Back in 1 Corinthians chapter
15, our text is going to be the last
verse. Everything was coming to this
conclusion, so to speak, or the conclusion that Paul draws from
everything he said before, and the conclusion that you and I
ought to draw. He says, therefore, therefore,
in light of all that he had said, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast,
unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as
much as you know that your labor is not in vain, it's not useless,
it's not futile, It's not without purpose. It can't be. Not God's
work, it can't be. Not even through such feeble
vessels as we are. It's not possible that it should
be for nothing. Your labor is not in vain in
the Lord. And that's my subject. That's
the title of the message. Labor that's never in vain. Now how does that sound to you?
How does that sound to you? Labor that's never in vain. The verse begins with therefore. Therefore. As you have heard
said, and it's a very good clue, or a very good thing to do. Ask yourself every time you see
that, what's it there for? What's it there for? Something
went before this. This therefore is pointing us
back to that. The words of verse 58 are the
outcome, the fruit, of whatever that was that went before. It's
like a lawyer summing up his case before the jury. They conclude. They bring all their arguments
to a climax, so to speak, and just tie it up in one bundle
and puts it before the jury and say, you've got to reach a verdict
of whatever, guilty or not. And that's exactly what Paul
does. Therefore has a foundation on which it's built. And without
that foundation, those previous verses, this wouldn't be there. We wouldn't have this reason
to be steadfast and unmovable and always abounding in the work
of the Lord and knowing, not guessing, not surmising, not
hoping, but knowing that our labor can never be in vain. Therefore, As we said, it takes
us back to the previous 57 verses, but especially the immediate
context. Verses 55 through 57, especially
that I think Paul refers to. Oh death, this is a song. This is a glorious song. Oh death,
where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?
The sting of death is sin, but Christ was made sin for us. He
took the stinger out. And the strength of sin is the
law, but he fulfilled the law, again, on the behalf of his people. But thanks be unto God, thanks
be to God, which giveth us the victory, always, through our
Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, therefore, Christ's
victory is our victory. His resurrection, as we said
in the reading, is the guarantee of our resurrection. When Christ
rose from the dead by the power of the Father, we rose with Him. And His rising is the first fruits,
as we read again, and the guarantee that we shall also rise. We will
be with Him where He is. There's no question about that.
There's no question about that. Otherwise, if one sheep of Christ
should fall away, the devil would shout throughout eternity, aha,
aha, here's one I plucked out of your hand. Do you see the
absurdity of that notion? Oh, thank God, that can never
be. Turn, if you will, to 1 John
chapter 5. As we said, the victory of our
glorious Redeemer is the victory of His people and for His people. 1 John 5 verse 4 and 5. For whatsoever, whosoever, is
born of God, really born again. Nicodemus, you must be born again. You can't see, you can't enter
the kingdom of God if you're not, no matter who you are. But
whatsoever, whosoever is born of God, overcometh the world. Why? And this is the victory
that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world? But he that believeth that Jesus
is the Son of God. He that really has genuine faith. Not he that gives lip service,
that would include just about everybody we know, but he who
really has the gift of God, whereby he believes on the Lord Jesus
Christ. And then in chapter 4 of this
same book, 1 John, verse 4, you are of God, little children.
You are of God, little children. And have overcome them, all the
antichrists that John speaks of before that are now in the
world. Because greater is he that is in you. That's the reason. Greater is he that is in you.
Christ himself, the hope of glory formed in you. Greater is he
that is in you than he that is in the world. Let me read one
more verse to you along this line. Revelation chapter 17,
verse 14. Speaking, or prior rather, speaking
of false religion, false prophets, false Christ, mystery Babylon,
the mother of harlots, all man-made religion, concerning all those, verse 14,
thee shall make war with the Lamb. Well, what a stupid thing
to do. What a dumb thing to do, Billy,
to try to overcome God Almighty. Thee shall make war with the
Lamb. It just demonstrates their ignorance. And the Lamb shall
overcome them. Well, of course he will. Why
wouldn't he? For he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and
they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. Remember what he said? Remember
what he told his disciples that night? The night before he went
to obtain their eternal redemption, not to make a stab at it. I hope
you don't get tired of me saying that because I don't get tired
of saying it. Thank God he obtained eternal
redemption for us. I feel sorry for those people
who think that People for whom he obtained redemption can still
die and go to hell, then what good is redemption? What's it
worth? It's pointless, it's useless, and it's dishonoring to say that
Christ did such a no more than that. No, but he did say that
night before doing so, without me, he told the disciples, remember
this now, without me, I'm the vine, I'm the vine, you're the
branches, and without me, you can do nothing. Do we ever learn
that lesson? Do we ever learn that lesson? Have I ever learned that lesson?
