"Then
the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of
My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're glad to have you here with us today.I thank God for those of you who have been so moved by His Spirit to support us in the ministry, whether by sharing the ministry website, and social media platforms with your family and friends, or financially. We are reaching people and places as never before imagined, bringing more people to Christ. All praise and glory be to God.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're glad to have you here with us today.
Psalm 130:3-4 says, "If You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared."
The Judgment Seat of Christ for Christians will take place after the rapture. And the Great White Throne Judgment of the lost will not take place until the end of the Lord's thousand-year reign here
on earth. That's why some scholars teach that this judgment of the
nations only applies to the gentiles who will be alive when the Lord
returns to reign for that thousand years.
The disciples knew that the world was headed toward the glorious visible earthly kingdom of the Messiah. They were anxious to see that day come, in fact, they believe it would come at any moment, when the Lord would establish His glorious kingdom. The Olivet Discourse, which began in chapter 24, started with them asking for the signs of His Coming, saying "Tell us, when will these things happen, and what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?"
I believe that most people look at the Old Testament, they think of an angry God of wrath and judgment. Then, when it comes to the New Testament, all they see is a God of love, mercy and forgiveness. The truth is, there’s no difference between the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament, He is loving, merciful and forgiving, as well as angry, full of wrath and judgment. The Old Testament is God concealed and the New Testament is God revealed. He was, is and will always be the same God, from Genesis to Revelation. His unchanging Holy character demands all sin must be judged.
Revelation 22:13, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
In Luke 17:28-30, Jesus said, "It was the same as happened in the days of Lot: they were eating, they were drinking, they were buying, they were selling, they were planting, they were building; but on the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. It will be just the same on the day that the Son of Man is revealed."
Let us pray
Heavenly Father,
In His name we ask and pray
Amen
Today's Message: The Judgement-Sheep and Goats-Part 2
When we think of charity, we often think of organizations established to help those in need. However, we will see in this passage it's much more than that, it's love in action; through selfless acts, unmotivated by self-interest, necessary to minister to those who are in need at their point of need, for the cause of Christ. It is the blessing of the Lord upon our lives that leads to anything good in us. Similarly, when we hurt or cause harm God's people, we are actually doing offense towards Christ. God's people are known by the love we show for one another.
As we discussed before, sheep and goats look similar in appearance, often belong to the same flock, in this parable, the sheep will be recognized by the love they show for one another, for
the people of God, and the goats will be manifest by the lack of love
they have for God's people. And so a separation needs to be made. Jesus often spoke of Hell, of judgement and fire, of wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth, outer darkness, and of torment, that doesn't diminish His love but rather emphasizes His love, calling us to be ready. When any person dies their eternal destiny is already decided. So this is profound warning that comes out of love, to those who say whatever they want to say, claim whatever they want to claim, to avoid something that could eternally damn their souls.
Open your Bibles to the twenty-fifth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 25:34-40. I
invite you to follow along with me as I read the entire passage to refresh our minds, then we will look closely at verses 34 through 40 for today's
study, as we to the judgment. So, let's open our hearts and our minds
to see what the Spirit of God has
to say us today. Matthew 25:34-40.
"But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. All
the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from
one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.
"Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
"Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Let's look at verse 34, "Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."Love is the clear and obvious mark for God's people. In John 13:34-35, Jesus said, "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another." However, only talking about God's love creates all kinds of problems. When Jesus comes, He going to separate all people into two categories called sheep and goats, believers from unbelievers. Sheep are God's people, they are docile, gentle, easily led and easily frightened. Goats are rambunctious, unruly and head strong, they are virtually fearless. Goats are not God's people. It doesn't matter whether you have been to church 1000 times, or that you've read your Bible over and over, memorizing every verse, it doesn't matter if you've prayed a 1000 prayers. It's not what your mouth says but what your life does that matters! Only one of them never lies. God is not going to judge your good intentions, He's going to judge your life.
"Then the King will say to those on His right," He's already on the earth, He's sitting on His throne, He’s ready to set up His kingdom and to rule the world. This fits perfectly into Matthew’s narrative that Jesus the King. Now the King is coming into His kingdom, which has come on earth. Having believers on His right, then He says "Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." You are coming into My kingdom because you are blessed of My Father, out of His, He redeemed you, that's sovereign grace.
May I remind you that when God’s grace comes into our lives, it should
motivate us into action to become loving and giving people ministering to the
lives of those in need. When we truly understand how God's grace has helped us in our lives, we ought to be willing to show that to others. That requires a humble spirit, a selfless attitude for the purpose of pouring ourselves out into the lives of others. You may have all the faith in this world, there's much more to it than that, because without love you have nothing. God calls us to be sensitive to the needs of people.
