We just sang, the bride eyes
not her garment, but her dear bridegroom's face. I will not
gaze at glory, but on my king of grace. Not at the crown he
gives, but on his pierced hands. There's so many people in this
world that look to glory. Oh, they want to kick up gold
on the street to heaven. Oh, they want crowns. They want
little jewels in their crowns. They want to go to heaven. They
don't want to go to hell. I'm going to ask you as plain
as I can. What fool doesn't? If someone's
an sane person in their seemingly human right mind, what fool wouldn't? What prisoner wouldn't be set
free, be pardoned by the governor? You're free to go. You're not
guilty. Walk out of this prison. You
never have to come back. And that's why I'm going to hire
a lawyer and I'm going to stay in here longer. You wouldn't
put them... I wrote an article about that.
You wouldn't put them back in prison, you'd put them in a loony
bin. Something ain't right. Anybody knows that, don't they?
God's going to regenerate His people. Give them life and a
heart. Who doesn't want that? That's
going to be the first resurrection, John tells us. And then there's
coming a second resurrection. Christ is going to come to this
world and judge it. Judge it on your works. Whether
you're good or evil. Kevin, you've preached grace
this whole time. What are you doing? I'm telling you what God says.
We'll see. We'll see. Do you want to be good in that
day or do you want to be evil? Do you want to be a goat or do
you want to be a sheep? What fool wouldn't want to be a sheep? What fool, what ignorant, stupid
person would want to be evil and want to have eternal damnation? What person wants Christ? Are you going to live in eternity
in a grass hut instead of a mansion? Is it with Him? I like grasshuts,
that's fine. Won't bother me one bit in the
world. You can never drive a Ford or a Chevy again, or whatever.
That's fine, you gotta walk. I get to be with Him, I get to
walk next to Him. So many people want the benefits of glory. They
want eviction from this law that they're cursed under, that they
can't keep. And they seek things, and they seek to have their bellies
filled with bread and fishes. the bread and fishes of the gospel
because it behooves them. It's of their benefit and that's
what they seek. I pray that we could seek a person, our bridegroom, the one who laid
down his life for the bride. I'd give my life for that woman.
She needs a kidney, she can have it. She needs two, she can take
both of them. My Lord told me to do that. I happily do that
because I love her because He loved me and He laid down His
life for me. I needed something. I didn't
have and He went out of His way. He condescended to this earth,
became a man, lived perfectly for me. I hope we can see the
oneness of Christ. Those that He came to live for
and die for, you know when you were born? If you're His, you
were born in a manger, in poverty, out in the stables. You know
what you did when you were 12? You told your parents, I must
be about my father's business. You live perfectly on this earth
because that's how one Christ is with His people. And His people
want to be with Him wherever, however. It will be majestic
because He's there. He's not where majesty is, it's
majestic where He is. And that's what I want us to
see. Here in John 5, Lord has us go out and use what he gives
us. I had a cousin. I think he has five or six master's
degrees now, a PhD. The man ain't never held a job.
He ain't used to one of them. That ain't what school's for,
is it? The Lord didn't intend for His children to learn of
Him, for Him to give them life, and then to sit at home and read
about it all the time, and talk on the phones about it, discuss
theology and things like that. This here is your practical.
The Lord teaches us in His church house, and then we go out into
this world, and He shows us things, and He applies what we learn
here. This ain't a Wednesday and a
Sunday gig. This is life. Life. That's where it shows us.
You want to learn about mercy? He's going to make you be merciful
to somebody. And that's going to be somebody that don't deserve
it. That's what mercy is. You learn about his rainbow. That's
what a couple of us experienced this week. We learn about who
that rainbow is. Not what it is. Not, well, we
ain't going to drown no more. That's Christ is who that is.
That's my Lord. And then he tells you that here,
and then you go out and you see a rainbow. And boy, I smiled
like I ain't never smiled before. Got to see a hole. Start to finish
today. It was wonderful. We experienced
him. He shows us these things out
and about. I try to touch on things that
lead up to the message for that day. I went through a course
one time, and they said this is a progressive course. Especially
math's a great thing. Math's a progressive course.
