Parable of the Ten Virgins

Well, back in April of 1988, my local television station reported a very sad story. It was a photographer who also was a skydiver. He had a video camera with him. He was a very experienced parachutist. He jumped from a plane along with several of the skydivers. And he filmed the group as they individually dove out of the plane and opened the parachutes. We've probably seen that on various TV shows. It's pretty exhilarating. As the video was showing each of the members of the crew jumping out and then pulling their ripcord so that the parachute would open, the final skydiver opened his chute and then the picture went berserk. This was of the video operator himself who jumped out last. So as he jumped out, he was videotaping the chute's below him. And then it came time for him to open his parachute.

The TV announced or reported this on the news locally that the cameraman had fallen to his death. He had jumped out of the plane not knowing he did not put on a parachute. He was so involved in getting his video equipment ready, so involved in helping others with their equipment, so excited about the jump and getting this on video, he literally jumped out of a plane with no parachute. It's almost unheard of. And that is why as the video actually survived, the camera went berserk as the radio now, as the TV announcer said. It was just frantic. Obviously, the operator was going through absolute panic at the time. Very sad story. He was helping others, but he forgot. He was an experienced parachutist.

And I've never heard of a story like this. I mean, equipment failures happen all the time with parachutists. But they have a backup parachute. But to jump out perfectly good plane, as they say, why would you do that in second? Don't get so excited you forget to put on a parachute. From there, there's actually a parable that talks about being prepared and making sure we have a parachute. Making sure we know what we're doing. I gave you the title of the sermon today, yesterday on my email. So you know where I'm going with this. But I'd like us to turn over to Matthew 25, please, to the parable of the Ten Virgins. I think of all the parables that Jesus gave, and we know he gave many of them. This is maybe one of the best known. I've talked about one of the other parables recently, but this is the parable of the Ten Virgins. Parables means a story. We all know, rather, and so many are confused about this, Christ did not talk in parables or stories to make the story plain. He spoke in stories to make it complicated and actually hide the truth. Now, all of these folks were interested, though, being mainly very in base. They were interested in stories. He talked about common things. The parable of the sower of the seed, the parable of, in this case, Ten Virgins. They understood the wedding procession very well during that era. So he actually gave stories. They understood just the superficial part, but they never really stood most of the meaning. So often, after the public giving of parable, Christ would take the disciples aside, and they would say, what do you mean by that? And they would say, what do you mean by that? And he would explain the meaning.

And in this case, we're going to go through what Jesus Christ stated. Well, obviously, this is an analogy of Ten Virgins. These are unmarried young women who would need light from their lamps in order to go out and meet the bridegroom. There were no streetlights in the country in that era. When you went outside of the little village, you had to have a light. You had to have those little lamps with oil, olive oil, inside. Now, back in the day, the Palestinian weddings were much different than they are today. Our weddings are much more simple, I think, than the weddings of Christ's time. Today, you have all of the family gather at the building ahead of time, and the bride is isolated with the attendant. And then, after everybody's in the room, the groom and his attendants are there. And then, of course, as the bride makes the entrance, everyone stands, and then she comes up to meet her husband-to-be. All right, it's wonderful. It's exciting. We shed tears of joy, and the minister or the JP will marry them. That's very unlike what happened during Jesus' time. The groom's party would make their way to the bride's home when they would pick up the bride. So, they traveled blocks and blocks, along with her friends and family. So, the groom's party would make their way to the bride's home, along with her friends and family, and lead them in procession to the predetermined place for the ceremony. And the bride would wait there. The groom was nowhere in sight. It was the groom's party, his friends and his family that would go pick up the bride. And then, her attendants and her family would make the procession to wherever the ceremony was to take place. He was nowhere to be seen. It's the reverse, really, of how we do it today. Everyone's together today in weddings, generally, except the bride. She comes in last, and that's appropriate. It was the reverse at this time. It helps us to understand the meaning of this parable by Jesus Christ. So, the bride and her party would have tortures or lamps. Sometimes, these weddings, brethren, started in late afternoon, these processions. They would go into the early evening, and then the sun would go down, and they would need tortures, because it was an evening ceremony. They had wonderful procession late day into the early evening, yes. But finally, when that sunset, that's why they needed tortures. You know, one section here, and I might as well just mention it now, it was also an excitement. They did not know when that groom was going to appear. And in the parable, those ten virgins were very excited. Well, where is he going to, when is he going to come? We don't know! He's never told us. It's just exciting to know he's coming. He's promised to marry this lady that we know. But when is he coming? We don't know. And in fact, they kept looking. It was kind of a game, they tell us. And all the brides of tenants would be looking around, saying, well, oh, I see him now. He's coming behind the palm tree over here. Oh, there he is!

And they would rush to meet him. Sometimes it took hours, and the bride, the groom was kind of playing a little bit of a game and getting the anticipation built up. So that gives us a little bit of background on the story here. So it's a lot different, again, than our weddings today. The maidens were not told when the bridegroom would come to meet his bride, and sometimes they were required to wait quite a while.

