In his letter to the Colossian church, the Apostle Paul sought both to instruct and to encourage the congregation. What was happening is that they were so bogged down by the assaults of worldly philosophies and false religion that they could barely keep their heads up. And so in chapter three of Colossians, Paul exhorts them. He says this to the church. If then you have been raised up with Christ, Keep seeking the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory. And so in order to encourage the church, Paul appealed to the hope of Christ's return. And that is always, again, our hope, especially in the present moment, that is always our hope. Titus 2.13 calls this the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. In times of trouble, in times of uncertainty, Days of distress, days of depression, our blessed hope, beloved, is built not on our present circumstances, but on the dawning of the day when the Lord Jesus Christ is revealed from heaven, coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. We long for the day, and we feel it in our bones, don't we? Even now, we long for the day, according to Revelation 21-4, when He shall wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no longer any death, there shall no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. We long for that day, don't we? And he sits on his throne, the Bible says, and will say, behold, I am making all things new. Of course, this is hard to see on difficult days. It's hard when we're bogged down with the present circumstances of life, and even the things I just spoke about, even those kinds of circumstances and beyond. It is difficult for us in the moment, especially when you're worried, or scared, or disenfranchised, or dissuaded, but that is why it is all the more important for each new generation to understand, contemplate, and meditate on the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so for that purpose and many other purposes, I'm actually thankful that we're in the passage that we're in right now. This is providentially ordained that we would wrap up this teaching and the Olivet Discourse on this Sunday. Everything happens for a reason. And I believe God is intending to drive us toward contemplating His glory and His return. But it is imperative for this generation to understand that. But it was no less important in earlier generations, and even for those who were alive during the time of Christ. And so if you would, turn in your copy of Scripture to Matthew chapter 25 with me. Matthew 25. As I said, we are coming to the end of Jesus' masterful Olivet Discourse. His authoritative teaching given to the disciples in the middle of Passion Week. And the Pharisees and Sadducees, they're plotting his death as he speaks to the disciples. And the future seems very bleak in their minds. But Jesus offers a prophetic overview. of the events surrounding his climactic return at the end of the age. As the world continues, the Bible says in Romans 8, to groan and suffer the pains of childbirth together until now, Jesus refers to the increased turmoil as birth pains that increase and intensify. We feel that now, we will feel that in the future, we will feel that increasingly until the end of the Lord's return. But then at some point in the unknown future, we know that there will arise a world ruler known as the Antichrist. And he will set up, the Bible says, the abomination of desolation, which effectively blasphemes the name of the Lord. This ushers in a period of great tribulation where Jesus says, this has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be. So this is a coming period of time that will be tribulation unlike the world has ever seen in its history. And it's after this tribulation that the Lord returns in glory to wage war on His enemies, Revelation 19, to judge the nations, and to usher in a thousand-year kingdom on earth where He will sit on His glorious throne. Of course, in Matthew 25, where we are today, verses 31 to 34, we read last week that He's judging the nations, and this will be akin to separating the sheep from the goats. Placing the sheep on His right, the place of blessing, and placing the goats, the unbelieving world, on the left, the place of judgment. And yet we're left with this burning question. Well, how do I know where I will be on the last day? And that's the most important question for us to consider, for you to consider as you're even sitting here listening. Where will I be? What side of the Lord will I be on on the last day? And in verses 35 to 46, Jesus provides a test. A test, one that I'm even referring to this morning as the compassion test. The compassion test, one that his sheep will pass and by which they will be rewarded. And so look at this with me, Matthew chapter 25, we're going to pick it back up in verse 34 all the way to the end of the chapter. These are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? And when did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? The king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even to the least of them, you did it to me. Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison you did not visit me. And they will themselves also answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you? And he will answer to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. And so last week we sort of dipped our toe into verse 34. Here we wrapped up our time together in verse 34, and we saw that Jesus, the King, announces to those who are blessed of the Father that they will inherit the kingdom. They will inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for them before the foundation of the world. Now briefly, at the very end of the exposition, And I'll tell you, I took a great risk bringing new information at the end of a sermon. Usually that's a no-no in preaching. You don't do that, but I did it anyway because I love you. But we talked about three major views pertaining to the millennial kingdom. Premillennialism, post-millennialism and amillennialism. I'm not going to go back through all of them today, but I just want to talk to you about the fact that if we read Revelation 19 and 20 chronologically, if we were to do that, we would see that the return of Christ takes place before an earthly millennial kingdom. Nowhere in Scripture do we read that we somehow build or advance the kingdom in order to hand it over to Christ at His return. Rather, it is something that He establishes upon His arrival. In fact, that's what the disciples say to Him. That's their expectation in Acts 1-6 when they ask the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord, is it at this time that You are restoring the kingdom to Israel? They were waiting for a kingdom to come. A kingdom that has been prophesied even in Isaiah. Just listen to these words in Isaiah 2. We read here, Now it will come that in the last days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the chief of the mountains and will be raised above the hills and all the nations will stream to it. And many people will come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us concerning his ways, that we may walk in his paths. For the law will go forth from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem, and he will judge between the nations." Sound familiar? He judges between the nations, and they will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they learn war. That's just a small prophetic picture of what's coming at the end. It will be a kingdom of triumph and peace according to Isaiah 25. A kingdom of rejoicing and prosperity according to Isaiah 65. And those whom God has set apart as his sheep on his right side, they will be the recipients of this marvelous kingdom in which righteousness dwells and Christ reigns as king. Remember, my friends, that this is not our home. We're living here for a short time. We're awaiting the glory and the kingdom and the prosperity of the heavenly realm. We're waiting for Christ to come and set all things new. But in these days, he turns here to the sheep and he blesses them for their obedience. And he sort of lists this all out. He's talking about the end time, but he sort of snaps into real time with the disciples and he's speaking to those who are going to be alive at that time. Verses 35 and 36. He tells the sheep, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me." So Jesus lays out here, he paints a picture of great need. This is a person who's in great need. Of course, we know from the Gospel of Matthew and from Luke that Jesus was not born in a mansion. He was born in a manger. He possessed no earthly wealth. He was not a rich man while he was here. He was the son of a carpenter who lived in the tiny town of Nazareth. I mean, Nazareth is like Gilmanton. There's just nothing doing. That was essentially where he came from. Can anything good come from Gilmanton? Well, I don't know. I certainly hope so. But that's basically Nazareth. Nazareth is not Jerusalem. So he's not coming from a place of wealth and prosperity and prominence. In fact, when a man approached Jesus in Matthew chapter 8, possibly with wrong motives, Jesus sobered him up. But he told him, foxes have holes and birds in the air have nests. He says, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Essentially, if you're coming to me because of what I can give you, you're in the wrong place. I'm not here to bring you prosperity and material wealth. And so it's not unreasonable to think that Jesus had experienced some level of want. Maybe there were times when Jesus was hungry. He certainly was in the temptation when he was in the wilderness. He didn't eat for 40 days. There were times when he suffered difficulty. And he lists these six situations. These are just general situations of difficulty and even suffering. And they seem to come in some sort of relative order of need. And if you were to look at all, there's six of these here that he gives, and these six are repeated throughout the passage here. These six, they go from the most dire human need and then move their way down. But the most dire need for human beings is food and water. If you don't have food and water, you're surely going to die. Technically, you could go several weeks without food and you could still survive that way. But when it comes to water, if you don't have water for a couple of days, three, four, five days, then you're toast. So this is essential need for every single person. And yet Jesus is speaking to the disciples, but really he's addressing, like I said, the future believers in the end times. And he says to them, I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. And then he notes here, I was a stranger. The Greek word is xenos. You've heard the term xenophobia. That's a person who's afraid of other people, afraid of those who are around them. But a stranger here, it's not a citizen. It's not a member of your community. It's when you see someone who's outside trying to come in and they don't belong here. That's the idea of a stranger. They're an outcast. They're a foreigner, one without a home. And Jesus says, even though I was a stranger, you invited me in. Verse 36, he says, naked. Now this is not naked in regard to immodesty. He's not talking about some kind of perversion where a person would take off all of their clothes. Rather, nakedness here refers to a person who doesn't possess clothing. This is a picture of impoverishment. You go to some countries in the world, impoverished countries, and you'll see children walking around villages with no clothes on. It's not because they're exhibitionists, it's because they literally do not possess enough to purchase clothing or even make it themselves. And