Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matthew 25:1-13)

Introduction: The Olivet Discourse and the Parable's Context

0:01 The following sermon was delivered on Sunday morning, January 20th, 2002, at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now may I encourage you to turn with me in your Bibles to the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew chapter 25.

0:29 Remembering that the chapter divisions are man-made, convenient marking points. They are not there in the original text. Sometimes they are a great help. Sometimes they are a subtle and not-so-subtle hindrance to keeping together what God intends should be kept together.

0:49 You will remember, I trust, that the 24th chapter of Matthew is our Lord's Olivet Discourse, speaking of two great events, the destruction of Jerusalem to occur in 70 A.D., and that which will have many parallels. The second coming of our Lord.

1:06 The Lord Jesus at the end of the age, and after giving that clear instruction about His return, He gives that parable that we studied last Lord's Day, the parable of the two servants, and now He goes right on, and in Matthew 25, 1-13, we find the parable of the ten virgins. I read that portion in your hearing. Matthew 25, in verse 1. Then, or at that time, shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their, not their lamps, but their torches, who took their torches and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

1:51 And five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For the foolish, when they took their torches, took no oil with them. But the wise took oil in their vessels, with their torches. Now while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

2:14 But at midnight there is a cry, Behold, the bridegroom! Come forth to meet him! Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their torches. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our torches are going out.

2:33 But the wise answered, saying, Peradventure, there will not be enough for us and you. Go rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came. And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut.

3:01 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Truly I say unto you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you do not know the day nor the hour. Let us once again pray and ask the help of God the Holy Spirit in our understanding and our felt pressure from this passage of the word of God.

3:35 Let's pray. Father, we do again thank you, and pray that the Holy Spirit, who inspired this portion of the Scriptures, would be present to empower preacher and listener alike, that we may be conscious of the voice of Jesus speaking to us through this portion of Scripture. We ask that his voice will be clear. We ask that his voice will be powerful and persuasive.

4:07 Speak, Lord. We plead for our good and for your glory. Amen. In commenting upon this parable, Matthew Henry writes, As Christians we profess not only to believe and look for, but to love and to long for the appearing of Christ, and to act in our whole pattern of life with regard to it, the second coming of Christ is the center in which all the lines of our religion meet,

4:48 and to which the whole of the divine life has a constant reference and tendency. Matthew Henry, your Puritan commentator, states accurately that the second coming of Christ is the center in which all the lines of our religion meet, and to which the whole of the divine life has a constant reference and tendency. Matthew Henry, your Puritan commentator, states accurately that the second coming of Christ is the center in which all the lines of our religion meet, and to which the whole of the divine life has a constant reference and tendency. I trust that the sentiments expressed by the revered commentator Matthew Henry, have become yours in the course of our months of study together on this theme

5:31 the return of Christ in New Testament belief and experience. the return of Christ in New Testament belief and experience. and experience. We noted last Lord's Day that when our Lord had completed His prophetic pronouncements concerning His coming again at the end of the age, that He reinforced the practical implications of His coming with respect to His disciples by means of three parables and then a vivid description of the final judgment.

6:06 We considered last Lord's Day the parable of the two servants from Matthew 24.45-51. In previous weeks, we considered the parable of the talents. In Matthew 25.14-30, this morning, we take up the parable of the ten virgins found here

The Thematic Focus: Christ's Second Coming

6:25 in the opening verses of Matthew 25. And as we do, I want us, first of all, to spend just a few moments in considering what I'm calling the thematic focus of the parable of the ten virgins. The thematic focus of the parable of the ten virgins. The central point of reference is so obvious, a preacher is almost embarrassed to take the time to identify and underscore it, but a responsible expositor will be willing for that embarrassment and take the time to do it.

7:03 I remind you that Matthew 24 is taken up with the subject of the destruction of Jerusalem and the return of the Lord Jesus at the end of the age. The first parable to follow that instruction, that is, the parable of the two servants, focuses, obviously, on the return of the Lord Jesus. Verse 46, Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he comes, shall find so doing. The parable has its reference point in the return of the Lord Jesus and his dealings with his servants in conjunction with that return.