If you don't learn what one plus one is, you ain't gonna learn
X, Y, and Z. You're not gonna make it through
algebra. But as we go through these things, I wanna touch back,
as I remember, on what we've looked at already. And so that's
something to not chew on the briars and take it easy listening
to other pastors. If it's a midweek service or
something like that, they might have not explained everything
they built on last week. And you may not be around for
what they're building this week for next week. And so, if some
of those things seem off the cuff, don't blame them. That
ain't your paddock. Just say okay and go on. Maybe
next week will be a little bit different for you. But I want
us to see what we've learned. Tonight we're going to look at
the regeneration and resurrection of the heart of a believer. And
then the resurrection of this body. What's going to happen
when the Lord comes? What we're going to see? What
all men and women on this earth are going to see. You're going
to watch it happen. And then that judgment. What's
going to happen in that judgment of all those resurrected souls
and bodies? What's our Lord going to do?
He says in John 5.18, Therefore the Jews sought the Moor to kill
him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, boy that
made them mad, but said also that God was his Father, making
himself equal with God. And He answers them. Here's the
first, truly, truly, we looked at two weeks ago. Truly, truly,
He is God. He says in verse 19, John 5,
19. Then answered Jesus and said
unto them, Verily, verily, trustworthy, truly, Amen. I say unto you,
the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father
do. For what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son
likewise. For the Father loveth the Son,
and showeth Him all things that Himself doeth. He will show him
greater works than these, that ye may marvel. They're one. They're one. For as the Father
raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth
whom He will. He gives life. God gives life. Christ gives life. Yes, they're
one. They're one. That's where life
comes from. The Father highly exalted Him. glorified Him, gave
Him a name above every name. It says in verse 22, For the
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the
Son, that all men should honor the Son. What did David say?
Kiss the Son. Kiss His feet, love Him, honor
Him, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which hath sent Him. Here's the truly,
truly that we looked at last week. He's God and He's the God
of salvation. If somebody's going to be saved,
Christ is going to do it. Verse 24, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, he that heareth my word, not listeneth to my word. There's
a whole mess of people that's listened to the gospel. He that
heareth my word and believeth on him that sent me hath everlasting
life and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from
death unto life." Those that believe on Him, those that currently
have life, have a work done in them, right now they're alive. You are alive right now and you
will always be. And condemnation and judgment
shall not come to you. It ain't gonna happen. We've
passed from death unto life. We were dead There was a journey,
and we're alive. The Lord worked in us. We're His workmanship. We're
alive. And here's the third, verily, verily, in this chapter.
He's going to call out those that are His who have not heard
Him yet. He spoke in verse 24 of those that currently know
Him, those that believe Him, those that have a heart to hear
Him and worship Him. And now He's saying, I'm going
to call out mine that don't know Me yet. Verse 25, verily, verily,
of a truth. I say unto you, the hour is coming,
and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of
God, and they that hear shall live." There were children of
God that had not yet been spiritually born, and Christ was going to
call them out. He was going to come to them.
They're dead. Have you ever been dead? A whole lot of people ain't never
been dead. Most people haven't ever been
just graveyard dead in sin. They're dead in sin. They might
be religious. They may go to church a whole
bunch. They may have the Bible memorized front to back and in
Greek and in Hebrew and everything else, but they're graveyard dead.
And when God comes to them, Christ who is God and in power speaks
to them, gives them life, they hear and they live. They hear
and they live. But these children haven't been
born yet and He's going to come to them. There might be some
here tonight that's never heard and lived. God may call that
last saint home tonight. We may watch bodies come out
of the grave here in just a few minutes. Wouldn't that be something?
Depending on when our Lord's return, He may have children
that haven't heard Him yet that aren't born yet. You think He
can preserve them? You think He can preserve their
physical seed so they show up? Can He keep them in providence
until they hear His Word? You better believe He can. But
that hour is appointed if they're His. Every child that's given
to Him, there's an appointed hour when He will come to them
in the preaching of the gospel, of the truth, and speak to their
hearts and give them life. the hour of spiritual birth. They're dead in their flesh until
He speaks a word in power. Until He comes in power and they
hear it and they live. He gives them ears to hear and
when they do they live. There's a life and there are
signs of life. Can you tell the difference between
a dead body and a live body? It ain't hard, is it? Take a pulse. It ain't over. That's called regeneration. Regeneration. The Lord gives life. That's the
resurrection of the soul. That's the first resurrection. That's what John wrote to us
in Revelation 20. He said, blessed and holy is the man who knows
something about this first resurrection. They're blessed. And you know
what? They're holy. Because they have Christ abiding
in them. They're alive. He says in verse 26, John 5,
26. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given
to the Son to have life in himself. He told Nicodemus of Verily,
Verily. He said, you must be born again. You must be given
life from Almighty God. The Son is going to do that.