A great illustration of this is when Jesus fed the five thousand, He knew they had not eaten. When He asked to see if there was any food, there were five loaves of bread and two fishes. He blessed that food and supplied more than enough food to meet their need of food. God has always been sensitive to the needs of people. As those who represent Him, we had ought to be sensitive to the needs of people too. Good works of love do not earn salvation, but they are the evidence of salvation. We will reap what we sow. The more you pour into the lives of others, the more you will receive.
Look at verses 35-36, "For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’"
Here in these two verses, we see the reality of redemption, salvation and justification, in those which belong to the family of God. Because you are sons of God by faith, you inherit the kingdom, evidence that you belong to the Father. When you inherit something, it's usually because you belong to that family. God knows those whom He prepared it for from the foundation of the world. I believe this emphasizes the selectivity of salvation, the covenant that God made with Himself to redeem those who were selected before the foundation of the world, even though nobody else knows who they are God knows. What a beautiful reality to know that before God formed a single grain of sand, He prepared an eternal kingdom for us. Good deeds are the outward sign of inward reality of salvation. The fruit of salvation.
Matthew 3:8, "Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance." Good works are a manifestation of redemption, not the source of it. The redeemed serve Christ through our good deeds, giving into the lives of others. They fed Him when He was hungry, they gave Him something to drink when He
was thirsty, they took Him in when He was a stranger, they clothed Him
when He needed clothing, they took care of Him when He was sick, and
they visited Him when He was in prison. It’s obvious that you’re the chosen because of the way you live.
The people in this world are desperately crying out for help and all the wrong people are "helping" them with the wrong kind of help. Gangs, drug dealers, human traffickers are reaching out to them for all the wrong reasons. How can we, who have God's life-changing message of Truth, be unwilling to reach out and help them, no matter who they are, because we're afraid of offending them? When we minister to those in need, we minister to Christ. I am grateful for those I've been blessed to able to reach out to,
sometimes in the form of money, sometimes in the form of food. Sometimes
in the form of prayer or just being present in their time of need. God
sees our heart, and we will be rewarded for the work that we have done
in His name while we're on this earth.
Hebrews 13:2, says "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it."
I pray that as a result of this message, you will make the necessary changes in your life to make a difference in the lives of others because of your example. They could be hungry and in need of food, thirsty and in need of a drink, it could be someone in need of someone to come and visit them. May God alone receive the glory!
Verses 37-39, "Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’"
Notice that the righteous seem perplexed about these things they did for Him. When did we do that to You? This is the result of outflow of the miracle of the imputed righteousness of Christ, that's the reason they did these things. The Father preordained His people to demonstrate their righteousness in meeting the needs of others.
Mark 9:37 says, "Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me." By the word receive, He's uses the verb "déxomai," stressing the high level of self-involvement in opening your arms, welcoming others to receive offered acts of kindness and charity. A true believer always manifests righteousness. There are going to be a lot of people in that day saying, "Look Lord, look at all these great things I've done in Your name." There's a difference between declared righteousness and real righteous as a result genuine salvation. It's the attitude in the heart. It's the faithful unselfish every day acts discharged in humble duty. Examine yourself people, to see if you’re in the faith. If you belong to Jesus Chris, you're going to manifest a servants heart. That’s the test. Believe me, the Lord knows the difference!
Sometimes we are not always in a position to help others the way that we would like to, but I believe we're always in a position to help in some way. I have never personally encountered someone that naked that I could put clothes on. I have been blessed to help those who were in need of essential clothing for the children. If we are in Christ then Christ is in us, what is done to a Christian is done to Him. That's the point. May we never become so selfish, so focused on our needs, that we neglect the needs of those around us. There is a much greater ability and more resources to help when the church comes together.
That brings us to verse 40, "The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
I love the way Jesus powerfully illustrates how God equates how we treat His brothers, in the same way He values how we treat Him. God's people will manifest the Father’s heart toward those in need.I believe many have lost touch with that truth, living self indulgent lives, acquiring bigger and bigger houses, more expensive cars, failing to meet the needs of hurting people. They have no fear the consequence! Don't tell me you can't find someone to help, if you identify with the family of God, there are hungry, homeless people all around this country. There are families who lives have been shattered. Elderly people who haven't anyone check on them or help them around the house. Keep ignoring them and you’re going pay the price.
Matthew 7:22-23, "Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’" The word lawlessness is the word "anomía," it means having an utter disregard for God's written and living Word.
In Closing..
Most people today have a plaque or certificate on their wall for every good deed they've done. That should never be the case for Christians. Have you ever purchased a meal for someone who was hungry, without receiving recognition for it? Have you ever purchased clothing for someone who was improperly dressed for the weather they were in?Have ever taken the time to sit down and share a meal without someone homeless? God is love, and He sheds His love abroad in the hearts of those who are His children. If we belong to Him, we will show love, meeting the needs of others. It's not only what we do that damns us to Hell, it's also what we don't do. God help us to help others, reveal opportunities as they present themselves as they present themselves, who we are to bless and may You alone receive the glory.
1 John 3:17-18 says " But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth."
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
Copyright © 2019-2023 All Rights Reserved