's the main point I want you to take away from this passage. There will be a day when the opportunity for salvation is past and all hope is gone forever. I'll say it again. There will be a day when all opportunity for salvation is past and all hope is gone forever. You cannot put it off until you are ready or you think the time is near because we don't know when that last opportunity will come. That's how we're to live. We're to be ready now and we're to be ready every day while there's time. Those who put it off, Jesus says, I don't know you. He actually says, I never knew you. Isaiah 55 says, Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. That's what we're to do. Well, let's look at the first five verses. Verses where we have the bridesmaids who are presented to us and they're waiting. So, the bridesmaids, verses 1 through 5. It says, Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Jesus is making a comparison. He begins it with a time word, then. He's been talking about the time of his return, and he's saying, Then, it puts us in, it takes us to a time, the time that he's been talking about for all of chapter 24. Then he's referring to is the time of his return to earth. He compares the time of his return to a wedding. He actually compares it specifically to a certain group who are invited to the wedding, these ten bridesmaids. Okay, so this brings us to the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins. Okay, the word here is parthenos, which is a young lady who is not married and has not known a man. Much like today, bridesmaids in early Middle Eastern weddings were unmarried ladies who were friends of the family or of the happy couple. I don't really think their chastity is the subject of the parable as much as their role in the wedding. They are bridesmaids and they have a job to do. Similar to modern weddings, bridesmaids have a job to do. They're to stand up there and look pretty and hold their flowers, right?

16:30So they're to attend to the bride. I don't think the number is specifically important either. Today, modern weddings have several bridesmaids, some just a few, some many, and apparently ten was a typical number for an ancient Jewish wedding, so it would not have been far-fetched. I've been to weddings where there are about that many bridesmaids, so there's a lot of bridesmaids up there. There's ten of them. What did they do next? So the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to these ten virgins who took their lamps. So instead of flowers, they're carrying lamps. Bridesmaids carried lamps in those days. Actually, the word here, lampas, really interesting word, it's really not used for a lamp. Okay, like the lamp that you would set under a bushel. You're not supposed to set your lamp under a bushel. That's a different word. I can't pronounce it. But lampas actually is used in John 18. When the Roman cohort came to the Garden of Gethsemane, they were carrying swords, and they were carrying what? Lampas, torches at night. So torches is really the better image here.

17:45And what's a torch? It's a long stick with something, some cloth wrapped at the end, not like my pretty picture up here. That was just kind of what I could come up with. It's got some cloth on the end, and that cloth would be soaked in some sort of fuel, oil. And the oil would burn and provide light. So, this is interesting. These were interesting weddings. The bridesmaids are carrying torches. It kind of looks like midnight yell practice.

18:12Why were they carrying torches? Well, this is something that's probably important in detail. This part of the wedding would occur at night, so they needed torches to light the way, and that was their job. Their job was also to take their torches and to meet the bridegroom. The bride would be waiting at her house in the evening with her bridesmaids and waiting for the groom to come from his house. And he would come and take her from his house, and then they would have a procession back to the groom's house for the wedding feast. And the bridesmaids' job was to have the really fun job of greeting the bridegroom with these flaming torches and then following the happy couple through the streets back to the groom's house. All right, so torches were going to be an important part of that, as part of this great torch-lit procession to his house for the wedding feast, which is really the culminating event of these weddings. So you get the picture.

19:11The kingdom of heaven is likened to ten virgins who took their lamps, went out to meet the bridegroom. They have a job to do, and they have special equipment, a torch with which to do it. All right? Now we're told something else about these bridesmaids in verse 2. Five of them were wise and five were foolish. So Jesus reveals a very important distinction between these ten bridesmaids. Five were five, five were foolish. Half of them? Really? Not just one?

19:46Half? Is this proportion significant? I actually think it is, but we'll discuss that later. First, let's take a look about what it is that makes a wise bridesmaid wise and the foolish ones foolish. It says that, verse 3, the foolish bridesmaids took their lamps, their lampus, their torches, and no oil. While in verse 4, the wise bridemaids took their oil in their vessels with their lamps. So the wise bridesmaids brought something that the others did not. They didn't just bring the lamp, they brought a vessel with some oil in it.