so imagine, beloved, and we don't have this to think about oftentimes in this country, but imagine being so poor you couldn't clothe yourself. This is extreme need. But in his need, Jesus says, you clothed me. And then he says, I was sick. I was sick. Now notice he doesn't say in the resolution of this, I was sick and you healed me. He doesn't say that. He doesn't say you healed me because only God can heal, right? Rather, when a person is struggling with sickness, what do they most need? After the doctors have done what they're going to do, what do they most need? Well, a person who's sick needs companionship. They need encouragement. They need prayer. One of the best ministries that you can do, just if you're looking for something to do, when those around you are hurting, when they're sick, when they're struggling, to visit them. Call them on the phone, go to their home. One of my responsibilities as a pastor is hospital visits. I walk in and I don't wanna say they roll out the red carpet, because they don't even know who I am when they walk in the door, but I go and I'll sit with somebody. I've got rules for how I do it. I don't overstay my welcome. I usually stay for a little bit of time. I try to just see how they're doing. I pray with the person, offer them spiritual encouragement, and then I go. And nine times out of 10, usually people will feel encouraged by that. That's a very simple, simple ministry that anybody can do. It doesn't have to just be me. In fact, it's better if it's not just me, to provide that kind of comfort to a person who's struggling. But Jesus says, I was sick. He testifies, and you visited me. You came to me. And finally he says, I was in prison. And then he says, you came to me. He was not left to rot in jail, hopeless and alone. They came to him. And so, but what is this test for those who want to inherit the kingdom? It's those who are blessed by God on the last day. Those who are placed on his right will be ministered to. Those are the ones who are ministered to Christ in his need. But here's the head-scratching part of this. At this point, the disciples might be thinking to themselves, who are you talking about? Who are you referring to in this whole thing? Because beyond this, Jesus seems to intimate that those who are in the end are gonna be wondering the same thing also. Verses 37 and 39. Again, he's speaking to the disciples, but he's speaking also to those who are alive at the end. So he's speaking to levels of people, including us, by the way. Verse 37, then the righteous, those who are on his right, the sheep, the righteous will answer to him and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in? Or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? Again, here the sheep are called the righteous, and they repeat the same exact list, and yet they can't recall a time when they ministered to Christ in this way. They're thinking back in their minds, when did we do this for Jesus? After all, the only people who could have done this physically, literally, are the disciples who lived with Jesus at that time. We understand that ever since that time after the ascension, nobody is able to minister to Christ in this way. In fact, the Gospels place it in a very specific time and a specific order. And certainly not all these things were applicable to Jesus during that time. Since 30 AD, Christ has been ascended. How has anyone been able to fulfill these requirements? That's a good question, isn't it? And that's their question, verse 40. Or in verse 40, he answers that question. the king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me." And so frankly here, Jesus' response is remarkable. Here we see the expression of the mysterious union with believers. We in Christ and Christ in us. Now, there's a few things that we need to address here. The first question is, well, who are these brothers of mine that he says? Now, some people have read this and assume that Jesus is talking about all humanity, sort of the general brotherhood of man. And frankly, there's a lot of people who will use this passage to speak to things like that. They'll use Matthew 25 as a proof text for social causes. Politicians will use Matthew 25 to progress their agenda. But there's really no precedence for this in Scripture. The Lord never charges believers with caring for the whole world as a sign of their love for Him. There are, however, repeated exhortations for believers to love one another. For example, John 13, 34, and 35. We are to love one another as Christ has loved us. Now, that is not to say that we are to neglect the suffering of the poor. That's not an excuse to not help people when they're in need. Two main reasons, I think. Number one, because all people are made in the image of God and therefore they possess inherent dignity. Just because a person's not a Christian and they don't come to this church doesn't mean that they're not valuable to God. They're made in His image and likeness. Just as a caveat, by the way, that's why as believers we value life. We value life from the womb all the way to the end. dignity of the human being, no matter what their capacity, their age, whatever the situation is. That's not because of a political affiliation, that's because the Bible tells us about the Imago Dei. That God puts something of himself, the image of God, he places something of himself onto the human and says, this person is made in my image. So therefore we value all people, all life. They possess dignity. But number two, helping others bears witness to the grace of God and the power of the gospel. You help a person who's in need, that's why we have benevolence. That's why we collect, every month we have a box and you can put money in and we have a fund that's been building and we use those funds to help people. We help people in this church, but we also help