By Walter L. Surbrook

      Text: "And the door was shut." -- Matt. 25:10.

      The parable of the ten virgins, as contained in Matthew 25:1-13, primarily has reference to the second coming of Jesus. While that is true, there is another very striking and startling truth couched on the surface of the first verse of this chapter. Your attention is called to it in these words, "Then shall the kingdom of heaven he likened unto ten virgins." In other words, the making up of the kingdom, or the getting into the kingdom, is likened unto this parable. Paul said that the kingdom is not "meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." Since this is true, getting into the kingdom must he an experience which men receive in this life, which brings to them righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Now, Jesus says the getting into this experience is likened unto this oriental wedding scene.

      To more fully comprehend the meaning of this truth with its analogy, or likeness to an oriental wedding, it will perhaps be advisable for me to give a brief description of the oriental home. In the orient the home was built; and all around it was a large court, or yard. Surrounding the entire home and court was a high wall. Down in front of the home, at the end of a rustle walk, was a door through the wall. The door was the only means of entrance to the home. At the time of a wedding a porter was stationed at the door. He was carefully advised as to the hour of the wedding, and instructed to admit every friend, guest, and relative until the hour for the ceremony arrived. At this important moment, he was instructed to close the door and fasten it. A shy individual who came late found the door locked and himself shut out.

      In making the application of this analogy, it is necessary that the kingdom of Heaven have bounds. There are those who are inside, and those who are outside. Also, there is only one way to enter, and that is through the door. In John's Gospel, 10:7, Jesus said, "I am the door." He is the door to the kingdom. To carry the analogy further, there was a time when the door was open, and everyone who came might enter. Then there came a time when the door was shut and could no more be entered. This being true, there is a time when men can get into the kingdom, when mercy is offered and the door to salvation is open; there is also a time when men are late and find the door shut.

      Jesus has warned us, in Luke 13:24, 25, by saying, "Strive (or agonize) to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." Why will they not be able? What is their hindrance? The answer is found in the next verse, which is practically a repetition of my text. "When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are." He does not say He never knew them, but He says He does not know them now.

      He does not know them because they are unqualified to enter in; but more than that, the master of the house has shut the door. They waited until the door was shut and came too late. According to this startling truth, you cannot get to God when you desire. There is only one hope for your soul, and that is that you come to Jesus Christ while the door is open. I do not know when the door will shut for you, and you do not know; but I warn you, if you value your soul and consider that your eternal destiny amounts to anything, it will be the wisest step you ever made in your life to enter the door while you are sure it is open.

      One time while Whitefield was preaching on this text, two fellows in the audience whispered to each other, "What's the difference if that door is shut? Another will open." Whitefield caught their words and immediately replied, "You are right; another door will open, but it will be the door to hell!"

      Fifty per cent of the people in this parable were shut out. That does not mean that fifty per cent of the wicked will be shut out, for they will all be shut out; but it does mean that fifty percent of those who had oil found the door shut. Oil is a type of the Spirit; not fifty per cent of the dead church, but fifty per cent of those who one time had the Spirit. My brother, what a lesson! What a warning!

      Jesus has given us ample opportunity, sent out the warning and the call. He has said, "Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price." Again He said, "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." The Spirit and the Bride are continually saying, "Come." Again, Jesus said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," and "Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." If you come, you must come while the door is open. If you neglect and are careless, if you continue procrastinating, the chances are you will find the door shut and you will be knocking without, saying, "Lord, Lord, open unto us;" but the door will forever be barred to your cry. If this lesson means anything, it means that there is a time when men can get into the kingdom, when the door is open and the opportunity is ripe; but that if they neglect and wait, there will come a time when the door will be closed and they will be forever shut out.

      Some have gone away from God and have come back in time to find the door open and have entered. David went into unmentionable sin, but humbled his soul in sackcloth and ashes, fasted, groaned and prayed, and God took him back. He got in while the door was open. Jonah ran away from God, but he got back before the door was closed. It was a miracle that Jonah ever got back to God! Thousands have gone away from God and have never gotten back. After men are backslidden for several years the chances are greatly against them. The longer they remain backslidden, the less chance there is that they will ever get back to God. Jonah is one backslider in the Bible whose getting back was a profound miracle. Saul backslid and went to hell; Judas backslid and went to hell; Demas forsook Paul and backslid, and there is no record that he ever got back; but Jonah, one man in a thousand, got back. What a miracle! Peter went out and denied Jesus, blasphemed, and backslid, but came back and found the door open. While there are a few in Scripture who came back and found the door open, there are thousands who waited until the door was shut. The antediluvian world was lost because they waited until God shut the door. They waited until it was too late!

