Matt. 25
WHAT makes this parable of the Lord so exceedingly striking and solemn is that it contemplates that which we ourselves are really in at this present moment, that is, that we in this world at this moment are between the midnight hour, between the cry that went forth, and the moment when the Bridegroom comes.
We are not waiting to come up to the midnight hour. The midnight hour has passed, because the cry has already gone forth.
Every professing Christian, whether intelligently or not, believes in the coming of the Lord at some time. Some believe death is the coming of the Lord, some that the judgment is the coming of the Lord, (so it is in one sense,) but all look for His coming in some way or other. It is not that people deny that He is coming, but this is what is in their minds, “He will not come tonight, He will not come just now,” that is, they say He delays it. They put aside the solemnity of the momentary expectation of it.
May I ask you, who are unsaved, Do you believe He might come at any moment? or have you said in your heart, My Lord delays His coming? The effect in a man’s mind of deferring the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is, that he settles down into the enjoyment of the things of this world, eats, drinks, and is drunken, and the Lord of that servant comes in an hour when he is not expecting Him, and appoints him his portion with the hypocrites.
The Lord save you from the doom of that one.
The Lord save you from settling down and saying, “I will take my fill of this world, have all its pleasures, drink of all its streams of enjoyment,” for Satan puts into those streams a lulling drug of intoxicating power, and the end of it all, is “weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth.”
In this parable we have two sets of virgins, but mark the difference; five were wise, and five foolish. What a character—foolish. It was not that they had not this coming of Christ before them, they all went forth to meet the Bridegroom, but here was the difference; the foolish had their lamps, that was profession, and I can quite conceive how clean and bright those lamps were, but they took no oil in them.
The wise took oil not only in their lamps, but in their vessels with their lamps.
What is the meaning of the oil which the wise have, but the foolish have not? The oil is the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God. “If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His,” and hence if you have not this oil you do not belong to Christ. People will tell you they are Christians as much as you, wish to serve Christ as much as you, can see no difference. The difference between the virgins was, not that both did. not expect the Bridegroom, but the foolish had no oil, and if you have no oil, you will burn like a piece of wick, give a bright glare perhaps for a moment, and then, go out, for you have not that which sustains the light, you have not the oil, your soul is not saved, you have not yet the forgiveness of sins, you do not belong to Christ.
Oh, I ask you, Have you this oil? Can you say? I know my sins are all forgiven, are all forgotten; I know that at God’s right hand today is seated my Saviour. Do you know what it is to have the present pardon of your sins through the finished work of Christ? and the Holy Ghost, the oil, in your heart?
Look at the 5th vane. It is an immensely solemn fact that at first they had all turned their back on everything, and, foolish and wise alike, went out to meet the Bridegroom. But the Bridegroom delayed His coming, and they all lost the hope of His coming. That is exactly what happened in the history of Christianity. The hope of the Lord’s coming was lost, and the Church instead of being out watching for Him, as it were, turned in somewhere carnally to sleep.
“But at midnight” —you know what midnight is, the dead of the night, when all nature is at rest—at midnight then, a cry came forth, Who did this cry come from? From God.
“Behold the Bridegroom!” That was the cry, not “behold the Bridegroom cometh.” It is not so much His coming as Himself. Every thought was turned on the Bridegroom. Look at the effect of the cry— “Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps,” the wise had been to sleep as well as the foolish, but the wise had the oil, though they were not using it, and herein is the difference, the foolish had no oil! They were professors merely.
What is the good of profession if you have not Christ? What is the good of sending hundreds of pounds to convert the heathen, if you are not converted yourself? What is the use of taking the sacrament if your own soul is not saved?
The foolish virgins say to the wise, “Give us of your oil for our lamps are going out.” That is, on the eve of going out, the wick gave a flame, but the flame was unfed, it was going out. How could the wise give of their oil? I cannot give you the Holy Ghost. I may speak of Christ to you, tell you the wondrous tale of the cross, and of how willing He is to receive you, but I cannot give you Christ.
Oh, if I could but take you to some of the deathbeds of your own town, and show you how people quit this world who have not Christ! If you could only see the throes of agony, the terror, the remorse; conscience enough awakened to know that heaven is a reality, that hell is a reality, that eternity is a reality, and the salvation of the soul is a reality!
Could you but hear their agonized cry, “Here am I on the verge of eternity, and I have no Saviour, no peace, no forgiveness, no pardon, no security, nothing to cling to,” and could you see them clinging even to a poor human being who is a Christian, you would not put off your salvation till a deathbed!
