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in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 
24. Matthew 24, I'll pick up reading 
in verse 36. Our focus this morning is in 
chapter 25, verses 1 to 13, but it's good to set it in its larger 
context. So beginning in Matthew 24 at 
verse 36, but of that day and hour no one knows, not even the 
angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah 
were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as 
in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, 
marrying and giving in until the day that Noah entered the 
ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all 
away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be." Then two 
men will be in the field. One will be taken and the other 
left. Two women will be grinding at the mill. One will be taken 
and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not 
know what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, that if the master 
of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would 
have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. 
Therefore, you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming 
at an hour you do not expect. Who, then, is a faithful and 
wise servant, 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. Assuredly, I say 
to you, that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But 
if that evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying 
his coming and begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat 
and drink with the drunkards, the master of that servant will 
come on a day when he is not looking for him and at an hour 
that he is not aware of and will cut him in two and appoint him 
his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing 
of teeth." Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10 
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. 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 yourselves. And 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 also 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. Amen. Let us pray. Our God and 
our Father, we thank you for the written word. We thank you 
for our Lord Jesus Christ and his application of his discussion 
concerning the coming of the Son of Man. God, I pray that 
we would have ears to hear and hearts to receive your truth. 
Help us to be counted among those wise virgins. Help us to be ready 
for the arrival of the bridegroom. And we acknowledge that that 
is alone by grace through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. We 
would pray, Sovereign Father, that today you would send forth 
your Holy Spirit, that you would bring conviction for sin, that 
you would cause those outside of Christ to believe the gospel 
of Christ, that you would be pleased to make this indeed the 
day of salvation, that you would cause there to be rejoicing in 
heaven over sinners who repent here, and do this for your glory's 
sake. And for us as your people, we 
pray that you'd help us to be prepared, help us to be faithful, 
help us to be watchful and to live in light of the coming of 
the Son of Man. Again, forgive us for our sins 
and our transgressions. Wash us and purify us in and 
through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ and cause us to 
rejoice in Him. who is altogether lovely and 
chief among 10,000. Cause us to rejoice in that great 
bridegroom of the church and to look with earnest expectation 
to that time when he comes again in glory to judge the living 
and the dead. The prospects for believers held 
forth in this scripture is so encouraging and such a blessing. 
May we find encouragement today. May you strengthen our souls 
in this lower world. For we face a whole multitude 
of discouragements and trials and sorrows and difficulties. 
But may we long for that day when we will be in the inner 
chamber with the bridegroom himself and the door will be shut. And 
God, for those outside of Christ, may they see the terror of the 
Lord in this passage. And may you indeed grant repentance 
and faith. And we pray these things through 
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, as we continue in 
our studies in the Olivet Discourse, this section beginning in 2436 
and running to the end of chapter 25 could aptly be entitled, Living 
in Light of the Coming of Christ. That is precisely the emphasis 
in each one of these particular accounts. Specifically in chapter 
24, verses 36 to 44, our Lord Jesus says we are to be watchful. We are to be on the lookout. 
We are to be those who have a mind concerning the coming of the 
Son of Man. And then when we ask the question, what does watchfulness 
look like? The rest of the parables illustrate 
or flesh that out. Last week we saw the faithful 
servant and the wicked servant. And so watchfulness involves 
faithfulness. In order to be watchful for the 
Lord, we are faithful in the work that he calls us to. This 
morning, we see the emphasis on preparedness. We need to be 
among those wise virgins who had not only their lamps, but 
their vessels carrying the oil. And then in the next parable 
we see that diligence is called for with reference to watchfulness. We are to be about our master's 
work. We are not to sit and gaze at the sky but get busy in terms 
of kingdom service. And then the last portion of 
this sort of summarizes the whole where Jesus shines the light 
upon that day when He comes in glory to judge the living and 
the dead. We're going to take up this section 
this morning, the parable of the ten virgins. And there are 
some details in this particular parable that I may not deal with. I think we're going to stick 
with the straightforward and the simple teaching of the parable. John Calvin made this observation. Some people give themselves a 
good deal of uneasiness about the lamps, the vessels, and the 
oil. But the plain and natural meaning 
of the whole is that it is not enough to have ardent zeal for 
a short time if we have not also a constancy that never tires. 
So we're going to look at the main focus of the parable. Again, there's a whole host of 
explanations for what the oil represents. Good works, or deeds 
of charity, or faith, or grace, or all of those particulars. 
But it is intriguing. The foolish virgins did indeed 
have the torch. They did indeed have the lamp. 
So at least at one point they had a degree of oil. in order 
to make that torch burn. They didn't have the accompanying 
vessel, however. So it wasn't as if they had no 
oil. They just didn't have enough oil. So in my mind, all of these 
symbolic interpretations can come up short. We have the Holy 
Spirit, but not enough. We have good works, but not enough. 
I don't think that's the emphasis in the context. I think the emphasis 
is, be ready. Be prepared. Don't be caught 
unawares like these foolish virgins who weren't ready to go out and 
meet the bridegroom. The purpose, the focus, the emphasis 
in the entirety of the section is watchfulness involves faithfulness 
and preparedness. You need to make sure whether 
the Master's coming is delayed or it's immediate, you're ready. 
And you should appreciate that particular contrast as well. 
The wicked servant at the end of Matthew 24 expected a long 
delay, and therefore he lived unfaithfully or inconsistently. 
