Now you know we're in a series entitled People Jesus Met and beginning today we come in our series to the last week of Jesus' earthly life. Now in this final week of his life, Jesus is going to meet some very memorable people. For example, Judas who betrayed him and Pontius Pilate who washed his hands and the thief on the cross and we've got so many more. But today we're going to talk about ten virgins who were not so much people Jesus met as they were the central characters in a parable that Jesus told.
What we want to do today is go back 2,000 years and see what Jesus said and then we're going to wind all of that forward and we're going to talk about, well, what difference does that make for you and me today. So Matthew chapter 25 is our passage but before we get into the passage we need to say that to interpret the Bible and this parable correctly it is imperative that we get the context right. Now by the context what we mean is what is happening all around the passage that we're actually studying. In order to interpret the Bible properly we can't pull a verse out of context, throw it up on the wall like a piece of spaghetti and everybody stand around and go, well, I don't know what it means.
What do you think it means? For example, Judas went out and hanged himself, Matthew 27 5, Jesus said go likewise and do the same, Luke 10 37, and whatsoever thou doest do quickly, John 13 27. By taking the Bible out of context I just built a case that Jesus told you to go hang yourself and to do it as quick as you possibly could. The point is that a text without a context is a pretext, it is a fabrication, it is a falsehood and it is a surefire way to misinterpret the Bible. And so let's ask the question what was the context in which the Lord Jesus Christ told the parable of the ten virgins. Well to get the context for this parable we have to go back one chapter to Matthew chapter 24. Verse 3 says as Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives the disciples came to him privately. Please notice that all of Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 were spoken privately to Jesus' disciples.
These things, the parable of the ten virgins, was not spoken to the rabbis nor was it spoken to the unbelieving crowd. It was spoken to people who were already born again true believers. Do we see this? Do we see this?
Yes, all right, this is critical to getting this right. And Matthew 24 continues, verse 3, the disciples came to Jesus privately and said tell us when will these things happen and what will be the sign of your coming, your second coming and of the end of the age. Well for the next 31 verses in Matthew 24 Jesus speaks to them about this topic, about the signs of his second coming. And then beginning in Matthew 24 verse 36 Jesus and continuing through all of Matthew 25 Jesus begins to stress a little different point.
It's related but it's different. He says Matthew 24 verse 42, here's the point that runs all the way through Matthew 25. Therefore Jesus said be on the alert for you do not know what day your Lord will come. This is to believers who have made Jesus their Lord. So what is the context of Matthew chapter 25 and the parable of the ten virgins?
Well there are two parts to it. Number one, the context tells us that the target audience of this parable is believers in Jesus Christ. And number two, the context tells us that the subject of the parable is all about believers living in such a way that we are ready, that we are prepared for Jesus' return. Now are you all with me?
You're not sleeping? Okay good. So in light of the context now let's go interpret this parable.
Ready? Here we go. Matthew chapter 25 verse 1. At that time Jesus says, you say at what time?
Well what is the context? What's he talking about? He's talking about the second coming of Christ, right? Okay at that time with the second coming of Christ the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now this parable is all centered around a Jewish wedding ceremony at the time of Jesus. It was customary for the groom to come to the bride's house and get his bride and then the two of them would lead a grand processional march back to the groom's house where the ceremony would occur. It was also customary for the bride to be attended by bridesmaids, usually ten of them.
And this is who the ten virgins are. They're the bridesmaids for this woman. And in order to keep things really romantic the groom would never tell the bride what time he was actually coming. It was meant to be a surprise.
One more detail. These bridal processions on which the bride, the groom, the ten virgins and everybody marched were always at night which meant that the bridesmaids were expected to bring lamps, torches. They were sticks with rags on the top with flammable oil on them so that they could light the way when they were going on this march back to the groom's house.
But you know what? These sticks they burned out. The oil burned up. So the bridesmaids also had to bring extra oil along the way so they could keep the lamp going.
Now with that background here's what happened. Verse 2. Five of these virgins, these bridesmaids, were foolish and five of them were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps, their torches, but they didn't take any oil with them. But the five wise virgins took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now folks we can speculate all day as to why these five foolish virgins neglected to bring any extra oil.
