Keith Malcomson delivers a powerful sermon on the parable of the Wise and Foolish Virgins from Matthew 25, emphasizing the urgency for the church to be prepared for the return of Christ. He warns that many in the church may be caught unprepared due to spiritual slumber, highlighting the importance of having the Holy Spirit (oil) within us to sustain our faith. Malcomson contrasts the wise virgins, who are thoughtful and prepared, with the foolish virgins, who lack the necessary oil and thus miss the bridegroom. He calls for a serious awakening in the church, urging believers to be vigilant and ready for the imminent return of Jesus. The message serves as a wake-up call to examine our spiritual readiness and relationship with God.

Amen. Please turn with me here this morning to Matthew 25. I want to continue where I left off last week, midstream, and I just want to continue on here in Matthew 25. And my message is, wise and foolish virgins, wise and foolish virgins, a prophetic message from Jesus Christ for the church of our generation, where we are right now at this moment in world history and world events. I believe this parable, this prophecy, this prediction, this instruction, this wisdom is for you and I here this morning. Whether you're a foolish virgin or a wise virgin, I want to assure you, you better listen carefully because it could mean the salvation or the loss of your eternal soul with what we're dealing with. Matthew chapter 25, reading from verse 1, then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps, and they went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and they 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 yourself. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom come. 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 you know not neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of Man cometh. Let's pray here together. Father, I do pray for a seriousness awaiting us, O God, in this hour. It's such a serious hour. It's such a sobering hour. And my God, all the signs are there. If we have eyes to see, if we have any wisdom whatsoever, all of the signs are swiftly coming to pass to turn our eyes towards Jesus. My God, to begin to prepare ourself, to adjust ourself, to make ourself ready, to do anything that we need to do now, to be ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. My God, we're not looking for a thing. We're not looking for an event. We're not looking for a spiritual movement. We're not looking for a manifestation. We're not looking for a new teaching or emphasis. But we are looking for a divine person, the same one who went away shall come in like manner, just as he went away. And Lord God, we want to be a church making herself ready, preparing herself, watching, awake, prayerful, seeking the face of the Lord. And my God, we want eyes that are open to the signs of the times that we might discern the near coming of the Lord Jesus. My Lord, I do pray that you'd make us wise virgins, that you'd raise up a church that can be counted. Now, wise virgin in this hour, God help us. We need the oil of your Holy Spirit like never before. We need light. We need heat. We need revelation. We need illumination and guidance. My God, we are desperate for the oil of your Holy Spirit here in our midst. My God, I'm asking, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. Pour out your Holy Spirit on our unsafe family members that they might be born again and come into the kingdom of God at this dark and crisis hour. In the name of Jesus, we bless you. Amen. Amen. My message, part two, wise and foolish virgins. Wise and foolish virgins, please go back and watch or listen to part one to get the context of what we're going to deal with here. In chapter 24 and verse 44, Jesus says, therefore, why did he say therefore? Because he'd been teaching an entire chapter of doctrine on his soon coming. What would be the signs, the events politically, socially, religiously, and economically? What would be happening in the world worldwide just before he comes again? You see, there's those in the church who teach we shouldn't look for signs. I'm telling you, Jesus taught we should look for signs. We ought to be awake. We ought to be watchful. Watchful for what? Yes, the coming of the Lord. But how can you watch for him coming if you don't know the signs of his coming? What it's actually saying is you need to be awake, watchful, ready, because as you see all the signs, there is an urgency within you to say, I want to be ready for the coming of the Lord since I'm not looking for merely a new movement, a new spiritual experience. It is the Lord I am looking for. It is not an event that is going to happen. It is not a great spiritual crisis. I'm looking for a divine person. I'm looking for him. I am longing for him. Jesus says in Matthew 24 and verse 44, Therefore, be ye also ready. For in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. Do you realize many are going to be thinking? They're going to have strong thoughts. The Lord's not coming yet. How do I know they're going to think that? They are not getting ready. Show me someone who knows all of the teaching of the Bible, but they're not getting ready. They're not departing from sin. They're not getting born again. They don't believe anything. They can look at the world. They can hear the preaching, but if it's not affecting your life, then you do not believe in anything. You're actually blind to the signs. You might say, look at the mark of the beast coming. You don't believe in anything if you're not getting ready. Do you realize Jesus said the signs would come fast and furious? There would be a warning enough that you would begin to say, I must get ready. Therefore, be ye also ready. For in such an hour as ye think not, you're going