From His Heart

Jesus is speaking on the Mount of Olives to Peter, James, John, and Andrew. They asked him about end times. And then in Matthew 25, he gives us three parables. The first parable is another emphasis on the fact that you don't know when he is coming. So it's very important to be wise and not foolish.

Guest (Male): So many people don't take eternity seriously and are uncertain of their salvation. But the fact remains, eternity is coming. And the question is, are you wise or foolish when it comes to where you'll spend it?

This is From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve. Thank you for joining us today as he explores Jesus's parable of the ten virgins. It's found in Matthew chapter 25, verses 1 through 13. It serves as a powerful warning concerning spiritual readiness and the importance of wisdom over foolishness.

The message today is from Pastor Jeff's new nine-lesson series, "When the Son of Man Comes: A Study of Matthew 24 and 25." You can get the entire series on a USB flash drive, on CDs, you can watch it on DVDs, or an immediate MP3 digital download for a gift of any amount to From His Heart this month. Just go to fromhisheart.org to get your copies.

But before you do that, open your Bible to Matthew chapter 25, as Pastor Jeff begins to explain the difference between the wise and the foolish.

Dr. Jeff Schreve: Matthew 25, verse 1: "Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins." "Then" is important as he begins this parable. This isn't a parable that you can just use anywhere. He's talking about in relation to his coming, the King coming. Then, when the King comes, the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were prudent—five were wise.

For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them. But the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now, while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight, there was a shout: "Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!"

Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, "Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out." But the prudent answered, "No, there will not be enough for us and you too. Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves."

And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came. And those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast, and the door was shut. Later, the other virgins also came saying, "Lord, Lord, open up for us!" But he answered, "Truly I say to you, I do not know you." Be on the alert, then, for you do not know the day nor the hour.

The five wise virgins and the five foolish virgins. Now, I want us to think about this question: What made the foolish virgins foolish? Why do you have these virgins, and five of them are wise and five of them are foolish? What is the reason for that? Well, actually, there are three reasons that the scripture gives in this parable of Jesus.

Reason number one: they were foolish because they did not make the necessary preparations. They were going out as bridesmaids. They were going out to meet the bridegroom, and they didn't make the necessary preparations. They didn't, from the parable, bring extra oil—olive oil—for their lamps.

It says in verse 3, "For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps." Now, to understand this parable in full, you have to understand the context of a first-century Jewish wedding. How did that work? Our minds aren't really geared toward that, so we have to go back to history to say, "Okay, what were their weddings like?"

Well, we know from studying history, and then also from the Gospel of Luke and how Joseph and Mary got together, they were betrothed. And that would happen where families would say, "Hey, our kids need to get married." And so the father of the groom would get together with the father of the prospective bride. They would get together, and obviously, the kids agreed on it. It wasn't just something where they said, "Oh, I hate that guy." No, they would come together, and they would say, "We're going to have them marry."

And so there would be an engagement, which was an official ceremony of engagement. There was no consummating of the marriage, but they were engaged. They were betrothed to one another. Mary and Joseph were betrothed. Remember, it said in Mary was found to be with child, and Joseph knew that he hadn't been with Mary in that way. And so he was wanting to put her away secretly. He was wanting to divorce her because a betrothment was different from an engagement. You couldn't just break that betrothal. You had to have a certificate of divorce.

There had to be divorce proceedings because once you were betrothed, that means you are committed. And the marriage hasn't been consummated yet, but you are committed to one another. So you had the betrothal period, then you had the preparation period. The preparation period could last up to a year. And typically, that was the groom-to-be is preparing a room on his father's house for him to live with his bride.

And he's working on this room. The bride is waiting for her bridegroom. She doesn't know when he's coming; she just knows that he's coming. She's preparing herself—physically, emotionally, spiritually—all those things, because there's coming a day when he's going to come. Now, when the room was ready, it was the father who would say, "Son, everything is ready. Now, go get your bride."

And he would leave and come with his attendants, and he would be there to get his bride, to take his bride back to the father's house to consummate the marriage and have a big wedding feast. It would last up to seven days. The wedding feast of the Lamb of God is going to last a thousand years. That's the millennial kingdom; it's the wedding celebration of the Lamb.

