(25:1) "The kingdom of heaven is likened unto ten virgins, which took there lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom".
(25:2) "And five of them were wise, and five were foolish."
(25:3) "They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them.
(25:4) "But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps."
(25:5) "While the bridegroom tarried they all slumbered and slept."
(25:6) "And at midnight there was a cry made, behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him."
(25:7) "Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps."
(25:8) "And the foolish said unto the wise, give us your oil; for our lamps are gone out."
(25:9) "But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy
for yourselves.
(25:10) "And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut."
You may be seated…
As a subject today, this sermon is titled: "Don’t Be No April Fool"
Tell your neighbor, "I ain’t no April Fool"
Let’s go quickly to the first couple of verses…
Jesus said (25:1): That the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom."
He said that five were wise…
And five were foolish…
Five were wise and five were foolish.
Now I know at first glance, this may look like this teaching is speaking toward some level of intellectual capacity these saints had…
Or some educational level they may have had…
Or even some sort of common sense or wisdom they possessed…
It may seem that way…
It may look that way…
But Jesus is speaking toward something entirely different….
Jesus is trying to deal with our rebellious spirits…
Jesus is trying to speak to that spirit of DEFIANCE…
HE’s trying to reach that spirit of procrastination.
He’s trying to touch that spirit of delay
He is trying to deal with some issues with you that you keep putting off…
You know what I’m talking about. You keep saying…
I’ll get to it later….
Maybe tomorrow…
I’ll talk to you about it when I get things right…
Let me tell you something…
Jesus is trying to confront that spirit of yours today…
Deal with it head on…
And deal with those issues that attack your obedience to God…
Because it is your obedience to God that makes you wise or foolish…
It is your obedience that makes you smart or ignorant…
It is your obedience that makes you a professor of religion…
Or what some might call a hypocrite of the church…
Are you listening to me this morning?
God knows that you have been HIDING some things from HIM,
That you have not given Him what you told him you would.
That your REALITY is different then your THOUGHTS…
Let me try to break this down differently…
You see, in biblical times it was a common custom among Jews that, on occasion, the bridegroom would come (usually with some of his close friends) late in the evening, to the house of the bride…
And according to the text, when the bridegroom would come to the house of the bride…
It would be the duty of the bride’s bridesmaids to give notice of his arrival with lamps in their hands, to give light for him into the house as part of this ceremony.
Why does Jesus share this parable with us?
Jesus shares this parable with us to remind us that He is the bridegroom….
And the church is His bride…
And that the bridegroom is coming back for the BRIDE…
He’s coming back for His PEOPLE…
He’s coming back for His CHILDREN…
He’s coming back for His CHURCH…
He’s coming back in that great day…
And on that day…
He is going to tell his children:
You are going to be assured of my presence…
And the five with oil will glorify me and:
They will PRAISE me…
They will HONER me…
They will TRUST me…
And they will show obedience to me…
And will LIFT me up…
And when they LIFT ME UP!
And all POWER is given unto Me in heaven and in earth…
And on that day…
YOU will know…
That I AM in the Father…
And HE IS in me…
And I AM in you…
And if you just HUMBLE yourself…
If you just EXAMINE yourself…
If you just SEARCH yourself…
You will know that I AM… the way…
I AM… the truth…
And I AM the life…
And that NO MAN cometh unto the Father, but by me….
Shout mighty praise to the Lamb of God…
Give him praise…
Somebody shout Hallelujah
(Brief Pause)
But let’s talk about the other five…
The other five lamp holders…
The Five without oil.
Those so-called… PROFESSORS of religion…
Those… LECTURERS of the faith…
Those… ATTENDENTS to Christ…
Because let me tell you…
You do have candleholders in the church…
Some of them have oil…
Some of them don’t….