to say tomorrow, tomorrow, next year, next year. Oh, all the plans of my life. Do you know what? You're going to get caught out. There is a type of thinking that stops you being prepared for the return of Jesus Christ. I mean an entire way of thinking in the church. This scripture is not talking about sinners or rebels or atheists. It's talking about people sitting in churches. And he said, there's a type of way of thinking of your inward thought. And do you know what that thought nullifies you or stops you being ready or prepared for the coming of the Lord? He says, be ye also ready. Remember what we said about this word ready. It means to adjust yourself, to make yourself ready, to prepare yourself or to stand there as a servant, literally to be at the hand of the Lord, to say, Lord, what do you want me to do here? I am. I'm in the right place in the right spiritual condition. Lord, I am ready. That's what the word ready means to be adjusted, change in the right place at the right time to do the right thing. And as an absolute servant of Jesus Christ, where he can use you in this last hour, there's a lot of people in the church. God cannot use them. I couldn't use them. So God help you. If I couldn't, then what is the Lord going to say? You know what? I would never use an unfaithful person. Never, never, never. I wouldn't use a fool of a man. I would never use that person. And so Christ, when he's looking at his church, he's looking for a certain type of church, a certain type of preacher and a certain type of believer. Do you realize that after teaching thoroughly, accurately and fully about his soon coming on all the signs, Jesus gives four parables. The first of them is at the end of Matthew 24. The other three fill Matthew 25. In other words, Matthew 24 and Matthew 25 go together after teaching doctrine, after teaching time sequence, after teaching on the signs, Jesus gives four parables. What are parables? They are normal stories. What does Christ do? He takes a normal natural thing of life, something that is common to us, something we understand, something we see regularly, and he takes that natural, earthly, worldly, human story. And you know what he does? He uses it to explain a kingdom truth, a heavenly truth or a spiritual truth. In other words, when you look at it, you begin to understand spiritual truth. That's why after teaching on the end days, Christ gives four different parables. And if you study these parables, they all merge into one. You see, he gives teaching on outward events. But then in the four parables, he comes to the inward attitude of the heart. He's no longer talking about worldwide events out there in the future. He is now bringing it very close to every individual in the church that says they're getting ready for Jesus, and he begins to speak to them about the attitude of their heart. In each of the four parables, the Lord delayed his coming. There was a delay in all four parables. In other words, that is going to be a testing time when people begin to say, sure, we've always heard this. Everybody has said this for years. Oh yes, this has gone on all through the generations, and this hour is no different, so I can rest. I want to tell you, on the very hour that these things are actually coming to pass, that's going to be the time people are least prepared for this. They're going to be thinking, not yet, not yet. My Lord delays his coming. Last week, we looked at the foolish virgins, five of the ten, and we said the word foolish means dull, to be stupid, heedless, a flat edge without any sharpness, lacking a grip on reality. We pointed out in Matthew 25, 13, Watch therefore, or be awake, for ye know neither the day nor the hour that the Son of Man cometh. You better watch. Anyone who does not watch will not know the time of the coming of the Lord. What are you watching for? You actually are looking at the signs, and as you look at those signs, you become alert. You waken yourself. You stir yourself, and you go, this is just about to happen. It is only around the corner. Now let me go further and explain who are the wise virgins in this parable of Jesus. We've seen who the foolish are, and we're going to come back and look at them again, but who are the wise virgins? We actually seen how there was a lack of thoughtfulness or care in the foolish virgins, but what does the word wise mean? This word wise for wise virgin, listen carefully to what it means. It means thoughtful. That's what this Greek word wise actually means. It means to be thoughtful, or to rein, or to curb in the thoughts of the mind. In other words, you're pulling in all of the thoughts. You're taking your thoughts captive. That's what the word wise means. I can identify a wise virgin, or a wise Christian, or a wise church. You know why? The wisdom that they have means that they are pulling in their thoughts. They're taking their own thought life captive. Why do they do that? To protect the attitudes of their heart and the actions of their hand. They know that the thought life is going to get down into their heart, and I assure you, when I see someone living wrong, acting wrong, or speaking wrong, that goes back to attitudes, and then it goes further back to thoughts in the mind. Do you see how the minds of these foolish virgins have destroyed them, and mean that they don't prepare? They say they believe it all, but they're not getting prepared. They say Jesus is about to come. They see all of the signs, and yet it doesn't affect them. They are still foolish. They are still thoughtless, but look at these wise virgins. The word here in the Greek, listen carefully what wise and wise virgin means. It means a type of wisdom relevant to practical action. It also implies good judgment, excellence of character, and good habits of life. This wisdom is