Well, starting in verse 1 of chapter 25 of Matthew. So then the kingdom of heaven is like. Now, this is an analogy here. We are familiar with this analogy in Christ giving it. He likened, though, this analogy of the story to the ten virgins, and of course referring to the very kingdom of God. They took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom.

Now, all the lamps have oil in them. It's like a flashlight today. You've got a battery or two or three in them, right? You do that. That's by default. So they all have their lamps. They went out to meet the bridegroom. But again, it was this guessing game.

Where was he coming? When was he coming? We don't know! That's exciting! I don't know about you, but I think this would make a good wedding ceremony today, don't you? I mean, it was a very joyous thing. This young woman thing will always come, but you know, it gave an edge to it. The wedding is going to be at 4 p.m.

today. There's no excitement. Well, there is excitement, but it's not quite that thing. It's going to be at this location. They didn't announce when the man's coming. So they did take their lamps, knowing that very likely it was going to be after sunset before he made his appearance. It was going to be a while. Now, five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

Brothers, we go through this. Let's think about the concept. Is this a pretty exact ratio of those who are foolish and those who are wise in the church over the church age, approximately 2,000 years now? We have speculated on that for a long, long time. That's half. Well, I don't know, brethren, but yet Christ picked it. He didn't say one-third are wise. Two-thirds are foolish or reverse that. He says half and half. However you might define what Jesus is talking about here, brethren.

I think it's clear to all of us there's a good portion in the church that are not going to handle it right. They better be careful. In fact, all of us had better be careful. We can't be assured without, brethren, some real constant, vigilant, spiritual watching on our part. Because, again, it's as they all went to sleep. He, this bridegroom, was waiting and waiting and waiting to make his appearance. They didn't anticipate how long it would be before the man arrived.

That's the analogy. The man was right. He didn't guarantee a time. He just said, when I arrive, be ready. Because I'm going to marry you. But I would give no offers of when. We made the mistake of setting dates generally way back when. I guess one of these years we ought to let the past be the past and move forward, right?

But you see, it makes sense, brethren, in the parable, the bridegroom never announced when he's coming. That was tradition. That took off the excitement, the edge, the anticipation. Well, in this case, if Jesus Christ had announced his return, brethren, we all know what would happen. The virgins would all fall asleep, and they would stay asleep until an hour before his return, a year before his return. And just say, oh well, I can do what I want to do, you know, because I know when he's coming. I've got it figured out from the book of Daniel or Zechariah or whatever it might be.

Takes the edge off, doesn't it, if he would announce when he's returning. Absolutely. So there's five lies, and there's five foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. Oh, we will analyze verse 3 later on, but what a difference.

The foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them. Now, that's different than having oil in your lamp. They had oil in the lamp, but they did not have an extra supply of oil, which you would need on a long journey, or in fact, if it was you were waiting around for quite a while after sunset. Those little lamps, rather, normally are quite small.

I've seen them in Israel. They're quite small. They're portable lamps, and the oil in those little lamps don't last too long. So you would need an extra supply. And that's what those five foolish did not take. Why? Why were they foolish? The bridegroom had never announced when he was coming.

He had never guaranteed that. Didn't they know, rather than that could take a while? Yes, they should have. I'm going to go through this parable with you today and analyze what we can learn from the parable of the ten virgins. Well, the first point we have just actually started to make. The first message of the four messages that I gain out of this parable is, the five foolish virgins were lethargic and indifferent.

They were lethargic and indifferent. It was to their shame, as verse 3 says, they were foolish, they took their lamps and took no oil with them. Brethren, how can we survive without God's Holy Spirit in us? We're just a shell. When the groom does come, we will not be ready to receive him. We will be in the dark. We will be in the dark. And without spiritual light, brethren, we're lost.

And this was a very dark world out there. It doesn't mean the world is spiritually lost, but their time is salvation. It's not yet. It'll come. There's only a handful being really drawn, as you know. It's interesting. Did Jesus Christ save everybody when he was alive on this earth? How many people were quote-unquote saved when he was alive in those three and a half years?

Really just a handful. He was not on a soul-winning crusade when he was on this earth, was he? One is he had a very short ministry. And two, we can see from the Gospels, brethren, that wasn't his calling. And the Father only called a handful.

There were 120 disciples after his death, 120 people. That's a handful of people. So, it didn't try to save everybody, as it's commonly termed today. But, brethren, that will come eventually. We know the plan of God. God is loved. He's not going to have anybody unstayed because of his love. But, of course, it's always a personal choice as well. So, the first message here, brethren, is very clear in verse 3. They were foolish, number one, because of lethargy and indifference. And that's just a flat-out issue. Big one. That is a huge issue, even in the church, unfortunately.

You know, brethren, I've actually added that point. But I want us to hold your place, please, in Matthew 25. We're going to go back and forth today, some. But always back to Matthew 25. Let's go back to Psalm 139.

I wrote down, maybe a year ago, I don't remember, but it's been a while ago. I said, give a sermon on Psalm 139. And I've got all kinds of files in my office of proposed sermon topics.

It scared me the other day when I was doing a little computer file inventory and maintenance. You have to do that, right? If you have computer files, they get out of control. And I looked in my sermon file, and I said, well, over a thousand different topics. It scared me.

