Oil in the Lamp: The Holy Spirit: Parable of the Ten Virgins with John Gerstner

as we come to this fifth lecture in our little series on the parable of the ten virgins let me remind you very briefly before I erase the board what we have said so far that foolish virgins as well as wise virgins nominal Christians as well as true Christians they have a great many characteristics in common they may both be members of the church they may both be Orthodox they may both be anticipating the Second Coming they most be giving they may both be praying they might both be martyrs and they both may both be means of salvation and yet one group lost the other group saved one group born-again the other not born again these seven characteristics any one by itself all of them taken together or fifty others being possessed is no proof that a person is not a foolish virgin who when Jesus Christ comes again will find the door shut in their faces forever now we asked ourselves after eliminating all those false props on which people rest so constant constantly many of you may be assuming you are Christians for reasons like this which give you no basis for such an assumption we've tried to take away from you these false props so that you'll be established on a real rock that a wage to stand up under the raging of the testing that is to come now we asked ourselves the question since it's perfectly obvious in this parable that the key to everything is the oil in the lamps what it is and you remember hastily at the end I indicated the evidence is quite clear that the oil in the lamps refers to the oil in one group and not in the other the Spirit of God in one and not in the other the oil is a constant symbol of the Holy Spirit in Scripture but as we said this is not an allegory we're dealing with here and consequently we cannot say with any kind of dogmatic finality the oil means the Holy Spirit in that particular allegory it's not an allegory it's a parable giving us one basic thrust but we said that what is suggested by the simple fact that in this marriage ceremony as described oil plays this role incidentally does refer to the Holy Spirit we said that as a matter of theological fact not allegorical correspondence but it's a matter of theological fact the one thing being absent in a person who possesses a great many outward excellent activities and works which would vitiate everything and make these persons spurious Christians foolish virgins hypocrites whom Christ disavows that that they the one lack in persons like that would have to be the Holy Spirit we know from the scripture unless the person is born again by the Spirit of God he cannot enter the kingdom of God and the only way by which church members who call Jesus Christ God who steward their means and who looked forward to the coming of Christ and who pray and are prepared to be martyrs and so on could still be disallowed by Jesus Christ himself would be that they do not have the Holy Spirit they have not been born again that in spite of all appearances to the contrary these impressive activities of theirs are works of the flesh we know from the didactic teaching of Holy Scripture that the Spirit of God has to change a person and be the motivation for all his doing if that person is to do truly good good works and not bad good works and be a genuine convert be truly born again be a wise rather than a foolish virgin all right now we have the evidence in that for a person to be a true Christian a why's virgin he must be possessed of the Holy Spirit the Holy Spirit's presence or absence is the cue to this drama that Christ has told us about in the parable the foolish virgins have everything but the Holy Spirit and that lack is altogether fatal what distinguishes the wise virgins and enables them to accompany the bridegroom to the celestial wedding is the presence of the Holy Spirit now as soon as we say that clearly we are talking here about the oil of the Holy Spirit and the key to the parable and the key to conversion and the key to final redemption is always the Holy Spirit the first thing we have to recognize is that this question will inevitably rise what do you mean by the Holy Spirit's activity the Holy Spirit totally abstinent summoned totally president others what is the difference surely the Holy Spirit isn't totally absent from these foolish virgins and you're not a perfectionist who would say that he's totally present in these wise but when you say the Holy Spirit is the key to everything what do you mean aren't there different kinds of work of the Holy but yes there is yes there is and we do have to look more closely that's just a general answer we're focusing in on the answer we have merely staked out the territory now it has to do with the Holy Spirit but you're right we have to say more than that there are two types of work of the Holy Spirit which are depicted in Holy Scripture and I will refer to them as the work of the Holy Spirit have put it this way the work of the Holy Spirit surely this has to do with that but there's a work of the holy spirit first upon persons and secondly within persons but even that'll need further explanation you're quite right when you ask the question don't these foolish virgins have something to do with the Holy Spirit hasn't he operated upon them in any sense are they total strangers