 The Bridegroom’s Delay (vv 1-5)  The Bridegroom’s Door (vv 6-9)  The Bridegroom’s Declaration (v 13)

 “Watch” means being alert and wakeful.  “If the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into” (Matt 24:43).  Jesus to Peter: “What? Could you not watch with Me one hour?” (Matt 26:40).  We must be alert, for we know not when Jesus shall come.  “Of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Mk 13:32).

What is involved in “staying alert”?

 One: You save yourself.  To many that may sound very odd. In Scripture, we’re told that many things save us. Jesus had to shed His blood for our forgiveness (Rom 5:9). We are saved through God’s marvelous grace through faith (Eph 2:8). Jesus certainly saves us (Matt 1:21).

 This parable shows that we must save ourselves.  The foolish virgins could not expect the wise ones to “save” them.  That idea is expressed throughout Scripture. Peter “bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation’” (Acts 2:40, ESV). “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil 2:12).  Saving yourself has two serious elements: One: Making your faith your own. Two: Obeying the word of the Lord.

 You need to make your faith your own.  Jesus’ example: In Luke 2, Jesus is in the temple discussing the Law. “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Lk 2:52).  Timothy: “I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also” (2 Tim 1:5).

 How do you have a faith of your own?  One: Think about why you believe. “Always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you” (1 Pet 3:15).  Two: Spend time in Scripture. Jn 20: “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom 10:17).  Three: Don’t be afraid to question. “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God” (1 Jn 4:1).

 Two: You are ready.  “Prepare to meet your God, O Israel!” (Amos 4:12).  You must get ready: Noah built the ark. Heaven is a prepared place (Jn 14:2) for prepared people. The multitude in heaven had “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev 7:14).

now If the Lord were to come right now would you go to heaven?