Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 22. Proverbs 22. Proverbs
22, I'd like to look at verses 22 and 23. The scripture
declares, Rob not the poor, because he is poor. Neither oppress
the afflicted in the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause
and spoil the soul of those that spoiled them. Now, there's a special group
of people that's found within the world of whom the Lord speaks
very kindly. It's a group of people to which
the grace of God has been shown, and they're found scattered throughout
all the nations of the world. It's a people that's everlastingly
been loved of God, and they're said to be happy people. And this is who they are, the
poor. And I don't necessarily mean
poor in earthly wealth. But they're referred to in Matthew
5, 3 as being poor in spirit, spiritually poor. There's a lot of people that
live in not only this nation, all over the world, that really
live below poverty level, whatever the government says poverty is. They live below that and they
don't even know they're poor. I'll bet you that there's some
people sitting in here, me being one of them, that when we were
growing up, I think back how things were. And I'm going to
tell you something, we were poor. And we didn't even know it. I didn't know that. I didn't
know we were living below poverty level. But I will tell you this,
every person that's been made to be poor in spirit, they know
it. And they're blessed to know it. They know, having been regenerated
by the Spirit of God, that by nature they didn't have fit clothing. A righteousness is what I'm talking
about. They didn't have fit clothing. Adam and Eve tried to make themselves
a suit of clothes out of fig leaves when they realized that
they had sinned against God and now were found to be naked. They
decided they'd clothe themselves. They know now that they were
born totally in debt to the law of God. And now they know that
they didn't have anything to pay to settle that debt before
God. This is the problem right now.
Man by nature doesn't know the debt that he's in. Let me tell you how serious it
is. The wages of sin is death. Now that's pretty final. Man by nature doesn't know that.
If I have upon me debt, a debt of sin, if I've got sin that
has not been paid for by the blood of Christ, I'm in trouble. I'm gonna stand before God. And if I have a debt, a debt
to the law of God, a debt to sin, I'm telling you, I'm telling
you according to this word, God's gonna cast me out. He's going
to put me in hell. I just want to be honest. But these people, poor in spirit,
they know that they are what they are. Children of God, made
so by the grace of God, regenerated by the Spirit of God. They know
that they are what they are by the grace of God Almighty. And they're happy. They're happy
people because they've been taught by God's Spirit now that they're
heirs of God. That theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Before, they saw themselves to
be rich and increased with goods and had need of nothing, but
now they know that they were before. They were wretched, poor,
blind, naked before God. Now they've been taught in heart
that God has been merciful to them and that the Lord has made
them sensitive of their poverty and has given them a heart now
to be beggars. They're just happy beggars. Like
that Syrophoenician woman that came to the Lord, her daughter
was sick And the Lord told her, he says, it's not fit that I
give children's bread to dogs. And Buddy, she just bowed to
him and she said, Lord, the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from
the master's table. That's the heart of every believer.
They're just so thankful that God just, Lord, if you'd be pleased
today to give me a morsel, something I can feast on today, just something
falls from your table. I'm so happy. I'm so thankful. I don't deserve the least of
your mercies. Lord, you'd allow me to be here
and hear something. Just teach me a little bit. Lord,
all I want to do is just seek and knock and ask. Lord, you
promised. If I knocked, it'd be open. If
I sought, I'd find. Lord, I pray that today that
you'll teach me something. Poor, just poor in spirit. Now concerning these people,
poor, the Lord has given his preachers some specific instructions. Told Peter, said, Peter, lovest
thou me more than these? Lord, you know I love you. He
said, you feed my lambs, you feed my sheep, you feed my sheep.