7:46 Now, you will notice that the first word of chapter 25 is the word then. And the word then, tote, in the Greek, is not merely a transition to show sequence, but we could render it at that time. Or in conjunction with that particular set of circumstances already alluded to in the parable of the two servants, then, at that time, in conjunction with the return of the Lord Jesus, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins. And then, chapter 25, as it unfolds with this parable of the ten virgins,

8:30 it is obvious that it, this thematic focus is precisely the same as the parable of the two servants, namely, events that will be unfolded in conjunction with the return of the Lord Jesus. When our Lord had given his instruction in Matthew chapter 24, he gives a two-pronged practical imperative. Verse 42, Watch, therefore, for you know not on what day your Lord comes. Verse 45, Therefore, be ye also ready, for in an hour that you think not, the Son of Man comes.

9:11 Well, here in this parable, we read in verse 10, They that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the capstone of the entire parable, verse 13, Watch, therefore, in the light of this parable and its teaching, you are under solemn obligation to engage in constant spiritual, watchfulness, why? For you do not know the day nor the hour. What day and hour? The day and hour to which repeated reference has been made in this context, the day and the hour of our Lord's return.

9:49 So, the thematic focus of the parable is obviously that of the second coming. Our Lord judged that his disciples needed more than his own explicit, explicit instruction about his coming, more than the forceful exhortation to watch and to be ready as found in verse 42 and verse 44 of chapter 24. Our Lord judged that even his own disciples, hearing his own teaching from his own mouth, needed additional parabolic enforcement of the parable.

10:33 And that is the practical implications of his coming. And if our Lord Jesus made that judgment, I have come to the persuasion that though I did not originally intend to speak on these two parables that I preached on last week and again this morning, that it was the part of wisdom for me to yield to the wisdom of my Lord, and not to leave this subject of the second coming with its clear biblical instruction, that I've sought to lay before you without also opening up these parables. Jesus himself believed that his disciples needed this reinforcement,

11:15 and therefore we come to this parable with its obvious thematic focus, I trust, with the understanding that Jesus knows I need it. And if Jesus knows I need it, then I ought to come to it with the sense of eagerness, then I ought to come to it with the sense of eagerness, Lord Jesus, teach me what you know I need to know in the light of your second coming. So much for the thematic focus of the parable of the ten virgins. Now we come, secondly, to the cultural circumstances of the parable of the ten virgins.

The Cultural Circumstances: First-Century Palestinian Wedding

11:55 The cultural circumstances of the parable of the ten virgins. A quick reading of the parable makes it evident that the raw materials are taken from the circumstances involved in a first century Palestinian wedding. We read in verse 1, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. We are introduced immediately to ten individuals here, virgins, young women, we understand from secularism, literature, that it would be always virgins,

12:37 and though the word in the New Testament is universally translated virgins, in other settings it can mean just young women, the significance is not in their virginity, the significance is that they were part of the wedding party who had been invited by this bridegroom to share in the bridal procession. And so we know that the cultural circumstances are the circumstances of a first century, first century Palestinian wedding. We read in verse 10 that those that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast.

13:15 Now at this point the comments of two very responsible and sane commentators are in order. When one plows through page after page of commentaries, there are times when you wonder where are these men coming from? Here we have obviously a cultural circumstance connected with some elements of a first century Palestinian wedding. However, trying to fit together all the circumstances, who was going where, with whom, and when, and all of the rest, the Bible simply doesn't give us those details, and there is no universal witness coming from secular literature, we simply have many things about

14:00 a first century Palestinian wedding, and no doubt there were differing wedding patterns that we know nothing about. And as one servant of God has said, our interpretation is handicapped by the fact we do not have complete information about wedding customs in first century Palestine. Nobody seems to have thought it worthwhile to set down in detail what was normally done. After all, why should anyone do this?

