Will you turn with me, please, this morning
to Matthew chapter 25.
If you catch me with any Americanisms, some
of them are beginning to stick, but forgive
me.
Praise the Lord.
Matthew 25.
The last week of our Lord's ministry was,
to a great degree, concentrated on his own
inner circle of disciples.
There was some public ministry, but Matthew tells
us of a series of talks and parables
that he gave to his disciples in association
with their comments on the temple.
John tells us some of the things he
said to them on the last day when
he was about to leave them.
Tremendous words.
In Matthew 24, our Lord answered the disciples'
comments about the temple by warning them of
two great events, the destruction of the temple
and the city, and also the second coming
of our Lord in glory.
And then, while he didn't take much trouble,
apparently, to differentiate between those two, I think
he deliberately allowed them to be obscure, so
that no one could say, this is the
day he's coming back.
He followed those with three parables concerning our
responsibility in relation to his second coming, and
those are found in Matthew chapter 25.
The first is the parable of the virgins,
the second the parable of the servants, and
the third the parable of the sheep and
goats.
In the first one, there was a separation.
The foolish virgins were shut outside the door.
In the second one, there was a separation.
The unprofitable servant was dispatched to outer darkness,
and there was weeping and gnashing of teeth.
In the third one, there was a separation,
and this time the goats were consigned to
that eternal fire and everlasting punishment prepared for
the devil and his angels.
Our Lord was on his way to his
suffering and death, and he needed to bring
home to us all the intensity of the
reality of life and death which he was
handling.
It's one thing for the blessed Son of
God to go solitary to Calvary.
It is another matter for those who believe
on him to understand the important weight of
these things, and to know how important are
life and death and judgment and eternity.
In the first parable, the parable of the
virgins, the separation took place because the five
foolish virgins weren't ready.
And Jesus said, Be ye also ready, for
in such an hour as ye think not,
the Son of Man shall come.
Not ready.
In the second parable, the separation took place
because the servant was not involved in his
master's business.
In the third parable, the separation took place
because these were not his sheep.
It is particularly the third parable which I
wish to bring to you.
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, and before him shall be
gathered all nations, and he shall separate them
one from another, as a shepherd divideth his
sheep from the goats.
And he shall set the sheep on his
right hand, but the goats on the left.
Then shall the king say unto them on
his right hand, Come ye, blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from
the foundation of the world.
For I was unhungred, and ye gave me
meat.
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink.
I was a stranger, and ye took me
in.
Naked, and ye clothed me.
I was sick, and ye visited me.
I was in prison, and ye came unto
me.
Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord,
when saw we thee unhungred, and fed thee,
or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
When saw we thee a stranger, and took
thee in?
Or naked, and clothed thee?
Or when saw we thee sick, or in
prison, and came unto thee?
And the king shall answer and say to
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.
Then shall he say also to them on
the left hand, Depart ye from me, ye
cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil
and his angels.
For I was unhungred, and ye gave me
no meat.
I was thirsty, and ye gave me no
drink.
I was a stranger, and ye took me
not in.
Naked, and ye clothed me not.
Sick, and in prison, and ye visited me
not.
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord,
when saw we thee unhungred, or a thirst,
or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or
in prison, and didn't minister unto thee?
Then he shall answer them, saying, Verily I
say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it
not unto one of the least of these,
ye did it not to me.
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment,
but the righteous into life eternal."
Jesus talked more about judgment and hell fire
than anyone else in scripture, and even warned
his own inner group of disciples in words
something like this, If thy right hand offend
thee, cut it off, and cast it from
thee.
For it is better for thee to enter
into life maimed, than having two hands to
go whole into hell fire.
He was a most disturbing teacher.
Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, who told us
that God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son.
Jesus it was, who above all Bible teachers,
spoke most plainly about judgment, outer darkness, hell
fire, eternity.
We have lost out on these things.
Our forefathers, a couple generations ago, capitalized on
these subjects.
With raised fists and waving Bible, they shouted
to the passing crowd of the dangers of
Christ's rejection.
But we in our day have modified our
approach, and possibly have lost something thereby.
And I pause here to remind you that
thou Lord did not talk about hell fire
to the passing crowd, but to the religious
people.
To Pharisees, how shall ye escape the damnation
of hell?
