FAITH PUBLISHING HOUSE

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THE GOSPEL TRUTH

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Preface

In the latter part of 1982, Sister Linda Mitchell, of Jena, La., contacted us concerning a series of three messages which had been delivered by Bro. Ostis Wilson to the Jefferson, Oregon congregation of which he is the pastor. Sister Linda felt that it would be of profit to make these messages available to others. She transcribed the taped sermons into manuscript form and mailed it to us, expressing a willingness to sponsor the book. After reading the material, we also were impressed to share it.

Perhaps you have wondered what the sin of the five foolish virgins was, and what the oil and the lamp signify. Helpful answers to these and other questions will be found in this book.

The messages have been edited somewhat in order to be more suitable for book form. It is presented to you with the desire that the truth of God’s Word may touch your heart and become a valued part of your life.

—Wayne Murphey

The Ten Virgins

Matthew 25:1-13

1. Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

2. And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

3. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:

4. But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.

5. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.

6. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.

7. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.

8. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.

9. 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.

10. 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.

11. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

12. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.

13. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.

This Scripture passage is about ten virgins. Five were wise and five were foolish. All of those foolish ones missed out in the end. Then at the very outset, we’re confronted with a thought that should almost stop our hearts from beating when we recognize the fact that there are many, Jesus spoke of, and half of them who are professing Christianity will not make it in the end. Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is like this. He wasn’t talking about out in the world. He was talking about the kingdom of heaven: professors of Christianity; and half of them won’t make it. Now that is startling, isn’t it? That is enough to make you and me examine ourselves quite closely, and to examine all of our feelings, attitudes, dispositions, doings, thoughts, and everything. Now, I don’t go around saying, “You are in, and you are out;” that isn’t up to me. But Jesus said that half of the virgins were not qualified to go to heaven in the end. They were all virgins. A virgin is a pure, chaste person. Then I was thinking of some verses in the Holy Scriptures that describe what conditions will defile a person, will spoil us. These were all unspoiled folks, and undefiled people. And surely we, as far as our little understanding goes of human nature and what is in people’s hearts, when we see people like this, we would class every one of them good, wouldn’t we?—undefiled, unspoiled—all of them virgins. Anything that would defile or corrupt a person would mean that they weren’t virgins any more. We know that, don’t we? Let us look at 2 Corinthians 11:1-4. “Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Now this is a message to the Church at Corinth. It isn’t just to an individual church. And he said, “I’m jealous over you.” He saw some things going out of order there among those folks, and it aroused His jealousy because it was His purpose to present that Church as a chaste virgin to Christ. It says, “for I have espoused you to one husband.” The relationship in the Scriptures that exists between Christ and the Church is that of a husband with his wife. Christ is the bridegroom; the Church is the bride. There are many Scriptures that verify this. Paul said concerning the Corinthian Church, “I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” The Scriptures say, “Mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate.” It is difficult for us to do that sometimes. The world is going after high things today; things that will glorify man, and magnify the flesh.

Here is a conversation I had on the phone with someone when I was living at Pacoima. The phone rang one day, and I answered, and a lady was at the other end. She said, “Is this the Church?”

I said, “Yes.”

“Well,” she said, “Are you the minister of the Church?”

I said, “Yes.”

She said, “What Church is it?”

I said, “The Church of God.”

“Well,” she said, “Tell me about the Church of God.”

I figured she must have some idea about the Church of God, to be asking about it. I said, “Well now, what is it you want me to tell you? Where do you want me to start?” “Tell me everything. Just start at the beginning and tell me everything.”

Well you know, that is a big order.

She asked, “What do you believe in?”

I said, “We believe in salvation from sin. We believe in repentance in faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that saves men and women from their sins. We believe in living a life free from sin.”

I got about so far when she interrupted and started asking about our services. “How do you conduct your services?”

I said, “I suppose like everybody else.”

“Well, but what do you do?”

“Well,” I said, “We sing, and pray and preach.”

“Oh, well, everybody does that.”

“Well,” I said, “Yes, I’m aware of that. That is the way we conduct our services—just about like everybody else does.” “Well, are your services dignified?”

I said, “I don’t know what you include in that. What grounds would you cover in that?”

She said, “Well, do you get up and shout and roll on the floor?”

“Oh, no,” I said, “We don’t do that.”

“Well,” she said, “How do you conduct your services?”

I replied, “We conduct our services to the best of our ability under the direction of the Holy Spirit. We just leave things open in the service for the Spirit to lead us as He chooses to lead and see how He’s leading at the time.”

