Alright, let's take our Bibles
and turn with me to the book of Proverbs, chapter 19. Proverbs
19. I'd like to read verse 17. Proverbs 19, 17. He that hath pity upon the poor,
lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given will he pay
him again." Now, this scripture declares without
a doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ has made himself to be one that
will repay everything that is done or given to the poor in
his name and honor according to his will. And let me just tell you who
the poor are. It's those that are spiritually
poor. The word poor here means dangling,
just dangling, poor, impotent. You know, we talk about poverty
in this nation, in this world. Humanly speaking, there's always
something that can be done. I mean, we've got poor children,
poor this, poor that, poor countries, poor... But I'm going to tell
you something, there's always a helping hand. Either the poor himself can do
something, they scratch out something, they eat grass if they have to.
But I'm talking about Poor. I'm talking about when there
is nothing that anyone can do. Nothing. Dangling is the word. Poor. The weak. The needy. He that hath pity upon the poor
lendeth unto the Lord, and that which he hath given He, the Lord,
will pay him again. Now, I'm going to say something
about this at the end of this message, but I want you to turn
with me to Matthew chapter 25. There's a reference in my Bible
to this passage of Scripture from that Scripture right there.
When I was in Proverbs, right there in my margin, there was
a reference to Matthew 25. The Lord Jesus Christ has set
forth perfectly the meaning of Proverbs 19, 17. And I want us to look at Matthew
in reference to Proverbs 19, 17. I want us to listen to the
Lord as He expounds the meaning of that passage. Matthew 25,
verse 31. I'm just going to go ahead and
read 31 to 46, and then we'll just look at the verses. 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 the shepherd divided his sheep from
the goats. 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, or because, 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. Then shall the righteous
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee unhungered, and fed
thee? Or thirsty, and gave thee drink? Or saw thee a stranger, and took
thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or
when shall we be sick or imprisoned and came unto thee? And the king
shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me. And shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungered
You gave me no meat. I was thirsty. You gave me no
drink. I was a stranger. You took me not in. Naked you
clothed me not. Sick and in prison you visited
me not. Then shall they also answer saying,
Lord, when saw we thee and hungered, or thirst, or stranger, or naked,
or sick, prison, did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer
them saying, Verily I say unto you, And as much 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 to righteous
and to life eternal." The Lord is speaking of the day
of judgment. He says in verse 31, when the
Son of Man shall come in His glory. When the Lord Jesus Christ came
the first time, He came in humiliation. He came as the servant of Jehovah. He was despised and He was rejected
of men. He was a man of sorrows. He was
acquainted with grief. He subjected Himself to sufferings
and even the death of the cross. But when He comes back, this
is according to the Lord's Word, when He comes back, He said,
when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, the glory as the
only begotten of the Father, in all of the glory of His perfections,
in His divine nature, He's coming back as the Judge And the Scripture
says when he comes back in all of his glory and all the holy
angels with him, all of them, all the holy angels, those that
did not fall in rebellion against the Lord, all of the elect angels,
the Scripture says, then shall he sit upon the throne of His
glory. He's going to come in absolute
majesty. All the angels of heaven are
going to be, and He's going to sit down. Now, what's going to happen that
day? Well, just to hold you in place
there, turn back a few pages to Matthew 13, 24 to 30. Matthew
13, 24. to 30. This is what's going to
happen. He'd given a parable about some
tares and some wheat. You know the story of the tares
and the wheat and how the wheat was sown, but the tares sprung
up. In the parable, this is what
they asked the servants. of the master that had sown,
had the wheat sown, they said, you want us to go back and tear
out those tares? This is what he says, no. Matthew 13, 30. Let both grow
together into the harvest. And in the time of harvest, I
will say to the reapers, gather ye together first the tares,
bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into
my barn. I want you to look over and just
back a little bit to verse 39, that same chapter, Matthew 13,
verse 39. He gives an explanation. He said,
no, just leave them alone. In the day of the harvest, I'll
send the reapers out. Well, what is he talking about,
Lord? It says, verse 39 of Matthew 13, the enemy that sowed them
is the devil. The harvest is the end of the
world. The reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered
and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world.