I mean they knew they were going to need it so why didn't they bring it? Well I don't know. Who knows? All I can tell you is that spiritual folly never has a logical explanation and neither does this here. But before we go on, the important thing for us to notice is that the difference between the five foolish virgins and the five wise virgins, what was the variable?
What was the difference? Well it was their level of preparedness for the groom's arrival. Five of them were ready and five of them were not.
Okay, verse 5. The groom was a long time in arriving, however, so they all became drowsy and fell asleep. But at midnight the cry rang out, Behold, he's here!
Everyone go out to meet him! Then all ten virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. But the foolish virgins said to the wise ones, Give us some of your oil, our lamps are going out. However, the wise virgins said, No, because there will not be enough oil for us and you too.
Instead, go to the dealers and buy some oil for yourselves. And while the five foolish virgins were on their way to buy the oil, the groom arrived. And the virgins who were ready, see here's the key word, the virgins who were ready went in with the groom to the wedding banquet and the door was shut. Another thing we need to know about weddings in these days is when this big bridal march arrived at the groom's house, everybody went in his house and then they locked the doors so no one would disturb the ceremony.
That's what happens here. Verse 11, later on the other virgins arrived saying, Sir, Sir, open the door for us. Now whether they had found any oil to buy at that time of night, the Bible doesn't say. It makes no difference. The point is they missed the bridal procession and it's too late now.
The door's locked. Verse 12, but the groom replied, I tell you the truth, I don't know you. Verse 13, in summation, here's Jesus' summary of the parable. Therefore, Jesus says, be ready.
That's the point. For you do not know the day or the hour wherein the Son of Man comes. Now that's the end of our parable. That's the end of our passage. But now we're going to stop and we're going to ask our most important question. And you know what it is, so are you ready?
Are you sure? All right, here we go now. I want to hear all of you out there on the Internet.
Are you ready? I heard that. Okay, here we go. Nice and loud. Here we go.
One, two, three. You know what? You can do better than that. I know you can.
Yes, you can. All right, come on now. One, two, three. Oh, now wasn't that better? That was good.
You say, Lon, so what? Say, that's a wonderful little story. I appreciate the little story. I mean, I'm not going to go out and hang myself like Judas. I got context.
What difference does any of this make to my life? Well, we're going to talk about that. First of all, why don't we identify the players in the parable, shall we? The groom. Who do you think the groom was? Well, the groom is the Lord Jesus Christ returning at His second coming. Yes?
Okay. The five wise virgins, who are they? Well, they're followers of Christ, believers who have lived in such a way that they're prepared, that they're ready to meet the Lord when He returns. They've stockpiled oil for their lamps. And how about the five foolish virgins?
Who are they? Well, a very common view is that they are unbelievers, people who never embraced Jesus here on earth while the door was open and after the Lord comes and the door is shut, as the parable says, and God's offer of salvation is withdrawn, they're left on the outside of heaven. Now, listen, I don't argue with the truth of all this. Indeed, if we leave this earth without embracing Jesus as our personal Savior, the Bible is clear that God's offer of salvation is withdrawn for us in the afterlife. Luke chapter 16, verse 26, the story of the rich man in Lazarus. You remember the rich man ends up in hell, and he wants to cross over into heaven. And here's what Abraham says. He says, I'm sorry, but between you and us, that is between heaven and hell, a great canyon has been fixed so that none may cross over from where you are in hell to us. See, here was this rich man crying out for mercy to God, and God says, I'm sorry, mercy was offered to sinners on earth.
In the afterlife, the offer is withdrawn. This is why the Apostle Paul said, 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 2, he said, Behold, now is the time of God's favor. Now is the day of salvation. May I say that if you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus Christ as your real and personal Savior, you've never availed yourself of what he did on the cross, shedding his blood to pay for your sin, my friends, I'm here to appeal to you.
I'm here to plead with you. On behalf of God, I am here to beg you to do that here on earth now while you've got the chance, because I'm here to tell you that the Bible is crystal clear. Once a person goes into the afterlife, God's offer of salvation and mercy is withdrawn. I don't care how many times a person cries out for mercy in the afterlife, it's withdrawn.