people in the community. If somebody calls the church, they live in town here, and they say, I can't afford food, I can't afford oil to heat my house, I need help, we do everything we can to try to help them. But they're not a Christian, so what? We do that because there might be an opportunity, not just to bless them and help them, but also to give them the gospel and get them into the people of God. We want to bear witness to Christ. And so certainly, if we can help other people, we ought to do so. James 1.27 says, pure and undefiled religion in the sight of God is to visit the orphans and the widows in their distress and keep oneself unstained from the world. And yet all too many unbelievers have used these verses, James 1.27, Matthew 25, to argue that somehow doing good to other people qualifies or earns them heaven regardless of their belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember back when I was in business, I had dealings with a certain businessman. He was very well-to-do, very prominent in the area. And he was known for not having good business practices. He was not an above-board kind of a guy. And he was also not faithful to his wife. I mean, it's pretty obvious whenever you were around him, if he was around, well, any women around him, he would always flirt and he was just not above board. But there was one time I was talking to him, I had to have a dealing with him and I talked to him and he said, I'm a Christian, you know? I was shocked. And I said, really? And he says, oh yeah. And he goes, I'll tell you my favorite verse. I said, please do. He went to Matthew 25. He says, oh, you know, I was hungry and you fed me, I was naked and you clothed me. He goes, I help the poor all the time. I said, that's great. He said, so therefore, I'll see you in heaven. Interesting. But people use this as a barometer. If I do good to people, I'm a Christian, and I'm going to heaven, regardless of what I believe, regardless of what I profess, regardless of what I do. That's social gospel. That's false gospel. Doing good does not make you righteous. Doing good does not make you righteous. In fact, when Jesus refers to his sheep as the righteous, he's doing so because they're the ones who believe in him. These are his little ones, according to Matthew 18, six, little ones who believe. It's by faith in Christ that God declares us to be righteous in his sight. Again, that's a huge distinction about biblical Christianity versus any other faith that would profess to be even remotely Christian. We are justified, declared righteous, justified by faith apart from works of the law. That's Romans 3.28, that's Galatians 2.16, that's a slew of number of verses. However, even though you've been declared righteous, declared just by God on the basis of faith, Those who have been justified will obey the Lord. If we belong to him, we will obey him. That's what James 2 says. James 2 14. What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but has no works? Can that faith save him? Now that verse has tripped up a lot of people. James is not saying that you have to do good things in order to be a Christian. That's not what he's saying. Verse 15, if a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, go in peace, be warmed and filled, and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so, faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself. He's not saying we're justified in the sight of God based on our deeds. However, our deeds bear witness to the fact to a lost and dying world that we have been saved by God and we're justified in His sight. What we do on the outside reflects what we believe on the inside. Because how many people say they're Christians, live like the world, and defame the name of Christ? All the time, sadly. Once again, the Lord is not teaching that doing good earns God's grace or makes us righteous. However, it is by our works that we demonstrate that we have received God's mercy and have been justified and are deemed by the Lord as righteous. And so again, who are Jesus' brothers that we are to minister to? It's interesting because Jesus was asked that question in Matthew 12, 50. Who are our brothers? That was the question. And Jesus declared, the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother. You say that you're a brother, that you belong in the household of God? If you don't obey him, you don't belong to him. He's not your master if you're not his servant. It's very simple. And so our compassion for one another demonstrates our love for Christ. In fact, Jesus even told the disciples in Matthew 10, 42, whoever in the name of a disciple gives to one of these little ones, one of these little ones, even a cup of cold water to drink, he will not lose his reward. Even a cup of cold water. What is that talking about? The smallest little grace or kindness. We talk about loving one another. We don't have to build houses for each other, or give each other thousands of dollars to demonstrate love. Even if someone is hurting, or thirsty, or in need of food, and you walk across the aisle, so to speak, and hand them a cup of water to drink, you're demonstrating the love of Christ to them. And guess what? They receive it as such. If you walk across and say, well, I'm doing a good deed for you, then you've just lost your reward. It's all about you at that point. But if you're doing good to other people in the name of Christ, they will receive it as coming from him. And he gets glory and you will not lose your reward in heaven. That's why we do these things. This is all about love for the brethren. So important. But Jesus then follows this teaching, this compassion test, with an indictment as well. Verses 41 to 43. Then he will also say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Verse 41, Jesus pronounces on the goats a curse, a curse. He says to the rebellious