Now we're going to read tonight from Matthew
25, Matthew 25 and we'll read from verse
1.
Now this is a story of an eastern
wedding, it needs an explanation.
In the east, in the time of our
Lord, invariably they married at midnight, mainly because
of the heat.
The centre of attraction was not the bride
but the bridegroom.
And it was the bridegroom that had the
followers, we would call them bridesmaids, but it
was the bridegroom that had the followers.
The followers would all take lamps with them
that they held aloft on a kind of
a bamboo cane, and by their sides, it
was all concealed, there would be little vessels,
and in these vessels there was oil, so
that when the midnight call went, the bridegroom
is coming, go out to meet him, they
would take their lamps, fill them with oil,
light them, and then escort the bridegroom into
the house where the bride was, and there
the marriage took place.
Now you will notice that five were wise
and five were foolish, for the foolish had
not the oil.
Now if you compare that in mind, then
you will see the significance of this parable.
We'll read from verse 1.
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.
Afterward came also the other virgin saying, Lord,
Lord, open to us.
But he answered and said, verily I say
unto you, I know you not.
Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day
nor the hour wherein the Son of Man
cometh.
Now would you turn with me to another
portion of God's word, so as to see
the significance of this coming, in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4, and we'll read from verse 30.
But I would not have you to be
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that
ye sorrow not, even as others which have
no hope.
For if we believe that Jesus died and
rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with him.
For this we say unto you by the
word of the Lord, that we which are
alive and remain unto the coming of the
Lord, shall not prevent, that means go before
them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God, and
the dead in Christ shall rise first.
Then we which are alive and remain shall
be caught up together with them in the
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air,
and so shall we ever be with the
Lord.
Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
Now the Lord will bless to us the
reading of the Holy Bible.
Many people in Britain are beginning to ask
the question, will Jesus Christ return again?
They look at Europe and they see it
all uniting, they look at the world and
they can see that there is famine in
one third of the whole world.
They realize that man is about to conquer
space at least, is endeavouring to get on
Mars.
They see all these diseases that are affecting
the world and especially Britain at this moment.
And then they're beginning to say something like
this, if there's a God why doesn't he
intervene?
So they say, will Christ come again?
And the question is good.
And I want to say emphatically that Jesus
Christ is soon to come again.
Now when he comes there's only going to
be one coming, not two.
But it's one coming in two distinct stages.
First of all he's going to come for
a group of people known as the church.
Now the church isn't a building.
I can give you one scripture immediately that
proves that the word church has nothing to
do with a building.
And it's this, Christ loved the church and
gave himself for it.
Now ladies and gentlemen I'm quite sure the
Lord Jesus didn't die for this platform.
I'm sure he didn't die for these brick
walls.
And I'm absolutely sure he didn't die for
the pews.
So what does the word church mean?
It means a company of people called out
from the world that belong completely, if you
like another word, exclusively to the Lord Jesus.
Now my dear friends for two thousand years
he has been calling people out of the
nations and putting them in his family that
he calls the church.
And he's building that church and it's almost
complete.
And when that church is complete that means
when the last members have been added he's
going to evacuate it to heaven.
Now why?
During the war when I was only 16,
I shall never forget this, I went to
King's Cross station and there I saw thousands
of people all being evacuated.
There were queues over a mile long waiting
to get on the various trains.
Now what was the nation doing?
It was evacuating all the men and women
and children they could from the city.
Why?
Because they knew it was going to be
blitzed.
Then when I was about 19 getting on
for 20, I was in the Navy still
in the same war.
And then I joined a battleship called the
Nelson.
And we went into action on D-Day.
What day was that?
The invasion day.
That wasn't the evacuation.
That was the invasion day when our troops
went right over into France and then Germany
and captured again those lands.
Now if you can bear that in mind
you will see the two phases of his
coming.
Very shortly, could be tonight, there might be
a great trumpet sound that Christians will hear.
And then probably their names will be called.
And thousands and millions of people will be
missing.
They will be evacuated from the world and
you'll never see them again.
And then God will deal with the nations
in judgment because of their rejection of Christ
and because of their abounding sin that will
come upon the earth.