to the Holy Spirit no indeed the Holy Spirit does work in connection with the preaching of the gospel these people after all profess the gospel they've heard it someplace and when the word goes forth it's accompanied by the Holy Spirit but the Holy Spirit works upon some persons whom he never takes up his residence in he operates as it were from outside one has to be very careful of these spatial figures you know because when you're dealing with a spirit up and down and in and out or not very satisfactory but I hope you can get the fundamental ideas because we are time-space bound creatures and we can't very well think in other categories but the Bible leads us to believe that the Holy Spirit does operate upon people in a way that is profoundly different from his working within people let's look at Genesis 6 for example where it says my shortly before the fall before the flood before they sweeping away of mankind because of its sin we find God saying my spirit will not always strive with men my spirit Holy Spirit this oil will not always strive with men and as a matter of fact he gave up striving with that whole generation and wiped them off the face of the earth as you know you see there is an indication of the fact that the Spirit of God does strive with people work upon people he isn't changing them but he nevertheless is dealing with them remind you of Christ's words that the Spirit will bear witness of sin and judgment you see he right now I'm absolutely confident and as a preacher of the word I have working with me nothing less and the third person of the Godhead the Holy Spirit when his word goes forth and it's going forth now it doesn't return to Him void it accomplishes what God intends it to accomplish the Spirit accompanies it this is just the sword which I'm wielding he's the one who actually makes it penetrate the heart I'm holding it I'm his sword bearer as it were I give it to him and he wields it as he pleases but since the Word of God which is coming through my lips is his sword and he is the wielder of it I can be perfectly confident and so can every other witness of Jesus Christ be perfectly confident that whenever he presents the truth he's not alone the Spirit of God is working with him to do what God in all his absolute sovereignty is pleased to do so we know that whenever the word of God goes forth as it certainly went forth to these foolish virgins and it goes forth the people who haven't even heard the gospel don't even know about the Bible as well because he is infinite and of course everywhere it can convict the Spirit can convict the spirit can second emotion it's almost as if he for example some of you and my invisible visible audience out there who may be being striven with right now by the Spirit of God even as I talk to you you may be saying to yourself this man makes sense I wish he didn't it really bothers me but I don't know how to refute him this is my member what's working with a fellow at a university we talk privately about original sin for two hours at the end of that time he said gurth sir I don't know what's wrong with your argument but I hope to god you are wrong he didn't like the doctrine but he didn't know any way of defending it he tried he was very very sharp it really bothered him and maybe with you you say this sounds right I'm afraid that guys speaking the truth I wish to God I could prove he's wrong and so on well the Spirit of God at that time he isn't whispering in your ears this is a witness of the truth this man is conveying to you the Word of God you better believe him but nevertheless in his own silent way he's saying something like that the spirit if he's striving with you it's against your resistance you don't like this idea that you have to be converted and that your salvation depends on someone else altogether and that this Holy Spirit is sovereign and whether he comes in your heart or not after all you're an American you've declared your independence not only of Great Britain but of Almighty God nobody gonna tell me what to do and I'm not gonna be dependent upon anybody and here this guy says unless the Holy Spirit sombrely chooses I'm a lost soul I like that you'll fight with it and yet it's the truth and I think the Holy Spirit as well as your own conscience your conscience of course is on my side and the Holy Spirit's on my side and your own brains on my side that's the reason you're saying I wish I could see through this argument I could wish I could prove this in the Word of God I could wish to that Jesus Christ was not the Son of God I wish I didn't have to believe in order to be saved I wish the Holy Spirit's residence in my soul wasn't necessary for my being accepted forever and so on you can say all those things but you know you're wishing is no argument you know full well if this is the Word of God and what I'm saying is a clear exposition of it and Jesus Christ is the son of God these things are so and just because you don't like them doesn't make them wrong and just because you wish they were otherwise doesn't make the other right you're fully aware of that as a mind as a conscience and the Spirit of God as it were is it work in his own quiet and mysterious way the way I put it seconding the motions alright now that's the kind of work which the Spirit of God is always doing and a person who