What's the problem with the foolish virgins? They expected an immediate 
return, and that led to problems with reference to them. So I 
think the Lord's underscored point in verse 36 of chapter 
24 is don't spend your time obsessing about the particular time, but 
rather be watchful, be faithful, and be prepared. If it's a long 
delay, be ready. If it's an immediate coming, 
be ready. The emphasis doesn't shift no 
matter when our Lord, in His sovereignty, desires to come 
again in glory to judge the living and the dead. Preparedness. And 
if you are not prepared here this morning for the coming of 
the Son of Man, then please take heed, because these foolish virgins 
are caught short. These foolish virgins are caught 
off guard. They are like those in the days 
of Noah. They were eating, they were drinking, 
they were marrying, they were giving in marriage, and it was 
too late when the wrath and judgment of God came down upon them. The 
same sort of principle is at play here. We're going to structure 
the exposition around the bridegroom this morning because he is altogether 
lovely and he is chief among 10,000. Verses 1 to 4 deal with 
the expectation concerning the coming of the bridegroom. Secondly, 
in verses 5 to 9, we have the delay associated with the coming 
of the bridegroom. And then thirdly, the arrival 
of the bridegroom in verses 10 to 13. But note in the first 
place, under the expectation, the subject of the parable. Verse 
1, chapter 25, then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 
ten virgins. It's not the case that the kingdom 
of heaven is like ten virgins. It is like this situation that 
is concerned with these ten virgins. This particular story illustrates 
something to us appropriate to the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom 
of Heaven is like this situation where you had ten virgins who 
took their lamps, better torches, probably outdoor torches, and 
went out to meet the bridegroom. So specifically we need to appreciate 
the particular players in the story. The bridegroom is Jesus. We see him identified this way 
in Matthew chapter 9 at verse 15. We see him identified this 
way in Matthew chapter 22. We see a great deal of Old Testament 
background where Yahweh is the husband to Israel. So it's a 
very fitting and a very appropriate illustration concerning the coming 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. The virgins represent, I suspect, 
the two types of people that are in the church. church, those 
who profess faith and yet have no possession of Christ, and 
those who profess faith and actually do possess Christ by faith. Now, for those outside of the 
church, all the bad things involved here with reference to the foolish 
virgins apply to them as well. But I think that Gil is right 
in identifying the specific situation, the difference between nominal 
and real Christians. Remember, in the context, Jesus 
is speaking to his disciples. In the context, Jesus is highlighting 
readiness on the part of those professing people of God. And 
so we have the ten virgins representative of the covenant community, or 
we might say the church. Now, we need to appreciate we've 
got five wise and five foolish. Verse 2 tells us that. Now, five 
of them were wise and five were foolish. He explains what that 
means in verses 3 and 4. Now, this is a particular detail 
that becomes important later as we consider the announcement 
of the coming of the king. But for now, we need to appreciate, 
Matthew's not saying they're dim bulbs and they're bright 
bulbs. Wise and unwise in Matthew's gospel is not a commentary on 
their intellectual ability. It's not the case these foolish 
virgins were foolish simply because they just didn't have enough 
oil, or they didn't bring the vessel, or they and their forgetfulness. 
No, wise and unwise in Matthew's gospel reflects a positional 
It reflects, rather, our position before God in terms of faith 
or not faith, and it reflects the ethics that are consistent 
with that. And so wise and unwise is not 
name-calling for those who are intellectually bright and those 
who aren't so intellectually bright. But then notice, the 
wise virgins had torches and accompanying vessels with oil 
to keep the torches burning. What's the emphasis? It's being 
prepared. All right? Imagine you were going 
to go camping, and you pack up the flashlight. You have batteries 
in the flashlight, and you push the button, and it works. You're 
going to go camping for, let's say, two weeks. You don't pack 
additional batteries. Batteries run out, don't they? 
Imagine if you have to use the facilities at midnight, and you 
take your trusty flashlight out, and it works to get you there, 
but it doesn't work to get you back. You haven't prepared effectively. You haven't thought through life. You haven't considered the potential 
that I might meet a bear walking back from the place. Not that 
I think it's any good to actually see the bear. Either way, you're 
not going to win. So the flashlight might be a 
moot point, but you get the point. The emphasis is on preparedness. or a lack of preparation. And 
so these foolish are described as those who took their torches, 
but took no accompanying oil with them. They had enough for 
what they thought was going to be a short delay, but it turns 
into a longer delay, and they're not ready for that. I guess the 
specific application here is count the cost with reference 
to discipleship in the life of Christianity. Jesus teaches thus 
in Luke 14. He says no military leader goes 
out without first surveying the troops. He doesn't go out into 
battle without reckoning what the other the enemy army has 
in terms of their ability to render damage. He says nobody 
undertakes to build a particular building without first counting 
the cost. I've told you before, outside 
of Boise, Idaho, there's a small town, and they built this amazing 
resort about halfway. It was a ski resort, and it's 
massive with houses, luxury homes, and, you know, lifts, and all 
this stuff, but it's not completed. I mean, when you look at that, 
on the one hand, it looks pretty nice, but on the other hand, 
it screams foolishness. Why would you undertake a project 
like that without sufficient capital? It makes no sense. And Jesus' point in Luke 14 is 
to count the costs. Realize, if you come to Christ, 
the delay may be long. You may be waiting a while. Some 
persons might want to make peace with God through Christ today, 
if they thought He was going to come today, because it wouldn't 
really alter my life. It really wouldn't affect the 
way that I conduct myself. It wouldn't really work its way 
into my heart and life. But if I have to be in this for 
a while, that sort of means self-denial. That sort of means the stuff 
we sang in that hymn before the preaching. We must wrestle. We 
must watch. We must fight. We must pray. 
These foolish virgins are not up to any sort of a long delay. 