So please, I'm begging you, don't take that risk. Make sure you avail yourself of God's mercy and salvation now while you've got the chance. But, but look here, but this is not the point of Jesus's parable. Remember the context, my friends, the context of this parable is Jesus is talking to believers about being ready for his second coming. And therefore, the five foolish virgins are believers who lived in such a way here on this earth that they were not ready to meet the Lord. And the point of Jesus's parable is to challenge us as believers, to warn us as believers to make sure we have oil in our lamp, to make sure that we are ready to meet the Lord at his second coming, or that we are ready to meet him in heaven if we die before his second coming. And the reason for this is because, friends, whether we meet the Lord at his second coming face to face, or whether we meet him when we die and go to heaven before his second coming face to face, either way, we are going to give an account to the living risen Christ about how we live for him as believers here on this earth. Second Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 says, For we, that is believers, must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. This is not to decide whether we get into heaven or not.
That's done. That was the blood of Christ. That doesn't change. That has nothing to do with how we live as believers. Why are we going to appear at the judgment seat of Christ?
Friends, it's for a performance review. Watch. So that each of one of us may receive what is due us for the things we did while we were in our bodies here on earth, whether good or bad, to put it in terms of the parable, whether we meet the Lord at his second coming or we meet him in heaven when we arrive. Either way, Jesus is going to measure how much oil we have in our lamps for him. You say, Well, Lon, if that's true, then my question is, how do I accrue?
How do I amass? How do I accumulate oil in my lamp for the Lord? Well, the answer, friends, is any time you and I as believers do anything on earth to honor Christ with our life, it may mean we serve him or we obey something he tells us to do or we share Christ with somebody or we stand up for him at the office or we stand up for him in our family, whatever. Any time we do anything to honor the Lord with our life, immediately this increases how much oil we have in our lamp and that we will have when we meet the Lord. And in light of this, folks, the advice that the five wise virgins gave the five foolish virgins was really good advice.
You remember what they said? Verse nine, they said, Go buy some oil for yourselves. Get some oil in your lamp. Now, as 21st century followers of Christ today, this is God's advice to us too. Through this parable, God is saying to you and me, Don't wait till it's too late. Like these five foolish virgins, they went running around trying to buy oil when the Lord appeared, but it was too late. Do it now.
Get oil in your lamp now. And that's the so what of this parable for you and me as believers. The so what is whatever we're going to do for Jesus.
Do it now. You know, some of us here have been saying that one of these days we're going to make Jesus Christ the Lord of our life someday. And some of us here have been saying that we're going to start speaking out to our lost friends and relatives about the Lord someday. And some of us here have been saying that we're going to start living a life of biblical obedience for God someday. And some of us here have said that we're going to start giving to the work of God someday. We're going to start serving the Lord with our discretionary time someday.
We're going to start having a regular quiet time someday. We're going to lead a Bible study or a small group someday. We're going to have family devotions with our children someday. We're going to pray for the lost souls of men and women around us someday. But friends, the message of Jesus' parable is forget about someday.
Do it now. And when we look through the pages of the Bible at the great men and women of God there and even down through history at the great men and women of God, one thing that distinguishes them all is that they didn't live for the Lord in the realm of someday. They lived for the Lord in the realm of right now. Abraham, God said to him, Abraham, I want you to leave your people, leave your country, leave your friends, leave your home, leave your job, leave everything you know and follow me out into the wilderness. And Abraham said, Lord, I'll do it right now. Nehemiah, God said, Nehemiah, I want you to go back to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall of the city.
And Nehemiah said, Okay, Lord, I'll do it right now. And then there was the people of Nineveh. Jonah came to town and said, God tells you to repent.
And the people of Nineveh repented right now. And then there was Elisha out in the field plowing with his oxen and his plow. And Elijah came up and said, God is calling you into the ministry. And Elisha said, I'll leave my oxen and I'll leave my plow and I'll follow you right now. And Peter and Andrew were mending their nets and Jesus walked by and said, Follow me. And the Bible says they put their nets down and they said, Lord, we'll follow you right now. And finally, the Apostle Paul, when he came to Christ on the Damascus road, Acts 9 20 says, and immediately right now, he began to proclaim Jesus in the synagogue saying he is the Son of God. Folks, you see, wise men and women of God understand that when it comes to accumulating oil in our lamp for the Lord, folks, some day must mean now opportunities from God that are lost don't come back.
