Okay, we turn with me then to
Galatians and I want to focus on the first five verses of chapter
six this morning, Galatians chapter six and the first five verses. The message of Galatians as we've
seen right from the start, the message of this short book, this
short epistle is that the gospel is all of grace in Christ. absolutely 100% no mixture of
anything else from first to last your standing with God your qualifications
with God it's all based upon what Christ has accomplished
in your place that's the gospel it's not based on anything you
do or anything that you add absolutely at all and the message of Galatians
as we saw in the first chapter is that any preaching that adds
things you must do to what Christ has done is a perversion of the
gospel and not only that it doesn't just twist it and bend it it
destroys it it's no gospel to you if you add those things it's
no gospel at all such that Paul says some of the most severe
things that are recorded in scripture if anyone does that if anyone
preaches that you must add things to the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ let him be accursed and then he says if you didn't
hear me the first time I'm going to say it again because I really
mean you to understand it let him be accursed see it's really
really strong so this is the gospel of Galatians it's the
gospel of the Bible it's the gospel of God right the way through
that you're standing with God if you're in the Lord Jesus Christ
you're standing with God your acceptance your fitness for heaven
your readiness for the judgment to come is entirely entirely
based not on anything you have done or anything you will do
but entirely on the Lord Jesus Christ and the response that
that brings to the honest human heart is it's too good to be
true isn't it that's the message that's the response it brings
this is too good to be true but it is true it is true from cover
to cover it is true you see religion And I don't want to sound critical,
but so much of what is regarded as orthodox, reformed, Calvinistic
Christianity, evangelical, in this country says this. Justification
is all of grace. Your standing in justice before
God is all of grace. But, they say, sanctification
requires us to keep the law as our rule of life. They say, well,
that's alright, isn't it? No, it's adding. It's adding.
Subtly. Justification is all of grace,
but sanctification requires us to keep the law as our rule of
life. Or, putting it another way, you
are saved by grace, but only if you keep the law. That's what
they say. I've heard them say it. I've been under that sort
of teaching. Practically, that is a denial of the gospel. Practically. It really is. Because it's adding
to the finished work of Christ. Now I honestly think there are
those who teach that like these Galatian Judaizers and they're
doing it deliberately and in the full knowledge of what they're
doing and they need to be condemned for it and they need to be avoided.
But I think there are many others. We need to be gracious. We need
to have a spirit of graciousness to others. I think there are
many others who are doing it because they haven't really thought
it through in the light of scripture. They're doing it because it's
what they've been told and they're repeating back the same things
that wise men of the past have told them. I think they really
haven't consulted only with the Scriptures. You know, as Paul
said when he learned the gospel, he didn't confer with flesh and
blood. He got his message directly from
God. And this is what we need to do. And this is what preachers
need to do, in this country especially. don't confer with flesh and blood,
don't read your old writers and your commentators, there's very
valuable things, but beware, get aside with God alone and
the Scriptures and see what the Scriptures say, and see if they
do not teach these things, that you are free from the law, you
are free in Christ from all of these obligations, absolutely.
Now, nevertheless, although we're saved entirely by Christ, there's
a life to be lived. on this earth, isn't there? In
this flesh. There's a life to be lived. We're saved entirely
by Christ, but there's a life to be lived. So how do we live
it? Well, I can answer it in one verse of Scripture, and you
know it well, Galatians 2.20. The life I now live in the flesh,
I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. But the rest of the epistle,
Paul goes on to elaborate that in so many different ways, as
we've seen. And when we get to chapter 5, he's been pointing
out the reality of the two natures that are in the one who is a
believer in Christ. There's the old nature, which
is the original nature, which is the fleshly nature, which
is the nature of Adam, which is that which produces all those
dreadful works of the flesh that we read about in chapter 5 in
verses 19 to 21. there's that nature which is
in the natural state of every man. And the only things in the
natural man that restrain those things are social respectability,
human pride, hypocrisy, all of those things. They restrain them.
You know, not wanting to be seen to be an idolater in the eyes
of your neighbors or a murderer or something like that. All of
those things. But if you read the Sermon on
the Mount, and you see how the Lord Jesus Christ applies the
law of God, then you'll see that we're guilty of so many of these
by nature. You know, you don't go through and say, I haven't
actually murdered anybody. Ah, you've had murderous thoughts
to people. I have, let's be honest, we all have. You've had murderous
thoughts. So there's that nature, but then,
when you come to see the truth that is in the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the Holy Spirit comes and makes alive and gives faith,
He implants a new man. A new man comes in. A new man who is after the heart
of God. A new man who does not sin. A
new man who delights in the law of God after the inward man.