You love me, you feed my sheep. You give them that which they
need. told Isaiah, you comfort my people. You tell her that her warfare
is over, that the mighty conqueror, that they are more than conquerors
in Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. You tell them
that their iniquity has been pardoned and that she's received
of the Lord's hand double, that He's covered over, atoned for
all her sins. But the Lord has given a firm
warning concerning His people to those that preach a false gospel and believe
a false gospel. Now you listen to me. The scriptures declare that there
is a message It's called the gospel. And as I've told you
before, it's not an invitation. I'm not inviting you to do anything. I'm declaring unto you that which
God Almighty has done. This is the gospel. It is the
declaration of what God Almighty eternally purposed in Christ
to do. for a people of His choosing. I'm telling you that the gospel
is good news to those that have been given a heart to believe
it, and ears to hear it, eyes to see it. Men invite men to do something. If you'll just do something for
God, I ain't inviting you to do nothing. I'm telling you,
God is going to do something. He's going to do something through
the declaration of this message. So here's what our scripture
says today. Here's a warning. This is a warning. Now there's a lot of people standing
in pulpits today. Today's Sunday. And there's a
lot of people, a lot of men, and sadly to say women,
are standing thinking that they're doing something. But I'm telling
you the truth. Here's a warning. Rob not the
poor, because he's poor. He's talking about spiritually
poor, not materially. Like I said, a lot of people
don't have anything. and they're still not poor in spirit. But
rob not the poor because he's poor, neither oppress the afflicted,
same ones, the poor, in the gate. I'll explain. For the Lord will
plead their cause and spoil the soul of those that spoil them. Now, how are the poor in spirit
robbed? And how are they afflicted in
the gate? Well, obviously, somebody said,
well, they might have their stuff taken like anybody else, but
this goes much deeper. The robbing and the spoiling
of these that are said to be the poor is when that which they
spiritually need for their spiritual growth for their spiritual sustenance
when that which they desperately need is withheld from them. You're robbing them. You're spoiling
what you're doing. What does those that are spiritually
poor need? What do they need? Let me tell
you what they need. They need to hear the message
of the bread of heaven. They need to hear of Christ who
is God's manna. They need to eat. They need to
be fed. I got to eat and I got to drink. I got to hear of the fountain
of life. Tell me of the waters that flows,
that river that flows out of the throne of God. You tell me
who the Lord Jesus Christ is. That's what I need. That's all
I need. When we come together today,
I'm not here to talk about the morality in this world. Feed
me. Tell me of him who loves me and
gave himself for me. Tell me of him who is the shepherd.
Tell me of Him who watches over and protects and by the wings
of His sovereign mercy and grace. Tell me of Christ. Feed me. This is what I need. Faith cometh,
cometh, cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. These
scriptures according to the Word of the Lord are all about Him.
It's all about Him. So if this is all about him,
then what else am I going to talk about? Where else am I going
to go, Neil? He told the Pharisees, you search
the scriptures and in them you think you have life because you
know where this passage of scripture is, you know where the middle
word of the Bible is, you know a lot of stuff right here. He
said, these are they that testify of me. That's what he said. Told
those two on the road to Emmaus, started with Moses and all the
prophets. He expounded unto them in all
the scriptures concerning himself. So if we don't, if the focus,
if the sight of our message is not the glory of God in Christ,
I'm not feeding the sheep, I'm robbing them. I'm robbing them. I'm oppressing them. Because
this is the only thing that the Spirit of God is going to bless.
Now, turn over to Matthew 25 for a minute. And I'm going to
look at a passage of Scripture very quickly here and we'll consider
this. No passage of Scripture that
I know of is this truth of spiritually robbing the poor. The poor in
spirit. No passage is more clear to me
than this right here in Matthew 25. Here's how God's people,
the poor in spirit, here's how they're robbed. Here's how they're
robbed. Either robbed or not robbed.
One of the two. 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. Now here's the day of judgment.
Everything right now, everybody's saying, well, this is fine. There's
coming a day, not just here, every person that has ever lived
on this earth is going to stand before God. All of us. Every man You know, we shall
all, that's what Paul said, we shall all appear before the judgment
seat. All of us are going to be there.
And scripture says, 32, and before him shall be gathered all nations.
He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided
his sheep from the goats. He shall set the sheep on His
right hand, the goats on His left. Now here's what God's Word
says. We're going to all stand before
God and God's going to separate. There's only two groups in this
world. There's two groups. Sheep and
goats. That's all they are. There's
only two groups. Sheep and goats. How did they
become a sheep? God chose them. God chose him. Ephesians chapter 1. He's chosen
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. I didn't make myself
a sheep. God did. Sheep never become goats and
vice versa. God chose. God chose. The scripture declares that he's
going to say unto the sheep, listen to what he's going to
say to the sheep. Then shall the king say, verse 34, unto
them on his right hand, come, you blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
When was the kingdom of God given them? from the foundation of the world.
Somebody said, well I think that it became their inheritance whenever
they decided that they were going to give their heart to Jesus.
