We shall now return to that portion of Scripture that we read earlier from Matthew's Gospel. We are principally going to look at chapter 25. and from verses 1 to 13, where we have this parable of the ten virgins, or the ten bridesmaids. The title for the sermon this evening is The Wise and the Foolish. The Wise and the Foolish. Now, in our introduction, we want to establish who Christ was speaking to. And this is fundamental to any portion of Scripture that you want to go to. You seek to find out who were the original hearers of the Word. Well, it's not a difficult exercise for us. Because we know that in chapter 24, at the first verse, Jesus went out and departed from the temple, and his disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And they were going to point out the beauty and the magnificence of the Jewish temple to Jesus. And Jesus tells them, it's all going to be destroyed. They were amazed at that, and they asked Jesus one or two or three questions. When will this happen? And when will be the end of the age? And when will be your coming? Well, we find that Jesus, in what's called the Olivet Discourse, which is contained in chapters 24 and 25, he is principally speaking to his disciples. He is speaking here to professing Christians. He is speaking here to his followers. While there may well be an application for other people, of course, Primarily, Jesus is speaking to his disciples, and he is telling them a number of things. And the section that we've read, we would argue, is principally concerned with his second coming at the end of the age. That awesome day that awaits us all. when this world as we currently find it will come to an end. We've been in Genesis and we've noticed that the world had a beginning and this world will have an end. And that will end when Christ Jesus returns. And again, as part of our introduction before we seek to draw some lessons from this parable here, he tells them in verse 1 of chapter 25, the kingdom of heaven shall be likened unto 10 virgins. And he expounds this parable. What does this term, kingdom of heaven, mean? Well, as you know, the book of Matthew was written primarily with the Jews in mind. And the Jews had reservations about using the name of God. They didn't want to use it casually. And therefore, Matthew uses this term, the kingdom of heaven, while other gospel writers will use the kingdom of God. They're both exactly the same. The kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God, they mean exactly the same. But what do they mean? Well, initially, we might say in its early stages, in its first manifestation, it is the rule of God in the hearts of individuals. And those who have God ruling in their hearts and lives are part of the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. Now we know the full manifestation of the kingdom of heaven is heaven itself, where God's people will be gathered to that holy place for all eternity. But now friends, what is happening? The Lord Jesus Christ is building his church and he is adding people to the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. where they are brought under the reign and the rule of the Lord Jesus Christ. And therefore, for them and for us today, the kingdom of heaven is where God is ruling in our lives and in our hearts. And therefore, we would not be wrong to say that the kingdom of heaven here somewhat represents the professing Christian church. It is a picture of the professing Christian church. And he goes on to talk about this parable, and the parable is based around a Jewish wedding. Now, a Jewish wedding was a a very joyful occasion, and not just for the family, but for the whole community. And basically, we don't need to go into details, but it will help us to understand the Jewish wedding was in three parts. There would have been the engagement, when the bride and groom would have an official engagement that would probably be arranged by their respective parents. After this, there would be a marriage ceremony where the bride and groom would have a marriage ceremony, but they would not live together. Instead, the husband would go and seek to prepare himself to provide for his wife, provide a home, and after a period of time, maybe up to a year, They would then come together for the third part of the marriage, which is what is referred to here, which would be the great wedding feast, and it would be a time of great rejoicing, great happiness, and it would involve all of the community. and there would be wonderful amount of laughter and fun, and everything would be a delightful occasion. And that would happen when the bridegroom would come, when everything is ready, and he would go to be with his wife, and they would have their marriage feast, and then they would be left to consummate the wedding, the marriage itself. Well, it's in the third aspect of that Jewish wedding that Jesus has pitched this parable. And when you look at parables, friends, we're not to look at tiny details and find an application in tiny details. A parable has one meaning, and the meaning of this parable is that when that day, that awesome day, when the Lord Jesus Christ shall return in power and in glory, it would tell us that there will be many of his professing people who are foolish, who are not ready to be with the Lord Jesus forever, and they will be cast out. That is the message that we find in this