Hello and welcome to our broadcast. Today we're going to talk about the wise and the foolish. Stay tuned. I'm reading in Matthew chapter 25 verse 1, 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. Now that is really foolish. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. When the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight, when there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him! Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 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. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and they that were ready, they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage. And the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgin, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. wherein the Son of Man cometh." Now we have this story of the wise and the foolish. Wise, from a scriptural point of view, they are people who respond scripturally to any particular situation. Foolish, who are the foolish? Well, the foolish are those that are lacking good sense, and they have a bad attitude or no attitude at all concerning eternal things. Now the situation here is referring to the fact that Christ is going to return, and the whole portion of scripture is talking about his return here in Matthew chapter 24, Matthew chapter 25. The wise are concerned about that situation. The foolish, they're just lacking good sense, don't even think about it, not worrying about it at all. Now as you go down through these verses, you'll see here that it says in verse 5, them that were wise and them that were foolish. There's five of each. The Bible says in verse 4, the wise took oil. it says in verse number eight the foolish said give us of your oil because they took no oil really really take your lamp and no oil not very smart well the wise answered not so you're not getting any of our oil and we find that the door was shut now most weddings the attention is on the wedding party in Matthew chapter 25 here, the attention is not on the wedding party, but on those who are invited to the wedding. And so, as we said, you've got five wise, five foolish, and the thing about them is they were not outwardly distinguishable. You couldn't tell the ones who were ready, the ones who had oil in their lamps, and those that didn't. They all looked the same. The only problem was five of them were wise and five of them were foolish. Now in verse 6, we read, behold the bridegroom cometh. Verse 8 says that the foolish had no oil in their lamps. And so verse 8, they said, give us of your oil. And they said in verse 9, Not so. What's that all about? Well, in the Old Testament, the oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, and they said, give us of your oil. Well, they can't. They can't do that. It's not theirs to give. The Bible is very plain about that. What's the lesson here? The lesson is you are not going to ride into heaven on the coattails of your parents' religion. Get your own oil, the Bible says, and the oil represents our relationship with the Holy Spirit. Now, the Bible says in John chapter 16, when He has come, the Holy Spirit, that is, He will convict of all truth. But the choice has to be made. You choose to repent or you choose not to. Well, these foolish virgins here, they knew the doctrine. Their problem was they just did not know the Lord. And again, I want to say, they were not outwardly distinguishable. That is, you could not recognize or identify the difference between the two groups. The only thing is, some of them were going to heaven and some of them were not, and it had totally to do with their relationship Jesus Christ. And so we have the Lord's warning lots of places on this. He talked about the wheat and the tares, and they look alike. The only difference is one's wheat and one's tares. He said, I'll figure that out at the time of the judgment. Now Jesus said, Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Well, we've got a lot of people in our fundamental independent Baptist churches that have ripped off a prayer, prayed a little prayer, and think they're saved. Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. And in this age in which we've said in our previous broadcast, at the end of the age, the Bible says that deception is going to be the number one thing in our ranks, and we have been deceived by fundamental independent Baptist pastors that you do not need to repent. Now listen to me carefully. No, don't listen to me carefully. Listen to Jesus carefully. He said, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. We have a lot of foolish people with no oil sitting in our churches thinking they're saved. We need to take a fresh look at 2 Corinthians 13, verse number 5, that says, examine yourselves to see whether you be in the faith. You might be in the church, but you may not be in the faith. Everybody's sitting here with their lamps looking the same. Five of them were not saved. Well, the context here, we need to keep in mind that Christ is talking to the remnant. He says to them, while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. Now, he's talking about them sleeping spiritually, of course. You know, the remnant, the ones that Jesus was talking to here, they're going to have to wait 2,000 years. The bridegroom is going to tarry. That's a long time. Well, it seems like a long time since I was saved in 1955, and I started studying the Bible, and I heard about the fact that Jesus was coming back again, and now here we are all the way up here in 2000. He's not back yet. Well, it's not, you know, a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day. So it hasn't been very long since 1955. But he says, be careful, be careful. He's talking to the remnant. He said, don't get to sleep spiritually here. Well, in verse six, we see here that it says, and at midnight, there was a cry made, behold, the bridegroom cometh. Oh, at midnight? No one expects a wedding to start at midnight. It's interesting, though, in Exodus chapter 12 and verse number 29, when Israel was redeemed from Egypt, they left at midnight. Well, Christ comes, it says, as a thief in the night. And what we need to do is realize that he's going to come. He says here, watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh. well we read in verse 8 that the foolish said unto the wise give us of your oil for our lamps are out but the wise answered saying not so lest there be not enough for us and for you but go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves buy for yourselves it's not transferable it's a very very personal thing you can't share the oil from someone else That is, the oil represents the Holy Spirit. So they said in verse 9, go and buy for yourselves. Now, it's important to understand, although it's using the terminology to buy, it says very plainly concerning everyone, it says, that is thirsty come and you can buy without money and without price. It's all been paid for at Calvary, but you got to go and get it. Well, the foolish were sleeping away their day of grace, as many people are in our churches today. Well, in verse number 10, we read, they went to buy, but the problem is, it's midnight, the stores are closed. There's nobody out there to sell them anything. It's like Noah's day, when they waited 120 years, they didn't bother, and then the door was closed. And by the way, it says in Genesis chapter seven and verse number 16, that God shut them in. He didn't shut anybody out. He shut them in. 120 years, they had an opportunity to listen to the preaching and get right with God. and get in the ark. He didn't shut anybody out. He shut everybody in. The problem is it was just a small remnant that chose to go in. Well, we read here in verse number 10, likewise, the door was shut. In verse 11, they said, open to us, open to us. No, it's too late. The Bible says, my spirit shall not always strive with man. And so in verse number 12, he says, I know you not. I don't know you. You're outside. You have not that relationship with me that only through the Holy Spirit and the Word of God. Well, in verse 13, he says, Watch therefore, and let us be careful here now. Who's he talking to? He's only talking to the remnant, to that small group. He's talking to the remnant, and he says, Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh. You can fall asleep just like Peter did, and all the disciples there in the garden when Jesus said, Watch and pray. No, they went to sleep. That's the remnant. Isn't it? That's the very serious ones, and the Bible has given us some warning here. Well, the wise were responding scripturally to the circumstances. The foolish were lacking good sense concerning the circumstances. The trumpet's going to sound, and one of these days Jesus is coming back. Are you wise, or are you foolish?