In other words, some are obedient to the Lord, and some are not…
The bible says: "Know the Lord, for all shall know me." (Hebrews 8:11)
Well, the only way to know the Lord, as he desires us to know him is to obey him…
And you see…
And I’m not talking about casual obedience… That every other weekend obiedience…
Or social obedience, you know, that obedience when you’re in the COMPANY of CERTAIN PEOPLE…
Or even that psychological obedience, you know what I’m talking about, where you just THINK you are being obedient when you’re really not.
You’ve just talked yourself into believing you are obedient.
You have fooled every body but God.
You’ve just talked yourself into what I call a Peter complex…
You’re in denial…
Tell somebody "Don’t be a April Fool"…
Because see we are talking about radical obedience…
Were talking about a solid obedience…
Were talking about obedience with a foundation…
More solid then the ground we are standing on…
Just like the WISE MAN that built his home upon ROCK and the FOOLISH man that built on SAND. (Matt:7:24)
The RAIN fell…
The WINDS blew.
The STORMS raged on…
And that house of the FOOLISH MAN FELL…
But that house that was built upon rock…
Stood TALL against the storm…
It WITHSTOOD the Hurricane…
Some of you are dealing with a storm, but you’ve built your foundation on sand…
You’ve trying to build skyscraper on the foundation of sand…
You’re trying to CONSTRUCT a YAHT on the FOUNDATION of a TUGBOAT.
You’re trying to FIGHT THE DEVIL with a PEE SHOOTER…
And the storms of life are attacking you…
And the winds of illness are approaching…
The WHIRLWINDS OF LOSS and LONELINESS have struck your Family.
You feel lost SPIRITUALLY, PHYSICALLY, MATERIALLY and FINANCIALLY.
The DEVIL is SEEKING to TEMPT and DESTROY…
But in the midst of all that pain…
The LORD says HOLD ON!
HOLD ON!
Because you are more than a conqueror…
HOLD ON!
BECAUSE " greater is He that is in you, then he that is in the world." (1 John 4:4)
HOLD ON!
Because as we seek Him through his word…
And study Him through his word…
And grow together through this word…
And stop just talking about his word…
And start walking about his word…
And start praying about His word…
And start preaching about His word…
And start Teaching about His word…
We won’t start breaching His word…
Hold On because He is worthy…
Because when we talk about the five who didn’t have oil…
You have to ask, Brother Preacher what does the oil represent?
Well your oil represents anointing…
Your oil represents commitment…
Your oil represents sacrifice…
Your oil represents HIS love…
Your oil represents HIS Grace…
Your oil represents HIS Mercy…
Your oil represents HIS Goodness….
So what is God telling you?
God is telling you that you haven’t been as CLOSE TO ME as I’VE ASKED YOU TO BE…
He’s telling you that you have CHOSEN SOME THINGS OF THE WORLD ABOVE ME…
He telling you "Don’t be no April fool".
Because the WORLD doesn’t LOVE YOU the WAY I LOVE YOU!
What the WORLD GAVE YOU YESTERDAY, it will TAKE AWAY from you TOMORROW!
But what I give you will be eternal…
God is telling you that YOU MAY HAVE the LAMP OF PROFESSION in your hand.
But DO YOU HAVE the OIL OF GOD in your HEART?
You may have THE LAMP OF RELIGION in your hand, but do you have A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD in your heart…
You may say, "I’m a spiritual person"…
But have you met the spiritual presence of God…
You may have heard about the bridegroom…
But are you waiting, with your lamp ready?
With your oil ready…
With your walk ready…
With your witness ready…
With your testimony ready…
For the bible says (James 1:22), be not just hearers of the word, but doers of the word…
And that he who hears my commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves me…
And he shall be loved by the Father…
And I will love him and DISCLOSE myself to him…
And when the Lord DISCLOSES himself to you…
And REVEALS himself to you…
RIVERS OF REVELATION WILL FLOW INTO YOUR BELLY…
OCEANS of wisdom penetrate your spirit…
And the POWER OF GOD will make itself present in your circumgstance…
And restoration begins in your situation.
And in that day…
There will be no weapon formed that will prosper against thee…
Give God the praise.
Give him the praise right now…
Give HIM the Glory…
Let me go to my next point…
You see the bible says that five were wise….