They are there as a flash in the pan. They're ready for the 
moment, but they have not sufficiently counted the costs. They didn't 
reflect on the reality that, you know what, the bridegroom 
may be delayed. And if we have our lamps, but 
we don't have sufficient oil in our lamps, those lamps are 
going to be as good to us as a flashlight without batteries. But notice what the wise have. They are prepared. But the wise, 
verse 4, took oil in their lamps with their lamps. France explains 
what kind of lamps or torches are in view here. The portable 
torches for outdoor use. The word is not the same as that 
used for standing domestic lamps in 515 and 622. They would be 
bundles of cloth mounted on a carrying stick and soaked with oil. The 
jars held the oil into which the torch was dipped before lighting. 
You see it, right? With the foolish ones. They've got sufficient oil on 
their cloths wrapped around their carrying stick so that it burns 
for a brief time, but it's going to be extinguished. Most of the 
commentators suggest it was probably about 15 minutes. But the wise 
virgins thought if he does delay, we're going to need more oil. 
You see, it's a pretty simple analogy and a pretty simple story. 
I mean, there's a whole lot of ink spilled about what the oil 
is and what the vessels are. Is it the Holy Spirit? Is it 
the good word? The emphasis is on being prepared or not being 
prepared. Being a wise virgin who does 
look out and see that Christ may not come in five minutes. And if a confession of faith 
is engaged in, that means I need to be faithful. I need to be 
discipled. I need to be disciplined. I need 
to be the sort of person that's described in the section on the 
wise servant. I need to be watching out for 
my master's goods. I need to be the kind of guy 
or girl that 14 to 30 is going to describe in terms of diligence 
with reference to the kingdom. You see, if everybody thought 
that Jesus was going to come back in the next five minutes, 
I believe we'd get a lot of people to say, yeah, count me in. If 
he's long-term fire insurance and that's all we look at him 
as, then by all means. But when we preach the reality, 
that anyone who comes to me must take up his cross daily and follow 
after me. It's that long haul. It's that 
perseverance. It's that consistency. It's that 
faithfulness. It is that constant preparedness 
that Christ is enjoining upon his disciples. You see, brethren, 
if he delays a long time, we need to be in it for a long time. And this is so appropriate to 
us. What happens today? Somebody 
makes a confession or a profession of faith and then they fall away. 
Well, they were never saved to begin with. But what are their 
reasons? Well, I tried Jesus and life didn't change for me. 
I tried Jesus and I was still married to the same deadbeat 
man. I tried Jesus and my kids are still rotten to the core. 
I tried Jesus and I haven't gotten promoted. That's how we approach 
this. We don't say, he's the altogether 
lovely bridegroom. He is the one that's chief among 
10,000. He is the one that is most excellent, most glorious, 
most wondrous, and by the grace of God, I'm going to lay hold 
of him by faith, and I'm going to follow wherever he leads me. 
Whether it's through the difficulty times, the trying times, the 
sorrowful times, I'm going to follow where He leads me because 
I'm committed to Him for the long haul. These foolish virgins 
didn't say that. They were not committed to this 
for the long haul. Both groups, however, had torches, 
didn't they? This is what's difficult within 
the covenant community, within the people of God, or the professing 
people of God. Everybody's got their torch when they go out 
to this procession, and probably the situation was thus. The bridegroom 
went to the father's house of the bride to fetch her, and there 
would be processions. These wedding feasts would last 
for several days. The idea being is that when he 
would come back to his house, this would be the location for 
the actual feast. And though the word says wedding, 
a comparison with chapter 22 indicates the plural form of 
wedding can apply to the feast as well. And so the bridegroom 
goes to his to be In father-in-law's house, he spends additional time 
there. The procession is such that he 
comes back, and it's in that particular context that the virgins 
meet back up with him. But the similarity is there. 
Both groups have their torches, but both groups do not have the 
oil. In other words, both groups aren't 
prepared. You can, you know, I can give 
you a list of books to read and there's a whole lot of discussions 
about the oil and about the vessels and what does it mean and what 
does it signify. But don't miss the point. Are you ready to meet 
Jesus? Are you ready for the arrival 
of the bridegroom? We could obsess about what was 
in that vessel to the point of missing the point of the vessel. 
And it's to point us to the reality that we need to be prepared to 
greet the bridegroom. The bridegroom is coming. If 
it's a long delay, be ready. If it's a short delay, be ready. 
The issue is personal readiness in light of the coming of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. And all of us need to take this 
to heart. The point, as I see it, is that 
all virgins profess Christ here, but not all of them possess Christ 
by faith. Now, the passage certainly doesn't 
enjoin a life of virginity. It's simply speaking to younger 
teenage girls that would serve in some capacity as part of this 
procession and serve with reference to the bride and the bridegroom. 
I think it's wrong to say they were bridesmaids. Some of the 
translations might have that. Bridesmaids suggest they're all 
decked out. You know, they've done their 
hair and they've done... It probably wasn't that complicated. They 
were people that were there and associated to some degree with 
the particular wedding situation. But I think these brides... Sorry, 
the virgins represent the professed people of God. Matthew's gospel 
is a repeated emphasis upon two types of people. Not only Christ's 
declarative statement in Matthew 12.30, He who is not with me 
is against me, but Matthew's own record. We've got converted, 
we've got unconverted. We've got false professors and 
true believers. We've got the hypocrite and the 
true believer. We've got the foolish builders 
and the wise builders. Another place where that whole 
idea of foolishness and wisdom is seen. At the end of the Sermon 
on the Mount, two types of builders. One builds his house upon the 
rock. Guess what he's called? A wise builder, another man builds 
his house upon the sand. What's he called? A fool, because 
when the rains come and the storms come, it batters that house and 
it collapse. What is the difference between 
these two? It's how they respond to the 
word of God most high. The wise builders heard the word 
of Christ and did what he said. The foolish builders heard the 
word of Christ, but they did not do what he said. And then 
in the parables of the kingdom, we have wheat and we have tares, 
we have good fish, we have bad fish. So the particular application 
with reference to these ten virgins are those who profess saving 
faith, but have not, by the grace of God, entered into possessing 
the Lord Jesus by faith. And those who, by the grace of 
God, are true believers. Probably, if anything, that oil, 
I think Luther's on the right path. It's faith. What do we 
not want to be caught unawares with or off-guard with when Christ 
the Bridegroom comes? Grace through faith. A lot of 
the brothers say grace and Luther says faith. Perhaps it's that 
grace-faith complex or compound of things that are in that particular 
vessel. But the point is preparation 
versus non-preparation. Now notice, secondly, the delay 
associated with the coming of the bridegroom. Verse 5, but 
while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. 