The Son of Man shall send forth His angels. They shall gather
out of His kingdom all things that offend, and them which do
iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There
shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous
shine forth as the Son in the kingdom of their Father, who
hath ears to hear. Let him hear." What's going to
happen in this last day? Well, according to the Scriptures,
here's what's going to happen. the Son of Man is going to return
in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him. And all of these
angels, the reapers, are going to gather together out of all
this earth, everybody. There's going to be a great harvest. And the Scripture says back in
Matthew 25 and verse 32, "...and before Him shall be gathered
All nations, and He that is the Lord, shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats." Every
person that has ever been born into this world is going to be
gathered. And they're going to stand before
God. And the Lord Himself, is going to separate them. That's
what we just read. He said the angels are going
to gather them. And the Lord is going to separate
them. The Lord who knows the sheep from the goats, and He
separates them. And He's going to put the sheep
on His right hand and He's going to put the goats on His left.
That's what He said. And then the Scripture says,
and then shall, in verse 34, The kings 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." Here's what the
Lord is going to reveal, and this is what everybody is going
to understand in that day. Now, they're all standing before
the Judge, the Lord, the Son of Man, in His glory. All the
holy angels have gathered, all the people that's ever lived
on this earth. They're standing there in two
great masses, one on one side and one on the other. And He's
going to say to those on His right hand, Come, you that are
blessed of My Father. You whose names were written
in heaven. That's what he said. You know, blessed because your
name is written in heaven. You that were chosen before the
foundation of the world. You that were given to me as
the surety. You know these things yourself.
You that I laid down my life for. I laid down my life for
the sheep. Carl's sheep standing over here and he said, now you
come on in. You bless to my Father." He says, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you before there was ever a human being ever made. The kingdom was there. The kingdom
was prepared. Every mansion marked was prepared. I don't understand the fullness
of that, but I do know this. In my Father's house are many
mansions. and I go to prepare a place for
you." Well, this place right here, when he said that, I go
to prepare a place, he was going to the cross, I can tell you
that. He was going to the cross. But this inheritance has forever
stood. And now he's telling these sheep,
you that have been everlastingly blessed of my Father, You that
are predestinated under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself. You that are robed in My righteousness,
all according to God's good pleasure. He worketh all things after the
counsel of His own will. You that possess an inheritance. You that are
heirs of God. Join heirs with Christ. You that
have been made kings and priests unto God by Jesus Christ, enter in. This inheritance was not theirs
by their own merit or industry. It was a gift, an inheritance. The children, they don't prepare
the inheritance that their parents leave them. Whatever is left
is strictly up to the parents. He said, I want you to enter
in to that which was prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. And he said, this is the reason
for, because. Here's the evidence. Here's the
evidence of your inheritance. And he gave them These things
that he said, I was hungry, you gave me meat. I was thirsty,
you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, you took me
in. I was naked, you clothed me. I was sick, you visited me. I was in prison, you came to
me. And the righteous that are standing there, they're going
to say, Lord, when? When did we see you, hungry,
thirsty, stranger, naked, imprisoned? When? And the Lord is going to
say unto them, verily verse 40, I say unto you, inasmuch as you've
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you've
done it unto me. Now listen to me, without a doubt,
without a doubt, I would never take anything away from the kindness
and the generosity and the liberality that a believer has for another
human being. I mean, we're commanded. Look at 1 John 3, 16-18. I'll read this. 1 John 3, 16.
The Scripture says, Hereby perceive we the love of God, because He
laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives
for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good,
and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of
compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little
children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but
in deed and in truth." Now listen to me. I'm going to tell you
something. We're commanded. We're commanded. You see somebody and they're
in need. They're in need. Truly in need. I'm not talking
about freeloaders. I'm telling you, I'm embarrassed
to say how many times somebody would come here, here to the
church. And you know, and I listen to
the stories and I'm thinking, yeah. But I'm talking about somebody
that's really, truly in need. And we don't help them. And you
can help them. And you can? Shame on us. Shame on us if we don't. How dwelleth the love of God
in you? I'm not taking away from the
liberty to be able to help. But what our Lord is revealing
here in this amazing truth has something to do with that which
is far greater It's eternal. It's eternal. I can tell you
this right now. What he's telling them is first of all, now listen
to this. Now listen to what he's saying. He told them that what they had
done to the least of one of these, my brethren, you've done it unto
me. Now, you cannot separate the body of Christ and the Lord
Jesus Christ. I can't separate my head from
my body and live. I can't do that. I mean, you know, if one dies,
the other one's going to die too. But our head, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Master, and we're the body. We're of His body. We're His body. And when He told
these sheep, He said, When you've done it to the least of one of
these, my brethren, you've done this to me. I want you to enter
in. Because I was hungry, thirsty, naked, stranger, prisoner, and
you did something for me. You come on in. Lord, what did
we do? He said, let me tell you what
you did to me. And here's what we're going to
look at for just a minute. We're going to look at the...
