INTRO.- ILL.- A black American Baptist preacher from Richmond was attending a Baptist convention in Mississippi. A Mississippi preacher, reading the Scripture lesson for a morning session, read: “Now the Kingdom of Heaven was likened unto ten Virginians which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise and five were foolish.” (Matthew 25:1)
Then the Richmond preacher said, “Brother, would you be so good as to recapitulate. That Scripture lesson do sound familiar, and I don’t want you to think that I question what the Good Book says, but it did seem to me that the percentage of foolish Virginians was too high.”
Brothers and sisters, the percentage of foolish Virginians or foolish virgins probably wouldn’t be any higher than the foolish Arkansans or foolish Missourians!
This parable of Jesus is about foolishness, wisdom and preparation.
I. THIS PARABLE IS ABOUT FOOLISHNESS
Matt. 25:1-3 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them.” Five virgins were foolish simply because they did not take enough oil for their lamps.
ILL.- A Sunday school class was discussing King Solomon. People pointed out that though Solomon had been so wise, he made some foolish choices. Finally, the teacher asked, "Are we picking too much on Solomon?" One older saint replied, "Ah, with all those wives, he was used to it!"
ILL.- Someone said, “A foolish man tells a woman to stop talking, but a wise man tells her that her mouth is extremely beautiful when her lips are closed.” I wouldn’t bet on it!
ILL.- Another reads: “A fool may be known by six things: anger without cause; speech without profit; change without progress; inquiry without object; putting trust in a stranger, and mistaking foes for friends.” That’s quite a list. And some more could be added.
Most everyone makes some foolish decisions in life but some worse than others.
ILL.- Is 20 year old actress and pop star, Lindsay Lohan up to her old ways? Lohan star has cut back on her partying since leaving rehab last month, but an insider on the set of her new flick says she is still displaying some of the unpredictability that upset her co-workers recently. Lohan kept crew members waiting for hours on the set of “I Know Who Killed Me” on Feb. 21, a source told In Touch Weekly.
“When she finally arrived, she said that she needed to take a nap,” the source told the mag. But Lohan didn’t emerge from her trailer for five hours, and then threw up and immediately went home, says the insider, leaving those left behind to speculate as to what ailed her.
Brothers and sisters, I don’t think Lindsay Lohan is a very wise girl. She’s only 20 years old and if she keeps doing what she’s been doing; drinking, carousing, etc. she’s heading for even more trouble!
The problem with this rebel rouser kind of life is that some day will be payday. And those who play will pay!
Brothers and sisters, we all make foolish decisions and foolish mistakes in life. Hopefully, we get over them quickly and gain some wisdom. Of course, if, in the first place, we’d listened to those who truly loved us we might not have made some foolish mistakes.
ILL.- There was a king who had all his world could afford. The thing he loved most, however, was to laugh. Once while being entertained a jester came along wishing to join in the festival of activities and also wishing to perform for him. His opportunity came and he put the best comical show together he had ever done and the king never laughed so hard.
Once the activity was all over the king wanted to hire this jester to be his personal jester. Once hired the king in humor handed him a small stick and said, "You are the most foolish man alive. When you find someone more foolish than you, then you give them this stick," and the king laughed heartily.
After many years had passed by the king lay sick on his death bed ready to go at any moment. He called for his jester, for he wanted to laugh one more time before he died. When the jester was through he asked to speak to the king personally.
Once alone with the king the jester asked, "King, where are you going?" The king responded, "on a far journey." The jester asked again, "and how do you plan to get there?" Again the king responded, "I don’t know." Then the jester pulled the stick from his back pocket and handed it to the king. The king was stunned and asked why he had given him the stick. The jester replied, "King, today I have found a more foolish man than I. For you see, I only trifled with the things of life, but you have trifled with things of eternity!"
Brothers and sisters, the worst foolishness of all is to trifle or play around in life until we are not prepared to die! Some foolishness will not hurt a person badly, but to play games with God is serious business and can hurt eternally!