Verse 27 says, And hath given him authority to execute judgment
also, because he is the Son of Man. He came to this earth and
He's going to judge this earth because He's the man that lived
perfectly to God under His law in spirit and in truth and in
attitude His entire life. And He's risen. That sacrifice
He made Himself was accepted and He's going to be the judge
by whom all will be judged. If you think you're a pretty
good person, you're going to come up short. I promise. He says in verse 28, those are
things that The Lord gave. He said, I'm going to save my
people. I'm God. Those that are alive right now with spiritual
life, I gave it to them. They heard. And those that are
mine that haven't even been born yet, I'm going to come to them.
He's going to save every one of his. He's not going to lose
a one. And what did he tell those Pharisees at one time? He said,
what's easier for you? Would it be easier for a man
if I said, take up your bed and walk or your sins be forgiven?
That's where your sins be forgiven. You're just saying that. You
washed away something we can't see. That's easier done for a
man, isn't it? Here's what he says, marvel not,
verse 28, at this. Don't marvel at this. For the
hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear
his voice and shall come forth they that have done good unto
the resurrection of life. and they that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation." What about this resurrection?
Turn over to John 11. Just a few pages. John 11. I was driving downtown the other
day and I saw a billboard and it said, Jesus is alive. Jesus
is alive. That's part truth. Jesus isn't
just alive. He's life. He's life. It's not that He is alive. I
mean, you are physically alive, aren't you? He is life. What else is there? Verse 22,
John 11, 22. Martha's speaking to our Lord,
and she said, if you'd have been here, our brother wouldn't have
died. She said, but I know, verse 22, but I know that even now,
whatsoever thou would ask of God, God will give it thee. Jesus
saith unto her, thy brother shall rise again. And Martha said unto
him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at
the last day. Lord, I know he'll rise. You've
said so. This isn't something new. Enoch
spoke of this. Job, who was born probably before
Abraham, spoke of this. She said, I know, when that final
day comes, he's yours. And Jesus said unto her, I am
the resurrection. People make movies left and right
about the rapture, and all these squiggly, wiggly, religious nonsense
movies. Oh, rapture's coming, and the
pilots are going to go, and all the planes are going to crash. That's
what people think resurrection is, is to think rapture and all
these things are. It's a person. Well, we wrap our heads around
that. That's not a doctrine all of a sudden, is it? The resurrection
is not a theological position. It's a person. Life's a person. The first resurrection and the
second resurrection, an eternal life, it's a person. He said,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. You believe this? Arthur, you believe this? She
saith unto him, Yea, Lord, I believe that thou art the Christ, the
Son of God, which should come into the world. You're Him. You're the resurrection. You're
life, is what she's saying. You're life right now. In that
day of judgment, you're life. And forevermore, you're my life. That's what she says. Not everybody
believed that. Some people don't even believe
there's going to be a resurrection. They think we're just worm food.
And after this is over, lights out. That's all she wrote. What
a sad thing. What a horrible thing to do. Some don't believe it now. There's
some high-minded folks. Turn over to Luke 20. Luke chapter
20. The Sadducees didn't believe
that. They were high-minded folks. Theologians. Way up there. Educated. Read books all day
long. What time they went out picking
on everybody. What time they went picking religious fights
and having debates and intellectual conversations, which is horrendous. It's horrendous. And they didn't
believe that there was going to be a resurrection. And so
they came to our Lord. And they gave Him this parable,
which was ridiculous. They were ridiculous. Their position
was ridiculous. And the hypothetical situation
that they laid out for our Lord is nonsense to begin with. But
they thought they were going to get Him. We're going to corner
Him. We're going to trap Him up in
His words. You know how many people come after me that studied for
like, probably weeks, and they orchestrated their words just
so to try to pigeonhole me and sharp-shoot me? Like, hey, I'm
coming off the hip. Should I be surprised? I shouldn't
be. Here in verse 34, these seven
brothers, they all ended up married to one woman. The oldest brother
married her, and he died, so the next brother, it's his obligation
to marry her. He died, then the next one, then
he died, and now we're down to the seventh brother, and that's
one woman. She ain't had a child for none
of them. And they said, in the resurrection
that they don't believe in, whose wife is she going to be? Who's
wife, who's she gonna be married to out of these seven brothers?