at the spiritual implication. Like I said, I don't want to
take anything away from the physical. I really don't. But what were
they doing? They were doing something more
than giving a stranger a coat because he was naked. They were
doing more than going down county and going into a jail. I can
tell you that. Many are going to stand before
the Lord in that day and are going to claim those things.
Lord, we had soup kitchens. We had a prison ministry. We
had Feed the Children, you know, and Unwed Mothers, and we had
this, that, and the other, and we've done many marvelous work. We did those things. And the
Lord will say, Depart. I never knew you. What is He
saying? It's more than just doing these
physical things. I know it is. Now, He's talking
to His sheep. Now the last word that the Lord
Jesus Christ told His disciples, what was it? I can tell you,
look here, Acts 1.8. He's getting ready to ascend
into heaven. Acts 1.8. The Scripture says, But you shall
receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you,
and you shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, in all
Judea, in Samaria, under the uttermost part of the earth.
When he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken
up. Now this is what he told them. He said, you're going to
be witnesses unto me. You know what he told them? He
said, you're going to go and preach the gospel. You're going
to go and preach the gospel. And I'm going to tell you, those
that have seen the Lord, Those that have heard with hearing
ears and seeing eyes, they have a heart to obey. The gospel is
the power of God unto salvation. Is that not right? That's what
Scripture says. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel. The gospel of Christ. I'm not
ashamed of it. It is the power of God unto salvation. Does a person have to hear the
gospel to believe? Yes. Yes. Faith cometh by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. How
are they going to hear without a preacher? How is he going to
preach if he's not sent? Now let me tell you what the
Lord commended them on right here. Here's what it was. Alright,
back in 35. He said, For I was hungered,
And he's talking to his sheep now. He just told them, enter
in. Enter in. I, I was hungry. Who Lord? These, the least of
my brethren. You do it to them, you did this
to me. You do it for them, you did this for me. So when he says,
I was hungry, he's talking about them. He says, I was hungered. Spending money for that which
was not bread and laboring for that which did not satisfy. That's
what Isaiah 55-2 says. That's what the natural man does. He said, I was hungry and you
gave me meat. He's talking to them concerning
himself. He says, I was hungry. I'm going to tell you something,
the sheep of God come into this world, they're born in trespasses
and sin, and they're doing just exactly what everybody else is
doing. They're walking around in this world and they do not
even realize what's going on until the Spirit of God gives
them a new heart and gives them a new hunger. Blessed are those
that hunger and hunger and hunger and thirst after righteousness.
He said, I was hungry. made so by the grace of God,
made willing in the day of God's power. I didn't even know I was
hungry until the Lord revealed it to me. I thought I had filled
myself. Carl, I've made a profession
of faith. I've been baptized three times,
just in case. There's no problem with me. Until
Almighty God was pleased to cross my path, and all of a sudden
I realized, I've got to have more than I can produce. I was
hungry and you gave me meat. He said, through the preaching
of the gospel, that which I commanded you to do, you preached the gospel. He's talking to his people. You
preached the gospel to me, to my people. You gave me meat. And I, by my power and grace
through the preaching of the gospel, filled you with the bread
of heaven myself." But he had told him, you go into all the
world and preach the gospel. And he said, that's what you
did. I was hungry. He said, I was thirsty. And you
gave me drink. You preached the truth and told
me. of the fountain of living waters.
And faith was given. And that satisfaction of that
slaking thirst was filled. He says, I was a stranger in
verse 35. Peter, through the inspiration
of God's Spirit, wrote this down. First Peter, I'll read this to
you. 1 Peter 1 and 2. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ
to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, Bithynia, elect according to the foreknowledge of God the
Father through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you
and peace be multiplied. The Lord said, I was a stranger.
