The Ten Virgins

Sermon for the Last Sunday of the Church Year 2025

Matthew 25:1-13

November 23, 2025

“Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps.”

The End of the World is coming. It will come when we least expect it; like a thief in the night. When the world says peace and security, then the end. It could be tomorrow. It could be 2,000 years from now. We don’t know when. No one knows the day nor the hour the Lord is coming back. And knowing wouldn’t change a thing.

All we know is that today is one day closer than yesterday. And tomorrow is never guaranteed. Most likely we will all die before the End of the World. And when the End of the World comes those of us who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Are you a wise or a foolish virgin? Is your lamp full of oil? Will it be full when the Bridegroom returns. There are no second chances. When Bridegroom calls it’s too late if your oil has run dry.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins is a warning from Jesus. The warning is that faith can be lost. It is necessary to endure and persevere in true faith until the End. Jesus said, “The one who endures to the end will be saved.”

The Parable of the Ten Virgins is about the Christian Church on earth. Both the wise and the foolish virgins are in the church. The fact that they are all virgins is the outward appearance of being a Christian. They do and say the things that Christians do and say.

They are all baptized into the church, they are taught the faith, they are confirmed, they may come to the Divine Service and receive the body and blood of Jesus. They all claim to believe in Jesus.

But there is great difference between the wise and the foolish virgins. The wise virgins persevere and endure in true faith in Christ alone until the end. The foolish virgins believe for a time and then fall from the faith. They do not persevere and endure in true faith in Christ alone. And yet the foolish still remain in the visible church on earth. We see them.

They may be faithful and frequent members. By all outward appearances they are Christians. But if we could see into their heart, we would find that it’s empty. Faithless. We can’t see into the heart though, only God sees into the heart. And what God sees is a heart that has become hard. It’s cold. Lifeless. There is no faith, despite the fact they appeared to be in the church. They have chosen a different god to flee to for refuge in distress.

The outward appearance of being a Christian doesn’t save you. It isn’t the things we do or say in the end that matters. Good works do not save. There is no salvation through the Law. This isn’t to say that the things we do or say don’t matter in our lives. They do, but the things we do, our good works, these aren’t the things that will save us in the end.

We could be the most faithful and frequent members in the church and still not have faith. In the end it’s faith in the work of Christ alone that saves. Perseverance in that faith is what matters above all things. That’s the point of the parable.

Both the wise and the foolish begin with oil in their lamps. But when the Bridegroom returned, the foolish had run out of oil. Their wick was dry; they didn’t have faith anymore.

We can turn away from the gifts we have been given in Christ. Even as we sit here in church. We can shut our ears and stop hearing God’s Word when it’s spoken to us.

This happens most often when God’s Law is spoken. You don’t like it. It offends you, because it convicts you. So you shut your ears. And then you never hear the Gospel. And the Gospel is what saves you. But only after the Law has done its good work and put your sinful flesh to death. It’s not a matter of doing good things or bad things, right things or wrong thing. It’s hearing what God is speaking to you, Law and Gospel, and letting it shape you and form you and save you. Don’t shut your ears. Listen to Jesus. This parable is a warning from Jesus with love.

In this parable both the wise and the foolish acted like Christians, and they also behaved like sinners. The parable says, they both fell asleep when the Bridegroom was delayed. But when the cry in the night came announcing the arrival of the Bridegroom, the wise were welcomed into the marriage feast because they had oil in their lamps. The foolish were shut out because their oil had run dry.

The wise didn’t do anything to earn the oil. They were given the oil. The oil is faith. And we know that faith comes through hearing and hearing through the Word of Christ. Faith is born with the Word of Christ, and faith stays alive with the Word of Christ. If you separate faith from the God’s Word, faith dies. You can keep yourself from hearing the Word of Christ by not being in the places where that Word is heard.

Or you can simply be in those places but shut your ears and not hear it. You can be sit in these pews every Sunday and shut your ears and not hear what God is speaking. The oil in your lamp slowly running lower and lower. Eventually your lamp is empty, and your wick is dry and the flame is extinguished.

For whatever reason the foolish virgins stopped hearing the Word of Christ. Even though they still claimed to believe in Jesus. They had shut their ears. They rejected it. They didn’t believe it anymore. They gave up hope that the Bridegroom was going to return. When they stopped hearing they stopped watching. They no longer cared. They gave themselves over to sin and unbelief and suddenly the Bridegroom returned and the door was shut.

Jesus said, “Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

The End is coming. We want our lamps to stay full of oil and the flame burning brightly lighting the way through all things. We don’t want to be shut out of the Marriage Feast on the Last Day because we stopped hearing and our faith died.

It isn’t enough to say we are baptized and confirmed and belong to a good Lutheran church if we don’t persevere and endure in true faith. We need to have the mindset that today is the day the Bridegroom is going to return. St. Paul says in the Epistle reading that “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.” “Let us not sleep, as others do, but keep awake and be sober.” The time is now for us to stay awake. Our salvation is near.

We are the wise virgins. The Good News in this parable is that even though the wise virgins became drowsy and fell asleep, they still had oil in their lamps when they awoke. They had faith. They were forgiven for their failure. It wasn’t because of anything they did. It was all God’s continued work in them that kept faith alive. They never stopped hearing God’s Word and believing it.

The flame is the light of God’s Word that continues to shine brightly even in our moments of sin and doubt and weakness. The oil – faith - is always connected to God’s Word – the flame - the light. And where God’s Word is there is the Holy Spirit creating and keeping faith alive. Keeping us in the light – giving us hope and endurance.

We often become drowsy and fall asleep as Christians. We trip and fall into sin. Doubt and unbelief attack our minds. Jesus is telling us to wake up. Listen. The end will come when we least expect it.

Don’t play games with your faith. Don’t tempt God’s patience. Examine yourself, test yourself in the light of God’s Word at all times to see if you are still in the faith. Once we stop caring and testing ourselves with God’s Word, satan, this world, and our sinful flesh will take over. And it won’t take long destroy what God has created - faith. Your wick will become dry. The flame will be extinguished.

It’s then you will give yourself over willingly to sin with a wicked intent to continue in that sin. You will no longer turn to God and cry out for mercy. You will give yourself over to every lust and desire with a reckless abandonment of God’s Word. That sin then grows into death – eternal death. Sin is always a threat to true faith. We can never take it lightly.

God’s Word is the only remedy because it brings us Jesus – He is the Gospel. He saves us from our sin. We endure and remain watchful until the end by continually examining ourselves in the light of God’s Word. And that Word always comes to us with the power of the Holy Spirit who fills us and we listen.

When we listen to the Law no matter how painful it is. It will show us our sin and our broken, corrupt flesh. It will kill the old man in us over and over again. And then when the Law has done its good work we flee to God for refuge. Because we know we’ve been covered in the perfect righteousness of Jesus and sealed in true faith with the Spirit. And God in His infinite mercy forgives us our sins and cleanses us from all unrighteousness in the blood of Jesus.

Our God is faithful and just. The good work He began, He will complete. Jesus said: “Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.” And “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” He who calls you is faithful. He will surely do it. Believe it.

The Bridegroom is coming soon. Continue to watch, to abide, to listen. Test yourself in the light of God’s Word continually. Both Law and Gospel. And then find refuge in Christ alone. In Him you will endure. The door will not be shut. You will go into the Marriage Feast on the Final Day. In Jesus name. Amen.