-
Matthew 25:1.
-
Then the kingdom of heaven
will be like ten virgins
-
who took their lamps and
went to meet the bridegroom.
-
Five of them were foolish,
-
and five were wise.
-
For when the foolish took their lamps,
they took no oil with them,
-
but the wise took flasks
of oil with their lamps.
-
As the bridegroom was delayed,
they all became drowsy and slept.
-
But at midnight there was a cry:
-
Here is the bridegroom!
Come out to meet him.
-
Then all those virgins rose
and trimmed their lamps.
-
And the foolish said to the wise:
-
Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.
-
But the wise answered, saying:
-
Since there will not be enough
for us and for you,
-
go rather to the dealers
and buy for yourselves.
-
And while they were going to buy,
the bridegroom came,
-
and those who were ready went in
with him to the marriage feast,
-
and the door was shut.
-
Afterward the other virgins came also,
saying: Lord, Lord, open to us.
-
But he answered:
Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.
-
Watch therefore, for you know
neither the day nor the hour.
-
We are studying the end times.
-
And as I said to you from the beginning,
-
I don't want to go into the difficulties
of Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel.
-
I wanted to look at concepts, at texts,
-
passages of God's Word,
that show us very plainly
-
about who the true people of God are,
who the true Israel is,
-
about what the end looks like.
-
Not in the difficult
passages of prophecy,
-
apocalyptic texts,
-
very difficult and shrouded prophecies
-
which historically the best
Bible scholars have wrestled with.
-
But I wanted to just take us to
the plain teachings of our Lord.
-
And I know there are some things
that our Lord says that are not so plain.
-
But I wanted to look at some
of the things that are plain.
-
Him, His apostles, what they
have to say, just the plain words.
-
Brethren, the only safe method
for interpreting your Bibles
-
is always to start with the
plainest teaching on a subject.
-
Always.
-
Not to run to the most difficult first,
-
but the most
straightforward teaching first.
-
I believe that what
we have in Matthew 25 -
-
I will not argue with you if you say:
-
Wait, Matthew 24 has some things
that are difficult to figure out.
-
Yes, yes. And I hope to get there.
-
But that's not where I want to start.
-
I want to bypass 24, I want to go to 25.
-
Because I want you to see some clear,
-
very clear teaching here
about the end times.
-
We have the parable of the ten virgins,
verses 1 through 13,
-
the parable of the talents,
verses 14 through 30,
-
and then we have a picture of Jesus Christ
-
coming in the final judgment,
-
dividing like a shepherd divides
the sheep from the goats.
-
This chapter can be naturally
broken up into three sections.
-
I hope to deal with one today,
-
and, Lord willing, the next two
in the next two weeks.
-
What all three of these deal with,
-
all three deal with the same thing.
-
They are all three pictures
of the coming of Jesus Christ.
-
You say: How do you know that?
-
Well, just for starters,
I want you to see something.
-
Look at verse 10.
-
While they were going to buy,
the bridegroom came...
-
You can see that there.
-
Look in 19.
-
Now after a long time the master
of those servants came.
-
Verse 31
-
When the Son of Man comes in His glory,
-
and all the angels with Him,
-
then he will sit on His glorious throne.
-
All three deal with His coming.
-
Now, this is a parable.
-
This is a parable.
-
What is a parable?
-
Let's break it up into
its component parts.
-
"Para" - Anybody know what this prefix is?
-
Alongside.
-
"-ble"
-
"para-ble"
-
I know it's a "b-l-e",
but it's abbreviated.
-
You may have heard
the word "παραβολή".
-
What is the "bal"?
-
What does "bal" mean?
-
It means to throw.
-
We think of bowling.
-
You know in cricket,
they don't call the guy
-
that launches the
ball a pitcher, like we do.
-
In cricket it is a bowler.
-
Bowling is to throw.
-
And so, what is a parable?
-
It means: to throw alongside.
-
What a parable is,
-
is when I'm trying to teach on something,
-
I take a story, an illustration,
-
and I throw it alongside that teaching.
-
Why? What's the purpose there?
-
What's my objective?
-
Well, the objective is this:
-
The objective is: I'm trying to teach
you about the second coming,
-
spiritual truths that you
are not familiar with,
-
and so I want to help you.
-
This is what Jesus does.
-
I want to help you and
so I throw alongside...
-
That's parable: alongside, throw.
-
You throw alongside that truth a story.
-
That's what parables are.
-
They are stories that are thrown
alongside some spiritual truth.
-
And what they do, is:
-
They are typically a story
of something physical,
-
that we are familiar with,
-
that is going to help us to
understand this spiritual truth
-
that we are not so familiar with.