on the broad path in Matthew 7.23, he says, depart from me, depart from me. Get out of my sight. Then he refers to them as accursed, condemned by God. Condemned. What is their destination? Into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. That sounds pretty severe, doesn't it? What is his reason for condemning them? Again, they did not care for him. that gave him no thought. And that's the sad reality of so many people on this planet today. They hear about Jesus, but they don't give him a second thought. Why would I follow him? Why would I believe in him? And even those people who go to church, and they carry a Bible around with them, and they look really good, and they say, I'm a Christian, and yet they spend six and a half days of their week not giving him a second thought If you're not thinking about Jesus on Monday, then why are you here on Sunday? What's the point? If your life doesn't belong to Christ 365 of your entire life, if you don't give Him a thought at all, ever, and you never even think about ministering to His people or loving Him, then what is the point? Why call yourself a Christian? God sees through our tricks. Again, same pattern as before, same list, same exact test. Now, it's important to know here as we're looking at this test here, this is not exhaustive. It's not, okay, if I got those six things, I'm good. This is supposed to be representative of what it looks like to be compassionate toward people. There's so many ways to be compassionate toward other people. Of course, the accursed ones, they fire back. Because Jesus accuses them and they respond, verse 44. Then they themselves will answer, well Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you? What are you talking about? We never did anything wrong to you. In the mind of the unbeliever, they don't think they've offended Christ at all. And again, that's also true. You talk to most people who don't give any regard for the Lord, and you tell them, do you realize that your sin is an offense to God? I've never offended God. He does what he does, and I do what I do, and we don't worry about it. It doesn't work like that. It doesn't work like that. If you withhold kindness from other people, you've failed the compassion test. If you withhold faith and obedience from the Lord, you've failed. Verse 45, then he, the king, will answer them, truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to the least of these, you did not do it to me. It's interesting because in Acts chapter 9, Saul, who is later known as the Apostle Paul, he's on his way to Damascus. You know the story. He's on his horse and he's going for the purpose of persecuting Christians. That's his mission, to go and oppress the church and put them all in prison and wipe out the Christian rebellion, as he would have called it. He's on the road to Damascus to persecute believers, and then he is struck with a bright light that blinds him and knocks him off his horse, and he hears a voice, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Of course, Saul doesn't understand because he thought he was doing the will of God. He's Jewish at this point, he believes he's serving Jehovah, he believes he's doing the right thing by persecuting the church, and he responds, who are you, Lord? To which he replies, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Now how does that make sense? Paul had never even encountered Christ. What did Paul do to Jesus? See, Jesus received every insult every slap, every bruise, every imprisonment, every injustice that was done to his church. He received every single one as an attack on himself. And so when the Apostle Paul, at the time Saul, was persecuting Christ's people, he was attacking the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's how Christ sees us. He sees us as his hands and feet. We are his body. He loves us. An attack on the bride of Christ is attack on Christ himself. And I just want to pause for a point of application. When any governing authority tries to attack the church of the living God, they're thumbing their nose at Jesus. When the state tries to shut churches down from worshiping, they're opposing the work of God. And so we say no, and we reject that, don't we? In the same way, to withhold compassion against brothers and sisters in need, food, drink, hospitality, clothing, kindness, encouragement. How often times do you see somebody on Sunday morning and say, how you doing? And they say, I'm doing fine. Or they'll say something even beyond that. They'll say, well, actually not so good. And they tell you what's on their mind and you say, okay, I'll see you next week. Do we pray for each other? When someone's hurting, do you pray for them? Now, I'm just gonna give you a little tip here. If you're not the kind of person who remembers to pray throughout the course of the week, or if you don't write it down, ask the person if you can pray right then and there. Because at least you can keep your word, right? There's nothing wrong with that. To stop right there and say, I didn't know you were going through that trial. I'm so sorry to hear that. Can I pray for you? How can I help you? What would be helpful? And they might say, nothing, just pray. All right. Can I pray for you right now? And you pray with them, and you sit with them, and you ask, can I put my hand on your shoulder? Physical touch is huge. Not everybody likes to be touched, by the way, I've learned that over the years, but for the most part, putting your hand on someone's shoulder, it's comforting, isn't it? It's encouraging, it lets them know, physical contact, it lets them know that someone's with them. It lets them know that somebody cares about them. That's a way that we can love each other. But to withhold that, to not do that, is to effectively slap Jesus in the face. But this is nothing new in Israel. The Lord