But that's the picture that you have. And bridesmaids were very important. Now, they had a job. They were there to attend to the bride, and they were there to light the way, so to speak. And so they were waiting on the bridegroom to come. And when the bridegroom came, they would be in that procession with the bridegroom to get the bride and then to take the bride back to the father's house for the celebration.

They had one job, and that was to be ready. And they had their lamps with them, and they would light their lamps because he often came at night, and they would light their lamps to light the way and be part of the joy and the festivities of the occasion. That's their job. You're my bridesmaid. You need to be ready. Well, their job was to be ready for the bridegroom's coming. One job. It's like if you're the wedding photographer and you don't bring any film, and it's old-time—not digital. It's like, "Hey, I forgot that." Well, that's really important because we need to have that so you can take pictures.

Their job was to be ready for the bridegroom's coming, and the bridegroom's coming was certain but it was unpredictable. That's why Jesus said over and over, "You don't know when I'm coming. You can know the season, obviously." You know, when we think about the two parts of the Lord's return, he comes in the clouds at the rapture—a signless event. That could happen at any moment. We don't know when that's coming.

But then you have the actual return of Christ when he sets his feet on the Mount of Olives and does battle with the devil and his armies at the Battle of Armageddon. Well, that comes with signs. That's what Jesus was saying in Matthew 24. "Hey, these signs are going to accompany my coming." So you can't know the exact day or hour, but you can know the season because it's like birth pains. You know, you don't know exactly when the baby's coming; you just know as the pains get more intense and more frequent that the baby is coming soon.

And so it was certain but unpredictable, and those bridesmaids, those ten virgins, they had to be ready. Now, the prudent thing to do was to prepare for a delay because you don't know when he's coming. And so you need to be prepared. It says in verse 5, "Now while the bridegroom was delaying," what did they do? They went to sleep.

They get the word at midnight: "Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!" Well, you wouldn't think that the wedding would start at midnight because that's late. And they all fell asleep because it's pretty normal at midnight to be asleep. And so they had to mess with their lamps, and they needed more oil.

Now, it was a little handheld lamp. This was common in homes. And you had a little linen wick in there, and inside the little cup was oil—olive oil. And so the wick would burn; the oil would come through the linen wick and it would burn. And if you ran out of oil, then it would cease to burn. It would start to flicker and go out. And so it was wise to bring extra oil, just in case the bridegroom delayed his coming. They didn't make the necessary preparations. They weren't ready.

Guest (Male): You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Schreve today and the message, "The Wise and the Foolish," and he'll have more of part one coming up in just a second. Now, we've just begun this seventh of nine lessons from the new series, "When the Son of Man Comes: A Study of Matthew 24 and 25."

Now, this section of scripture is known as the Olivet Discourse. It's called Olivet because Jesus gives this teaching while sitting on the Mount of Olives during the final week before his crucifixion. And it delivers to us Jesus's extended teaching on the future—the coming of the Son of Man, the end of the age, and how disciples should live in light of these events.

He reveals the Lord's prophetic teaching on the signs of the times, the coming judgment, and the call to readiness. These powerful chapters reveal what to expect in the last days, how to discern truth from deception, and why living prepared is essential. There's a lot in this study. Today's message, "The Wise and the Foolish," is from the nine-lesson series, "When the Son of Man Comes: A Study of Matthew 24 and 25."

And it's our gift to you to say thanks for your support of any amount this month. And you can request it in the format of your choice: on a USB, CDs, DVDs, or MP3 download. You pick. To get yours, call 866-40-BIBLE (866-402-4253) or go to fromhisheart.org. Jesus makes it clear that his return will be sudden, unmistakable, and glorious. So get this nine-lesson series, "When the Son of Man Comes," and prepare your heart and your family today. Now, let's get back to the message, "The Wise and the Foolish."

Dr. Jeff Schreve: When Debbie and I had our third child, Sarah, Jill was four, Amy was not yet two, and Sarah came. And Amy was early and Sarah was early. And so we went to visit Debbie in the hospital. I wanted the girls to see their baby sister and see their mom. And so I took them there, and I didn't prepare.

Jill was old enough, but Amy was still in diapers. And so we get to the hospital—I'm just excited to be there with the girls—"Hey, there's your mom, you're going to meet your little sister." And I didn't think about, you need a diaper bag because something could happen. And something did.

