Matthew 25:1-10, “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. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 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. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. 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. 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.”
In our text Scripture passage, the Bible says five of the ten virgins were foolish. They didn't think ahead, procrastinating to prepare, failing to buy oil, so that when the moment of opportunity came they lost out! So many people lose out in life because they are foolish, failing to seize the opportunities right in front of them. I can think of many examples of how people lose out on a good thing, because they delayed.
One such example is love. If you love somebody, you should express your feelings to them. I have told two women at Harvest Baptist Church on Guam that I like them over the past 3 years, but neither of them felt the same. One moved back to the United States, and the other ignores me completely. Hey, that is their loss. They both wrote me cold letters, telling me never to contact them again, and I respected their wishes as a Christian gentleman.
I went walking this morning at sunrise, as I often do. At the very moment that the sun pierces across the eastern horizon, a spectacular light show is often displayed. Such was the case today. It was one of the most beautiful sunrises I had ever seen, but I had left my camera in the car. I started walking quickly back to my vehicle to get my camera, because I wanted to share what I saw with my web visitors. But by the time I got back to my vehicle 5 minutes later, the spectacular light show was gone, and all that remained was a dull cloudy sky.
Likewise, if someone loves you, and has poured out their heart affectionately to you, and you procrastinate to grab them up for your own, you may lose out when someone else grabs them up instead. They will have found their treasure! Ladies, what may seem like just another man to you, will be someone else's dream come true, and you will have missed out on a spectacular life together with someone who genuinely loved you. Instead, you will be looking at dull cloudy skies the rest of your life. So please consider your ways ladies, before you play hard to get and lose out on a great guy. Someone else may grab him up who is wiser than you. She will have found happiness, but you will have dull skies with some inferior guy—a wimp who doesn't stand for anything, and who won't truly care and provide for you with love. I'm disgusted at the immature bums that women choose to father their children.
So don't put off a good thing, because you might lose out! I have worked with numerous men who never married, because they were always looking at the wrong things, worried about their amassing stock portfolio, afraid to make a leap of faith to get married. Not me buddy, I'm ready to jump off lover's leap. I want to get married yesterday! I just have to find a woman that feels the same toward me as I do toward her. But at least I have the peace of soul knowing that I tried. All I can do is share my feelings with someone that I like, and hope she feels the same. Regrettably, I haven't been so fortunate yet. I am prayerfully searching for a wife!
Another example of putting off a good thing is delaying to get saved. Luke 8:11-12, “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.” The Bible says they heard the Word of God preached unto them, but THEN THE DEVIL COMETH! 1st Thessalonians 2:18, “Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us.” The Devil is our adversary (1st Peter 5:8). The Bible says they heard the Word of God, but THEN THE DEVIL came and removed the seed from their hearts, to prevent them from being saved.
One of Satan's primary goals and deeds is removing God's Word from people's hearts. This is why Satan has entered into the Bible publishing business, printing literally hundreds of English Bible revisions to confuse and discourage everybody. Think logically with me for a moment friend—can you think of even one other book in the world that has hundreds of different versions available? Why has only the Holy Bible been messed with? It is for the same reason that of all the ten major U.S. holidays in a year, only Christmas is changed to “X-mas” to remove Jesus Christ! Should it be surprising that Satan, who removes the Living Word, would also remove the Written Word? The Devil's two age old tactics are infiltration and imitation.
Satan has infiltrated our Bible colleges with counterfeit Bibles, and a counterfeit gospel of Lordship Salvation. We are living in a nation of liars! The biggest liar there is, next to being a lawyer, is a Neo-evangelical preacher! I'm sure you've fell for the same “free software download” lie online that I have. Shady companies often advertise that you can download their software for “free,” but then after you install the program onto your computer, it won't work unless you pay the company money. The company lied to you, horribly deceiving you, in order to manipulate you to purchase their product. That is as crooked as a dog's hind leg!
Well that is exactly what today's dishonest preachers do! I'm talking about theological liars like Dr. Steve Pettit, Pastor Marty Herron, Pastor John MacArthur and other heretics of the faith! These ungodly men superficially claim that salvation is obtained only by grace, and is the free gift of God, but then they add the additional requirement that you must “turn from your sins” to be saved. You see, they are using a common shady bait and switch tactic to deceive you! The demonic Jehovah's Witness cult use the same doublespeak:
“Salvation is a free gift from God. It cannot be earned. Yet it does require effort on our part.”SOURCE: What Must We Do to Be Saved? - Jehovah's Witnesses Official Website
Huh? As an illustration: If I you give you a birthday present and insist it is a free gift, but then tell you that in exchange I expect you to wash my car Saturday, you would think I'd lost my mind. Yet when Harvest Baptist Church on Guam, Gary Walton, Bob Jones University, Marty Herron, John MacArthur and Steve Pettit do this with the Gospel, naïve churchgoers don't see a problem. Are you kidding me? I SEE A PROBLEM!!! Bob Jones University has a big problem, and his name is Steve Pettit! Romans 11:6, “And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.” Could the Bible be any plainer that the aforementioned religious teachers are all lying false prophets? I think not. I say these things kindly in love (Ephesians 4:15). These false teachers need to be exposed, because they are subverting whole households with their damnable Lordship Salvation heresy (Titus 1:10-13).
In our text passage, we see that the 5 foolish virgins were careless, not prepared or ready when the bridegroom came. Oh how we often miss out on so many good things in life, simply because we didn't plan ahead. We weren't thinking, caught off guard. I mean, these 10 women all knew that the bridegroom was coming. That is obvious, which is why they were waiting! Yet of the 10 only 5 of them were wise to think ahead, bringing extra oil with them. In this parable about Heaven, the oil symbolizes the indwelling Holy Spirit, without Whom no one is sealed and cannot enter into God's Kingdom. You become indwelt by the blessed Holy Spirit the very moment that you place your trust in the Good News (i.e., the Gospel) of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible teaches that you are a guilty sinner. Oh yes you are friend. You have been a very bad dog! I am a horrible sinner too, so you don't have to feel alone in the dog house of sin and shame. We've all been there! The Bible says there is a penalty (or wages) for our sins, which is death (Romans 6:23). This death includes a second death, which is the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:12-15; 21:8). If God allows suffering in this temporal world, you can rest assure that He will do so in the next for all Christ-rejecters!
Something occurred to me last month. I often hear people speculate how a loving God could ever put someone into a burning Hell, to torture them night and day in fire and smoke forever as punishment for their sins (Revelation 14:11). It occurred to me that such eternal damnation is completely reasonable, when you stop to consider that God is offering everyone an escape for free, just for the taking by faith. Receiving God's gift of eternal life is simple, easy and free! So if anyone rejects it, they get what they deserve in Hell. 2nd Timothy 2:13, “If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.”
Remember what I just showed you from the JW's, how they claim that salvation is a free gift, but effort is required. That is a misnomer, a blatant contradiction! As we read in Romans 11:6, salvation cannot be by both grace and works. It must be one or the other! Don't miss out friend on God's free gift of eternal life. All you need to do is admit you're a guilty sinner. Simply come to God by faith, receiving Christ's sacrifice on the cross as payment for your sins. Believe that Jesus died on the cross for you, was buried, and bodily resurrected from the dead the third day (1st Corinthians 15:1-4). That is all you have to do! John 6:47, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.”
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