“I want to know; are your services dignified?”

I said, “Lady, we’re just a little group of very common people down here and we carry on in a very common way. We are humble folks.”

“Thank you.” Click! Up went the phone!

I stood there and looked at the phone a little bit and thought, “Well, that was a pretty abrupt breakoff of what started off to be a promising conversation.” While I was standing there looking at the phone, the Lord spoke to me and said, “That is what the world is after today; they want something that will please the flesh and glorify man.” If it doesn’t please the flesh and glorify man, they are not interested in it—they don’t want it. That is a corruption or a defilement. He said, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” Folks, let me tell you today that Christ is worshipped in the same lowly, humble way out of the same lowly, humble hearts that He was in the day that Jesus was here. He said, “I am meek and lowly in heart and you will find rest to your souls.” He just opened His heart to us and showed us what was in it. It’s the same today. We can conclude that these virgins hadn’t gone that way. They were still satisfied with the lowly, humble, simple way of the Lord, or else they wouldn’t have been called virgins. They would have been corrupted people. They hadn’t gone that way, neither had they been affected with that thing.

2 Corinthians 11:4, says, “For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus. . . .” The world is full of different kinds of Jesuses today—different Jesuses to what we know Jesus to be. The world is teaching that Jesus today does not save people from their sins. They are teaching us that we must sin more or less all of the time; that there is no such thing as being saved from sin. That is another Jesus. God said concerning Him, “Thou shalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” Not only does He save His people from their sins, but He actually breaks the power and dominion of sin out of the hearts and lives of those who come to Him and are saved through His grace. The Scripture says in the 6th chapter of Romans, “Sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are under grace.” The grace of God gives power over sin, but that’s not the Jesus the world is preaching today. They are preaching another Jesus. The world is preaching a Jesus that does not perform miracles. They are telling us that healing was all for Christ and the apostles back there and that it passed away with them. One man told me he could show me right in the Bible where it says that Christ and the Apostles did those things but that it all passed away with them. He was working where I was working and I said, “Well, all right, I’ve got a check coming here pretty soon, and if you bring up that Scripture by the time I get that check, I’ll sign that check over to you. I’ll just pay you my whole check for that Scripture.”

Well, when I got my check, I went around and I said, “Have you got your Scripture yet?”

He said, “No, I haven’t found it yet.” Well, I knew he wasn’t going to find it. He went off the job right after that and I never saw him anymore.

That is the kind of Jesus the world is preaching today. They say that He doesn’t heal the sick today; that He doesn’t perform miracles today. That is not the Jesus of the Bible; that’s another Jesus. But the world is going after these various Jesus’s that are being presented to them today. “If he preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, [much of that in the world today] or another gospel, which ye have not accepted. . . .”

Paul said in the Galatian Epistle, “But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” Then we must conclude that group of virgins had not gone after these strange things. They were still believing in Jesus, and they were still holding to the gospel; the pure gospel that Paul had preached to them. Had it been different, they would have been corrupted and defiled and wouldn’t have been virgins anymore. But, these folks were virgins all of the way through: uncorrupted, chaste, pure, undefiled people. They had not been affected by the high sounding things. The Bible speaks about those who buy fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple, but they hadn’t listened to that. They hadn’t given ear to that. Cor. 2:4 says, “And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. These folks had not been beguiled or seduced by fair speeches and by beguiling words. They were still receptive to the plain, simple, straight forward gospel message, or else they wouldn’t have been virgins.

Verse 8 of the 2nd chapter of Colossians, says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Now philosophy is seeking after wisdom by intellectual means only. We receive our knowledge of the spiritual and eternal things of God through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. In Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” That is where saints get their understanding of spiritual and eternal things of God—through the revelation and inspiration of the divine Spirit. It is not by intellectual means only. The Word of God says, “When in the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom knew not God.” All the philosophies of this world will not acquaint you and me with God. We don’t get acquainted with God through books and we don’t get acquainted with God intellectually. We get acquainted with God through a personal contact and relationship and experience that takes place in our lives with Him. God reveals Himself to every humble heart. “Beware lest any man spoil you.” These folks were unspoiled. They were uncorrupted. They were virgins all the way through. Right down to the time when they came and the door was shut and they were knocking for admittance, He still called them virgins. “Afterward, came also those other virgins and began to knock.” They hadn’t gone after these things. The highest sounding philosophies of this world and the very basic idea of philosophy is to just throw a doubt in people’s minds about everything. A philosopher will say, “What is 2 and 2?

