Wise and Foolish Virgins - Part 3 — Keith Malcomson

Please turn with me here this morning to Matthew chapter 24 and Matthew chapter 25. Matthew 24 and Matthew 25. Now I just want to come back and finish and deal with the wise and the foolish virgins and I do hope this morning this will be my third and my final message on this.

I've got an awful lot more to say but I do want to clarify what we've already dealt with on the wise and the foolish virgins. I want to explain it. I want to apply it because many people interpret this differently.

Many good men, many great preachers have actually interpreted Matthew 25 about the wise and the virgins differently and applied it differently and I believe that can affect us but I want to give a very clear understanding of what it actually means and what it cannot mean because there's many churches and there's many teachings about the oil and about the wise and foolish virgins and I believe the teaching of it does not line up with the written scriptures and so I want to warn about that and I want to show you why I believe what I believe.

You can believe what you believe but I'm going to show you what the Word of God says as best as I possibly can here this morning. Reading from Matthew 24 first and then we're going to turn to Matthew 25.

The Context of the Wise and Foolish Virgins

I want to give the context of Matthew 24. Matthew 24 verse 3, And as he, that is Christ, sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately saying, Tell us, when shall these things be?

And what shall be the sign of thy coming and of the end of the world? Now let's turn to chapter 25. I want you to be very aware that the parable or the story of the wise and the foolish virgins, Jesus spoke it as he sat on the mount of Olives.

That's where he was. He was sitting down. Some preachers say you have to stand up when you preach. Do you? Well Christ has given us remarkable teaching here and I like to stand, okay, but I have sat before as I taught the Word of God.

But this is the context. Jesus has just taught. He actually taught specifically doctrine, clear teaching, time sequence about the last days and his soon coming again. Then in chapter 25 he moves to a parable, not teaching doctrine, not giving teaching on end days, but he applies a parable to give understanding.

Chapter 25 verse 1, Then shall, notice the word then, Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lambs and went forth to meet the bridegroom, and five of them were wise and five were foolish.

They that were foolish took their lambs and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lambs. 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. Afterwards came also the other virgins, 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. We're in the Son of Man cometh. Let's pray together. Father, I do pray with the spirit of truth, would you teach us, would you instruct us?

My God, will you prepare us as individuals and as the church? We don't want to be a foolish virgin, but we want to be a wise virgin. As we enter into these end of the end days, as we come into this era called the beginning of sorrows, my God, as we see all of the signs that you taught to your apostles, to your church, Lord God, as we begin to see them all come to pass, Lord God, I pray that we would look up in this hour.

We would look away to Jesus Christ. We would prepare ourselves and make ourselves ready. Lord God, will you speak to every single heart in this room? Lord God, would you even stir us to trim our lamps?

Lord God, to have our lamps filled with the oil of the Holy Spirit, even this morning. In Jesus' mighty name, amen, amen. Part three, wise and foolish virgins. It says in Matthew 25 in verse one, then shall the kingdom of heaven.

Parables and the Kingdom of Heaven

Please note with me that then means there's a context, a certain situation. Christ is just taught on the last days. He's taught about the climax of the entire millennia. He is talking about the end of the age from he went away until he comes again.

We are now coming right down to the end of time. Jesus says, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins. He's actually saying in the light of what I just taught you about the end days, about all of the events, all of the signs, all the things that are going to happen politically, socially, religiously, morally, in the light of all these things, rumors of wars, famines, pestilence of false prophets, all these things happening.

It's in the light of this, I'm giving you a parable about 10 virgins. What is a parable? It's different than teaching doctrine. It's different than giving clear commands. What is a parable? All of Christ's teaching was not parables, but he gave parables in the midst of his teaching.

Parables are an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. The word parable, which Jesus used, it means to throw or to place something alongside something else. It is a natural story set next to a spiritual truth.

Christ has just taught doctrine, truth about what is going to happen. He has made it very clear. Now he sets beside it a parable to explain it or to help you to understand it. You see, it's a natural story set next to a spiritual truth to explain it, to compare it.

It is a story or an illustration placed alongside a biblical truth with the intention of explaining to you something about it. In the gospel of Matthew, we have 20 parables. In the gospel of Mark, we have 9 parables.