Again, here's where commentators say, well, you know, even the 
professing church, even believers within it, you know, they're 
still in a slumbery, sleepy status. I don't think we necessarily 
need to say that it's bad they fell asleep. I don't think God 
or Christ is saying it's terrible and wicked to fall asleep. I 
don't think that's the point. It's a story that is analogous 
to real-life situations. If the bridegroom delays, what 
are the virgins going to most naturally do? They're going to 
take a siesta. We're dealing with nighttime. 
So again, we can make Make it be the case, well here we have 
this significance that of course the foolish virgins will sleep, 
but even the true Christians, and I don't doubt that, true 
Christians do get slumbery and sleepy and groggy and foggy and 
fuzzy and all that sort of thing. But I'm not sure this is the 
particular text that we want to go to to prove that. The point 
is, in the movement of the narrative, the bridegroom has been delayed 
and now he, they slumber. Now notice, the virgins are asleep 
and then the response of the virgins when they hear this announcement 
at verse six, at midnight, a cry was heard. Behold, the bridegroom 
is coming. Go out to meet him. Isn't that the point in the context? 
The bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. You're either 
prepared or you're not prepared. C.H. Spurgeon's comment on this 
particular announcement is gold. He says, it would be well if 
we all thought more of the great truth of our Lord's second advent. 
The oftener it is preached in due proportion with other revealed 
doctrines, the more likely will it be to arouse both slumbering 
possessors and sleeping professor of love to Christ. In other words, 
we need to remind ourselves of these things. And I would submit, 
brethren, that the judgment upon the foolish brides here is horrendous. It is horrific. It ought to terrify 
any of us that we would ever hear the words of the Lord Jesus 
Christ say, depart from me, I never knew you. I think it does serve 
in some sense as a counterpart to flesh out what God's punishment 
involves for the wicked. In 2451, Jesus talks about being 
cut in pieces, cut in two. Jesus says there will be a sign 
with the hypocrites. Jesus says there will be weeping 
and gnashing of teeth there. Boston, in his wonderful book, 
Human Nature and Its Fourfold Sense, in his explanation of 
hell, says that hell involves two aspects of punishment. There 
is a punishment of sense. That's wherein God punishes, 
inflicts pain, torment, and suffering upon people that have rejected 
and resisted and rebelled against Him. And I realize that's not 
popular today. Oh, you can't ever suggest that 
the God of love would ever inflict punishment upon persons that 
have rejected Him. Well, the God of love described 
in the entirety of the scriptures does. He has promised to. It's the God of love who says 
when he comes, he will take that wicked servant and cut him in 
pieces. So we've got this punishment 
of sins, but I think what we see in this particular parable 
is the punishment of loss. What happens? The door is shut. 
The foolish virgins are on the outside. They have been deprived 
from the intimacy and the communion and the feast with this blessed 
bridegroom. But I think it is typical for 
us to comment on that, and I will probably again as we move through 
the sermon, and miss the significance for the wise. They get to enter 
in. They get to be with the bridegroom. 
The door is shut to them. So they enjoy everything that 
is Christ in his presence, and everything that is contrary to 
Christ is excluded. It certainly typifies what we 
see in the New Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven in Revelation 
21 and 22. Not only do the saints get to enjoy the blessed presence 
of the triune God, but they are out of the wretched presence 
that marks this particular world. Sin, wickedness, murder, theft, 
adultery, abortion, euthanasia, the door will be shut on that. 
There is a day coming for the people of God when there's no 
more sorrow, and no more pain, and no more suffering, and no 
more death. There's a day coming when we 
will not be separate, and it is represented here by the virgins 
going into the bridegroom, and the door is shut. Let us not 
miss the significance that is here, trying to figure out perhaps 
what isn't there. Note how the virgins respond. The midnight cry comes. Behold, 
the bridegroom is coming. Go out to meet him. Verse 7, 
then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. Makes 
sense, doesn't it? If the life of a particular torch 
was about 15 minutes, we must conclude that their siesta exceeded 
that 15 minutes. So they hear the announcement 
that the bridegroom's coming. What's the first thing they do? 
Again, if you were camping and it was dark, you'd roll over 
and grab your flashlight and push the button. So you could 
see the bears that were about to attack you. So you could see 
the wolves that were about to get you. Now the kids are all 
going to go home and say, Mommy, Daddy, I don't ever want to go 
camping again. But this makes sense in the narrative, doesn't 
it? Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lambs. They're 
all the same. They've made a profession. They're going to go meet the 
bridegroom. But you see, five of them are prepared and five 
of them are not. I don't think we're to press 
that and say there's an equal number of saved and lost within 
the professing church. Again, a detail that fits the 
story, that illustrates the principle that you need to be ready. You 
need to be prepared. You need to be watchful. You 
need to be faithful. So these virgins trim their lamps, 
and this is then the time when the foolish say to the wise, 
give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. Now, 
I've pretty much condemned a hyper-spiritualizing of this passage, but allow me 
for a moment. What do we as God's people hear 
today from the world? Oh, you're fools. You're ignorant 
to put your trust in some old dusty book, to put your trust 
in some man that lived in Israel in the first century, to bank 
your soul on acceptance with a holy God by grace through faith. You are the most ignorant of 
people on the face of the earth. Don't we hear that? If you don't, 
you haven't gotten out at all and told anybody you're a believer. 