-
That's what it's all about. A parable.
-
The very nature of a parable
is that it has to be interpreted.
-
If you don't have the interpretation,
it doesn't help.
-
Now, I think, the truth is,
-
with a lot of parables,
-
the meaning is pretty obvious.
-
In some of them they're not so obvious.
-
I mean, we might wish
that our Lord had come along
-
and interpreted every
single parable for us,
-
just like He does some of them.
-
But I think the reason that He does
some of them for us and not all of them
-
is to show us in the ones
that He does interpret
-
how we ought to be
interpreting these things.
-
He gives us some
examples of interpretation.
-
And without the interpretation,
these things don't help us.
-
You know, the disciples,
you remember them?
-
They would hear His parables,
-
and then when they
would go home they'd say:
-
Lord, explain to us what that meant.
-
And He would say things like:
Well, the field is the world.
-
The one who casts seed is the Son of Man.
-
You see you have to know
-
what they really mean for it to help you.
-
You can't just let it stay
in the realm of allegory.
-
We have to pull the true meaning out.
-
Well, Jesus doesn't specifically
interpret this one for us,
-
so we need to decipher the meaning.
-
We need to look at this.
-
That's what I want to do.
-
But before we get into actually
trying to see what things signify here,
-
let's just think about
the parable as it is.
-
Let's think about the story itself,
the illustration.
-
What do you have?
-
I mean... this is a wedding.
-
Is that clear to everybody?
-
If it's not clear to you, you just have
to notice there is a bridegroom.
-
Anytime we talk about a groom,
we're talking about a wedding.
-
And it's not too mysterious.
-
You get down to verse 10,
you get a marriage feast.
-
Obviously this is a marriage ceremony.
-
Now, the idea with the parable is
to take something that is common to us
-
and throw it alongside a spiritual
truth not so common to us.
-
We would all have to admit this:
Whatever is happening here,
-
this is a form of ceremony
that we are not so familiar with.
-
Jesus wasn't speaking directly to us.
He is speaking to us,
-
but He was directly speaking to His
Jewish disciples 2000 years ago.
-
Now, even if we go to the Middle East,
-
even if we were to ask some of the folks
-
that have observed weddings
like, say, in India.
-
You might ask the Dees',
what are weddings like over there.
-
You know when you go to other countries,
-
you go to other times in history,
-
weddings have not always been
-
just perfectly according to our
American 21st century model.
-
I mean, we know what a typical
wedding should look like.
-
But you get a lot of the same components.
-
You've got virgins there,
that's basically the bridesmaids.
-
This is not a wedding tradition
that we are familiar with so much,
-
but you know,
it's not a whole lot different.
-
Let me tell you basically what happens,
-
you can kind of glean this
from the parable itself.
-
What you had, and if you look at this
-
and you just search out historically,
-
you can find and in fact they
may do this still in other countries.
-
But you can find that what would happen is
-
you would have the groom,
-
and he would have
his groomsmen with him.
-
And they would go to the home of the bride
-
and the bride is waiting there
-
with her bridesmaids, the virgins.
-
And he would go there with his entourage
-
and show up at her door.
-
And the bridesmaids would have lamps.
-
They would do this typically
after dark in the evening.
-
I mean he might take off
when it was still light
-
but the whole objective is
they would parade through the streets.
-
They go get all the ladies
from the bride's house
-
and then they would
parade through the streets,
-
all the ladies having their lamps
-
and they would go to
where the actual marriage
-
was going to take place,
-
where the vows would happen,
-
actually a lot of times where the
consummation would take place,
-
right at the father's house.
-
And then there would
be this marriage feast
-
and sometimes this feast went on for days.
-
That's the basic picture that you have.
-
You'll notice this:
-
There is no bride mentioned.
-
It's not necessary.
-
I'll say more about that in a second.
-
Another thing you want to notice is:
-
We have eleven individuals
specifically named in this parable.
-
We have eleven and only eleven.
-
And they all fit into
one of three categories:
-
You have the bridegroom,
he is in a class by himself.
-
And then you have a second category:
-
Five wise virgins.
-
The third category: Five foolish.
-
It's just a basic overlay
-
of what we are dealing with
here in the parable.
-
So let's think about the interpretation.
-
Look, the overarching
theme of this parable
-
is the second coming of Jesus Christ.
-
Nobody should be in
doubt about that at all.
-
Brethren, would you please just let
your eyes drift back into chapter 24.
-
Let's just hit this rapid fire.
-
Matthew 24:37
-
As were the days of Noah,
so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
-
Any question what's
being dealt with there?
-
Not at all. The coming of the Son of Man.
