The Judgment of the Sheep and Goats

Now we're coming to the fourth, I think, isn't it, in the series of seven messages on the seven judgments of God. And tonight we're turning to a passage that has been of a great deal of difficulty and misunderstanding to many, many Christians through the ages.

The 25th chapter of Matthew, beginning with verse 31, the section that deals on the judgment of the sheep and the goats. I know when I was a child, and I suppose most of you had this same idea, I had a mental picture of someday standing before the bar of God. And I knew that I would have to give an account unto the Lord for what I did.

And that God the Father was there on his august throne of holiness, and I had to stand a wee little creature down before him. And I had a very vivid picture of that, of the Father on the throne. But you know, I discovered when I read my Bible that that isn't true at all.

That the Lord Jesus himself said, The Father judgeth no man, but has committed all judgment unto the Son. And so we're never going to have to, anybody, never going to appear before the throne of God the Father. But the judge on the throne is always Jesus Christ himself.

Now many people, I think, have a tendency to feel, well that's wonderful. The Lord who died for me, my Savior, is going to be on the throne and judging me, well then I won't have any trouble. And yet the Lord who is Savior now will have to be judged in that day.

And it'll be an honest judgment that he'll give. There'll be no, if grace has passed by now, there'll be none in that day. And you remember, therefore, that though there are seven judgments, there's only one judge.

One judge, you see, but many judgments. Now it's not all one great big judgment day, when all the assembled hosts of the world stand before God. That's another picture that many of us get that is quite false.

There isn't just one great judgment day. There are many, there are at least seven judgments. We've already looked at three of them in the past, the three that apply to those who are believers in Christ.

You recall in the letter that Peter wrote, he says the time has come when judgment must begin at the house of God. And that's always where God begins his judgment, and it's already begun there. If you recall how these judgments we've covered, we look back at the judgment of sin, and that took place at the cross.

All the slavery of sin was removed for anybody that's willing to receive it on the cross of Christ. The world, the flesh, and the devil were all conquered for us if we're willing to receive Christ back there when he died on the cross. That's the judgment for sin.

It's passed. And then you remember there was the judgment of life, and it's going on right now when God is constantly reminding us through the ministry of the Spirit within that we need to judge ourselves. We need to face things in our lives that are wrong and confess them.

And that judgment is closely linked with the judgment seat of Christ for believers that's yet to come. That is, the things that we refuse to face here, the things that we won't say yes to to God here, they await settling there at the judgment seat of Christ. And then chronologically now, the next judgment that would follow would be the judgment of Israel.

We're going to talk about that next week, and that's a fascinating judgment. There's very little ever said about the judgment of Israel, and there's much of tremendous interest wrapped up in it. Many of the Scripture passages that have been puzzling to many people are settled when you see something about the judgment of Israel.

And that would be the next one chronologically after the judgment seat of Christ. But we're going to skip over that tonight, because tonight I want to take this judgment that's before us here. We might call it the judgment of the living, or as it's called, the judgment of the sheep and the goats, the judgment of the nations.

Now this is a tremendously important theme, because it actually may well involve millions of people who are on earth today. I don't think that it's all improbable that literally millions of peoples around the earth, many of whom are here tonight, perhaps, might be involved in this very judgment. It's a judgment that is immediately before us, I firmly believe myself.

And it's the next great and important judgment as far as the world is concerned. And you have this vivid account of it in Matthew, the 25th chapter. This is confusing to many.

Many of them identify this with the same as the great white throne judgment that you read of in Revelation in the latter part of the book there. But this is different. Now I would like you to turn to the passage with me, and let's read together here.

Because the first three verses, beginning with verse 31, give us the time and the place and the subjects of this judgment. Now if you're going to understand the word of God, you have to give some attention to detail. And here, if we want to see where this judgment fits into the picture, we have to carefully notice what it says as to the time and the place and the subjects of this judgment.

Now notice 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 divided his sheep from the goats.

And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Now, notice the time of this. It's very definitely stated for us, isn't it? When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, with all his holy angels with him.

Now that definitely places this as occurring at the so-called second coming of Jesus Christ. Now I don't think it's necessary for me to explain to all of you here, in detail at least, the fact that the scriptures clearly indicate a two-fold phase of the coming of Christ. That he comes in a secret way, almost, as far as the world is concerned at least, as suddenly, quickly, without warning, he'll come and take away his church to be with himself.