That's not what the Lord says. And let God be true and everybody
else is a liar. This is what God says. Come and
you inherit the kingdom prepared for you. You know why man by nature hates
God? Because he does not fit in their box. They think, well,
this is the way I think. Well, as kindly as I know how,
it just doesn't matter what we think. Because I'm going to tell
you who has the last word. The Lord. The Lord. He said, have prepared for you
a kingdom. And I gave this kingdom to you. It was prepared for you from
the foundation of the world. And then the scripture sets forth,
he's going to tell them how they were proven in this life the inheritance that they had.
He said this is the way that they will know. Is there any
way that someone might know whether or not I've got a part in that
inheritance? Is there any, I mean, am I going
to wait until the day of judgment to find out? No. No, no, no,
no. We can know. We can know. How
do we know? Well, at 35, 36, he said, for I was hungered and
you gave me meat. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me
in naked, you clothed me, I was sick, you visited me, I was in
prison, you came unto me. Now, does that mean that all
I have to do is just do some good deeds, go down to the soup
kitchen, You know, go visit some people in jail, you know, and
then if I've got an old coat or something like that that I
don't need anymore, you know, I just give. Is that all I've
got to do? Well, if that's all I've got
to do, then salvation is by works. If that's all I've got to do.
But if this means more than what it appears just outwardly to
be, I want to know what it means. Here's what he's setting forth.
He told them, he said, you come in because this is what you did. But remember now, these scriptures
are all about the Lord, about Christ, about His glory, about
His honor, about Him showing mercy and compassion to a people.
What do those scriptures actually mean? He said, this is what you
did. Well, I can tell you this before I tell you what it actually
meant. 37 to 39, then shall the righteous
answer, he just told them, they're standing there. He said, you
enter in. Then he said, you enter in because,
for, I was hungry, thirsty, I was in prison, naked. Then shall,
verse 37, the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we
thee and hungered and fed thee? Has anybody ever personally seen
the Lord Jesus Christ here? Now, He was on this earth for
a while. Has anybody here personally seen Him? Then shall the righteous
answer, Lord, when saw we thee? When did we see you hungry and
fed you? When did we see you thirsty and
we gave You drink. When saw we thee a stranger and
took thee in naked and clothed thee? When saw we thee sick and
prisoned and came unto thee? When did we see that? I've had
people tell me, they said, I saw, one night I saw the Lord standing
at my bedside. I've never seen Him. I've never
seen Him. Not with these eyes. When, Lord,
when do we do that? When? Then the Scripture says, verse 40, 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 to me. Lord, when did we see you? And he's going to say, I'm telling
you, that when you did this to my people, my body, my bride,
my chosen, my sheep, you did it to me personally. You did
it to me. He said in verse 35 that we just
looked at, he said, for I was hungered. I was hungered and
you gave me meat. when you gave through the preaching
or the supporting of the gospel, when you gave through the preaching
of me, the declaration of me, Christ, the bread of heaven,
when you set forth, whether it's me standing here or you sitting
here in support and the prayerful, you know, coming together the
body and the upholding of one another. When you did that to
them, my people, you did that to me. I was thirsty. When you preached me as the fountain
of living water to my own, and they were made by my spirit to
drink, spiritually drink, and have their slaking thirst relieved
by my Spirit. You did that to me. You were
doing that to me. You didn't rob my people. You
didn't rob them. You didn't oppress them. I said
don't rob the poor, the poor in spirit. You didn't do that.
I gave you faith to believe me. And you walked, led by me, your
shepherd. I was a stranger. How many? All of us were found far off
in trespasses and sin. You took me in. He told his disciples, he said,
you go into all the world and preach the gospel. I get a report, it's amazing
how the technology of today, but I get a report of where the
messages that are set forth We'll preach these messages, they're
put on sermon audio, and I get a printout on where these messages
are listened to. I mean, China's the biggest. China. China. And it'll just come right on
down, it gives it countries after country after country. Thousands
and thousands and thousands of downloads. Just unbelievable
amount. He said, I was a stranger and
you took me in, you preached the gospel that I told you, you
go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature
and in every kindred and tribe and tongue and people where I
was pleased to bless that word to them, they were made nigh
by my Spirit, told them of the shedding of my blood and rescued
them. by my spirit and regenerating
grace. You did that to me. You did that
to me. You didn't rob me. I was naked. You clothed me. My people had
no righteousness of their own. They were clothed in fig leaves. They were clothed in nothing.
