We read for our scripture lesson from the twenty-fifth chapter of the gospel according to Matthew, the first thirteen verses. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lambs. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lambs. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so, lest there be not enough for us and you. But go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. But while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore For ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. May God bless to our understanding this parable of our Lord Christ. Last evening we preached on the Christian doctrine of hell. Tonight we consider who are in danger of hell, and tomorrow night how to escape that danger. Now everyone in this congregation knows, of course, certain people are in danger. It's no secret that murderers, thieves, drunkards, prostitutes, racketeers, and other public enemies are going to go to hell. We all know that. The Bible makes very plain that heaven is a holy place and nothing filthy shall be permitted there. And that vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And though there are men who can defy law and order in the courts of men and of justice, none of these shall escape the judgment of God. Now that we all know. And I wouldn't have gathered you here this evening merely to remind you of that very solemn truth, but rather to call your attention to the fact that there are a host of respectable people who are in danger of damnation. There are very many religious people who are going to be grouped with the racketeers in the ultimate judgment. There are many people who believe themselves on their way to heaven, who are going to wake up one morning in the midst of eternal fire. Now, our Lord Jesus says this repeatedly. Nevertheless, we don't take him seriously or pay sufficient attention to him when he tells it to us. He not only says this, which I have said, and which this parable which he gave especially develops, but he indicates that the hottest parts of hell are going to be not for these open and obvious criminal wicked, but the respectable wicked, not the irreligious, but the religious sinners are going to know the greatest measure of damnation. As we mentioned last evening, his words, Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for you. As we said last night, it will not be tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah and the base sinners who constitute that sink of iniquity. But in comparison with the judgment which will come upon us, it will seem tolerable to them. Our Lord Jesus even says very frankly that publicans and harlots shall enter the kingdom of heaven before you. He doesn't mean for a moment that prostitutes are going to go to heaven, but he does mean that if the gates of hell were ever opened and anybody was permitted to escape who had been consigned there before hypocrites were let out, Prostitutes would be free. Before the righteous wicked were ever pardoned, the openly unrighteous wicked would first be excused. Our Lord says this so often, it's downright amazing that we don't understand it. But let's give our attention to this theme this evening as we ask ourselves the question, who is in danger? And our Lord Jesus gives us this parable of the ten virgins specifically to speak to that point. This is one of the closest studies which our Lord has ever given us of the similarity and the difference between genuine and spurious religion. These two groups of women represent two groups of professing religion. One is genuine and the other is false, but they have some striking similarities about them which call for our closest scrutiny and immediate application to ourselves. And so in our consideration of this parable tonight, I divide it into two parts. First of all, the similarities between those who merely profess to be Christians but aren't, and those who profess to be and really are. between those who think they're going to heaven and are going to have the door shut in their faces, and those who actually are going in to the great marriage feast of the Lamb. And then after we have considered the similarities between these two groups, which I think are downright amazing and startling, we shall then consider the crucial difference between these, so that we can ascertain where we are and whether we are in danger or not. With respect to the similarities, the first thing which strikes us about the five wise and the five foolish virgins is that they're in the same company. We're immediately introduced by Jesus in this parable to a group of religious people. In modern terminology we would say they all are church members. These aren't down-and-outers. These aren't the off-scouring of the world. These aren't notable sinners. These are people who are distinguished by religious concern. They're all occupied with moral matters. Outwardly they appear to be quite the same, and we're struck by the fact that they're in the same company. They're ten virgins. The same society. Another thing about them is this. Our Lord seems to indicate very clearly that they're not only all in the same company, they don't only all belong to the Church, but mind you, they're Orthodox people. There are people in the Church who don't believe what the Church teaches. But that isn't true of these virgins. They're all sound in the faith. They have no misgivings about the deity of Jesus. They probably believe in all the doctrines of fundamentalism. They are represented here as a waiting company who are waiting for the one whom they call Lord. No doubting about the identity of this coming bridegroom. It isn't only the wise virgins who know him to be the Son of God, but the foolish virgins agree. And what makes the matter even more striking, I may be pressing the parable a bit here, but I don't think