20:29Now, all ten bridesmaids, at first glance, look the same. They're probably all friends, young girls, maybe their sisters, cousins, family. They're all chatting, enjoying the wonderful occasion. They've all got these lamps, these torches. So just looking at them, they all look the same. Now, I'm not going to ask ten girls to come up here. I picked two. I want Addie and Elise to come up here. Okay, I also don't have great flaming torches. What I have is two flashlights. Y'all stand in front of the pulpit so the people can see here. I've got two flashlights.

21:05What do you know about these flashlights? What's that? They need batteries. They do need batteries. How do they look right now? Pretty good. Here, each of you hold these flashlights, okay? All right, so now I have two bridesmaids, two young girls here, holding flashlights, okay? And they look the same. I mean, you really don't know anything different about them until what? Until it's time to light the torch, until it's time to turn them on. So y'all point at the sound booth there and light your flashlight. What's happened here?

21:40Let me see what's happening here. Uh-oh. Okay, Elise's light didn't come on. Addie's light came on. Okay, let me have those back. Thank you. I have to. All right, the difference here is: y'all can go sit down. Y'all give them a hand. Thank you very much for helping me make this brilliant point here. Is that you really can't tell just by looking at them until it's time for the light to appear. And then the difference is very significant, isn't it? Okay.

22:11Yeah, this one didn't have any batteries in it. If I'd have done this right, this would have had dead batteries, and Elise would have turned to Addie and said, can I borrow your batteries? And Elise would have said, or Addie would have said, well, I can't take it out of here. Maybe I've got extra ones, but I don't know how long this is going to go on. Anyway, we'll get to that. So that's enough. So here's the major distinction: the wise and the foolish bridesmaids. It's about being ready to burn those lamps, those torches, for a long period of time. And without fuel, a torch is not very useful. After lighting it, the cloth at the end of the pole would go out quickly without any oil. And then the lamp ceases to function for very long, certainly not long enough to light the way for a wedding procession, which was the whole purpose of the bridesmaids being there with their torches.

23:06It's the oil that burns. The cloth simply holds the oil and allows it to burn for a long time. It's the oil that makes the light. Without the oil, the torch is just a useless stick. It may look like it will give light, but when you apply the flame, it will burn out. And in this parable, the bridesmaids had one job. The foolish were not prepared for it while the wise were. So that's the distinction between the wise and the foolish bridesmaids. It's about were they prepared to accomplish their mission.

23:45Look at verse 5. While the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. Well, here's a curveball that Jesus throws into the parable. The highly anticipated arrival of the bridegroom to his own wedding. Was delayed. Now, this is irregular, right? Think about a modern wedding. Has anybody ever been part of the wedding, like the groom being late to his own wedding? Maybe so, but that's certainly not the plan, right? Certainly not what you want. So, why is this thrown in here?

24:21Jesus throws this in here because the bridegroom does not come when everyone expected him to come. Now, has Jesus mentioned something about this before when people are expecting something and it doesn't happen when they expected it? Actually, yes. Now, if you look back in Matthew chapter 24, he's talking about the time of his coming four times. Four times, when answering this question about when he will come to establish his kingdom, he mentions something about the time. Now, remember, he does this, and he focuses, he emphasizes this delay, because as you read the Gospels, the disciples, they were expecting the kingdom to come now. They were expecting it immediately. And that's why they asked this question at the beginning of chapter 24. And if you read all through the Gospels, they expect Jesus to set up the kingdom at any moment. And even after his crucifixion, resurrection, and his ascension, what do they ask? They ask, Lord, is it this time you're restoring the kingdom to Israel? They thought it was happening now. So Jesus is emphasizing the fact that. There's going to be a delay in this kingdom being set up. So he tells them this really in his mercy to prepare them and us that you've got to be prepared to wait. So in Matthew 24, verse 36, but of that day and hour no one knows. Verse 42, watch therefore, you do not know the hour your Lord is coming. Verse 44, therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Verse 50, the master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, and an hour is he not aware of. Four times he's telling them, the time of my coming is unknown to you. It's not revealed to you. It will be unexpected. So, do we know when he's coming?