has that type of work all his life and apparently God spirit does strive with some people virtually all their lives I will not always strive there's God with some people he doesn't always strive with some people he hardly strives at all but with others he strives a long long time and he may strive right up to the edge of the grave and he may be striving with some of you out there and he may have been striving for years decades half a century he may stop striving today and he may keep striving until you die but that would be a work upon you that converts nobody you're still a foolish virgin you may know all about the oil but you don't have it in your lamps so the question still is if the difference between the wise and the foolish virgin is the oil in the lamp which being translated means the holy spirit what's the difference between the spirit in a wise virgin and upon a foolish virgin the spirit operating as it were from outside as over against inside what is this within persons there is a sense of course and even when you use this expression as I say we have problems with the spatial analogies but nevertheless there's a sense that even when he works upon you it's within you but at the same time it's different from this now let me see if I can explain this Jesus puts that you remember except a person be born again that's a pretty radical concept Nicodemus you know actually thought he meant to be physically born the second time that was pretty stupid to be sure but Nicodemus at least got the idea of the radicality he knew something fundamentally brand-new like his first birth had to happen to him he mistook it as referring to his actual literal rebirth physically and he realized after a while that Christ was talking about a spiritual birth but it was just as new just as radical as that first birth was which is the reason Christ isn't didn't hesitate to say you must be born again born again you see that gives us the idea now this is obviously no operation from without merely this isn't the Holy Spirit merely convicting of sin and judgment and righteousness as sixth John 16:8 says and so on this is actually the Holy Spirit becoming the very principle of behavior we are given what is called a new creation in the epistles a new birth by Jesus Christ something is planted within us that wasn't there at all before it's a life brand-new just as truly as our first birth was the implantation of a brand new life that wasn't there before it marked our birthday and this too marks our second birthday of a spiritual character so clearly the Holy Spirit has come into us in such a way that he becomes the basis the spring the distance disposition of our whole behavior subsequently we are born of him and here's Paul can say I have been crucified with Christ nevertheless I live yet not i but Christ of course by his Spirit Christ by his Spirit lives in me and the life that I now live in the flesh I live in the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me for me to live is Christ now Christ is exalted at the right hand of God the Father Almighty and its glorious perfected humanity Christ in the Apostle Paul is the Spirit of Christ the third person of the Godhead so when he says for me to live is Christ when he is saying for me to live as the Spirit of Christ as the Spirit of God here is a true virgin a wise virgin testifying to the oil in the heart the Spirit of God resident so what's the difference this is an act of the Holy Spirit upon a person convicting of sin and righteousness and judgment striving with people to do what's right to respond to the truth and so on but leaving them to themselves and they when left to themselves constantly resist and resist and resist until sometimes God says to them I by my spirit will not strive anymore but sometimes sometimes God actually by his Spirit invades us all he pitches his tent there he takes up residence he's come to dwell you know that figure in the Bible to live permanently in the bosom of a saint and he becomes there after the spring of all the person's behavior before the thoughts and intents of his heart were only evil continually now a Holy Spirit of God is inclining him to holy thoughts and spiritual aspirations and godly striving that wasn't there before at all even when he did what was out wordly correct he always did it for a fleshly reason now he still joins the church he still gives his money he still bears his witness and so on but now it's an outpouring of love to Christ and when it said he gives all his goods to feed the poor it's not without love if he gives his body to be burned it's not without love he goes to church is that without love anything he does is as Paul says in Galatians the fruit of the Spirit love joy peace longsuffering and so on it's the spirit who has borne this fruit in the Christian life because he is the principle of a person striving that's the difference between the wise and the foolish virgin and that's the principle by which we distinguish between oil in the lamps and oil which is not in the lamps between what enables a person to be acknowledged by Jesus Christ and what cuts him off from Christ forever now we close in on what's the burden of this whole series of study and I want to introduce it now and finish the discussion of it in our final lecture the next time but remember the title of