Yes, it is good to have you back,
Joy. You were missed. I want us to
read from Isaiah chapter 32 for our scripture reading tonight.
Isaiah 32. And I got a text from Jared about
an hour or two ago saying that he arrived in Kingsport late,
late last night safely. He had some car trouble getting
away from here yesterday. But he's there and he said he's
moving into his new place and told him he'd be missed here
tonight. But we had good services in Sarasota Sunday night and Cody got away yesterday, yesterday. And he wants me to thank you
for your hospitality for your kindness toward him." I was just
thinking as we were singing that hymn, asking the Lord to raise
up laborers unto the harvest, that the group out in California
that had been listening to us now for several years that I've
been out to preach for, Scott and Christine, who've been here,
Cody's nephew, somebody help me out, Eric, Richards, who lives
in San Diego, is pastoring a church there and is going to start flying
up to San Jose once a month to preach for them. So they're very
excited about that. Alright, you have your Bibles
open to Isaiah chapter 32 and we'll just read the first four
verses. Now when God says behold, He's
telling us to give our undivided attention to what's about to
be said. This is extremely important. Behold, a king shall reign in
righteousness. Now we know who that is. And
princes shall rule in judgment. That's us. And we make judgments
over the truth. We're to judge righteously. We
don't sit here and just we try the spirits to see whether they
be of God. We make righteous judgments about
the truth. About what men say about Christ
and about the gospel and about how the Lord saves sinners. And
a man that's Christ, shall be as a hiding place from the wind. To be found in Christ is to have
a safe place in time of a storm. And a covert from the tempest
as rivers of water in a dry place as the shadow of a great rock
in a weary land. all these different images given
to us to tell us about the safety that there is in being found
in Christ. When the wrath of God comes,
those who are found in Christ will be safe. And the eyes of them that see
shall not be dim. When the Lord opens the eyes
of your understanding, you don't say, well, I don't see the difference.
No, no, you see it clearly. It's not an insignificant, minor
difference. Your eyes are no longer dim.
And the ears of them that hear shall hearken. We don't say,
well, I can't hear the difference. Oh, it's a different language.
It's a different gospel. It's a different message altogether. And the heart also of the rash,
the hasty, is what we were, shall understand knowledge. And the
tongue of the stammerer, that's me, shall be ready to speak plainly,
plainly, simply. Let's pray together. Our Heavenly Father, we're so
very thankful that you've opened the eyes of our understanding
and caused us to know that the King of righteousness has come
in, the Lord of glory, the one who rules and reigns from his
lofty throne, uncontested by the rebellion of men. We thank you for his power in
taking those who would raise their fist at God and making
them to be his servants. We ask, Lord, that you'd be pleased
once again to give to us a hiding place from the wind, a covert
from the tempest, a safe place that we might flee from the wrath
that is to come, that we might flee from the shame and the guilt
of our sin and the judgment of the law. We pray that you would
give us, as your princes and princesses, judgment to discern
the truth, to know Christ, that we would be able to speak with
clarity and simplicity and that we would be able to hear. We thank you and we ask it in
Christ's name. Amen. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25, and I've
entitled this message, What Separates the Sheep from the Goats? Now I want to know the answer
to that question. The Lord makes it clear in our
text that there's going to come a day when He's going to parade
the nations before Him. And the sheep are going to be
placed on His right hand to whom He will say, receive the blessings
that God has for you from the foundations of the earth. The
goats will be put on His left hand and to them it will be said,
Depart from me you workers of iniquity." Now I want to know
what it is that separates the sheep from the goats in that
day of judgment. In Matthew chapter 24 and chapter
25 we have what we've called the Olivet
Discourse. Our Lord has the disciples on
the Mount of Olives and in Matthew chapter 24 there are some very,
very sobering and serious prophecies that come from the lips of our
Lord about the destruction of Jerusalem and about the second
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the final destruction of
this world. He's very He's very clear about
it. There's no ambiguity. There's
no reason to think, well, maybe it's not going to happen. No,
it's going to happen. He makes it clear. It is going
to happen. And then in chapter 25 of Matthew,
he speaks some parables, three parables, teaching us the importance
of being ready for that day of judgment. He's telling us in
all three of these parables the urgency of being ready. You remember the three parables,
the beginning, the first parable in Matthew 25 is the parable
of the ten virgins. And they're waiting for the bridegroom
to come and they all fall asleep and the bridegroom announces