You’ll say, “Four.”

He’ll say, “How do you know it’s four? You’re just going on what has been established all the way down the line. How do you know it’s four?”

That is the basic idea of philosophy—to throw a doubt in people’s minds about the spiritual and eternal things of God. They are all after something they can know.

A man said to me once, “I’m not interested in anything I can’t see, feel, or taste.” And that is what the philosophies of this world build people’s minds up to. They go after the material, physical things of earth and this life. Their chief interest is in the biggest part of this world; the material and physical things of earth and life. “Philosophy . . . vain deceit . . . after the traditions of men.” The pulpits are full today of traditions of men.

Jesus said, “In vain do you worship me teaching for doctrine the commandments of men [after the rudiments or elements of the world].” The world, in this case, is the old Jewish dispensation and the ordinances of the law. That is the Judaistic doctrine. They hounded the Apostle Paul everywhere he went. He was preaching salvation through faith in Christ only, without the works of the law. The law, he said, had been abolished in Christ and grace had been set up. He was teaching salvation on that basis: through faith in Christ. The Judaizers came along and began persuading his disciples, the converts, that they could not be saved without being circumcised and keeping the Law of Moses. Now that constituted a corruption. Getting human works in with faith and the grace of God as a part of salvation is corruption. Paul said, “We are not of those who corrupt the word of God.” But there are people who are doing it and the biggest part of the religion of the professed Christian world today is a religion of works; just works. That is a corruption. The world that Paul spoke of there was the Jewish world; the law world, and the Judaizers who were teaching people that they had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. Get the works of the law in there along with faith in Christ or they couldn’t be saved. We’ve got a lot of that in the world today. People think they are being saved by their works. How many people do you talk to about salvation, and they say, “Well, I do this, and I do that. I pay my bills. I live an upright life. I treat my neighbors right. I don’t go out on my wife; I’m a pretty good fellow.” That is not going to save anybody. Paul had taught these folks to be saved through faith in Christ only. That is what we’re taught. That is what the Bible teaches us. But they were being confronted with this other thing and the religious world is being confronted with it today. All these works that people are doing are being mixed right in with their faith in Christ as a part of their salvation. I have news for folks like that: that isn’t part of their salvation! They don’t get salvation that way. That is a corrupting thing. Paul says, “We are not of those that corrupt the word of God.” But, a corruption of the Word of God is to connect works up with salvation through faith in Christ. These virgins hadn’t gone into that. We haven’t found these folks’ problem yet. I know what the problem is, but haven’t gotten to it yet. All the things that we can consider that the folks were doing and not doing, still doesn’t touch their problem. They had a real problem and there are folks in here today who have the same problem. People are saved by the grace of God through faith; not of ourselves— it is a gift of God. People have been affected by the rudiments of this world. They get all of these human efforts, and human works, and good works, and everything mixed up with their faith in Christ as a part of their salvation. Now people who are saved do good works all right. The very nature of Christian people is to do good works, and to bear one another’s burdens, to bless one another, and to help one another in their needs. That is the very nature of the spirit of Christ. But doing those things does not make us children of God. We manifest the spirit of Christ because we have the spirit of Christ. But doing those things doesn’t make us partakers of the spirit of Christ. Now he said, “In him dwelleth all of the fullness.” That is where it is, folks. That is where you are going to get full and free salvation; that is in Him—in a right and proper relationship with Him; not through the works that you do, but through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and by the grace of God. “In him dwelleth all the fullness.” You don’t need these other Jesuses, and you don’t need these other philosophies, or the high sounding things of this world. The fullness is all in Him, right in the lowly Jesus. Ye are complete in Him. We have everything we need right in Jesus.

Colossians 2:18, 19, says; “Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. And not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God.” The margin says, “a voluntary humility—acting humble.” A humble man doesn’t have to act humble. He is just humble. I doubt if you ever hear or read of a genuinely humble man talking about being humble. In fact, he doesn’t know he is humble. He is unconscious of the fact. That is just what he is and he lives it out. When you hear someone talking about being humble, and saying, “I want to be humble and take the humble place here,” you can just about set it down that he is not as humble as he ought to be. Real, genuine humility doesn’t require any advertisement or announcement. We’re just humble; we don’t talk about it; we don’t even know we are. We’re not conscious of the fact of being humble; it is just the way of life.

“Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels. . . .” God requires total worship out of you and me. We are not to worship anything else or any other being; just worship Him in spirit and in truth. “Intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind.” Col. 2:18.

