Tonight, I would like to consider with you one of the parables of our Lord, the parable of the ten virgins, found in the first section of Matthew 25, Matthew 25, the first 13 verses. We'd like to back up a little bit in our reading and begin in verse 36 of Matthew 24, as all of this ties together, talking about the day and the hour of our Lord's return not being known to us. Beginning at Matthew 24, verse 36, through verse 13 of chapter 25, and again verses 1 through 13, serving as our text tonight. Hear now the Word of God. No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of man. For in these days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. And they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill, one will be taken and the other left. Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this, if the owner of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come in an hour when you do not expect Him, who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the Master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, My master is staying away a long time, and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him, and at an hour he is not aware of. he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. At that time, the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. At midnight the cry rang out, Here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out. No, they replied, there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. Later the others also came. Sir, sir, they said, open the door for us. But he replied, I tell you the truth, I don't know you. Therefore keep watch because you do not know the day or the hour. The beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, when I was 13 years old the summer of that year, Our family was planning to take a vacation, preparing for a vacation to here in California. We didn't take many long trips or big vacations, but since we had close relatives living in Buena Park, we were really looking forward to this particular vacation. And the plans had been long in the making, and our plan on the day of departure was to leave on a particular Friday afternoon. When Dad got home from work, he was going to try to come home a little bit early. the car would be packed, it would be ready, we would drive all night and we would arrive at our destination on Saturday night, which is exactly what happened. But that Friday, and especially the afternoon, that short afternoon, was such a long day. Especially as kids, we watched and we waited and the car was packed and we waited and we watched with eager anticipation for Dad to come driving home so we could leave. We were excited. We were ready. We were watching. Now in a small way, that describes what the life of a Christian is to be like. Jesus Christ is coming again. God's Word tells us that. Jesus Himself clearly promised that. He said in John 14 that He was going away to prepare a place for His people and that He will come back to take us where He is. As well in Matthew 24, verse 27, He says, For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. And in this parable before us, He speaks of the certainty of His coming with that comforting example of a bridegroom coming for His bride. When we celebrate the Lord's Supper, when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we are reminded with a visible picture of Christ's promise to come again. And we are also reminded with the words, Do this in remembrance of me, for as often as you eat the bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death till He come. This is fitting for us to be, it's fitting for us to be reminded of Christ's coming all the time. but I think in this congregation over the last couple of weeks there's no less than four families have been touched by death. Various circumstances, various ways, it's especially necessary and fitting for us to be reminded that Jesus Christ is coming. Now the context of this parable is that Christ's arrest and trial and crucifixion and death were only a couple of days away. And Matthew chapter 24 makes it clear, We only read a part of it, of course, but the entire chapter makes it clear that our Lord was in an intense way teaching about the end times, complete with signs of the times, the tribulation, the Antichrist, persecution, wars, famines, earthquakes. And all of this will point to the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory, as chapter 24, verse 30 says. But in the midst of this time, while Christ is away, while we are in between, in between His first and His second comings, while He is away and things are taking place that may cause many to lose heart and to begin to fear that there is no hope, starting to doubt whether He really will return. In that in-between time, Jesus Christ cautions believers to do, as verse 13 says, Therefore, keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. Therefore, keep watch. Another version translates it, be on the alert. Again, in the parable, our Lord gives us a picture of the visible church in the last days and at His coming. And He explains why we must keep watch. Why we must be alert. And also with this parable, he gives the call to be ever ready for his guaranteed return. To be ever ready, to be always ready, and there is a need for preparation. There will be the unexpected announcement, and then the irreversible outcome. Now once again, as I've already mentioned, Jesus teaches an important