his presence and they wake up and five of the bridesmaids have
oil in their lamp and they trim their lamps and they go with
the bridegroom and the other five don't. And they have to
go off and get some oil and when they come back the bridegroom's
gone and they're shut out. And that oil is a picture of
salvation. That's the work of the Spirit
of God. They didn't have the Spirit of
God. If you have not the Spirit of God, you're none of His. You
can be a member of the church, and the Lord's identifying half
the church there as being not ready for His coming because
they've not experienced the regenerating power of the Holy Spirit. And He's speaking to us about
the urgency for our souls to give attention to our need for
God to bless us with His Spirit and open the eyes of our understanding,
convert us, lest He come and we not be ready. The second parable
is that of the man who has three servants, and he gives one of
his servants five talents, and one two talents, and one one
talent, and he goes off to a far country, and he comes back, and
the one with five talents has increased his talents to ten,
and the one with two talents has increased his talents to
four, and the one with one talent, the scripture says, he feared
the harshness of the master, and so he hid his talent. And
the Lord concludes that parable by saying, take from the one
who doesn't have and give to the one that has. And so he took
that one talent, gave it to the one with ten, and the one who
hid his talents out of fear of his master. Now, he was one who
was under the law. He didn't use the gifts that
God had given him. He didn't recognize them from
God, and consequently in the day of judgment, he was unconverted
and unprepared. The third of the three parables
is this one, and we'll read it together. beginning at verse 31, and 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. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on his left. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. 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. 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, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a-hungered, and fed thee,
or thirsty, and gave thee drink? And when saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? And when saw we
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 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 have done it unto me. 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. For I was hungered,
and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in, naked, and
you clothed me not, sick and in prison, and you visited me
not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered, or thirst, or stranger,
or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to the 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. Now without eyes to see the gospel, one would conclude from this
passage of scripture that God was going to judge them in the
end, based on how they cared for their fellow man. Consequently, we have, in the
world, rescue missions, salvation army,
soup kitchens, prison ministries, crisis pregnancy ministries,
food pantries and the list goes on and on. Men seeking to make sure that
when God separates the sheep from the goats that they're not
going to be guilty of these things. That they fed the hungry. They
gave water to the thirsty. They clothed the naked. They visited them that were in
prison. In Matthew chapter 7, our Lord
exposes those by saying, well turn with me there. Turn with
me to Matthew chapter 7. Verse 22, many will say to me
in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? And in thy name have cast out
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then
will I profess unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you
workers. of iniquity. Iniquity. Iniquity, you know, is used in
the Word of God not to describe the things that men are ashamed
of, not to describe the wickedness of sin that we want to hide,
but iniquity is used to describe those things that are iniquitous,
those things that don't measure up, those acts of righteousness
that men are proud of. that they are counting on to
get them into heaven. And the Lord says, what you saw
as a good work, what you saw as a good work, Lord we've done
many wonderful works in thy name. I saw as iniquity depart from
me for I never knew you. Now, before we continue on with
understanding Matthew chapter 25. Let me make it clear from the
scriptures James says in James chapter 2 if a brother or sister
be naked or destitute of daily food and you say to them depart
in peace and be warmed and filled and give not them the things
that are needful for their body What does it profit them? Faith,
having not works, is dead. When John came preaching to those
generation of vipers and warning them to flee from the wrath that
was to come, they said to John the Baptist, what shall we do?
And the first thing he said was, if you have two coats and you
meet someone that doesn't have one, you give them one. Our Lord said, if someone asks
you for something and you have the means to help them, give
it to them. In Galatians chapter 6 verse
10, Paul says, as we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto
all men, especially those who are of the household of faith.