Jesus told us that half would not make it into the kingdom of heaven. This should make us look inward pretty closely and see what we have on hand. We should see just how we’re standing lest we might be among those who miss out in the end and don’t make it into the everlasting kingdom of God. A virgin is a pure, chaste, clean person. They wouldn’t have been virgins any more if they had anything that would defile or contaminate them. We notice that these were virgins all the way through. The foolish ones were virgins, too. They were not affected by the defiling, contaminating, corruptive things and influences that are affecting many folks today.

When we overlook the spiritual element involved in the body of Christ in the work of God, we’ve missed the whole thing. It’s just all gone by us and we’re left here with empty works. It’s a common expression today—“church work.” We’re doing “church work.” People are plagued with “church work.” But what we want are people who, in the Spirit of God with divine grace and inspiration in their souls, have something to impart to people to go out and do “God work”—work for God. These folks hadn’t been contaminated with that. They were virgins; still virgins. Even after their lamps went out, the Bible still calls them virgins. Even after the door was shut, and they came up knocking and wanting to get in, the verse still says, “virgins”—pure, chaste, undefiled persons. You may be shaking your head at me. You’re wondering how that could be; that folks in that kind of state were just left out, but they were.

They had a different kind of problem that none of these things touch. “Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances (touch not; taste not; handle not; Which all are to perish with the using) after the commandments and doctrines of men?” Col. 2:20-22. Now these folks he is talking about are a class of folks who were missing the mark through giving heed to the commandments and doctrines of men which constitutes a corruption! Bear that in mind—that would be a defilement or a spoiling, and it would take away their classification as virgins. Therefore, we conclude that these folks weren’t affected with those kind of things. They were just staying in there and going right on and behaving themselves and doing all right as far as anybody could see or tell. But there was something down under the surface that was bothering these folks. Their problem lay beyond all these influences. They were living all right; the problem was deeper than that.

Now, we want to consider another thought in the 4th chapter of James, verse 4. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?  Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Now he is not talking about virgins, here, is he? He is talking about unchaste, corrupt, defiled, unclean people here. “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, . . . but why were they? How did they get classed in this classification? He proceeds to say, “know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” Their worldly mindedness, their worldly attachments, their worldly way of life—that is what constituted them adulterers and adulteresses. This is spiritual adultery he is talking about here. Now, we know what adultery is. Adultery is when a married person violated his vows to his spouse and becomes connected with any other person. When you and I get salvation, we must enter into a covenant; make some vows to God. When a couple stands before the altar to be joined in holy matrimony, the minister will ask them this kind of question, “Do you take this one that stands by your side to be your lawfully wedded spouse and to cling one to the other until death do you part?” If they don’t answer that question, the ceremony would stop right there, as far as I’m concerned. I wouldn’t go any further, and if they answer negatively, it would stop right there, too. When you and I come to do business with God we have to enter into a covenant with Him.

In the relationship between Christ and the Church, and between Christ and your soul, He becomes the heavenly Bridegroom of your soul. When you enter into this covenant relationship with Him, you say that if He’ll forgive your sins and lift the burden over your heart, put the peace and love of God in your soul, by His grace you’ll live for Him from now on as long as you live. That is your covenant. If you don’t enter into a covenant like that you’ll not find Christ. That is the grounds on which we find Him. People won’t find Christ if they hold reservations and make room for little pet sins and little personal things. They have got to express to Him a love with all of their heart, soul, mind, strength, and this love, by the grace of God, is a permanent thing. By entering into the covenant, you say that you will love God that way and serve Him that way the rest of your days. Now, we’ve entered into a covenant just like a couple who take their vows at the altar.

When one of them violates those vows on down the line, that is classed adultery. When we enter into this kind of covenant with Christ, He accepts that, forgives our sins, lifts the burdens off of our heart, puts His love and peace in our soul, and gives Himself to us. Remember Solomon who said in the Song of Solomon, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” That is a real, personal, and intimate relationship. I give myself to Him and He gives Himself to me. If, after that, I allow my affections to go out to the things of this world or anything that is contrary to God’s will in my life, or I get attachments to the world, that constitutes a breach of my covenant with Christ, and it is classed as spiritual adultery. I have violated my vows that I made to Him. I made my vows that I would love Him with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength, and I would serve Him that way the rest of my days.