26:18Sort of. It's going to be a day and an hour we don't expect. That's what we know. We're told that. It's kind of like the approaching weather. We have technology today that tells us the freeze is going to happen today. You had the benefit of getting ready. You knew it was coming today. But you don't know when Christ's coming is. The weatherman can't tell us that. Nobody can. Only the Father knows that. So since His coming is sudden and unexpected, the bridesmaids must be ready. The disciples must be ready. We must be ready, and we must be ready every day. We don't have the luxury of knowing when Christ will. Return, so we must not be presumptive and think that we can wait to prepare for it. We cannot wait for a day when we've done all these things that we wanted to do. And now I'll get serious and get right with God. You see, that attitude demonstrates a greater love for self than a love of God. We don't know when the Lord will return, and the idea of missing it should be so unpleasant to us that I want to be ready right now.

27:33That's what it means to love His appearing. So, back to verse 5. When the bridegroom delayed, they all slumbered and slept. Now, this doesn't mean that they were lazy or disobedient. I mean, it was nighttime. That's what you do at nighttime. So, even the wise bridesmaids slept. So, this isn't some sort of comment on their laziness. The message here is that while you're waiting, get on with life. Do what is natural. What do you do at night? You sleep.

28:10While waiting for the Lord, we must get on with life. In chapter 24, again, at verse 40, it talks about that some will be working in the fields, some will be grinding, one will be taken, one will be left. It even talks about the days of Noah. They'll be about business as usual, they'll be engaged in eating and drinking. Drinking and giving in marriage, but even when waiting and getting on with life, we're expected to be ready. Now, let's talk about the days of Noah for a minute because this parable is very reminiscent of that. Okay, we're told, and of course, Jesus acknowledges that in chapter 24 in his teaching about this. Now, in 2 Peter chapter 2, we learn something about Noah: that while he was building the ark, he was preaching. He was a preacher of righteousness. So, he's building this ark, and he's preaching to everyone who is eating and drinking and giving in marriage and making merry. They're seeing him building the ark, and they're getting on with business as usual, right? For years, Noah warned the people around him that imminent judgment would soon come. And we read in Matthew 24 that the people he preached to carried on life as usual. And we know that only Noah's family of eight prepared for the flood judgment by actually going through the door of the ark and getting on it.

29:38And once God Himself shut the door to the ark, the rains and the flood came, and no one else was allowed in. Waiting to get aboard the ark condemned those who were outside. They were condemned because they didn't listen to the warning to come in while there was still time. But once the door was shut, the opportunity. To be saved from the flood was gone, and all hope was lost. Well, let's move on to verses six and seven. It's about the bridegroom's arrival. Finally, the bridegroom arrives. At midnight, a cry was heard: Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. When does it happen? Midnight. When you'd least expect a wedding to start, right? Who starts a wedding at midnight?

30:30It's when you're going to be least expecting it. It's when you're least prepared for something. As a matter of fact, the coming of Christ is many times referred to as like a thief in the night. Okay, let's talk about a thief. How do you prepare for a thief to come? Does the thief tell you, hey, I'm going to come at midnight tonight, break into your house, steal all your stuff? Does he tell you that? No. Can you do anything after the thief comes?

31:01No, you have to prepare for the thief before he comes. What do you do? You lock your doors, you maybe install a security system, you buy a dog, you hide your valuables, maybe you put your valuables in a safe, but if you don't prepare before the thief comes, you suffer loss and you don't get them back, right? So it's like a thief in the night. Do you have a second chance to secure your property, to prepare for the thief? No. Once they're gone, Gone, they're gone. That opportunity is lost. You've got to be prepared beforehand, and you have to keep being prepared. You have to be prepared every day. You have to lock your door, feed your dog, those kinds of things. So at midnight, a cry was heard.