Now we're going to see some proof for that in this very passage, a little bit later. But you find that described for us vividly in the fourth chapter of 1 Thessalonians, and in the 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians. How the Lord shall suddenly come with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall be raised, the sleeping saints throughout the century, from the early apostles right on down to our present day.

And then we which are alive and remain, Paul says, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. And probably one of the great and tremendous events that's going to break upon this slumbering world of ours will be headlines flaming across the papers that declare millions are missing around the earth. Now once that would have been a spectacular thing, I don't think very few people will be disturbed by it when it occurs this time, because we're so used to amazing things in our headlines.

We've got so we expect anything. If there are headlines tomorrow morning that said the Russians have landed on the moon, nobody would even think twice about it. We wouldn't be surprised at all.

If they sent back word that it really is green cheese, I don't think we'd be surprised about it. We'd maybe be, some of you folks would say, I told you so, but we wouldn't be any of us very surprised about it. Such dramatic and spectacular things are happening in these days.

But now that's the initial phase of our Lord's coming. He comes in a sense in which he takes his own to be with him, and then they with him are sort of behind the scenes on earth for about seven years, and tremendous cataclysmic things are taking place upon the earth during that time. And at the close of that period that we call the Great Tribulation, because that's what our Lord calls it, our Lord appears in glory, and there we're told that every eye shall see him.

As the lightning shineth from the east unto the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be. The whole world shall suddenly be made aware of his appearance, and it's this that he's referring to here. When he comes to establish his kingdom, when he comes in his glory, with all his holy angels and all the accompanying saints of God with him, then he shall here on the earth set up his throne of glory.

Now this is the judgment that we have before us here. It takes place at that time when he comes at the end of the Tribulation period. Let me read the description of this from the book of the Revelation, because I've always found it very interesting to tie some of these prophetic scriptures together.

And in the 11th chapter of Revelation, you read about the sounding of the trumpet, of the seventh trumpet. The seventh angel blew his trumpet. I haven't time to go into the structure of Revelation, but you know there are seven sevens in that book, and here's one of them, the seven trumpets.

Now let me read verse 15. And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats fell before their faces and worshiped God, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art and was and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power and hast reigned.

And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead that they should be judged, and that thou shouldst give it reward unto thy servants the prophets and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldst destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament, and there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hay. Now you sense immediately, I can tell by the hush that falls upon you as I read those words, the awesomeness of this scene when the Lord himself returns, not as the despised man of Galilee now, not as the rejected savior of earth, but coming now as a conquering king.

In victory, in power, in triumph he comes. Every eye shall see him. They that pierced him shall look upon him.

And he comes in tremendous glory and power to establish his kingdom. And this is the moment when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. Now I submit that this is a tremendous scene because this is really the only hope of earth.

Have you ever thought of that? What a vain thing it is now to hope in the United Nations that they're going to work out the problems of nations tonight. Have you not noticed that every scientific achievement that breaks into the headlines today, every great advance into the exploration of outer space, every new weapon that is discovered, and every new diabolical means that is invented to destroy human life has but made it more difficult for the United Nations to arrive at any decisions? And now they flounder in despair, hardly knowing which way to turn. And it's a fact tonight that anybody that's thinking at all will freely admit that not one of our national leaders today is offering a single ray of hope as to being able to eventually work out these problems.

Not one man, not one voice is lifted today to tell us the way to go to work it out. We're piddling around with disarmament conferences that go on interminably and get nowhere, and all the efforts that man makes to try to solve the problems of international tension tonight fall to the ground constantly. And how it points up to us, this word of Scripture, that really the only hope of earth is the coming again of Jesus Christ.

He alone has the power and the wisdom to work out the problems. And it's only when the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord Jesus Christ that peace at last will come to the earth. Now that's the clear picture of Scripture, and my how our newspapers are confirming this thing from day to day.

And when he comes, he will bring at last the beginning of the justice for which human hearts have been crying for centuries. Do you know how close that day is? Well, I wish I knew. I don't for sure, but my how close it must be.