And, you know, even the Lord Jesus Christ had this attitude here on earth. John, chapter nine, verse four. He said, I must work the works of him who sent me now while it's still day for the night is coming when no man can work.
And every time I read that verse, I'm reminded of the great old hymn that goes like this. Work for the night is coming, work through the morning hours. Work while the dew is sparkling, work mid the springing flowers. Work when the day grows brighter, work in the glowing sun. Work for the night is coming when man's work is done.
Yeah. Now, the singing is horrible, but the message of the song is powerful. And that is we don't have forever. We need to work for the Lord now. We need to serve the Lord now. We need to make him the Lord of our life now. We need to tell people about him now.
Everything we're going to do for the Lord, we need to do it now. I'm sure many of you have heard of the name Dwight L. Moody. Moody was the greatest evangelist of the 19th century. As a matter of fact, when he died in 1899, his biographer said that at that point, Moody had been personally responsible for leading over one million people to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Can you fathom that? Well, and this was in the days when they didn't have mass media. This was Moody going around from place to place to place preaching a million people. But in 1860, when Moody was 22 years old, Moody wasn't in the ministry. Moody wasn't even sure that he wanted to go in the ministry. He wanted to make a lot of money.
He was working in Chicago. And one week, a Sunday school teacher at a church Moody was attending took ill and asked Moody if that Sunday he would teach the Sunday school teacher's class full of young girls. Moody said, and I quote, without exception, they were the most frivolous set of girls I ever met. They laughed at my face and I felt like opening the door and telling them all to get out and never come back, end of quote. Now the next week, the Sunday school teacher who had been ill came by Moody's place of employment and said to him, he said, and I quote, I've had another hemorrhage in my lungs.
The doctor says I cannot live in Chicago on Lake Michigan anymore so I'm leaving town. I'm told that I'm going to die. But Moody could see something else was bothering this man and he asked about it and the man said, well, I've never led any of my Sunday school class to Christ. I've been meaning to but I just haven't.
I guess I've done them more harm than good. And Moody said, well, suppose you and I go and tell them right now. Moody wrote later, the man consented and we started out together. It was one of the best journeys I ever had on earth, Moody said. We went to the house of one of the girls and the teacher talked to her about her soul.
There was no laughing then. Before long, tears filled her eyes and after he explained to her the way of life, the teacher suggested we have prayer and asked me, Moody says, to pray. Moody says I had never done such a thing in my life as to ask God to convert a young lady right there and then, but we prayed and God answered our prayers. Well, for the next 10 days, Moody and this teacher visited home after home and by the end of that 10 days, they had led every single one of the girls in that Sunday school class to faith in Jesus Christ. And when that teacher left town on his final trip, the entire class of girls showed up at the train station along with Moody. Moody said, and I quote, what a meeting that was. He said we tried to sing, but we all broke down in tears. The last we saw that dying teacher, he was standing on the platform of the rear car, his finger pointing upward, telling us that he would see us all in heaven. End of quote. Wow.
How great is that? But wait a minute, there's more because that experience profoundly changed and altered the course of Moody's life. He said, and I quote, I had got a taste of another world and I cared no more for making money for some days afterwards, the greatest struggle of my life took place.
Should I give up business and give myself to Christian work or should I not? Moody said, I have never regretted my choice. Now friends, let's ask the question, what exactly was it about this whole situation that so radically changed DL Moody's life? Friends, the answer is he saw a man who up to this point had been saying, someday, Lord, someday I'm going to share Christ with these girls.
Today I'm going to try to lead them to Christ. And suddenly this man began to say, I'm going to try to do it right now, Lord. And Moody saw how God used that man when he changed someday to right now. And Moody decided that he was not going to be a someday Christian anymore. He was going to be a right now Christian. And there are 1 million souls in heaven who are sure glad that Moody decided to do that. That's the end of the story. Praise the Lord.
Huh? Praise the Lord. Now I'm glad you're clapping because I'm going to go right now from preaching to meddling. And I'm going to say to every one of us here that as followers of Jesus Christ, this is what God wants from you and me. He wants us to change someday, Lord, into right now, Lord, he wants us to go from being someday Christians, we're going to do whatever, into being, Lord, what do you want me to do right now?