31:46A shout. It's immediate. There's no hustle and bustle. Everybody's asleep. Nothing's happening. And then, boom, a cry is heard. It is immediate. There's no time to waste. No warning. The bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. It's that immediate. It's that unexpected. So the moment they've all been waiting for has arrived. The waiting is over. The great moment of the bridegroom's arrival is there. The bridesmaids are on. It is your time, baby. It's time to go out and meet him. Now, the word meet here is a word that's used in other places about a very singular, unique greeting that's going to be given to a dignitary. As a matter of fact, I'm going to read a similar passage from 1 Thessalonians 4, 17 that uses this word. It's about some others who hear a cry and then go meet the Lord. I'll start in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout or a cry, a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, with the sound of the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with him in the clouds, with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. So there's a cry, and there's a go to meet him. Same thought here, same sequence of events. So in the wedding here, with these bridesmaids, the call is a cry, is a call to duty for the bridesmaids. And they've got one job: light those torches, light the way.

33:32So in verse 7, what do they do? They all trimmed their lamps. Now, if anybody's ever dealt with an oil lamp or something that has something to burn, if you burn it too long, it gets kind of smoky, and you actually can either blow it out and you cut the burn part off, and then it burns fresh and doesn't put on it, it doesn't really matter that much. But it does seem to imply that the lamps had been burning for some time here, okay? Perhaps, it's not all that important, but perhaps what they did was they showed up, they had dipped their torches in oil, and so they would burn for a while, but they didn't bring any extra. So they burned down, and now the bridegroom's there. These lamps have, these torches have burned down, they trimmed them, and the torches had probably been burning while the bridesmaids were waiting. So after they woke, they trimmed the lamp or the torch by adjusting the wick or the cloth so it's going to give the best light. And once the lamps are trimmed, Jesus makes it. Plainly clear who was ready and who was not. Because in verse 8, we've got the bridesmaids' crisis. A crisis befalls on some of the bridesmaids because the foolish said to the wise in verse 8, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.

34:48Notice in verse 8, their lampas, their torches, are going out. Indicates they've been burning for some time, or maybe they just lit them and the cloth smoldered for a little bit and wouldn't ignite. Not important. They need oil, and they don't have it. So they turn to the only source available to them, them, their fellow bridesmaids. And they ask, actually, they demand, give us some of your oil. Now, these bridesmaids, these foolish bridesmaids, were not prepared for the bridegroom to delay his arrival. They thought that he would arrive on their timetable. Hey, he always shows up at 8. You know, that's when these things get going. We don't need any extra. They presume to know the time of his arrival, but their presumptiveness reveals their self-centered nature. They were thinking about other things. You know, we're going to do our thing, and then we're going to get on with the party. Okay, they were not prepared for waiting for a long time. Now, let's stop and ask for a minute: who are these girls? Who are these ten bridesmaids? They all seem to belong to the same group, as we pointed out. They all carry their lamps. We can't tell one from another. They're all gathered in anticipation of the bridegroom. The five without the oil, well, let's talk about them a little more.

36:09They're all there, and some of them are more concerned about the party than about seeing the bridegroom. So the five without the oil, the foolish ones, represents those who enjoy the benefits of the Christian community without really a true love for Christ. Many times in Scripture, Christ points to this. The meaning here is they all claim to belong to Christ. They're all professing Christians. You might even say that they're all carrying something that identifies them as Christians. Maybe today it would be they're all carrying their Bibles. Okay, they're all indistinguishable outwardly, but inwardly, there's something very different about them. Five are wise and five are foolish. And these foolish were not prepared for the bridegroom's delay. They didn't bring any oil to keep their lights burning. So let's talk about the oil. In the parable here, the oil is the fuel. It's the essential element of keeping your light burning. You can't burn the cloth. It's got to have the oil.

37:14The oil here represents, I believe, true salvation. It represents genuine faith. This is what the wise had that the foolish did not have. It's a faith that brings a transformed life. It's a faith that results in a hunger of God's Word. It's a faith that results in a desire to congregate and fellowship with his people. It's a desire to serve him. It's a quality of faith spoken of in Acts 26 that produces works that give evidence of repentance. That's the type of faith that this oil represents.