You see, the tables are gonna be turned, brethren. It's not 
always the case that the fools are going to point the finger 
at the wise and include us in their folly. On that day, it 
will be crystal clear who was right. Now, I'm not suggesting 
we live the Christian life just to prove the non-Christians wrong. 
I'm not saying that. But I'm saying this by way of 
encouragement. In history, it may appear at 
times that the church is losing. I don't think it is the case, 
but it may appear that way. God manifests His glory and power 
in our weakness. But brethren, it's not always 
going to be the case. And so they trim their lamps 
and these fools realize that they don't have an accompanying 
vessel. They don't have any oil. They can't reignite their torch 
and thus it will hinder the whole let's go meet the bridegroom 
sort of thing. So the foolish said to the wise, 
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 
yourselves. Now, some say that these wise virgins are very selfish, 
aren't they? I mean, isn't the Christian spirit 
one of generosity? Isn't the Christian spirit one 
of being willing to share with others? Doesn't our Lord enjoin 
such, even in the very Sermon on the Mount itself? I mean, 
isn't that the case? And yet we've got these wise 
virgins selfishly hoarding their vessels of oil. Brethren, this 
is not an explanation of the Golden Rule. This is dealing 
with being ready when Jesus returns. They're not selfish, they are 
functioning appropriately. R.T. France describes it this 
way. He calls the wise girls sensible. 
The hard-nosed reality of the sensible girls invites the reader 
to reflect that spiritual preparedness is not something that others 
can provide for you. This is very important. Please 
pay attention. If you haven't been, please start. 
Your parents cannot provide this oil for you. Your spouses cannot 
provide this oil for you. Your friends cannot provide this 
oil for you. Pastor Porter and myself cannot 
provide this oil for you. And by the grace of God, all 
those persons can tell you where to find it. All those persons 
can point you to the source. All of those persons can say, 
there's the bridegroom, go after him. But it cannot be the case 
that on the Day of Judgment any of us will ever think, well, 
I'll just borrow some of the oil from the wise. I was foolish, 
I was unprepared, I was not watchful, but I'll just trust in the kindness 
of God's people. I'll throw myself on their mercy 
and I'll say, guess what? I don't have any oil, can you 
provide some? Can you pony up? D.A. Carson says, preparedness can 
be neither transferred nor shared. You say, well, you know, Pastor 
Butler, this is a point that I think we all pretty much agree 
on. Not everybody does. Sure, I've shared with you before, 
going door-to-door, passing out tracts, what's one of the responses 
when you hit someone with the gospel? My uncle taught Sunday 
school. There's that oil transference 
doctrine. Because my uncle taught Sunday 
school, on the day of judgment, the oil accrued by him will be 
funneled down to me. I mean, the whole idea of supererogation 
in the Roman Catholic system is somewhat founded on this particular 
idea. I don't know if this is their 
proof text, but it certainly is a legitimate proof text for 
that idea. You cannot find preparation in 
your parents. You cannot find a transference 
of oil by a spouse. The only way in which you are 
prepared is by fleeing to the bridegroom, to come to him prior 
to his coming in glory again to judge the living and the dead. 
You see, this passage underscores another awful reality. I don't 
mean awful like, you know, broccoli if you don't like broccoli, but 
awful. Producing awe, inspiring awe, 
is the reality that in God's world there is a too late moment. So I don't think we live that 
way. especially kids and young people. And I don't want to pick 
on you, but the idea seems to be like this. Well, I'll get 
religion, or I'll get serious about Jesus when I get older. 
I want to go live my life. I don't want to be fettered down. 
I don't want to be bound by anything that I don't like. I'm going 
to go do what I want to do. I'm going to be like those people 
in times when there were no judges. Everyone did what was right in 
their own eyes. You see, there is a too late moment. And these 
virgins found it out all too well, didn't they? Don't ever 
mistake that reality. God is love, God is patient, 
God is kind, God is everything, Scripture tells us, but not at 
the subtraction of His justice, of His holiness, of His righteousness, 
of the reality that He will visit sinners with punishment and judgment 
and every horrible thing you can imagine. Just in these two 
passages, side by side, we have the sinner being cut in pieces. 
We have him being assigned with the hypocrites. We have him in 
that place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. And in 
that, he is deprived from all the goodness of God. You see, 
on this earth, the worst of sinners get goodness from God, don't 
they? You say, well, I know some people out there with pretty 
miserable lives. If they get to smile one time during a day, 
if they get one thing that passes their lips that's tasty, if they 
get one sip of water, they are benefiting from the goodness 
of God. Guess what happens when that door is shut, when access 
completely is cut off from the wedding feast with the bridegroom? 
You think there's good in hell? You think there's good in that 
place where there is weeping and gnashing? They're not weeping 
and gnashing because the stakes ran out that particular day. 
It's a punishment of sense and a punishment of loss. God not 
only inflicts positively judgment upon sinners, but he deprives 
them. He removes his goodness from 
them. Now don't conclude from that 
that God isn't present in hell. God is what makes hell hell. Now, if I haven't, you know, 
caused everybody to want to go home and blog about how blasphemous 
this is, are we to suggest that God does not sustain hell? That 
God is not the one that's in charge of hell? That God is not 
the one who sends people there and keeps it in action? The devil's 
not sovereign. The devil doesn't have this potential. 
He doesn't have this ability. He doesn't have this capability. 