We're not suggesting in any way. that we don't care for the needs
of one another or for the needs of people. There's a place to
have a welfare program in our nation to take care of the needs
of those who can't take care of themselves. The problem with
the system we have is it's broken and abused and the majority of
people that are on it don't need it. But there's nothing wrong
with providing for those who cannot provide for themselves. James said it like this, true
religion and undefiled before God is this, that you visit the
fatherless and the widows. Those who are in need, take care
of them. Paul said in 1 Timothy chapter
6, charge them that are rich in this world to be not high-minded
and not trust in the uncertainty of riches, but to trust in the
living God who has given to all men richly things to enjoy and
remind them to be rich in good works, ready to distribute and
willing to communicate. Certainly there's a place for believers who have
received so abundantly from God's grace to be givers in every area
of life. The problem is that men are performing
all of these social programs in hopes that it's going to cause
them to differ and that they will find themselves among the
sheep rather than among the goats. Go back with me to our text. 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." Now whatever
this has to do with, it has to do with the glory of God. Everything
has to do with the glory of God. Not the glory of man, it's the
glory of God. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divides his sheep from the goats." Now I mentioned Sunday, there's
only two nations in the whole world. You're either a citizen
of Egypt, or you're a citizen of Israel. You're either under
the law, or you're under grace. You're either child of the bondwoman,
or you're child of the free woman. You're either a citizen of the
kingdom of darkness or you're a citizen of the kingdom of light. You're either a child of the
devil or you're a child of God. That's it. There's only two kingdoms
there are. And the Lord makes it clear here
that he's going to separate all the nations of the world into
these two groups. I want to be separated with the
sheep. I want to understand what he's saying here. I mean, if
what he's saying is what most men think he's saying, then we
need to get more involved in, you know, in all these social
programs that are going on. Because they're clothing the
naked. There's a food pantry just a
few blocks from here. And they line them up every day.
They give them free food. Feeding the hungry. What distinguishes these two
groups? Is it their participation in
social welfare programs, ministering to the physical needs of the
poor and the needy? Or is there something else here? Is there something here that
would apply to every believer? Every believer. regardless of
how involved they are in the social welfare programs of their
day. Is there something in this passage
of scripture that would apply to the thief on the cross? He
never fed anybody. He stole from people. He never
clothed anybody. He never went and visited a prisoner.
He was in prison. So if the Lord says to the sheep,
we know that he's, the Lord said, this day you shall be with me
in paradise. So we know he's there. We know
that he's going to be separated with the sheep. And yet he didn't
do any of these things. What's his hope? What's his hope? Look at verse 34, verse 33, and
he shall set the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now the first thing we need to
realize in this parable, is that the kingdom of God was determined
by God before the foundation of the world. It didn't have
anything to do with how much you did for anybody else. It
was what God did for you when the Lamb was slain before God
before the foundation of the world. when God took the blood
of that Lamb and wrote indelibly in the Lamb's Book of Life the
names of those that He chose in the covenant of grace that
He was pleased to save. This church was chosen by God
before Adam was created. So what does He mean? clothing the naked, and feeding
the hungry, and giving water to the thirsty, and visiting
those who are in prison. If God's people were elected
by God, if this kingdom was prepared by God, the writer of Hebrews uses this.