14:29 Everyone knew what happened in a wedding, so we're left with stories like the present one, which tell us of some things that were done, and leave us to guess at others. Another commentator has said, with greater amplification, and I think it will be helpful to you, the painful search for precisely identical customs in Eastern countries and ancient times is here for the most part, unnecessary and unprofitable. The usages incidentally photographed in such a parable as this are indeed true sections of the place and of the time, but others agreeing in general character, though differing in detail,

15:14 might have been substituted in perfect consistency with the circumstances. There is even some elasticity in Oriental manners. It is not probable that all marriages were conducted on precisely the same plan. There might, for aught I know, be a difference between a wedding among the rich and a wedding among the poor, and another difference between the method of celebrating a marriage in the city and in the country, up in Galilee or down in Judea.

15:43 In examining parallel cases, I would look for similarity of style rather than identity of individual features. Looking on the parable of the ten virgins as a grand original, I don't trouble myself with the work of hunting for corroborations of its truth or explanations of its meaning in the form of identical observances recorded in other books. You follow what he's saying? That we have no proof that there were identical first century Palestinian wedding practices among the rich, among the poor, among those in the upper reaches of Palestine, those in the center of its religious life at Judea.

16:24 And therefore we ought not to be trying to track down different things from secular writers. And as one further commentator said, you can find as many commentators settling on this detail and that detail as there are available, and trying to press them into the service of a responsible exposition of the parable. And I say to that, beware of preachers and commentators who build their own their handling of the word of God on extra-biblical sources. If there were crucial things to know about first century Palestinian weddings essential to an understanding of the passage,

17:08 God would have given them to us in the word of God. And if he's not given them to us in the word of God, or in the unanimous voice of extra-biblical data, then we must content ourselves that it is not necessary to know those details. Furthermore, as we work through the parable, it is natural to ask all kinds of questions. When we read that they go out to meet the bridegroom, where were they when they went out?

17:40 Why are they going to meet the bridegroom? Why in the whole parable is the bride not mentioned? As this comes expression of biblical chauvinism, they don't even mention the bride. All they mention is the bridegroom.

17:52 Bridegroom this, bridegroom that. All kinds of questions. My friends, pray for grace to dismiss them. Because there is a central issue in this parable that is absolutely crucial to our well-being.

18:08 Absolutely crucial to our being prepared for the return of the Lord Jesus. And so we must seek by the grace of God to subdue as carnal curiosity all of those questions about this part and that part and how does this fit and how does the other fit. And beware of picking up a book that has it all together. You'll be fine until you read another one.

18:33 All right? But oft times people read one book and then they go on and say, oh look at this marvelous insight. And then they start a new theory of what the passage is talking about. And so by way of pastoral concern I give you that practical warning.

Central Concern 1: All Professing Christians are Represented

18:49 Well, we've considered briefly the thematic focus of the parable of the ten virgins, the second coming. We've looked at the cultural circumstances of the parable of the ten virgins, obviously elements of a first century Palestinian wedding. But now we come to what is the bulk of our study this morning, the central concerns of the parable. The central concerns of the parable.

19:17 And as time permits, I want to set before you four such central concerns. The first is this. At the return of Christ, all professing Christians will be found in some distinct way like the ten virgins who formed part of the wedding procession. At the return of Christ, all professing Christians will be found in some distinct way like the ten virgins who formed part of the wedding procession.

19:56 Look at verse one. Then, at that time, in conjunction with the return of the Lord Jesus, the kingdom of heaven, now coming to its consummate expression at the coming of Christ, then in that set of circumstances shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins. Virgins who took their torches and went forth to meet the bridegroom. I have said at the return of Christ all professing Christians.

20:35 I'm asserting that the ten virgins represent the professing church of Christ. And I say that for several what to me are compelling reasons. First of all, from chapter 24 verses 1 to 3 we learn that at this particular time Jesus is talking exclusively to his disciples. Look at chapter 24 verses 1 to 3.

21:04 Jesus went out from the temple going on the way. His disciples came to him to show him the buildings of the temple. But he answered and said unto them verse 3 And as he sat on the Mount of Olives the disciples came unto him privately saying tell us when shall these things be and what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world. And there is no indication as we read from that point on that any other group has intruded has wormed its way in.