My father used to say, son, if you can't listen, you're going
to have to feel. I think I've made mention of that in the article.
And he proved it. He proved it. He was good. If
you know what's good for you, son, you do as I say. And when
it comes to serving the Lord, serving Christ, laboring in His
vineyard, He says, remember now, without me, you can do nothing
at all. But we try. We still try and
fall on our face. We hurt and we learn the hard
way. I don't think I can learn hardly
any lesson except the hard way. Without Him, we can do nothing
at all. We can do a lot of things, make
a lot of flutter and noise. That's what those folks in Matthew
7 our Lord spoke of did. Lord, you remember us when they
stand before him in judgment. They won't view him with an unsinning
heart. No, no, no. They'll bring their
self-righteousness, that which they trust in, those filthy rags,
right up to the throne of God Almighty and say, you remember
us. We did all these things. We did a lot of things, Mike.
We sacrificed and we gave and we blah, blah, blah. Things. And Christ said, well, they weren't
for me. They weren't for me. They were for your own glory. You've got your reward. Depart
into darkness. Without me, you can do nothing,
meaning children of God. Because remember, he was speaking
to his disciples. He's telling you and I, without
him, we can do nothing. We can't do anything good, truly
good, nothing fruitful, nothing beneficial, nothing to the honor
and glory of God without Jesus Christ. To attempt to preach
without Christ equals nothing. Was it Jethro on the Beverly
Hillbillies? What was he, 18 years old and
in kindergarten or something? Naught plus naught equals naught,
he said. And I'll tell you what, without
Christ, that's what it equals, nothing, naught. To pretend to
be a Christian without Christ, it equals nothing, nothing. To
attempt to worship God, Listen to this one now. To attempt to
worship God without an eye and heart to Christ equals nothing. It can't be done. It's been tried. And I dare say we've all done
it. We've all done it. Attempt to rush out of the world
into the presence of God Almighty. Attempt after the flutter and
clamber with 10,000 things on your mind and rush in and sit
down and think, well, I wonder why I didn't worship. So, we've
all heard the story, I'm sure, because none of us are exactly
spring chickens, but that's okay, that's all right, isn't it? But,
and I'm sure you've heard it, about the man who went to church
and his pastor had invited another preacher, a well-known preacher,
a good preacher, to be there for two Sundays in a row. And
people were anxious to hear him. They prayed for him. And this
one man went and never had heard the man before on that first
Sunday that this preacher was there. And after the service,
after the message, the fellow went up and told his pastor,
thank you for inviting that man. Man, that was a good message.
That blessed my heart. That did me good. The second
Sunday, the same fellow preached. And this same man was heard to
say, well, I didn't get nothing out of that. Should have just
stayed in bed. Didn't get a thing out of that.
And his pastor pulled him aside gently and said, well, what happened? Same preacher, same gospel, same
message. What's the problem? And the man
said, well, I'm not sure. It's his fault. And not always,
not always. The pastor asked him, he said,
well, that first Sunday you heard him, you came hungry, didn't
you? You came expecting, didn't you? You came believing, didn't
you? You came praying, didn't you? You came with the heart
prepared to worship, didn't you? And he said, yeah. He said, well,
did you do that today? He said, no, no. Pastor, to be
honest with you, I didn't. I just took it for granted. Without
me, you can do nothing. And here's a little sidebar.
You know what that is. I never knew what it was until
I was watching that OJ Simpson farce of a trial. And they would
have sidebars. That's when I first remember
hearing that word. And that's where they would say,
Judge, it's like a timeout. We want to go over here and have
a little powwow. It's a sidebar. So here's a sidebar.