A new man who wants to do the things of God and please the
living God. And so there are these exhortations
that we get throughout all of the epistles to put off the old
man, you know, to use my analogy of the garden, to dig out those
old pernicious weeds, to constantly attack them, and to put on the
new man who is renewed in knowledge according to Jesus Christ. It
says in Colossians, mortify therefore, put to death the deeds of the
flesh that are in your body. Put it to death. The implication
throughout being that there's the option for you not to do
that and therefore let those weeds continue to grow but as
a believer we ought to be positively acting to put to death those
things these are not works that we're adding to the finished
work of Christ this is a uniform that we need to wear as those
who are saved by Christ but of course we do these things We
seek to put to death the works of the flesh. We seek to be those
who are to the praise of the glory of God's grace in that
our lives bear fruit, that our lives adorn the doctrine of our
God and Savior in all things. We seek to do those things, but
we're still frail. We're still flesh. We don't live
in a New Testament age which means that believers never fall
into sin, because believers do fall into sin. it's not that
David didn't have as much of the Holy Spirit that we do, David
was a man like we are flesh and blood just like we are with passions
like we are and he fell into sin and the scriptures are clear
they don't hide the faults of all the heroes of scripture they
show that they're just flesh and blood like we are there's
no goodness I know that in me said Paul that is in my flesh
dwells no good thing that's the truth we need to recognize that
so problems do arise They arise in ourselves and they arise with
our brethren. So how should we deal with these
things? He's already been speaking about living in the Spirit and
walking in the Spirit and not judging one another in verse
26 of chapter 5. Don't be desirous of vain glory.
Don't be sanctimonious. Don't be superior in these things.
Don't provoke one another. Don't compare one another. Oh,
I've borne more of the fruit of the Spirit than you have.
Or I've been better at mortifying the works of the flesh than you
have. No. provoking and envying one another. No, he says then,
because of course there isn't really a chapter division there,
verse 1 of chapter 6 flows straight on from verse 26 of chapter 5,
and he says this, Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault,
if a brother or sister in Christ be overtaken in a fault, you
who are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness,
considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. There's some
practical instruction here regarding how we deal with it when a brother
or a sister falls into a fault of the flesh. These problems
arise. When you see a brother or sister
stumble regarding the works of the flesh, what is the instruction
of Paul here? It's to restore. Isn't it? Look at it. It's so clear. Restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness. Restore. Bring him or her gently
back to the narrow way. For the way of truth is a narrow
way. It's not a broad way that leads to destruction. It's the
narrow way of following Christ. Restore. Bring them back gently
to that way. Now, how do you see it? Well,
ye which are spiritual. You who are spiritual. What does
he mean by that? You who are on a higher plane? You who are
the superior Christians of the fellowship? No, no, not at all.
You who are walking in the Spirit is what he means. That's what
he's been talking about. You who are walking in the Spirit.
Because if you're walking in the Spirit, you're fellowshipping
with Christ. You're close to Him. You'll have
the mind of Christ, says Paul elsewhere. you'll have the mind
of Christ you'll have the discernment of Christ and you'll see these
things not in a judgmental way but just using you see there's
a difference between discernment and judging in a condemning way
we're to use discernment and you'll see these things by using
Christian discernment you'll have the mind of Christ but how
should you exercise that discernment? is it in a spirit of judgment?
Is it so as to look and to measure and to mete out punishment for
it? You see, that's so much the norm
in a lot of what calls itself church discipline. There are
people I've heard say, what are the true marks of a Christian
church? And they'll go, right, well number one, you must have
church discipline. Number one? Maybe you ought to have church
discipline but would you put that really at the top of the
list? Surely the thing at the top of the list is that Christ
must be there and the love of Christ in the hearts of the people.
There's no church without the love of Christ there. You see
you can be as vigorous as you like in church discipline But
if there's no love of Christ, you see what did he say to the
Ephesians? You have left your first love. You're right in everything
else. You've got good discipline. You
destroy those who bring in false doctrine. But you've left your
first love, therefore you're just a sounding brass. You're
a clanging cymbal. There's nothing to you. That's
so much the way with church discipline. That there must be church discipline.