21:39 Our Lord is talking exclusively and consciously to his disciples. And he says to them in conjunction with the second coming then shall the kingdom when it comes to its consummate expression at my second coming be likened unto ten virgins who took their torches and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Furthermore, as all of the commentators I have consulted have noted so this is no marginal or no opinion that is off the walls in terms of the history of commentary and exegesis of the passage all of them agree that we are introduced

22:23 to the ten virgins who at first glance seem to be all of them in precisely the same category in relationship to the bridegroom. Here we are we stand at a given vantage point and we see ten young women coming out of a house. We see the ten young women each one with a torch in her hand. When we make ink or we find out where are they going what are they doing they are all going to join in the procession of the bridegroom.

23:00 The assumption would be that they know the bridegroom that the bridegroom knows them that they have been invited to share in this place of distinction in conjunction with the wedding procession. A procession that was either going from the bride's house to some other here is where people go crazy. No they were going from here to there here to there all we know is they went forth to meet the bridegroom. They were going to be part of this night time wedding procession and when we are first introduced to them they seem to be all of the same kind all of the same category.

23:38 They are ten virgins they all have torches they are all engaged in one activity they are going out to meet the bridegroom. However, however, the scriptures make it very clear and it was the purpose of our Lord Jesus that though they all had the appearance of sameness there was a radical difference between the two groups. But that's the first thing we need to learn is at the return of Christ all professing Christians will be found in some distinction like the ten virgins

24:22 who formed part of the wedding procession. Do you profess to be attached to Christ? Do you profess the name of Christ? Do you profess to believe in Christ?

Central Concern 2: Exposure as Wise or Foolish

24:36 Then at His coming you will be found in some distinct way like the ten virgins. And it's important for you as you sit here this morning to say oh Lord help me to know in what way I shall be found within this parable of the ten virgins. So we come then to the second central concern and it is this at the return of Christ all professing Christians will be found and exposed as either wise or foolish. Look at the text.

25:17 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins who took their torches and went forth to meet the bridegroom. Now here's a summary statement to introduce the distinction. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. And the to be verb translated were is an imperfect.

25:41 It points to past continuous state or action. In other words our Lord Jesus is giving this summary description before he goes into the details that identify that diverse description. He simply states the fact though upon first glance we would say they are all in the same category. Ten young women ten virgins all with a torch all going out to meet the bridegroom.

26:10 But there is a condition before they ever go out with their torches that exist in them. We are told that five of them were in a state of folly were foolish and five were in a state of being designated as wise. What does that tell us? It tells us that at the return of Christ all professing Christians will be found and exposed not made found and exposed as either wise or foolish Now this wise or foolish state has nothing to do

26:53 with intellectual ability the presence or the absence of it has nothing to do with your IQ score nothing to do with your SAT scores nothing to do whatsoever with your GPA. Wise or foolish has to do with something far more profound and far more crucial to who and what you are. It has to do with matters I say that have no relationship whatsoever to how much gray matters between your ears and how well it is cultivated and how much that cultivation

27:38 is validated by men in your SAT your IQ score or your GPA. Nothing nothing whatsoever. And we need to understand from this passage that this condition while prevailing before the bridegroom appears for five were in a state of foolishness and five were in a state of wisdom it was the coming of the bridegroom and their going out to meet him that revealed their true state. They all seem to be of one class until the bridegroom comes and they go out

28:22 to meet him. Then the true state is revealed the foolish and the wise. Sitting here today as a professed disciple of Christ you are in your essential character either wise or foolish. And further that condition though undetected now will be infallibly made known and manifested when the Lord Jesus returns.

28:55 And the great burden of this parable and my great burden in expounding and applying it is that you and I should be found at his coming in the category of the wise. For the issue is not rewards or loss of rewards the issue is life and death. So the issue is entrance to or exclusion from the marriage feast. The issue of this wisdom or folly is heaven or hell folks.

29:30 Nothing less and that from the lips of our Lord Jesus. Our Lord Jesus says they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast and the door was shut. That's the language of being cast out it's the language of the finality of our state at the second coming. So we've seen as the central burden of the passage first of all that at the return of Christ all professing Christians will be found in some distinct way like the ten virgins who were part of the wedding procession.

