Oil for the light.
Exodus 25:6
"MY soul, how much thou needest this,
for thy lamp will not long continue to burn without it.
Thy snuff will smoke and become an offence if light be gone,
and gone it will be if oil be absent.
Thou hast no oil well springing up in thy human nature,
and therefore thou must go to them that sell and buy for thyself, or like the foolish virgins, thou wilt have to cry, "My lamp is gone out."
It was not every oil that might be used in the Lord's service; neither the petroleum which exudes so plentifully from the earth, nor the produce of fishes, nor that extracted from nuts would be accepted; one oil only was selected, and that the best olive oil.
Pretended grace from natural goodness, fancied grace from priestly hands, or imaginary grace from outward ceremonies will never serve the true saint of God; he knows that the Lord would not be pleased with rivers of such oil.
He goes to the olive-press of Gethsemane,
and draws his supplies from Him
who was crushed therein.
The oil of gospel grace is pure and free from lees and dregs, and hence the light which is fed thereon is clear and bright. Our churches are the Savior's golden candelabra, and if they are to be lights in this dark world, they must have much holy oil.
Let us pray for ourselves, our ministers, and our churches, that they may never lack oil for the light."
Charles Spurgeon