sometimes referred to as practical virtue. How do I recognize the wise virgins? There is a wisdom that they have in their thinking, in their mind, in their thoughts that leads out into a practical holiness of life. In other words, I see them getting ready. I see them preparing themselves. I see them changing their actions, capturing thoughts that could endanger their soul or put them to sleep. You see, this is what a wise virgin is. They have a wisdom that comes from God that affects their lifestyle, and their speech, and their attitudes. It is very, very practical in the home, on the high street, in the workplace, in church life, in amongst their family members. There is a wisdom that actually leads to godliness in all of those environments. Since a wise virgin is radically different than a foolish virgin, they're not the same. One of them has a mind that is absolutely clouded and closed to the things of God. The other one is very alert and alive to spiritual issues. These wise virgins, let me give you some points about them here. You see, I believe that they have a strong fear of the Lord. Why do I say that? Why is it that I would look at these wise virgins and say, those that are preparing themselves for Jesus to come back are marked by the fear of the Lord? It says in Proverbs 9 verse 10, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. In other words, without a real genuine fear of God, you have no wisdom. When I meet someone, and they could be very educated or not educated at all, but they're very foolish. I mean, they give no thought to spiritual things. You know what I have to say? They have no fear of God. This has got nothing to do with intelligence, your education, the brightness of your emotions, nothing to do with that. This has everything to do with fearing God, a reverence, a respect, an awesome awareness of the Lord. Those that fear the Lord are going to be wise in this hour. I promise you, do you want the wisdom of God? Do you want to be a wise virgin in this hour? Then make sure you fear God, that you have a holy, awesome reverence of the Lord. So what's the essential difference between the actions of the wise and the actions of the foolish? Do you remember I said about the foolish, that they took their lamps, but they took no oil with them. That's marked them out. You see, that foolish thinking, there was a manner of thinking in the foolish virgin that says, yes, let's take our lamp, but I won't take any oil with me. It came out of that mind, out of that attitude of heart. But let's compare this with the wise. What do they say? Look in verse 4 with me, concerning the wise virgin and the difference in their actions, or what did this wisdom lead them to? It says in verse 4, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. The foolish didn't do that. Look at these wise virgins. They took oil in their vessels. The word took means to lay siege of, or to grab, or to hold fast with both hands. What did they do? Oh yes, they had a lamp like the foolish virgins. They all had lamps. What is the lamp? Your outward testimony, your activity, your ministry, your knowledge in the church. Everybody has a lamp who's basically in the church or who's professing to know Jesus Christ. They all have lamps, but what did the wise virgin do? They took oil in their vessel. They had a lamp that was burning, but they also had something else that the foolish didn't have. They had another vessel, not just their lamp, not just their candle light, not just this instrument that was outward. Remember what we said about the outward oil? They only needed oil for your lamp, but what did the wise do? They took another vessel with them, and that other vessel was filled with oil. So look at these wise virgins. They had an awareness of the necessity of the oil. The foolish only saw the importance of a lamp, but the actual wise virgin said, I must have oil. I must take a source of oil. I must store oil up for the future. I must have a reservoir of oil, not just for public ministry, not just out there where everyone can see it. I need another vessel that is my personal vessel. It is hidden away from the sight of man. It's for my personal use. It's for the future, not for now. It's not for outward ministry. It is for me. It is to prepare me for the hour of need, and in fact, they stored up oil to go out to meet the bridegroom. You see, the church is filled with people. I want oil for ministry. I want to be active. I want to be noticed. I want to do some great thing, and yet they're not storing oil up to meet Jesus Christ. Can I ask you, rather than storing oil up to do something in the church to be noticed by the church, are you going to have oil that you can go out to meet the bridegroom? Is your vessel, do you have a secret private vessel that's filled with oil that actually is going to be saved there and protected there, and you have to prepare it now? Later will be too late. If you leave this to another hour, you're going to find that yourself that you're going to miss the coming of the Lord. You're not going to be ready to meet him. Now you need to prepare the saints. I'm warning you about the midnight hour, the greatest crisis in world history. I want you to make yourself ready now. If you don't do it now, if you wait until that time, I promise you, according to this parable, you're going to be caught out. You're going to find yourself in a terrible situation. So look at these wise virgins. They took oil in their vessels. They knew it's the oil that's important, not the lamp, not the outward testimony, not doing things in the church, not believing the right thing, not preaching or evangelism. All those things are important for all of us, but that is not the essential thing. Do you know what it is? It is the inward oil. You see what I'm talking about, the