so. After all, our Lord Jesus gave this parable together with a number of other teachings in the 24th and 25th chapters of Matthew to prepare us for future events which have not yet taken place. These are what in seminary we call eschatological teachings, that is, teachings which deal with things yet to come, with the future. This parable of the virgins, like the parable of the talents, is associated with the return of Christ in the very context. Now, I don't think, therefore, that I'm straining the point when I call your attention to the fact that the five wives and the five foolish virgins are all looking for the return of Jesus Christ. As much as to say that not only are they of the same company, not only are they generally orthodox, But they have, among other things, this in common. They're orthodox enough to believe that Jesus Christ is going to return, and they actually are waiting for that return. They believe in the second coming, and not only that, they're acting on it. They're actually anticipating the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now in addition to those similarities, which have to do basically with their faith, We learn from the Bible in general that the foolish virgins resemble the wise virgins in many practices also. It's not only that they associate together and profess the same religion, but they do many of the same things. Now this isn't dilated upon by Christ in this particular parable, but it's indicated by many other teachings of Christ and elsewhere in the Bible. For example, the rich young ruler, of whom you all know, That young man who was a prince in Israel, very wealthy, very gifted, very prominent, was also very moral. You remember that when he asked the Lord how he might inherit eternal life and Christ said, you know the commandments, his reply was, all these have I kept from my youth up. And he was a scrupulously ethical person. He behaved himself outwardly very morally. When Jesus was said to have looked upon him and loved him, the passage apparently means Jesus admired him because of his upright character, his admirable conduct, his notable behavior. The man wasn't telling a lie when he said he had kept all the commandments. Outwardly, he had conformed. He hadn't violated any of them. As far as anything you could see, or he could see, about himself outwardly, he was innocent, guiltless, indeed sinless. And yet, he didn't have eternal life, and he didn't get eternal life. And when Jesus Christ told him how to get it, you remember, he turned away sorrowing. But the point I'm observing now is that this rich young ruler, who is clearly one of the foolish virgins, who has a good deal of religion and a great deal of respect for Jesus Christ, even coming to him to learn about eternal life, but nevertheless, ultimately, in the crisis, rejecting the Savior. What I'm calling to your attention now is that this particular foolish virgin, this rich young ruler, was very moral. He had kept the commandments, all of them, outwardly. It's called our attention to the fact that these foolish virgins, who are going to have the door shut in their faces, are not what we commonly mean by hypocrites. They may in many cases be scrupulously conformed to the divine law. Again, we learn from the Scripture that these foolish virgins, in addition to being in many instances outwardly quite moral, They're also very benevolent on occasion. They're very generous. They give, as Paul says in the first epistle to the Corinthians, the thirteenth chapter, they give their goods to feed the poor. He even teaches us there that some of them give all their goods to feed the poor, saying, oh, I give all my goods to feed the poor and have not love. It provideth me nothing. But the point is that without love, Without a new heart, without genuine faith, without being a wise version at all, a person on some occasions gives all he possesses in a grand demonstration of human concern and brotherly affection. You would say, when a person gives everything he possesses for other persons, that surely demonstrates that he's a converted individual. You would say that would be proof par excellence, that he is a wise and not a foolish virgin. But Paul tells us that there are those who give all their goods to feed the poor, and yet they're foolish virgins. They're going to have the door shut in their faces. There are more amazing things than that. In that very thirteenth chapter to which I referred, Paul even indicates that a person makes a supreme gift. who is not a truly converted individual. In his language, though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. But the point I'm calling to your attention is that some persons, without love in their hearts, without God in their hearts, without Christ in their hearts, nevertheless actually become martyrs. We can imagine that some who were devoured by lions, or torn by wild cows, or burned alive, or in some other way suffered, apparently for Christ's sake, when they finished their martyrdom, they went to hell. It's possible for a person to give his body to be burned and not have love. You would certainly say if anything proves a person to be a true Christian, a wise virgin, it's the willingness to die for his principles, but it doesn't prove it. On the contrary, I'm not suggesting it's normal, usual, average, no. But it doesn't prove the point. It doesn't demonstrate the case. It's possible even to die and not have Christ in the heart. I think what's even more amazing than that is what our Lord tells us in the seventh chapter of Matthew. When in that vivid scene there he describes the future judgment, saying that in that day men shall come before me, and notice what they say, what they shall say, as our Savior represents it. Have not I done many wonderful works in thy name, prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils? Jesus