-
Look at verses 38, 39.
-
For as in those days before the flood
they were eating and drinking,
-
marrying and giving in marriage,
-
until the day when
Noah entered the ark, ...
-
You may remember we
dealt with these verses
-
from Luke's gospel last week.
-
... and they were unaware until the
flood came and swept them all away,
-
so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
-
This is about the second coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-
Verse 42
-
Therefore, stay awake,
-
for you do not know on what
day your Lord is coming.
-
Any doubts there?
-
We're dealing about the Lord's coming.
-
Verse 44
-
Therefore you also must be ready,
-
for the Son of Man is coming at
an hour you do not expect.
-
It's the coming of the Son of Men.
-
Verse 46
-
Blessed is that servant whom His master
will find so doing when He comes.
-
Verse 50
-
... the master of that
servant will come ...
-
You see this is about
the coming of Christ.
-
... come on a day when
he does not expect Him
-
and at an hour he does not know ...
-
And you know what:
There is no chapter break
-
between chapters 24
and 25 in the original.
-
There is no chapter break there.
-
This is the same discourse.
-
Our Lord immediately
goes into this parable.
-
And He talks about when
the bridegroom comes.
-
And then you have the
parable of the talents.
-
And He talks about the
master of those servants
-
is going to come and settle accounts.
-
And then you have
this glorious final picture
-
of this last judgment there in verse 31.
-
When the Son of Man comes in His glory,
and all the angels with Him,
-
Brethren, there is no question,
-
we are dealing with the
second coming of Jesus Christ.
-
And so, here is the thing,
-
here is what this ought
to make obvious to us.
-
Since it's crystal clear that the parable
-
is dealing with the
second coming of Christ,
-
and since the one who
comes in our parable,
-
verse 10, is the bridegroom,
-
it ought to be really clear to all of us
-
that the bridegroom is Christ.
-
I know this is very simple,
-
but this is how you want to
go about interpreting Scripture.
-
It's obvious.
-
Yes.
-
The bridegroom is Christ.
-
The bridegroom is the Lord.
-
Brethren, don't you love the imagery?
-
Because, here is the thing.
-
We get different pictures
of this second coming.
-
Remember last week, just like you saw
-
there at the end of chapter 24.
-
It's like it was in days of Noah and Lot.
-
It's a time of judgment.
-
He is going to come
-
and destruction is going
to fall upon people
-
when they don't expect it.
-
When you look at
the parable of the talents,
-
it's like a master who is entrusting
things to his servants.
-
And brethren, don't you
love the picture here?
-
It's the bridegroom.
-
It's the Bridegroom coming to take
His people in to the wedding feast.
-
What a picture!
-
I love that imagery.
-
In the book of Revelation, you find
the same sort of imagery.
-
Let us rejoice...
Revelation 19:7
-
“Let us rejoice and exult
and give Him the glory,
-
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
-
and His Bride has made herself ready;
-
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”
-
--- for the fine linen is
the righteous deeds of the saints.
-
And the angel said to me,
“Write this:
-
Blessed are those who are invited
to the marriage supper of the Lamb.”
-
You know what it brings to our minds?
-
It brings to the minds
the love of a husband for a bride.
-
What is that?
-
Particular and special.
-
That's what it brings to our mind here.
-
It speaks, think of a wedding.
-
There is anticipation,
there is anticipation of the intimacy.
-
There is joy.
-
We had a wedding last weekend.
-
I mean, at weddings
there's lots of smiles,
-
there is lots of joy.
-
That's the picture here.
-
It's the husband bringing
the bride to himself,
-
fulfilling the intimacy.
-
That's the picture.
-
It's one of the most glorious
pictures of the second coming,
-
as it regards the church.
-
It speaks of that union forever.
-
I mean, just think:
It's the Bridegroom,
-
the perfect Lover,
-
the perfect Husband,
-
the perfect Friend.
-
And its a picture of:
-
we are going to go under His arm forever.
-
I mean that's what we have.
-
Right now, we're betrothed.
-
Paul said to the Corinthians:
-
I feel a divine jealousy for you,
since I betrothed you to one Husband,
-
to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
-
Betrothed now.
-
What does it mean to be betrothed?
-
Well, you know, there is a
covenantal agreement there
-
that's binding.
-
Christ has pledged Himself to it
and will never break that covenant.
-
It is not like our engagements.
-
That can be broken.
-
It is not like that.
-
But you know a betrothal falls short
-
of the full intimacy of the marriage
-
and that is what is going
to happen when He comes.
-
It is going to be the consummation
-
and the feast.
-
The fullness of intimacy is yet
reserved for us at that great day.