Verse 34, Luke 20, 34. And Jesus answering said unto
them, the children of this world, not my world, not my kingdom,
children of this world, are given in marriage. They marry and are
given in marriage. But they which shall be accounted
worthy to obtain that world and the resurrection from the dead
neither marry nor are given in marriage. That doesn't mean we
don't get married on this earth. That means in glory we won't be married.
And we're not going to give in marriage. Neither can they die
anymore. Well, that's different too, isn't
it? For they are equal unto the angels and are the children of
God, being the children of the resurrection. Being children
of God. Christ is our resurrection. Now
that the dead are raised, even Moses showed at the bush when
he calleth the Lord the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac. and the God of Jacob. Four, why
did Moses call this the burning bush? For He is not a God of
the dead, but of the living. For all live unto Him. Turn back to Exodus chapter 3.
Let's look at that again. Christ is the resurrection of
the body and He is the resurrection of the soul. And many times we
read this throughout our lives in Exodus 3 of Moses and that
flaming bush that was not consumed speaking to Him. And we think,
well, the Lord's just prepping Him. He's getting Him ready.
Did you know that that's concerning the resurrection? That's how
God saves sinners on this earth. He saves His people, and that's
how He's going to preserve them in that final day. That's going
to be our accounting. That's going to be our judgment
for the believer. Do you know that? How did I know
that? Christ just said it, didn't he? The one who spoke to Moses
in that bush, God Almighty, told us, here's what I meant when
I was talking to Moses out of that bush. Let me shed some light
on it. Isn't that something? He says
in Exodus 3 verse 1, Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his
father, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back
side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, even to
Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame
of fire out of the midst of a bush. And he looked and beheld Behold,
the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. And
Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why
the bush is not burnt. And when the Lord saw that he
turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of
the bush and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, here am I. And he
said, draw not hither, put off thy shoes from off thy feet,
for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. Don't bring nothing
with you." Moreover, he said, I am the God of thy father, the
God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses
hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God. Our Lord said,
he said all this because he's not the God of the dead, but
the God of the living. What does that mean? How could
these things be? He said, I am the God of your father, Moses. What a blessing it is to have
believing parents. You children don't know how blessed
it is. Even just as a walk in this world.
You have an easier time. What a blessing it is to have
believing parents to teach you. That's a great blessing of the
Lord. And he says the God of Abraham. That's our father, Abraham. We're his spiritual seed. We're
the seed of Abraham. We who believe. That promised
seed. That's a covenant. God made a
covenant with our father, Abraham. And He said, go outside and look
up. You see all them stars? That's how many seeds you're
going to have. That's going to be your children. They're going
to exceed the number of stars. Can you count them? He said, no, Lord.
But I believe you. A covenant was made with Abraham. And then Isaac. He said, I'm
the God of Isaac. What's Isaac? What is it? That's
substitution. What he had promised in the covenant
before Isaac showed up, Isaac took up a mountain and Abraham
was going to kill him. And God sent himself. He sent
a lamb. For us, he sent himself. A covenant
was made with the Father. The substitution is what took
place in the God of Jacob. Well, if I could find a Jacob,
I'd have something to tell him. What do you think of when you think
of Jacob? Supplanter, deceiver, slimy, slippery. He's a sinner. What's the resurrection of life?
God made a covenant. He sent himself as a substitute
for a bunch of sinners. Undeserving worms. Worms. And Moses hid his face for he
was afraid to look upon God. You think he hid it up? He bowed. Oh Lord. He gives life. He resurrects
the soul and His people on this earth and they believe Him in
this life and they follow Him. He said so. And then that final
day comes. There was a covenant made. A
substitute came. Lord, I'm a sinner and I need
mercy. I need someone to be my substitute. That would be that
final day. And that's what we're saying
for glory and for eternity. Worthy is the Lamb. We'll honor
the Son as we honor the Father. Truly. Truly. Not like we just
want to now, but we'll honor Him. We'll honor Him. After our
Lord is complete in regenerating all of His elect, after He comes
to them, and He reveals what we are, reveals who Christ is,
and all that judgment is finished. It's done. When it's finished.
Those sheep that were in Him before time began, those with
Him as He walked this earth, those are with Him now. And after
that last one is given life, there'll be a resurrection of
the body. He'll come back the second resurrection. And He'll
raise all the dead from the ground. Turn back in our text here in
John 5. Remember who He's talking to.
These are enemies. These are self-righteous religionists
that's come to him to handpick him. And he tells them in verse
28, marvel not at this. I don't think they probably entered
into all that. I pray they did, but it's a lot there, isn't it?