shall say to them, Depart from me, I never knew you." Now get that. These people who are standing before Christ at the Last Judgment, calling Him Lord, acknowledging Him to be their Savior, and professing to be His friend, they say to Him, I have spoken in your name, I've prophesied in your name, I've preached the gospel, I've told other people about you. And in your name I've done many mighty works. Maybe I've healed, maybe I've given, maybe I've sacrificed, but I've done many mighty works. And most amazing of all, cast out devils in thy name. Now the power of exorcism doesn't exist in our time, but I think the reference there to our day is this. What Jesus is saying is that the last day, some people will say they were the instruments of the conversion of other people. It was through their witness, through their life, through their testimony, that other people were translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son, which is the same as saying they were delivered out of the power of the devils, or the devils were driven out of them. And by the means of the preaching or the witnessing of another person, these individuals were saved, and yet that person by whom they were saved, to that person Jesus Christ may say at that day, depart from me, I never knew you. You see, dear friends, you would suppose, if there is anything which is conclusive and demonstrative evidence that a person is a genuine Christian, is alive and not a foolish virgin, will be acknowledged by Christ and not have the door shut in his face at the last day, it's the fact that he himself has not only preached the Word, lived the Word, but been the means of the salvation of other persons to whom he's preached. You'd say that's proof, conclusive, that the individual is converted. Jesus Christ says that is not so. But rather he will say to himself, who have themselves been sole winners. This is something which Mr. Kennedy and I need to apply to ourselves particularly, because it applies to ministers and evangelists preeminently. The Apostle Paul had it in mind when he said, though I preach to others, I may myself become a castaway. I beat my body lest I become a castaway while I preach to others, but the fact that I preach to others or maybe the instrument of the salvation of others, that itself is not conclusive evidence that I'm a truly converted person myself. What I've tried to do in this first part of the sermon is just to point out to you how strikingly similar the merely professing Christian is to the genuine Christian, how very much alike The foolish and the wise virgins are, after all. And how apt and proper it was for our Lord to tell just such a story as this, where five women waiting for the same event in the same society, outwardly resembling each other in every respect, nevertheless are profoundly different from each other. But the point is this, while having all those qualities, Believing in Christ, professing Him to be God, even waiting for His return, seeking to keep the commandments, and succeeding in keeping many of them, being charitable, being sacrificial, even unto death, and even the instrument of the salvation of other persons from death, and still all of these characteristics being consistent with being a foolish virgin and unconverted individual. But what then is the real difference? If anybody having all these qualities is still in danger, and with these qualities may actually perish in hell forever, what is the distinguishing characteristic between the wise and the foolish virgin? What is it that indicates to a person that he is not any longer? in danger of eternal perdition if it isn't any of the things which have already been mentioned. Well, our Savior here mentions only one clue. The only difference, as you remember, between the one group and the other is that the wise virgins have oil in their lamps and the foolish do not. Oil is the crucial difference. The presence of it in one instance, the absence of it in the other, is what determines the whole outcome of the episode. The one group is shut out, the other admitted, because one has the oil, the other does not have it. What does the oil signify? Well, I don't need to take time this evening to prove this particular point I'm about to declare. But where the word oil, or the term oil, is used in the Bible symbolically, and here, of course, it is used symbolically, it refers to the Holy Spirit of God. Jesus Christ, for example, is so-called the Christ, the Christos, because he is the Anointed One. Well, the typical way by which the ancient priest was anointed and the ancient king was anointed was, of course, with oil. For Jesus Christ the Christos, the Anointed One, was not anointed with oil, no. He was anointed with that which the oil symbolized, namely the Holy Spirit. And you recall that he began his public ministry after his trial in the wilderness. He received the Holy Spirit. The Spirit descended from above in the form of a dove and took up his residence in the soul of Jesus Christ to empower him for his ministry. Thus he was anointed with oil in perfect measure, and indeed, as John 3.34 says, without measure or without limit. He was completely filled with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit is therefore the person indicated through the symbolism of the term oil. But the question still remains, precisely what is Jesus meaning to tell us is the relationship of these wise virgins to the Holy Spirit that distinguishes them from the foolish virgin. One thing is this, as the Bible represents it, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, may strive with vast multitudes of people. For example, I may safely assume that the Spirit of God is in our company tonight, and I may even be so bold as to assume that he is working. upon every solitary individual