kingdom truth, as he also does in other parables using a cultural illustration, that of a wedding. And on the day of the actual wedding and the wedding feast, the bride would make herself ready and her attendants would be with her. The bridegroom would be off celebrating with his friends and then they would make their way to where the bride was so the bridegroom might receive her and then together they would go to the place where the celebration was to take place. And when the announcement was made that the bridegroom was on his way to receive his bride, the bridesmaids, or virgins as they are called here, would go to meet him with their lamps, which were on wooden poles. And they were to show him honor by lighting his way on this special day as he takes to himself his bride. You see, the virgins expected the arrival of the bridegroom. They never expected that he wouldn't show up. They expected that He would come and therefore to show Him the honor that He deserved. They had a need for preparation. They were to be prepared with their lamps in hand ready to light the path of the bridegroom. Now, beloved, this is the call of the church to expect to be ready to be looking for the return of our Lord as He said. This is a call to light his path indeed by proclaiming the gospel message as we talked about this morning, both with our voice and with our deeds. As Jesus said in Matthew 5, 16, Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. Now the ten virgins with their lamps represent the visible church and professing believers. But as we know, even as some of the other parables teach, As you may recall, there is a distinction even in the visible church. There are weeds among the wheat. And there are bad fish being visibly gathered with the good fish in the net of the kingdom. But the day is coming when that distinction will be made clear. And as Jesus teaches here, that distinction will be made clear and final when He comes again. And verses 2 through 4 tell us why. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps, but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. You see, we are being taught here, as other parables also teach, that there are those in the church who confess with their mouths, but not their heart. And those who profess Jesus Christ with their lips, but don't really believe in Him, are like lamps without oil. boys and girls. It was a bowl type of lamp with oil in it and a wick coming out of it and the wick would suck up the oil and would keep the fire burning. With no oil, the fire could not stay burning. They're like lamps without oil, empty, useless, like a flashlight without batteries or like the lights in your house without the electricity flowing to them. Those who profess Christ with their lips but don't truly believe, they are not like that. They're empty. They're useless. They are no good. They have no true light. The lamps without oil represent the outward form of the Christian life without the inward substance of the Christian life. There is no new birth. And therefore there is no true conversion with repentance and faith. And the personal responsibility to repent and believe is not taken seriously. All these grasp for the benefits of the kingdom. They want the benefits. They want to, as it We're borrow from common stock. They want to borrow the faith and live off of the obedience of others. But they shun the obligations of the kingdom to repent and believe. In 2 Timothy 3, verse 5, Paul speaks of these as having a form of godliness but denying its power. We need both. That form of godliness and the power of God by His grace through His Spirit. These virgins, you see, were not really interested in the honor of the bridegroom, but in their own pleasure. But then the lamps with oil represent the outward form of the Christian life vitalized by the inward substance. And these not only have that form of godliness, but by the grace of God, they have, they own the power of God unto salvation. And these desire to honor Christ, the bridegroom, and they are illumined by grace through faith, by the power of the Spirit, and they do what it takes to honor the bridegroom and to keep from dishonoring the bridegroom. In the Old Testament tabernacle, you may recall that provision was made so that there would be a constant flow of oil to keep the lamps burning. But beloved, the grace of God through that instrument of faith It illumines the believer's profession to shine bright for the Lord. And our Lord, through His Holy Spirit, nourishes that faith, pouring oil into that faith through the means of grace, through the preaching of His Word and the celebration of His holy sacraments. Again, applied, made effective by the power of the Holy Spirit. Now the bridegroom in this parable is delayed. He's taking longer than expected, which is evident by the fact that the virgins all became drowsy and every one of them fell asleep. Christ's second coming has always seemed to be taking longer than expected. It's been almost 2,000 years. That's an eternity, isn't it? Sometimes for us, ten years can be an eternity. True believers of all ages have always watched with a longing eye, expecting to see Him return at any time on the clouds of heaven, even as the angel promised at His ascension. And even believers in the midnight hour of their life, that is, as their life is coming to a close, sometimes can't seem to understand what is taking God so long to come and to release them from this life