In Luke, we have 27 parables. When you put them all together, some of them correspond. Some of them are the same in different gospels. But you will find there are 39 distinct parables, stories that Jesus Christ actually teaches.

And I'm telling you this for a reason. You've got to understand something about this if I don't give the context. You see, the parable draws listeners to hear. Have you ever seen where a preacher is preaching, giving doctrine and teaching and exhorting and commanding and rebuking?

And then suddenly he starts telling the story. Suddenly everyone enters in. Those who are sleeping wake up. Those who are frowning before begin to smile. And suddenly you have their ears. I'm telling you from experience.

So parables draw listeners. They draw the attention. They make you think. They're memorable. They're very simple to remember. And then you can start thinking about the truth of God. Listen to me. The church is revealed in the parables in many different ways.

Sometimes the church is depicted as a bride, as a bride getting ready for her marriage. But that isn't Matthew 24. Please with me for a moment. The 10 virgins do not represent the bride. That's another picture with another message to reveal unto you.

Sometimes in parables, the church are a building or a temple. Their servants are, as in Matthew 24, they are virgins. What are the virgins? They are bridesmaids. That's what they are. 10 bridesmaids going to the wedding, wanting to be a part of all this.

It is a marriage, but she is not the bride. You see, Christ gives a parable, a story of 10 individual bridesmaids. Five of them are going to make it. Five of them are not going to make it. In other words, there is a difference.

You can't do that if you talk about a parable of one bride. You've got to have a parable about the bridesmaids to explain they're not all the same. Listen to me very carefully. Jesus said, What are the 10 virgins?

What are they explaining? They are explaining the kingdom of God. In other words, all the parables are explaining the kingdom of heaven, or the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of Christ. In other words, I want you to understand what the kingdom of God on the earth is like.

I want to explain it so you understand the kingdom of God. I'm in the kingdom here and now, not that which is to come in the future when Jesus comes again, but the kingdom of God now. So Jesus says, In order to teach you about the kingdom, I'm going to liken the kingdom of heaven to 10 virgins.

By that way, you're going to understand how the kingdom of God functions now. Listen carefully about this kingdom. The kingdom of God is not all who are saved, or all who are in Christ. You can be a part of the kingdom of heaven and earth, but yet not be born again.

That might sound strange, but I'm going to prove it to you. Each of these parables reveals a contrast between those who truly belong to the king and those who do not, and yet they're talked about being in the kingdom of heaven.

This parable is not contrasting those in the world with those in the church. None of the parables really are. We think in our mind that it's showing the difference between those out there sitting in pubs and those sitting in here every Sunday morning.

But the parables aren't quite the opposite. In fact, in most of the parables, he totally ignores those outside. Those on the high street, the atheists, he utterly ignores them in many, but not all of the parables.

Distinguishing the Kingdom’s True and False Members

Listen, listen to the message of some of these parables. A shepherd separating the sheep from the goats. In the Middle East, the sheep and the goats look alike, but a shepherd has to separate them. He has to study each one and say, you're a goat, you're a sheep, you're a goat, you're a sheep.

Then we have a farmer harvesting his wheat at harvest time, and he's got to separate between the wheat and the tares. The wheat and the tares grow together. In fact, they're so intertwined that the angels say, can we go and pull out those tares that shouldn't be in the kingdom of God?

And yet Christ says, no angel, you mustn't do that. Let them grow together or you could pull up the reel. And trying to pull out the faults. Notice it doesn't say that to a preacher. Don't think I'm not to instill church discipline because of that parable.

It's an angel. That's for an angel in heaven who's saying, please, Lord, please, Lord, can I do? Not yet. There's coming a day when you will do that, but it is not yet. It is not the time. One of the parables talks about the fishermen who fish and they pull in their net, but the net is filled with good fish and bad fish.

So they separate the good fish from the bad fish. They throw away the bad and they keep the good. We have a farmer who goes out to sow seed, a sower of seed on four different kinds of ground. But the seed is same.

The sower is the same. And you know what? Only one of those grounds is a real believer in Jesus Christ. What about the story of the narrow and the broad way? Both of the ways have an entrance. Both of them have a direction.

Both of them have people on them. Both of them are a journey through life. What do they represent? The broad way is the world and the narrow way is the church. No, absolutely not. That story of the broad and the narrow way is those in the church.

