WHEN BEING A VIRGIN JUST ISN'T ENUF

Date: Wed Nov 25 21:23:09 2009

Title: WHEN BEING A VIRGIN JUST ISN'T ENUF

Post: Matthew 25:1-13 (New International Version) - The Parable of the Ten Virgins

1"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4The wise, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6"At midnight the cry rang out: 'Here's the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!'

7"Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8The foolish ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.'

9" 'No,' they replied, 'there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.'

10"But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11"Later the others also came. 'Sir! Sir!' they said. 'Open the door for us!'

12"But he replied, 'I tell you the truth, I don't know you.' [[EMOTICON:SAD1]]

13"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

It is about the lamp AND the oil! Havenít you ever wondered why VIRGINS going to meet the Bridegroom were shut out of the feast? It is a sobering thought. Who then can be saved? Isnít eternal separation from Christ too high a price to be paid for a mistake? Letís look more closely at this challenging parable.

First - about Virgins. It is a wonderful thing to be Virgin. The world mocks virginity. They pressure everyone to give away the most precious gift they have - a gift that can only be given ONCE. It is a wonderful thing to be able to give the one you marry that gift. I doubt you will ever find someone who REGRETS being a virgin when they married. Have you found such a person? The devil is such a liar!

Five of these virgins did not stay that way. They ended up in the Bridegroom's chamber. They gave their virginity to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. My friends, take all you are and all you have, and give it ONLY to the Lord Jesus Christ!

I was at a home meeting in Pottstown, and Min. Chris Petitti noted that the lamp was the Word of God and the oil was the Holy Spirit. That may seem to be extremely obvious, but the implications were profound and a lot of thoughts started filling my head as well.

Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible - 176 verses - 22 groups of 8 verses each, with EVERY SINGLE VERSE referring to the Word of God in one way or another. Psalm 119:105 states that God's word is a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.

Perhaps that is why it seems so dark in our time. People are ignoring the Word of God. Especially Christians. If you study Christian history, you will find that when the Word of God was ignored, times were mighty dark indeed. In fact, they called one of those periods "The Dark Ages". Now we might say that the word of God was not readily available before the printing press, but it could have easily been read from the pulpit. I am stunned that today, with probably more Bibles than people in America, the Bible is seldom read to any significant extent even in so-called "Bible-Believing" churches. In fact, in my experience, the Bible is read more in liturgical churches than in evangelical, Charismatic, and Pentecostal churches.

The simple fact is that when the Bible is not the LAMP, some other "light" is substituted, and great error slips in. The devil is an angel of light, and Paul warns us that many ministers come as "angels of light" as well. Without the Word of God, there is simply no pure light for us. Note the word "pure". Light can be very deceptive. We are not simply talking about the "inner light". When a light bulb comes on in your mind, check it out very carefully. You probably have wondered why meat looks so much redder in the meat case than at home - it is the lighting above the case - it is designed to bring out the red! We had a 1955 Plymouth Belvidere Station Wagon that was turquoise with an ivory top. However, it would look violet under the mercury-vapor parking lot lights.

I believe the Bible light is a bit different from those. Many of us have been to services where there was a chalk artist. He would be drawing a picture and explain the multiple meanings as he continued to draw. Then at the end, he would switch on the black light or ultra violet light or whatever he was using and all of a sudden a whole different meaning came to light.

Let me explain from personal experience. I was born again around June of 1955 not long before my sixth birthday. My Dad was an ordained Baptist minister and the Bible was really important in our home. We were brought up without TV (an even better idea now than then) and there were always books in our house. I even enjoyed reading the encyclopedia. I believe I read the Bible through at least three times by the age of 12 or 13, and Bible memorization was a central part of our lives. As children, we memorized 12 verses per week and as adults 7 verses during the program, which lasted three or four months per year. At family altar, we did not even have to open a Bible sometimes, as my mom might recite Psalm 91 or Romans 28, my Dad another chapter, etc. I decided to memorize John 15 about the vine and the branches, which I did, but was put to shame by my sister who memorized Philippians and Colossians during a two-week Vacation Bible School. My memory wasn't that good! I did write a term paper on the Inspiration of Scripture, though, as well as other studies about the Lord and a host of projects and activities to achieve the coveted Herald of Christ award, only the second boy in New Jersey to have done so. We had Bible commentaries in our home, and I had my own John Peter Lange collection. There is no doubt there was some oil in my lamp.