I tell you, I about jumped out of my seat the other night, seated in my easy chair at home. I was reading Life Magazine, an issue of a week or two ago, and I was reading the editorial page, and there on the editorial page it was talking about the scientific achievements of the Russians, which of course is on everybody's lips these days. And it mentioned the fact that on November 7th, just recently passed a few days, on November 7th it said there were many reports that the Russians intended, it said, to shoot a rocket up to the moon that would dye the moon red.

Now they didn't do it, but evidently there were some basis for that report. And I read in a couple of other places that that's what the Russians intended to do, to dye the moon red. And you can imagine what a tremendous propaganda theme that would be if every nation on earth, every individual on earth, would look up into the sky and see a red moon.

It would certainly remind them of the progress of Soviet scientists. And immediately my mind leaped to that passage in the book of Acts, where Peter quotes from the book of Joel on the day of Pentecost, and he reminds the people there, standing at the threshold of the new age of grace and of the Spirit, which has now been running on for over 1900 years. There at the beginning of it, Peter stood, and by the Holy Spirit, he reminded them of that passage back in Joel that says, the sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before that great day of the Lord shall come.

Now, I don't know if that's the way it's going to be, but my, how suggestive that is, isn't it? Of these tremendous events. And how every day our newspapers are making the book of Revelation just stand out in vivid letters of fire before the eyes of those who know it today. We don't any longer doubt what it says, but we see the possibility of the fulfillment of these things written across the pages of our daily papers.

Well, that's the coming of the Lord. And this is the time then when he comes. And will you notice in verse 31, that it says that he's going to sit upon the throne of his glory.

Now, that immediately marks a change of age, a change of dispensation, if you please, because he's not on the throne of glory today. He's going to be in that day, but he's on the throne of grace today. You remember how Hebrews 4 tells us, Hebrews 4, 16, let us come boldly under the throne of grace, that we might find grace to help and obtain grace to help in time of need.

And that's where our Lord is today, on the throne of grace. But when he comes again, he's going to set up his throne as a throne of glory. Now, where will that be? Well, we can see immediately that it's going to be on earth.

Clearly, this is on earth. This is not the great white throne that John saw at the close of the book of Revelation, before which heaven and earth fled away, he said. But this is a throne that's placed right here on earth, where the nations are going to come before it.

In fact, we can identify it further. It's going to be the throne of David. You remember when the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary before the birth of Jesus, and he said to her some strange words.

He says, Now, Jesus Christ never sat on the throne of David when he was here at his first coming. The throne of David was not in existence then. The throne of the Herod was there, and that was an entirely different line and family than that of David.

But God's promise is that he's going to give Christ the throne of his father David. And you remember how in the book of Acts, when James stands up at the great church convention that they had there, as recorded in the 15th chapter of Acts, and there we're told that James, speaking by the Holy Spirit, reminds them, So this is going to be a literal throne in Jerusalem, set up in the city upon which the Lord Jesus Christ himself shall sit. Personally, I think that it's connected with the prophecies that are given to us by Zachariah.

And the great valley in which this judgment takes place will be the valley that's formed by the splitting of the Mount of Olives. For Zachariah tells us that when his feet shall touch the top of the Mount of Olives, and that's the place he left from, that's the place he's coming back to, and when his feet shall touch it, the mountain shall split in half. And a great valley shall be formed.

And it's in that valley that God says he shall call all the nations down for judgment. Now we can localize this very scene. It's going to be there in that valley.

By the way, geologists have long known that there's an earthquake fault that runs right through the Mount of Olives. And the great rift valley that runs up the entire length of the Jordan River and down across the Red Sea and into Africa is the greatest chasm on the face of the earth, the deepest spot on the face of the earth. And it's a region that already is subject to great earthquake stress.

And so the scene is already set physically for the splitting of the Mount of Olives in a tremendous earthquake that's predicted there in the book of Zachariah. And it shall form the great valley of judgment there. Now not only do we have the time and the place, but also here are set before us the subjects of this judgment.

It says all nations shall be gathered before him and he shall separate them one from another. Now that sounds to many people, and it did to me, I confess, for many years, as though whole national bodies will be brought before him and they'll be judged as nations, as whole peoples being accepted or rejected, you see, on the basis of citizenship. That the United States will be judged as a nation and Germany as a nation and France as a nation and England as a nation.