      Saul, who one time was anointed of the Spirit, and of whom it was said he was among the prophets, miserably backslid, and lived thirty-eight years across the dead line. He waited until the door was shut! I see him his last night on earth. He got a little handful of trusty guards to go with him, and skulked under cover of night for eight or ten miles to a little town called Endor, where a famous witch lived. Under disguise he came to the witch and called for Samuel. God sent Samuel up to rebuke Saul, and as a rebuke to this witch.

      There had been a time when Saul was spiritual, when he would have had the witch stoned to death; but he was now across the dead line and God had taken His departure. The door was forever shut and barred against him. He then went to the devil to try to get help. No soul will ever go to a spiritualist medium, who is the devil's ambassador, for help until after he is abandoned of God. You will have no place in your life for spiritualist mediums, who were called witches in Bible times, until after you have rejected God and the door is shut against your soul; for every spiritualist medium is demon-possessed.

      I see Saul coming back from Endor. He has sent his trusty guards on several minutes ahead of him. He is very nervously pacing his way back toward the army. His face carries a worn and worried expression. He glances out at the scintillating lights of the vaulted dome as he strokes his black hair. I meet him, and say, "Saul, don't you know you ought to be home in bed resting, for there is a heavy day ahead of you? Tomorrow the enemy is going to strike a terrific blow at your forces."

      Saul looks at me with a half disgusted, fiendish look and says, "Have you, too, become a devil to offer me rest? There is no rest. I can't rest. If I could hear from God, then I could rest!"

      I say, "Saul, why don't you go up to the high priest?"

      He says, "I have gone to the priests, but God will not hear me, by vision nor by dream, by priest nor by prophet, by Urim nor Thummim; for God is departed from me and answereth me no more."

      The next day the battle goes against Saul, and in the midst of the fray he dies -- a suicide. Saul could not hear from God because the door was shut. I warn you, if you put God off as Saul did, you, too, will come back to find the door shut and forever barred!

      Joseph Alexander expressed this truth in the old song entitled "Judgment and Retribution", which is as follows:

      There is a time we know not when,
      A point we know not where,
      That marks the destiny of men,
      To glory or despair.

      There is a line by us unseen,
      That crosses every path,
      The hidden boundary between
      God's patience and His wrath.

      To pass that limit is to die,
      To die as if by stealth;
      It does not quench the beaming eye,
      Or pale the glow of health.

      The conscience may be still at ease,
      The spirit light and gay,
      That which is pleasing still may please,
      And care be thrust away.

      Oh, where is this mysterious bourne
      By which our path is crossed,
      Beyond which God Himself hath sworn
      That he who goes is lost?

      How far may we go on in sin?
      How long will God forbear?
      Where does hope end, and where begin
      The confines of despair?

      An answer from the skies is sent:
      "Ye that from God depart,
      While it is called today, repent,
      And harden not your heart."

      I will perhaps never forget a sad experience in a meeting a few years ago. I had preached one night, and as soon as I opened the altar call a man about thirty-five years of age came rushing down the aisle. He fell on his knees, threw up his hands, and screamed, "Pray for me, brethren! Pray for me, brethren! pray for me!"

      He carried on so and made so much disturbance that it nearly ruined my altar call. Finally, I stopped and said, "My brother, what's the matter?"

      He screamed, "The door is shut! The door is shut! Pray for me, brethren! The door is shut!"

      He had waited until it was too late. He had neglected until the door was finally shut. He felt he had passed redemption's line.

      When you visit Niagara Falls, you may follow up the Niagara River a short distance and feel perfectly safe; but you will find no swimmers and no boats in the river for a long way up the stream. I was surprised to find that "redemption point," instead of being down near the Falls was a long way up the stream. It is said that if a man gets below this point, he is hopeless. It is impossible to rescue him. Many think that the dead line is passed near the close of life, but that is a mistake. It may be away back in youth.

      I remember a man coming to our altar in an evangelistic campaign in a southern state some years ago. This man came again and again. We were almost always sure of one seeker. We worked with him, we prayed for him, we tried to help him; but our labors seemed all in vain. After three camp meetings in that same vicinity, and after we had worked with that man not only at the altar but in his home, We had utterly failed. I then became interested to know why this man could not get through to God. I was informed that years before, when he was a young man, he was under conviction. The Spirit had pled with him, the door had been open; but he had refused to enter. Now in later life he tried to get right with God, but it was too late. He passed redemption's line away back in youth and now the door is forever shut!