outward oil in the lamp and the inward oil in the vessel. The wise had the inward oil and the outward oil. The foolish only had outward oil, but no inward oil. You say, can you have that? Yes, of course you can have that. You can have those that play around with the Holy Spirit, gifts of the Holy Spirit, ministries of the Holy Spirit, anointings of the Holy Spirit, but they have no inward oil. Their experience of the Holy Spirit is outward in the church and it's public, but they have no real experience of the real Holy Spirit of their vessel being filled. It says in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and 16, know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? What is the inward oil? It is the real Holy Spirit. Oil always represents the Holy Spirit. Here it's talking about oil indwelling you or the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. See, this is a real Christian. Who is the real Christian? The Holy Spirit lives actually within you. If he doesn't, you're in trouble on that day. You can do all the religious things, but when the Lord comes, you're going to receive a very clear message from him. It also says in 1 Corinthians 6, 19, what? Know ye not that your body, your physical body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? So, we begin to see who these wise virgins are. They fear God. They take oil with them. They are filled with oil in that secret place. They are a temple of the Holy Spirit, but do you know what else they are? They are also faithful. It says in chapter 24, 45 that they are faithful and wise, a faithful and wise servant, not only a wise servant, but also faithful. What does it mean to be faithful? It means trustworthy, to be reliable, or someone I can trust. Can God trust you here this morning? You may say, oh, I'm wise. I have the real Holy Spirit. I'm born again. Can God trust you with spiritual things? You know, in the first parable Jesus gives, it's about the householder or the man of the house. Listen to what it says. Who then is a faithful and a wise servant, whom his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? I believe this speaks to every man of a house. I believe it also speaks about every preacher in a church. I believe God's going to hold every preacher, every man as the head of the home, responsible for how he leads that home. Are you faithful? Are you faithful? God uses this as an example. I've given this man a household to look after. Does he care for it? Because you know what? If he doesn't, he is a fool. He's not wise and he is not faithful. How do you look after a house? To give them meat in due season. The right meals at the right time. You know, I'm glad for a wife who's very careful about my eating. I wouldn't be. I wouldn't be very careful. And man, you would not like to see what I would eat if Candice wasn't there. But you know what? There is someone there caring for the meals, watching over them, making sure I have enough greens, enough salad. I just know these young guys love their salads like me. And the odd time I have to say, no more salads. I've had my fill of salads. But you know what? There is a spiritual principle here. Not of the woman or the wife looking after a meal. But what about those who look after the house of God? You better make sure you have the word of God at the right time to feed. So they're also faithful. Are you faithful in the house of God? Are you trustworthy? They are also ready. In verse 10, it says, and they that were ready went out to meet him, to the marriage, and the door was shut. Look at these wise virgins. Because of their wisdom, because of their oil, they are ready. They have adjusted themselves. They have prepared themselves. They are usable. Since you better find out if you're a foolish virgin or a wise virgin. But notice with me, they did slumber and sleep. An hour a time came when these wise virgins who had oil, who had wisdom, who had faithfulness, who had prepared themselves and made themselves ready, they actually began to slumber and sleep. They are the real. They are really born again. They're real temples of the Holy Spirit. And yet they begin to slumber. They actually begin to fall asleep. And then they lose consciousness where they're not even aware what's happening around them. In fact, the same thing that happened to them happened to the foolish virgins. They all fall asleep together, the wise and the foolish. But listen carefully. The foolish, when they wake up, are going to realize they missed the day of their salvation. And the real Christian who falls asleep in this hour, oh, it's not that serious. It's not an issue of your soul. But you're going to find out how you fell asleep is how you're going to wake up and meet the Lord. In other words, if you fall asleep spiritually and you say, well, I've got enough oil to get to heaven. I've got enough oil to meet the Lord. I've got enough oil to be saved. But you know what? Where you fell asleep is where the Lord is going to find you. You're going to have all this missed period. No public witness, no burning lamp, no works to bring with you. Since it's a very serious thing that I believe Jesus is talking about the last days when a slumber and a sleep is going to sweep the church. It's going to affect every true virgin and every false virgin, the wise and the foolish. I believe we are on the edge of a worldwide sleep absolutely sweeping through the church of Jesus Christ. I really believe that. Notice with me what Jesus taught here. Three things I want you to note here. The delay, the midnight hour, and the awakening. I want you to note those three things clearly because they come in an hour of sleepiness. They come in an hour of sleepiness. First of all, the delay. It says in verse five, while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. Why