I said, how can you ever? And that doesn't include all of them. I got files.

I've got, I, it's just, you know, years ago when I was a young minister, I was desperate to find topics to speak on. Desperate. I remember as a minister trainee, and, you know, it'd be driving wherever we were driving in Detroit or wherever years ago. And I did most of the driving, and the pastor was talking. And so I thought, see, I just need time to figure out what I'm going to speak about my sermon at this Sabbath. And it worried me all week long. And often Friday night, Steve, you can't postpone this any longer. You know, those of you who speak, you men, you know how it is. You've got a timeline, and you don't have a topic. Today, my problem is I've got too many topics, and I don't have enough time to develop them. So somewhere along the line, I've fallen off the other side. But this is one, brethren, that I frankly won't probably devote a whole sermon to for the lack of time. But I do want to devote some time today about it. You know, what is the cause of lethargy and indifference? We often talk about it, but what's the bottom line? To me, the answer is found in Psalm 139. Now, you can answer this various ways, but I just want to focus on this one chapter as we explain our first message of the parable of ten virgins, and that is lethargy and indifference. That's what the foolish were like. Verse 1, this is the Psalm of David, Psalm 139, verse 1, Oh, Lord, you have searched me and known me. What does that mean? Is that important? Or is this just the shepherd poet waxing on? You know, brethren, the thing that these foolish virgins had in their lives was they really didn't know God, and God didn't know them. Because if they did know God and God knew them, they wouldn't be lethargic. They wouldn't be indifferent to this calling, this awesome calling. David is saying, God, you know me from the bootstraps up, because I have not hidden anything from you. I'm an open book. I've opened my life with closets. Just where did David... what was David hiding? He wasn't hiding. They say, well, I know he hid somewhere, because, yeah, he had sins. But he finally got the point, and I think he deeply, bitterly learned lessons. Brethren, he didn't have any hiding places. He didn't have any closets, virtually, for God to want David to open up, and David refused to.

That is knowing God, and God knowing you. You've opened up. That's not indifference. That's not lethargy. That's spirituality. That's really serious Christianity, is letting God investigate and open up your life. Hiding, denial, running.

That's not what makes for a wise virgin. The five wise virgins were close to God. They knew God. It wasn't just a knowledge of God. They knew God. I should say, they just didn't think he existed. They truly knew God in their lives. It is possible to know about Christ and not know Christ.

Right? It's possible to know the Bible and not be living the Bible, and doing what the Bible says. It's possible to be a nice person and know all the right doctrines and yet have a superficial relationship with God. Isn't that bad, though? Because it's deceptive.

To use that word, deceptive. It deceives us. It deceives the foolish. It is possible to look like everyone else and to have our Christianity on the surface while never allowing it to penetrate to who we are and to change the way we live.

That is the insidiousness of these five foolish virgins.

That's what David is talking about. Let's drop down to verse 2. You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought of far off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and you are acquainted with my ways.

Well, that's further evidence of, again, opening up to God and having a relationship with Him. He says, there is not a word in my tongue, but behold, O Lord, you know it altogether. You have hedged me behind, and before you laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. Let's go down to verse 10. For even there your hands shall lead me. You know, he's talking about where can I hide, and I mentioned last week about Jonah, and I referred to this. Jonah thought he could outrun from God. And, you know, Jonah was a foolish prophet at that point in his life.

And, of course, we can't hide from God. Verse 10. Even there your hands shall lead me, and your right hand shall behold me. And if I stay surely, the darkness shall fall on me. Even the night shall be light for me. Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day, and the darkness and the light are both alight to you. You have formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. You know, brethren, that should be our life goal, is getting no God, and God getting no you. Are you committed to that? Are you indifferent to that? Are you zealous for that? Are you going to say, that's going to be my life? That's where I am? Or, that's where I'm going to be? That has to be our wise virgins, their commitment to God. Not just playing the game.

You know, that doesn't work with God. So, those five foolish virgins, what were they thinking? The groom never said when he would arrive. Are you serious? You don't have God's Spirit? You're just going through the motions?

That is really amazing, the story that Jesus Christ is telling here.

Well, let's go back now to Matthew 25, please. I want to move on to the second message. So, the first one is lethargy and indifference, but, brethren, it's predicated on, do you really know God, and does God know you? If we do, then we're going to be motivated. We're going to be zealous, but we have to see the fruit in our lives. Did the fruit, brethren, of your life this week, this month, brethren, this short year so far, is it predicated on a zealous follower of Christ and a wise virgin? That's what we always have to think. This is a lifelong commitment.

Let's go on to our second message, and that is, you must be spiritually ready. You must be spiritually ready. That's what Jesus Christ is teaching here. That unfortunate true story of the parachute is to God. So excited, he forgot to put on a parachute. Takes your breath, doesn't it? The panic, the horror, what am I doing? Oh, no! It's got to be bad enough with your main shoot, and it doesn't work. But you've always got that shoot. I guess it's in front, and you pull that and say, I've got a backup. But, you know, before they leave a plane, you've seen this in all these shows. They just check each other. They triple-check, quadruple-check. It's like, man, they are very committed. How did he leave without a parachute? Well, he wasn't ready. I guess nobody looked him over. His buddies didn't do their job, either, you might say. But, of course, he was last out, so, you know, he was in back the line.