And then after seven years of judgment it's
called in scripture tribulation.
And there will be three and a half
years of the great tribulation when if he
did not stop those judgments the whole world
would be destroyed.
And then he's going to come with all
his saints and reign over this earth for
a thousand years.
Now what I want to talk to you
about just for a few minutes is not
the invasion but the great evacuation that every
Christian should be expecting.
Now all this is seen in the story
that we have in Matthew 25.
And I'm going to separate it into three
sections.
We're going to look at the signs of
his soon coming.
We're going to look at the summons of
his coming.
And then we're going to look at the
segregation of his coming.
First of all then the sign.
The first sign that comes to us when
we look at this parable is this.
A glorified pretense of Christianity.
For instance if those ten young ladies were
all standing on the platform and you could
see them and someone said to you I
want you to pick out the difference between
the wise and the foolish you couldn't.
They all had lovely white garments.
They all had little white bonnets on their
heads.
They all had golden sandals on their feet.
They all had a little ring on the
left hand of their small finger.
They all had around their waist a belt
carrying a vessel.
They were all excited.
They were all talking about the bridegroom and
so on.
But says the scripture five were wise and
five were foolish.
Now what was the difference?
The difference is not seen in their conversation.
It's not even seen in their morality.
It's not seen in their dress.
It's not even seen in the vessels.
The difference is this.
Five had oil.
Five had no oil.
Now what does the oil speak of?
If we had time to go back to
the old testament we would find a prophecy
called Zechariah and it's the fourth chapter and
the prophet there sees a great lamp stand.
And going through this lamp stand coming from
two olive branches connected with olive trees there
is oil and it's called the golden oil.
And then the angel that gave him the
vision shook him and said do you understand
what this means?
He says no my lord and this was
the message.
Not by might nor by power but by
my spirit saith the lord.
Have you got it?
The oil speaks of the holy spirit.
So what is the lord saying?
He's looking down the avenue of time and
he's looking at people just before he comes
and he's saying something like this.
Just before i come there will be people
that will look like christians, say that they're
christians, act like christians, but there will be
no oil in their vessels.
They will not be born again of the
holy spirit.
Now if we had time dear friends to
go into the scriptures deeply we would find
the lord jesus saying this in Matthew 7.
Not everyone that says lord lord shall enter
into the kingdom of heaven but he that
doeth the will of my father which is
in heaven for many many will say not
just a few many will say in that
day we have prophesied in your name we
have done wonderful works in thy name we've
cast out demons in your name then will
I profess I never knew you depart from
me ye workers of iniquity.
You see they had all the externals but
not the holy spirit.
Now what makes a person a christian?
Please note this.
When a person becomes a christian God does
two things in that person's life.
Number one he puts away sin through the
blood of the lord jesus.
Number two he puts in the holy spirit
and immediately the holy spirit comes in that
person's life he is born of God.
Now you will say why does God put
away his sins and then fills him with
the spirit because that person makes Jesus his
saviour and his lord and immediately he makes
him saviour and lord he's forgiven of his
sins filled with the spirit and he's ready.
But you know when the lord looked down
that avenue of time and he saw the
end times I'm quoting now from Paul he
says many in the last days you'll have
a form of godliness but deny the power
thereof.
Now friends I want to say something that's
awfully serious but I want to baptize it
in love.
You might be christened as a little baby
that will not give you the holy spirit.
You might be confirmed by a very godly
minister but he cannot give you the holy
spirit.
You may be baptized by immersion but you
could be baptized by immersion six times you
would never receive the holy spirit.
You might reap bread every sunday and you
could be left behind if you're not born
again of the holy ghost.
I shall never forget being in Norfolk and
there was a young man there that I
was very fond of.
I would say he would be about 27
married a very fine christian girl and sometimes
when I was in the prayer meeting I
would hear him praying sometimes he would stay
behind and he would discuss the scriptures with
me and I could tell he had a
wonderful grasp of the scripture.
