IDEA: What we need to enter into Christ's presence cannot be "borrowed" from another. TEXT: "Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. But while the bridegroom was delayed, they all slumbered and slept. And at midnight a cry was heard, 'Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him!' Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' But the wise answered, saying, 'No, lest there should not be enough for us and you; but go rather to those who sell, and buy for yourselves.' And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' But he answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, I do not know you.' Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming" (Matthew 25:1-13).

PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that a good environment is not the same as a godly character.

Suppose we rewrote part of the parable of the wise and foolish maidens. Let's keep the first 9 verses the way they are and begin our rewrite with verse 10:

"And the foolish said to the wise, 'But while we are gone to the dealers, the bridegroom will come and the marriage feast will begin and we will be shut out. What in the world will we do then? Because you five are wonderful and wise women, we turn to you to give us some of your oil.' Then the wise maidens, when they saw that the foolish would be barred from entering the wedding feast, had compassion on them and divided all of their oil with them. Not long after, the bridegroom came and he saw, as they headed toward the house, all the lamps were burning low. When they told him how the five maidens had shared their oil, he sent ahead for additional oil. Then they all went to the marriage feast together, for it was not the bridegroom's wish that any of the maidens would be left out."

I. What does this "rewrite" do to the original story? How has it changed it?

Do you think that the wise young women were being "selfish" in not sharing their oil with the others who had not provided oil for themselves? Why do you think Jesus tells the story this way?

There are some things that you cannot get from other people even if they wanted to share them with you.

Even if you want my learning, I cannot transfer it to you. You have to get it for yourself. I can help you prepare for the exam, but I cannot take the exam for you.

There are things that one Christian simply cannot share with another.

You cannot borrow another person's faith. Others can tell you about their faith, but they can't give it to you.

Going to church has great advantages, but it cannot give you acceptance before God simply through association with Christians. You can't say, "My wife has religion enough for both of us."

Walt Whitman was listening one night to an astronomer lecturing on the stars. The hall was stuffy and the lecture dull. The charts and diagrams were unilluminating. Whitman could stand it no longer. He got up and wandered out into the night and looked up at the stars themselves. James Stewart commented, "But there are people today--thousands of them--who have never thought of doing that. They stay inside, pouring over charts and diagrams of religion. But what they have isn't real to them." No one else can give that to you.

You cannot borrow another person's piety. Piety is not transferable. You have to stand on your own. Galatians 6:1-5 tells us about burdens we should carry for others and burdens we carry for ourselves