We must have our kind of Spanish Inquisition. Something arises,
let's call together the council, let's have a Spanish Inquisition.
And then the excommunicate word starts to come out and let's
ban them from communion and so on and so forth. And it's almost
like a flamethrower approach to weed control in the garden. You know, it's very effective.
The flamethrower kills the weeds, it kills the weed seeds, but
there isn't a lot else that survives it. It kills just about everything
else around as well. and you end up with a barren,
barren place. No, rather, what does he say?
You which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness. Rather in a spirit of meekness.
What is meekness? It's not weakness. Meekness is
not weakness. It's strength. It's maturity. But it's exercised in a gentle
way. It's exercised in a humble way. It's exercised not in an arrogant,
superior way. It's strength, yes. The Lord
wants us to grow to maturity. Spiritual maturity. In understanding,
He says, be men. That doesn't mean don't be women.
It means be adult, be mature, be strong. Don't be like children,
tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine. Be clear. You know,
things come along. Know solidly, what the basis
of your faith is, in understanding, be men, be strong, but exercise
that knowledge, that strength, in a spirit of meekness, humility,
gentleness. And remember what you are, considering
yourself, lest you also be tempted. Don't get above yourself. Remember
what you are. Remember what Jesus said about
our eagerness to pick the little specks of dust out of our neighbor's
eyes. and forgetting the fact that there's a whopping great
plank in our own eye that we don't see for ourselves. No. We've got to be careful. Remember
what you are. Consider yourself, lest you also
be tempted. Because remember what you are.
Proverbs 39 verse 5 says this about all of us. Man at his very
best. You know? Remember there was
a survey in a series of television programs who is the greatest
ever Britain and there was a hundred of them were selected and then
it got down to six and finally Winston Churchill I think quite
rightly was selected as the greatest Britain in terms of political
history I think that was the right thing to say but even the
best of them even the best of them says Proverbs are altogether
vanity, futility, altogether the very best of them Your flesh
is no better than your fallen brother's flesh. So you see a
brother or a sister overtaken in a fault and your Christian
discernment sees that. And what do you do? Get on your
high horse and go and beat them with discipline? No. You realize that you've got exactly
the same weakness, exactly the same propensity in your flesh
as they have. You're no better than them. You're
capable of the same and more but for the restraining grace
of God. So what attitude should we have? What's he saying? Don't
be sanctimonious. Don't be condescending. Do you
know, I regret to say this, but there is so much sanctimonious,
condescending attitude in so many churches. This sort of spiritual
superiority that stands in judgment over other people. This is not
the spirit that Paul is exhorting here. Be gentle. Be understanding. Don't just be sympathetic, be
empathetic. Do you know the difference? Empathy,
you feel the same. You get right alongside there
and you feel the same feelings. That one who's bereaved, you
break your heart with them because they're bereaved. That one who's
got whatever difficulties is, you get in with them and you
have empathy for them. And you be loving and supportive. Loving. It says, look in verse
2, bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ
bear and share burdens we all have burdens to bear in this
life every one of us from start to finish we all have burdens
to bear I think it was Don Faulkner records in his commentary on
Galatians the words of Scott Richardson I think it was who
described the life of a person in very brief summary it begins
with a smack on the bottom and it ends with a shovel of dirt
in the face And everything in between is bumps and knocks.
And it's true. This is life. Difficulties, burdens. We all have burdens to bear.
We have burdens of personality. You know, there's some of us
that are very, very pleased with ourselves. You come across them.
Especially in the workplace. In the professional world, there
are those... You know them, Rick. You know them. I know them. I
come across them. Oh boy, are they pleased with themselves.