You see, I think what we've done is we've taken God down from 
the throne and we put him into our creation and we see him as 
this grandfatherly figure with a long beard and a cane who will 
never do anything untoward or unkind to any human being on 
the face of the earth. That would be fine if that's 
what the Bible taught, but the Bible doesn't teach that. Listen 
to our Lord in a short compass. They will be cut in two. There 
will be a sign with the hypocrites. There will be weeping and gnashing 
of teeth there. They will cry out to Him, Lord, Lord. He will 
say, I never knew you. I never knew you. That brings 
us to the arrival of the bridegroom. Verses 10 to 13. the blessed 
state of the wise virgins. And 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." Isn't that beautiful? 
That's our future, brethren. That's what we have to look out 
for. Again, it's fleshed out in more detail, say, in the book 
of Revelation. That's what we've got. The marriage supper of the 
Lamb. We get to go be with the bridegroom. 
We get to be in his presence. We get to have intimacy. We get 
to have communion. We get to sit with him. We get 
to be in his presence. We get to know him and love him 
and adore him and worship him and glorify him world without 
end. You see, we get these glimpses 
on this side of heaven, don't we? We get times in our Bible 
reading. We get times, perhaps, in our 
prayer closet. There might be times through preaching where 
God just alights on our soul and we get this great big dose 
of who Jesus is and what He's done on our behalf. Pastor Porter's 
commentary there on the book of Matthew in chapter 27, when 
he makes the contrast between what Christ had and what Christ 
got. Glory to mockery! a joy and blessing 
to shame and suffering. Brethren, it ought to be times 
like that that cause us to reflect on the fact that He is altogether 
lovely and chief among 10,000. We get these snippets, we get 
these glimpses, and they're real, and they're blessed, and we crave 
them. Could you imagine this? We go 
by the grace of God with those torches burning that He started, 
that He sustained, that He preserved, and we meet that bridegroom, 
and he opens up the door, and he lets us into that place, and 
then he shuts the door. There's no more glimpses. There's 
no more snippets. The lamb is all the glory of 
Emmanuel's land. The bride is not her garment, 
but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not gaze at glory, but 
on my king of grace. Not at the crown he gifteth, 
but on his pierced hand. The lamb is all the glory of 
Emmanuel's land. That's what these wise virgins 
have. And it's not because they're 
wise in themselves. God saved them. God prepared 
them. God moved them. God filled them 
with the Spirit. They are prepared by the grace 
of God to meet the God of grace. And when they do, they enter 
into the fullness of joy and blessing and privilege and everything. Again, this world mocks us. This world belittles us. This 
world has this conception that we've got this sort of pie-in-the-sky 
mentality. Well, you know what? In some 
sense, they're right. Only it's better than pie in 
the sky. It's the heaven of heavens. It's where God Most High dwells, 
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We have something in our future 
that far surpasses, by infinity, everything that this world has 
to offer. These foolish virgins came up short. They go to the 
wise and they say, give us some of your oil. The wise say, no, 
we can't transfer our oil. We can't give to you something 
that will deplete us, and it's not even the case that justification 
or salvation can be passed from person to person. You know, if 
I was me, and I was in this verse 9 setting, I'm sure that I would 
say something like this. You should have listened earlier. You should have paid attention 
earlier. You ever seen somebody run out 
of gas on the side of the road? What do you think? Hopefully 
you think, that'd be nice for me to help them get some gas. 
But deep down somewhere, if you're like me, you should have looked 
at your fuel gauge. You should have looked at that 
and planned accordingly and, you know, filled up. I say that, 
when I used to work swing shift at Northrop, Rebecca would use 
the car very often, and then she'd come home, and I don't 
mean to pick on her, I'm just trying to illustrate a particular 
point, she'd come home with enough time for me to make it to work, 
and while I'm on my way to work, to realize that it was on empty. 
I'm one of those people that if it's at halfway, I like to 
fill up, because I don't want to be caught short. And I'd say 
two or three times I ran out of gas on the way home from work. 
And so people probably drove by and said, that idiot didn't 
look at his fuel gauge. He didn't plan properly. So what 
goes around comes around. But you get that, right? And 
maybe now we can just bring it home. You've all heard what it 
is to be prepared. You all know what it is to be 
prepared. It's not a mystery. It's easier 
than looking at your fuel gauge. It's easier than making sure 
there's a gas station between you and work. It's looking to 
Christ. That's where preparation lies. And as believers, to never stop 
looking at Christ. I think Calvin's emphasis certainly 
needs to be highlighted here. He says the whole thing's about 
earnestness. It's about perseverance. Don't just make a show, but press 
onward. Be faithful, fight, wrestle, 
struggle, battle, pray, read, go to church, do all those things 
that are supposed to characterize the wise virgins on this side 
of the arrival of the bridegroom. So you've all heard this. You 
could probably all explain this, and yet you need to reckon with 
the fact, either you're prepared or you're not. Now notice what 
goes on. Verse 10, 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. And I suspect 
at this point, the parable has given away to genuine prediction. In other words, we've moved from 
parable of virgins, because the way that the virgins address 
Jesus in verse 11. Afterward, the other virgins 
came also saying, Lord, Lord. I think we move from the parable 
now, because I don't think they would have called him Lord, Lord. 
Maybe perhaps Sir, Sir type thing. But I think that Jesus is now 
bringing it to bear. The exhortation in verse 13 confirms 
that. He wants us to learn something. 
But notice what happens, and this is not the first time such 
language is used in Matthew's gospel. Turn to Matthew 7. We've 
got the whole concept of wise and foolish in Matthew 7 in terms 
of those who hear the Word of God and do not do it, in terms 
of the builders. But in Matthew 7, 21, not everyone 
who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, 
but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. You see the 
same sort of thing going on in this particular instance? In 
Matthew 7, Jesus is saying to us in the professing community 
of God's people that there is the real deal and there is the 
not real deal. Perhaps it's important for us 
to stress that as well. Maybe you've professed faith. 