But, oh, it just takes your breath away to think of the panic of this poor gentleman. Brother, there's one thing that Jesus consistently preached. It was, we need to be ready. We need to be ready. Notice in Matthew 25, I say, hold on to Matthew 24...5, but let's just go back a page to Chapter 24 and verse 44, please. You know, this was all one section, as we know, and I don't want to take the time to go through all of the all-of-it prophecy we have done so on other occasions. So, it is one section. We recognize that starting way back in Chapter 24 and verse 1. And really, so much of this long sermon by Jesus Christ is the second point. Are you ready? Are you getting ready? Verse 44 of Chapter 24. Therefore, you also shall be ready. You know, that, therefore, is a conclusion. So, the conclusion is, he says, you also be ready for the Son of Man is coming, or the groom is coming at an hour you do not expect. And that holds to this next parable, doesn't it? Who then is the faithful and wise servant? Again, connects to the next parable, the wise virgins. Whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season. Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Are you ready, brethren? Now, we don't say it this way, as some would say. You know, if Jesus Christ came tomorrow, are you ready? But we could say, brethren, if we don't survive tomorrow, are you ready?

If we don't make it to the end of this year, or five years, are we ready now? We have to be getting ready. That's one of the big lessons of the five virgins. These five virgins, wise, astute, not spiritually lethargic, but spiritually zealous virgins, Christians, men and women of God, knew that every day was a part of their getting ready process. They knew that wedding procession could last hours. It is surprising to many of us, brothers, who have been around some years, is how long it is taking for the groom to show up. I never dreamed this years ago. We are living Matthew 25. But he never promised when, did he? He's not late. Christ the groom is going to be perfectly on time. We just, brother, need to be ready, no matter when he does come. The wise Christians today know it's a lifelong commitment. They have a relationship with God. They have God's Holy Spirit in their lives, and that's very active. Going on then in verse 4, But the wise took oil with their vessels with their lamps. That's the difference. They're in it for the long run. They had oil in the lamps, so when that lamp was about to go out, which it did eventually, or about to go out, they had a reserve. Now, we know oil in the Bible refers to God's Spirit. And there's an entire Holy Day that God devotes to that concept, that truth, the reality of God's Holy Spirit, the giving of God's Spirit, and the Holy Day of Pentecost. And, brethren, you have that if you're converted and have accepted Christ as your Savior and your Lord and Master and repented of your sins, and the Father has called and drawn you. You have God's Spirit with a laying lot of hands. That's a precious commodity. That's the mind of God at work. That is helping you getting ready to meet the groom. Verse 5, But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all swumbered and they slept. Well, again, a lot of these weddings did go into the evening. Now, he was delayed. And, Jesus, brethren, probably for a lot of God's people over the last two thousand years, some of them like us, some of us years ago, we had dates. We thought the groom would arrive a lot earlier than he has. I think a lot of God's people over the centuries have thought that. Just maybe he's coming in my lifetime. I certainly appears Paul felt that as he wrote a couple of these epistles, you know, we which are alive and remain. He's saying, well, you know, we'll be alive when Christ returns. That was two thousand years ago about. So, I think a lot of God's people have thought, well, that that groom is coming just quickly. And I, well, brethren, what if he delays? In fact, the prophecy is that he will appear to delay his return. That's what the prophecy states, appear. He's on time, but we just think he's coming before he is. Brethren, what if Jesus Christ doesn't arrive, come in your lifetime? Are you okay with that? Or are you living for him to return? Is that what your hope is? Well, it may be a desire of yours, but it may not happen. Are you okay?

Is it guaranteed that Christ is going to come in your lifetime? No. Is that somewhere in Daniel? Can we find, you know, some vague prophet back when, okay, I think if you put all that together, yeah, yeah, yeah, he's guaranteed because I've got it. I've got this long chart that goes about six miles long. Brethren, that's not the promise. The promise is you get ready. That's what the promise is, and you will be ready if you do your part. It doesn't matter when he will return. It doesn't matter. It matters that we're ready for his return, which may be, of course, death. That's going to happen to most of God's elects since the time of Jesus Christ. They're going to die before his return. So those that are alive, yes, that his return will be changed, but the dead in Christ will rise first.

Okay, verse 5 again, but while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and swept, but all ten of them. We do have our issues with that. That's hard, brethren, because it is a lifelong commitment. That probably, brethren, ties into our first point, just lethargy and indifference. I'm getting tired. I'm getting tired. I'm getting worn out. That is a common phrase. Now, physically, we get that, but spiritually, brethren, we've got to stir up the gift of God's Spirit in us to fight. That's glumbering and that indifference. But at midnight, a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. So midnight being very late, yes, later than most weddings during that era, or any time. Weddings generally don't start at midnight. What a strange time to start a wedding. How many guests would appear? Oh, I'm already. I work tomorrow. I have to get up at five in the morning, but I'm going to have a nice wedding here at midnight. No, no, you don't do that. So it's obvious, again, Christ is warning His virgins. He's saying, look, folks, don't think, if I don't come until later, I'm not coming.