And I hope it'll be a wording season for all of us. Do we come
here to worship? After after already having prayed
God prepare our hearts to worship Prepare our hearts to worship
Remember remember We're about the grace of God Attempting endeavoring
to come into God's presence God's presence God Almighty That requires
some forethought. That requires some preparation. That requires asking God to prepare
our hearts before we arrive, before we come. I found an interesting little
bit of history about the hymn that we sang just a few moments
ago. When I surveyed the wondrous
cross, Wonderful words, wonderful words. When I survey the wonder's
cross on which the prince of glory died, my richest gain I
count but loss. Well, that's the only proper
thing to do. And poor contempt on all my pride. Mr. Watts, Isaac Watts, wrote that
hymn in 1707. I didn't know this. He wrote
over 600 hymns, 600 hymns. And many of them are considered
classic, so to speak. At the cross, for example, he
wrote that. And then this one, when I survey
the Wanderer's Cross, it's considered his masterpiece, his crowning
work. And I read this little bit of,
this little tidbit. It said one Sunday afternoon,
when he was a young man, Isaac Watts was complaining about the
deplorable hymns that were sung in the church he attended. And
his father was the pastor of that church. And what they did
at the church in those days, there was a man, the cantor,
where he would render or give out metered renditions of the
Psalms, and then the congregation would respond. And Mr. Watts said, and their response
was none too verbant. It was just dry as last week's
cornbread. And he was complaining about
it. And his father, who was the pastor, as I said, asked him,
well, why don't you write some better if you think you can?
You write us some hymns. And the story has that he may
be more legend than fact. But that very afternoon, Isaac
Watts went to his room and wrote a hymn and brought it for the
evening service. And it was enthusiastically received. The fourth verse of the hymn,
now that's the tough one, isn't it? It is for me. were the whole
realm of nature mine, that were a presence far too small, love
so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all." I
also found a footnote about that verse. This was rather comical
in a way, but the Lutheran hymnal In their handbook, it includes
this story about the hymn and especially that last verse. It
said in regard to the singing of that last verse that the pastor
one day said to the congregation after they sung it, well, I'm
surprised to hear you sing that because do you know altogether
you've only put 15 shillings in the offering bag today? But
I don't think Mr. Watts had money in mind when
he wrote that. Do you? Don't think it was that.
He wasn't speaking of money. He was speaking of a heart dedicated
to God and His glory, His worship, the good of His people and so
forth. One man said this, and I thought,
well, I have to agree with him. I feel as he does. He said that he found the singing
of that last verse to be incredibly difficult. to sing. He said, with all honesty, he
said, that's a tough one for me. And it is me too. He said,
Mr. Watt's lofty words and goal seem
so vastly far from the condition of my heart that I'm actually
in. Sometimes it's embarrassing to
try to sing that and really mean it. And he says, I often pray
as I do. And I found that interesting
because I do too. Not just that hymn, don't you?
Many of the hymns we sing, as I'm singing it, I'm praying.
I'm making it a prayer. Oh God, help me to do that. Come
thou fount of every blessing. Tune my heart and I'm praying
as I say the words. God, do that. Tune our hearts
to sing thy praise. J.C. Rowell said this, nothing
is so offensive to Christ as lukewarmness in religion. And
I would change that just a little bit. Nothing is so offensive
to Christ as lukewarmness in worship. God forgive me. Let me be half-hearted about
anything else, anything else, but not the worship and the service
of my Redeemer. Let me be lukewarm, for example,
about my golf game. Yeah, that's nothing to get excited
about. Let me be half-hearted about
anything and everything, but not the service and the labor
and the vineyard of my great Lord and Savior. William Crimshaw
made this statement. He lived several hundred years
ago. He said, when I die, I shall
then have my greatest grief and my greatest joy, my greatest
grief that I have done so little for Jesus, and my greatest joy
that Jesus has done so much for me." Brother Henry, in this book I
mentioned to you earlier, he has an article from Galatians
6 and 9, let us not be wary in well doing for in due season
we shall reap if we faint not, just like the verse that is our
text this morning. And I'll just read a couple sentences
of the article, not all of it. But Henry said, if you ask me,
and this is of course while he was still pastor, if you ask
me what I fear most for myself and for you, the answer may surprise
many of you, I fear and tremble when I see spiritual indifference
and weariness with the things of Christ, when I detect lukewarmness
toward the gospel. When that's the case, I think
our verse is an antidote for that sort of thing, don't you?