this whole series is how to know one is born again or how to know one is a wise virgin before the bridegroom comes how to know you really are a Christian that's the big question alongside of that all other questions are trivial whether for example will be blown up in a cosmic dust by nuclear fission and so on don't bother me with trifles we're concerned with big things now being born again not blown to pieces that's nothing that's just a transition from temporality to eternality but being born again determines whether that eternality is going to be in hell or in heaven with God or were the devil's this is the question that really matters being born again and as far as you and I are concerned the most important question we have to settle is how do I know whether I have been born again whether I have oil in my lamps whether I'm a wise virgin or a foolish one that's the big question and now we're ready to address it what I'd like to do at the end of this presentation is just give you the three basic indications and develop them more fully and adequately as far as the time will permit in our concluding lecture the next time but let me get them before you at this time here's our question how do I know that I have been born again how do I know that I have oil in my lamp how do I know that I'm a true Christian how do I know I am a wise virgin now it's how do I know that the Spirit of God is resident within me and not merely operating upon me and convicting me of sin and righteousness and judgment now I give three tests say I want to look at them more thoroughly next time but let me get them before you as a conclusion of this particular lecture and for convenience sake I'll have them start with E so that you can remember them more easily one way by which you can know that the Spirit of God is resident in your heart is experience encounter direct intuitive knowledge another way in order to make these fit with the ease I have coined myself it's a barbarism the word doesn't exist don't look it up in your dictionary but I think you will know what I mean when I say extra-special we're all familiar with the term introspection that's really what I'm talking about in this first term here well we look within ourselves very privately but very penetratingly to see what ticks and what kind of person we really may be extra spec ssin is taking an inventory of our lives it's checking our behavior and this too can be done and in a certain sense this is what we have been doing in this whole exposition so far and I want to show before we're finished how that relates to this and must be coordinated with this but first we'll look inwardly to see if we can detect the presence of the Holy Spirit will give some guidance as to how that may be done and then we'll check scrupulously and objectively and meticulously and mercilessly our outward behavior and then the third test is endurance because even if we do pass as it were the test of experience or think we do and even after a thorough inventory of our life and checking ourselves in various areas of our behavior to see whether indeed we're what we profess to be and whether we are practicing what we preach and what we profess dill might feel well about ourselves at the end of that examination and think differently the next week and one of the tests that the scripture makes absolutely indispensable and I may say by way of anticipation this even through the great Augustine off the path here but nevertheless it is a test it's indispensable and understood properly it will not throw us off the path but we must not only be able to experience the Holy Spirit and by this extra speck ssin to pass the most scrutinizing examination of the Word of God but there has to be endurance in that pattern or else all is lost oh but all is shown to have been spurious you know the old saying if you have it you can't lose it if you lose it you never had it so if you seem to lose it it may be only seeming if you're really lost it then you never had it but this is absolutely integral it's not only that our Lord says those who endure to the end shall be saved but all a scripture teaches the same thing that the Saints do indeed persevere now that may raise a question in your mind even at this point I'm gonna let it gel there for a while before we address it in conclusion how can I have any assurance now if I have to endure to the end before I am saved aren't you talking at loggerheads with yourself Gerstner and this is exactly what a Gustin thought it's what threw him off so once again I've aggravated the problem for you to think about but I am saying to you now you may today be assured of your salvation that you have oil in your lamps and be permanently assured without any fear of the future and at the same time maintain these three are the tests experienced extra-special endurance but when we come together for our last lecture I'll try to make that clearer in the meantime you'll be examining yourselves to see whether you have oil in your lamps

Channel: John Gerstner

Views: 23,612

Rating: 4.8899803 out of 5

Keywords: John H Gerstner, John Henry Gerstner, John Gerstner, Gerstner, parable, ten virgins, jesus' parable, parables of jesus, bible parable, biblical parable

Id: W0ve1R5w8Zo

Length: 28min 15sec (1695 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 20 2019