But don't make up prophecies that don't exist. Don't get lethargic. Fight that.

So at midnight, the crying was made. Verse 7, then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. Well, of course, they had to see Him come, and they had to be able to have light out there, to meet Him, and to have the procession finished, and the wedding take place. And so, as He goes through the story, they trimmed up their lamps. And then the five coolies said to the wise, well, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the wise answered, saying, no, lest there should not be enough for us and you. But go rather to those who sell and buy for yourself. Well, of course, again, these are probably small little storage bags. And frankly, you can't just share. And rather than you can't share God's Spirit. You know, we don't come to church and say, I'm going to take a cup of God's Holy Spirit this week, and I'll take it back home, and I'll be fine. You know, so Christ is very clear about that, the analogy. We cannot give one another faith, and gumption, and grit, and spiritual zeal. Brother, I wish the times we could, I think we kind of sense in the body of Jesus Christ occasionally, a sense of problems, a sense of lack of unity, a sense of lethargy, a sense of doctrinal confusion, or whatever it might be. I wish we could just go through and get what we need, and then we're together, but it has to be done by each of us. I have to do it. You can't do that for me. I can't do it for you. We can't do it for our spouse, our husband, wife, brother, sister, children. We're all in the same boat. We have to do it for ourselves. Now, being ready does not mean watching Fox News and CNN 24-7, either. I'm a news nut. I've told you that many times. I'm just, I'm there. I get that news thing, but brethren, that's not watching. I mean, if that was the case, then I guess we need an MBA in economics. We need to be political scientists. We, you know, then, oh, we're really astute. No. These words are for God's people, the virgins.

And how are we going to watch? Because he says that earlier in the same prophecy, doesn't he? I don't have time to go there, but he says to watch. Brethren, you'll watch your spiritual condition.

Then, no matter what the world news is like, you're ready. You're ready. If your satellite disk goes out, you're still ready.

Now, look, brethren, I'm a news nut, as I told you, and you're tired of me hearing that. So, I'm not, I have to watch how much news I absorb. That's my problem. But I don't watch world news, brethren, to try to get me spiritually ready. And if I am, I'd better repent of that. I watch world news because I'm interested in it. I just happen to have the DNA since I was a kid. I told you a story. I used to not hardly wait for United States and U.S. News and World Report to arrive in the mail. I just devoured news. I was a kid. So, but I don't look to news. Oh, Steve, you've got to go pray now. I mean, come on, you know. I need to pray. I don't care what I hear on the news. But I still listen to it because it is something interesting to me. I do care about our country like you. I do want to know what's going on. I think that's wise. But that's not the point of what Jesus was saying here about watching. You know, anyway, that's how I look at that. Being ready, brethren, means actively living in faithfulness to God. That's what being ready is. It's more than just calling yourself a Christian. It's more than a name. Spiritual readiness, spiritual preparation, and growth don't just happen. They come as a result of intentional habits built into our life.

Hold your place again, please, brethren, in Matthew 25. Let's go to the book of Acts 11. Acts 11, please. In verse 25. Acts 11, verse 25. Barnabas departed from Tarsus to seek Saul. This is Acts 11, and now verse 25. And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch so that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people, and the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch. That's a very significant timeline here. This is where Christians were first taught. And that's where Christians were first taught. Now, what does the word Christian mean? The transliteration is Christianos. It means follower of Christ. A follower of Christ. You are a follower of Christ. What does that mean, though? Well, brethren, it means we do what he says. We don't just believe in Christ, we believe in Christ. We believe in Christ. We do what he says. We don't just believe in Jesus Christ, we do what he says. There's a big difference. Satan knows Jesus Christ exists. He once worked for him. Jesus Christ was once his boss, and he rebelled. He didn't want to work for Jesus Christ. He wanted to work for himself. He didn't want the kingdom of God, of the Father, or the Son. He wanted his own kingdom. So, being a follower, it means doing what Jesus Christ says, because he loves us. He cares for us. He knows what's the best.

You know, brethren, it's false advertising to say, I'm a Christian and not do what Christ says. It's false advertising. And how many of us have been burdened with false advertising? It's just you grit your teeth and say, how dare they? Why doesn't the FCC go after those companies and sometimes they do? Have you heard that on the news? You know, they have investigated so-and-so. I said, you know what? I heard that TV commercial, too. They were saying the other day in the news, okay, I read the news. I watch the news. I tell you that. They shut this one advertisement down on TV because they said, if you sprinkle the salt, you can lose weight. You can sprinkle salt on your food. Did you hear that ad? I have. Sprinkle salt, this stuff on your food. You're going to lose weight. I'm there. You know, if they have such a stuff, bring it on. Well, it's false advertising. They told that company to stop doing that. It's false advertising. But you know what? These people often don't care because who buys that stuff? The foolish. I've been burned. I bought it. I just was so happy. I'm going to get this compound. It's going to take all the grease out of my driveway when we lived in Houston. It didn't work. It just spread the grease around. That's all it did. Now I've got a bigger grease spot. It's six feet wide and still two feet wide. Good! And I remember the TV actor who advertised on that. He used to be on Gunsmoke, Dennis Weaver. See, I hold these things for years. I still love Dennis Weaver, anyway. Good actor. Chester. You go back that far. But you know, brother, Christ does not want any false advertising. If we say I'm a Christian like these folks, better live up to it. Well, Katie Texas. Some of you know where Katie Texas is because we have a Texan here and we used to live in Houston ourselves. Katie Texas is a nice suburb in the Houston, Texas area.

