Matthew 25:1-4. 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 lamps. There did not seem to be much difference between them. They were all virgins, they all carried lamps, their lamps were all lit; sad, peradventure, the lamps of the foolish were quite as bright as those of the wise. The difference was unobservable to most onlookers, but it was an essential and fatal difference. Ah! dear friends, it is the lack of oil that is the ruin of many a professor's lamp. Men have a name to live, but they have not the true life which is the evidence of the effectual working of the grace of God within their souls. They make a profession of religion, but they have not the secret grace to keep it up. There is a glitter and flash, but there is no permanency; and there cannot be any, unless the Spirit of God be in us indeed, and of a truth. We may make a fair show in the flesh for a while, but what will be the end of it? This is the all-important question, Can we hold on and hold out? Certainly, not without that heavenly oil which only the Spirit of God can supply.
Matthew 25:5. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
Oh, how sadly true it is that, sometimes, true saints as well as mere professors slumber and sleep! Even those who have the oil of grace are not always wide awake to serve their Master, and to proclaim the gospel as they should. There are, alas! sleeping believers and sleeping hypocrites side by side.
Matthew 25:6-7. 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 lamps.
They were suddenly awakened, and they leaped to their feet,
Upstarting at the midnight cry,
‘Behold the heavenly Bridegroom nigh!'
They all trimmed their lamps. That was the first thing for them to do, to look to their torches, and have them ready. They could not meet the Bridegroom in the dark; they must each have a light; so they began their lamp-trimming. It is a pity to have to trim your lamp at the last. O dear friends, it is hard work, upon a dying bed, to have to be tending to one's lamp! You want your evidences to be bright there, your faith to be firm, and all your graces brilliant. There must be no doubts and questions there, else they make a dying bed feel hard as granite to the head. May we none of us have at last to trim our lamps! Those virgins who had oil in their vessels were able to trim their lamps; and, though the work was done hurriedly, it was done, and they were able to take their places in the bridal procession.
Matthew 25:8. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
The modern rendering of this request is, «Send for the minister, and ask him to pray for us, for our lamps are gone out.» Take heed, I pray you, you who are bold professors now, lest you should have to say at the last, «Our lamps are gone out.» It was too late for trimming and lighting then.
Matthew 25:9-10. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; test 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;
There are death-bed repentances, undoubtedly; but I fear that, in the great majority of cases, people who wake up so late will find that, while they go to buy, the Bridegroom will come, and there will not be, after all, the time in which to find the Saviour. The mental capacity with which to think of him may fail. The poor head may be so distracted with pain that it may not be able to catch the meaning of what faith in Christ is, or how it can be exercised; and so, the lamp will have gone out, and it will be too late to buy the oil which alone can make it burn. «While they went to buy, the bridegroom came; «
Matthew 25:10-11. And they that were ready went in with him to the marriage; and the door was shut.
Afterward came also the other margins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. «Open the door at least to us, for we came to meet thee, and we carried lamps, and we were with the other virgins: ‘Lord, Lord, open to us.'» You know, perhaps, those striking lines which describe the foolish virgins request, and the Bridegroom's response to it,
‘Late, late, so late; and dark the night and chill!
Late, late, so late; but we may enter still.'
‘Too late! Too late! Ye cannot enter now.'
Matthew 25:12. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
When that door is once shut, it will never again be opened; all Scripture goes to prove that. There are some who foolishly dream about an opening of that door, after death, for men who have died impenitent; but there is nothing in Scripture to warrant us in having any such expectation. The anal answer of the Bridegroom to these foolish virgins is, «Verily I say unto you, I know you not.»
Matthew 25:13. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
That is, we do not know when it will be. Some have foolishly said, «We do not know the day, or the hour, of Christ's coming, but we may find out the year.» We shall not do anything of the kind; the time is hidden altogether, it is not revealed to us, and it shall not be known till, suddenly, the Lord himself shall come in the clouds, with his bright heavenly retinue, to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe. Wherefore, be always on the watch, beloved, «for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.» God help us to be ready for his appearing at any moment, for his dear name's sake! Amen.
This exposition consisted of readings from Matthew 24:42-51; and Matthew 25:1-13.