In other words, there's a type of gospel in the kingdom of God, in the church of our generation, that says the entrance into salvation is very broad. I don't need to repent. I don't need to change. I don't need to sort out all my false doctrine.

Saints, I can show you this all the way through. The two men building houses, both of them are building. They're involved in the same work. They're involved in a task of building a house in this lifetime.

One is built on a rock, one on sand. Two men owe great debts. One gets it cancelled, the other doesn't. In fact, it's the one with the greater debt gets his debt cancelled. Or what about the great supper, where a man is found at the supper, but he doesn't have a wedding garment on.

How could he dare even think he could come into this great supper and not have the right clothes on? Or what about the Pharisee and the publican that Jesus talked about? Two men praying at the house of God.

One of them dare not enter the door. One of them dare not even lift his head to heaven. But the other one inside lifted up his head, was very bold, and yet he's cancelled out, he's excluded. Listen to me as we come to this.

You can be in the kingdom without the kingdom being in you. We're taught in the Word of God, what is the kingdom of God? The kingdom of God is within you. It is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.

In other words, the Holy Spirit in you. If the Holy Spirit is in you, then you have the kingdom within you. But the kingdom being in you is different than you being in the kingdom. Do you understand that?

So there's lots of foolish virgins. There are goats, there are tares in the kingdom of God. They really are in the kingdom of God, because the kingdom of God is a mixture like this. But they're not in Christ.

They're not born again. And the kingdom of God is not in them. You know why? There's no joy, there's no peace, there's no righteousness. And the kingdom of God, the Spirit of God is not in them. Here this morning, let me if I can, though time is already running with all of its haste and all of its energy.

But let me very quickly try to point out about the wise and the foolish virgins. In the light of this, the wise and foolish virgins are a parable, not about Christians per se. It's not about those who do really well and meet Christ, and those who don't do so well.

The Oil of the Spirit and the New Birth

Let me prove to you what it is. First of all, point number one, the oil of the Spirit and the new birth. The oil of the Spirit and the new birth. You see, I believe the message of the wise and foolish virgins, its first message, most important message is about regeneration.

You say, what's that? It's an old preacher's word. But I love it and I've used it often here. To be regenerate is to be born again. In other words, you have an inward change of the heart. You're regenerate, you're changed from the inside out.

This is the first and great preparation for Jesus' return. If you see the signs, if you believe we're in the end days, if you read Matthew 24 and you go, oh Lord Jesus, you're coming, I can see all the signs.

Then the first thing, make sure you're born again. You see, many people teach that the foolish virgins are born again. They're Christians who will be saved in the end. That's what they teach about this.

I do not believe that. I believe that's utterly impossible. And let me explain why. Both of them had lamps with oil and the oil was temporary. But only the wise had vessels with oil. In other words, the foolish had only one vessel, a lamp, an outward lamp to shine outwardly so that they could see.

But only the wise had two vessels. They had the lamp, but they also had hidden was another vessel where they stored their oil. And that oil was going to last. It says in verse four, the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

What a powerful statement. They took oil in their vessels. That is the hidden vessel, which the foolish virgins do not have with their lamps. Oil and their vessels stored a reservoir. This was something personal, hidden from the eyes of others, away from the sight of others.

It was a very private, personal thing between Christ and them. It was for their personal use, their future use or preparation before the end. They had stored it up before the crisis, before the midnight hour, before the beginning of sorrows.

They had actually prepared for such a dark hour and the return of Jesus Christ. You see, this oil they knew was essential to meet the Lord when he came. They knew it's essential to meet the bridegroom.

They must have the inward oil of the Holy Spirit. They need oil in their vessels. You see, what about the foolish? They seemed eager for it. They seem to expect, they seem to prepare. Yet the one preparation they needed, they never made.

They never had a vessel with oil in it. They had not prepared. The foolish did not have it. And look at the panic of the midnight hour, an empty lamp, no oil reserve. They don't know where to get it. Do you know who the five foolish virgins are?

They are sinners, although they deny it. In fact, they're very bold saying, I know I'm born again. I know I'm saved. I know I'm in the church. I know I'm ready to meet the Lord. He is my Lord. I know the door.