      If I were a sinner and could go to camp meetings and revivals and not be aroused, I would be alarmed. I would he afraid because I was not stirred. You can continue resisting the Spirit until your heart becomes so callused, seared, and hardened that the Holy Spirit cannot reach you.

      The Apostle Paul speaks of some whose conscience had become seared as with a hot iron. What does he mean? Did you ever see a blacksmith's hand? The can handle things so hot that they would burn your hand and mine, yet he is not burned. The Apostle Paul means that some men's conscience can become seared and callused like a blacksmith's hand, until red-hot truth does not affect them any more. Sizzling, burning truth preached in the Holy Spirit will always do one of two things. If you accept it, it will tender, melt, and break you all to pieces; but if you reject it, it will sear, callous, and harden you until you become as impenetrable as steel, until the sharpest and most pointed shafts of truth are turned aside by your hardened spirit. Whether a soul blasphemes the Holy Spirit, or persistently shuts God out of his life until the Spirit leaves him, being grieved away, makes little difference. He is as surely damned taking the one course as he is taking the other, for be wilt find himself ultimately shut out and the door of mercy barred forever.

      A few years ago in a small town in western Michigan there lived a hardware man who took great delight in making sport of the Holiness people. In that town was a Wesleyan Methodist Church, and the pastor was a godly man. This hardware man delighted in laughing and joking about the "holy rollers." He had lied about the pastor, told corrupt stories about his members, and enjoyed entertaining backsliders and sinners with his tirade on that Holiness church. God had suffered it for His people in silence for many months. Finally, the church put on a revival. They engaged a spiritual evangelist, who started preaching in that meeting.

      The revival had been running only a few days when this hardware man, intent upon doing all the damage he could, was telling new lies and greater stories on the people of God. Then he was suddenly taken ill. The doctor was called to his home. After a careful examination and diagnosis of his case, the doctor called him by name and said, "You are a sick man. If you have any business to straighten up, you had better do it right away, for you have only two or three days to live." Immediately the sick man knew to whom to send for prayer. He did not send for the backslidden preacher who had agreed with his carnal tirades, but he sent for the very man on whom he had told so many lies.

      The Wesleyan Methodist parsonage was directly across the street from the home of this man. He sent over and asked the pastor to come and pray for him. About four o'clock in the afternoon the pastor went over and got on his knees to pray for the dying man. He prayed from four until five, and there was no answer; from five until six, and yet no answer; from six until seven. At seven o'clock the evangelist left the parsonage, went to the church and conducted the service, while the pastor remained on his knees wrestling in prayer, trying to pray through for his dying enemy. At ten o'clock the evangelist returned from the meeting and, instead of retiring, walked across the street, got on his knees, and united in prayer with the pastor for the dying man. They prayed till eleven o'clock, but there was no answer. They prayed together; they took turn about praying till midnight; hut there was no answer. They were still on their knees at one o'clock in the morning but no voice from God. At two o'clock the darkness of hell was settling down; there was no light. At three o'clock they were still praying and holding on. At four o'clock in the morning the doomed man, who had been praying with the pastor and with the evangelist, trying to get through to God, rose up on one elbow, in bed, looked those two godly preachers in the face and said, "Brethren, there is no use, I have prayed clear up to the door and the door is shut!" He lived two or three days, died without God, and went to hell I warn you, my friend, it will not pay you to put off salvation and neglect your soul;

      Listen, sinner, will you listen,
      While I make one more appeal?
      Would with tears your eyes might glisten,
      Would to God your heart might feel.
      You will, too, are long be dying;
      Soon we'll miss you from the earth,
      And your cold form will be lying
      'Neath the greensward and the turf.

      "But the grave is not the ending,
      Sin will kill beyond the tomb,
      Oh! what awful horrors pending
      In these words, the shiner's doom.
      God has traced it with His finger,
      Jesus said it should be so:
      He who lives and dies a sinner
      Must endure eternal woe.

      "You have had the Bible warning,
      You have had the Spirit, too,
      Ever since life's early morning
      It has strove and pled with you.
      Many times the teardrops glistened,
      Many times your heart did melt;
      To the story you have listened,
      Of the pangs your Savior felt.

      "But the Bible you have slighted,
      And the Spirit turned away,
      And refused, though oft invited,
      To improve your gracious day.
      Oh! how hard your heart is getting!
      Oh! how sad your state today!
      Friend, your star of hope is setting;
      Haste to Christ without delay!"