And Dennis, a guy from Katie, Texas, who had an emergency one day and he needed his suit dry cleaned before he left on a trip. He remembered a huge sign outside of a dry cleaning store. It said, One Hour Dry Cleaners. And so, it was clear on the other side of town. If you know Houston, Houston is a very large area. I've driven around the outer belt, the inner belt, numerous times. It is a larger. So, he drove across town so that he could drop off the suit. He went over there. The clerk filled out the necessary information and he told her, Look, I've got some errands to run. I'll be back in an hour to pick up my suit. She says, Oh, I can't give you it back until Tuesday or Thursday, rather. But he says, I thought you did dry cleaning in an hour. She says, Oh, no, that's just the name on the store. We actually don't do that. False advertising. He's driven across town. He had a business trip. Gotta get the suit cleaned. One hour. No, that's just the sign. But rather than the sign on us as Christian, the follower of Christ. Is that good advertising or false advertising?

That's the big one, isn't it? Do we really follow up? Well, we want to. That's our goal. That's what we're called to. Are we spiritually ready? Are we spiritually ready?

So it cannot depend on a Sabbath service to provide all our spiritual needs. We cannot depend on Christian fellowship to provide our spiritual development. They're wonderful. They're proper. They're commanded. But it comes through routine habits. If I can coin a phrase, I call them holy habits. If that doesn't sound too holy. Holy habits. That's how you get spiritually ready. It's not confusing. It's not complicated. But it takes godly character, a commitment. It takes my blocking out prayer time, Bible study time, and yes, time for services. And you carve that out. It's indelible. It's not going to move.

And we read from the Bible. We gain from the Bible. We also have acts of service to others from loving obedience. It comes from encouraging others, from care to others. All these things amends them, entitled person, to grow in godly character. Without this and other parts of the truth, we cannot be truly prepared. It cannot be hit and miss. It can't be even postponed. Well, it can be postponed, but sometimes with dire consequences. As the five foolish virgins found out, they found out you can't postpone it too long in their consequences. You know, that's an excerpt from actual performance reviews for the British Navy and Marine officers. One supervisor wrote his evaluation of a candidate, quote, He works well under constant supervision, and when cornered like a rat in a trap.

You know, that's not what our boss wants to put on performance review. Oh, they work. Joe works good when he's trapped like a rat and under constant supervision. And another performance review officer wrote, Well, this young lady has delusions of adequacy. All right. I think that's a that's a malady in our society today. There's a lot of reality shows that my wife and I were looking at one the other day, and it was this restaurant thing, and she was the server. And they actually have closed circuit TV in this reality show. Closed circuit TV, and they're watching their staff, and the owner is behind these things watching the staff work. And it's just sad what some of these folks are doing. I get very aggravated when I look at that show. I think, Come on, that's not true, is it? Is that really happening? I mean, to the food and to the customers, you know, you think, sad stuff. So another wrote, This young lady has delusions of adequacy. She sets low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them. Wow. Tough life, isn't it? It's a tough life. I don't think these folks are ready for service in the military. They've got a lot of growth to do, don't they? Well, calling in the work of one of the kinds of lack to spiritual version is like anything else. It's not like the military. It's not like civilian life. It's not like any other work we've ever been called to, is it? No, it is unique. It's wonderful. It's for life and such a blessing for us. One interesting thing that Christ says here by not saying anything, if that makes sense, all these ten virgins looked alike. There's nothing about, well, you know, you always know a foolish virgin because they have a big zit on their forehead over on the right side.

Or, and we understand, brethren, from Revelation, there are spots and wrinkles, but there's nothing here about that. Now, we understand there are spiritual spots or wrinkles, but I'm saying on the outward, Christ just says there are ten virgins. It's not like they don't have a different color on or different uniform on, or we can't just ID them. They all look alike.

They all have the garments. They all are there. So that's intriguing. That's interesting. They're all expecting the bridegroom, too. The five foolish virgins were expecting the bridegroom. They believed in it. They believed in that way. And when the bridegroom was delayed, they all fell asleep. But the five had extra oil, and that's the difference.

So are we prepared? Are we truly prepared, brethren? That's the point. And that is God's Spirit in us, and that's a daily, as I call them, holy habit.

They are very profound, very important, those habits that we talked about. So this second lesson is, don't fail to be prepared. Spiritual readiness, preparation, and growth don't just happen. They come as a result of intentional habits built into our life.

Let's move on to our third message of these ten virgins in the parable. No one can do it for us.