37:52These foolish bridesmaids had none of that. And when they were put to the test, literally by fire, their faith was proven to be dark. It was empty. It was without power. It was without fuel. And in the words of James 2, it was dead faith. They profess faith in Christ, but they do not possess faith in Christ. I'll say that again because it rhymes. They profess faith in Christ, but they don't possess it. And it's more important to actually have faith than to talk about faith, isn't it?

38:35Then the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil. Now, the torches of the foolish would not remain lit, so they had no oil to keep them going. So they looked to the wise to give them some of their oil so they could have light as well. But the response they get is, no. No. The wise could not supply the need of the foolish. Are they mean? Not to share? No, their devotion to the bridegroom requires them to perform the one duty that's required of them no matter what. And that duty is to light the way for his arrival. Instead, the wise instruct the foolish bridemaids to go to those who sell and buy for yourselves. Now, here's another great lesson of this parable: faith is one of those things in your life that you have got to take care of yourself. You cannot expect the faith of others to transfer to you. Whether it's the faith of your parents, your friends, your pastor, some missionary that you support, or someone you admire, faith is not transferable. Salvation is not transferable. It's individual. These bridesmaids could not give their oil to the other bridesmaids, and that represents that I can't give you my faith. Your parents can't give you their faith. It's got to be something that is your own. You must possess it.

40:08Well, let's move on to verse 10, where we have the admission to the wedding and the omission of the foolish bridesmaids, the admission and the omission. Verse 10, while he went out to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding, and the door was shut. The door was shut. Remember, this is at midnight. They're going. Out to look for to buy some oil. Is anybody open at midnight? No.

40:34It's too late to buy any oil. It's too late to get what they need. It's too late to prepare to do their job, to light the way. And those who were ready, those who had the oil, and they were there, they went in with the bridegroom to the wedding, and the door was shut. The finality of that statement should be frightening. It's meant to be frightening. Again, it reminds us that after Noah and his family entered the ark, and the door was shut. And if you read Genesis 7 carefully, it's God Himself who shuts the door of the ark. It's final, it's finality. It's not getting opened again. No one else would enter. The floodwaters rose upon the earth, and no one else would get in that door. God is merciful and long-suffering, and the door to the ark was open for years while Noah warned them.

41:37And no one else came inside. When it began to rain, no one came in the door. They had time. Noah had preached of God's coming judgment and the need to repent and come with him on the ark. Only seven others would go with him, members of his own family. And once the door was shut, the time for coming to God was past. And just as death was, Desperate people were banging on the side of the ark, crying out to Noah to let them in. We have these five bridesmaids wanting to get into the wedding. Verse 11, afterwards, these other virgins came also saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

42:18See, while they were out looking for oil and finding none, the door to the wedding was shut. And then the foolish bridesmaid returned. And thinking they could still be admitted, they called out to be allowed into the wedding feast. And what words do they use? Lord, Lord. We read earlier from another sermon Jesus preached, Sermon on the Mount, at the beginning of his ministry. What we're looking at here is the end of his ministry. At the beginning of his ministry, he gave the same warning.

42:53In Matthew 7:21, he says, Not everyone who says to me those words, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Very important teaching of Jesus that permeates his ministry. Verse 22, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name, cast out demons in your name, and done many wonders in your name? Then I will declare to them, I never knew you.

43:24Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. These bridesmaids thought they could talk their way. In after the door was shut. Hey, he knows me. He'll let me in. Surely it'll be okay. I mean, what's a little oil? Come on. Now, to me, this is one of the most frightening thoughts that's presented in Scripture. Okay? To live your life thinking that you belong to Christ, that you are bound for heaven, only to find out on that day when you're knocking on the door that you were not known by Him at all, that you were self-deceived, or that you just waited too long. That opportunity was past.