It was lovely to hear him Sunday morning
worshipping the lord and worshipping intelligently and then
one night I took up the subject tears
among the wheat and I was showing that
it's only a trained eye that can identify
in its initial stages the tear and the
wheat and I was pointing out that in
the last days there's going to be this
awful satanic delusion of the pretense of christianity
and this young man came weeping into the
inquiry room he said calling me by my
first name Peter he said I'm not saved
I said no listen I'm going to give
him another name James I think you've got
your wires crossed no he says I haven't
well why do you think you're not saved
well he said I fell in love and
he named the person that he had married
and she wouldn't marry me until I became
a christian and I made a profession in
order to marry her but all the time
I've been haunted that I'm not real but
I said look Jim you're praying in the
meetings you have a love for the scripture
you worship he said that's all pretense and
he broke down and wept his way to
the Lord Jesus it shook the whole church
but can you see what was happening he
was holding a lamp of profession without any
oil he was never born again would there
be any like that may God open your
heart tonight then you will notice the other
sign is general indifference notice what the scripture
says they all slumbered and slept while he
tarried now the Lord didn't tarry so that
they might slumber and sleep he tarried in
order to bring more into the kingdom but
because he tarried they lost the hope of
his coming and they all slumbered the word
slumber there is marked by humor and it's
the idea of the dropping of the head
you often see it in a hot gospel
meeting and you feel like saying to someone
don't struggle any longer go and sleep and
enjoy it you see it's dropping the head
but the word there to sleep is much
deeper it's to sleep like a log it's
the idea of someone that sleeps and you
can't wake them now can you see the
picture first of all there's a delaying of
his coming because he wants to bring more
into the kingdom and then there is this
drowsiness always nip spiritual drowsiness right at the
initial stages don't let it move into this
state where you fall into a deep sleep
now watch those young ladies can i talk
to them for you Jo the Lord Jesus
is coming the bridegroom get up you're not
ready fast asleep look you're in an appalling
state if he came now you'd be ashamed
of his coming oh what are they thinking
this one's dreaming of a beautiful new girl
that one's dreaming of a new kitchen sink
and all that surrounds it this one's dreaming
of a beautiful world tour let me talk
to them again he's coming can't touch him
do you know why the devil has given
them the biggest sleeping tablet and they've accepted
it and they've gone asleep you know dear
friends i was only looking at the people
on the beach this morning and this is
what went through my mind there's a man
swimming in that see nothing wrong with that
but if that man knew that he was
guilty before God he would have a tremendous
shock but that's the fact that he didn't
know it there's a man there swimming in
the sea and he's almost 80 years of
age and in 10 days time he might
have a heart attack and he's unaware that
if he had a heart attack he would
be in a lost eternity but this was
general all the people in that water nothing
wrong with that cooling off in this hot
weather but all those people hardly knew anything
about the Lord's coming what does it indicate
the devil has injected them with a sleeping
tablet and they're off into a coma beloved
friends may God awaken us tonight you'll never
be a Christian until God awakens you and
then i want you to notice as they
were in this deep slumber suddenly there was
the midnight call let me explain so you
get the drama of the story there would
be a bugle blast then probably two men
would put their hands over their mouths and
they would shout this behold the bridegroom's coming
go out to meet him what a shock
one heard it and then properly heard it
repeat it bridegroom's coming she nudged the other
she nudged her and there they are what
a panic wondering what to do the bridegroom's
coming and they were unprepared you see it
came in the midnight hour dear friends could
i say this to you dear people in
australia that if you knew what was happening
in europe you would call it a midnight
hour the whole of europe is ready for
the man of sin the whole of europe
is beginning to unite and obviously the various
governments cannot control this it's all waiting what
the bible predicts of this mighty evil man
called the man of sin and they won't
be able to buy until they have his
computerized number six six six take for instance
the world in which we live now these
are facts one third of our world is
actually starving one third of our world is
underfed so that lots of children have no
nutrition and one third of the world is
overfed didn't the lord predict that there would
be famines and pestilences now my dear friends
you have not been plagued with bsc but
it will touch you you haven't been plagued
with foot mouth disease but that's creeping all
over britain and look at this terrible disease
called aids almost a half of africa will
be wiped out within 15 years you see
already we're beginning to see signs of these
great troubles that are going to come upon