Oh, what a great favor they're doing to mankind and the business
and everything else. and there are others who hate
themselves and have no self-confidence and are really torn inside and,
you know, they need help. And they're in the church. There
are some of them in the church. There are those who've got health
problems, all sorts of health problems, physical health problems,
mental health problems, and they're in the church. There are those
who've got employment problems. There are those, you know, I
often hear of preachers teaching their people how to be good employees
in the workplace. And I think, have you ever been,
you know, you stand there preaching to me, have you ever been in
a situation where you've got a psychological bully for a boss,
torturing you mentally, and you've got no choice, you've got to
go there every day, you've got to put up with it day after day
after day. Have you ever been in that situation? Because if
you haven't, don't go preaching to me about how to be a good
Christian employee you've never experienced it but what he's
saying is bear and share with empathy those burdens family
grief financial hardship there are those for whom let's face
it we're extraordinarily well blessed and it's possible to
manage however little you have carefully and make the most of
it but there are those who genuinely there just isn't enough coming
in to balance the needs of what's going out. You know, they have
to keep themselves warm, they have to keep themselves fed,
there are certain responsibilities, and there are those who have
genuine financial hardship. And we have to bear and share
that. there are those who have anxieties we need to share and
bear we mustn't add to those burdens this is what the Pharisees
did this is what Jesus said about the Pharisees in Matthew 23 verse
4 for they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be born and they
lay them on men's shoulders but they themselves will not move
them with one of their fingers they won't so much as lift a
little finger to help but they lay burdens these Pharisees and
there are so many in religion they lay burdens on men's shoulders
they lay dress code burdens you imagine we're fairly relaxed
and that's the way we should be but you imagine that there's
somebody here in Nebworth that we're going to reach out to with
the gospel and he's never had a suit and he's never worn a
suit or a tie in his life they're there in Nebworth and he hasn't
got a pair of shiny shoes in fact mine are not that shiny
this morning that's because I was in a bit of a rush to come out
He hasn't got a pair of shiny shoes. So what do we say? Unless
you wear the suit and the tie and the shiny shoes, you're not
allowed across our doorstep? No, not at all. Not at all. We
don't do that. There are those who place Sabbath
codes upon people's backs. Tithing codes. You know, that
couple or that person who's having real financial difficulties,
but oh, he must give his tenth. He must put his tenth into the
coffers Quiet time code. Oh, you know, you cannot be a
Christian unless you've got a daily devotion of this many minutes
and in which blah blah blah. No, no. Church attendance code. You see, all of these things
in themselves are fine and good. It's good to give. It's good
to dress respectfully. It's good not to profane the
Lord's day. It's good to spend daily time
with the Lord. It's good to attend the meetings
of your brothers and sisters. It's good to eat and drink in
moderation and not to excess in anything. It's good to have
leisure pursuits and leisure activities that are honoring
to the Lord and that pass that test that whatsoever things are
good, whatsoever things are noble, think on these things. But don't
make them into burdens that we lay on men's backs. and then
rebuke them for not abiding by them, or condemn them, or condescendingly,
sanctimoniously look down upon them. No, if you want a law as
your rule of life says Paul, make this the law. There it is,
verse 2, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. What is that law of Christ? It's
what James calls the royal law in James 2 verse 8. What is it?
We sang the first one of these, I'm going to point out four or
five of them to you. John 13 34 a new commandment I give unto
you this is Jesus speaking to his disciples a new commandment
I give unto you he washed their feet they're in the upper room
a new commandment that you love one another as I have loved you
that's the commandment that he gives us that's the royal law
it's a law of love Romans 13 8 owe no man anything other than
to love one another you owe one another love for he that loves
another has fulfilled the law how clear can that be he who
loves another has fulfilled the law Galatians 5 14 we read it
earlier for the law is fulfilled in one word even in this you
shall love your neighbor as yourself Ephesians 4 verse 32 and be ye
kind to one another. Brothers and sisters in Christ,
be ye kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, not bearing
grudges or resentment, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven
you. So fulfill the law of Christ,
you see 4 verse 3, if a man thinks himself to be something when
he's nothing he deceives himself and that's what we are all by
nature we're nothing I'm nothing I'm nothing just as William Huntington
had on his grave one thing, what's your qualification? SS, sinner
saved that's all I can say by the grace of God I'm a sinner
who has been saved by the grace of God I'm nothing I'm not in
myself in any qualified position to look down in a judgmental
way on anybody else at all I'm nothing bear one another's burdens
and so fulfill the law of Christ and then he goes on into verse
four but let every man prove his own work and then he shall
have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another for every
man shall bear his own burden now what's that talking about?
That seems odd, doesn't it? That seems difficult to understand
in the light of what we've just been saying. Let every man prove
his own work. It's as if he's saying, it almost
sounds as if he's saying, you look after yourself, and you
do your own good thing, and you'll have cause to be pleased with
yourself, he'll have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another,
and every man of you, every one of you, will bear his own burden
and will qualify himself for the judgment that's to come.