Central Concern 3: Readiness as the Identifying Issue

30:12 Secondly at the return of Christ all professing Christians will be found and exposed as either wise or foolish. Thirdly at the return of Christ readiness or non-readiness will be the issue that will identify us as wise or as foolish. At the return of Christ readiness or non-readiness will be the issue that will identify us as wise or foolish. As the parable unfolds it all leads to verse ten.

30:50 And while they went away to buy the bridegroom came and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast. In the parable the readiness or non-readiness was focused on the issue of their torches and their oil. Five times the word torch or torches is used three times the word oil is used explicitly and there are three more references where it is implied. Look at your Bibles and you will see this.

31:31 They went out to meet the bridegroom with their torches. Verse three when they took their torches. Verse four they took oil in their vessels with their torches. But the wise answered et cetera.

31:53 Same thing with the oil. Three times the word oil used. Three times it is inferred. The wise answered peradventure verse nine there will not be enough what?

32:06 Enough oil for us. Go rather to them that sell and buy. Buy what? Buy oil for yourself.

32:16 So readiness or non-readiness in the parable focuses on what the wise said. Now this is where many commentators in my judgment go awry. They try to find some allegorical significance in the torch in the oil. That's not the burden of the parable.

32:38 The burden of the parable is to demonstrate those that are ready go into the feast. In the case of these virgins readiness was determined by no direct reference to us. The issue with us is the readiness manifested in the virgins who had with their torches sufficient oil and folly was manifested in having a torch but insufficient oil to replenish it. And so readiness is the great burden of the spirit of the

33:23 bridegroom. The first thing that we need to do is to feel the weight of verse 10. They that were ready went in with him to the feast. Would you go in with the bridegroom to the marriage of the bridegroom?

33:53 I want to demonstrate three dimensions of the readiness that are highlighted in the parable. First of all, it is a personal readiness. It is a personal readiness. Verses 3 and with their torches.

34:23 As they anticipated the wedding procession, they ordered their priorities in such a way that they were willing to invest capital and to spend time securing not only a torch, most likely a stick with some kind of a vessel on the end in which would be stuffed rags soaked in oil that needed to be replenished with oil, that needed periodically. The oil was a separate thing. They didn't go into the town, it doesn't say, and buy torches, but buy oil. And these who were ready were those who, anticipating the return of the bridegroom or the coming of the bridegroom,

35:08 and they're going out to meet him in procession, they knew, they knew that since it was going to be a nighttime procession, they had to have a torch. And since the procession might be long and lengthy, they must have oil with which to replenish the torch, and they ordered their priorities of time and money to secure this matter of oil. They did it personally. They did it consciously.

35:41 There was no assumption, well, I must have out in the garage not only a torch, but several cans of oil, and the night that the bridegroom comes and I join the procession, I'll just take my torch and my assumed can of oil. No. They personally were concerned to make clear, sufficient preparation. No assumption that the oil was there.

36:11 No presumption that if it were not, someone else could help them. And the wise were, those who made personal readiness.

36:23 So with you, and so with me. Readiness for the Lord's return can only be secured by conscious, personal, spiritual activity. It doesn't just happen, and it doesn't just happen when you hear sermons about the Lord's return.

36:48 You've got to take time and money to get your oil. There has to be conscious, deliberate, personal endeavor for readiness. Or there will be no readiness. But not only was it personal readiness, it is a non-transferable readiness.

37:08 That's the significance, obviously, of verses 8 and 9. The foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps, our torches are going out. They'd all had a good nap. Not knowing precisely when the bridegroom was going to make his way past them or from another house.

37:26 And this is again where the details are uncertain. But they hear the word, the bridegroom is coming. We've got to go out to meet him. And when they hear that message, they discover, to their shame, that they had no vessel.

37:42 And the oil that was in the soaked rags that they had used to get from one place to where they were, where they had their nap, had almost all been used up. They'd relit their torches and in a very short time they were smoking and they died out and they'd turn in desperation to the others and say, look, give us of your oil. And they answer and say, and remember Jesus puts these words in their mouth. They answer verse 9, but the wise answered saying, Peradventure there will not be enough for us and for you.