Labor that's never in vain. Between verses 57 and 58, the
therefore before we come to that, I think I could very well insert
the words of David from Psalm 42. He said, My tears have been
my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me,
Where is your God? Where is your God, David? When
I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me, for I have
gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house
of God with the voice of joy and praise, with the multitude
that kept holy day. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Hope thou in God, for I will
yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. Labor in vain,
my soul. Is anything more discouraging?
Is anything more disheartening to feel like? I mean in any realm
of life, to work and work, and it all comes to naught. Man,
that's disheartening. But that will never happen. Anything
you do, no matter how small it may be. Being here this morning,
my soul, I mean, it's obvious when we have some absent, and
it's noticeable, and it hurts, but you being here this morning,
I thank God that you are. I thank God. Anything you do,
your support, your presence, your power, your prayers, your
witnessing to your neighbor. Anything you do may seem trivial
and small to you, but if it's done with an eye to God's glory,
oh, it can never be in vain. It can never be for nothing. Oh, it's been several months
ago. I get quite a few bulletins,
email, bulletins from various pastors and I always try to send
them a thank you. I tell them I appreciate it,
I enjoy it, the article was just outstanding and I use many of
them in our bulletins. And I won't tell you who this
fellow was, but he emailed me back and he said, Larry, I appreciate
that. He said, you know, the bulletins
are for our folks, but he said, they never say nothing. Nobody hardly ever says anything
and those are who I prepare them for. And I thought, well, I know
how you feel. I know how you feel. But I hope
they're a blessing to you. But I declare, with very few
exceptions, in seven years of printing the Bulletin and the
articles, not just mine or anyone's, I've never heard a word from
some of you one time about any article. And I could say that
about messy. But I want to encourage you not
to discourage. God's labor shall not be in vain. his work through us and in us.
When Satan tempts you to thank your efforts for God's glory
are in vain, remember this. Remember what the Father said
concerning his righteous servant before he sent him into this
world. Speaking of that which he should accomplish, he said,
my righteous servant, he shall not fail. He shall not fail.
So when the devil whispers in your ear and says, well, it's
all for nothing, what's the use, what's the point? Remember, the
captain of your salvation shall not fail. He shall not fail with
his work in you, he'll perform it until the day of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And he'll not fail in any work
through you. We don't measure success in God's
work, and this, can be one source of discouragement if we ever
tend to do so. We don't measure success in God's
work by today's religious yardstick, do we? God, help me not to be
so foolish. When you see other churches packed
full and all the hustle and the bustle, they got that big electronic
sign out there flashing, Monday night's this, Tuesday night's
this, It makes you happy. Come on in and see the big show.
Come under the big top. We got whatever it takes to get
you in. Is that really of the Lord? Of
course not. Remember when Elijah fled from
the threat of Jezebel and was in the cave and God sent a tornado
and Elijah said, surely all that noise, all that power, surely
God is in this. And then one thing after another
and we read, but God wasn't in it. And then Elijah said he heard
a still, small voice and he fell on his face. God. God spoke. Oh, when you see the
few, don't be discouraged. Oh, I would, there were more.
I would to God, there were more. But I would rather, and I'm sincere,
brothers and sisters in Christ, I would rather be here to worship
with the few that know Christ and rejoice in the gospel of
God's free grace, then be the ringmaster in one of those circus
of big business religion. One time I was traveling up to
Alamont, Michigan to preach. Sometimes when I would do that,
because I made that trip when I lived in Kentucky quite a few
times, pretty long drive, but I would stop and spend the night
with my oldest brother, Jim. Most of y'all met him when he
was here, the golfer. And one night after his wife
went to bed, he and I were standing there, or sitting there in front
of the TV, and I guess he thought I might want to watch this stuff,
but he was flipping through the religious channels. And he said,
Larry, and Jim's not a believer. He said, Larry, what do you think
of that guy? Was that Benny Hinn? I'm a guest in his home, Terry. I felt like an Arab in Israel.
He said Donna, his wife, she may hear this, she likes him. What do you think of him, Larry?
