What a glorious day that will be at the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but for some it will not be so glorious. The unbelieving world will cower in their caves crying out to the rocks to fall upon them and hide them from the coming Lord and His wrath. (See Revelation 6:16-17). On the other hand, all those who claimed to believe in Christ will be awakened at an hour they did not expect and will rush out to meet the Lord with glad tidings in their heart thinking all is well. They all without exception had become drowsy and fell asleep, because the promise of His coming had been for a very long time. To this date its been nearly two thousand years since the promise was first given to His disciples. Perhaps the great missionary efforts had ceased and revivals had become a relic of the past replaced with conferences geared to a favorite doctrine. Even one on one evangelism was frowned upon my most for being too exclusive. It appears that the entire church drifted off to sleep and was only now awakened at the news of Christ’s return, which no doubt caused much panic among all to let their light shine in a very dark world as they all rushed to meet the bridegroom.

Let’s be clear that these were all virgins who came out to meet the Lord. (See the Parable of the Ten Virgins in Matthew 25:1-13). They all at one point in their life repented of their sins and promised to follow Jesus Christ as their Savior. On the surface, they all pretty much looked and acted the same and considered themselves believers and looked forward to spending eternity in heaven. Yet, when Jesus Christ observed them at His coming He saw to kinds of virgins, foolish and wise. The foolish virgins thought they had everything going for them, no doubt believers who had repented log ago of their immorality, learned all the doctrines, faithfully attended their respective churches, and probably even did their share of good works. However, one thing was tragically missing, they mostly relied on their own light and rarely sought the greater light of the Holy Spirit, and when they did, they didn’t really use it, but was looking to cover all the bases. They had forgotten even how to secure the greater light when the hour had grown late and it was needful to be full of the Spirit at the coming of our Lord. All they could muster at the time was their religious light expressing all the correct words of love and sound doctrine, but empty of the indwelling Spirit. How tragic to be told I never knew you. The four most horrifying words! To be told we had no intimate relationship. Can you hear Christ say, “You never allowed me to direct your path; you often stopped your ears or ignored my instructions; you were not obedient to all my commands, but obedient only to those you chose to follow.”

Whereas, the wise virgins always depended on Me to direct their path and worked very hard at discerning my voice as opposed to the voice of their old nature or the voice of the enemy. Right in the beginning we started building an intimate relationship becoming a true host of the Holy Spirit, not to take over, but to work with them to build a new life in Christ. It was not long before the barnacles of the old sin nature began to fall off. They eventually became free of all their self-imposed bondages where in time the old life was not even recognized by their closest friends. They grew ever more dependent upon the inner light of the indwelling Spirit and they rarely sought to let their own light shine, but always giving credit to the greater light, all to the glory of God. On the other hand, the foolish virgins always steeped in pride easily took credit for their own religious accomplishments. They even went so far as proclaiming that their works of casting out evil or witnessing healing was done by the Holy Spirit for whom they had no intimate relationship. Jesus said, I never knew you. The foolish virgins grieved the Holy Spirit many times and attempted to put out the Holy Spirit’s fire. Instead of recognizing the unique work of the Holy Spirit they attributed it to some other explanation. They also rebuked the working of the Holy Spirit by denying its powerful working in our day and grieved the Holy Spirit by refusing to follow His leading.

On the other hand, the wise virgins fanned the flames of the Holy Spirit by allowing Him to bring forth great miracles of healing or casting out the enemy when they were positive it was He who was doing the work. They never grieved the indwelling Spirit, but always listened to His voice and leading. At the Second Coming of Jesus Christ guess who was ready and allowed the greater light to shine forth to illuminate the darkness of the hour. Although they both slept, it was the wise virgins who awoke to let their inner light of the indwelling Spirit to shine brightly. They were ready at His coming and rejoiced in meeting the Bridegroom. Let me tell you the foolish virgins were very shocked to hear the words of our returning Lord. Words they never expected to hear. How could Jesus Christ say, “I never knew you!” How about all the work in the Kingdom, it meant nothing. How about all the Bible studies and times of worship, it meant nothing. Yes, they never really knew the Holy Spirit and Christ said, “I never knew you.” To know the Holy Spirit is to be known by Christ.

Friends, it not too late to start building a personal, intimate relationship with the indwelling Holy Spirit following His lead and listening to His voice alone. It is the Spirits primary job to convict the believer to turn immediately from their sin and follow the path of righteousness. If you are not convicted by the Holy Spirit when you are openly sinning against God, then don’t try to convince me that you have the indwelling Holy Spirit. Because He will convict you and it will be the most horrible feeling that you are openly being held accountable to the highest court in heaven, for your sin against a Holy God. You will feel tremendously uncomfortable continuing in the sin. Secondly, we are admonished by Scripture to keep in the step with the indwelling Spirit. So how do we keep in step with the Spirit. We keep in step by doing what we see the Spirit doing. Don’t be resistant or sluggish, but step out quickly, keep in step. It’s essential that we learn to recognize the voice of the indwelling Spirit and to recognize His moving within so that we can quickly step out and keep in step with Him. If it’s just a flash of inspiration, a light coming on, or a still small voice we need to immediately confirm that it comes from the Spirit, obey and follow His guidance. Dear Christian don’t run ahead of Him trying to magnify our own little light, but learn to wait upon the greater light that leads us step by step. Clearly, we may not know the whole plan or even the outcome, so it will be necessary to trust His leading.

To be filled with the Spirit is allowing Him to have full access to everything we think, say, or do. This is essential for every true believer, because it confirms that we are following one of the fundamentals of our faith as discussed last week. If the enemy brings bad thoughts or images to your mind immediately seek the Spirits help in casting them out and focusing on the beautiful things of Christ. The Bible says, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable – if anything is excellent or praiseworthy – think about such things” (Philippians 4:8, NIV). It is the Holy Spirit’s job to help you keep your mind pure, free from all evil thoughts and images. Please, dear children, Allow the indwelling Spirit to do His job.

Dear children once we have built and maintained a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit then we can say that we are ready for the Second Coming of Christ and will be eager to go out to meet the Bridegroom. It will be glorious day indeed. However, let’s not miss the incredible joy that we experience now and every day having the indwelling Spirit bring so many good things into our life. Remember, it is He who helps us put off the old life and put on the new. It is He who writes God’s commands upon our heart so that we do not sin against Him and so that we learn how to love God and one another. Remember it is He who produces every manner of Spiritual fruit in the life of the believer. This is not just wishful thinking for if we allow the Spirit to do His job then He will produce fruit of the Spirit which is “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and, temperance.” Yes, it is His job to make us into a new creation. Remember it is He who gives us the needed tools (Spiritual Gifts) for building up the Kingdom of God. Where would we be without the Apostles, prophets, and teachers to guide and instruct God’s children. Where would we be without the other gifts working in the life of the Church – the gift of service, helps, giving, exhortation, administration, or encouragement. And I can insure you these are not all the gifts for there are many and various gifts given to build up the Kingdom here on earth. To deny these gifts is clearly to put out the Spirit’s fire causing you to align with the foolish virgin.

So, do you really want to be ready for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ? Then start building a relationship with the indwelling Spirit. Some of you may need to repent first and turn from your sins asking the Spirit to take full control of your life. I pray that you will, for the time is short.

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