I know how to pray. And in fact, I have the Holy Spirit in my lamp, in my ministry. What a scary and fearful thing. You could never persuade these foolish virgins that they're not ready to meet the Lord.

It's not until the final hours of time. They are unconverted. They think they have no inward, no need of inward oil in their vessel. Oh yes, they've looked after their lamp. They shine it up. They want to make sure their lamp is in good working order.

Yet they don't give thought to the oil or to the vessel. They came unprepared. They thought oil in the vessel was unnecessary. They didn't put a high regard on it. That inward private life with the Lord Jesus Christ.

It doesn't matter if I'm a hypocrite there. It doesn't matter if I'm empty. It doesn't matter if I can't live this Christian life privately before the Lord. All that matters is that I live my life before others and that others will think I'm born again.

But suddenly, look at the midnight hour. Now they're suddenly separated or revealed to be different from the wise virgins. They had enjoyed fellowship. They hid themselves amongst the wise. But suddenly an hour comes to expose them that they're not the same.

Suddenly they find they're in darkness. Suddenly they find that their lamp will not work in this particular hour. It always did before. Remember Samson that he said, I'll just get up and shake myself as before.

Nothing will disturb me. I'll just shake myself and go carry off the gates again or slay a thousand Philistines or break the chains just like before. But he wished not that the spirit had departed from him.

He didn't realize he'd got to the end of his reserves. Now your eyes are gonna be put out. Now you'll become a prisoner of the Philistines. Now you're gonna be made a slave. Now you're gonna become a clown to the enemies of God.

It also says that as these foolish virgins find themselves in darkness, the door was shut. Verse 10, and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut. The door was shut in their faces.

They were not ready. Verse 11, afterward came also the other virgin saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But their prayer was unanswered. The door to eternal life was closed on them. The door to a second opportunity would never be open.

They were not ready for the coming of the Lord. Here is a crisis hour in which it's gonna become evident who is what. It says in verse 12, but he answered them. Look at the Lord's response. Verse 11, afterwards came also the virgin saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

You're our Lord. We love you, Lord Jesus. We believe this is the last hour. We believe you're just about to come. We believe this is it. We've always believed this. What does he say to them in the next verse?

Verse 12, but he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. I don't know you. Hold on. Does he have amnesia? Does God suddenly forget people? No, you know what? This is not about his omniscience knowing everything.

Of course he knew them. He knew them only too well. He knew their attitude to the oil, and he knew their attitude about the vessel, and their attitude about the lamb, and their attitude about things generally.

He knew it very well. What does he mean when he says, Sorry, I can't open the door. I don't know you. You see, I have to know you for you to get in the door, and you're shut out. And notice here, I know if you're one of those that he knows.

You know why? You're gonna have oil, and you're gonna go through that door. But those who don't know him are gonna be fine. Master, Lord, let me in. Remember me. Who are you? I do not know you. It says in John's gospel very clearly, John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd, and I know my sheep, and I am known of mine.

If I don't know you, you're a goat. You're a goat, or you're a tare, or you're some other thing, but I don't know you. Yes, Lord, you do. What a crisis when you reach that point, a closed door, and Jesus himself says, I don't know you.

I actually have never known you. You know, what I believe is left for these foolish virgins at this point is the wrath of God. I believe now they suffer the bold judgments that we read about in Revelation, and the trumpets that are gonna be blown.

I believe there's a period of the wrath of God gonna come down upon all foolish virgins. They did not have oil to make it in the catching up of the saints. You see, having oil in your vessel is not the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

It is the inward indwelling of the Spirit of God in salvation. This inward dwelling of the Spirit makes the wise virgins ready and gives them the ability to go out to meet Christ while the foolish virgins are left outside.

Listen carefully before I go to the second point. I wanna prove that the oil of the Holy Spirit, every real Christian needs the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. It is not the lack of the baptism in the Holy Spirit that will leave you as a foolish virgin.

It is the lack of having oil in your vessel. The oil in the vessel represents regeneration. The born again experience. Not the baptism in the Holy Ghost. We need to look to the lamp for the baptism in the Holy Spirit.