When I go to dividing my affections, and letting them go out here and there, that constitutes a breach of my vows that I made to Christ when He saved me, and this is classified as spiritual adultery in God’s Word. Well, these folks had apparently not been contaminated with the world and worldly things. These were virgins I’m talking about; wise and foolish alike; they were all virgins. 1 John 2:15-17, says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.” It seems to me that reasonable thinking people could readily discern this and just take a look at what the world did to Jesus, and be able to understand fully why you can’t love the world, and be attached to it, and love Christ at the same time. Jesus said it couldn’t be done and when He, “that hath all power in heaven and earth and with whom nothing is impossible,” says that a thing is impossible and can’t be done, I conclude that you and I ought to quit trying it. It just doesn’t work. But these folks apparently weren’t affected with that.

Revelation 2:14 says, “But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication.” This is incorporated in the message of Jesus Christ at the church at Pergamos. I’m not thinking for one minute that they had people in this church who were actually, publicly teaching people to commit physical fornication. There is something spiritual involved here. We have here in symbol or figure in a spiritual sense, a spirit or element in this Pergamos church which corresponds to Balaam in Numbers 24. Now the spirit of Balaam was a covetous spirit. If you remember, Balak was encamped against the children of Israel out there somewhere and he heard about Balaam and how he was able to bless people and curse people. So he sent forth some of his messengers over there to persuade Balaam to come to him to curse the children of Israel. They went and offered him quite a reward and he said that he would have to talk to God about this. So, he went and talked to God about it, and God told him to leave that alone and not to go with these fellows. So, he went back and said, “I can’t go.”

And they said, “Look what you’re missing. There is a big reward up here. You’re going to get a lot out of this.”

He said, “If you gave me this house full of silver and gold, I couldn’t go.”

“Oh,” but they said, “We’re offering you a big price here.”

Balaam started toying with the idea and he said, “You stay, and in the morning I’ll pray about this some more.”

Folks, when you do a thing like that, you are opening yourself wide open to a deception of the devil. When God tells you what to do, that is it! All the praying that you are going to do will just allow Satan to work, and that is what worked out with Balaam. He prayed and prayed about this. Oh, he wanted that reward. Jude refers to him, or about certain people and certain spirits that had gotten in among the saints in Jude’s day. Among other indictments he laid against them, he said, “They have run greedily after the error of Balaam.”

Balaam prayed on until finally the Lord told him that it was all right to go on, but not to speak anything that He didn’t tell Balaam to speak. God would have kept Balaam out of all this if he would have just listened to Him the first time. But, God let him go and when he got there, all he could do was bless the people.

Balak said, “I told you to curse the people and three times you’ve blessed them.”

Balaam said, “Well, I can’t say anything but what God said.” He then maneuvered around and told Balak how to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel that would bring the disfavor of God upon them. Then Balak could whip them. He said, “Put some of your fairest women right down in the front. Then let them stay down there where the Israelites can look them over. Their young men will be enticed and seduced by these beautiful women. They will commit fornication with them; God’s judgment will come on them, and then you can go over and whip them.” Balaam sold out for a reward because he was a covetous man.

Those false prophets and false spirits that had gotten in among the saints in Jude’s day were running greedily after the error of Balaam; greed for filthy lucre (money), greed for power, greed for influence, greed for position, and so forth. This all actuated these defiled and corrupt people. Peter refers to this same class of people in the same situation in 2 Pet. 2:15. It says, “Which have forsaken the right way and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.” The Bible calls the wages or the reward of fornication. It’s unchastity, impurity, or defilement. Such a thing would have robbed all of these people who partook of it of their classification as virgins. So we conclude that they weren’t affected here. They were pretty good folks, weren’t they? Wouldn’t you class these people as pretty good people? They weren’t affected by any of these things.

Paul spoke of a class of people who spoke things which they ought not for filthy lucre’s sake which catered to the people’s desires. They had departed from the faith and heaped to themselves teachers having itching ears. They wanted smooth things prophesied to them and their ministers were prophesying smooth things to them. They were just having their ears scratched. Their ears were itching—they were being well pleased. Remember back in one of the prophet’s day, the people rejected him because he came straight forward with the Word of God to them. They said, “Prophesy to us smooth things.” That is what people want today. Paul said that they’ll turn away from the truth and be turned unto fables and their ears would be itching and they would heap to themselves teachers having itching ears. (2 Tim. 4:4). It is becoming more and more appalling to me that we can find people in this status of life. People apparently write a mark on them. You can’t point your finger at them and find any fault in their lives. Yet, down inside of them is a problem working that caused them to miss the kingdom of God, and lose out in the end.