Well, about judgment, yes it is about judgment. It's about
being conscious of judgment to come. It's about being ready
for judgment to come. But verse 4, it's ironical what
he's saying, it's almost sarcastic what he's saying. Let every man
prove his own work and then he'll have rejoicing in himself alone.
He's saying, you look at yourself properly. and he's saying the
very opposite of what he seems to be saying he's saying you
won't find there any cause for rejoicing in yourself you know
like we do for effect we turn the phrase around to strengthen
and reinforce what we're saying let every man prove his own work
and then he'll have rejoicing in himself alone I think not
is what he's effectively saying and not in another don't judge
one another and then he says for every man shall bear his
own burden You see, what this is talking about is being ready
for judgment, ready for judgment that is to come. Live conscious
that every man shall bear his own burden. What's he talking
about here? Hasn't he just said we should
bear one another's burdens? And now he's saying bear your
own burden. He's talking about judgment. because judgment is
certainly coming Acts 17 31 because he has appointed a day in which
he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained
that's Christ and he's given assurance unto all men that it's
going to happen in that he's raised Christ from the dead the
fact that you cannot find the tomb of Jesus today with the
remains of Jesus in it even if they knew where it was with the
remains of Jesus in it he rose from the dead that one of the
most, one of the most attested facts of history is the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I'll remind you again,
the man who wrote the book Who Moved the Stone set out, his
objective was to prove that the resurrection was a load of religious
rubbish and couldn't possibly be true and the more and more
he examined the scriptures and the historical accounts, the
more and more the Lord opened his eyes and he ended up writing
a book called Who Moved the Stone. showing that the resurrection
is true. And that tells us that there is a judgment to come,
says that verse. You know some verses. For the sake of time,
I won't turn us to them. 2 Corinthians 5, verse 10. We must all stand before the
judgment seat of Christ. Therefore, knowing the terror
of the Lord, we persuade men. Hebrews 9, 27. It is appointed
to man to die once. And after this, the judgment.
Daniel chapter 7 and verse 10. In Daniel's vision, he sees the
ancient of days and the books are opened and the judgment is
set. He sees it there. Malachi 3 verse
5, I will come to you in judgment and I will judge you and he lists
the sins for which he will judge them. Revelation 20, just look
at this one. Revelation 20 and verse 11. Revelation 20 verse 11, And I
saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was no place
for them. And I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God. And the books were opened. And
another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in
the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the
dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead
which were in them and they were judged every man according to
their works and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire
this is the second death and whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire that's
a dreadful picture a dreadful picture a dreadful truth it's
the truth of scripture that there is a judgment to come that the
justice of God, that the holiness of God is in no way swept under
the carpet and can in no way be ignored. There is a day of
judgment coming. And if that doesn't fill you
with dread, it should fill you with dread. You know, we tend
to think of these things a little bit like the Lord of the Rings
films where if you've seen them, and I think most people have
seen them, there are these amazing images with computer-generated
graphics of these armies of fearsome warriors coming. And it's a terrifying
spectacle. Terrifying. And the sound and
the total immersion in it in the cinema situation is overwhelming. But all the time you're thinking,
it's just a story. It's not true. It's just nice. It's just images. It's not really
true. What the scriptures say conjure
up similar images, but they're true. You know? There is a hell. There is a judgment of God. There
is no question about it. Absolutely. It should fill us
with dread. But it will only do so if God
shows it to you. I can't remember the hymn, and
I can't find it, but I'm sure there was a hymn that we used
to sing that had a line, "'Praise the grace whose fears alarmed
me, roused me from my mortal ease." You know? It shook me
up. It scared me. this is a great
leveller the judgment of God all without exception are accountable
it says here every man shall bear his own burden all without
exception are accountable for their own works and then it's
all laid bare in an indisputable record the books that will be
open the scriptures talk again and again in the book of Daniel
and again and again of the books being opened it's an indisputable
record and in the gaze of the holiness and justice of almighty
God this is a fearful thing it's a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of the living God our God is a consuming fire that's
Hebrews in the New Testament that's just not Old Testament
language that's the New Testament says this a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God our God is a consuming fire
yet in the midst of that fire on the altar of God's judgment
we read about it in Psalm 84 verse 3 right at the start there's
the sparrow has found a nest and a swallow lays her eggs in
a nest right next to that place not of beauty you go into our
cathedrals and the altars are great lumps of architectural
beauty That's not the altar. The altar's a place of death,
and of judgment, and of fire, and of wrath. It's a symbol of
the judgment of God against sin. But yet there, at that altar,
there is forgiveness. There's forgiveness for the one
who's represented there by the sacrifice. There's forgiveness.