38:13 Go rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves.

38:19 Now remember, the purpose of the parable is not to teach a hundred things. And some people read the parable as though it should also teach what we do when we have a friend in need and how we ought to share. No, the passage is not meant to teach benevolence. If you see your brother of need and shut up the bowels of your compassion, how dwelleth the love of God in you?

38:37 We don't come to the parable looking for a hundred strands of teaching or a full corpus of teaching on Christian ethics. The Lord Jesus has one great concern, readiness for his coming. And he's underscoring that that readiness is not only for his coming, but it is non-transferable. It's non-transferable.

39:00 You get ready for yourself. No one else can get ready for you. No one else can get ready for you. Mom and dad can't get ready for you.

39:13 Husband or wife can't get ready for you. Pastors can't get ready for you. It is a non-transferable readiness. The parable says, Thirdly, it is not only a personal readiness, non-transferable, this is critical.

39:30 It is a timely readiness. It is a timely readiness. This is the significance of verse 10. And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready, that is, ready when he came, went in with him to the marriage feast.

39:53 And some of the most important things were the most frightening words in the Bible. And the door was shut. The door was shut. The door was shut.

40:05 The door was shut. Why? Because they, in their folly, did not reckon with the fact that it was a timely readiness. You could not get ready at any old time you chose.

40:20 But you had to be ready at the time the bridegroom chose to come. You didn't know when the time came. You took your nap. You're waiting for someone to awaken you and say the bridegroom's coming.

40:36 They hear the sound. They go to their torches. And they find that they weren't ready. Why?

40:45 Because it was a timely readiness. And when they were ill-prepared, the door was shut. I don't know who the poet was. He is designated in William Taylor's commentary as the English Poet Laureate.

41:08 He set this parable both to poetry and to music. Listen to the profound and searching way he has done it. Late, late, so late. And dark the night and chill.

41:28 Late, late, so late. But we can enter still. Too late. Too late.

41:36 You cannot enter now. No light we had. For that we do repent. And learning that, the bridegroom will relent.

41:47 Too late. Too late. You cannot enter now. No light.

41:56 So late. And dark and chill the night. Oh, let us in. That we may find the light.

42:03 Oh, no. Too late. You cannot enter now. Have we not heard?

42:10 The bridegroom is so sweet. Oh, let us in. Though late. To kiss his feet.

42:17 Too late. Too late. You cannot enter now. That's the burden of the parable.

42:26 They were all concerned about preparedness. All concerned about oil for their torches. But in a foolish, untimely path of concern. That's the point our Lord is making.

42:46 In the parable He doesn't picture them as indifferent to preparation. He pictures them as culpably, inexcusably gripped with a damning folly that did not reckon upon the timeliness of the preparation. The timeliness of being ready. The return of Christ.

43:18 The readiness that constitutes someone wise. Is a readiness that is personal, non-transferable, and timely. And the folly that leaves one unprepared. Though among the ranks of God's people here and prior to the second coming, one in the judgment of charity would say, Yes, he or she is one of the virgins.

43:50 Prepared to meet the bridegroom when he comes. But when he comes, his coming exposes the difference between the wise and the foolish. And it all hinges on preparedness. On readiness.

Central Concern 4: Readiness as Fruit of Saving Acquaintance with Jesus

44:07 In the parable, readiness meant a flask of oil with the torch. In spiritual reality it is the oil of grace along with the mere torch of profession. Grace that is manifested in preparedness for the coming of the Lord Jesus. And then we come fourthly to what to me has just opened up the parable in a whole new way.

44:36 The fourth dimension of the burden of the parable is this. Living in watchful readiness for the Lord's return is the fruit and manifestation of a saving acquaintance with Jesus, the returning bridegroom. Living in watchful readiness for the Lord's return is the fruit and manifestation of a saving acquaintance with Jesus, the returning bridegroom. Those who are foolish are introduced as part of the bridegroom's wedding party.