It's the words of God, Almighty God speaking. And he says, marvel
not at this, for the hour is coming. Here's what you'll marvel
at. In which all that are in the graves shall hear His voice. You think of the power. They
and they shall come forth. every person from Adam until
that last person that's on the face of this earth is going to
come forth. Christ who is God, who saves
sinners, who shall save His people, who will keep them to the end
and keep them for eternity, is going to come, and in His voice,
He's going to say, come forth. Just like He did to Lazarus.
That's why I said Lazarus. It's called the come forth. If
He had just said, come forth, boy, the whole earth would have
come loose. You think of the power of that. I dwelled on that
a lot this week. I drove around a lot, and every pothole, water
would fly out of it, and I thought, oh boy, I wonder if there's dust
in that water hole. There's grime all over my car.
The Lord said, you came from dust, and to dust you're going
to return. That's what He told us in Genesis
3. What's this body do after it dies? It goes away. Worms
eat it. Well, they carry it all over
the place, don't they? Bones, you leave them in the ground
for thousands and thousands and thousands, they're going to go away. It's
going to be dust, elements, powder. And He has the power to come
and say, come forth. And every dust is going to go
back to that body. He's going to bring them up again.
And He's going to send souls back to them. Back to them. And He has the power and knowledge
and wisdom not only to make this miraculous thing happen. We're
all going to see that. If He comes in my lifetime, I
think He will. Ain't a believer that ever lived that didn't think
He was coming. I think He will in my lifetime. But if I go to
glory first, I'll still see this. Every man, those Pharisees that
didn't believe on Him, they're going to see it too. They're
going to come out of the seas. They're going to come out of
the dirt. I had an aunt one time that didn't believe in organ donation.
And she said, what happens during the resurrection? There'll be
livers going all over the place. How are they going to find the
right body? I said, if God can bring us back from the dust and
regenerate us, I think he can put a liver where he wants it.
He made the liver. He can put it where he wants it. This ain't
too hard. You think too little of God. That's what he's able
to do. And those souls that he sends
back to those bodies that he's made that's come out of the sea
and come out of the ground, he knows everything about every
soul he puts back in there. What knowledge, we just don't
have a good grasp on it. We can't enter into these things.
The infinite, trillions and quadrillions of people. And he knows every
breath he ever took because he gave it to you. That's who's
going to judge us for it. This ain't some kind of flimsy
county sheriff sitting behind a piece of wood. It's God Almighty.
That's what's going to happen. And this judgment, after this,
He says there in Matthew 27, I won't have to turn to it, we're
running short on time. But whenever our Lord gave up
the ghost, He said, it's finished. And he gave up the ghost. And
the earthquake, the ground shook, the veil rent from top to bottom. And you know what happened? The
saints that were asleep, their bodies in the ground, they come
out of the ground and walk through town. Because his life, that's
the power of his life. And he went to the ground and
they came back out. What a day that will be. We're going to
see that. You're going to be good or bad.
whenever that comes. He says in verse 29, "...and
shall come for they that have done good unto the resurrection
of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of
damnation." I want life. Don't you? It doesn't have to
be the same person, but there's a problem with that. There's
a problem with those that's done good. Paul wrote to us and says,
"...as it's written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
There's none that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after
God, They're all going out of the way. They're all together
become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good.
No, not one. But the Lord's got a people he's
going to save. How are they going to be good? Ain't one of us good? What
then is it to do good? What is it when someone does
good? We labored this a long time in this progressive course.
The time we spent together. Two years. We went through 1
John, didn't we? Those that do righteousness.
Those that do good. That's believing on Christ. Believing
on God. And loving our brethren. And
that's loving Him. It's Christ that dwells in you. That's doing good, isn't it?
Turn over to Matthew 25. Matthew 25 and we'll close. There ain't a unrighteous person
that don't think that they're righteous. Oh, I believed on God. Oh, I've
done good things. I read my Bible. Somebody finds
out I'm a preacher, I don't even tell people half the time. They
flood me, all the good things they've done. and how good they
are. There ain't none good, no not
one. Somebody come to me as a sinner,
a whole mess people ain't never come to me and say, I'm just
a wretch. Well I'm thankful for Christ, for his blood. I'm horrible. I just feel dead all the time.
I'm cold all the time. I ain't no good in me. And I
spend most of my days thinking that I don't know God. That's
how I feel. Your old pastor used to feel
the same way. He says it all the time. He used to say it.