And, brethren, that's a good thing. It's a proper thing. That's the commitment we have toward God. Christ died for us. That was His commitment. No one could do it for Christ. He had to do it. And, brethren, we're going to do it with God in us. We're committed to that. No one can wear a parachute in your place. No one can do that. No one can loan you their parachute. No one can give you of God's Holy Spirit. No one can give you zeal, except God. And you have to want it. You have to live it. We have to stir up the gift of God's Spirit in us. Here's another way of putting this. And think about it. God has no grandchildren.

Think about it. He has children. He has sons and daughters, not grandsons and not granddaughters. Every spiritual birth comes directly from Him. What I'm saying here, brethren, if you grew up in the church, or if you're just here through a spouse, or just here through... I like the way the church gives news, or whatever it might be. Brethren, we have to be here and commit ourselves individually. It's wonderful. It's blessed to grow up in the church. But you've got to do something about it. You need to adopt God as your father, and not just through your parents.

So God has no grandchildren in that sense. It's not a tag team act, either, like wrestling. I grew up on black and white TV, and one of the things you could always have is Friday Night Boxing, and my dad loved it. Friday Night Boxing. And there was also wrestling Saturday morning. And wrestling, of course, was all play, acting.

I had no idea. I thought they were for real.

And then there was the tag team. Have you ever seen tag team wrestling?

Yeah, it's a lot of fun. Well, brethren, this thing of... this is not a tag team act. God has no grandchildren. We've got to do it. We're in the arena. There's not somebody else. Now, that's good. God cares for each of us. Christ died for each of every one of us. But it's not a spousal thing or a second-generation, third-generation thing in terms of... it's going to be a group judgment. You know, it's really interesting what happened. Hold your place. Actually, we're in Acts, though. I hope you... we're not going to go to Matthew 25. We will eventually. We're going to Matthew 20... Matthew 3. Matthew 3, verse 7, please. Matthew 3 and verse 7.

Christ's ministry had not officially begun yet. But Matthew 3, we read here about John the Baptist, Matthew 3, verse 7. And this is referring to John the Baptist, actually, here in this section.

So when John the Baptist saw in verse 7 many of the Pharisees said she's coming to his baptism, instead of them, brood of vipers. Well, brother, what about writing a blog like that? Well, there are exceptions. But of course, this is the Baptist. No greater man, right? So it was by divine inspiration here. So I would not start a blog with this anytime soon. Okay. But we do understand the inspiration here. brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the raft to come. You ever seen a group of snakes flee? Go through the grass? I have. There was a fort. There was a grass fire on our property years ago. An accident. Well, most of these grass fires are accidental. But this one was started on purpose, to burn grass and weeds off of the fence line. We had horses in there, and we had a lot of horses. And we're right next to the highway, highway 93. You know where highway 93 is. But so someone in the family won't mention names. It wasn't me.

Started. I got some time. So started the fire, and that thing went crazy because of the wind. It not only burned all the weeds around the fence that burned the fence down.

The idea was keep the weeds from the fence and keep it clean. And so all these wooden posts for up in flames. And the grass firm along the highway was up in flames, and it was traveling away from our property. And cars were stopping, and we thought accidents and horses. Yeah, the horses did get out. It was a great afternoon on the property. And interestingly, the point here, we had a lot of water snakes, and we just saw them slither through the grass.

From the raft to come, the fire to come. It's just spooky. Dozens of these critters. But you know what? The best thing that happened is we got rid of our water snake problem on the property.

Anyway, you've got to tell your story occasionally.

First state, he says, Therefore bear fruit worthy of repentance. And do not think to say to yourselves, we have Abraham as our fathers, talking to these Pharisees and Sadducees, you know, oh, we're related to Abraham our father. We've got him. We're of a wonderful lineage. For I say to you that God is able to raise up children of Abraham from these stones.

And even now the axe is laid to the roots of the trees. Therefore every fruit, which has not bare good fruit, is cut down and thrown in the fire. Well, he is saying, brethren, that we have to act. It isn't based on birth in the church or a spouse. It is us. Now, let me backtrack and say it's wonderful to grow up in the church. That's the best way. And it's wonderful to have a spouse in the church. What a blessing. But, brethren, sometimes we kind of use that as a spiritual crutch for our personal growth.

And if our spouse is off track, guess what happens? We have to stand up and say no. And that's going to be very hard to say no to a spouse in a church. If they're wrong, we have to say they're wrong. We have to, in love to it, work it out. But we have to stand up for the truth because we're going to be judged individually. And so no one can do it for us. It's very clear from Scripture. Godly character cannot be borrowed.

We just cannot do it that way. Let's go back to Matthew 25, please. And let's wrap it up with, excuse me, there's two more points. Sorry. The fourth meaning of the parable is, there is a time called too late. There is a time called too late. That's very clear from the parable in Matthew 25. Let's start in verse 10. Matthew 25 verse 10, while they went out to buy, you know, again, they've been asked these five foolish to the five whys. Well, can we get some of that oil for you from you? And while they went out to buy, because they said, well, go buy and sell some oil. Now, brethren, you know, the analogy is kind of stops there because you can't buy oil. What he's saying is, there comes a time where it's too late. Because Godly character takes time. Godly character takes time. I almost gave a sermon on a character day, but I changed it. But one of the points with character, brethren, it takes time to develop it.