And Debbie's like, "Where's the diaper bag?" And I was like, "Diaper bag? I didn't—she's got a diaper on." She goes, "Yes, she does, and she needs to be changed." And so I was like, well, I figured that at the hospital they're going to have something. Well, the hospital we stayed at was like no-tickie-no-laundry. I mean, it was like, no, you don't get it. And they said, "Well, we have diapers for babies, and you have a two-year-old, and no."

And so we had to clean her up. I didn't have wet wipes or anything. And so I'm cleaning her up as best I can. And then I've got to get home, and there's no diaper. And so I wrapped some kind of towel or something around her and just said, "Listen, hold on to this and hold it." And so that was the thing because I wasn't prepared. And you know, Debbie looked at me like, "How can you not know that anytime you go with the baby, you have to go with a diaper bag?" I said, "Well, how do I not know that? Because I go with you, and you always take care of those things."

I wasn't built to do this by myself. I wasn't prepared. Well, they should have taken oil. That would have been the wise thing to do, the prudent thing to do. But they didn't. They weren't prepared. They thought, well, he's going to come in the early evening hours, surely he's going to come by ten. I have enough oil for that. But he didn't. He delayed his coming, and they weren't prepared.

Second reason why the foolish virgins were foolish: they thought they could piggyback off the wise. They thought, well, you know, if I didn't bring enough—just like me—I thought I could piggyback off the hospital. Well, surely they have diapers for two-year-olds. This is the hospital. Yes, it was like Motel 6, the one we went to, because they didn't have anything like that. They were like, "Hey, we have diapers for little ones, but she's two. We don't have diapers for her."

And so these guys thought, well, I'll just borrow. So it says in verse 5, while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing; that's part of the parable. Sometimes we can read too much stuff into the parables. "Oh, the church is asleep" or "the believers are asleep." No, it just makes sense that if you're going to delay in your coming, after a while people are going to start nodding off—those that are prepared and those that are not prepared.

But at midnight, there came a shout: "Behold!" That means, hey, hold on to your hat, here it is, big announcement: "Behold, the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!" You're meeting somebody that's very, very special: the bridegroom. Then all the virgins rose and trimmed their lamps.

Now, what does that mean, trimming their lamps? Well, you cut off that carbonized, that black stuff off of the wick, off of that linen wick, and so it burns fresh. And then you replenish the oil. That's what it means to trim your lamp. Well, they all did it. But the five foolish virgins didn't have any oil to add. So they trimmed their lamp, but their lamp keeps flickering because they don't have any oil to add to the lamp.

"Then all the virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. The foolish said to the prudent, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the prudent answered, 'No, there will not be enough for us and you too. Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.'"

They thought they could borrow from a friend. "Hey, I don't have to be a wise bridesmaid because we have some wise bridesmaids; they brought enough. I'll just borrow from them." Well, listen, this is a parable about being ready. This is a parable about true salvation. And salvation is not something you can borrow from another person. You can't piggyback on somebody else's faith. You know, sin is personal, and so is salvation. And you have to personally be saved.

Just because your dad is a Christian, just because your mom is a Christian, just because your grandfather is a Christian—that doesn't mean anything for you in terms of your relationship with God. I think I told you before, I was talking to this one guy years ago when I was at Champion Forest, and he wanted to join the church. And I said, "Well, tell me about your relationship with Jesus." And he said, "Well, my brother's a priest." I said, "Man, good for your brother. Tell me about you." "Well, wait a minute, doesn't that count for something?"

The wheels are turning, but the hamster's dead. And he's like, "Oh, wait a minute, what do you mean? Isn't that good enough? I mean, it's kind of in the bloodline. It's in the family." No, that's not good enough. And I ended up meeting with that guy individually a week later, and he prayed to receive Christ. He didn't understand what salvation was all about. It's not something that you can borrow.

Now, I like to play golf. I'm not good at golf. I don't have—I heard one guy say this one time—he said, "I don't have the golf gene, but I have the golf bug." I like to play golf, but I'm not a good player. And that's kind of how I am. It's amazing how I tell Debbie sometimes I come home, it's like, I don't know how I can play this game for so many years and still be terrible, but that's the case.