-
When the bride, the Lamb's wife
-
is going to be presented to her Husband
-
without spot and blemish.
-
Brethren, it says it:
-
O how blessed, blessed
are those who are invited
-
to the marriage supper of the Lamb.
-
Let's direct our focus to the virgins.
-
Some might say:
Hey, the parable has no bride.
-
And you would be exactly right.
-
You say, but, wait,
-
we see that the church is the bride.
-
And the church is prepared as a bride
-
and we are betrothed to Christ.
-
He is a Husband,
He is the Bridegroom.
-
Where is the bride?
-
You have to understand this:
-
Our Lord is wanting to give us a parable
-
about some who are ready
-
and some who are not ready.
-
Can you imagine if He tried
to do that with a wife?
-
You would really have to have ten wives.
-
Five are ready and five are not ready.
-
Or at least two.
-
If what you want to manifest,
-
if what you want to bring out, draw out,
-
is that you have some who are ready
-
and some who are not ready
-
you don't want to do that
with wives. Otherwise what?
-
You gonna end up with some kind of parable
-
that's going to have
polygamist overtones, right?
-
You don't want to go there.
-
The virgins, the bridesmaids
is a perfect way,
-
it's a perfect way to display
-
exactly what our Lord wants to display.
-
There are ten, there are ten bridesmaids
-
who are waiting for the bridegroom.
-
They are waiting for the wedding feast.
-
So who are they supposed to represent?
-
You have five that are wise,
five that are foolish.
-
Look, it's not very
difficult to look at this
-
and recognize that when Jesus comes
-
He takes five in with Him
-
and five are shut out.
-
I think it's pretty clear.
-
That what you have is
you have the saved
-
and they go in with Him.
-
And the ones that are outside are lost.
-
The ones that go in with
Him are true Christians.
-
The ones that are left
out are not Christians.
-
I think that's pretty obvious.
-
But I think we want to define them
-
a little more precisely than that.
-
I don't believe our Lord is just
painting a generic picture here
-
of saved humanity over
against lost humanity.
-
I think what He's painting a picture of
-
are professing Christians
-
who are sitting in the church right now.
-
Some are saved, some are not.
-
I do not believe this is a picture
generically of all mankind.
-
You say: Why?
-
Why would you not think that?
-
Why do you think that this has to do
with people who profess Christ?
-
True Christians and false Christians
who are in the church right now?
-
Why do you think that?
-
Here is why I think it:
-
Because for one, when our Lord
paints the picture, He doesn't say:
-
Well you have these virgins over here
that are involved in the wedding,
-
and then you have the onlookers.
-
You now, the people that watch the
parade go by, who aren't even involved.
-
What you have is you have virgins.
-
They're all virgins.
-
They're all dressed for a wedding.
-
They all have lamps.
-
You know what? On the outside they
all look pretty much the same.
-
That's why I think that.
That's one reason.
-
The second is this:
-
They're all waiting for the Bridegroom.
-
They're not Muslims,
who are denying the fact
-
that a bridegroom is
even coming, who is Christ.
-
They're all waiting for the Bridegroom.
-
The third thing here is you know
when He says in verses 11 and 12,
-
when those virgins,
the five foolish are shut out?
-
Listen to what's said:
-
Afterward the other
virgins came also, saying
-
‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’
-
But He answered,
‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.’
-
What does that sound a whole lot like?
-
Sounds like Matthew chapter 7.
-
And you know what you have there?
-
You have wise and foolish as well.
-
You have the wise who built their
house on a rock, and who are they?
-
They hear the word of God and do it.
-
Over against the fools.
What do they do?
-
They hear the Word and they don't do it.
-
Again, they're not the Muslim
who doesn't hear the Word.
-
These are people who sit
there under the preaching.
-
They have a Bible.
-
They hear what Christ says,
and they don't do it.
-
These are the people, who say:
-
"Lord, Lord, we did many mighty works."
-
And He said: "I never knew you."
-
You see, it's the same terminology.
-
I believe that's what we have.
-
You know what?
-
This parable has to do with us.
-
This isn't us and them.
-
This is us.
-
This is you and me.
-
There is an us and them
right here within these walls.
-
There are the wise and
the foolish right here.
-
That's the picture.
-
We have the wise and the foolish.
-
And we wait.
-
That's the picture.
-
Waiting.
-
Notice verse 5:
-
The bridegroom was delayed.
-
That's what we're at.
-
The Bridegroom is not here.
-
We wait.
-
We are these virgins.
-
We are waiting.
-
Waiting.
-
What are we waiting for?
-
We are waiting for Him to come.
-
It hasn't happened as soon
as we might have expected.