And I never could figure out then when it got to the end of the account how whole nations could be sent either into the everlasting fire or into everlasting righteousness because nations are made up of a diverse group of people, some righteous, some unrighteous. And you know that was always a puzzle to me until I learned Greek. But the minute I learned Greek and read this passage in the Greek the solution came just as clear as daylight.

I discovered that the word nation and the word Gentile is exactly the same word in the Greek. And that therefore this should be translated all Gentiles shall be gathered before him. Not talking about nations as such or national groups.

It's just talking about the individuals of the Gentile nations all over the world. And you'll notice that these are not only Gentiles but they're living people. There's no mention in this account of a resurrection to occur before this judgment.

There's no raising from the dead here. That's in connection with other judgments which we'll see. But this is not a resurrection.

This is only a judgment of living Gentile people before the throne of Jesus in Jerusalem. Now notice one other thing. This is not going to be a judgment between the sheep and the wolves.

This is a judgment between the sheep and the goats. Now what does that mean? Well if you're familiar with your Old Testament sheep and goats are both clean animals as far as the Hebrews were concerned. It was permitted of them to eat either sheep or goats.

But wolves were unclean animals. They couldn't eat wolves. They were forbidden to them.

And in the symbolism of the Bible wolves always stand for outright enemies. Those who fight against the things of God. Those who are bitter in their persecution of the people of God and who fight against God and the outright enemies of God.

The communists and the atheists and the infidels and the skeptics and the infidel philosophers of any day and age. Those are the wolves of which the Bible speaks. See? And it doesn't say anything about wolves here.

You know why? Because when the Lord Jesus Christ comes he destroys all the wolves. You read in 2 Thessalonians 2 it says he shall come in flaming fire taking vengeance upon them that obey not the gospel. And he comes to visit vengeance and destruction upon those who love not the truth.

Now that takes care of the wolves. The enemies of Christ are eliminated when he comes with the armies of heaven in the day of Armageddon wiping out those who raise their fists in rigid defiance of the ways and laws of God. But now what about the goats? Who are they? Well, goats are animals that look very much like sheep.

In fact, they live right with the sheep. You hardly ever see a flock of sheep without a few goats in them. Especially when they're young the goats look very, very much like the sheep.

I remember several years ago Dr. Talbot, who had a radio broadcast over the West Coast here had a prize that he was going to give away to some of the young people down at the Church of the Open Door. And he offered a little lamb as a prize for a contest. I forget what the contest was for exactly but the prize was a little lamb.

And there came the day when the prize was to be awarded and somewhere Dr. Talbot got a hold of the little lamb. And when the prize was to be awarded they had a big meeting at the Church of the Open Door and a little boy that won the prize came up on the platform and Dr. Talbot presented to him the little lamb. And my everybody was so pleased over that.

And the little boy took the little lamb home and some months later Dr. Talbot was out visiting this family and he asked to see the little lamb. And they took him out in the backyard and there stood a big billy goat. And Dr. Talbot said, well where's the lamb? Well they said, Dr. Talbot you thought it was a lamb but the little lamb knew it was a goat.

And that's the way he grew up. And you can hardly tell, you see, the difference between a lamb and a goat. They're very, very similar.

But what is a goat in the symbolism of Scripture? You remember that the Lord Jesus said at the close of the Sermon on the Mount these words. He said, Many shall say unto me in that day that's the day of his coming Lord, Lord did we not do mighty works in thy name? Lord, didn't we do wonderful things for you? Haven't we served you all our lives? And he shall say unto them what he says to these goats. Depart from me, I never knew you.

You see a goat is somebody who looks like a sheep. Who appears to be good and righteous outwardly but inwardly they're not. The inner righteousness is not there.

Now it's this group that he's dividing between here. The sheep and the goats. Not the sheep and the wolves.

It's those who are not an outright persecution against him. But those who appeared to be right but were not. Now verses 34 to 45 the major part of this give us the purpose and the basis of judgment.

Let me read this now even though it's a bit extended. 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 an hungred and you gave me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

I was a stranger and you took me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.

I was in prison and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred 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 unto them Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was an hungred and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you took me not in.

Naked and you clothed me not. Sick and in prison and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when saw we thee an hungred or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister unto thee.

Then shall he answer them saying Verily I say unto you inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these ye did it not to me. Now the purpose of the judgment is very clearly revealed in verse 34 and 41. Then shall the king say unto them in his right hand Come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom.