And five were foolish…
(Matt 25:3) and that the foolish took their lamps…
But took no oil with them…
The wise took the oil, but the foolish didn’t…
Think about that saints…
If the wise took the oil, and foolish didn’t…
That must have meant that the oil had to have been available to all Ten. Amen
In other words, the RESOURCE that THE FIVE RECEIVED was AVAILABLE to ALL TEN…
It was available to all of those who were READY, WILLING and ABLE to take it…
It was ready for those who wanted to use it…
They could have used it to accomplish the task they were assigned…
They could have used the SAME RESOURCE, the SAME OIL of the other five BUT WILLINGLY and CONSCIOUSLY chose not to…
Some of you are going through the same situation…
You have the ability to accomplish great things…
All the resources are available to you…
GOD has pointed you in the right direction…
Yet you are consciously and purposely walking away from your oil…
You have in your HAND the lamp of life… but your walk away from your oil…
You hold in your MIND the lamp of prosperity, but you have no oil…
You can fix that RELATIONSHIP IN YOUR FAMILY, but you WON’T TAKE THE OIL…
You can get that promotion on your job…
You can get that degree you want…
You can begin the healing your spirit requires…
But you must take the oil…
Let me tell you something, when you have a candle (or lamp) without oil, what can’t you have?
That’s right, if you’re spiritual candle doesn’t have oil, you can’t have spiritual light…
And without spiritual light, you can’t see what God has in front of you…
Because spiritual LIGHT provides spiritual SIGHT…
Only with spiritual sight can you recognize God…
Only with Spiritual sight can you have a vision for your life…
Because the bible says (Proverbs 27:18): "Where there is no vision the people (shall) perish."
To have vision means to have SIGHT or REVELATION…
To perish comes from the HEBREW meaning to DESTROY, to EXPIRE or literally to DIE…
When your VISION for your family PERISHES… Your relationship with them will be destroyed…
When you have lost your VISION for your BUSINESS, you have put it in the position to die…
When you have lost you’re REVELATION for God…
When you have lost you VISION of God…
Your SIGHT of God…
You have placed yourself in a position to perish…
You have placed yourself in a position to be destroyed…
You have placed yourself beneath and not above…
You have placed yourself in a position to miss your blessing…
To miss you’re healing…
To miss your opportunity that God puts in front of you…
You have got to know that you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you…
You can do all things through the POWER of GOD…
You can do all things through the POWER of FAITH…
Because God has NOT given you the SPIRIT of FEAR but of POWER and a SOUND MIND…
Somebody give God the Praise…
Lets go back to Matthew 25:5 we will try to close this thing out…
(25:5) "While the bridegroom tarried (to tarry means to wait or prepare) they all slumbered and slept."
(25:6) "And at midnight there was a cry made, behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him."
(25:7) " Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps."
(25:8) "And the foolish said to the wise, give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out."
(Review key points)
Some of us have not been as obedient to God as we know we could be… We have the candle but no oil…
Some of us have the resources placed right in front of us… The oil is sitting right there… We just don’t use it…
And some of us expect somebody else to do the work for us…
Some of us are going to flat miss out on blessings in our life because we don’t want to do the work necessary to have the blessing materialize!
WE WANT SOMEONE TO PICK UP OUR OIL FOR US!
Listen to me…
Why are you letting the Satan rob you of your Joy? (Repeat if necessary)
He has tried to attacked your family…
He has tried to attack your relationships…
He has attacked your finances…
And he has attacked your faith…
But the bible says (Hebrews 11:6): That without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that HE IS GOD, and that HE IS a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.