And he could tell, not much. So he flipped it again. There
was Jim Baker, the Pastor Luke Club, PTL. What do you think
of him? And he kept flipping. I said,
Jim, Do you ever listen to what these fellas are talking about?
Do you ever listen to what they're saying, what's coming out of
their mouth? Money, money, money. They want your money. They thank
God for sale. They think they can sell the
miracles of grace and mercy. All they preach is God wants
everybody healthy and he wants everybody wealthy. I said, Jim,
that's not the gospel. That's not the gospel. That's
not glorifying to God. They're thieves and robbers.
And it gave me the opportunity to tell him what the gospel is. Brothers and sisters, the religious
world that surrounds us today, these mega churches with all
their glitter and with all their hoopla and all their entertainment,
man, they've created a monster, haven't they? They've created
a monster with a ferocious appetite. And now they've got to keep coming
up with bigger and better Attractions that keep the crowd happy. You
gotta keep them goats happy. The sheep love the gospel. They
feed on that, but the goats, they'll eat anything but that.
They'll spit the gospel out, eat tin cans, trash. Don't be
discouraged by that. No matter how dishonoring to
God it is, they throw out the word of God, like our Lord said
of the Pharisees. You make void the word of God
so you can keep your tradition. But thank God we want no part
of that. Don't be discouraged. Don't be
deterred by it. What an honor. What an honor,
brothers and sisters in Christ, it is to labor in God's little
flock. What a blessed, blessed honor. No wonder Paul said, therefore,
don't be discouraged, beloved brethren. Be steadfast. Stay put. Just stay put. Just
put your feet down and be unmovable. Always abounding in the work
of the Lord. It cannot be in vain. The song of triumph, which
Paul closes this chapter with, is what all believers in Christ
are called upon to join with, or join in. And while we sing,
while we sing, did you notice in the reading, the sweetest
note of the song is because all of our triumphs are in Christ. In fact, the words that Paul
uses in verse 55 are the very words of Christ. From Hosea chapter
13, verse 14, I will ransom them from the power of the grave.
That's what Paul's referring to. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues,
the death of death and the death of Christ. O grave, I will be
your destruction. Hosea 13 and 14. Christ has destroyed
death by his death. He has taken out the sting of
death, which is sin, by taking it away, being made sin for us. And now we stand before the bar
of God acquitted. Acquitted how you like that Billy
acquitted before the throne of an all-seeing all-knowing Holiness
demanding God demands perfection and we stand before him acquitted
Because there's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. When a redeemed sinner dies,
he dies in Christ, with Christ, and goes to be with Christ. Now
isn't that worth singing about? The sure conquest and triumphs
of our Redeemer are certainly the tune of our praises and songs
to Him, are they not? Not given because we aren't worthy. Oh no. These blessed victories
that we enjoy and are yet to have are not because of our power,
but God's power. Not our victories, but our victory
in Jesus Christ. No wonder Paul says, thanks be
unto God. There's the promise of it. certain victory discourage you? That's a silly question. Terry,
if you got up tomorrow and started your week and someone called
you and offered you a big contract and somehow you knew it would
be successful. There's no way it could be anything
but successful. It's going to turn out good.
Would that discourage you? And that's what Paul's saying.
Your labor in the vineyard of the garden of God Almighty can
never be in vain. We are more than conquerors,
we read in another place, through Him that loved us. Our labor,
just like what Paul speaks of, the death of Christ and our faith
in Him can never be in vain. I like Paul's arithmetic. In
Romans chapter 8, verse 18, For I reckon that the sufferings
of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the
glory which shall be revealed in us." I like how Paul added
that up. Revelation chapter 14, verse
13, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto him, unto
me, write, blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. From henceforth,
yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, and
their works do follow them. One hymn writer expressed it
this way. Grace is Jehovah's sovereign
will in an eternal covenant sure, which for his seed he will fulfill,
longer than sun and moon endure. Lord, help us on by grace to
stand, and every trial firm endure, preserved by thy sovereign hand,
and by thy oath and covenant Sure. Let us come to a close. You may ask yourself, and I understand
if you do, well, what can I do? Larry, you text about laboring
for the Lord, being unmovable, steadfast, but what can I do? To remember that poor widow.