45:19 There is the appearance of a relationship. There are activities which reflect a relationship. But when he comes and they are found not ready, what is the central issue? Look at verse 12.

45:39 Back up to verse 11. Afterward also came the other virgins, the foolish, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, and here the commentators point out and it's obvious, has Jesus dropped? The parable, and is he speaking in his own regal, magisterial authority?

46:00 Verily I say unto you. Or is he putting these words into the bridegroom in the parable? Either way, when you find the words, verily I say, this is big time important stuff. If you've missed other things, don't miss this.

46:17 And what is it the Lord wants us to grasp? That when the bridegroom says to the foolish, foolish, ill-prepared virgins, no, you cannot enter. The door is shut. Notice how he speaks to them.

46:34 Verily I say unto you, I do not know you. I do not know you. When he comes and they are found not ready, what's the central issue? That which will exclude you from his wedding feast.

46:58 He says, I openly avow that you sustain no special relationship to me, nor me to you. It's all a matter of an intimate knowing relationship between the virgins and the bridegroom. And that's where Jesus puts the clincher. That's where Jesus puts the clincher.

47:26 Those who are ready, what is the significance of their readiness? What is the significance that they had the forethought and the concern to make personal, timely preparation for the wedding procession? It was an expression of a deep, real relationship to the bridegroom. He mattered enough to spend the money and take the time to get the oil.

47:58 With the foolish, though they professed a relationship to him, he did not matter enough to disrupt the rhythms of life that would have found them with their pot of oil. And Jesus puts in the language of the bridegroom that this is the nub of the issue. That there is no relationship to my person. I do not know you.

48:28 I do not recognize you with distinguishing love and affection and see in you the evidence of your reciprocal heart, knowledge of and love to me. There is no relationship to my person. Yes, you were found among those who seemed to be related to me. In respect and in some measure of love, you were concerned enough to be willing, to be part of my wedding party.

49:02 But your lack of preparedness is the manifestation and proof that there is no relationship. And as we sit here this morning, dear children, young people, mothers and dads, that's the issue. True preparedness for the coming of Christ grows out of the person-to-person relationship with Jesus. That makes what He says about living in such a way as to be prepared for His coming important enough

49:43 to make it the priority of our lives. And this notion that I can partake of the saving benefits of Christ now and at His coming, where there is not the kind of relationship to the person of Christ that makes the priorities identified by Christ, that by which I regulate my life, that's a Christianity that may pass now. You may appear to be one of them, but in that day you'll be exposed for what you really are, a fool,

50:26 with misplaced priorities, placing some other pursuit in some other relationship, some other person in the place of Jesus. And when you most need His approbation and His identification, He will repudiate any knowledge of you. It's a frightening thing to think that Jesus would say, I don't know you. I don't know you.

51:00 That's reason enough for me to keep the door shut. I don't know you. I need no more. I don't know you.

51:07 You can protest all you want, as you find in parallel passages in Matthew 7, where people will say, but Lord, Lord, did we not preach in your name? Did we not in your name do many mighty works? Then will I profess unto them what? I never knew you.

51:29 I recognize no interpersonal, reciprocal relationship of person to person. You may have had my name upon your lips. You may have performed my works, but you were a stranger to that attachment to my person in faith and love, which would bring you into the orbit of my redemptive grace and power, by which you would have been wrenched out of the way of iniquity and into the way of holiness. Depart from me.

The Lord's Concern: Watchful Readiness

52:03 I never knew you. You that work iniquity. I tell you, folks, this thing has sobered me. If Jesus himself was convinced that those who were closest to him had been in intimate fellowship with him for three plus years, needed something more than the mere instruction as the lightning shines from the east to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be ye therefore ready.

52:40 Watch therefore. It struck me, and I'd never seen it before, those two themes of watching and readiness that are given right on the heels of the plain teaching on his coming in Matthew 24, verses 42 and 44. Look at them. Watch therefore, for you know not on what day your Lord comes.

53:01 Verse 44. Be ye also ready. In the midst of this parable, what are the two notes that Jesus picks up and now illustrates and enforces by the parable? Verse 10.