and take them home. I've talked to a number of them from this congregation who have died to this life and gone to be with the Lord. You know who they are. So do I. They couldn't wait. What is God waiting for? What possibly could my purpose be here yet? Yet we know, don't we, that Jesus will not come later than God has planned, nor will He come earlier. But the wise and the prudent are prepared by God's grace and they live every day in the consciousness that Jesus Christ is coming again. and that is to be us. We are to live each and every day in that consciousness. Every morning when we open our eyes to a new day, we ought to ask, could this be the day? Might this be the day? And boys and girls, this isn't just for old people. It's for you too. You too must be looking for the return of Jesus Christ. But the foolish which really say in their heart that there is no God and that they ignore the truth, they act like they don't care, they live as if Christ will never come again or as if there's plenty of time. In the parable, both the foolish and the wise virgins slept. As you can imagine, there are many different interpretations of what that means, including that even true believers will become lazy and take their eyes off the goal. After all, Jesus says in chapter 24, verse 24, that Satan's temptation would be so great that if it were possible, even the elect would be deceived. But I believe we need to notice that the sleep is not the cause of the downfall of the foolish virgins. And notice the wise are not scolded for it. I believe the sleep points to the unexpected delay of the bridegroom and the point is in the preparation or in the lack of preparation. And no matter when the bridegroom came, the situation would have been the same. The foolish would have no oil for lack of preparation, but the wise would have oil because of wise preparation. And therefore, the foolish slept soundly in their ignorance. But the wise slept soundly knowing that they indeed were prepared. Beloved, oil is a sign of being prepared. It points to the hope of the Christian, which governs the Christian's whole way of life. It points to the hope given by the grace of God, which Peter says is living because of the resurrected Christ. It is that confidence of knowing that one stands in a right relationship with Him, and therefore is ever ready for the unexpected announcement. Verses 6-9, At midnight the cry rang out, Here's the bridegroom, come out to meet him. Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish one said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out. No, they replied, there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves. Of course, it's no surprise that the wise virgins were able to quickly light their lamps and honor the bridegroom, but the foolish had no light to give the bridegroom because they had no oil. They weren't really prepared to meet him. The midnight hour points to the least expected time. It's talking about the middle of the night when we sleep the soundness. Not that, boys and girls, necessarily Jesus is coming in the middle of the night. When it's the middle of the night here, it's the middle of the day somewhere else in the world. But the point is, even when we least expect our Lord to return, we are called to be ever ready at every moment. And we must ask, are we in the midst of that sleep when much of the visible church today is doubting the truth and changing it to fit with what is comfortable? Are we in the midst of that sleep when many have forgotten and rejected who Jesus really is? Are we in the middle of that night of sleep when there is so much compromise with the world? Again, Jesus made it clear that the time of His coming was unknown except to God. It would be as a thief in the night, which Paul echoes in 1 Thessalonians 5, verse 2. It would be a surprise. But His coming would be far from secret. There will be no secret rapture. Not at all. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4, verse 16, For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And again, as we read, Jesus says in chapter 24, verse 27, For as lightning that comes from the east is visible, even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Doesn't sound very secret, does it? It sounds pretty open for all to see. And Jesus teaches us in this parable that when He comes again, each one will stand before Him on their own. There's no possibility of borrowing from others. Each one will be judged according to the state of his own heart. What did you do with this Jesus? Will not be judged on whether you went to church faithfully or attended a Christian school or did all kinds of good works. Those are all important. Those flow from a particular state of the heart. But very simply, each one will be judged according to the state of his own heart. What did you do with this Jesus? The foolish virgins try to borrow from the wise. But the wise realize that the oil they have will service themselves only. Their oil cannot be shared. It will not do the foolish any good. We're not talking about witnessing. We're not talking about sharing your faith as if that won't do any good. It will. God may be very pleased to use that and He commands us to do that. But the point is, one cannot be saved based on the faith of another. No one will sneak into heaven by hanging on to the shirt tails of another. Children are not saved based on the basis of their parents' faith. Boys and girls, that simply