But the vessel hidden away, this is your reservoir. This is your resource. You know what? It is the inward dwelling of the Spirit. Listen carefully. Romans chapter eight, verse nine. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

In other words, if you do not have the Spirit of God in you, not with you, but in you, you are not saved. You are not of Christ. Let me go further. In John chapter three, five, Jesus' teaching says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, except a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.

You cannot enter. There is a thing called being born of the Spirit of God. Not baptized, not filled, but born of the Spirit of God. After this, Jesus says, Marvel not that I say unto you, ye must be born again.

I'm talking about the indwelling Spirit. One John five, verse 10. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. One John chapter four, 13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him and that he dwell in us because, and this is the reason, how do you know you're in Christ?

How do you know that Christ is in you? How do you know that you're a wise virgin? This is it. It actually says there, because he has given us his Spirit. And then over in Romans 8, 16, the Spirit itself witnesses with our spirit that we are the children of God.

In other words, the Spirit testifies. He corroborates. He gives evidence. Or you have the Spirit's amen saying, Amen, you're a child of God. Amen, you're born again. Amen, I'm living within you. Amen, I don't want you to go that way of the world.

You see, that's the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. One Corinthians 2, 12. It says, now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

A real wise virgin with the vessel with oil is a picture of a real born-again Christian. They may only be saved one day, but if the Spirit of God dwells, then you're a wise virgin, not a foolish virgin.

The foolish virgin has no oil, has no oil. And do you know what? They're gonna be locked out of salvation. They are in darkness. The Christ says, I do not know you. That is not a Christian who's done badly.

That is not a Christian who will not get rewards. That is a sinner who always called himself a Christian in the church. My second point here, the first was the oil of the Spirit and the new birth. Secondly, the oil of the Spirit and public ministry.

Now we move, we're not looking here now at the vessel with oil in it, which only the virgins had. Now we're looking at the lamp that had oil in it, and both of them had it. You may ask, how can you not have a vessel and yet have a lamp?

Is it possible that the Holy Spirit is not in you, but he comes upon you? Yes. Is it possible that a man could operate in a genuine gift of the Holy Spirit? And yet the Holy Spirit isn't in him? Yes, it actually is.

This is the importance of teaching this here, this morning, the oil of the Spirit and public ministry. The lamp, notice, the lamp represents our public testimony, our ministry, our witness for Jesus Christ, how we operate in the ministries of Christ in the church, the nine gifts of the Holy Spirit.

That's what the lamp represents. It's visible, it is outward, it is public. Others can see it and appreciate it. That's why at times we can see a lamp and we don't realize a man or a woman does not have a vessel or a secret reservoir.

We go, oh, they're a great preacher. Oh, look, they prophesied. Oh, look, they healed someone. Surely the Spirit of God is with them. Yes, but in their lamp, not in their vessel. Do you see the importance of this, of understanding how you could get deceived by the outward instead of the inward life, that you appreciate the outward oil, the coming on of the Holy Spirit instead of the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit that makes you love Christ and makes you prepare yourself and makes you wanna live holy and right before God?

You see, the outward oil is the person and work of the Holy Spirit in ministry and in service in the kingdom of God. Verse seven says, then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. All of them had lamps.

All of them trimmed their lamps or at least attempted to, but all of them reached for their lamps. First thing when they wake up in this last hour, in Matthew 24, in the last generation, just as Jesus is about to come, all of them are gonna awaken, all of them.

What's the first thing all of them do? They reach for their lamp. Very first thing. You know why? When they slept, that oil, the flame grew down. Now they've gotta get more oil in their lamps. You see, both the wise and the foolish reach for their lamp.

It was the natural response and reaction of both. The wise were right to do that. The wise, when they woke up, yes, if you're a wise virgin born again, you have the Spirit of God in you, you better grab your lamp and begin feeding it with oil.

You better pour into that lamp. You know how? I tell you, there's Christians who fall asleep and they need to wake up in a very serious way because their lamp is dysfunctional. It's out of operation. They're not using that lamp.

And you need to begin to pour oil into it. Thank God that you're born again and you have the indwelling Spirit. But when you waken up, I'll see it. I assure you, this church will see when you waken up because you're gonna reach for that lamp and begin to trim it and prepare it and say, oh my God, help me.