the earth and then last of all the
world's number one trouble spot isn't belfast it's
not europe note this the world's number one
trouble spot is israel and therefore all the
eyes are going towards israel and that's where
the last great battle is going to be
fought not only in the plains of megiddo
it will be much bigger than that my
dear friends it will be a worldwide conflict
and it will be in confrontation with the
man in the glory now here's something i
cannot understand and i'm going to share it
with you if ever the world is hearing
god saying to it midnight midnight it's midnight
politically it's midnight morally it's midnight internationally it's
midnight scientifically and yet we're still fast asleep
let me reason with you like this if
you switch on the television and they warn
us of coming storms you will take protecting
clothing and rightly so god is warning the
world of the coming storm and we do
nothing about it dear friends i want to
say this to you in love if you
are not a born again christian if you
haven't got the holy spirit don't leave this
building until you have the lord is coming
very soon let's look at the challenge and
with this we're close first of all you
will notice it's behold the bridegroom comes go
out to meet him now there are two
scriptures that divide the whole of the bible
in the old testament it's behold the lamb
is coming in the new testament it's behold
the bridegroom is coming or if you like
behold the king is coming he's going to
be a kingly bridegroom now what about this
lamb well my dear friends if you were
an israelite and if you had broken the
king commandment ignorantly and someone came up to
you and said if your name was joseph
joseph you told me a deliberate lie when
was that about 18 months ago when you
said that produce that you was making was
worth so and so and it was only
worth so much oh i wasn't conscious of
that well you've told a lie immediately that
jewish man realized that he had told a
lie he knew the sentence upon him was
death that meant separation from god and so
he would go to his flock and the
drama would be great and he would look
out a lamb that was one year old
and he would make sure that it was
absolutely perfect as far as he could tell
and then he would put a rope around
its neck and he would take it if
he was a man in the wilderness to
a place called the tabernacle a priest would
come out to meet him all dressed in
white and he would say what is it
joseph is it a worship offering or a
sin offering and he would shake his head
and say i'm afraid it's a sin offering
well he says you know what to do
and then you would see him doing this
he would take his hands rest them on
the head of that little lamb and he
would tell god that he told a deliberate
lie and there would be tears and broken
because he knew that sin was deadly seriousness
before holy god and then he would take
a knife and he would say something like
this i deserve to die but that little
lamb's going to die for me and he
would kill it and then the priest would
go to work he would cut the little
lamb up and he would take out its
inwards and very carefully burn them on the
altar and then he would take its blood
very carefully very reverently and he would sprinkle
it upon the four horns of the altar
and pour it right at the base of
the altar and that blood was a receipt
that life had been taken and he would
say yes it was the blood of that
little lamb that covers me now he said
joseph come with me and lift the lamb
he would hold that lamb in his arms
and all the time he would be saying
this you die for that wicked sin and
when he got outside the camp there would
be a roaring fire and as he looked
at the fire a little voice would say
that's god's judgment on sin and he would
take the lamb and throw it in and
the little lamb was consumed for his sin
now if you bear that in mind then
you'll understand this great preacher when john the
baptist saw the lord jesus coming this is
what he said and i'm going to pray
that this may become a revelation to someone
behold look the lamb of god that beareth
away the sin of the world and when
jesus christ came into this world he came
in to be the universal lamb for the
sin of the world and when he died
upon the cross and it's not easy to
tell you because i feel now the weight
of my sin being placed upon him there
on that cross he showed it before god
the whole matter of the sin of the
world and my dear friends he was so
realistically made sin he cried the language of
a man in hell my god my god
why hast thou forsaken me and then with
a mighty voice and what a voice he
said one word finish and there we have
the lamb of god dying for our sins
that we might be forgiven not for one
sin but for all sin because the scripture
says for by one offering he has perfected
forever tender the sanctify you see the lord
jesus bore sin in its entirety on the
cross but when he comes the second time
and i want to be very careful now
he's not going to come as the lamb
he's going to come as the bridegroom now
please note this behold the bridegroom cometh go
out to meet him now what does that
really mean when jesus christ comes the second
time he's not going to come with a
cross of wood upon his back he's not
going to come with a crown of thorns
on his head you see he dealt with
sin once and for all but when he