I'll do it right now. You know, this coming spring, spring of 2011, I will celebrate my 40th birthday as a follower of Jesus Christ. I trusted the Lord in 1971 in the spring and I have been walking with Jesus Christ for 40 years come this spring. I'm very excited about that. Well thank you.
Thank you very much. But you know, I was led to Christ by a street preacher, you know that, named Bob Eckhart. Bob worked in Durham, North Carolina, Monday to Friday in a factory and every Saturday he would drive over to Chapel Hill where I was going to school and he would stand out on the streets and hand out tracts and try to share Christ with people. And when I came to Christ, this man, Bob Eckhart, sat me down and said, I want you to read the parable of the 10 virgins. In fact, he told me he wanted me to read the whole Bible. But when I read the parable of the 10 virgins, he said, now Lon, that is a message from God to you. And I'm challenging you, Lon.
I'm challenging you. Don't you waste your life doing all kinds of other crazy things. You make sure your life is centered around Jesus Christ and serving Christ with every hour you can possibly invest in that. You make sure that you're piling up oil in your lamp for the day that you meet the Lord and spurred on by Bob's words and spurred on by Bob's example.
I committed myself as a 22 year old young man that that's the way I wanted to live. I have to tell you, 40 years later, I am so glad I thank the Lord every day that I took Bob Eckhart's advice. Friends, I can't go back now and get those 40 years of serving the Lord that are gone. I can't go back now and get those opportunities to serve the Lord that are in the past.
They are irrecoverable now. And I am so glad that when I meet the Lord Jesus, I've got 40 years of not always getting it right. No, no.
40 years of not always doing it perfectly. No, no. But I've got 40 years of trying with everything inside of me to lay at his feet and say, Lord Jesus, this is for you. I did this for you, Lord. This is for you.
And I'm so excited, Lord, to present it to you. Now, friends, listen. Doesn't matter how much time you've wasted. It's irrecoverable. Forget it. What matters is now. It's never too late to start laying up oil in your lamp.
Never too late to start. And if you've had years go by where you didn't do it, all right, it's under the blood. Forget it. What are you going to do now? What are you going to do now? Because now you can serve the Lord. Now you can step out and start laying up oil in your lamp. What are we going to do now?
Friends, some day never comes so often. We keep saying it and it just never happens. We've got to stop being some day Christians and we've got to start being right now Christians and doing what the Lord asks us to do now. Lead that Bible study now. Join that small group now. Start having devotions with our children now.
Start having our quiet time now. Start sharing Christ with lost people now and praying for them now. Start giving Christ obedience from our heart now, making the Lord of our life now.
It's all about now. And so I want to challenge you as we close as your pastor and I want to challenge you as your friend to do what Bob Eckhart challenged me to do 40 years ago. Don't waste your life piling up stuff that isn't going to matter. You can't present Jesus a scratch golf game. He doesn't want it. You can't present Jesus a beautifully decorated house.
You can't present him your big shot status in Washington, D.C. He doesn't care. But man, oil in the lamp, things we've done to honor Christ, that's what he cares about. And believe me, when you get to heaven and I get to heaven, that's what we're going to care about too. So pile it up. Take the advice of the five wise virgins.
Friends now, let's go get some oil for our lamp. And here's the question I want to leave you with today. Where is God asking me or you if you're just talking to somebody else to do something now for him?
Where is it? And I guess the follow-up question is am I willing to do it? I hope so. May God help us all. Let's pray together. Lord Jesus, I thank you so much for talking to us today from the eternal Word of God and for reminding us that there is a day coming where every one of us will stand face to face, eyeball to eyeball with the living risen Christ of this universe.
And we will give an account in heaven if we know you of the way we lived for Christ. Now Lord Jesus, I pray that you would help us to live our life wisely like those five wise virgins in light of this meeting we're going to have with you. Help us Lord Jesus to make sure we're using every moment and every resource we have to lay up oil for our lamps that we can present to you. And Lord, some of us here today may need changes in our priorities.
Some of us here may need changes in our lifestyle in order to be able to do this. Lord, give us the strength to make those changes. And help us not be five foolish virgins. Help us Lord not to meet you with empty lamps. So speak to our hearts deeply today, Father, and change the very way we live because we were here and we sat under the teaching of the Word of God. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. And what did God's people say? What did you say? Amen. Amen.