So the world's greatest golfer right now, if you know anything about professional golf, is Scottie Scheffler. Scottie Scheffler, an unabashed believer in Jesus, and God has blessed this guy. He's an amazing player. Now, suppose Scottie Scheffler called me up one day and said, "Jeff, I want to play golf with you." I'd be like, "I don't think you do. Yeah, you haven't seen me. When I swing, hide the kids, hide the wife, you know, cover your eyes because you don't want to see me; it's like a horror movie."

But so I'm playing with Scottie Scheffler. I say yes, let's play. You know, I can—his equipment is so much better than mine. He's the number one golfer in the world. And I can play with him, and I could borrow his clubs, but I can't borrow his swing. That's unique to him. I can use his putter, I can use his driver, I can use all kind of clubs that he has, but then I still have my crummy swing.

Listen, salvation is a personal thing. It's like a golf swing. You can't borrow that. That has to be yours and yours alone. They thought they could borrow, they could piggyback off the wise. They couldn't do it. Now, the wise weren't being mean here. "No, we're not going to lend you any of our oil." It was just emphasizing a point: there's not enough for you and me too. You should have brought your own oil. Go to the dealers and buy.

Now, we know also as we think about this parable, olive oil in the Bible is a symbol of the Holy Spirit. When David was anointed by Samuel the prophet, they would anoint with oil, olive oil. And when David was anointed with olive oil in the presence of his father and his brothers, the Spirit of the Lord came upon him mightily from that day forward. Now, the oil is connected to the Holy Spirit. It's a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Zechariah chapter 4: Zechariah has a vision of a lampstand, and there are two olive trees that are feeding with olive oil, feeding the lampstand so it burns and burns and burns and burns. And the Lord says, "You see that? It's not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit," says the Lord. Zechariah chapter 4, verse 6. Oil is a picture and a symbol of the Holy Spirit.

Why can't you borrow somebody else's relationship with God? Because the Holy Spirit of God lives in their hearts. They made a personal decision, and you have to make a personal decision too. And what does it mean to be saved? Sometimes we get the idea we kind of lump a lot of things with salvation. Say, "Well, to be saved, salvation, that means you get your sins forgiven." Kind of. That really just prepares you for salvation. That's the prerequisite for salvation. You get all your sins forgiven.

Some say, "Well, salvation, that's going to heaven when you die." Kind of. That's kind of the byproduct of salvation. That's what you get as a result of salvation. You get your ticket punched to heaven; your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life. So you say, well, if you get real, real technical, what is salvation—New Testament salvation? It's getting God to live inside of you.

Guest (Male): Well, we're going to pause right there in our lesson today. It's called "The Wise and the Foolish." It's from Pastor Jeff Schreve's new nine-message series, "When the Son of Man Comes." And it's our gift this month to you to say thanks for your support of any amount. To get your copy, go to fromhisheart.org and get it in the format of your choice.

There too, you can listen to any of these broadcasts and download a free MP3 of the edited broadcast. You can also download free sermon notes and outlines from Pastor Jeff and share these with your friends and family. Just go to fromhisheart.org. Jesus makes it clear that his return will be sudden, unmistakable, and glorious. So get this nine-lesson series, "When the Son of Man Comes," and prepare your heart and your family today.

Now, we'll have part two of this lesson on Wednesday, so be sure to return tomorrow. And after a brief review, Pastor Jeff will continue right there with the message, "The Wise and the Foolish." Hey, when you're online, we hope you'll visit our prayer link there, where you can leave a prayer request and people from around the world will be able to see it and pray for you. And they'll click a button that says they did that, and you'll get notified. It's completely anonymous, however. You'll be blessed to know that people are standing with you in your cries to our Lord. That's the prayer link on our homepage at fromhisheart.org.

Well, I'm Larry Nobles. Thanks for being with us. We so appreciate it. And we trust that you'll be back again next time for part two of "The Wise and the Foolish." Here's part of what's to come.

Remember this: being religious is not the same thing as knowing Christ in a real and personal way. These five foolish virgins were religious, but they were lost.

Guest (Male): That's on Wednesday, when Pastor Jeff Schreve will speak the truth in love to a lost and hurting world, offering real truth, real love, and real hope from God's heart, here on From His Heart.