own personal Savior. I believe that perhaps the greatest targedy in the entire parable in that these thought less virgins were so near and yet so far. They were just outside the door which had once been opened. You may find yourself in the same embarrass ing position. Why don’t you enter? I didn’t ask if you belong to a church, or if you followed some set rules of moral standards and practice. That is not the question. There may be differ ent ways toward heaven, but there is only one Door that enters in. That is the way of the cross, the way of the Lord Jesus Christ. These foolish ones cry too late, “Lord, Lord, open to us.” While He doesn’t open the door, He says so that they can hear, “Depart from me, I never knew you.” God is both holy and righteous. His characteristics also in clude matchless love and grace. The Bible constantly reminds us, “Now is the accepted time, now is the day of salvation.” Give heed to the exhorta tion for the hour shall strike when the day of salvation will be over. Verse 13 gives us the final exhorta tion, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” He is saying, “open your eyes, wipe the sand out of them, don’t be sleeping, be alert,' be ready, be prepared, have your lights burning brightly!” One other word to those of you who already know the Lord Jesus Christ as personal Saviour. Are you ready to stand before the judgment seat of Christ? To be sure, this is not for your salvation, but it is in order that you might give a good account of your stewardship before Him. It is so that you may enter into the wedding feast, not in shame but in confidence ready to hear Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.” This is what our position can and should be in Christ day by day. We will soon be meeting Him “Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy un speakable and full of glory” (I Peter 1 : 8 ) .
MARY'S CONCEPTION In all the world there is no more wonderful truth than the Virgin Birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not fancy hut fact. It is not fictitious hut foundational. Someone remarked on television, “Isn’t the beautiful myth of Christmas lovely?” What a way to refer to the incarnation of Christ. Our Saviour’s coming to this earth is not to be compared with ancient myths which, in legendary forms, are either fantastic or else disgusting. The real ity of Mary’s conception is neither. On the other hand, as far as the story we are told of the birth of Buddha, it seems that an elephant one day en tered the left side of a noble Indian woman. Once inside her, it turned into Buddha. Mary’s conception is neither bazaar nor comic. Again, Greek leg end spins tails of gods who had such sensual passions that they came down to earth to make love to human wom en. But such fancies are not only of fensive, they are also absurd. The in carnation of Jesus Christ is a fact of history upon which our very salvation rests. A writer of old, Apollinarius, taught on this subject. While he be lieved that man was three parts, body, soul and spirit, he felt that God’s Son never became truly human, but merely inhabited 'the shell of a human per sonality. Scripture teaches us very plainly, however, that God did not just indwell a human personality. He actu ally became man. Therefore He had to be made like unto his brethren in every respect, to make expiation for the sins of the people. Yes, in the words of the prophet of old, "For unto us a child is bom, unto us a son is given; and the government Shall be upon his shoulders: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Fa ther, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). * * * Nothing is more frequently opened by mistake than the human mouth. * * * Poise is the act of raising the eyebrows, rather than raising the roof. 16
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