44:10That's the situation of these five foolish bridesmaids. This parable is not teaching that you can lose your salvation. Jesus actually says he never knew them. They were never truly saved to begin with, in spite of their appearance, in spite of their profession, their false profession. Remember, in this parable, Jesus started with ten bridesmaids, and we find that half are foolish. Now, I don't think this necessarily means that the professing church is exactly half full of unredeemed people, but it does mean that it's not just one or two, it's not just a few. That at the time of Christ's return, the professing church. Will be full of people who are unredeemed, and they think that they are redeemed.

45:08This is a lesson that Jesus taught many times, especially in his parables. The parable of the four soils, the parable of the talents, the sheep and the goats. And like the tares among the wheat, their dead faith will not be revealed until the time of Christ's return. When they expect to enter, but they find that they did not truly possess Christ because their lamps have no oil. They may profess to know Christ, but they do not long for his appearing. And when he appears, he reveals to them what many of them already knew. I do not know you. I never knew you.

45:50Well, verse 13, Jesus ends with the lesson of this parable. He says, Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. In this sermon, this is the fifth time he's told them, you don't know the day or the hour, so watch, be prepared. Now, when Jesus says something once, we should listen, right? We should always listen. Many times, something's repeated in Scripture twice for emphasis, or three times. How about five times? This should get our attention. We should watch. We should be prepared. And we need to make sure we need to be prepared every day. Scripture says we should examine ourselves to make sure we are in the faith.

46:40So the Lord has revealed here that he will delay his coming. And his delay is for one purpose. We find that elsewhere in Scripture. His purpose is that he is patient with us, not wanting anyone to perish, but for everyone to come to repentance. He delays his return to allow others to hear and repent. There are still people who have not heard. He is patient and wants them to hear and repent and place their faith in Christ as well. If you've heard and not repented, then you are presuming upon his grace and that he'll just continue to wait for you. Well, that's what this parable is about. That's what the five foolish bridesmaids teach us. We're not to presume upon his grace. Those who come to the wedding may look like they know the bridegroom, but only those who are prepared to wait for him, who long for his appearing, to prepare to wait and not have to run off to get prepared, those are the ones who will be allowed in.

47:45So back to the first verse of this parable. Jesus said in verse 1, this is what the kingdom will look like at the time of my coming. It's likened to this situation. It's like a wedding. Where some who thought they were getting in didn't get in. They did not really belong to me. There'll be many who come to my house, hang around with my people, even look like my followers, but their actions will demonstrate that they do not have true faith at all.

48:22But there's good news. It's not too late now. The time has not come yet. Tomorrow, it may be. But the Lord has graciously given us at least this day or perhaps this hour to get prepared and to receive that saving grace that He has offered so freely for so long. If you haven't, it's time to acknowledge your sin. Don't put it off. Repent. Turn from it. Place your faith not in yourself, not in someone else, but in Christ alone, who died in your place.

49:07While we know that His return will be sudden and unexpected, we're also told that until He comes, He calls us to come to Him. I'll conclude with Christ's final words in Scripture from Revelation chapter 22, verse 17. These are the last words recorded of Christ. Listen to what he says. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him who hears say, Come. And let him who thirsts come three times. And then he says, whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. Oh.

49:51The invitation to come to him and drink the water of life. Are you thirsty? Don't wait for the next hour. No man knows the hour. Don't wait for tomorrow. No one knows the day of his coming. Drink the water he offers now. Get your oil now. Don't be one who has to go out and try to buy it when he comes because then it will be too late. The door will be shut and there'll be no second chance. Let's pray.

50:25Heavenly Father, how gracious you are to warn us so many times that we're not to wait until we finish our agenda here on the earth. Lord, that the primary goal, the primary purpose, the primary drive in our life should be to be prepared to meet you when you come. And you've told us that you're coming. You've told us we don't know when it is. Lord, help us to get that sense of urgency to be ready to meet you now. Let us not be among those who were found going out to buy at the Time of His coming, only to find the door shut and to find that we never knew you. Oh Lord, help us to know you now. Thank you for your graciousness and your word. Amen.