To his own disciples, to the inner circle,
he warned of eternal things.
Now this parable of the sheep and the
goats has been used traditionally down through the
teachings of Christendom as teaching salvation by works.
In countless churches and to many generations has
the phrase been quoted and re-quoted, inasmuch
as ye did it unto the least of
these my brethren, ye did it unto me.
And therefore the deduction has been that salvation
is by works, coupled of course with the
grace of God.
This difficulty was so real and so plain
that the editors of the Scofield Bible came
to our rescue, and helped us out of
a great problem.
They said this is a special judgment, not
the general judgment, but a special one, which
is related to the nations and not to
individuals.
And the nations will be judged as to
how they have treated the brethren of Christ
who are the Jews at his second coming.
And so we all heaved a sigh of
relief and said well very well, we can
now go on believing that salvation is by
grace after all.
And we were very grateful for the notes
at the foot of the page in our
Scofield Bible.
But there are certain difficulties I find there.
One of the most obvious difficulties is that
the judgments and rewards meted out are so
colossal.
These go into life eternal, and these go
into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and
his angels.
Does that really mean then that all the
American nation is going to enter into life
eternal because they have provided a home for
our financial Jewish brethren?
Or does it mean that the German nation
from the highest to the lowest mother with
infant shall be consigned into everlasting punishment as
a nation because they treated the Jews so
cruelly?
I think not.
Eternal judgment is not meted out to nations
as such but to individuals.
Every man shall give account of himself to
God.
In Ezekiel's day they were saying the fathers
have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth
are set on edge.
And Ezekiel said something like this, don't you
believe it?
The soul that sinneth it shall die.
Everyone shall face his own responsibility.
It's not national salvation but individual judgment which
you have to face.
And then again this word nations, let me
see, how is it?
All nations penta ta ethne is roughly the
Greek according to my pronunciation.
Don't take any notice of that because we
each have our own way of saying it.
It's the same phrase that Matthew used later
on when he says go teach all nations
baptizing them in the name of the Father
Son and Holy Ghost.
Well I know that the Catholic Apostolic Church
some 150 years ago did get the idea
of sending 12 apostles out to all the
nations and they wouldn't do any preaching until
they got the head of the nation and
they preached to him thereby teaching the whole
nation.
Which is rather odd.
Philip of course spoke to individuals and Peter
talked to a household and things like that.
And I don't think that was really it.
Besides it says go teach all nations baptizing
them.
What a dreadful splash it would make if
you baptize the whole nation all at once.
Uh no no they the the word ethnos
is the normal word used for gentiles and
I don't think that interpretation cunning as it
may seem will really stand.
This is an individual judgment which is in
view.
But whatever do you do with it?
Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the
least of these my brethren and ye have
done it unto me and these shall enter
into life eternal.
The best way when you come across a
difficulty in the Bible is to look at
it straight.
Face it as straight as you know how.
When my wife and I were first in
Nigeria we got mixed up between the sheep
and the goats that occupied the village streets
and ran round the corners of little mud
huts and things.
And we could not distinguish between them.
I would say uh no my wife would
say uh look at that goat over there
and I would say no that's a sheep.
And our host would say you're wrong you
know that's a goat.
And so we'd go on arguing because they
were all dirty.
They were all scraggy and generally miserable looking
and we couldn't tell the one from the
other at first.
I don't know whether you had that trouble
Mike but we did.
Eventually we sorted them out and this is
how.
The first thing I discovered was the goat's
tail stuck up.
And so I looked for a tail pointing
up in the air and I said that's
a goat and I was generally right.
But not only his tail stuck up his
head stuck up and his horn stuck up
and his ears stuck out.
And you could generally find them fighting quarreling
or stealing uh surreptitiously poking a nose in
somebody's doorway and pulling out a whole yam.
You've ever seen that kind of thing Mike?
There was something about the goats that one
could recognize.
And the sheep were so different.
Their tails hung down, their ears hang down,
their heads hang down, they congregate in the
village street.
The trouble with a goat is he might
rush across your path.
The trouble with a sheep is you've got
a job to get him out of your
way.
Different altogether in nature.
And if you look at this wonderful picture
of the shepherd with his sheep and goats
you will see that they are divided not
according to works but according to nature.
He divides the sheep from the goats.