Listen, the theologians have documented over 7,000 promises the God has promised his creation in the words of the bible…
7,000…
Your aunt, mother, daddy, brother, or sister can make you accept and believe in this word…
They can’t make you read it…
They can’t make you receive Gods blessings…
Because God has something special that is only for you…
It’s personal…
So you see what happens here, You can’t have someone else pick-up your oil…
You’ve got to pick it up your self…
Because If we don’t READ the word of God…
If we don’t STUDY the word of God…
If we don’t WALK in the word of God
Walking with the POWER of God…
You are already defeated…
Because the only thing that can answer spiritual attacks of the enemy are spiritual weapons of God…
But you have got to want more…
What ever your situation is…
You have got to make a decision to invest in yourself
You have got to be the one to put in the effort…
You have got to be the one that says I am SICK of being SICK…
I am TIRED of being TIRED…
I am THROUGH with being THROUGH…
You’ve got to say to yourself, "I’m sick of having a BREAKDOWN, I NEED A BREAKTHROUGH…
But you have got to be the one humble yourself and let God be your instructor in life…
I don’t care what you do…
If you don’t let God into the mix, you will find confusion in the midst of your vision…
You will find confusion in the midst of your assignment…
You will find confusion in the midst of your task…
And to eliminate confusion, you must have God….
Because the God I serve…. Is not a God of confusion…
The God I serve… Is not a God of procrastination…
The God I serve… Is a God of Wisdom…
The God I serve… Is a God or Order…
The God I serve… Is a God of new Beginnings…
But you’ve got to BELIEVE IN THE FATHER!
And you’ve got to BELIEVE IN THE SON!
And you’ve got to BELIEVE IN HOLY SPIRIT!
And He told me to tell you!
When the Devil tries to tempt you!
When the Devil tries to persuade you!
When the Devil tries to deceive you!
YOU CAN STAND ON YOUR FEET!
LIFT YOUR ARMS HIGH IN THE AIR!
PRAISE THE LORD YOUR GOD!
AND PUSH BACK THAT SNAKE!
PUSH HIM BACK!
Push HIM BACK…
Push the devil BACK…
Push HIM BACK…
Stand with me and Push Back!
Shout hallelujah and Push Back!
Jump up and scream Push back!
Push Back…
Push Back…
And God said…
That if you Push Back…
Your faith…
Your faith…
Your faith…
Will come by hearing…
And by hearing, the word of God…
And if you ASK ME FOR IT!
IT SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO YOU!
If you SEEK IT!
IT WILL BE FOUND!
If you KNOCK on my DOOR!
IT SHALL be OPENED TO YOU…
Because when I died on the cross…
I died for you…
And YOU!
And YOU!
And YOU!
And He laid there on Friday…
He stayed there through Saturday…
But on the third day….
I said on the third day…
He rose with all power…
All Power…
ALL POWER!
ALL POWER!
You can’t get what you want through the world…
You can’t get what you want through your friends…
You can’t get it through drinking, drugs, lies, or even doing nothing…
You can get it through Jesus…
You can get it through Jesus…
BEFORE WE LEAVE, I want you to look closely at Matthew 25:9 - 13.
We no that the foolish didn’t have any oil… They asked for oil from the wise one…
(25:9) " But the wise answered, saying, Not So; lest there be not enough for us and you; but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves…
But while they were gone, the opportunity they were waiting for…
The task they were assigned…
The reason they were placed there came and went…
And the door was shut…
Know watch this very closely
(25:11) "Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us."
(25:12) "But he answered and said, verily I say unto you, I know you not."
(25:13) "Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the son of man cometh."
You know, this parable was written to teach and illustrate many things…
But one thing I want to leave you with when you think of this message…
And when you think of the words of God from Jesus…
Just Remember, Jesus is telling you that he is the bridegroom, the church is the bride and you are the bridesmaids…
And he doesn’t want the door shut on you…
And as the pastor comes, you now have an opportunity to leap into a new beginning…
Stop putting things off…
Be obedient to the Holy Spirit that is speaking to you…
And enter the door before the door is shut…
Because we know neither the day nor the hour that the Son of man cometh…
May God deeply bless you… I pray that you will give your life to him…
Rev. Robert W. Parker
Southern Mission Missionary Baptist Church
St. Louis Mo.
(314) 521-3951
e-mail: bparker@courier-journal.com