-
Notice, down in the
next parable, in verse 19:
-
Now after a long time
-
the master of those servants came...
-
There are places in our Bibles
-
where we get the idea
He's coming quickly, right?
-
He says it. "I'm coming quickly."
-
We don't want to say
there is a contradiction.
-
Here it says after a
long time, and delayed.
-
O, a day with the Lord...
-
Brethren, the time frame of our Lord
-
is not always according to our time frame.
-
And what is quick and what is slow?
-
But we do get this idea.
-
After a long time.
-
2000 years is a long time.
-
But that may not be as long
as what a long time is.
-
It could be 10,000 years.
-
I don't know. You don't know.
-
It seems like in every generation,
-
there's been those who
expected Him to come
-
and those who expected
Him not to come.
-
It's the same now.
-
But we're waiting.
-
We're waiting.
-
There is a delay.
-
Now, notice this:
-
They sleep.
-
You see that in verse 5?
-
They all became drowsy and slept.
-
Look, I don't think we necessarily need
-
to read anything negative into that.
-
It doesn't sound good.
-
When you hear these exhortations
to stay awake, stay awake,
-
watch, watch!
-
And then you see them fall asleep.
-
Here is the reason that I don't think
-
you want to read too much
into their falling asleep
-
is because even the
wise virgins fell asleep
-
and it didn't make them
any less ready to enter in
-
when the bridegroom came.
-
You see that?
-
They both did it.
-
I don't think the sleeping here
is the point of this parable.
-
Because they both do it.
-
It seems to be more like life is going on.
-
Remember how it was before?
As in the days of Noah?
-
You have marriage, and giving in marriage.
-
In the days of Lot, they
are buying and selling.
-
I think it's the same kind of thing.
-
You're getting this picture
of the wise and the foolish,
-
and they're doing the same thing.
-
They go to sleep.
-
I don't know that you want to read
anything specifically negative into it.
-
If there is anything foolish
about falling asleep here
-
it's going to sleep when you're
not ready for Christ to come.
-
That's the thing
that's foolish about this.
-
The difference between the wise
and the foolish is not the sleep.
-
They both do that.
-
You see what the difference is.
-
The difference between the wise
and the foolish is the oil.
-
One has reserves of oil
and the other does not.
-
Let's think about this oil for a second.
-
The oil.
-
What's represented by this oil?
-
We see it here, right? In 4:
-
The wise took flasks of
oil with their lamps.
-
Oil.
-
In verse 8:
The foolish said to the wise,
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‘Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.’
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The oil.
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What is it?
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I tell you this:
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Those who go in to the
wedding feast have it.
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And those who are shut out don't.
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This is what makes the difference.
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Beloved,
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you do not want to get shut out.
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You must have oil.
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So, what is it?
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The oil is what makes the lamp burn.
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That you can see.
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That's obvious.
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Oil is essential if the
lamp is going to do
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what the lamp ought to do.
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Seems like the foolish
virgins and the wise virgins
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initially had lamps that were burning.
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I mean, notice how the foolish virgins say
what they say in verse 8:
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‘Give us some of your oil,
for our lamps are going out.’
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Sometimes when people
want to interpret this,
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they almost paint the picture
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that the lamps of the
foolish were never lit.
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That's not the feeling that you get.
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You know, the feeling that you get here,
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is that all of their
lamps were lit in verse 1,
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when they went out.
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You see they were expecting -
and you can imagine this.
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I mean, if you just think about this.
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You think about a wedding like this.
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If the groom and his groomsmen
are going to come over
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and they're going to get these ladies
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and they're going to
parade through the street
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and they're going to go back and actually
they have a ceremony and have a feast,
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you'd probably like to do
it early in the evening.
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You don't want to come at midnight.
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Because if you come at midnight
by the time you get them
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and then you go where you have to go
and now and then it might be 12.30,
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one o'clock, and you get
there, and now what?
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You gonna have a wedding and then,
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after that, when your feast is going on
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at three, four, five
o'clock in the morning.
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That's probably not
the ideal time to come.
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It's probably expected when
you have weddings like this,
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they're typically in early evening.
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The bridegroom comes
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and that would be a fairly obvious time.
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The kind of picture you get here
is they went out to meet him.
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They're prepared then.
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Right at the beginning it
seems like they are ready.
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They have their lamps, it seems like
all their lamps are burning.
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But you know what happens?
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He doesn't come when they expect.
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And so, by the time He does come,
at midnight, what do you get?
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In verse 8?
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‘Our lamps are going out.’
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Not that they were never lit.
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‘Our lamps are going out.’
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What's the difference between them?
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The reservoir.
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The wise ones have flasks.