parable. Don't look for applications and little details. You're missing the whole point if you do. Jesus has one message to teach us this evening, and it is we are to be ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't know when it will be. We know it will be, but we don't know when. And we're to be ready. And sadly, there will be many foolish people that day. Well, we want to draw one or two lessons then from this parable. What is the first lesson? Well, the first lesson is all who profess to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are alike in many ways. They're all alike. Here we have the 10 virgins, 10 bridesmaids. They would accompany the bride. They had a wonderful time. It was a great honor for them. They were together. They were waiting for this time when the bridegroom would come. There was no problem with any of them. The wise did not look upon those who were foolish because they didn't know they were foolish. They were just like themselves. They were having a wonderful time. They were part of a very important group. They were enjoying the occasion. It was a wonderful privilege to be a bridesmaid and to serve the bride and to be that part of this wonderful, happy occasion. and there was nothing to separate any of the ten of them. They were all together in one place, wherever that was. We don't need to go into details, it's not important, but they were all together. and they all had their lamps. And they were all going forth waiting for the bridegroom. In other words, they had an interest in the bridegroom. And surely that's the case with every professing Christian. We all have an interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're all looking to him for our salvation. We're all looking to him to what he has done on Calvary's tree. And therefore, we cannot tell the difference. because there's nothing outwardly to distinguish the foolish and the wise. Secondly, I have seven brief points, but secondly, the resemblances, however, are superficial. There is an essential difference. The clothes may be the same. The hairstyle may be the same. The makeup may be the same. Their presentation, their outward presentation might be just as the bride wanted them to be. They looked the same, they played the part, but there was one fundamental difference, and it showed up on that day when the Lord Jesus Christ would return, or when the bridegroom returned, because they were not fully ready and prepared. They had their lamps, but they had no oil in their lamps. Now we might well say that when they had their lamps but they didn't have oil, it may well be a reference to the Holy Spirit. It may well be a reference to the fact that they never knew the new birth, or they never knew the sanctification of the Holy Spirit. They did not know that inward reality. They spoke about what Christ did for them. but they knew nothing of the Holy Spirit working in them. And therefore, they couldn't be distinguished between one another by the human eye, by the naked eye. 2 Timothy 2 verse 19 speaks of this. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. The Lord knows the true-hearted Christian. There may well be some experience that the Christian might go through, and he might not be sure of his own interest in Christ. Many people do not get full assurance, and some people get full assurance and it disappears from them. It evaporates. It can come and go. It's like a flame. It can flicker or it can flame into fire sometimes. And therefore, there may well be times when the real Christian doesn't know he's a real Christian. What's our hope? What's our confidence? Well, the Lord knows. The Lord knoweth them that are his. And he goes on in that verse to give some indication of how the true-hearted, genuine Christian is to be known and how he is to behave. Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. He's not talking about being saved by works. No, that's repugnant to us. That's completely against the Bible and the Word of God. But friends, we know that someone who has faith in the Lord Jesus, he will live out his faith. He will be obedient to the law of God. He will delight in it. And if he doesn't, he has a dead faith. And that dead faith will manifest itself as it did for these virgins. When the time came to light up their lamps, they had no oil. And what was the good of that in a dark night? How could they go in the procession that night when they had no oil? They couldn't do it. Impossible for them. They were useless. They were surplus to requirements. They were only a burden. And the time will come, friends. Oh, it's a sobering thing to think about. But the resemblances that we can see with the eye will not matter one day. We need to have Christ as our Lord and Savior. He is the hope, the hope of glory, Christ in you. How does Christ get in you? It's by that wonderful, inscrutable work of the Holy Spirit and by Him alone. What else? Another lesson we can learn here. There's going to be a long time, a long span of time between the first and the second comings of Christ. The early Christians, they did believe that Christ would return much sooner. He didn't. He didn't. In fact, every generation of Christians have always thought, many of them, that Christ would return in their generation. Things have got so bad. Terrible things are happening. It must be that the Lord is at the door. He must be coming. Well, friends, it's