He didn't look at a sheep and say
well what have you done today you're only
a goat and throw him among the other
people.
He didn't look look at a goat and
say what have you done today you've been
a good boy all right you can join
the sheep.
Not a bit of it.
No as a shepherd and everyone would understand
this he divided the sheep from the goats
according to nature.
That's as plain as can be.
Anyone who wasn't a theologian jumped to that
right away.
All you needed to be was a farmer.
And so he the shepherd the great king
of glory the Lord Jesus will divide the
sheep from the goats according to their nature.
For we are separated according to nature but
judged according to works.
Just as simple as all that.
Have a look at the whole parable and
it sorts itself out just like ABC.
And the question you have to ask yourself
this morning and I have to ask myself
primarily is am I a sheep or am
I a goat?
I wanted to make a horrible pun about
goats butting but I'll leave that one out
for the time being.
But what is your nature?
Are you one of Christ's sheep?
We were all goats at one time rebellious
in nature and corrupt.
And even though we tried to reform ourselves
and brush our coat a bit and clean
up we could never quite turn ourselves into
sheep could we?
Until Jesus did it.
Hallelujah.
And he washed us and cleansed us and
renewed us and gave us a new heart
and a new nature.
My sheep says Jesus hear my voice.
Is that what you do?
And they follow me.
Is that what you do?
And I know them.
Does he know you?
And I give unto them eternal life and
they shall never perish and no man shall
pluck them out of my hands.
Are you in his hands?
Here are the marks of the sheep.
You can't imitate it.
Either you are a sheep or else you
belong to the other crowd the goats trying
to look like sheep.
And that's why the great shepherd is the
appointed judge who will sort out every man.
Thank God that the right judge is appointed
who will never make any mistake.
No matter how bedraggled a sheep looks he'll
still be a sheep at heart and the
shepherd will know.
And no matter how spruced up and refined
a goat may appear he'll still be a
goat at heart and the shepherd will know.
He will make no mistake whatsoever.
He divides as a shepherd divides the sheep
from the goats in that great judgment day
when the son of man shall come in
his glory and all the holy angels with
him.
Then shall he sit upon the throne of
his glory and before him shall be gathered
all nations and he shall separate them one
from another as a shepherd divided his sheep
from the goats and he shall set the
sheep on his right hand but the goats
on the left.
And then first of all he deals with
the sheep and afterwards he deals with the
goats.
Which is interesting because in the book of
Revelation we have a chapter there which some
take literally and some take symbolically and I'm
still trying to find out how to take
it.
But it does chapter 20 does deal with
a separation in association with the great millennial
day of God.
And it says at the beginning I saw
verse four I saw thrones and they sat
on them and judgment was given to them.
I saw the souls of them that were
beheaded for the witness of Jesus for the
word of God which hadn't worshipped the beast
nor his image and so on.
They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years.
Blessed and holy is he that hath part
in the first resurrection on such the second
death hath no power but they shall be
priests of God and of Christ and shall
reign with him a thousand years.
And then later on the dead in Christ
verse 12 at the close of that thousand
years apparently the books were opened and another
book was opened.
The dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books according to
their works.
Death and hell cast into the lake of
fire.
Whosoever was not found written in the book
of life was cast into the lake of
fire.
Obviously a parallel there with the second judgment
in Matthew 25.
And you may be interested to notice that
when Peter is talking about these things in
his second epistle he also mentions a thousand
years.
Look at this verse 7 chapter 3 2
Peter 3 verse 7.
But the heavens and the earth which are
now by the same word kept in store
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men but beloved be
not ignorant of this that one day is
with the Lord as a thousand years and
a thousand years as one day.
He's quoting from Moses.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise
as some men count slackness but is long
suffering to us word not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to
repentance but the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night in
which the heavens shall pass away with a
great noise and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat the earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up or
some other word there I forgot what it
is seeing then that all these things shall
be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye
to be in all holy conversation and godliness
looking for and hasting unto the coming of
the day of God wherein the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved and the element
shall melt with fervent heat nevertheless we according
to his promise look for a new heavens
and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness wherefore
beloved seeing that ye look for such things
be diligent that ye may be found of
him in peace without spot and blameless.