II. THIS PARABLE IS ABOUT WISDOM
Matt. 25:1-4 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps.”
Five virgins were wise for taking enough oil with them. This parable is about making wise choices in life.
ILL.- A lawyer, a preacher, and a young boy were in a plane that was going to crash, yet they only had 2 parachutes. The lawyer proclaimed that since he was the smartest man on the plane, that he deserved to survive. He took a parachute and jumped.
The preacher looked and the young boy and told the young boy to take the last parachute since he had already lived a good, Christian life. The boy replied, "Don’t worry. The smartest man on this plane just jumped out with my back pack!”
Some people who appear to be wise are not so wise!
ILL.- Did Tom Cruise try to convert Larry King to Scientology? The “Mission: Impossible” star tried to convince the CNN interviewer of the virtues of the sometimes controversial religion and took King on a personal tour of a Scientology exhibit that attacks psychiatry recently.
King, who has been candid about his bout with depression, also has been open about his treatment with antidepressants, but Cruise and his religion are outspoken critics of both psychiatry and prescription drugs.
If Larry King accepts Scientology as his religion and guide in life it will not be a wise decision. And after interviewing the likes of Billy Graham for many years I don’t know how he could be as dumb or unwise as to listen to what Scientology has to offer. Dumb.
ILL.- Toward the close of the last century a young businessman was accumulating riches rapidly. He said to Stephen Paxton, who had known only poverty through the years, “Come with me and we will make a fortune together!” Paxton declined the appealing offer, for God had placed upon his heart the great need of Sunday schools in the thinly populated rural sections of our country. “You are a fool to turn down such an attractive offer,” said the businessman. Other people derided him, too, calling him a “crackpot” and a religious fanatic.
Years passed. One day he met the man who had made him the business offer. The man said, “You wouldn’t come with me. Now I am worth fifty thousand dollars and you and your family still live in a covered wagon!” “But,” said Paxton, “You do not know the extent of my real wealth. More than fifty thousand boys, girls, men and women are enrolled in Sunday schools that I organized!”
Many people in our world live for self but the wise person lives for the Lord and for others. This is the wisdom of God.
How do we get wise? Where do we get our wisdom for life?
James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”
We seek God! Since He created heaven and earth and knows everything then it seems smart to seek our wisdom from Him.
And one way is by asking. When you don’t know what to do, then pray! You might be surprised what God will reveal!
ILL.- Preacher Vance Havner said, “If you lack knowledge, go to school. If you lack wisdom, get on your knees!” And here’s another way to gain God’s wisdom.
Ps. 119:9-11 “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your word. I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” We obviously gain wisdom for life from God’s Word.
ILL.- Every time a little boy went to a playmate’s house, he found the friend’s grandmother deeply engrossed in reading her Bible. Finally his curiosity got the better of him. “Why do you suppose your grandmother reads the Bible so much?” he asked. “I’m not sure.” said his friend, “but I think it’s because she’s cramming for her finals.” NOT TOO DUMB.
III. THIS PARABLE IS ABOUT PREPARATION
Matt. 25:4-13 “The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep. "At midnight the cry rang out: ’Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ "Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ’Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’ “’No,’ they replied, ’there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’” "But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. "Later the others also came. ’Sir! Sir!’ they said. ’Open the door for us!’ "But he replied, ’I tell you the truth, I don’t know you.’ "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.”
This message is about preparation for the wedding banquet. For us today, that would mean the banquet in heaven. Both sets of virgins went to sleep at night. They did nothing wrong in that, but the five foolish virgins didn’t prepare. They didn’t take enough oil with them for that nighttime venture.
ILL.- H. Jackson Brown Jr., “The best preparation for tomorrow is doing your best today.”
ILL.- Henry Ford, “Before everything else, getting ready is the secret to success.” Getting ready is the secret to entering eternity as well.