good to have that kind of mindset. It's good to live in the reality that one day Jesus Christ will return. And it may well be this day. It's good to have that. But surely this is telling us, and the other part of Scripture that we read earlier is indicating that there's going to be a great gulf, a great gap between the first and the second coming. And indeed, so far, 2,000 years, is it going to be longer? The minister doesn't know. He doesn't know. Chapter 24, verse 48, what does it say? But, and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My Lord, delayeth his coming. Is that not an indication? Is Jesus not talking there about an indication that there's going to be a great time difference? What about chapter 25 verse 5? While the bridegroom tarried, is there Jesus not giving them an indication that he who is the bridegroom, he's tarried, he's going to delay, he's not going to come when they thought Again, Matthew 24, verse 14, that we did not read, but what does it say? And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. The gospel had first to go to every corner, every part of the globe. are these things not telling us that there is and there will be a great time difference between Christ's first appearing and his second appearing? But he will appear. He'll appear at that time. No man knows the day nor the hour. And in other gospel accounts it says, neither does the Son of Man know when he shall return. And what is that telling us? It's telling us that in his humanity, the Lord Jesus Christ does not know the day when he shall return. Not the holy angels, but only the Father himself knows that day when he'll say, enough! Time is no more. Christ is coming. And surely again this parable is teaching us, fourthly, the return of the Lord will be sudden. It will be visible. It will be audible. You'll not need to switch on your televisions You'll not need any messages from anyone. You'll know it. It will be absolutely sudden. It will come at a time when you think not. It will be visible. How can this possibly be? The whole world going to see Jesus return at one time? It stretches our minds. We cannot understand it. Nevertheless, this is what it shall be like. For as the lightning cometh out of the east and shineth even unto the west, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be. Earlier on in the Olivet Discourse, he talks about people saying, oh, Christ is here or Christ is there. Don't listen to them. You won't need a preacher that day. No one will need to tell you. You will know. You will see it. What else does the Bible teach us about this suddenness, about the fact that it's audible and visible? Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him. And they also which pierced him And all the kingdoms of the earth shall wail because of him, even so, amen. That's what we find in Revelation. Revelation 1, verse 7, Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, even those that pierced him, even those who were at the crucifixion. They pierced him, they will see him coming in glory. Oh, how can this be, you say? Minister, I don't know. I don't know. But I believe it. And all the kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. What a day that shall be when Christ comes with his holy angels. That's what Enoch saw. Now we said in the morning, Enoch saw and prophesied of the second coming. Enoch didn't know about the second coming. He didn't know about it, but he did know the Lord was going to come. And he did know that he would come with thousands of his people. We can say that Enoch spoke about the second coming, but Enoch did not know this himself. But that's what he was talking about. And that's the way with prophecy. Very often the prophet wrote down or spoke what God would tell him to speak, but he might not fully understand what he conveyed, yet he was conveying divine knowledge. And we are benefited from it today because he prophesied of the coming of the Savior. 1 Thessalonians is again another book which speaks about the suddenness and the certainty of the coming of the Lord Jesus. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. What a momentous occasion. This is what we find here. The ten virgins are sleeping and there's nothing wrong with that. They were waiting for the bridegroom and they were all excited. They got tired. They went to sleep. Then they heard the cry. What does it say? At midnight there was a cry made, behold the bridegroom cometh. Oh, they had to get up, they had to get ready. They had to gather their lamps and gather their oil. There was much to be done. The bridegroom was at the door and they were going to go in a procession. And they had to get ready. It was all very sudden. No time to sort their hair, no time to put their makeup on. He's here, you must go. That's the way it will be when Jesus Christ returns. For ye yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord cometh, so cometh as a thief in the night. Does a thief leave a calling card? I'll be back here at three o'clock in the morning. Does he say that to you? No, he looks at his place and he goes. He goes and steals when he thinks he'll not get caught. And sometimes the thief may be an opportune thief. He may simply be walking past a building. He sees it's empty. He takes a chance. He goes in and he scores. He takes away possessions in a moment. That's what it'll be like for the