I am telling you this to tell you I had the lamp of God's word in my life. And there was a lot of light. It kept me a virgin during the sexual revolution of those years and it kept me from the deception of evolutionary philosophies, from cults, from drugs, and from much else.

When you accept Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your life. I prayed a lot, including interceding for several dozen missionaries every day. I was a regular in church - four to five meetings on Sundays, but my walk with Christ was a daily walk and happened whether in church or not. Nonetheless, you have to have a fresh supply of oil, or you will eventually run out.

Then came January, 1970. The 22nd I believe. I had been around people who had been baptized by Jesus into the Holy Spirit, but the experience seemed very elusive for me. I prayed and prayed, but nothing happened other than being even closer to the Lord and eager to please him. Then, late at night while lying on my bed on the second floor of 2214 Fourteenth Street in Troy, New York, while a student at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, it happened.

Let me say here that a lot of people who THINK they are filled with the Holy Spirit are not. They believe because they copied some words someone was praying in tongues that they are filled. The true evidence is the FRUIT of the Holy Spirit in your life and the taking of your relationship with God to an entirely different level. It is like the difference between holding hands and talking to a girl on the phone vs. being in full marital union in bed. If there is not a radical change in your life, keep asking - it hasn't happened yet! Don't let anyone tell you that you are filled and you will get a manifestation! If you are filled, you are filled. Just like when you are healed you are healed. Not that lying symptom business! Find THAT in the Bible! It isn't there. The Lord is very practical and straightforward. He doesn't practice Christian Science, Theosophy, or ANY of the cultic practices that have become imbedded in many who CLAIM to be Spirit-filled. If you are truly Spirit-filled, you will be absolutely loyal to the Bible and not all those "angels of light". You will not run around with strange doctrine that creeps into homes wreaking havoc.

Back to my story. I was laying on my bed when the Holy Spirit came upon me in power. I went into about three hours of prayer, including much speaking in tongues. I had been taught that modern "tongues" were not the real thing. Well, God gave ME the real thing - he gave me fluent GERMAN. The reason I know is because I had studied German for three years, but wasn't particularly good at it nor could I do better than read some dialogues. I come from a German background and my grandparents spoke it, but I could hardly understand it. God gave this to me because he wanted me to know it was not gibberish, but a real language. Tongues of men and of angels. Some have the tongues of angels, and the Lord has done different things with me since then, but I treasure the fact that the Lord dealt with me FIRST in that way.

The difference was acute. Even though I known the Lord for 14 1/2 years by that point, the Bible began to open up dramatically more to me. Things I hadn't seen came to light. Assurance became rock-solid. My love for God increased. A whole new ball game. The fresh oil. Ah yes, the lamps and the oil are where we started today. The Word is the Lamp, but we need the oil IN the Lamp. The Lord has opened the Word much more to me. He allowed me to do 600 Bible studies on the radio verse by verse without preparation, extemporaneously, teaching me as I taught in every single one without fail. The Holy Spirit is here to be our companion. Jesus sent him to teach us and to comfort us.

You see, the Holy Spirit of God WROTE the Bible. Yet people want to understand it without his help. Rodney Dangerfield was in a movie years ago called "Back to School". It was a bit ribald, so I would not watch it again now, but there was a hilarious sequence in it when Rodney went back to college where he was asked to write a paper about Kurt Vonnegut. He was a freewheeling entrepreneur, so he figured the best way to do it was to hire Kurt Vonnegut himself to write the paper. He handed it in and got an "F". The attractive professor told him he had NO idea what he was talking about. He stopped the check to Vonnegut! If only those who were teaching us had a clue!

Many people THINK they understand the Bible, but never bother to hear from the author. Instead, when the author actually makes points about it, it is so foreign to them, it is like they never read the book in the first place. Believe me, folks say some mighty strange things about the Bible, and justify strange practices based upon what they see in the Bible! Cults do it, denominations do it, and individuals do it. YOU HAVE TO HAVE THE OIL IN THAT LAMP!