Boy, God has given so many of us, thanks to Him, time to develop character. You know, my book, brethren, God's people are pretty wise, pretty character-filled, don't you think? We've been around a lot of us, and those of you who have not been around so long, these are the good times of the church. The church, doctrinally, is on track.

We're far more, if we use this word, balanced, than we ever have been.

We have more love in the church, more discernment in the church, more care for each other than I think we had, definitely, years ago. Well, he's saying in verse 10, While they went out to buy, then, of course, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in. Now, we will end on that point here in a few minutes, right there. They did go in. But it continues, With him to the wedding, and the door was shut.

You know, we could use the analogy of the ark, of course, and Lot's wife, and there's other stories in the Bible where it's too late.

Sodom Gomorrahim. Yes, in the end time. But notice verse 11, Afterwards, the other virgins came also saying, Now, afterwards, this is after, brethren, the virgins, the five wives, are in the kingdom, that Christ has protected them. Brother, we could morph into Revelation 12, about the place of safety, I guess, if you want to go there. I don't know. I mean, there's application after application. But we do know there is a time known as too late. So afterwards, the other virgins came also. Brother, does this apply to the tribulation? I don't know. I just throw it out. Saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

But he answered and said, As surely I say to you, I do not know you.

That phrase, I do not know you, brother, is one of the most stark phrases in all the Bible. I never knew you. I don't know you. Who are you?

I mean, you and I hope it never happens to any of God's people, any time in the kingdom of God, the millennial of God, now or in the past. We hope it never happens. We hope all the virgins, if God is calling, he'll call everybody eventually. We hope that never happens.

But yet, Christ is warning us as wise virgins. Well, there is a time. If we don't do our part, and get going, and go on and on and on, I do not know you. Then in verse 13, watch therefore. Of course, this is also in chapter 24, verse 42. Watch therefore. Now again, I've been precise today, Brown, this is spiritual watch. It's not watching world news, although it's good to watch world news. But let's get the cart behind the horse, is it? You know, let's do it in proper sequence and order.

Watch therefore, for you do not neither know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man, now he identifies the bridegroom here, right at the end, when he comes. Well, that Brown fits into the historical account of wedding during his era, because the bridegroom was the last to come to the party, and it was the hide-and-seek anticipatory thing when he finally did arrive. And the wedding party then was officially together, and the wedding could take place, and the wedding supper could take place. So the analogy continues here very much, that Christ builds.

So there is a time such as too late. Now, let's conclude with a positive note, and that is our last message from the parable is those who were ready to enter with Christ to his wedding. That's the message. Those who were ready to enter do enter. We saw that here in verse 10, notice verse 10 again, and while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, but those who were ready went in.

That's my fifth point. Those who were ready went in with Christ to the wedding or to the kingdom of God, to the first resurrection, and then later, yes, to all those who are called and everybody in the millennial reign and beyond the millennial reign of Jesus Christ, to be in that family, the wonderful kingdom of God. So those who, brethren, make themselves ready come into the kingdom, but it just doesn't happen. Well, let's conclude outside of the book of Matthew. Let's go to Revelation 19, and I know you're already thinking of where we're going here.

It's nice to have a very educated congregation. You say, okay, I know where you're going next. Revelation 19, verse 7. Revelation 19. Brethren, how many sermons have we ended, or articles, have we ended right here? Because it's such a positive message. You know, we should always end every message positively. We should, because the Bible is a positive book. It ends positively. I mean, there's a lot of bad that happens in history, but God is a positive God.

It's positive. It's encouraging. So the parable of the 10 versions, yeah, brethren, there's an incredibly positive message. Those who are ready, now, hopefully it's more than half. It's going to be a very, very, very high percentage. We hope all. Brethren, we hope for all of us, we're there.

Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor. So this is what those five wise virgins from the parable, they came in when the bridegroom arrived. They had a wedding. Then they had a wedding ceremony. I mean, the joy of the Supper for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. Isn't that interesting? That was one of our points. That was one of our points. Our last point, we're ready. We have made ourselves ready was another point.

And to her verse 8, it was granted to the Vearade and fine linen, clean and white, because she, of course, has made herself ready. She has examined herself, she's asked for forgiveness, she's overcome. For the fine linen is a righteous axe of the saints. Uh-oh, I thought works were not a part of the plan of God.

No, they are a part of the plan of God. Works don't save you, but works, rather, are a part of a converted, wise virgin's life. These are the righteous acts. That's God in us. There's no righteousness in us alone by ourselves. That's the righteousness of God. He produces the fruit. God's Spirit produces the fruit, the axe, as we've gone through today in part of the saints. Verse 9, then, he said to me, So this is the overall message of even the parable of the ten virgins, and really it's the message of the entirety of the Bible in a way.

Right, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper, and eventually everyone will be. But the elect are called in their lifetime, a few in every generation. They're called to the wedding supper, the marriage supper, and the lamb. That's what the parable of ten virgins is about, isn't it? And he said to me, these are the true things of God. So those are the lessons, brethren, of the parable of the ten virgins.