Lord Jesus Christ. He cometh as a thief in the night. When you're least expecting him, that's what's going to happen. That's what's going to happen to the professing Christian church. In another sense, that's what happened to the Jewish church. The Jewish church was dead. The Jewish church was sleeping when Christ came. Oh, he didn't come to judge, and he didn't come to end things up. He came as that wonderful plan of redemption. But the point is, when he came, the Jewish church was not prepared. Didn't Herod call for the teachers of the law, the scribes and the Pharisees? Did he not say to them, where is the Christ to be born? Oh, they were able to go to their scriptures, and they were able to say, well, it'll be in Bethlehem. But we don't really believe it. Why do I say that? Well, they never went to inquire themselves. They never went to Bethlehem. You would think That if the king said, where is the Christ to be born? And they tell him in Bethlehem, you would think that they would go and examine the matter for themselves if they were remotely interested, or if they even believed the scriptures that they said they did believe. They were dead, and Christ came. Just as the Scripture said in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, and all the things that he fulfilled according to Scripture. And friends, there are other things that have yet to be fulfilled, and they shall be fulfilled when Christ returns. And one of the things that he shall fulfill perfectly The Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. Are you ready? Are you ready? This is what this parable is all about. Another thing we can learn, fifthly, preparedness is not transferable from one person to another. Here they were, the ten bridesmaids, the ten virgins. They had a great time together. They were young girls. They were, in some sense, foolish and happy, enjoying themselves, enjoying each other's company, talking about maybe when they would get married. That's what they were doing as they were waiting for the bridegroom to come. They enjoyed wonderful fellowship, we might say. It was good to be with the girls. But when the time came, when the bridegroom came, the five who had the oil could not give their oil to the foolish. They couldn't. They needed it for themselves. And this would remind us, friends, that We have to prepare ourselves. We cannot rely on anyone else. We cannot rely on family members. We cannot rely on ministers or office bearers. Indeed, ministers and office bearers cannot rely upon themselves. We have to go to Jesus Christ. We have to have a relationship with him. He alone can save. And you cannot rely upon your parents. You cannot rely upon a Christian upbringing. Good as it is, of course it is, but you cannot rely upon that. Grace does not pass from father to son or mother to daughter. You have to have personal dealings with the Savior yourself. That's the only way to be saved. Another lesson, sixthly, we would notice here, and this is a lesson we need to learn in this modern day that we live in. There's no second chance. No second chance. I hope you are offended when you hear of clergymen praying for the dead. It is obscene. The dead are dead. and you cannot change their eternal dwelling. If they are in heaven, all your prayers and all your supplications cannot make them any happier. If they are in hell, all your praying, or in some places, your money, it cannot bring them any relief. They're fixed. They'll be there forever, either in heaven or in hell. No second chance. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the time to get right. Now is the time to avail yourselves of Christ, who alone can save. Who is that glorious bridegroom who will come like a thief in the night? Lastly, friends, watchfulness is required at all times. This is the message that we say sincerely to you that Jesus wants to drive home to his church. Watch. Watch. Be careful. Matthew 24, 42. Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. The end of the parable, verse 13, watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh. Watch, watch, watch and pray. Watch yourself. Be ready. Don't be among the foolish. Be among the wise. Make your calling and election sure. Be found in Christ. And if it come a time when you're sleeping, and there's nothing wrong with sleeping because we need to sleep, you're ready. You're ready to face the Savior. You're ready to enter into glory with Him. You're ready to be owned on that day before the whole of the universe as one of His people. What a disappointment it would have been for these girls, all dressed, all ready to take part in a glorious dinner and celebration, even if it was late at night. This was the very pinnacle of the wedding. There would be a great hilarity. Oh, the street would be full of These people with their lamps burning, bringing light and laughter and levity at this happy occasion. And there they were, they couldn't take part in it. They went off to the shops and they couldn't get any. And by the time they came back, the door was shut. No way in. I never knew you. I never knew you. Therefore, Let us be careful. Let us be watchful. For that day will come when he will come in the clouds. And this parable would tell us there's going to be a great separation. The wise and the foolish. Where are we? or with the foolish. Amen. May God bless His word to us. Let us pray together.