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It means they have a reserve.
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They have something to
keep filling their lamp with.
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That's the picture that we get here.
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There is something very implicit
to this whole parable.
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And it's this:
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If you are a virgin,
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it is expected that you will
have a lamp that stays lit.
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That's obvious.
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Because when those virgins find
that their lamps are starting to go out,
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rather than just saying:
O, well, there will be enough light,
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your five have yours, so ours don't work,
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we'll just leave them here
and we'll go on anyway.
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You can tell, this was essential.
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They recognized it was essential.
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So, what did they do?
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They start crying out:
Give us some of yours!
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Suddenly the cry comes.
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Bridegroom!
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Uh oh...
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We are not ready.
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That's the idea.
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Bridegroom's tarried, now He's here,
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foolish virgins realized
they are not ready.
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Their oil is running dry.
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Their lamps are going out.
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We're told the oil must be purchased.
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There is simply no time to go for it now.
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It's too late.
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It's too late!
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Can you imagine?
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Look, this is dealing with people
who profess to be Christians.
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They think it's ok.
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And suddenly, it's too late.
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It's too late.
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There is simply no time to go and buy.
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The Lord is at hand.
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What is this?
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Some have said the oil
is the presence of God.
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Some have said the
oil is the Spirit of God.
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Some have said it's true wisdom.
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Some sincerity.
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Some the Word of God in our
hearts or its understanding.
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Matthew Henry says the oil is grace.
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Here is the thing:
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If you really take...
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If you really look at the parable,
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and it seems like their lamps were lit
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and now they're going out.
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I think you run into a lot of problems
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if you try to dissect this too closely.
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I think one of the reasons that guys
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are all over the place on what this is,
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is because what it is is not essential
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to getting the drift of this parable.
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Brethren,
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I don't think oil is critical
to the primary message here.
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The primary message that the Lord
wants to send you and me here,
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when He gets to the end, verse 13,
He says this:
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Watch therefore, for you know
neither the day nor the hour.
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This has been the recurring theme.
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As much as the second coming has hit us
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again and again and again and again.
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If you jump right back
into the end of Matthew chapter 24,
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look at what He keeps saying
about the second coming.
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Verse 36 of chapter 24:
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Concerning that day and hour no one knows.
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Verse 39
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They were unaware until the flood came
and swept them all away,
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so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
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Verse 42
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Therefore, stay awake,
for you do not know...
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What?
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When!
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You don't know on what
day your Lord is coming.
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Verse 44
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Therefore you must be ready, ...
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Why?
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... for the Son of Man is coming
at an hour you do not expect.
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You see the idea here is readiness.
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Why? Because He is coming
when you don't know.
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You're not gonna have time
to prepare when He comes.
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You have to be ready now.
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You do not know when
death is going to take you.
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You do not know when
Christ is going to come.
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You have to be ready now.
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And it's possible to be
dressed like the virgin,
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and have a lamp like a virgin,
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and be waiting for the
Bridegroom like the virgin,
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and to be where they are,
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and to not be ready when that hour comes.
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That is the issue.
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It is being ready.
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It is being ready!
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Verse 50
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The master of that servant
will come on a day
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when he does not expect him
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and at an hour he does not know.
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The primary issue about this parable
is not what the oil is.
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It is, that whatever it is...
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It is that which is essential
for you to be ready.
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And those five foolish virgins
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were not ready when the hour came.
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They weren't ready.
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You say, "but, I go to church."
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So did they.
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And they were not ready.
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They weren't ready.
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Why? Because they do not possess
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what must be possessed to be ready
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when the Lord comes.
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And here is the thing.
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You see no evidence
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that they are concerned about it
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until it's too late.
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That is not the right time
to figure out you're not ready.
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Our Lord knows multitudes.
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Multitudes fit this category.
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This is why He warns us.
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If you think:
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Well, it's not gonna happen to me.
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What do you think it is
that makes a foolish virgin?
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It's that kind of attitude right there.
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Won't be me!
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Not me!
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That was why these five
virgins are so foolish.
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What did they do?
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They picked up their lamps, they rush off
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and they are not ready.
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And then they slumber and fall asleep
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and they are not ready.
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And when the Bridegroom comes
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and the cry rings forth,
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suddenly they find they have no oil.
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And they are not ready.
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Not ready.
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Not ready.
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They never troubled themselves about
getting the oil and being ready.
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You know what the trouble
with the foolish virgins is?
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There they are.
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They assume everything is ok.
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Why?
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Lord, Lord, ...
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We did what your people do.
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We did many mighty works.
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We were prophesying
right along with them.
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We were casting out demons
right along with them.