Paul denounces covetousness in Eph. 5:5 as idolatry. That is the thing we’re after: idolatry. Idolatry is classed all through the Scriptures as adultery. It is spiritual adultery; worshipping other gods beside the true God. Rev. 2:20 is a message of Jesus Christ to the Church at Thyatira and we’ll notice that Jesus always gave credit where credit was due. I think that is a good thing to do and I believe that is a good example for us to follow. Sometimes, if we see a fault in someone, that is all we can see. Maybe they have many good points; they might be good in everything else, but we are critical of them because we see this one fault in them. Jesus gave credit where credit was due and I believe we ought to do the same. Even though we see faults in people, we ought to be able to recognize their virtues and the worthwhile points about them and give credit for that. He said in Rev. 2:20, after He had commanded the church at Thyatira for some past things: their patience, their works, and so on, “Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols.” Now this is the same situation exactly that results in the same thing as in the case of the church at Pergamos with the doctrine of Balaam among them.

But this is in a different category—this is involving seducing spirits. Jezebel seduced the people. Back in 1 Kings 16, Ahab went out and married Jezebel. She was the daughter of the King of Zidonians—a heathen. God had forbidden that. He didn’t permit His children to marry among the heathen. He doesn’t permit that now. God’s Word forbids saints marrying non-saints, just as He had forbidden the children of Israel to marry the heathen people around them. When saved folks marry unsaved folks, they are just as condemned in the Word of God as double marriage is. What we would call double marriage is to divorce and remarry. We readily pounce right on that. And now He had forbidden this, but Ahab went out and married this heathen woman, Jezebel, and brought her in there. She was a worshipper of Baal. So, they built an altar to Baal and had a temple to Baal in the land. It went on even to the point that they just eliminated the worship of the true God; tore down His altar and the situation finally culminated in the execution of all the prophets of God that they could get their hands on. That is a pretty bad situation.

It says in the 21st chapter of 1 Kings, verse 25, “But there were none like unto Ahab, which did sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord.” He topped the list. He was head of them all when it comes to that. But, it says.  “whose wife Jezebel stirred up.” She excited him to this; she kept this thing going. And now in a figure or symbol she is here in this church at Thyatira seducing the people in the same way; teaching the people the same thing in a figure.

The 3rd chapter of Jeremiah, verses 6-9 will give us a thought here. We’ll see just how God looked at this thing. “The Lord also said unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.” Now on high mountains, in the groves, and under the green trees is where the heathen had their altars and worshipped their gods, so that is what He is referring to here. Israel had “gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree [to the altars of these heathen gods] and there hath played the harlot.” She has committed fornication or adultery by entering in idolatrous worship here. “And I said after she had done all these things, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery. I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom, that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.” Now this isn’t physical adultery he is talking about here. You couldn’t do that with stones and stocks. He isn’t talking about individuals here; he’s talking about a nation. They went into this. So we see that God considered idolatry among the children of Israel as adultery. It’s a violation of her vows to Him. Israel was bound to Him by perpetual covenant. Now they’re violating their covenant—going from Him to serve other gods, worship them, and do sacrifice to them.

In Deut. 7, God is telling the children of Israel to deal with the nations around them as they go in and conquer these nations. He said to subdue these nations. Deuteronomy says that Israel was to make no covenants with them, but to destroy them, break down their altars, and destroy their groves; just “clean house” so to speak. They were to clean out all of the idol worship of the land as they went in there. They were not to give their daughters to the others’ sons, nor take the others’ daughters to their sons. Why? Because the others would turn away the hearts of their sons and their daughters from worshipping God, and they would turn to other gods. Now, He called that spiritual adultery. Ancient Israel was a type of spiritual adultery.

Paul said in the last two verses of Rom. 2, “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose is not of men, but of God.” Ancient Israel was a type of spiritual Israel which is the Church of God or the New Testament Church in this dispensation of time. She was so filled with heathen nations who were idol worshippers. The idol worshippers seduced her again and again into their system and into worshipping their gods. Israel would go away from the true God. God would have to whip her soundly time and again for her adultery. He just put her away from Him; separated her from Him because of her idol worship which He said was adultery. She committed adultery with stocks and stones. Those were the things that made up the gods that the heathen worshipped. So, as Israel worshipped these gods, He said that she was committing adultery with stocks and stones.

You and I, who know the truth, have knowledge of what God’s will is to us. One time somebody wanted me to justify them for going down to a sectarian church to worship. They said, “We’ve got some good friends down there. We have good confidence in them as being saved people. What is wrong now with us going down there with those people that we have good confidence in and worshipping with them?”