You see, there are those who will appear before that terrible
judgment seat of Christ in complete safety, in complete happiness. And who are they? They're all
for whom Christ lived and died. They're called God's people.
They're called His children. They're called His saints, His
set-apart ones. They are, as Zechariah chapter
3 verse 2 says this, they are brands plucked from the fire. Let me explain. You've got a
bonfire going. Back in about March, we had a
fantastic bonfire, didn't we? It was one of the best ones ever.
We got this old fence burning with its piney preserved wood
and it really got some heat in it. And then the hedge that had
been taken down to make way for the fence, that hedge went on
it and it was so hot. Boy, did that burn. That was
one of the best fires we've ever had. and there were lumps of
wood in it, great big lumps of wood in it and the next morning
when it had finished burning there was barely a cubic centimetre
of solid wood left at the end of that fire, it went. But can
you imagine, there's a lump of wood in there, it's a couple
of feet long, it's about three or four inches wide and it's
burning and it's just caught fire and you pluck it out of
the fire, you rescue it from the fire, you put out the flames
and this is what Zechariah says, Satan is judging the child of
God in Zechariah 3 and God says to him leave him alone he's a
brand plucked from the fire he's a burning log whom I've rescued
from the fire of my judgment in the Lord Jesus Christ they're
they whose names are in that other book when we read in Revelation
the books were opened and there was another book called the book
of life and their names are in that book of life what do the
books The books of the record of sins say about those whose
names are in the book of life. Numbers 23, 21, the words of
a false prophet nevertheless in the scriptures, Balaam, sent
to curse Jacob but he couldn't and he says this, he, God, has
not beheld iniquity in Jacob. Oh, the sins of Jacob and the
Israelite people are recorded throughout scriptures yet when
it comes to those books He, the Lord, has not beheld iniquity
in Jacob. Jeremiah 50 verse 20, In those
days and at that time, says the Lord, he's talking about judgment.
The iniquity of Israel shall be sought for and there shall
be none. And the sins of Judah and they
shall not be found for I will pardon them whom I reserve. Israel
and Judah, as we'll see in a week or two, the Israel of God, that's
all the people of God. If you're a believer this morning,
you're a member of that household of faith which is the Israel
of God. You are Jacob. You are Jacob made Israel. You
are Jacob the cheat, the scoundrel, the sinner, made a prince with
God, which is Israel. And the sins of those people
will be sought in those books and they will not be found. Not
at all. In Matthew 25, verses 31 to 40
Jesus is talking about dividing the sheep from the goats on the
day of judgment and the sheep on my right hand and the goats
on my left he'll make a distinction and to the sheep he's speaking
of his people it will be a blissful glorious happy entry into eternal
life forever for the goats is representing those who are outside
of Christ is nothing but a fearful warning of judgment, of weeping
and gnashing of teeth. It sounds such medieval language,
it's true, it's still true today, absolutely true. In Hebrews chapter
8 and verse 12, their sins and their iniquities, says God of
his people, I will remember no more. For these people that dread
day of judgment, that dread day of appearing before this judgment
seat of Christ will not be a dread day, It's a day of happy rejoicing. It's a marriage feast. Don't
let anybody threaten you with the law about standing before
the judgment seat of Christ. That's a happy day. Because if
your name is in the book of life, the books of the records of the
sins of his people, they'll look for the sins of his people and
they will not find them. They will not be there. This
is what the scripture says. Why? Because Christ has borne
them and Christ has paid for them. Will you be among them?
Will you be among those people? Will my name be in that book?
so that I enter into eternal bliss is your name in that book
of life? I don't know but I do know this
listen to me I do know this all whose names are in that book
he calls by preaching the gospel to them and all who hear that
gospel that he calls follow him they hear it they hear his voice
and they follow him my sheep hear my voice and they follow
me is he calling you? you know he once called a little
boy at the temple Samuel Samuel and he runs Eli you called me
no I didn't call you you go back to sleep Samuel Samuel you did
call me no I didn't it must be the Lord is he calling you what
does he say speak Lord for your servant is listening let's listen
to his voice