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We heard the Word of God
right along with them.
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He says, "I never knew you."
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Why? They weren't ready.
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They weren't ready.
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Just taking everything for granted.
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Their everlasting soul is at stake
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and they're not making
certain they're secure.
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When somebody would come along
in the church and say:
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Brother, sister, test yourself!
Are you sure? Are you sure?
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They got aggravated.
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They got upset.
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They hated you holier-than-thous.
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Don't press me with your strictness.
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I have Christian liberty.
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Don't tell me about what
music I do listen to,
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I have Christian liberty.
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Don't tell me about what
I'm doing with my life.
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Don't tell me that you're
concerned that you see
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I love the things of
the world too much.
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Don't tell me that.
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Don't tell me that I seem
too greedy or too possessed
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by the things the world
is all obsessed with.
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Don't tell me that.
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You Christians are just too strict.
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You people of Grace Community Church.
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You people.
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There's kind of a separation.
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I don't like those people.
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Because when they come around
they ask me those questions
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and I don't like those questions.
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Let me live my life.
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I'm a Christian too.
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And they get upset with that.
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Their eternal soul is at stake.
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They won't examine themselves.
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They do not prove their own selves.
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God's word says examine your own self
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whether you are in the faith.
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But they don't want to do it.
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And they hear messages
that cut to the heart
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but they just say: No, it's
not me. Nope, it's not me.
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Yeah, that makes me feel
uncomfortable, but that's not me.
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Why is it not you?
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Well because I made a decision and
I claim to be a believer in Jesus Christ.
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Yeah, you're right there
along with the other virgins.
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Whatever the oil is I'll tell you this:
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It's what you have to have to enter in.
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And you know what?
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This book from one end to the other
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describes to us what God's
true people look like.
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You know what they wouldn't do?
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They wouldn't come and look
in the mirror of this book
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and see if all is well.
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They didn't want to go there.
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Why? Because men
love to believe a lie.
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What's one of the chief lies
they love to believe?
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They have a form of godliness
but they deny the power thereof.
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You see, they love to
have a form of godliness
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that convinces them deceptively so
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that they're going to heaven,
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but they have no power of it,
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which means that they
live in the powerlessness
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of the rest of the world.
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They're controlled by their lust.
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They are slaves to sin,
they just go along.
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But they have religion.
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You see, they have
a religious appearance,
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these five foolish virgins.
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O, well, I go to church,
I do this, I do that...
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Now, I'm not out there
with the carousing hordes.
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I'm not a Muslim. I'm not a Hindu.
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I don't do those things.
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You see, that's what they
were saying in Matthew 7.
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Lord, Lord, we did this, we did that.
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And that's typically how
the five foolish virgins
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just go on being so foolish.
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That's just a checklist of some things
what they do or don't do.
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But the reality's in the heart.
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When you go look at Scripture,
you see fellowship.
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You see Christ manifesting
Himself to His people.
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You see that there is a
sweetness in the relationship.
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You see people who are made
into praying men and women.
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Men and women who become
controlled by the Spirit of God.
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And they begin to love in ways
they never loved before.
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From the heart.
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They become these true Jews.
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Something changes.
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The life of God is in their soul.
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Suddenly they're not like
those gentiles anymore.
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They're new men, they're new creations.
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Old things pass away.
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Suddenly their eyes behold
the beauty in Christ, and they know it.
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They can hear His voice in ways
they couldn't before.
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And they know it.
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And you know what?
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The five foolish virgins get
around people that talk that way,
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and they don't want to hear.
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Holier-than-thou, that's what they are.
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They're self-righteous.
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I don't like people like that.
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Why are they always talking
to me about my sin?
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It seems like they look at
me just a certain way.
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God gives us a love for the
brethren and I'll tell you this:
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When you fall in love with Christ and
you haven't been in love with Christ,
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and then, suddenly, you get around
other people that are in love with Him,
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you tend to be able to pick up on that.
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When you get around
people that are worldly...
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Yeah, they're virgins,
they're sitting there in the church.
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But you know you just...
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You can sense there's no oil.
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But they're heedless, they're thoughtless,
they don't examine themselves...
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Someone might say to them:
Are you sure you're ready?
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You're sure you have oil?
Examine yourself!
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Be sure!
Everything is at stake!
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What happens?
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Foolish virgins, they resent it.
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They resent that.
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They are uncomfortable.
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I don't like to go where those people are.
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They make me uncomfortable.
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I'm afraid...
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I mean, if you are in a place
where you are afraid
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to be around the godliest people
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that ought to tell you something.
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And listen...
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Jesus, at the end of this, says:
Watch!