Maybe your friends would say, yeah, I think he's a Christian. 
Maybe your spouse thinks that you're a Christian, but maybe 
you're not living as a Christian. Maybe you're not functioning 
as one who has saving faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Maybe 
this parable under the blessing of God will arouse you to a preparation 
that you have grown lazy in or negligent in. You see, genuine 
Christian sin, I grant that, I admit that, I heartily concede 
that, but they repent, and by the grace of God, they seek to 
kill their sin. They don't perpetuate it, they 
don't continue in it, they don't thrive and flourish in it. Isn't 
this the whole point in Matthew 1.21? It is He who will save 
His people, not to continue in their sins, He doesn't save them 
for sin, but He will save them from their sin. There ought to 
be growth in our Christian lives. If we have confessed faith in 
Jesus, yeah, we're not what we ought to be. We're probably not 
what we should be, but praise God, we're not what we used to 
be. John Newton said that. There should be some growth. 
There should be some forward movement. You see, it's not just 
the unbelievers here who have never made a confession, they've 
never been baptized, they've never joined the church. Oh, 
they're the foolish virgins. You're a foolish virgin if you 
are living in light of the coming of the Son of Man and you are 
glutting yourself in your sin. There is no sure evidence that 
someone who continues in sin that perpetuates it as if they're 
drinking water is a believer in Christ. Now I know sensitive 
souls are gonna be aroused and they're gonna say, but I got 
this trouble and I'm struggling. Struggle is good. If you're not struggling, be afraid. See, when we struggle, we're 
right there in Romans 7. When we struggle, we're right 
there in Galatians 5. The spirit lusts against the 
flesh, the flesh against the spirit. These two are contrary 
to one another so that you don't do the things you want. Brethren, 
if you're struggling, praise God. If you're not, if you're 
a Christian or a professing Christian that lives at ease with pornography, 
a professing Christian that lives at ease with drug use, a professing 
Christian that lives at ease with some other sexual sin or 
some other sin of idolatry or some other sin of whatever it 
is, repent. Stop. Cease. Desist. You cannot think things are well 
in your soul. when you persistently engage 
in things that are contrary to God. Now, as I say this, I am 
mindful of the Roman 7 and the Galatians 5 in my own heart. You could say, you're a hypocrite. 
Yeah, I guess. But the reality is we got to 
struggle. We've got to fight. We've got 
to pray against those things. We've got to set scripture before 
our eyes. We've got to meditate upon the 
word of God. We've got to be in the house of God to encourage 
one another. This is one of the grand exhortations 
in the book of Hebrews. Exhort one another daily while 
it is called today, lest the text escape me completely. Exhort 
one another daily while it is called today, lest you be hardened 
through the deceitfulness of sin. We need to exhort one another 
into holiness and righteousness. So it's not the foolish virgins 
or just those who are, you know, outside the covenant people. 
They might be within us, they might have professed, they might 
have been baptized, they might be on our church membership roll, 
and yet they might be completely unprepared to meet Him. But in 
721, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the 
kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in 
heaven. Arguably there, the doing the will of the Father in heaven 
is to believe the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 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? And then I will declare to them, 
I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice 
lawlessness. So you see, the foolish virgins 
are going to hear that from our Lord Christ. There is a too late 
with reference to the day of judgment. And back in our passage, 
when Jesus says that the bridegroom will say the answers and he says 
assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you. That does not mean 
cognizantly. It doesn't mean I had no clue 
who you were. It means redemptively, it means 
salvificly, it means with reference to having set my affection and 
love upon you, and having saved you by grace through faith in 
Jesus Christ. John 10, 14, I am the good shepherd, 
and I know my sheep, and am known by my own. 1 Corinthians 8, 3, 
But if anyone loves God, this one is known by him. When Jesus 
here announces that on that day you may hear, I do not know you. It doesn't mean he didn't know 
your name, your address, your postal zip code. It doesn't mean 
that. It means he doesn't know you 
savingly. It's terrible to consider that that's going to take place, 
and may involve some here who hear the gospel on a regular 
basis, but continue to resist, continue to reject, and continue 
to refuse. And then the passage ends, or 
the parable ends with an exhortation specifically fitted to the context 
in verse 13. In fact, this is the recurring 
emphasis. Watch therefore, for you know 
neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. This is emphasized in chapter 
24, 36, 42, 44, and then the two servants in 45 to 51. It's the point of the discourse 
at this particular point. Jesus is coming, be ready. Gonna 
save a lot of time just by saying that, right? Jesus is coming, 
be ready. But we ought to just draw out 
a couple concluding observations. First, the wisdom demonstrated 
through preparation. I just quote this because we 
often cite John Gill as a biblical commentator and as a theologian. I mean, for us as Reformed Baptists, 
John Gill is sort of a patron saint, isn't he? I love that 
brother, but at times when he writes, there's just this poetry 
that flows, and it's typically when he's musing on the glory 
of Christ. But here specifically, on being wise unto salvation, 
here's what the wise virgins do or have done. They apply to 
Christ for salvation. They venture their souls on Him 
and commit them to Him. They trust in His righteousness 
for justification, in His blood for pardon, in His sacrifice 
for atonement, in His fullness for daily supplies, in His grace 
and strength to perform every duty, and expect eternal life 
in and from Him. They know Him, prize Him, and 
value Him as their Savior, rejoice in Him, and give Him all the 
glory. And they are such who are also 
wise in the business of a profession, as well as in the affair of salvation. They are such who take up a profession 
of religion aright, upon the principles of grace, and after 
mature thought and deliberation. And when they have done so, hold 
it fast without wavering, walk becoming it in their lives and 
conversations. And yet they don't trust upon 
their performance, but upon the gospel of their salvation. That's wisdom. See, the world 
may mock it, the world may scoff at it, they may make fun of it, 
but brethren, in Christ Jesus, you are wise as described by 
God. Let them say what they want. 