ILL.- John F. Kennedy, “The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”
ILL.- Did you know that four out of 10 U.S. workers often or always live from paycheck to paycheck, according to a survey released on Monday. Women are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck, at 47 percent, than men, at 36 percent, according to the survey conducted for CareerBuilder.com, an online job site based in Chicago. Overall, 41 percent of workers say they often or always live paycheck to paycheck, it said.
Wow! What does this have to do with spiritual preparation? Just this. What many people do financially they also do spiritually! They live from paycheck to paycheck. How’s that? They live from one day to another. One day may be a good day, that is, they may live a good life and think that they are right with God. But then perhaps the next day they do poorly spiritually, doing things they wish they’d never done and then they feel like they are lost and doomed.
What must we do to prepare for eternity? Do you remember Enoch in the O.T.? What do you remember about him? Hopefully, you remember what he is famous for. “He walked with God and was not.” (Gen. 5:24) He was not what?
He was not seen anymore in the flesh! “Enoch walked with God; then he was no more, BECAUSE GOD TOOK HIM AWAY.”
Apparently, Enoch’s walk with God was so great, so good, so close, so holy that God decided He wanted Enoch with him in heaven, right then and there! Of course, Enoch had already lived 365 years and that’s long enough for anybody to live!
We prepare for eternity by walking with God! It’s as simple as that and yet in some ways, as difficult as that. Why it is difficult? Because we have so many distractions in life. There are so many things that distract us from church, from prayer, from living for Christ, etc. And yet He needs to be our top priority in order to prepare for the next life.
ILL.- Mom took us three kids to church and Sunday School, but Dad didn’t go. The only time I ever remember dad going to church was either on Christmas or Easter or perhaps when we children were in some kind of special program like VBS.
That is not good spiritual preparation. Some people are ready for death and eternity and some people are not. As much as I loved my father, it did not appear that he was ready. I can only remember two times or two conversations in which my dad ever made any kind of spiritual comment.
My uncle John Shepherd, Dad’s brother, passed away in February of 1975. He was only 60 years old and died of a heart attack. Dad and I were walking outside John’s house in Neosho, MO, and dad, “Well, it was just John’s time to go.”
And I wanted so badly to say something spiritual to my dad, something about Christ, but I seemed petrified, not knowing what to say. So I said nothing. I whipped myself for that.
Some time later I was back home in Webb City, MO, visiting mom and dad. Mom, dad and I were in their living room by ourselves. I was preaching at Iberia, MO, at that time. Just all of a sudden, out of the blue, mom said in dad’s presence, “I need to bring daddy up there and get him baptized.” And almost instantly dad responded, saying, “You got to get the head right first.” And that was all that was said. I was dumbfounded and said nothing. Mom never responded either.
Hindsight is always better than foresight, so looking back, I might have responded, “Dad, you’re right. Is there a problem? What are you thinking?” I would have said those words to hopefully draw him out, but I’m not sure my words would have.
Most of us would agree that the hardest people in the world to talk to about Christ are family members.
CONCLUSION --------------------------
ILL.- Just before General Eisenhower died, Billy Graham was invited to visit him at Walter Reed Hospital in Washington, DC He was told he could stay thirty minutes. When he went in, the general was wearing his usual big smile, even though he knew he didn’t have long to live. Later Billy Graham told what happened: “When the thirty minutes were up, he asked me to stay longer and said to me, ‘Billy, I want you to tell me again how can I be sure my sins were forgiven and that I am going to heaven, because nothing else matters now.’
Billy said, “I took my New Testament and read him Scriptures. I pointed out that we are not going to heaven because of our good works, or because of money we’ve given to the church. We are going to heaven totally and completely on the basis of the merits of what Christ did on the cross. Therefore he could rest in the comfort that Jesus paid it all! After prayer, Ike said, “Thank you I’m ready!” And no one is ready to meet God in death until they have met Him in life! Are you ready?