in this church this evening, even the least attentive. The Spirit of God is operative here tonight. But there's nothing saving about the Spirit of God's operation from without. When He works upon a soul, when He convicts a soul, when he strives with a soul. That soul may never actually yield to him, may never actually know him, may never actually possess him, and consequently the relationship with the Spirit is always from the outside. Upon, upon, upon, but always from the outside. But, according to the Bible, When a person is a Christian, the Spirit no longer operates from the outside upon the soul, but actually invades the soul, makes that soul his dwelling place, takes up his residence within that human being, and thereafter that person is not the person he was before, alone. He now has a new principle of operation within him. He says with the Apostle Paul, for me to live is Christ, the Spirit of Christ, and the Spirit of God, no longer a stranger outside of him, but the divine guest within his soul is actually the animating principle of all of his activities. It's the Spirit of God who inclines him toward holiness, and the Spirit of God inclines him only in that direction, and the Spirit of God is in him and abides in him and never utterly removes himself from that person. But that's the great difference between the Spirit of God's activity upon the wise virgin, in whose heart he resides as a permanent dweller, and his influence upon a foolish virgin, in whose soul he takes up no permanent residence. Now the result of that is, once the Spirit of God has really taken up his abode, then he inclines that soul to do God's commandments for God's sake. We mentioned before that these foolish virgins may do many of the things God commands. even to the point of giving all their goods to feed the poor and giving up their bodies to be burned. But they never do any of these things for the love of God. They do them without the love of God. They don't do anything because virtue dictates it. They do it for some other reason. They have no reference to Jesus Christ, even when they have the name of Christ upon their lips. And consequently, all these deeds have no value whatever, because they don't come from a heart of love. But when the Spirit of God has taken up His residence in a person's heart, then the Spirit of God becomes the principle of His action, and then, if that Christian gives all his good to feed the poor, he does so for the love of Christ. And if he has his body burned, he does so for the love of Christ. And if he bears witness to other men, he does so for the love of Christ. And if other people are converted by his witness, it's because he has had the love of Christ behind him, driving him toward that witness. The same deeds are done, indeed, but in a far greater measure and with a totally different attitude or spirit. I like to refer to these deeds which are outwardly right, which the foolish virgins do, which the mere hypocrites do, which unconverted but professing Christians do, as bad good works. They're good works in the sense that they are outwardly good, they seem to be good, they look good, but they're bad good works because they come from bad hearts. They come from bad motives, they come from bad spirits, and consequently they're really and basically bad and rejected as such. But, when the Spirit of God takes His residence in the heart, and then a person keeps the commandments of God, and gives his body to be burned, and bears witness to others, they are no longer bad good works, but they are, if I may use the expression, good good works. They're not only outwardly good, they're really good. They're not perfectly good, but they've got the root of the matter in them. Jesus Christ takes knowledge of them that they were done for his sake, and he acknowledges them as such, and he is pleased with the persons who do them, because the persons do them because they love him. And then there's this other difference. While the Spirit of God, as I say, operates upon vast multitudes, in whose heart he never takes up residence, basically because he doesn't take up residence, his operation is intermittent. Now you feel the influence of the Spirit of God, and then you don't. Today he's with you, and tomorrow he's gone. And in the case of the unpardonable sin, the Spirit of God withdraws forever from an individual, even in this life. But when he has taken up his abode in the Christian soul, he doesn't take it. for a time, to be here today and gone the next week, or to be with the soul in a period of special spiritual visitation, but an ordinary time to absent himself. No, no. The Scriptures teach us that the Spirit of God, once He has made His residence in the soul, He never leaves nor forsakes. He who has begun a good work will continue it to the day of Jesus Christ. And though he may withdraw some of the sense of his presence so as to leave the Christian with his moisture turned into the drought of summer, as the psalmist puts it, with a sense of the grand absence of God, and we hear a saint like David crying out, take not thy Holy Spirit from me, the Spirit of God never actually, personally does withdraw from the soul. He may deprive a Christian of the sense of his presence, but he never actually withdraws his presence ultimately. That's a grand difference between the Spirit of God in a truly converted person and the Spirit of God merely upon a person with whom he is striving. And once he has taken his abode in the soul, that is his permanent residence. He is called in the Scriptures the seal of our inheritance. He's a guarantee because he's present that we shall ultimately come to be with God in heaven forever. Just as surely as the absence of the Holy Spirit is a guarantee that that person, if Christ the Spirit remains permanently absent, shall certainly