You see the word, you see in verse 34, the kingdom prepared
for you? prepared, that means everything
was set in order. The Lord said, I go and prepare
a place for you. It's the same word. And I'll
come again and receive you unto myself, so that where I am there
you may be also. In Hebrews chapter 11, the writer
of Hebrews said they looked for a better country. They didn't
go back. Abraham didn't go back to the
country that he was taken from. He looked for a better company,
for God hath prepared them a city. A city. In Revelation chapter 12, verse
6, the Lord said, the woman, which is a picture there of the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ, hath fled into the wilderness
where God has prepared her a place. Now that's where we are right
now. We're the woman who's fled into
the wilderness and God has prepared us a place. He's prepared us
a place to hear the gospel. He's prepared us a place to worship. He's prepared us a place to fellowship
together with Him. He's prepared the woman a place
of rest even in the wilderness. Turn with me to Mark chapter
14. I saw something in this passage
I'd never seen before. Maybe you probably have seen
it, but it was fresh to me. Look at verse 12 in Mark chapter
14. And the first day of unleavened
bread, when they killed the Passover, his disciples said unto him,
Where wilt thou that we go and prepare that thou mayest eat
the Passover? Lord, you want us to go and prepare
a room? Maybe go rent a hotel or a restaurant
or somebody's home? What do you want us to do that
we can prepare a place for the Passover? And verse 13, he sendeth forth
two of his disciples, they always went out by two, by the mouth
of two witnesses a thing is confirmed. The benefit of us having different
preachers coming is that it confirms the message of the gospel, doesn't
it? By hearing the same message from someone else. He sendeth
forth two of his disciples, and saith unto them, Go you into
the city, and there shall meet you a man bearing a pitcher of
water. Follow him. You're going to find
a man, and he's going to have a pitcher of water. You follow
him. You know the Lord's still doing
that? The Lord, what can I do to work the works of God? What
can I do to prepare for the Passover? You go find a man with a pitcher
of water and you follow him. And wheresoever he go in, say
ye to the goodman of the house, the master saith, Where is the
guest chamber? Where I shall eat the Passover
with my disciples. and He will show you a large
upper room furnished and prepared." It's already going to be prepared. I go and prepare a place for
you. It's a large upper room. The man with the pitcher of water
is going to lead you to that, and the good man is going to
say, come in. Enter in. It's already prepared
for you. The Passover has been killed.
It's all ready. The table is set. Now the Lord tells us in Matthew
chapter 25 that this kingdom of God to which only
the sheep will inherit. And He says to these sheep, I
was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me
to drink. I was naked and you clothed me. I was in prison and
I was sick and you came and visited me. enter into the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world." So what is it that
every child of God participates in that would be the fulfillment
of these commendations that the Lord Jesus Christ gives to all
the sheep? This isn't a select few sheep.
These aren't just the sheep that are out there doing the social
welfare programs. This is something that every
sheep is involved in. Every one of God's sheep is involved
in this. He's going to commend every one of them with this commendation
and say to them, come in. I was hungry and you fed me. Lord, when did we see... Doesn't
this remind you of Paul's experience on the road to Damascus when
the Lord spoke to him and said, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou
me? And Saul said, Who art thou,
Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. What you do to my body, you do
to me. You do it to me. Now, let's settle off to the
side as God gives you opportunity and as you see a need, you ought
to step in and help out as best you can. Do what you can do to
help folks out with their problems, particularly in the household
of faith. But that's not what he's talking about here. You
know what inspired me to preach a series of messages on the names
of Christ? I picked up a book. several months
ago, and the title of the book was A Hundred Portraits of Christ. And I was so encouraged. I looked
at the table of contents and I saw all these names of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the title of the book is A Hundred Portraits
of Christ, and I started reading the book. And I got through the
first ten names and I've yet to read anything about the gospel.
There's no gospel in it. And I just kept reading. I thought,
surely the Lord our righteousness, there will be gospel there. There
was no gospel. There was no gospel in this book whatsoever. And
I thought, well this would be a great thing to preach, but
I can't use that as a reference book. You know that book was written
by a high-ranking officer in the Salvation Army? There's no gospel in it. I told
you about my dear cousin Becky. She's been in and out of rescue
missions all her adult life. She's had religious people collar
her and try to get her to pray a prayer. And she told me, she
said, every time I did it, I just felt more ashamed and more guilty
than ever before. And this is the first time I've
ever heard a message that gave me hope. That gave me hope. When you've done it to the least
of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. If you are in
Christ, then you are in the body of Christ. If you are in the
body of Christ, then you are part and parcel of the ministry
of the church, which is the declaration of the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ, which clothes the naked, gives water to the thirsty, feeds
the hungry, delivers those who are in bondage to the prison
of sin. You say, well, I don't preach, and
I'm such a bad witness. If you're part of the body...
My foot could say to me right now, you know, I'm not doing
much preaching, but it's holding me up. You know, one part of
the body doesn't say... If you're in Christ, you're in
the church, you know Christ, you're part of the gospel work,
your prayers, your participation, your presence, your giving, everything
you do. Now if the church is just kind
of a sideline social event for you, then that's another issue.