means that just because your mom and dad believe in Jesus doesn't mean that you will go to heaven because of them. You must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. You must believe that He is the Savior of your life, that you are a sinner, And that you need to be saved and only Jesus can do it. Neither will husbands or wives or friends be received into the Lord's favor for the sake of each other. The psalmist says in Psalm 49, Those who trust in their wealth and boast in the multitude of their riches, none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to God a ransom for him. No one has an extra measure of grace to be borrowed to others. That's why the idea of purgatory simply is foolish. That those of us here on earth can pray or do enough to get a soul out of purgatory. Or the idea of works of super-erogation. That means doing works over and above the call of duty. For example, boys and girls, that you're set and you've done enough works to get into heaven and you do more works than required and those works can be credited to another. It doesn't work that way. It's simply foolish. When Jesus Christ appears, whether it's personally for each one of us at the hour of death or on that last day, those who are not prepared, those who have not longed for His appearing, those who do not truly believe on Him, they will come up short. They will come up empty-handed. They will have nothing with which to honor the bridegroom because they have no profession of God's mercy and grace. They do not understand who He is. There's an advertisement on the radio, I think, for financial planning. Maybe you've heard it recently. And one of the key lines in there is that people don't plan to fail, but they fail to plan. Beloved, may it be that not one of us would fail to plan. That by God's grace we would plan and be prepared. On that day, hypocrites will want what true believers have been graciously given by God. but to those who truly believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that unexpected announcement will not catch them off guard because they've been watching they've been waiting they are prepared they have been filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit that has prepared them to meet the bridegroom they have heeded the call that was given in church from Sunday to Sunday to repent and believe they have been sanctified and nourished unto full preparation by the Holy Spirit. Again, through those means of grace, the preaching and the study of the Word of God, and through the participation of the holy sacraments. When our Lord Jesus Christ causes us to close our eyes in death to this life, and when He appears on the clouds of heaven from east to west, the time for preparation will be over. The foolish virgins were not going to find any oil dealers open at midnight. on that day, the preaching of the Word and the hearing of those who are hard-hearted and who continue to reject it will sound no more. It will be too late. There will be no more warnings. One cannot simply pay a late penalty and go forward. It will simply be too late. But today is still the day of salvation. Today, the door to the eternal wedding feast of the bridegroom in the kingdom of God is still open. But when Jesus Christ, the bridegroom, comes to take His bride, the church, unto Himself, the door will be quickly shut and the outcome will be irreversible. Verse 10, But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with Him to the wedding banquet, and the door was shut. In the congregation, there is a two-fold comfort for the child of God in the words, and the door was shut. The Greek emphasizes the word shut, and the idea is that it is shut permanently, never to be opened again. Boys and girls, maybe you've heard of a thing that's called a time capsule, a container, people put stuff in it. Maybe, let's say, we take a time capsule and we put stuff in it from this day, the year 2004, who was president and information about the war in Iraq and other things that are important to this day, and we close that time capsule, we seal it shut, we bury it in the ground or put it in a safe place and leave a note for somebody, do not open until the year 2104, 100 years from now. It's sealed shut. It's kind of like what this is talking about, only it's shut for eternity. The two-fold comfort. On the one hand, God's people are shut in to the glory of His presence, never, ever to be removed. How comforting. At the same time, all that is unholy, all that is untrue, all unbelievers and all sin will be shut out never again to have any contact with God or His people. Also comforting. This was a picture of Noah and those inside the ark closed behind the door by the hand of God compared to those who perished on the outside. And we know in another parable Abraham told the rich man suffering in hell that Lazarus in heaven could not cross that great chasm that had been eternally fixed between them. Yet Jesus also shows us here that those who were unprepared will demonstrate their ignorance by pounding on the door, begging to be let in. I think this simply means to tell us as well that they can't get in. It will be impossible. They who despise the grace of God's call in this life to repent and believe mistakenly think they can enter glory without grace. And they will be completely disappointed who think that they can lazily borrow that which must be bought. Again, the Lord's table. It's a part of our pulpit furniture. We