In episode 308 of the “No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe” podcast, the host addresses the question, “Am I going to make the rapture?” He begins by recalling his previous discussion of the difference between the rapture and the second coming, then moves into a detailed biblical exposition. Using the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1‑13), he argues that the oil represents the Holy Spirit and that only the five “wise” virgins—those who possess the Spirit—will be admitted to the wedding feast, implying a 50 % split between saved and unsaved among self‑identified Christians. He reinforces this with the “narrow gate” passage (Matt. 7:13‑14), suggesting an 80‑90 % failure rate for the world at large and a similar 50‑50 division for believers. The host warns that many who call themselves Christians will be rejected by Jesus because they lack genuine faith and the Spirit. He then offers practical assurance: confess Jesus as Lord with the mouth, believe in the heart, repent, and adopt humility. He emphasizes that salvation is not earned by church attendance or good works but by a personal declaration of faith. The episode concludes with a pastoral prayer urging listeners to study Scripture, receive the Holy Spirit, and be drawn to Christ. Throughout, the speaker uses analogies (a mechanic who works on cars but never becomes a car) and personal exhortations to motivate listeners toward authentic faith.
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Welcome to episode 308. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, in the previous episode, I talked about the difference between rapture and the second coming and what they had in common and what was different. And in this episode, I thought the next question would be, well, am I going to make the rapture? And if you'll stick with me to the end, I'm going to show you how I can promise you, or almost guarantee you, make the rapture, but not everybody is going to make it. I want to thank you for being here, either on my podcast or on YouTube. And if this is the first time you've ever heard me or seen me, I want to remind you that I make a horrible Holy Spirit. I simply read the word of God and then take in and pray and ask God what he wants me to talk about, and then I just determine what I want to talk about. And so I believe that this is on my heart, is something that I just want to get out So here we go. There's going to be— I'm going to talk in Matthew, and there's a couple of different times where Jesus says the same things to different crowds. And the, the first one I want to talk about is after we talked about the rapture. Jesus told his disciples on the Mount of Olives about all these things that were going to happen, and then he starts talking about these 10 virgins. And I want to remind you that math is not an exact science, but if we take these 10 virgins, I think there's a reason, and it's kind of It's easy math. Half of them are going to make it and half of them are not going to make it. So 5 virgins are wise and 5 virgins are foolish. We're going to read the first 4 verses in Matthew chapter 25. Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Now 5 of them were wise and 5 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. Now I want to stop there. Again, 5 of them were wise, 5 of them foolish, and he describes the foolish ones as having no oil and the wise of having oil. And if you've studied anything in the Bible or if you've been to church, you probably have heard that the oil is representing the Holy Spirit. So this, in my opinion, is saying that the Holy Spirit is inside of these 5 wise virgins. The unwise virgins have no Holy Spirit in them. My pastor from way back told me, and I just laughed when I heard it, and you may have heard this already, but he said there was this mechanic. At 8 in the morning, he would get into his shop and he would turn wrenches and he would work on cars and work on cars. He was very good at it. And he spent his whole life working on cars. And he worked and he worked, and he's from 8 in the morning till 6 at night, he was turning wrenches. And he spent his whole life in a garage, but there is no way that mechanic was ever gonna be in automobile. And he said, just like that mechanic, you can spend your whole life in church And that will never make you a Christian. You have got to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. And it don't matter if you do it in church, it don't matter if you do it on a bus, it don't matter if you do it on a plane, train, in your garage. It does not matter where you accept Jesus. It only matters that you've accepted him, that you've declared Jesus Lord with your mouth and believe in your heart. Well, I want to keep reading because that's not the end of the story. We need to see what Jesus says about these virgins, and we're going to pick it back up in Matthew 25:5. 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 ones said to the wise, 'Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.' 10 But the wise answered, saying, No, lest there should not be enough for us and you: but rather, go to those who sell, and buy for yourselves. 11 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. 12 Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 13 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. And that's Matthew 25:5-13. That's got to give you a little chill. And I just want to make sure that you understand what Jesus is saying, because this is God. This is Jesus speaking this to a crowd right after he talked about the rapture, right after he talked about the second coming. And he was saying, then the kingdom of heaven. And then, you know, we put chapters and verses in there to make it easier, but this is the same discourse. He is still talking to his disciples about the rapture, about the second coming, and he says, then the kingdom of heaven. So he's declaring, hey, this is how it's going to be. And I want you to see this: half are going to make it and half are not going to make it. So I want to encourage you, if you are not in a church that is opening up the Bible and reading the Bible, I want to encourage you, get somewhere that is reading the Bible, that is studying the Bible. Again, this is my soapbox moment. You have got to get into the word of God and allow the word of God to get inside of you. You have got to have the Holy Spirit in you. That's the oil. That's being a smart virgin. There are going to be multiple people that don't make heaven or don't make the rapture. They call themselves Christians. You're not going to fool God. You might fool yourself, you may fool your neighbor, you may fool your spouse, but you are not going to fool Jesus. And if Jesus does not know you, you aren't going to make it. It's just plain and simple. And I want to go to Matthew, same book, But I want to go back to Matthew 7. This is in the Beatitudes. It's kind of the end. Matthew 5 through 7, I believe, is, is the Beatitudes where he's talking to a crowd back at the beginning of his ministry. I want to go to Matthew 7. This is a scripture we talk about a lot, and it's Matthew 7:13 and 14. Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Now that's Matthew 7:13 and 14. Now Jesus is talking to the crowd. He's not talking about the churches. I want to differentiate between the virgins are actually Christians, and I'm putting air quotes up. These are people that call themselves Christians. When Jesus is talking to the crowd now, he's talking to people that are following after him. And I think he's talking in general now, the narrow gate and the wide gate, because 50/50, I don't know that you can differentiate between narrow and wide. So what I want you to kind of picture here is this wide gate. I, I got wide and narrow maybe 80/20, and I know it's hard to do math if you're working out or doing yard work, but wide and narrow is not a 50/50 deal. It is 80/20, 90/10. So he's saying 80% of the people aren't going to make it, 20% of the people maybe are. When you take these numbers here, this narrow and wide, and then you take the 50/50, the 5 foolish and 5 wise virgins, I wanted you to see that he's kind of saying the same thing. One, he's talking about the world, I think, in narrow and wide, and then he's talking specifically about Christians in this 50/50. Half of the Christians are going to make it. Half of the people that quote say they're Christians aren't going to make it. And I want to keep reading. Jesus then talks about this narrow and wide, and in Matthew 7:21-23, he kind of answers this question. He says, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, Have we not prophesied in your name and done many wonders in your name? Then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Now I know we've talked about this multiple times, but if you're here for the first time, or if we're talking about this rapture thing, I want you to make sure that you get this because this is important for your eternity. Not everyone who's in church. And I believe that this is the crowd that Jesus is talking to now, where he says, hey, I gotta tell you, not everybody's gonna make it. He's talking about the same place now when these virgins are knocking on the door saying, Lord, Lord, open the door, and he's going to say, I never knew you. In this instance, Jesus is now again talking to the people that think they're Christians. I don't believe anybody in the world that are agnostic or atheist they're not prophesying in Jesus' name, and they're not doing many wonders in Jesus' name. That to me is the church. And the church, some that are quote calling themselves Christians or the church, Jesus says right here— I again, I want to remind you, I didn't write one word in this Bible. Jesus is saying, I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness. And there's a difference between being caught in sin and practicing sin. We're not going to get involved in that. We've talked about that multiple times. But I just want you to picture this, and I want to help you. If you're not confident, if you're not sure, I want to help you to be sure, because I think you can be sure. And I've talked about this before, and I'll link this— I'll figure out how to do that on YouTube and in the podcast. I'm going to link this to a previous episode where I talk about repentance and sin and what those definitions mean. So if those things kind of trip you up, don't worry about it. We got you covered in another video. But I want you to know, you have to confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Christ from the dead. You have got to do that. You've got to humble yourself first. You have made mistakes. You and I— I make mistakes all the time. It's not a big deal. It's a big deal if you think that doesn't matter. Jesus died for people that make mistakes. Jesus died for you and I. All we have to do is say, God, I need and want your salvation, and I want to make sure that I make heaven. And it's as easy as that. You just say, God, I believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I want to make Jesus the Lord of my life. I believe that he died for my sin, and I believe that you raised him from the dead 3 days after, and I want to accept him as my Lord and Savior in Jesus' name. And if you prayed that prayer, if you said anything close to that, I believe you can be confident that you are a Christian. I think you have to humble yourself. I don't think you can just arrogantly bust into the throne of grace and tell God, here I am, take me as I am. I think that God sees you right where you are, and if you will humble yourself and you will just come to God and say, hey, I'm sorry, God, I, I know that I had you misread. Repentance means changing your mind. Just change your mind about God. God's not mad at you. He never has been mad at you. He was mad and is still mad at Satan. He put all of our sin, all of our disease, everything on Jesus at the cross, and he buried that in the tomb. And when Jesus rose again the third day, that means that you and I are going to rise again with Jesus, either at the rapture or when we die and when Jesus returns. We're not going to set dates, we're not going to get into that on this podcast or on any of this because we just aren't smart enough to know about that. We just know that Jesus is Lord. We know that the word of God is Jesus and it's true, and there's nothing that the enemy can do about it. And I just want to thank you for being a part of this, and I want to encourage you just to get into God's word and allow the word of God to get into you. Let's pray real quick. God, I thank you so much for your word. I thank you, Holy Spirit, that you never leave us nor forsake us. And I pray in Jesus' name that you would just draw all men to you. Lord, you said, if I be risen up, that I will draw all men to me. Lord, I pray that you would have people look at the cross and see the love that you had for man and for me and for this listener. And I pray that you would draw them to yourself. Holy Spirit, bring them home into the kingdom. God, you are not a respecter of persons. If you did it for me, a sinner, if you made me a saint, Lord, you can make this watcher or this listener a saint as well. God, we thank you, we love you, we ask it all in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, thank you for being a part of this, and I look forward to visiting with you in the next episode. Thanks for listening to the No Doubt, No Fear, Only Believe podcast at www.nodoubtonlybelieve.com.