did the wise and the foolish fall asleep? Why is it that the foolish went into a condition of sleep that's going to destroy their soul in the church? They've fallen asleep in church. They've fallen asleep in the last days. And you know what? When they wake up, they're going to find they're appointed to judgment. What is this hour? Why did it come about? You know why? Because Jesus delayed his coming. It means that he lingered or he held back. Remember in the four parables, they're all about being prepared at a time where the master delays his coming. All four parables talk about the delay. In reference to the last days, it looks like Jesus isn't coming. It looks like he's holding back. It looks like events are moving on since there is a delay. And because of that delay, because it seems like he's not coming, everybody begins to slumber and sleep. And yet Jesus says, you don't have to. You're not meant to. You're to watch. I've commanded you to watch, to be awake, to be alert, and not to sleep. What does sleeping mean? You become inactive. If you have become inactive as a Christian, do you know what? You've just fallen asleep. It's not enough to know that Jesus is coming or to have oil or to be born again or to have a lamp. Is your lamp functioning? If not, you're asleep. You are a victim of the hour that we live in, the spiritual condition all around us. You are a victim if you're falling asleep and you have no excuse, no excuse. Jesus said, I want you to be awake in that hour. I want you to be watchful. You see, the signs mean nothing to those who are asleep. If I meet a Christian and they say, oh no, nothing's happening in this hour. I'm going to go, they're sleeping. They're sleeping. If there isn't an urgency after all that we're seeing in our world, then nothing's going to arouse you until literally we see the sign of the Son of Man coming. Until that time, that's what it's going to take. You must be so asleep. If you are not urgently preparing yourself, either you're a wise virgin sleeping or you're a foolish virgin sleeping, then I assure you, you better wake up because if you don't and you sleep through this next period, you're going to find you're suddenly going to get woken up in an absolute extraordinary hour and you may not escape with your soul. Sinners who don't know Jesus Christ here, I want to warn you, you don't want to fall asleep right now. Do you hear me? If you fall asleep now, you may lose your eternal soul. I believe that if you can fall asleep now with all of these signs coming to pass, if you don't have an urgency to go buy oil now, I doubt very much if you're going to make it through. If you can't get saved now, you're not going to get saved in the years ahead. You know why? It's going to get very dark. It's going to get a lot harder. It's going to get very cold and if you find it hard to get through to God now, I would worry for your eternal soul. If you're willing to say just a little slumber, just a little sleep, a little folding of the hands, I want to tell you that's the voice of the devil to you. Sure, maybe next year. Sure, in a bit's time, you may not have that opportunity. You can't come when you want. You remember in the Old Testament that Moses went up into the mount to get the commandments from the Lord. He was up there in the glory, the manifest glory of God. God spoke to him face to face as a friend. Listen to what it says. It says, while he tarried on the mount. Moses is up there, a type of Jesus and while he tarried on the mount. Do you know what happened down below amongst God's people? They began to party and eat and drink and dance and they took all of their gold and they raised up a golden calf and they began to say, this is our God, this is our God. Why did they do that? How could they do it? Because Moses tarried. They said he's died up there. I don't think Moses is coming back, you know. You know while Moses was there, he kept them in line. He was very straight, very direct and they say, you know what, I think he's died up there. I think he fell off a cliff. I don't think he's coming back and there's lots of people in the church. You know what, I don't think it's literal. I don't think it's actually going to happen. I don't think there's an eternal hell. You know, I'm having doubts about the judgment of God. I don't really think he'll judge men for their sin. I don't really think there's anything wrong with homosexuality. Do you realize what's happening? Because Jesus delays his coming, you're having an awful lot rise up in what is called the church. I want to warn you about this. The delay reveals an awful lot. The delay is going to expose all of you to a situation where you're in danger of sleeping. That's the delay. But let's look at the midnight hour. Notice that this delay eventually did bring them to a midnight hour. It says in verse 5, while the bridegroom tarried. In other words, during that period he's tarrying. While, during that period, they all slumbered and slept and at midnight. In other words, the sleep ends at midnight. This sleep that comes to the wise and the foolish only extends to midnight. It won't be continual after that. Something is going to happen at the midnight hour. There was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him. Notice it's at midnight hour that Jesus talks about. Don't separate this from Matthew 24. What's he just talked about? He's talked about the beginning of sorrows, about the end of all things. He's talking about time, an hour, a season, a period in church history that the church is going to come to just before Jesus comes again. It's called the midnight hour and it says at the midnight hour. You know what the midnight hour is? It's a time of darkness, terrible darkness. It's a time of coldness. It's a time of sleepiness. That's the