It's like these right here. My people were scattered. Scattered. Scattered because of persecution,
scattered because of God's will, scattered according to God's
purpose. And he said, I was a stranger, a foreigner, like those in Ephesus,
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, without knowledge
of God. And he said, you preach to me. You preach the gospel to me.
And you took me in. I looked at that up right there. Took me in. It means, you'll
understand, like a net that was thrown and pulled. Does that mean we have in our
power to do that? What do we do? We preach the
gospel. Who's going to do the gathering? The Lord. But he said,
I was a stranger. And you took me in. You fellowshiped. There was fellowship with me. Verse 36, what else did we do? He said, I was naked with no
righteousness before God. The only righteousness that a
man is born with is the filthy righteousness of those rags of
his own making. He said, I was naked like Adam
and Eve. What did they do? They made some
fig leaves and covered themselves. The Lord is speaking to His people
about what they've done. They love the gospel, preach
the gospel, support the gospel, because it's the gospel of God.
It's the gospel that reveals the righteousness of Christ.
And He said, I was naked. And what did He do? You clothed
Me. How, Lord? You set forth Me and My imputed
righteousness. I'm going to tell you something.
Tell me about the righteousness that clothes me before God. He said, I was sick. That's what
he says in verse 36. I was sick from the sole of my
foot to the crown of my head. There was no soundness, no wholesomeness
in me but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores from the
fallen Adam. And you visited me, declaring
me unto my people, Those that were sick, me, my body, I was sick and you
declared me the great physician, the healer of the brethren, the
one that makes the sick whole. You declared me the great Good
Samaritan, the one that pours in oil and wine. He said, I was
in prison, bound in trespasses and sins, captive to the prince
of this world, and you came unto me and declared unto me in my
brethren, that I am the great deliverer, the strong man that
came in and bound one that had you captive, and I took captivity
captive." He said, that's what you did.
And they said, Lord, verse 38, when? When did we do this to
you? When did we see you strained,
you're naked, sick, prisoned? And the king shall say, verse
40, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto the
least of one of these my brethren, you have done it unto me. Listen,
let me tell you something. You say, well, I'm not a preacher.
No, but you love the gospel and you that believe. And you support
it. And you pray. That's what Paul
said. Brethren, pray for me. Pray for
me. Pray for me. Support the gospel. Pray for the gospel. Pray for
the ministry. Pray God's will be done. Our
Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Lord, call your people out. Let
me tell you something. Sheep are all in the ministry. We're all in the ministry. The
Lord sent every one of us in exactly where He has. He said, this is what you did
for me. You preached the gospel of Christ. to those that were
hungry and thirsty and naked and imprisoned and sick. That's
what you did. You enter in. Because you believe
me, by faith that the Lord gave them, I'm not going to give anybody
any undue credit, believe me. It was by faith that they did
this. But I'm telling you that faith
that He gave them, it was theirs. That woman that had the issue
of blood, she came up and touched the hem of His garment. And He
said, Woman, thy faith has made thee whole. And He's going to say verse 31,
to them on His left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Because I was
hungry, you gave Me no meat. I was thirsty, you gave Me no
drink. I was a stranger, you took Me not in. Naked, you clothed
Me not. prison, you didn't visit me.
And then shall they answer him, Lord, when saw we thee hunger,
thirst, stranger, naked, sick, prison, and didn't minister unto
thee? And he shall answer unto them,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the
least of these, you did it not to me. You know what he was saying?
He said, when you went through your religious rituals, and listened and believed that
salvation was by your works, by your decision, and by your
will. And you did not preach the gospel.
You did not preach the truth. You didn't do it to me. Depart
from me, ye workers of iniquity. Paul said in Galatians 1.8, if
we are an angel from heaven, Preach any other gospel than
that which we've preached unto you. Let him be accursed. That's
what the Lord just said. And these shall go away into
everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Honor, glory, and praise given
unto the Lord is given unto the Lord. when the gospel is preached
to God's people. He told me, he said, when you
did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. When you did it to the poor,
the poor in spirit, he said, you did it to me and I'll repay. He said, you enter in. He that hath pity upon the poor
lendeth unto the Lord. And that which he hath given
will he pay him again. Lord bless these words to our
heart for Christ's sake.