I said, “Well, I agree that God has some people out there, people who are saved to all the light, knowledge, and understanding that they have. They are saved and living for God. I also acknowledge that I know some folks who are not identified with the saints that I could actually believe in stronger than I could believe in some of the folks who are identified with the saints. I don’t believe that all the folks that come to meetings and listen to us preach Sunday after Sunday are measured up and walking in all of the light they have and are just top notch with God. There may be somebody out there that I could have better fellowship with in the Spirit than I can with somebody I know who listens to the truth all of the time, and just isn’t measured up and walking in the light and knowledge and understanding that I have. God requires me to worship Him where the system is right; in the system where people worship God in Spirit and in truth. Whether I can feel that every one of them are top notch or not, the system is right where God is worshipped in Spirit and in truth. It isn’t a human system and God requires me to worship where the Spirit is operating, and the truth is being preached, and people are worshipping Him that way. For you and I who have light, knowledge, and understanding of God’s Word to go consorting with the institutions around us and worshipping among them, taking up with them, is nothing more or less than spiritual adultery in the sight of God.” The Church of God is the bride of Jesus Christ. Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:2, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.”

That is the Church he is talking about. The Church of God is the bride of Jesus Christ on this earth. For us to be united with Christ in that holy, close, sacred, spiritual relationship and then to be out consorting around with some of the human institutions around us, worshipping with them, partaking with them: it is just a violation of our vow to Him. It is spiritual adultery, and God doesn’t allow that thing.

2 Cor. 6:14 says, “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. . . .” Every human institution in this world, excluding none, who operate on a human basis, under human government, and who take in members and put out members, there is not a one of them but what they are yoking up believers with unbelievers. “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.” Somebody says, “Maybe it is not just unequal.” I say that any time you yoke up an unbeliever with a believer, it is an unequal yoking. God’s Word forbids it and it’s going to take you out from the sheltering hand of the Lord and expose you to the disadvantage. It’s going to give advantage to the unbeliever. Any time you yoke up with an unbeliever, the advantage will be with the unbeliever. “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God. . . .” There is idol worship or idolatry in everyone of these human institutions going on all around us.

First of all, the objective in them is to glorify the human and honor the flesh. That is idolatry. Most of them think more of their institution than they do of Christ.

Somebody was asked once if they did certain things in their church, and they said, “No, we don’t do that.”

“Well, why don’t you do that? It’s in the Bible!”

“Yes, but it is not in our discipline.”

“It’s in the Bible, but it’s not in your discipline. If it was in your discipline, then would you do it?”

“Well, yes, if it was in our discipline, we would do it.”

They thought more of their discipline than they did the Word of God. Idolatrous worship, in one form or another, is scattered throughout the whole system, and God forbids you and me to consort with it. God has said, “Ye are the temple of the living God as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you. I’ll be a father to you and you will be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty.” Come out from among them, and have no part with them; be separate; touch not; taste not; handle not; and He will receive you. This all involves spiritual adultery. So we conclude that these folks in the parable about the virgins weren’t partaking of those kind of things. They weren’t mixing up in that; they wouldn’t have been virgins if they were adulterers.

Let us take note on Matthew 25. All of these things we’ve noted in God’s Word are things that defile and corrupt. God’s Word classifies them all that way. Therefore, we must conclude that these people in this lesson (and Jesus said the kingdom of heaven is just like that), weren’t partaking of any of these corrupting, defiling things. In the parable from first to last, there is no indictment laid against them for any wrong they were doing; no charge was brought against them for any of these things. It is coming down to this and this is where the problem is: it takes more than a doctrine to get you and me into the kingdom of heaven. Let us have the doctrine just as straight and clear as you please; from first to last; A-Z; right through the line without a kink in it; but is not going to get us into heaven. It takes more than good living to get you and me into heaven. There wasn’t an indictment laid against these folks’ living. After all of the things that we’ve discussed, we’ve concluded that they were not participating in them in any kind of way, or else they would have been defiled and corrupted, and couldn’t have been classified as virgins. But they were virgins all the way through. They were still called virgins when they came up after the door was shut and they began to stand without and knock. They were not contaminated or corrupted in any kind of way.