I just wake up every day feeling cold and empty and dead. I was
sitting there all day today. I just couldn't do nothing. I'd
have a message for you. It's killing me on the inside.
Lord, why won't you speak to me? Why won't you give me something
out of your word? Am I yours? If I ain't, don't let me speak
in your name. Cut my tongue out. Take my life from me, Lord. Don't
let me do it. And I feel so dead. Most of the time. But I know
I'm alive. Because he's my life. This ain't
my weekend girlfriend. That's my bridegroom. He's mine. Boy, if you don't feel like...
There's times I would imagine, every now and then, sometimes,
that Kimberly may not be just totally happy with me. That may
happen. That's my wife, and I'm still
her husband. No matter how I feel, I'm His,
and He is mine. Because I trust Him, and I know
Him, and I believe Him. And anytime I look to myself,
I ain't nothing. The righteous always think themselves
to be unrighteous. And the unrighteous can't stop
telling everybody how good they are. That's the truth, isn't
it? Look here, Matthew 25, verse
31. Matthew 25, verse 31. When the
Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. And
before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats."
This is when all those bodies come out of the ground. Quadrillion.
How many there's been, I don't know. And he shall set the sheep
on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King
send them on his right hand come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."
How does an inheritance come? One, you've got to be a child.
Two, somebody's got to die. For I was hungered and you gave
me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger and you took me in. Boy, that will change
how we deal with strangers, isn't it? Naked, and you clothed me. I
was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, those that do good, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered
and fed thee? Lord, when do we see you thirsty
and give you drink? see you as a stranger and took
you in, or naked and clothed thee? When do we see you sick
or in prison and came unto me?" Well, we didn't do these things.
I didn't do this. I've done nothing good. And the
king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you,
Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, you've done it unto me. I'm one with my people. That's what he's saying. How
you treat believers is how you treat God. It ought to make the children
dance fine. I broke into Kimberly's van a couple of years ago and
stole her purse. Somebody said, boy, I wish you
could get your hands on it. And there's part of me that does,
don't get me wrong. But I said, they took God's anointed purse. They took his daughter's purse.
He allowed it to happen. If you've done it to the least
of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. Verse 41, Then shall he say also
to them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, those that do
evil. For I was an hungred, and ye
gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in. Naked, and
ye clothed me not. Sick, and in prison ye visited
me not. Then shall they answer unto him, saying, Lord, sounds
the same, doesn't it? When saw we thee and hungered,
or thirst, or stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did
not minister unto thee? I've kept these from my youth
up. Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not, to one of the
least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." The believer has no need to fear
death and judgment. Those that stand in the merit
of Christ alone and His person, who He is, who that sacrifice
was, what that sacrifice accomplished, that it's finished. You're plum
holy. You can't get no more holy. Why? You're as righteous as Christ
is righteous. He's the Lord our righteousness. That's how He
shall be called. And she shall be called the Lord our righteousness.
From God who cannot lie. That's what He said. We have
no need to fear death. We have no need to fear judgment. There's no double jeopardy. We
have a holy God. We don't just have a sovereign
God. We have one that's holy and right and just and good. We have no need to fear these
things. So often I feel dead and cold, but I know I have life
because He's my life. I've done no good. He's the only
one good. God saves His people. When they
entered into that covenant, before time began, before Adam came
on this earth, the father looked at the son and said, I'm going
to make a whole kingdom just like him. They're going to fall,
they're going to sin, and they can't save themselves. And the
son said, I'll stand for them. Put them in me. And he did. He
saved us then. Then He come to this earth and
He accomplished it on Calvary's cross. And He comes to His people
in 2021, for the next couple of days, 2022 if He sees fit
to let it happen. He comes to them and He saves
them. He speaks to them in power. He gives them life. Eternal life. And He continues to save them
in this world until that last day comes. Either when we die
or He comes. And we shall be saved for eternity.
You save a man out of the ocean. When they're out of the ocean,
you ain't got to save them no more. They're in the boat. Sit down
and eat a sandwich. You're fine. Put a blanket on.
Drink some hot cocoa. When this life's over, this death
of ocean, and we're plucked out of it, however that may come
to pass, then we're with him. We're made like him, and we see
him face to face. We'll be with him in glory. We'll be with the
person. And those that want to be with
Him, a person, and they see Him as He is, they'll be with Him.
And they'll be made like Him. Won't that be something? What
a day that'll be. The Lord hates the day, huh?
Amen.