see it Lord's day after Lord's day. And even if we are not celebrating the actual supper on a particular day, that Lord's table constantly before us and that supper given to us by Christ reminds His people that salvation is only in Him. And even as we look at it right now, it reminds us that He is coming again. And this table also teaches us that entrance into the eternal feast can only take place with that complimentary ticket, that free ticket called grace. Only those who will be shut securely inside the feast are those whose way has been bought, purchased, by the bridegroom himself. all others will be completely disowned. As the text says, the Lord will say, I tell you the truth, I don't know you. These are piercing words from the mouth of the Savior to those who reject Him. And in effect, on that day, Jesus will say to the foolish, I never knew you. You were never my own. I never made you my betrothed. I never loved you. I never died for you. I never intended that you should be my wife. For them, there has never been the comfort of that shepherd-sheep relationship. And by the fact that they were unprepared, they prove that they never knew His voice. Those who come empty-handed, with hands not filled by the Holy Spirit, will be left stranded. Beloved, are you prepared to celebrate the wedding feast of our Lord for eternity? And is it your desire to be used of God to prepare others for Christ's guaranteed return? may we not be taken by surprise and may our desire be that no one whom God places in our path be taken by surprise the call to be ever ready for Christ's guaranteed return is before you today you've heard it preached the foolish virgins in the parable ignored their responsibility to be prepared They never knew that the announcement would be so unexpected. They had no clue that when the bridegroom came, the time had run out, and they never imagined that once the door was shut, it would never be opened again. But we know it, because we have heard it from God's Word. Young people, are you prepared? Are you preparing? So many say, young people say, in every age, well, there's time for that later. Professional faith, taking a stand for Christ, there's plenty of time for that later. There's too much worldly fun to be had now. About five or six years ago, before RYS, Reformed Youth Services, was up and running with their summer conventions, there were other conventions that I had the privilege to participate in. And in one of them, Dr. Bill Dennison was one of the main speakers. And I remember him telling the young people about when he was a Bible teacher in one of the high schools in the Grand Rapids area. And he would talk to the young people and try to encourage them to take that public stand, to make public professional faith. And so many of them, year after year, said to him, I can't do it until after the senior class party at Lake Michigan. I think you know where I'm going with this. He explained then that what they were saying is they knew full well they would be participating in activities that Christians had no business participating in. They knew that they would be participating in things, as Peter calls us, as we consider this morning, to abstain from the sinful desires of the flesh. There's too much fun to be had now. But we don't know the day. We don't know the hour. Could be a heart attack. Could be a stroke. Could be a car accident. The point is not to scare you into believing. Not at all. The point is, don't waste time. Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. Commit your life to Him. Don't waste time in living in the joy of salvation today. That should be our desire, to want to live in that joy for as long as we can in this life. Preparing for eternity. People of God, as always, our Lord gives so much comfort to those who believe on Him through faith by the gracious purpose of God. Comfort that He is coming. And that whatever may befall us until He comes yet the eternal celebration awaits us. But He also gives such a warning to those who do not yet believe. Don't wait. Tomorrow may be too late. We are called to seek the Lord while He may be found because the truth is one day He will not be found. The heavenly bridegroom prepares His people by reminding us, I died for you that you might be saved. But I'm no longer dead. I live. And because I live, you too shall live. Forever. Because I'm coming again. Are you ready? Are you watching? Are you excited? What will you be doing when He comes again? May the Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, nourish each one of us to a more complete preparation for the coming of our Lord. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, may it be that we would so much look forward to that day of wonder. The day when Jesus Christ comes again. Oh, thank You, Lord, for the blessed assurance that You give to Your people that we don't have to fear that day. That we will not be as those who are crying out for the mountains to cover us. But with uplifted head, with eyes wide open, with mouth singing Your praise, we will look forward to that day and rejoice in the sight of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, make us all ready. Do not let anyone here be lax in preparation, thinking that there's plenty of time. For we do not know the day that you will require our life from us. And we don't have to fear it, Lord. If we are ready, make us ready. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.