comes again he's going to come as a
bridegroom and my dear friends that coming is
going to be majestic when he comes Thessalonians
says this and i want you to hear
the majesty of these words the lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout and
what kind of shout will it be well
it's going to be a resurrected shout it's
going to be a shout of victory but
it's going to be a shout that will
cause people to be so awakened that the
scripture says the dead in christ shall rise
first you say what do you mean by
that all those who have died in the
lord jesus since pentecost whose spirits and souls
are with the lord jesus when the lord
jesus comes again he's going to take their
bodies from the ground and he's going to
be they're going to be marvelously changed and
they're going to be given a body of
glory the dead in christ shall rise first
now i want you to think of the
nobility of that number think of the millions
that have been born again who will hear
that shout right from the first century shall
we say to the 21st century and the
dead in christ shall rise first what a
wonderful gathering that will be and then we
come in and we which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds you say what does that
mean every single person in this room who
is genuinely born again when the lord jesus
comes you will be literally physically taken answer
someone i've got a problem now what's that
well all those dead people some have been
dead you say for 2 000 years their
bodies have all decomposed their bones have all
been corrupted yes many of them were burnt
to death right some were eaten by fishes
that's correct how can they be raised well
here's a simple fact matter is never destroyed
it's evaporated into energy that's where we get
the atoms and he will take the original
atoms of those dear people and from it
again he will make a completely new body
and if the lord came at this moment
right now all those who are born again
would be removed from the earth now i'm
not trying to be over dramatic but this
will happen very shortly billions of people and
there's six billion people in the earth billions
will switch on the television and they will
hear something like this a white faced announcer
saying millions missing the
most dramatic experience in human history and then
the whole thing will go blank what's happened
the lord has come friends are you ready
now somehow i believe that the lord jesus
is coming so soon that we should have
a practice during the war when i was
in the navy we were always having practices
we would have a practice for a gas
attack and a special alarm would go on
and you had to get your gas mask
ready in 30 seconds then we had action
stations and you had to be there in
45 seconds you see they wanted everyone ready
and there was practice after practice now if
we christians believe the lord is coming we
ought to have a practice are you ready
would you like it now so this is
what i'm going to do i'm going to
count one two three four five and then
i'm going to shout the greek word parousia
which means his coming and let's see how
we get on now when i shout parousia
don't you shout it let's see how we
get off ready a practice one two three
four five parousia would you go would you
be left behind are you pretending or real
you see dear friends they that were ready
went in those whose sins were forgiven who
were sealed with the holy spirit who had
received the lord jesus went in what a
moment they see the loveliness of christ they're
shut into eternal peace and he shuts out
the tribulation and the man of sin they
shut into the marriage supper of the lamb
and they shut out to the great abomination
that's going to hit the earth shutting all
the wonder of it now these are not
my words they're the words of the lord
jesus well what happens to those who are
unprepared you watch they turn to the wise
and they say give us of your oil
for our lamps have gone out and they
said not so go and buy for yourselves
you can't buy the holy spirit it's a
gift from god and i do not know
what kind of oil they got but it
wasn't the oil of the spirit it was
some imitation now you watch them they see
the others going in for the scene actually
is of a marriage they're getting right near
the door and they say quick we may
yet do it and they get right to
the door and it's closed on their faces
now what's their reaction they hear in the
distance the tapping of footsteps and then there's
a cry now my dear friends i'm going
to use the cry as the lord said
it and this is just how the lord
would say it now watch lord lord open
for us he says i don't know dear
friends it will be an agonizing and suicidal
if you're locked up now would you mind
if i spoke to your heart and clothes
i believe there might be someone breaking bread
here and you're not born again maybe an
aged sister and you've never been born again
don't leave this place to your right with
god i believe there's someone here tonight and
you're not born again you're near it don't
leave this place until you are born again
because the coming of the lord is near
and may i give you the scripture seek
ye the lord while he may be found
call ye upon him while he is near
let the wicked forsake his way and the
unrighteousness his thoughts the unrighteousness the unrighteous his
thoughts and let them return unto the lord
do that now