Now isn't it interesting that when Peter is
writing about that mighty day of the Lord
he too should mention a thousand years that
makes me think that probably there is a
millennial day with a judgment of those who
are Christ at its beginning and the judgment
for the rest of mankind and it's closed.
I might be wrong but at any rate
to save us all falling out and arguing
on eschatology we can say that it might
be right anyway.
Now then let me come back to my
parable our Lord's parable.
Believer you are saved by grace alone and
through the blood of Jesus and you will
become one of Christ's sheep by grace.
I think it was Jane Darby who somewhere
in the bog land beyond Dublin was talking
to a lad who was dying of consumption
a shepherd boy who had been overexposed in
looking after his sheep and Darby was appalled
to find that he had no means of
contact with the boy.
The boy did not know the bible had
never been taught anything about the things of
God and he knew the lad didn't have
long to live and he wondered however he
could contact him.
He talked to him and he said tell
me about your life and tell me how
did you get ill?
Well he said I've never been very strong
sir and he spoke in an Irish which
I can't possibly imitate.
I'm not going to try but several times
I've been sick and cold when I've been
caring for the sheep for so you know
if I don't care for them and get
them in shelter when the rains are heavy
they'll die they get a cough and they
die and I'm afraid sir I was out
too long and the last time I haven't
got better again.
Jane Darby realized that there was a channel
open to the boy's mind and he read
from John 10 about the good shepherd who
gives his life for the sheep and read
to him from Psalm 23 and the little
lad's understanding was enlightened and he saw Jesus
his great shepherd and he saw himself as
the poor little sheep in danger of death
and JND records what a marvellous change took
place in that lad manifest on his countenance
in his dying days.
Praise the Lord.
Let me tell you another little story this
one from Scotland which I heard from Arthur
Wood of Young Life Campaign some 50 years
ago or more or less from which you
may deduce a few things.
This story comes from Scotland and it's very
similar to the Jane Darby story.
An elderly Scottish ministry minister used to go
up into the Highlands sometimes to reach his
remote parishioners and hold a weekend services with
them and one day talking by the peat
fire he too was talking to a Scottish
shepherd lad and he shared about the great
shepherd and he taught the boy the first
lines of Psalm 23.
The Lord is my shepherd I shall not
want and he said to him would you
like the Lord Jesus to be your shepherd
and care for you as you care for
your sheep?
He said yes sir I would.
He told him about the good shepherd giving
his life upon Calvary's cross and together by
the fireside they knelt and the little fellow
asked the Lord Jesus to come into his
heart and the old minister said do you
really believe he has come in and forgiven
your sins?
He said yes sir.
Well he said I want you to think
of that first verse of the psalm when
you're out on the hills and you can
remember it like this hold up your left
hand the Lord is my shepherd do that
after me the Lord is my shepherd.
Yes the boy did it did it again
until he could remember it then he said
now this time I want you to do
something different watch me the Lord is my
shepherd laying hold of the third finger and
the boy did it the Lord is my
shepherd the old man the old minister went
down to the valley again and a few
months passed by and during that winter there
was a great blizzard bitter and cold and
a little fellow was caught out and they
couldn't get to him isolated on the Scottish
moors and when at last the search party
did locate him and his sheep although they
found several of the sheep alive huddled under
a stone wall the little fellow was frozen
dead and they brought his body back to
the cottage and sent for the old minister
to conduct the funeral and he talked to
them and sought to comfort them and they
said sir there's one thing that puzzled us
maybe you can tell us when we found
him he was holding the third finger of
his left hand do you know what it
means he was able to say yes I
do he knew that Jesus was his shepherd
and the great shepherd took him home saved
by grace hallelujah but make no mistake about
it judged by works God is faithful and
just and true and as surely as he
judges the rest of the world according to
their works so you and I shall give
account of ourselves to God and I want
to bring to you those great familiar Pauline
scriptures on this subject first of all 2
Corinthians chapter 5 verse
9 wherefore we labor that whether present or
absent we may be accepted of him for
we must all appear before the judgment seat
of Christ that everyone may receive the things
done in his body according to that he
hath done whether it be good or bad
knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we
persuade men but we are made manifest unto
God and I trust also are made manifest
in your consciences the word terror is really
the old-fashioned word fear but it's still
quite a strong word it's the word from
which we get our phobia you know hydrophobia
and claustrophobia that's the word behind this knowing
the fear of the Lord we persuade men
we must all appear before the judgment seat