I'm talking about you're in Christ. You know the gospel. The gospel
is everything to you. Everything to you. Did the thief on the cross preach
the gospel? How many sermons have been preached from the words
that the thief on the cross preached on the cross, spoke on the cross? He never clothed anybody. He
never gave anybody any water. And what does the believer say?
Lord, when did we do these things? Why? Why would we say that? If we were being commended for
the good works that we performed out there in the world, then
we would say with those people in Matthew chapter 7, but Lord,
we've done many wonderful works in your name. But instead we
say, Lord, when did we see you that way and do that for you?
Why would we say that? Well, number one, believers don't
take acknowledgement of whatever works they do. But here's the
glory of it. We have the responsibility of
upholding Christ, preaching the gospel. And you know we don't
know what effect that has. You think the thief on the cross
said, Lord, when did I do those things? Oh, you're still doing
them. You're still doing them. The words that you spoke are
still ringing true in the hearts of my people. There's a rippling effect. You know, I was thinking about
our church and, you know, how we heard the gospel and the person
that that person heard the gospel from and you just keep going,
we just see a little bit of it, you know? We see a little bit
of it. But we don't know. We don't know. We don't know who's saved. We
don't know who's being clothed. We don't know who's being fed,
but we know that if we're in the church, that it's happening. It's happening. Oh, when you've done it to the
least of these, my brethren. God's people are hungry. They're
hungry. You know, I guess we could make
the argument that all men are hungry. They're hungry for meaning
and purpose and hope and love and forgiveness. And they're
hungry to have their shame and their guilt taken away. And they're looking for all the wrong
places for feeding their hunger. But what do we do? We feed men,
we feed them with the bread of life. The Lord said, my body
is meat indeed. And if you eat of my flesh, if
you look to my life as your life, then you'll have a righteousness
before God and you'll, well, the Lord said, you'll never be
hungry again. You'll never be hungry again.
In other words, you'll never have to go somewhere else to
have that God-shaped void in your soul filled like the world
does. Blessed are they who hunger and
thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Oh, the children of Israel were
starving in the wilderness, weren't they? and they wanted to go back
to Egypt. They wanted to go back and be
citizens of Egypt. They wanted to go back and eat
the leeks and the garlics and the melons and God gave them
manna from heaven. Joseph He said, you meant it
for evil, but God meant it for good to save much people alive
is the reason why he sent me here. And Joseph had the keys
to the storehouse, didn't he? And he gave to his brothers bread
to eat. I am the bread of life. He that
cometh to me shall never hunger. When we preach the gospel, And
what I'm saying is that every child of God participates in
preaching the gospel. If you're in Christ, this gospel
is precious to you. You pray for its success. You participate in it. You're
here. You financially support it. You look for opportunities to
be a part in every way you can. Every believer is involved in giving beggars bread. I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty. You love that
story in Exodus 15 where the children of Israel found themselves
at Marah, the bitter waters. And Moses saw a tree and took
that tree and threw it into the waters, and the waters were made
sweet. And every time we preach the
gospel, that's what we're doing. We're taking that tree upon which
the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified. Cursed is every man that hangeth
upon a tree, and we're casting it into the bitter waters, and
God's making them sweet. And he sustains life. Every time
we show that the law has been satisfied and that the rod of
Moses has smitten the rock and the water has flowed out and
that God's pleased with the law has been fulfilled, then the
water of life flows clear as crystal from the throne of God.
