Bethany Baptist Church will have an Independence Day service, Sunday, July 3. Veterans will be honored in the morning service. There will be lunch in the fellowship hall after the morning service. The Nelson Family Singers from Arkansas will be singing in the morning services and presenting a concert, Sunday, afternoon at 1:00 PM. There will be no service Sunday night.
Dan Stillings sang a song in the morning service. Pastor Bob Sorensen brought a message from Matthew 25:1-13 he called, “The Midnight Hour.”
There were ten virgins. They had all been invited to the wedding. They all had made a response. But five of them were not “ready.” Five of them brought no oil in their lamps. When the bridegroom came, the five with oil in their lamps went into the wedding celebration. The Lord Jesus compared this to the kingdom of heaven and the Lord’s second coming.
Having an invitation and arriving at the door did not make them “ready.” Having a lamp did not make them ready. All the virgins had lamps. It looked as though they were ready, but outside appearance does not assure entrance. They had gone through the motions, but they had failed in the most important aspect. They had no oil in their lamps.
They all had the virtue of pure character. They all looked religious, acted religious, and were probably all honest, hard working, law respecting individuals, but five of them were unsaved. Having a “godly” life style does not produce salvation, even though salvation should produce a godly life style.
The ten virgins were together that day, but they would be separated at midnight. It is sad when people assume that they are saved because they have done well in their own opinion or perhaps they think that they will have time to get saved later on. But at midnight they met their maker. That is why the warning is given, don’t be among those at judgment who will hear, “I know you not.”
No one was taken in to the wedding for their own merit. It was entirely by the grace of God. Many have walked the aisle, been baptized, filled out membership cards, without ever being saved. The oil represents the presence of the Holy Spirit. If you do not have the Holy Spirit, you are still lost.
Salvation is available to everyone. It is based on acceptance of Jesus, who he is, and what he has done. The foolish virgins knew that they did not have oil. They were trying to have “Christianity without Christ.” Your own good deeds won’t get you in, but Romans 10:9 says that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, “thou shalt be saved.”