of Christ they used to tell me that
the judgment seat of Christ was rather like
a Sunday school prize giving in which every
boy and girl received a prize some better
than others but even the smallest child got
away with a little stick of chocolate or
candy or something but Paul speaks of the
judgment seat the high seat the beamer seat
of Christ in stronger language than that he
says everyone may receive the things done in
his body according to that he hath done
whether it be good or bad knowing therefore
the fear of the Lord we persuade men
Christian if you are saved if you are
born again it is by the grace of
God but make no mistake about it you
will answer at the judgment seat of Christ
for the things you have done in your
body whether they be good or bad let's
not have a sloppy gospel which makes Jesus
just a merciful savior and robs him of
his glory as judge he is the judge
of all the world and the judge of
every man let me read you one or
two other scriptures from the new testament also
romans 14 verse 7 to 13 for
none of us liveth to himself no man
dieth to himself for whether we live we
live unto the Lord whether we die we
die unto the Lord whether we live therefore
or die we are the Lord for to
this end Christ both died and rose and
revived that he might be Lord both of
the dead and the living but why dost
thou judge thy brother or why dost thou
set at naught thy brother for we shall
all stand before the judgment seat of Christ
for it is written as I live saith
the Lord every knee shall bow to me
and every tongue shall confess to God so
then every one of us shall give account
of himself to God let us not therefore
judge one another anymore but judge this rather
that no man put a stumbling block or
an occasion to fall in his brother's way
you theologians may notice in this passage that
the word Christ and the word Lord and
the word God are used interchangeably one of
those incidental demonstrations of the deity of our
Lord Jesus but thank God he is appointed
to judge us not solely on the grounds
of his deity but also on the grounds
of his humanity God has appointed the day
in which he will judge the world in
righteousness by that man whom he has ordained
whereof he has given assurance to all men
in that he hath raised him from the
dead our judge is God in authority man
in understanding hallelujah touch with the feelings of
our infirmities there will be no hiding no
deception from him he understands us through and
through he knows our temptations he knows every
secret thing God and man he's the he
is the appointed one I'm glad that Jesus
is the judge and I'm glad too that
the hidden things are going to be brought
to light the other day I was called
upon to do a tv interview thing and
I made an awful mess of it I'm
no good on tv uh but one of
my troubles was I was supposed to talk
about my ministry in Africa and I didn't
know whether to play it up or play
it down you know I could have made
given some tremendous figures and shown something very
very colossal which of course would have suited
would have suited the American mind very well
uh bless them they're wonderful people I like
them or I could do the English thing
and play it all down well I did
the English thing and I was a real
flunk Paul says we judge nothing until the
day he says I don't even judge my
own self Jesus is going to sort it
all out hallelujah and you know most of
us have a little streak of hypocrisy in
us at least I'm sorry I am sometimes
tempted to be slightly hypocritical not very of
course don't think that but but it's there
and there is a certain amount attached to
our Christian life and and service which is
not as real as it should be thank
God it's going through the judgment and it's
going to be sorted out and we're not
going to carry one iota of false glory
into eternity hallelujah all the dud things all
the pretended things all the vain boastings all
the great big edifices that men were so
pleased about will all be tested and nothing
false is going to go through God's blessed
sieve at the judgment seat Jesus will sort
the whole thing out there's another scripture in
one Corinthians isn't there on this line which
is talking especially about Christian work one Corinthians
chapter three and
he's talking about his ministry and his service
in the gospel and those who worked with
him and those who worked after him and
he said verse 11 for other foundation can
no man lay than that is laid which
is Jesus Christ now if any man build
on this foundation gold silver precious stones wood
hay stubble the first group being indestructible the
wood hay stubble being those things that barns
are made of and which are easily burned
every man's work shall be made manifest for
the day shall declare it because it shall
be revealed by fire and the fire shall
try every man's work of what sort it
is if any man's work abide which he
hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward
if any man's work shall be burned he
shall suffer loss but he himself shall be
saved yet so as by fire I was
talking to the owner of one of those
American mobile homes or house trailers beautiful things
some of them 80 85 feet long and
tremendous efforts furnished to the nth degree with
everything a housewife could desire but he told
me that if if one of these things
catches fire you have two minutes to get
out and just go up in flames no
