The Wise And Foolish At The Bridegrooms Coming - Pt. 3 Series

The Wise and Foolish at the Bridegroom’s Coming (Part Three)

Text: Matthew 25:1-13, 31-46

So we’ve been going through this series for a while now… and we’ve been looking at the wise and foolish virgins from Jesus’ parable found in Matthew 25. We’ve seen how the wise virgins were ready for the Bridegroom’s coming, because they had faith. We know they had faith, because they acted accordingly by having plenty of oil. They had heard that the Groom may come at any time, they believed what they had heard, and they prepared themselves accordingly. Whereas the foolish virgins thought they were going to be accepted to the wedding feast, but they lacked the faith. And that was made evident as well, by their failure to prepare accordingly.

Now if you’ve read your Bible, this actually isn’t a novel concept. Think about it for a second. Bible scholars tell us that 2 million or more Israelites probably came out of Egypt during the Exodus, but how many perished in the wilderness due to unbelief? Some rebelled and followed Korah and were destroyed for their sin and rebellion. Some died in the wilderness, because they lacked the faith to go into the Promised Land. We can also go to the New Testament and look at Judas. Judas had walked with Jesus and even did ministry with Jesus for a little over three years. He had seen Jesus heal the sick, raise the dead, give sight to the blind, miraculously feed thousands, walk on water… and yet, when it came right down to it, Judas was lost. He knew Jesus, but what he believed about Jesus was wrong. Judas believed that Jesus was going to overthrow the Roman rulers in Israel, and set up a physical kingdom. Jesus wasn’t interested in that. He came to seek and save the lost. He came to redeem man from sin and Satan. So Judas is an example of someone saying they believe in Jesus, but they believe the wrong things about Him.

And, that’s what we’re seeing in this parable of the wise and unwise virgins. So let’s go to our text this morning, and read from God’s Word, and we pray that as we do, God will give us eyes to see, ears to hear, and that He will make our hearts fertile ground, so that when the seed of His Word is planted there-in, we will bear much fruit for His glory. (READ Matthew 25:1-3), Now I’m going to drop down a little further in this chapter, and read a bit more, because ultimately this is what the parable is getting at (READ Matthew 25:31-46).

So all ten of these virgins had heard that the Bridegroom was coming. All ten of them had been told this. All ten of them took their lamps, but only five took oil for their lamps. In other words, only those five – who were wise, and had oil for their lamps, were truly prepared to meet the Bridegroom. Why were the five foolish ones unprepared? Because of unbelief. Plain and simple. The wise believed, and they acted on their faith, foolish didn’t believe and failed to act because of it.

Now it’s interesting to me, because in the parable, all ten of the virgins fell asleep. That’s another way of speaking about death. So we could say, without doing any harm to the meaning of the passage, that five of them died in faith, and five of them died in unbelief. And you know what happens to an unbeliever when they die?

They go to hell. And in that instant they’ll know that Jesus was real. They’ll know that He is the Son of God. They’ll know, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The five foolish virgins pleaded with the Bridegroom “Let us in! Let us in!” And they heard the words, “I do not know you.” When you die – it’s too late.

So you have to have faith. Acts 16:31 says – “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.” But what does it mean to believe? What actually is true, saving faith? Let me summarize it for you in a nut-shell. To believe in Jesus means that you believe that He is God the Son, come in human flesh, born of a virgin. It means that you believe that he lived a sinless life, satisfying the requirements of God for righteousness, and that He died on the cross in order to take the punishment for your sins. While on the cross He endured the wrath of God on your behalf, and died – thus satisfying the requirements of God’s justice against sin. He was buried and rose again 3 days later, showing that He accomplished His mission and that we have now been justified before God – and you believe that He did everything that needed to be done in order to do that – to make us righteous before our holy, heavenly Father. It means that you trust that Jesus paid it all, and did everything required for your salvation. You can’t add to it, you can’t work for it, you can’t earn it, it’s all been taken care of – and you rest in that.