condition. Do you realize our world is getting very cold, very dark? Do you realize things are changing? It's not three o'clock in the afternoon. It's not six o'clock in the evening. It's not nine o'clock or ten o'clock. I want to assure you, we are heading for midnight. I believe this with all my heart. What did Jesus say about the midnight hour for his church, for the wise and the foolish virgins? Read back in Matthew 24. He begins to describe the approach of midnight, the hour of coldness and darkness and of sleepiness. You know what he says? You're going to be hated of all nations. This is the midnight hour and you know what? Most of the church, wise and foolish, are not ready for this. They have fallen asleep because of the delay and now here comes the midnight hour. What does the midnight hour look like? You are going to be hated. You are going to be offended. Men are going to betray you. You are going to be persecuted. Saints, I'm telling you about the midnight hour that most of the church knows nothing about. They say, hey, God isn't going to allow us to suffer. God won't allow me to be hurt. They think that wearing a mask is actually persecution against the church. They go, well, I'm not going to wear a mask into the shop because that's persecution. You know nothing about persecution. I want to assure you. I have volumes of the saints that were martyred through the years. I have read testimonies of young men, 28 years old, marching up to the gallows saying, I'm happier now on this day of my death than I was on my marriage day. I am so excited. They went to their deaths. Saints, we know nothing about suffering. The church has a few things happen in society and said, we're being treated roughly. You don't know what's just about to come. Do you see what's going to begin to happen to affect the real genuine Christians, to make them begin to slumber and sleep, to become inactive in evangelism? I'm very worried about this. Jesus said, because iniquity or lawlessness is going to abound, it's going to multiply, it's going to explode, it's going to come to fullness. Aren't we seeing it now? Iniquity and lawlessness in the schools, education system, in politics, disbanding the place. They're crazy. They're utterly crazy. We are living in a very dark hour and because this explodes in society, what happens to the church? It says, because of this, the love of many is going to wax cold. Do you know that word love isn't about sinners? It's not about the foolish virgins. They don't love God anyway. You know what he's saying? Because of this in society and politics and in our nations, this lawlessness release, no law, no restriction on lawlessness. He says, the love of many is going to grow cold. The agape love of many. You know, Peter lost his agape love in denying Christ. He's still a believer. He's still a genuine virgin, but he went from agape love, fervent love, I'd die for you, down to a filial love to say, I've got some affection for you. You know, our world's filled with filial love. Hey, I quite like you. And if you girls have any sense, you go, does that mean you're going to marry me? Oh no, I just like you. Alarm bells. You know what it means? No commitment, no nothing really. He just wants you. He'll use you. He'll dump you, but that isn't the love of God. The agape love of God always involves utter commitment. I'm telling you of a midnight hour, an actual midnight hour, when your love for God, for the house of God, for the word of God is going to come under attack and you're going to be sorely tempted to move from agape love to filial love. Since I'm telling you what's going to happen in the midnight hour, most of the church is asleep. They have fallen asleep and they don't love God like they ought to. Remember Samson falling asleep on the lap of Delilah. You'll regret that. You'll regret that you ever fell asleep on Delilah's lap. Or what about Jonah? You know, he said, did Jonah fall asleep? Oh yes, he did. He paid a price to get on the boat. He went down into the depths of the boat. He pulled out his pillow, threw a blanket over himself and he fell asleep. What's he doing? He's a prophet of God running from the will of God, going in the opposite direction saying, I'm not going to do your will. So what does he do? He falls asleep. Do you realize when you sleep, you can escape your conscience or you can try and dull it. That's what you do. I'll just sleep here. Have you ever got to a day and you go, I can't face life. So I'll go and sleep. I'll get into bed at two o'clock in the afternoon. Why? I can't handle life anymore. So I'll go to sleep and pretend it doesn't exist. Do you realize many are sleeping in the church because they cannot handle their spiritual condition? Or what about the wheat and the tares? The man who planted wheat in his field and he looks out as the harvest is grown. He goes, there's tares all through this. Where did it come from? Do you know what he said? An enemy did this while he slept. An enemy came and sowed tares. But thank God there is an awakening at that midnight hour. And I believe this is for Matthew 24 and the real church before the Lord comes. There is going to be an awakening. All heard the midnight cry. All of them, the wise and the foolish. Do you realize every foolish virgin is going to have an awakening like with a resurrection? Do you realize a midnight hour is coming when everybody has fallen asleep? There is going to come a cry that's literally going to awaken them all. Foolish and wise. But they're going to look very different. It says, Behold the bridegroom cometh. Go ye out to meet him. You see, I believe this is the voice of revival. The voice of preachers. Suddenly at the midnight hour when everybody is sleeping and it's got very cold and many have lost their love. I believe there's going