chance of sending for the fire brigade and
there is some Christian work Paul says which
being tested by fire will be so consumed
that the folk who've done the building will
have to run out in their nightshirts saved
as by fire another one
the same epistle and chapter 4 and verse
5 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 5 therefore
judge nothing before the time until the Lord
come who both will bring to light the
hidden things of darkness and will make manifest
the counsels of the heart and then shall
every man have praise of God my friends
in the states they're so kind they pat
me on the back at every available opportunity
and every unseemly opportunity too and tell me
how wonderful I am don't they Mike and
it really is nice we get an inflated
idea of ourselves that God is going to
handle it what a wonderful thing it will
be if God praises you oh my nothing
false or imitation or artificial about it utterly
gloriously and eternally genuine alleluia all the dead
things swept away burned up and only the
gold silver precious stones coming through into that
a blessed eternity with our Lord and Savior
let me see did I give you one
yes I think no 1 Peter 1 5
7 I hope you people don't mind a
bible study 1 Peter 1
5 who there's an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled
that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for
you who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation ready to be
revealed in the last time wherein ye greatly
rejoice though now for a season if need
be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation
that the trial of your faith being much
more precious than a gold that perishes though
it be tried with fire might be found
unto praise and honor and glory at the
appearing of Jesus Christ whom having not seen
ye love in whom though now you see
him not yet believing you rejoice with joy
unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end
of your faith even the salvation of your
souls there's a tremendous day of judgment and
revelation and reward coming for the Lord's people
Ephesians 6 servants
verse 5 servants be obedient to them that
are your masters according to the flesh with
fear and trembling in singleness of your heart
as unto Christ not that I service as
men pleases but as servants of Christ doing
the will of God from the heart with
goodwill doing service as unto the Lord and
not unto men knowing that whatsoever good thing
any man doeth the same shall he receive
of the Lord whether he be bond or
free and ye masters do the same things
for them for you have a master which
is in heaven and there is no respect
of persons with him during my work in
in all days I have to confess there
are times when I sneak five minutes off
to read my new testament and unless I've
put that matter right with the Lord at
his judgment seat he'll say to me why
weren't you getting on with your job that's
right we our master is in heaven and
whatever we do we do unto him and
from him we receive the meat recompense of
reward I want you to notice
the element of surprise that the sheep manifest
when they said Lord did we see thee
a hungered or thirsty or a stranger or
naked and we closed thee when Lord and
he'll explain in as much as he did
it unto one of the least of these
my brethren he did it unto me the
element of surprise suggests this that is it
is the sort of thing you do without
thinking that is of real value in heaven
that which comes out of your heart of
love and compassion when you rush to help
somebody just because you can't bear to see
them suffering you had no thought about doing
it to your master in heaven those are
the things that are full of weight because
they spring from the new nature they spring
from the new heart that when we gear
ourselves up and tauten all our bow strings
and try and be a little bit more
righteous than we used to be and then
go blundering around doing our supposed good works
hoping somebody notices us that's the sort of
thing that won't stand the test it's what
springs from new birth new nature and Christ
in you the hope of glory being spontaneously
expressed that is what will stand the fires
on the great testing day and it's what
springs from new birth new nature and Christ
in you the hope of glory being spontaneously
expressed that is what will stand the fires
on the great testing day hallelujah and you
and I are going to be surprised at
the things the Lord noticed and a little
bit disappointed at some of the things he
overlooked hallelujah wonderful Jesus he knows exactly what
he's doing praise the Lord I want to
read the scripture from Jude Jude 20 just
to cheer you up verse 24 now unto
him that is able to keep you from
falling and to present you faultless before the
presence of his glory with exceeding joy to
the only wise God our Savior be glory
and majesty dominion and power both now and
ever you see the only thing which is
going to stand the test is that which
is done in fellowship with the one who
keeps you the sheep that keeps closest to
the shepherd is the one who's going to
see the great big rewards praise the Lord
that if you love the Lord Jesus ever
increasingly with all your heart and soul and
mind and strength you'll be like a branch
in the vine bringing forth fruit in his
season like a tree planted by the waters
you're going to get your blessed reward in
his presence because of the life of Christ