If God speaks favorably to us and for us and of us, then we 
rest in that, don't we? The second thing we ought to 
appreciate, the blessed condition of believers on the day of judgment. 
One more author, because I think he says it a whole lot better 
than I ever could. But on that passage in verse 
10, and 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. J.C. Ryle says, they shall be with 
their Lord. with him who loved them and gave 
himself for them, with him who bore with them and carried them 
through their earthly pilgrimage, with him whom they loved truly 
and followed faithfully on earth, though with much weakness and 
many a tear. He says, the door shall be shut 
at last, shut on all pain and sorrow, shut on an ill-natured 
and wicked world, shut on a tempting devil, shut on all doubts and 
fears, shut to be opened again no more. See, the passage speaks 
to believers of security, of stability, of permanence, of 
eternal bliss and glory. But most of all, the passage 
speaks to intimacy. This morning we considered of 
God's covenant in chapter seven in our confession of faith. One 
thing that we didn't get into was one of the foundational promises 
of God's covenant. I will be your God and you shall 
be my people. When you get to the book of Revelation, 
specifically in chapter 21, this is brought home with power and 
with glory and with excellence. This is what we're moving toward. 
Not that he's not our God now, and not that we're not his people 
now, but we haven't entered into the fullness of our joy. And 
so verse 10 holds out to you, wise virgins, the blessed promise 
of intimacy with the triune God. intimacy with the Son of God 
who loved us and who gave himself for us, and an intimacy that 
is secure, that is stable, that is permanent, that is lasting. 
It cannot be taken from us. It cannot decay. It cannot end. We will have this forever. See, I think that's why Paul 
says our momentary light afflictions are not worth comparing to the 
exceeding weight of glory. You see, if we get this proper 
conception of what lay in our future, it will helpfully steady 
us in our present. If we understand that the Lamb 
is all the glory of Immanuel's land, and we are heading there, 
hopefully it will make the wheels on earth greased a little bit 
more, and give us the grace to persevere in light of this reality. We should acknowledge as well 
the fall he demonstrated in a lack of preparation. The guy walking 
down the road, holding his gas can. We can smile and chuckle 
that he didn't think twice before he went. You know, one of those 
times a policeman actually drove right past me. He was in a uniform. I'd worked security at Northup. 
I'm holding up my gas can. He didn't have lights or sirens. 
He just drove right by. Maybe he really thought I was 
a knucklehead. Boy, that guy needs to be taught 
a lesson. He can walk through the desert all the way home. 
You see, we see it, isn't it? Isn't it intriguing? We always 
see this lack of preparation in temporal things. We get calls 
occasionally. We've got fire alarms, we should 
sell you. We've got burglar alarms, we should sell you. You should 
buy life insurance. There's all these sorts of people 
out there that speak with this imminence that you need their 
product, and if you don't have it, boy, are you foolish. What 
do you mean you don't have health insurance? What do you mean you 
haven't thought in terms of where you're gonna live in the future? 
What do you mean you haven't sort of reviewed your portfolio 
and the rest of the stuff they say? How do we see it so simply 
when it comes to temporal matters, but men are hell bound and give 
no thought or no concern whatsoever to the reality that there is 
something beyond the grave? It is incredible, isn't it? It's 
the deadening influence of sin in the hearts of people. We're 
a life insurance policy, and again, as important as that may 
be for life on this earth, trumps the reality that we are entering 
into eternity. What's more important? Let me 
just bring it even home further. You hear the gospel every Sunday. 
Probably you hear the gospel every night if your family is 
conducting family worship or your spouse and family worship 
is being conducted. Come to Christ. You know that Arminianism isn't 
true because if I could go out there and grab people by the 
neck and push them into the kingdom, I'd happily do that. We're dependent 
on the power of God and no better place to be. So our hope and 
prayer every Sunday we gather is that the Spirit comes and 
will bring conviction for sin and show you for the foolish 
virgin that you are, show you your desperate need of the Lord 
Jesus Christ and show you Him who is altogether lovely and 
chief among 10,000 and by His grace that you would flee and 
you would come and you would live. That's the hope. That's 
the prayer. That's the exhortation for all 
of you. Watch, therefore, for you know neither the day nor 
the hour in which the Son of Man is coming. You need to be 
ready, whether it's immediate, whether it's delayed. That's 
not your concern. Your concern is to be watchful. 
Watchfulness looks like faithfulness. It looks like preparation. Have 
oil in your lamps. Pray with the psalmist in Psalm 
90 verse 12. So teach us to number our days 
that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Do not reject the Savior. Let us pray. Father in heaven, 
we thank you for the word of God. We thank you for its clarity 
and its simplicity. This is not a passage that is 
difficult to get our minds wrapped around, but it certainly ought 
to be a passage that produces terror in our hearts if we are 
not prepared, if we are not ready to greet the bridegroom. For 
we know that He is coming again in glory to judge the living 
and the dead. The Old Testament Scriptures prophesied concerning 
Him. His first coming evidences that 
fulfillment. Certainly every one of those 
promises fulfilled ought to highlight and affirm in our own hearts 
the reality that He will fulfill the promise of the second coming 
in judgment. God in heaven, work in the hearts 
of sinners here. Bring them out of darkness into 
marvelous light. Work in the hearts of your professing 
people. May we all, by the grace of God, 
possess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. May we sing with the 
hymn writer, he is mine and I am his. Go with us, now we pray 
and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, amen. We'll close with 
a brief time of meditation and then be dismissed.