It takes more than a doctrine and good living to get you and me into the kingdom of heaven. It’s going to take the Spirit and that is what these folks lacked. They lacked the Spirit. It said that they all had lamps and the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. The foolish had lamps, too, but they didn’t take any oil with them. We’re told in Psalms 119:105, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet.” The Word of God is a lamp. Again, in Proverbs 6:23, “The commandment is a lamp; and the law is light; and the reproofs of instruction are the way of life.” These folks all had that. You and I all have that. Some of us would stand up and fight for the truth. But it takes more than that. That will not get us into the kingdom of heaven. Proverbs 20:27 says, “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts. . . .” We all have a candle and we all have the lamp. The lamp is the Word. The law is a lamp. God’s laws, God’s commandments, and God’s truths is our lamp. The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord that searches all the inward parts. A candle is not light. It is what they make a light out of; it is the potential of light. It isn’t light, but it is that which God uses to search out our souls. It is the candle of the Lord but it needs lighting. In Psalms it says, “The Lord will light my lamp. The Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” How is He going to do that? Romans 8:15, says, “The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” When God’s Spirit comes in contact with our spirit, that lights the candle; turns the light on in our soul and then we’re able to search out all of the inward parts. We’ll not be able to search out all of the inward parts until God’s Spirit is in contact with our spirit. Just because we know the truth doesn’t mean we can search out everything and discover our own hearts to ourselves. The Bible alone won’t do that. Jesus said that the true worshippers must worship the father in Spirit and in truth. They all had the lamp. When the crucial moment came, (when the Bridegroom was there), the cry went out, “Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him!” They all arose and trimmed their lamps, but the foolish discovered that trimming the lamps didn’t help them any. They said, “We’re all out of oil and our lamps are gone out.” They began to beg the righteous to share their oil with them.

The righteous said, “We can’t do that lest there be not enough for us and you.” Let me tell you; it is going to take everything you’ve got to get you into the kingdom of heaven. You have nothing to share with anybody as far as the grace of God within you is concerned. It’s going to take all you have to get you into heaven. We will only reach heaven after we have successfully resisted the devil in his uttermost efforts to overthrow us and hinder us. It will take the best in us to make it through to heaven. Trimming your lamp doesn’t do any good if there isn’t a supply of oil down there. Trimming the wick won’t help. It won’t produce a light. These folks discovered that they were out of oil and needed some oil. They were trimming their lamps right along with the others, but it wasn’t making any light. “Our lamps are gone out,” they said.

What is the oil? Hebrews 1:9, speaks here of Jesus, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Peter, in Acts 4, is preaching to them about Jesus, whom God anointed. God anointed Jesus, but how did He anoint Him? Hebrews 1:9, says He anointed Him with oil. Acts. 10:38, says God anointed Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power who went about doing good, healing all who were oppressed of the devil. The anointing of Jesus was with the Holy Ghost. That was the oil with which He was anointed.

The oil is what these folks lacked and that was the only thing they lacked. They were not indicted by any evil thing that they had done, or anything out of order in their lives. You might not be able to put your finger on their lives anywhere but if you are lacking in the Spirit, folks, you are not going to make it. That is all that was the matter with these folks. They ran out of oil. They didn’t carry any oil along with them. That oil is typical of the Holy Spirit. You and I are going to have to have the Spirit of God within us if we ever make it. It’s going to take more than good living and it is going to take more than straight doctrine. We’re going to have to have a consecrated, dedicated surrender in our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ. He will accept it then and fill us with the Holy Spirit. That is the crux of the whole matter with these folks; that is where they failed. There are folks now that are failing right along that same line, lacking in the Holy Spirit in their lives; lacking oil. It will show up as sure as we’re alive today. It will show up in the crucial moment. It will show up in the supreme, severe tests and trials of your life as you go along. When you come right down in going out to face Jesus, as the Judge of the whole earth, it will show up then; the lack of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus died to provide a sanctified experience for everybody in the Church. He led the Church “And gave himself for it that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the word. That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish.” That is the kind of Church Jesus bought and paid for. That is the kind He will have or He won’t have any. He wants a Spirit-filled people. Without the Spirit of God, we are not going to make it. You can sit and listen to the preaching every Sunday; you can stand up and fight even carnally for the truth; you can have the doctrine straight, pure; a defendant to the last; but if you’re void of the Spirit, you’re not going to make it. Half of them didn’t make it. The reason they didn’t make it was because they didn’t have any oil. They had the lamp right on through. They had straight, good living right on through. They were not participating in any of those things that would corrupt or defile them. They weren’t accused of any of those things in this parable. The only thing that they lacked was the Spirit. If we lack the Spirit, we are not going to make it.

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