Without fresh oil, the lamp goes out. I talk to lots of people, and it stuns me that the VAST MAJORITY of Christians do not use the lamp much! Or check their oil. Try that with your car! For shame! Without oil. everything seems dim to them and there is no understanding or edification. You need OIL in the lamp for it to work. You need the Holy Spirit ACTIVE in your life, filling your life, in order to make progress.

So these virgins had lamps. They had the word. But they RAN OUT OF OIL. Hmm. Theological quicksand here. Once saved, always saved, huh? Well, the Bible actually says that he who endures to the end shall be saved, and to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. Now to be sure, salvation is by grace through faith, not works.

Sola Scriptura.

Solus Christus.

Sola Gratia.

Sola Fide.

Soli Deo Gloria.

The Five Reformation Principles. I for real believe them. It is no accident that LIGHT came into the institutionalized church when people could see what the Bible actually said for themselves. Remember during slavery how the masters would tell the preachers to emphasize submission to masters? When slaves found out the Bible also said to get free if you can, everything changed! Too many people know only snippets of scripture, not the entire liberating message!

Five Virgins had lamps and through SACRIFICE had oil for the journey and enjoyed eternity with the bridegroom. The other five were also Virgins (I know some folks say a Virgin is simply a young woman, but I believe when the Holy Spirit says Virgin, that is what he means). They had moral excellence. However, while they had their lamps, they did not bother about the oil. They did end up getting the oil, but it was too late. Every knee WILL bow, but, my friend, timing is everything!

You know, many people have trouble with the fact that the five with the oil would not share theirs. The fact is, you CAN'T. I cannot give you the Holy Spirit. You have to get him for yourself. Those who seek him find him.

The tragedy is that the five condemned Virgins had lamps and some oil. But not ENUF (enough) oil. A lot of folks have been saved and even had an experience with the Holy Spirit. The question is, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM LATELY? Has your lamp run out?

The Bible talks about people who have been enlightened by the Holy Spirit turning aside. I shudder at the consequences. Believe me, I have had people holler in tongues who were in complete deception and under a lying spirit. What a tragedy. This often starts with disobedience to God in just one area. You see, the Holy Spirit wrote passages about submission of the wife to the husband and about qualifications for leaders among many other things. All of God's commands are not options, and many marriages and churches have paid dearly for disobedience to the commands of our God. The spirit of this world works in the Children of Disobedience, but the Holy Spirit does not!

Too many women are scofflaws regarding obeying their husbands in everything. Some claim to be talking to the Holy Spirit, but they have fallen for spiritual and political deceivers, developed an idolatrous spirit, and show demonic manifestations. Many men in leadership meet NONE of the scriptural qualifications, and the people hear the doctrines of demons or have unclean spirits imparted to them. Such happens when the LAMP is not used. In essence, the oil was spilled on the ground and never used for the intended purpose - to be infused in the Word to bring light to their lives. I also saw a flyer by a minister talking about Pentecost and glorious things, but that minister is a practitioner of and teaches Chakra Clearing, a new age abomination linked to pagan practices of Eastern religions. It is VERY DANGEROUS following someone who is in rebellion against the Holy Spirit! Beyond that, I have heard prophecy that directly contradicted the scripture on multiple counts, and the beat goes on.

In all cases, the blind lead the blind and the Holy Spirit is blasphemed. The Holy Spirit NEVER contradicts the Bible nor does the Holy Spirit ever allow idolatry or unclean practices. He is not the author of confusion, but spoke through Holy men to give us God's timeless commandments and to show us his heart with great clarity.

My friends, this passage in Matthew is a very sobering passage. I beseech you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, to spend ample time with God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and to let the Word interpreted to you by the precious Holy Spirit guide your path.

You will go off the path, get lost, and fail to reach your destination if you do not have oil in your lamp and let that lamp show you clearly the path God has delineated for you to take, to reveal to you the rocks and crevices to avoid, and to show you the hazards so they will not take you by surprise. If you are in a dark world - without the Word of God illuminated by its writer, the Holy Spirit, you will not end up in fellowship with the Light of the World forever.

Being a Virgin isn't enuf.

Having a Lamp isn't enuf.

Bring filled with the Holy Spirit of God is quite enuf°

That is not my teaching. That is the teaching of Jesus Christ according to the Gospel of Matthew. May God bless and keep you!