That's what they were clothed in. They thought they were clothed.
They didn't even know. They didn't know how bare and
naked they were before me. And you declared the good news
of my obedience that I earned by my walk in this world and
that righteousness that I earned imputed to them. You told them
about that. And therefore they realized the
Lord's clothed me. He said, you did that to me.
I was sick. People who were sick. How sick
are we? Well, we're dead. That's pretty
sick. dead in trespasses and sins from
the sole of our foot to the crown of our head because of our fall
in Adam. And you visited me, what, with
the message of the great physician. You told me of the healer, of
the souls of God's people, the one who alone washes white in
the blood. I was in prison. bound by the prince of this world,
Satan. You came to them with the message
of the strong man who was stronger than the prince of this world
and bound him and took by his power, grace, took him out of
that bondage of that captivity to sin. They were held in the
chains of darkness and unbelief You preached liberty to them.
You did that to me. You didn't rob them. Lord, when
did we do this? Verse 40. And as much as you've
done it unto the least of one of these, my brethren, you did
that to me. Rob not the poor because he's
poor. Rob not those who need. The things of life. The hearing
of Christ. The preaching of atonement by
His blood. God's electing grace in Him. You tell me, rob not the poor
because he is poor, neither oppress the afflicted. What does that
mean? Don't bruise them. Don't beat
them. Don't smite the afflicted. Don't smite those. Why? because
they're the apple of His eye. They're the ones that the Lord
said in Song of Solomon 4 and 9, He said, you've ravished me
with one of your eyes. One look of faith from you, He
said, has stolen my heart. He said, don't you, don't you,
don't you bruise them. Don't you, don't you, you, you,
how personal does God take it? How personal does God take it
when one of His own is afflicted? How personal is it? Well, let me say this. The Lord has said, He said concerning
my people Rob not the poor, because he's poor, neither oppressed
the afflicted in the gate, for the Lord will plead their cause."
Can you imagine? Here's the advocate. Here's the
mediator. If he pleads my cause for mercy
and compassion, God's going to hear him. But if he leaves me
to myself, Almighty God has declared, he
said, the Lord's going to avenge. Vengeance is mine. I'm going
to repay, saith the Lord. The Lord will plead their cause
and spoil the soul of them that spoiled them. Listen to the last
few verses while I'm turning there. Let me ask you this concerning
how personal does he take it. I love, I love Mark Tilco. I love you, appreciate you. But
I wouldn't want to have to, you know, take a chance on trying
to hurt that little girl right there. I may have a problem. Why? That's his daughter. Gary, that's your little girl
right there. How personal does he take it? Look at the last few verses of
Matthew 25. The scripture sets forth verse 41. Then shall he say unto them on
his left hand, now here's the goats, depart from me, you cursed
into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
Two preparations made, one a kingdom, for his people, his sheep. One,
a place of everlasting fire. For I was hungered, and I think,
how personal does the Lord take it when somebody stands in a
pulpit and preaches a message that's not consistent with these
scriptures? How personal does he take it? Now you listen to
what the Lord says. His people. That's who He's talking
about. His people. And you gave me no meat. A man
stand up in a pulpit today and not preach the gospel of God's
sovereign grace? I was thirsty, you gave me no
drink. I was a stranger, you took me
not in. I was naked, you clothed me not. Sick, in prison, you visited
me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered, a thirst, stranger,
naked, sick, prison, and not ministered unto thee? Then shall
he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you
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. Does it matter? Does it matter
what is preached? Does it matter what you hear? Does it matter? It's life and death. It's life
and death. I'm telling you, there's one
message. It's the message that gives all
the honor all the glory and all the praise unto the Lord of Heaven. He doesn't give me any. I'm the
recipient of His mercy. If there's any mercy to be found,
it's not going to be something that I earn. That's not mercy.
Mercy is something given to the undeserving and to the guilty. And I can't do anything about
my situation. But thanks be unto God, that
Almighty God has sent the message of life in Christ. And if the
Lord has given me a heart or gives you a heart to believe
it. Oh, we're happy people. We're happy
people. Blessed are the poor in spirit. Theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
I pray God bless this message to our heart for Christ's sake.
Amen.