reserved the strongest indictments against his own people when they didn't care for each other. This has always been the case in Israel. Isaiah 32 6, for the fool speaks nonsense and in his heart inclines toward wickedness to practice ungodliness and to speak error against the Lord to keep the hungry unsatisfied and to withhold drink from the thirsty. That's an indictment. Or even Isaiah 58, when the people of Israel keep the religious fast, they're good about doing churchy things, they keep the fast, but they can't understand why God isn't seeing them for what they're doing. And he replies to them, is not this fast which I chose to loosen the bonds of wickedness? To undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry? and to bring the homeless poor into the house when you see the naked to cover them and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Friends, it's easy to be religious, yet neglecting compassion to the hurting. It's easy to say that you love God, but not care for His people. 1 John 3, 17, whoever has the world's goods and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? How do we say that we have the love of God if we were to close our hand and close our door to others? That's precisely Jesus's point. Now, I praise the Lord. I praise the Lord because From my viewpoint, just as a shepherd here, I see a lot of love in this congregation. And I know that many of you have expressed the same thing to me. I love this church. This is a loving church. Now, are we a perfect church? Of course not. When someone comes in and says, I hope I don't get hurt here, I just wanna tell them, brace yourself. I'll never forget, and this is anecdotal, but I just want to make a point. There was a gentleman that came one time. He'd been hurt at several other churches, and he'd just been going church to church to church to church to church, and for some reason, he'd always been hurt, and he actually said to me in the lobby one day, he said, I don't want to get hurt here. I've been hurt by too many pastors. How do you even live up to that, to insulate a person from ever being hurt? I looked at this man, and I said, brother, I just want you to know, I'm probably gonna hurt you. I don't want to, I will never intend to, but it's probably gonna happen. And he just looked at me like, couldn't believe it. I never saw him again. Why? Because that's an unrealistic expectation. To say, I don't ever wanna be hurt by anybody. We hurt each other. Why? Because we're human. and we're fallen and we're sinful people in need of grace. That's why. But here's the test for us. When we do hurt each other or when we've been hurt by others, how do you respond? Do you ask for forgiveness? Do you apologize and repent and ask for forgiveness? Do you grant forgiveness when it's asked of you? Do you reconcile your differences? Do you go to the other person and say, you've hurt me? How do they respond? The way that we reconcile, that's how the test is measured. We're gonna sin against each other. But I praise God that we do have a love, a palpable love for one another. So I want to encourage you with the language of scripture to excel still more. to keep growing in your love and your compassion for one another. Because when you love each other, when you manifest compassion for one another, you're actually demonstrating a love and a faithfulness to Christ. You wanna love Jesus? Love one another. Husbands, you wanna love Christ? Love your wife. Wives, you wanna love Christ? Honor your husband. Love your kids, obey your boss, do what's right to your neighbor. That's how we demonstrate our love for Him. Those who do not care for Christ's brothers, however, have effectively rejected Him. and demonstrate that they have no saving faith. Verse 46, Jesus says those who reject all of that, these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Here's the final verdict. The final verdict, notice the repetition of this word eternal, eternal. Those who have no love for God go away into eternal punishment. Verse 41, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. This is not a short period of time. This is not annihilationism that says at a certain point it just stops and the soul just ceases to exist. Over and over again, the Bible is very clear that our realities, our futures are eternal. This is plan for keeps, folks. Eternal. In fact, John foretells this in Revelation chapter 20. Revelation 20 verse 11, then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. And then he says this, and I saw the dead. the great and the small, standing before the throne. And books were opened. And another book was opened, which was the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every one of them, according to their deeds. and death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." This is not arbitrary. God doesn't just go duck, duck, goose with people in this world. It doesn't work that way. Rather, what is the thing that's repeated over and over again? It is based on our deeds. What you do demonstrates what's happening inside your heart. It's out of the heart that the mouth speaks. It's out of the heart that the hands do anything. What you believe is what you're gonna do every time. And so unbelievers, goats, he says, manifest deeds that are consistent with the heart that is wicked and does not love Christ or his people. and they will be thrown into the lake of fire, the Bible says, eternal punishment. What about the sheep? He says the righteous will enter into eternal life. Again, we are saved by God's grace through faith in Christ Jesus, according to Ephesians 2.8. And this is not of ourselves. We can't brag about this. It's the gift of God, not as a result of work so that nobody can boast. There is no room for boasting and bragging in the Christian life. Nobody has anything that we can stand on. We're debtors to