to be one last awakening. One last spiritual movement right across the world. And it's not going to just affect the wise virgins. It's going to affect every single foolish virgin. It says, Behold the bridegroom cometh. You know what the message is going to be? Jesus is coming. It's the last hour. You have been sleeping. All the signs are around us and you actually slept. Do you know what? All the signs won't make you spiritual. Seeing the signs won't make you revived in your condition. You need to hear a certain type of preaching. Jesus is coming again. And I assure you any church that doesn't preach that doesn't know the Bible and knows nothing about the Holy Spirit. The real church is going to be preaching. Jesus is becoming. Stir yourself. Awaken out of your slumber. Oh I wish I had the voice of 40 trumpets to blast in your ear to awaken you that could awaken you out of spiritual slumber. The danger is I would deafen you physically and you would sleep on spiritually. That's the danger with that. You know what happened? All awoke. Verse 7. Then all those virgins arose. All of them arose. The word arose means to collect your thoughts, to stir yourself, to shake yourself out of sleep. They all heard the voice. They all were affected by this revival. They all arose. You know the word there awoke. It says then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. It wasn't only the wise trimmed their lamps but it was the foolish as well. The wise and the foolish take their lamp, their outward testimony and they begin to trim it. You know what the word trim there means? It means put an order to adjust it, to prepare it, clean it, rectify it or prime it for use. In other words in this awakening wise virgins are suddenly going to awaken and go I was asleep. You know I become inactive in ministry, outward ministry. I set aside my lamp. It wasn't burning. Here I have inward oil and I wasn't using it outwardly. They are going to have an awakening but so are the foolish virgins. Look they trim their lamp. They suddenly awaken and instead of looking for their vessel they are looking at their lamp, outward ministry, giftings, callings, doing something for Jesus. Why? Because he is coming back again. They cared about the lamp, the outward testimony but not the inward oil. It says in verse 8 and the foolish said unto the wise give us of your oil. Do you realize in this revival the foolish virgins are going to realize that they need something they neglected all along. Give us of your oil for our lamps have gone out. Do you see what happens to foolish virgins at the midnight hour at the end of the beginning of sorrows when wars, famines, pestilence, hatred, persecution is beginning to rise? Do you see these foolish virgins suddenly wake up and say I don't have oil. My vessel has gone out. It was quenched. It was extinguished and you know what that's in the present tense. Not that it is going out. It has already gone out and it was a present fact of reality. My testimony, my service of God, it's gone out. There was no oil in it. There used to be a bit of oil but not anymore. I used to possess outward oil but not now. They did the right thing at the wrong time. They should have asked before. They said give us of your oil. Oh to be late. Do you realize how many sinners, how many false converts, how many tares, how many goats in the church at this hour are going to go to real believers and say give me some of your oil. I want the real. You see my testimony, my power has all gone and I need something of the real. They began to seek and value what they had always previously despised, ignored and neglected. They began to look to man because that's all they'd ever done. They looked at the outward, the lamp at man and now they think give us of your oil. You still have oil. You're burning bright in this hour. Give me some of your oil but since it doesn't work like that. In verse 9, but the wise answered saying, you know what you better be ready for an answer for foolish virgins that come in that hour. But the wise answered saying not so lest there be not enough for us and you. Not enough. What's the message of the wise virgins in that hour? We don't have enough to share with you. Listen this is a wise virgin what they sound like when they're asked for their oil. I don't have enough oil to share with you. I have no oil, inward oil to spare for you. The very best of virgins feel their insufficiency. They never feel that they have too much of the Holy Spirit, too much conviction, too much holiness, too much fire. They never say I'm praying too much, fasting too much, that I'm living too holy. They never feel that. In fact, they feel their lack when the foolish virgins come and say give me your oil or lay your hands on me. You know what they say? I have only sufficient for myself. I've got all the oil that I need and you know what? I feel my own lack whereas those other foolish virgins they said I'm fine, I'm okay. God help them. They're gonna reach a disaster. You see these wise virgins now in this crisis hour inward oil in their vessels flows out to their lamp. They have become awakened and now they have oil in reserve. I have oil stored up before this crisis hour and it's gonna flow out into an outward testimony before Jesus comes again. Do you realize they have paid a price? What do they say to the foolish? Go to them rather that sell and buy for yourselves oil. That's what we're gonna be telling them. You better tell them or you're gonna find yourself on the wrong side of this. Go buy oil. I know where I got it. I know the price that I paid for this. It didn't come cheaply and you can go buy this as well. Do you realize that this oil is not the baptism in the Holy Ghost and fire? It's not speaking in tongues. There's a teaching in Pentecostal churches and they