1. To get ready to meet God. it’s your responsibility to do. One day you will stand face to face with Christ.
a. By death; Hebrews 9:27
b. By rapture; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
2. I said prepare, get ready. Does the bible really say that? Amos 4:17; Matthew 24:44
3. There are many today who have not given a single minute of preparation for eternity.
a. They have prepared for business, a career.
b. They have prepared for marriage, children.
c. They have prepared for hospital expense, insurance.
d. They have prepared for old age, retirement.
e. Yet you have not prepared to meet an Almighty God whom you must meet. There is not maybe so, it is a must.
4. People are so caught up with this life you give no thought for the next. Mark 8:36; Luke 12:16-20
5. The only thing worse than not being prepared is to thing your prepared and not be. To be deceived about the matter of your salvation.
6. This is what Matthew 25:1-13 is warning us about. The tragedy of the unprepared who thought they were.
I. The Imitation of the Wise Virgins
1. The five foolish virgins looked exactly like the wise. You could not tell them apart. Look at their similarities.
2. They belonged to the same bridal party.
a. Verse 1; went forth together.
b. Same group, same team, same church. Tares among thieves.
3. They had same morality. The word virgin speaks of purity, morality, good life.
a. Did not drink, dance, smoke, curse.
b. Many thinks because there are honest, fair, just, truthful, upright, that they are saved; not so.
c. Only outward appearances. Going through the motions. Rituals, they were lost.
4. They had the same lamps, like the wise, verse 3. A lamp speaks of a profession of faith.
a. Lamp is a holder of light.
b. They professed in lip service only. Titus 1:16
5. They had the same purpose in mind. To meet the bridegroom.
a. Intentions were good. Good intentions is not salvation.
b. Many intend to go to heaven. Hell is filled with good intentions.
6. Their lives were spent together, verse 5, they slumbered and slept together.
a. Common interest, fellowship together, ran together.
b. But just because you associate with Christians does not mean you are saved.
7. They looked alike, worked alike, only difference was:
a. 5 were saved, real, knew the truth.
b. 5 were lost, counterfeit, were deceived.
II. Their Deception of the Wise
1. Could it be possible for a person to be so deceived, that not even his friends, family, preacher, yes even he himself not knowing that he was lost. It is possible.
2. Because of the teaching of scripture
a. 2 Corinthians 13:5; Proverbs 14:12
b. Matthew 7:21; 25:1-13
3. Satan is the master counterfeiter, deceiver, blinder. 2 Corinthians 4:4
4. These 5 foolish virgins believed themselves prepared for the coming of the bridegroom. Verse 6-7
5. Even after the coming of the bridegroom, they still believed they were able to prepare.
a. Lack of oil; verse 3, is the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:9
b. Verse 9, you can’t get to heaven on another person’s salvation.
6. I believe this is also a picture of those who will try to be saved during the tribulation.
a. If you have heard, understood all about salvation after Jesus comes. No hope for you.
b. 2 Thessalonians 2:7; Holy Spirit removed, verse 8-9, signs, lies and wonders, verse 10-11, they will believe a lie. Damning their own selves to hell.
7. Friend you have only one chance to prepare. Now!
a. No purgatory, no reincarnation, no annihilation
b. You are a living soul; you will live eternally.
8. After the bridegroom comes. It is too late to be saved.
a. Hebrews 3:7, 15; 4:7
b. 2 Corinthians 6:2
9. In verse 2, why did Jesus call them foolish?
a. They had church membership in the bridal party.
b. They had morality called virgins.
c. They made a profession; had lamps.
d. They had no oil, no foundation. 1 Corinthians 3:11; Matthew 7:27
III. Their Separation from the Wise
1. There is coming a day when Jesus will separate saved from the lost, believers from non-believers.
a. Matthew 13:24-30; until the harvest. Matthew 24:37
b. All through the Bible the message is Jesus is coming again. John 14:1-3; Acts 1:11
2. At Jesus coming too late then, verse 11, open to us, Luke 16:19-28.
3. In closing, please understand how simple, how easy God has made true salvation.
a. Verse 10, and the door was shut, Matthew 7:13, fate and door are the same thing.
b. John 10:7-9, Jesus is the door, accept Him.
c. Matthew 7:21; but He that doeth the will of My Father. What is that will? John 6:39-40
4. In closing, please finish this statement, as if stand before the Lord. “Lord, I am here before you expecting to go into Heaven because….”
a. Church membership, baptism, giving, singing.
b. Nothing of self, because of Jesus. 1 John 5:12; Ephesians 2:8-9
5. Do you know Him? Are you truly saved? Are you deceived?