My God, help me. Let's fill this lamp again. Let's fill my outward testimony and my service to God. But the foolish in doing it were wrong. They don't have an indwelling Spirit, yet they're reaching for the lamp.

You know what their immediate thought was? The outward, ministry, calling, doing something. I've gotta be active. You know, it was right for the wise to do that. It was wrong for the foolish. They were actually deceived, doing the same thing.

But there's a vital difference in effect. Doing the right thing at the wrong time. That's what it is. You could go knocking on the door of heaven. It's too late. You missed it. Oh Lord, I'll do anything for you.

I'm sorry it's too late. I mean, how many chances? How much preaching? How much knowledge did you need to know? How many prayers are said for you? And yet you wanna come now? I had a brother, lost his mind.

Still lost his mind. I love him dearly. I love him dearly. I pray for him. But I'll never forget. We are raising the gospel together, saturated with the truth of the gospel. I'll never forget the day I sat in the car and he began to joke to one of his best mates about the conviction of the Holy Spirit and of the demons coming to tempt you.

Laughing about it. I sat as a young child. I was five years younger. And I trembled in the car. I was in utter shock that he would do this. Many years later, I'll never forget sitting in the car, driving somewhere between Bambridge and Newry.

And as we drove down, he turned to me and said, Keith, would you pray for me? Keith, would you pray for me? For years he fought God. He mocked the gospel. He rejected it. He tore it apart. He said, I don't believe.

But an hour came where he said, can anyone help me? Can anyone help me? How terrible will that day? I believe I'm gonna see many on that day who are gonna go there. Please open the door. We're ready now.

It's too late. It's actually too late. What an hour. What a thing that we're dealing with here in this room this morning. Doing the right thing at the wrong time. It's too late. It's no good. Do it now while you can.

The first thing that the foolish virgins thought of was their lamps. Not the oil. Not their vessels. But their lamps. That's all they cared about. Do we see this in the New Testament that a unsaved person can think they're saved and have the outward work of the spirit but not the inward?

Yes. I believe Peter and Jude in the New Testament reveal this to us very carefully. In fact, they're very specific talking about apostasy in their days. A fallen away. And also what will happen just before Jesus returns.

In 2 Peter 3 and 3, Peter writes, knowing this, that there shall come in the last days. So what's Peter speaking about? The last days. There will come scoffers. If you read the entire chapter, he's talking about false teachers, false prophets in the church.

They have ministries of teaching and a prophecy in the church. Not outside the church. Not in the Mormonism or JWs. They're in the church. And Peter says about these men, there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts.

These are Bible teachers. These are preachers in the church. And they'll come walking after their own lusts. They just don't restrict the lusts. They go, sure, I'm under grace. I love God. I've got oil.

I'll be fine. I know Jesus is coming. But you know what? They walk after their own lusts. And they're also scoffers. In other words, they make light of the last days. Jesus is coming. Do you know? Are you ready?

Yeah, yeah, yeah. He goes on and he says, saying, where is the promise of his coming? If you begin to fall asleep and say, oh, sure, I'm okay. I'm okay. When you're not okay, you do not believe Jesus Christ is coming.

If you're out playing with sin, not walking uprightly, do you know what? You do not believe in the promise of the coming of Jesus Christ. At best, you're a sleeping wise virgin. All things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.

And they will continue. Or what about over in Jude? Jude speaks about the same people. He speaks about those who are very like Balaam in the Old Testament. And it was a movement in the church in the first century, the Balaamite movement.

Do you know who they were? They had dreams. They had visions. They had angel visitations. They had miracles. They gave real prophecies. Everything they prophesied came to pass. They had real angels, real angels from God come to them.

Real miracles happened to them that didn't happen to anyone else in around them. That's who this movement is. Jude warns in the last days, it's going to come again. A Balaamite movement, dreams, visions, prophecies, the Holy Spirit.

But do you know what? They're not saved. They're not born again. And yet the real Holy Spirit can move through them. He did with Balaam. Balaam was a false prophet. He led the people of God into sin and yet everything he prophesied, sometimes he trembled.

Sometimes the Spirit of God kept him back from sin. We read the Spirit of God came on him in a very real way. Saints, do you see how you can have a lamp with oil in the kingdom of God and yet you're not ready to meet Jesus Christ in a very personal way?