What do the wise virgins answer “Go ye rather to them that sell and buy for yourselves.”
This is very solemn. What do the foolish do?
Do they say then? “We can do without,”
No! no! They go to buy! Too late! Too late!! They went to buy too late! They did not say, We will take a leap in the dark, and we will do as well as others without oil. No! no! They realized the necessity of it, they said, “We must have it, we cannot do without it,” but they went to buy too late. “While they went to buy the Bridegroom came.” They slept while they might have had it freely; said, “Tomorrow shall be as today,” said, “I will say to my soul, Soul, thou halt much goods laid up for many years.” What does God say?
“Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee.” Oh, how many of the wise men of this world does God count fools! And how many of those whom men count fools, does God count wise? Men count a man a fool who turns his back on the wisdom of this world, and says, I will put my trust in that One who died on Calvary’s cross. My confidence is in the Lord, the one who was nailed to the tree here, He is my Saviour, my Lord.
Now look at the state of these foolish virgins.
They went to buy, they did the right thing too late!
What comes after this is fearfully solemn! The Lord impress the solemnity of it on your heart; “They that were ready went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.” Who were the ready ones? Those who had the oil.
Who had the oil? Those who were saved, who had the forgiveness of their sins, who trusted in their Saviour. Are you one of these? Are you ready? Can you say? “Come what may, I have no fear; I am ready.”
We have seen doubtless even down here, what that readiness means. One has seen how, when death came it was not a beginning to think then of Christ, pardon and forgiveness, but only peace, only rest.
It is not the time to begin to think of Christ when the poor body is racked with pain, when there is weary, restless tossing on a bed of sickness, when the mind has no power to think, and the body is torn with agony; it is the time then to prove Him, to feel what the comfort is of the everlasting arms underneath one, to know that death is not a policeman that hands me to judgment, but a friend that ushers me into the presence of the Lord. But if you do not die and the Lord comes, what then? You will be left behind to receive the devil’s man—antichrist. You would not have God’s man, and now you cannot, for the door is shut.
If the Lord Jesus Christ were to come tonight, I ask you, would it close the door for you? You know it would. The Lord is coming for His people, and you know that you are not one of His people. Have you not despised the idea of being a Christian, and do you not know that the very thought of anything out of this world is terrible to you? You like the world, you like its attractions, you like its follies, and you do not like religion. You think it is a gloomy depressing thing, a thing that makes a man hang his head like a bulrush; that by having to do with Christ you would lose everything and gain nothing.
The Lord gives your conscience this sum to work out, “What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”
Let your conscience work it out in the presence of God.
If you get everything this world can give you, I will show you a picture of your future, if the Lord does not come first, you will have to be stretched on a deathbed, and it will be a Christless deathbed, and you will be wound in a shroud, but it will be a Christless shroud; and you will sleep a long, long sleep, and it will be a Christless sleep, and you will be put in a Christless coffin, and will be buried in a Christless grave, and you will come out of that grave to stand before the judgment seat, Christless still, and from that judgment seat you must pass into a Christless eternity.
As you lived without Christ, you will die without Christ; as you would not have Christ here, you must spend eternity without Him, in the lake of fire, and all for what? A few passing trumpery pleasures of this world.
“Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.” How awfully, solemn, that there will be people who will come and knock at that closed door, saying, “Let us in,” “Give us a place,” who will only have this answer, “Too late, I never knew you.”
Now that same voice says to the vilest, “Come,” to the most worthless, “Come,” but then He will say, not to the vilest, nor to the most worthless, but to the respectable moral Christless professors, “Depart, I never knew you.” Which of these words are you going to hear said to you? If you do not listen to the word “Come,” you must listen to the word “Depart.”
You will see Him once face to face; “Every eye shall see Him,” Will you see Him now as a Saviour face to face, or will you see Him as a judge then? See Him you must as a judge if you will not see Him as a Saviour. If you will not receive life from Him, you must receive judgment, for you must give an account to Him of everything, even of this warning word to you.
Either it will increase your responsibility, and send you deeper in the depths of eternal damnation, or you will be brought face to face with Him who waits to be gracious.
There will not be a soul in the lake of fire, who will not say “I am here because I deserved it; I chose the world, I preferred it, I turned my back on Christ. He called, and I refused His call; I sold my soul to Satan, he offered me what I thought a costly gift, and I sold my soul for it; I deserve my fate.”
Do not let this be your bitter cry, for you may have the blessing at this very moment.
Will you not have it now? Will you not now close with that blessed Saviour? Will you not this moment take Him as your Saviour, fall down at Jesus’ feet, and worship Him?