God's grace and mercy. But what does he say in Ephesians 2.10? For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works. which God prepared beforehand so that we could walk in them. God has already given you a life full of deeds, a life that's full of gifts and passions and talents and treasures and abilities and joy. He's given you so much that you can work with. People say all the time, I don't know what God wants me to do. What's the next thing in front of you? What's the next need you can meet? What's the next sin you can confess? How can you help another person today? These aren't huge things. I want you to notice here, the Lord doesn't expect or demand big things from us. He never tells us to change the world. He never tells us to build huge ministries. or start revivals or rescue nations. He doesn't do anything like that. It is not on our shoulders to do those massive things. And once in a great while, sure, God will use a person or a small group of people to do something really big, but most of Christianity, most believers for the entirety of the faith, have been progressing and advancing by small measures, small things. Small things in which he expects us to be faithful, again, to the task right in front of you. What can you do that's right in front of you? To love others, to care for them, to show hospitality. Maybe there's a person that you've seen in church for weeks or months and it just seems like they're always standing by themselves. No one ever talks to them. Have you thought about going up and saying, hi, what's your name? And hey, what are you doing for lunch after church today or next week? Try it. You might have just met your best friend. You don't know. Or you might've met the person who's in the greatest need and you can help them. How can you minister to those who are hurting? I'll tell you, Christians are notorious for looking really good on a Sunday morning. We have it all together. And I cannot tell you how many times someone, when they're hurting, will say to me, but everybody else is doing just fine. And I say, oh, no, they're not. Oh, no, they're not. Now, I don't even know the half of everything that's happening in your life, but I know enough. I know that many of you are hurting. Some of you are hurting with physical challenges, sicknesses, chronic pain. Some of you are hurting with financial challenges. You've lost a job or you're in dire straits. Some of you are in relational challenges. You have friends or family that you're warring with, people who can't stand you. Some of you are in marital disarray and strife. There's a lot going on. So let's not pretend like everything's hunky-dory on Sunday morning. Now, does that mean that we walk around and wail and cry and weep and mourn? No, there's a place for everything, right? But talk to each other. Talk to someone and ask, how can I pray for you this week? How can I help you? You'd be amazed at the ministry opportunities that you'd have, even for discipleship, to meet their needs, to be fruitful. So many opportunities. There should be no such thing as a bored Christian. It doesn't exist. There's so much we can do to love one another. And if we do this for our brothers and sisters, we demonstrate that our love and our faithfulness and our honor really belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ. Because after all, did not Jesus feed the hungry? Did not Jesus satiate the thirsty? Did he not welcome the stranger? Did he not clothe the naked and heal the sick and set free the prisoners? Well, how do we know that he did all this? You know the answer, because he's done it to us. We're the ones he's ministered to. We're the ones he's rescued. We're the ones he's freed. So if he has done this for us, then we should be glad to do this for other people, right? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you that you are a gracious and merciful God who loves his people. And yet Lord, we never want to forget the gospel of our salvation. That you died on the cross and you paid for sin. And you rose the third day to bring new life. And Lord, you've commanded us to repent and believe the gospel, to put our faith in you. So Lord, I pray that even now, even those who are hearing all of this and maybe wondering to themselves, what do I do? Lord, would you reach them with this good news that they can have their sins forgiven, all of them, even right now. That they can be forgiven of their sins and set free from bondage. And not just free in this life, but free in the next life. Free to live joyfully and righteously in your presence, oh Lord. And yet you still command that we deal with our sins. He'd tell us to repent, to turn away, to forsake our sins and forsake wickedness and iniquity. So Lord, help us to be faithful to that. Help us to honor you and love you foremost. But Lord, also help us to love others. Help us to demonstrate our love and our compassion for you through our compassion for other people. Lord, let us not be dead from the neck down. Let us not sit on our hands and stop up our feet and helping other people. And Lord, if there are areas in our lives where we're not doing this, would you please convict us, oh Lord? Father, you know, I can't command your people to go and do anything, but you can. So Lord, would you work in the hearts of your people to bring them to action in the ways that you would have them act. Bring conviction to them, bring encouragement, bring excitement to them, Lord, that they would be excited to serve one another and love one another. Would you do your amazing Spirit-filled work even now? And Lord, as we turn to your table, help us to remember the cost of our salvation that you gave your life for us, O Lord. You loved us so much that you gave all so that we would have life. What a tremendous gift that is. We thank you for all of this and more. In Jesus' name, amen.