53:12 They that were ready, went in with him to the marriage feast. Verse 13. Watch therefore. Watchful readiness he enjoins as the capstone of his didactic instruction in chapter 24.

53:29 Watchful readiness are the notes he weaves into his parabolic instruction in chapter 25. The Lord is so concerned that we take this seriously. He gives it to us in blunt, imperatives. He gives it to us woven into the parable and as the capstone of the parable.

Application: Are You Prepared?

53:55 Watchful readiness and all of it growing out of the relationship of the believing soul to Christ himself. And so I ask you as you sit here this morning in the presence of the living God, are you prepared for Christ's return? If the cry were to go out before this day was over, behold the bridegroom comes, go out to meet him. Would you go out to meet him with something more than the mere torch of profession that you know him?

54:38 Would there be the readiness of that personal attachment that makes the priorities that Christ has articulated for your life, the things by which your life is regulated? You've not learned to draw a line and say, well, I'm going to come thus far in my obedience to Christ, in my conformity to Christ, to settle my own conscience that I have sufficient evidences of grace and I'm going to go as far as I need to go that I attain a measure of credibility among those who are my fellow virgins? Is that where you are?

55:21 Is your heart set upon radical, ongoing, ever-growing obedience to Jesus Christ, conformity to Christ and to his will, no matter what the cost may be? This was the thing I was praying for our young people. I don't want to see a crop of young people who just become polite, kosher, young reformed Baptists. I want to see young people aflame with a passion to know Christ, to follow Christ, to outstrip us in love and devotion and service to Christ, not running off into rabbit trails of fanaticism,

56:05 bounded by Holy Scripture and supported and guided by the creeds and confessions of the church, but in that which constitutes the very soul and life of biblical Christianity, a growing passion, to know and to serve and to be like our Lord Jesus Christ. Then, at his coming, shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins. You're going to see this fulfilled when he comes. And there may be some points where you say, oh, it's clear to me now Pastor Mark was wrong on that point, wrong on this point.

56:48 May well be. But in terms of the central burden of the passage, I believe I've been true to the mind of the Spirit in the passage. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like ten virgins. Then it will be evident whether you're in the camp of the wise or the foolish.

57:10 And that distinction is based upon non-preparedness or preparedness. And that preparedness is rooted in a saving acquaintance with Jesus, so that without shame he says, I know him. And we can say, Lord Jesus, by grace I know you. What I know of you has given me a passion to know you more.

57:36 What I know of you has made me passionate that I might be like you and long for the day when I shall see you as you are and then be fully like you. And if you sit here this morning and that doesn't tweak anything in your heart, I may as well have been speaking about selling chipotis in some little village in Pakistan. Nothing has been stirred in your breast. No quickening of desire.

58:07 Lord Jesus, I want to know you better. I want to be more like you. And my friend, you're as dead as dead can be. And this parable doesn't apply to you.

58:20 You don't even begin to be put in the camp of those who profess with any degree of credibility the name of Christ. Christ will deal with you at his coming if you don't repent. And what he will do is frightening as we've seen in previous messages. And I urge you to repent and flee to Christ.

Conclusion: Prayer for Deliverance from Self-Deception

58:42 But my great concern is that we who are numbered among his professing people have biblical grounds to say we're in the company right now of the wise virgins, and Christ's return will be the public manifestation that that's who we really are. Let's pray together. Our Father, we thank you for the wisdom, the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus, pressing home to the consciences of his hearers then and to our consciences now

59:26 the necessity of readiness and preparedness for his return. We ask that you would deliver us from all self-deception, that we might truly know our state, that by your grace we may have a longing and a yearning to be more like our Savior, to be more diligent in watchfulness, to be more diligent in that biblical readiness, to be found engaged in our legitimate callings and our earnestness, and with an eye single to your praise and to your glory, that when he comes he shall find us so doing.

60:11 So we pray, Lord, that you would bless your word, seal it to our hearts, and may it bear abundant fruit to your praise and to our profit. We ask in Jesus' name. Amen.