say at the time of the rapture, the time of the coming of the Lord, all those poor Baptists who didn't get filled with the Spirit are speaking tongues. They are gonna be left here to go through the tribulation and all of us tongues speaking Pentecostals are gonna get raptured and those poor Baptists are gonna have to go through terrible tribulation in order to learn the lesson. They should have been Pentecostals and not Baptists. I'm gonna tell you that is not what this parable means. Not at all. It's talking about real salvation or the inward dwelling of the Holy Spirit. The real indwelling, the person of the Holy Spirit within you and if he be in you, he is going to flow out in this hour. It says in verse 10, and while they went to buy, the bridegroom come and they that were ready went in with them to the marriage and the door was shut. The indwelling of the Spirit makes the wise virgins ready and gives them ability to go to meet Christ. While the foolish virgins are left bankrupt, no oil, no ability to buy. Do you know this oil is gonna cost you something? Do you know in the Old Testament and we have all the teaching in Exodus and Leviticus about the oil. We are told certain things about that oil. The real genuine oil has to be beaten. In other words, it's obtained in the right way from the right place. They go to an olive tree and they have to beat that oil out. That's how they get the oil. You've got to know where the real oil comes from. You've got to know that the real Holy Spirit comes from God. You can't get it at Toronto. You can't go to some false revival and get the real Holy Spirit. It is beaten out from an oil tree. You've got to go back to the source. It's also holy. You're not to apply this oil on the unclean, those who are not living right, those who are strangers, who are not saved, who know nothing about the blood. Don't give the oil to them. It's also perfumed oil. It's mixed with the spices of myrrh, cinnamon, calamus, and cassia. You know last week coming in, there was Rory had made it up. He got all the ingredients and made up oil from the ingredients in the Bible and he sprayed some on the back of my hand and as I sat here, man, by the time I got up to preach, it's all I could smell. This morning he was downstairs. I'm sitting there praying. He comes up, sits in his seat. Suddenly I get a whiff of that same oil. I recognize the smell of that oil. That Bible of his is so drenched with this oil. Now when he opens the Bible, I go, I can smell something I recognize. You know what? I recognize the real Holy Spirit. He's got a certain smell. There is a certain mixture there. Also this oil is costly. There is a price. You know some of these oils today, you get a little bottle of it, a very precious oil. It could cost you 75 euro. And you know what? Someone like me would look and go, no way. I'm not going to pay 75 euro for that. It's not worth it. But you know what? If you realize its importance and what it can accomplish and what it does, you actually say that is a good price for that little bottle of oil. It becomes very worthwhile to pray for it. It is also to be fresh oil, not old, not leftovers, not the end of the line. This is to be fresh oil coming fresh as ever. You know why I'm saying that? This is the oil that we need in the church in this hour. Do you realize that it says about these foolish virgins afterwards? Also the other virgins came saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us. They called him Lord. They're knocking. They desire to enter in the door. But he answered and said, verily, verily, I say unto you, I know you not. I never knew you. I don't have any relationship with you. But we had ministry. We had the thing shining. We had the lamp. We had lamps. We spoke in your name. We prophesied. We sang the songs. We prayed. We believed about the coming of the Lord. We talked about these things. You know what he's going to say? I never knew you. You know back in Matthew 7, those who come to him say, we have done many wonderful works in your name. You know what the term there is? Dunamis. We've done many dunamis works. Acts 1.8, it means holy goose works. We are prophesying in your name. We're casting out demons. We have the power of the Holy Spirit. Do you know what he says? I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. The foolish had enough oil to exist in the church, to be active in ministry, to ease their conscience, but not enough oil to stop sinning or to be accepted by God at his coming. They knew everything, and they did nothing. The real Holy Spirit investigates. He knows. He teaches. He speaks. He reveals himself. He witnesses. He convinces of sin. He commands you. He separates you out from others. He contends. He moves. He helps. He guides. He directs. He regenerates or he resurrects you from spiritual death. He sanctifies you and makes you holy. He quickens and enlivens you. He inspires your heart. He intercedes through you. He grooms within your heart. He controls your actions. This is the real Holy Spirit. Saints, we'd better buy the real Holy Ghost. I'm going to pay the price to have the Holy Spirit live in me. And if you do not in this hour have the real Holy Spirit living in you, if you have not paid a price, go to them that sell. Listen to me. Go to a preacher who preaches not a cheap gospel, not an easy believism, but who preaches there is a price. You will have to die. You will have to repent. You will have to turn from your sin. And you know what? You can die as a foolish virgin in this church, and you'll go straight to hell as quick as anything. But I assure you if you listen to this preacher, if you believe anything of this message, you are going to be ready to meet the Lord when he comes. Please stand with me here this morning. Thank you, Lord Jesus. Oh, hallelujah.