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Because you don't know when He's coming,
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watch therefore!
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This isn't a picture.
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You don't get the feeling
from this parable
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that this is a picture of a man,
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who goes up on his rooftop,
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and day and night stands
looking at the horizon
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for when the sky is gonna break open.
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You know what you're to watch?
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The whole idea in watching
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is that you need to be ready.
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You need to watch your walk,
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watch your relationship,
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watch the Scriptures.
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Where are you at?
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Watch that you be not deceived.
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Watch!
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If you show up at that wedding feast
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and the door is shut,
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do you recognize it is all over?
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It is eternal loss.
You have lost everything.
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My brothers and sisters,
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this eschatology that's out there
that wants to teach you
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that there is going to be a rapture first,
and then you can get things right,
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then there is going to be
a seven year tribulation,
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and you can get things right,
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and then Jesus Christ is going to return
and set up His 1000 year kingdom,
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and then you can get things right...
That is a lie.
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This tells you in no uncertain terms:
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When Jesus Christ comes it's over.
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That door is shut and if you
are on the wrong side of it
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there is no seven year
tribulation to get it right.
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You're undone.
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You are undone forever.
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Brethren, regeneration is real.
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It is real.
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Listen, they had to buy the oil,
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and Jesus says: you buy
from Me without price.
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There is a time in
every true virgin's life
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where bankrupt they come to Christ.
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They must do business with Him,
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but they have nothing in their hand.
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Lord, I don't have anything but my sin.
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Lord, I've botched this thing
from the beginning.
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I can't do this.
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I don't have the power.
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Lord, my sin is going to sink me
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into the depths of hell.
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I can't do a thing about it.
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If I run to Sinai, it condemns me.
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If I try I find my best
works are just filth.
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I can't do it.
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Lord, help me!
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Lord, save me!
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And you know what Scripture says?
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That justifying faith
is always accompanied
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by a change of life, new creation.
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The old things pass away.
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Brethren, those are the indicators
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that we possess that oil.
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All those things that the men
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historically have thought it means,
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all those things are real
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if you're a true virgin.
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You have the Spirit,
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you have the presence of God,
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you have an anointing,
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you have an understanding,
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you have a wisdom,
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your eyes are made open,
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you have grace.
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All of those things are true.
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Brethren, this book
describes true Christianity.
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If you look and there are questions,
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look, there is one place to go:
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Always and only: To Christ.
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If there's questions,
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if there's doubts,
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if you need help,
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if you are uncertain:
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It's to Christ.
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You flee to Christ.
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I was just hearing yesterday Spurgeon.
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You might think: Oh, I wish I could have
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the kind of assurance such a one as him.
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In the middle of his ministry
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being used tremendously
he got so discouraged
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and began to doubt where he was,
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even if he was saved,
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if he was called to the ministry.
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He couldn't go on.
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He couldn't preach.
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He just left.
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Somebody else had to fill the pulpit.
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He left to go out to the
country and to the fresh air.
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He went to Essex to where he was from.
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He's quietly crept in,
little baptist church,
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sat in the back row.
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Nobody knew he was there.
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You know what he heard?
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He heard this little country preacher
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preach one of his sermons.
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As he heard his own sermon being preached,
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it was just... It was Christ.
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It was Christ.
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His hope was there.
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He came up to that preacher afterwards.
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The man saw him, you know,
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he was embarrassed.
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Just hung his head.
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Just plagiarized his sermon.
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Spurgeon didn't care.
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He just rejoiced.
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He rejoiced.
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He said as he sat there just hearing -
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I don't know if he even recognized
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it was his own sermon
till the guy said it,
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but, I'd hardly know one of
mine from the past.
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But it was Christ.
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It was all Christ.
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He saw it: My only hope is there.
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He saw it in the simple man's words,
in his own message.
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Brethren, that's it!
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I'll tell you, whatever the oil is:
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If you're clinging to Christ
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and your hope is there, you have it.
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Your only hope there.
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There is finality coming.
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The door is going to be shut,
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and if you're on the wrong side,
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that's not the time to get
concerned you have no oil.
-
It's too late.
-
It's too late.
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Today Jesus Christ says: It's free.
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Come, get it.
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Come to Me and you can have it.
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I think regularly about sinners in hell.
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They just walked everyday past that door,
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and it was wide open.
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It is open.
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Can you imagine men's and
women's souls are at stake
-
and they count that
door so light a matter?
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But when it shuts...
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So what if they give all
their attention to it then?
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It's too late.
-
It's too late.
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Father, I pray:
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Awake, awaken the fools!
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Awaken them, Lord!
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Even so, come Lord Jesus!
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Amen.