go to hell, By the reverse token, the presence of the Holy Spirit is an absolute guarantee that that individual in whose heart the Spirit resides shall go to heaven. He is the earnest, as Paul calls him in Ephesians, of our inheritance. He's the guarantee, he's the divine seal, he's the proof that heaven is our destination because Christ in his Spirit has begun a work to prepare us for that abode. Well, dear friends, we have considered together, as far as time has permitted us this evening, the teaching of our Lord, together with some other passages of Scripture, about who is in danger of hell and who isn't. And he makes it perfectly plain by a parable like this, that not only the obvious sinners, the down and outers, the openly wicked and profane and profligate and prodigal are in danger of damnation. But that every one of us, as far as any outward behavior is concerned, is in danger. The fact that I'm in the pulpit here tonight, or that you are in the pews here tonight, in and of itself is no guarantee whatever that I am out of danger of hell or that you are out of danger of it. This parable is meant to teach each one of us to examine himself most painfully, most thoroughly. One of the sad things about the future, as Jesus Christ represents it, is that it's going to take multitudes by surprise. He's constantly telling us that people will say in the last day, Lord, Lord, just as in this parable, these virgins are positively amazed when the door is shut. And when they bang on it and they say, open to us, and he says, I don't know you. They weren't prepared for that at all. He represents some people of his own day who later on are by him sentenced to eternal judgment and say, but Lord, we saw you in the streets. We sat at the table with you. You're not going to reject us. Now we somehow think we can't escape it, that if we're good enough to be preachers, if we're good enough to be church members, if we're good enough to tide our money, if we're good enough to come and teach a class, if we're good enough to do this, if we're good enough to do that, somehow or other God Almighty Himself can't refuse to acknowledge us and receive us. Dear friends, if this Bible teaches us anything at all, it's that none of these things in is any guaranteed. And if you take consolation, and suppose you are not in danger of perdition because of anything of this sort, you are doomed to wake up in the pit, utterly amazed that it could have happened to you. Our Lord teaches us these things, and he warns us about these truths. so that we will not be taken by surprise, so that now while there's something which can be done about it, we'll recognize our danger. As long as we don't think we're in danger, we of course will do nothing about it. As long as we sit smugly and complacently where we are and think, this can't happen to me, naturally we're not going to be concerned. Of course it will make no difference. The preacher can preach and preach and preach, but he's not preaching to me. As long as you can say that to yourselves, Christ can speak and he can prophesy and he can tell his parables, but he's not warning me. Of course you're not going to do anything about it until it's too late. But he's calling to you. He's warning you. He's commanding you to examine your hearts, to give heed to His Word, and not to neglect the day of salvation. Now is the time. If you will truly repent, really turn from your sins and your damnable virtues. They're worse than your vices. They're your most vicious vices, your so-called virtues, your bad good works. And any good work on which you rely is a bad good work. So far from saving you, it will secure your damnation. But dear friends, Christ wouldn't tell you these things. He wouldn't give you these warnings if he wanted you to perish. He gives you these warnings so that you'll hear him saying, come unto me, all ye that labor under heavy laden. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn unto me. Don't wait for tomorrow night, though tomorrow night we're going to examine that subject much more closely, how we may escape. But God grant that any of you who recognize yourselves to be in danger may take steps now and not wait another minute. much less another day. Let us pray. O our Father, we thank Thee that Thou art a good Father, teaching us the things we need to know, whether they are pleasant or not, and always giving the severe commands only for our own good, and if ever being cruel, always in order to be kind. O our Father, deliver us from this blindness of our minds, this prejudice in our own favor, this insensitivity to the strivings and the wooings of the Spirit of God. Grant that we may not be like that hard, trodden soil by the wayside, which when the seed of the gospel falls on it, it can't give room for its lodgment. Grant that we may not be like that thorny soil which does indeed receive the seed, but as soon as the sun beats down upon it because it gives no depth to the root to the seed, the plant is destroyed. God grant that we may not be like that thorny soil, which ultimately crushes out the life of the seed by the cares of this world. O may we be good soil, on which the seed of the gospel may fall and bear fruit abundantly. Strive by thy Spirit, O God, and give no one peace until he finds his peace in thee. Woe, we pray thee, and do not stop until the sinner is won. Convict, O Spirit, And do not let up until we acknowledge our depravity and our guilt. And, O Savior, continue to stand at the door of our hearts and invite us until at last that door is thrown wide open unto Thee. For we ask it in Thine own dear name. Amen. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books, tapes and videos at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, that's E-D-M-O-N-T-O-N Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.