Remember that time our Lord was at the temple and just watching
with his disciples as people went by and tossed their offerings
in? And he said, you know, you see, everybody gives of their
abundance. Look at that person. Look at him. Man, look at him.
You can tell who he is because he's all dressed up. He's got
his religious clothes on. And he threw some in there. But
man, you ought to see what he's still got left. And that widow
came by, Mike. And she said, who in there, Mike?
He said, I'm telling you what. She gave more than they all.
They gave from their abundance. She's give her whole living.
What can I do? What about that woman? She's
the only one that seemed to know the mission that Jesus Christ
came on. Remember that? She came to our
Lord and took costly ointment that she had been saving on purpose
for this very hour. knowing that the time of his
departure was soon at hand. And she came in and anointed
his head with it. And Judas and the others said,
what waste, what waste? And the Lord said, you leave
her alone, you leave her alone. She's kept this for my burial
and wherever the gospel is preached, this is going to be preached
as a memorial to that woman. She has done what she could. Peter didn't do that. John didn't
do that. She's the only one that seemed
to understand why Jesus Christ came into this world, to save
his people from their sins. I've often, and I'm sure you
have too, had people say to me when they realized the gospel
that we preach, well, if I believed what you did, I wouldn't even
preach, I wouldn't even bother. Really. And I respond, if I didn't
believe this, I wouldn't preach. and I wouldn't bother. If I didn't
believe God has chosen a people to salvation, I wouldn't bother
to preach. If I didn't believe that Christ
redeemed those very same people, I wouldn't preach. If I didn't
know that other sheep Christ has which are not of this fold
and he must bring through the preaching of the gospel, if I
didn't believe that was true, I wouldn't bother to preach.
Those blessed truths of God's free grace don't discourage anybody. They don't discourage those who
believe them, When Christ says, my word shall not return unto
me void, does that discourage you? When the Lord told Paul
when he was in Corinth, fearful for something, I don't know what,
but the Lord said, Paul, don't be afraid, preach. Don't be afraid
to preach, don't hold your peace, preach. Because I have much people
in this city. Was that discouraging to Paul?
When he said, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. Is
that discouraging? My soul, no. Wouldn't it be marvelous,
wouldn't it be marvelous if someone you invited here to hear the
gospel of God opened their heart to believe it? Wouldn't that
be something if you gave a CD to a neighbor and it resulted,
that would be the means of God getting their heart? It happens
all the time, because God's grace is mighty to save. Let me wrap
this up. with another story about my big
brother. When I was in the hospital, I
don't know whether Jim called me or I may have called him.
But I said, Jim, you're my big brother, and I've loved you.
Growing up, I always looked up to you. And Jim, you're 70. You're an old man. I'm just a
couple years behind. But, Jim, it breaks my heart
right now. And the tears are just rolling
down my chest. To think you're going to leave
this world, and if you leave in the condition you're in now,
I'm going to look down in your casket and say, there's my big
brother. He left this world without knowing
God. I said, Jim, it ain't so. It need not be that way. You
understand that? I told him that. I sure did.
I said, Jim, it need not be that way. Believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. He said, Larry, what shall I
do? But long before that, he told
me he had been listening to messages on free grace. And I know that
he is because he mentions those where I've been videoed. He said,
I'd like to watch you as well as hear you. I said, well, I
don't quite understand that. But it shows that he's listening.
But he sent me a text not but a few weeks ago. He said, Larry,
I'm not good with words, but would you please pray for me?
Would you please pray for me? I hope, I hope that he's sincerely
seeking God's mercy. If he is, he gonna find it. He's
gonna find it. Would you pray for him as God
brings him to your mind? Let me wrap this up. Matthew
chapter 25. Our Lord said, when the Son of
Man shall come in his glory, and 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 divided his sheep from his goats. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
Come ye, blessed are my father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Then, Lord, shall
I fully know. For I was a hunger, 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 and say, Lord, when did we do that? When did we see you hungry and
fed you? When did we see you thirsty and
gave you drink? When did we see you a stranger and took you in,
or naked and clothed you. When did we do those things?
And he said, and the king shall answer and say
unto thee, and verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, it's the same as
you've done it unto me. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, forasmuch as you know your labor is not in vain in the Lord. Amen. Lord bless you.