manifest in word and deed that's why John
says let us not love in word only
but in deed and truth praise the Lord
this blessed life within us must find expression
but now I want to say a few
words about the goats not much this is
a sad and terrible topic when we read
our bible we are horrified at the judgments
of God in the old and the new
testaments it shows how far we are away
from God's thoughts he is holy we live
in a sort of pigsty and our concepts
of holiness are not like his he is
angry with an awful eternal anger of thwarted
divine love against sin there are parents these
days who when they see that it's brought
to their notice that their boy is taking
drugs they'll say oh well it's nothing everybody
else is doing it and besides he'll grow
out of it later on would you feel
like that would that be your reaction parent
I don't think so they would rise up
in you and anger against those who had
led your lad or girl astray isn't that
right my bible shows a God of love
who is angry angry with the thing that's
destroying his creation and there will come that
great day of judgment when the goats shall
be gathered there and they shall hear the
condemnation of the just judge oh my god
I cannot measure these things I don't understand
them but the anger of God is the
obverse of his love it's the other side
of his great unfathomable nature and I notice
one of the terrible things about that judgment
is that these people are not condemned for
doing anything particularly wicked they're not condemned as
murderers and adulterers in this parable they're condemned
for doing precisely nothing ye did it not
it's a sentence of condemnation what did we
do when did we see thee you didn't
do a thing the the branch in the
vine which was withered and burned didn't do
a thing the unprofitable servant who buried his
talent didn't do a thing the barren ground
that was cursed didn't do a thing in
the judgment God puts on the scales our
inactivities as well as our activities and we
may learn from even that terrible judgment that
we too have a responsibility before God my
words and the teaching from scripture this morning
has been a little heavy but I don't
think I have exaggerated what the bible has
said on these things and in view of
that blessed and wonderful judgment day in which
we shall give an account before God we
need to recognize the fear of the Lord
and move out of our lethargy and half
-heartedness into total commitment he is not only
our savior he is our judge we look
back to the cross we look forward to
the being the seat of Christ and we
shall give account I was talking to a
dear brother the other day who had come
through some fearsome operations nearly all his intestines
had been removed in pieces from time to
time and it had seemed a hard life
for him and his wife but she was
saying we feel that God has been teaching
us some lessons I will always remember she
said our little girl when she was very
young and she got a great big splinter
in her finger and I comforted her and
I went to the medicine cupboard and to
get the tweezers and when she saw the
tweezers she said mommy mommy band-aid please
mommy and for all her tears from the
child and all the mother's love she could
not give that child a band-aid without
removing the splinter there are many of us
who want the comfort of the scripture and
we shrink when the Lord is saying there's
a whole splinter in there to be pulled
out and if you have been apathetic or
half-hearted if you haven't appreciated that that
salvation which is operating in you so that
you are working out your salvation with fear
and trembling for it is God who works
in you to will and do of his
good pleasure then accept the painful operation of
the word of God this morning and come
right back to Jesus the Lord you won't
be able to do a thing on your
own you won't be able to do a
thing by reformation the only that you can
do is to be right with him and
allow his pardoning love to find expression through
you to other folk glory to God band
-aid no fear Lord I want you to
get every splinter out and if there's a
beam in my eye Lord get it out
I want to walk worthy of the Lord
and to all well-pleasing I got some
of our American friends to sing a little
hymn out of the out of one of
their books by Elijah Hoffman I think have
thine affections been nailed to the cross is
thy heart right with God does thou for
Jesus count all things but loss is thine
heart right with God is thy heart right
with God washed in the crimson flood humble
and holy humble and lowly made pure and
holy right in the sight of God if
the heart is clean and Christ dwells therein
without contention there'll be fruit unto life eternal
praise the Lord will you stand with me
and pray ask father this morning for a
return of the fear of the Lord we
would know the greatness of thine immeasurable love
we would also know the awfulness of thy
holiness and understand that tremendous things devolve upon
our everyday war and not only because Jesus
loves us and died for us but also
because thou hast appointed him to be the
judge the blessed wonderful judge with eyes as
a flame of fire thou hast appointed him
we would yield ourselves Lord afresh and ask
so to be filled with the Holy Ghost
that no other loyalty shall claim us except
the loyalty of our Lord Jesus who died
for us that whether we sleep or wake
we should live together with him amen and
amen