And God's people drink from it. They drink. You know, the truth is that the
Lord Jesus Christ hungered. Forty days fasting. I mean, I
have a hard time fasting one day. Forty days fasting. He hungered so that we wouldn't
hunger. He thirsted. Oh, he said, my
tongue cleaves to my mouth that the unimaginable thirst that
he experienced on Calvary's cross when with a raspy voice he cried,
I thirst. And they gave him bitter vinegar
for his thirst. He thirsted so that we wouldn't
have to thirst. Stranger, a stranger, Oh, he
was a stranger to his own brethren, wasn't he? Turn to me to Exodus
chapter 23. Look at verse 9. Also thou shalt
not oppress a stranger, For you know the heart of a stranger,
seeing you were strangers in the land of Egypt." You know,
when we come together and we preach the gospel and we pray
for folks and encourage them, you know, if they're strangers
to God's grace, we have compassion for them. We were there. We don't stand in judgment against
unbelievers. We don't look down our nose at
them. We know, but for the grace of
God, there go I. I was a stranger and you took
me in. Oh, we love strangers to come,
don't we? And it just reminds us of when
we were strangers. There's no qualifications. No
qualifications to be met in coming to Christ. There's no steps that
you have to go through in order to come to Christ. Turn me to
Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. Look at verse 12. At that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers
from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God
in the world. But now, in Christ Jesus, you
who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. Oh, you were strangers. But through
the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, He's brought you nigh. So that now, Hebrews chapter
11 speaks of the saints as being strangers in the world. Now we're
no longer strangers to God. There was a time when we were
strangers to God, but we had friendship with the world. The
Lord said, if you have friendship with the world, you're at enmity
with me. But to have friendship with God makes us be at enmity
to the world, doesn't it? We're just strangers in this
world. We don't speak their language, we don't understand that, we
don't, we don't, we're not in their culture, it's just, we're
just, we're like in a foreign land. Just like in a foreign
land. And the Lord became a stranger
so that we could be made to be the friends of God. I was naked. I was naked. I was naked. That's a shameful
thing. Just like my father Adam, I was
doing everything I could to sew fig leaves together to cover
up my nakedness. And I've been to the rescue missions,
and I've been to the prisons, and I've done those things. Why? Sewing fig leaves together. like that church at Laodicea. You think that you're rich and
increased with goods and in need of nothing, but do you not know
that you're miserable and poor and naked and blind? When I heard the gospel, God
clothed my nakedness with the robe of righteousness. I came
into the wedding feast And the master of the feast gave me a
robe to cover my nakedness and made me acceptable in the presence
of God. That woman that was taken in
adultery we looked at recently, in the very act, you know she
was brought before the Lord naked. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
himself hung on Calvary's cross, he was stripped of his clothes.
And when he bore in his body the sins of his people, he became
naked before God that we might be clothed. What is it that every believer
does? Every believer preaches the gospel. Prison? You ever been in prison? The Lord said that's where he
gets his children from. He gets him out of prison. He said, the
gates of hell shall not prevail against me. I've come to set
the captive free. That's where he gets it. We're
like Barabbas, aren't we? Down there in the dungeon and
we hear the chains rattling and we're convinced that they're
coming to get us, to put us on the cross. But what happens?
The guard unlocks the door and says, you're free. another has
taken your place." And he became a prisoner to the
judgment and wrath of God that I might be made free. The Lord is going to commend
every one of his children for every single one of them. Sick? I was sick? The well need not a physician.
He came to heal the sick. He came to set the leper free,
to make him clean. That woman with an issue of blood. The gospel. preaching of the gospel. Are
you participating in the preaching of the gospel? If you're a believer, you are.
I know you are. I know the gospel is your heart. It's your love. It's your life. It's the reason
you're here. It's the reason you want to hear
it more. And the Lord one day is going
to say, we don't know the effects of the gospel. We have no idea
what the effects of the gospel are. How many converts did the
Apostle Paul have in his life that he actually saw? He names
two or three of them in the New Testament, but you know, how
many have come to Christ as a result of his preaching? You see, it's
like the ripples in a pond. Lord, when did we see you that
way? When did we? When you did it to the least
of these, my brethren, you did it unto me." Your life was in Christ. In the gospel, you were part
of the body. You may not have been a mouth.
You may have been a little finger or foot. But you're part of the
body. And the whole body comes in. And the whole body gets commended. That's the only thing Matthew
25 gave. Otherwise, let's just go out there and get involved
in all this other stuff. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're so very thankful that You've blessed us with the gospel of
Your free grace and given to us a place in Your church to
be a part of this ministry. We pray, Lord, that your children
would be clothed and fed, that they would be given water to
drink, that you would set them free from the captivity of sin
and deliver them of their sickness. We thank you for it in Christ's
name, amen. Tom? Number 71 in the Sop Actemna,
let's stand.