That's the reward for the righteous. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire. That's the end for those who are unrighteous.

And obviously then the purpose of this judgment is to determine who's going to enter the kingdom that he's setting up. You see he's coming now to fulfill all the promises of the prophets. All those beautiful passages that speak of a day when earth shall be filled with the righteousness of God from sea to sea.

When even the lion shall lie down with the lamb and the little child shall lead the wild animal. And when nothing shall hurt or destroy in all God's holy mountains. And men shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

And every man shall sit under his own vine and fig tree. And there shall be war no more. This is the kingdom that he's going to set up.

This is the golden age of earth for which the poets have dreamed and sung for centuries. The utopia. The millennium.

And of course if it's going to be that perfect then only perfect people can be in it. And so he is judging the living people who are still alive when he returns. As to whether they're fit to enter the kingdom or not.

Now that's the purpose of the judgment. Very, very clear here. Now the basis for the judgment.

And this is what's much misunderstood. Because it sounds like these people are judged as to whether they do good works one to another. And that comes from a failure to recognize a third group here.

Not only are there the sheep on the right hand and the goats on the left. Now nothing personal over here. But there's also a third group.

And who are they called? My brethren. You see this is, here's another group that's the testing part. The sheep are judged on the basis of how they treat the brethren.

The goats are judged on the basis of how they treat my brethren the Lord says. And who are these brethren that he's talking about? Well there's only one group that fits this picture. It's Israel.

The nation of Israel. You remember the book of the Revelation tells us that after the church is caught away, God begins to work again through Israel. And Israel become the great, the gospel preachers of the tribulation day.

It's they who herald forth the message of salvation to the uttermost parts of the earth. In that brief period of time, the closing days of the age, 144,000 are a symbolic picture of the nation that sent out to be the representatives of the gospel in that day. Now some I know have said that this is the church.

That the sheep are the church, you see, and the goats are the non-Christian people. And that the church is present through the tribulation period. But if that's true, then, you see, how could the church be the sheep? Because they would, who are the brethren then? And if the church are the brethren, then who are the sheep? You see, you don't have any sense made of this passage unless you identify the brethren as a separate group.

The Lord didn't say to the sheep, now, it's because you did these good things to one another that I did this, but because you did it to my brethren. And this could not possibly be the church because they have, if they were there, they would belong to the sheep. And this is a tremendous proof, I think, that the church is not in the tribulation period.

You see, the church could not be there because they would belong to this group called the sheep if they were there. And then who is the test? Who is this third group, my brethren, that he refers to? Well, if you say that's Israel, then all the church, if the church is the one who belonged to the sheep and the other group is still Israel, then you've got the problem of why when the church, when the Lord comes for the church, all are raptured, all receive a glorified body, all the church enter that day into their resurrection life where there's no marrying or giving in marriage. Who's going to propagate the kingdom if that's the case? You see, the only thing that fits here is the fact that this group is the, this is the tribulation period, and the sheep are those who are Gentiles who believe the message of Israel during that day.

And the test is Israel in this time. And this is confirmed for us, by the way, by a very tremendous passage back in the book of Joel. Let me just take the time to turn back to that and read it because this is an amazing passage.

The third chapter of Joel. This is what the Lord says. For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat.

Now that means Jehovah judges. The valley where Jehovah judges. And I will enter into judgment with them there on account of my people and my heritage Israel because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land and have cast lots for my people and have given a boy for a harlot and have sold a girl for wine and have drunk them.

Now, very clearly then, the Lord tells us who this third group is. Now let me hasten here to the end. Well, somebody says, well, still it sounds like work because these people are judged on the basis of the way they treat Israel.

Well, that's true. But it's because works, you see, are the proof of what you believe. You remember James? Faith without works is dead.

He says, I will show you my faith by my works. And will you notice something? Both of these groups act in ignorance. Both are surprised when the Lord calls their attention to their actions.

The sheep do not know that they are helping the Lord when they help Israel. The goats do not know that they're neglecting the Lord when they neglect Israel. Both of these groups act in ignorance.

They do not know that this is a test. Now that's a very important point because it shows that both groups act in accord to their true nature. There's no chance for hypocrisy here because they're both ignorant that they're being tested by this means.

And so there's no attempt made on the part of either one to act one way, a different way than they actually feel. And this therefore reveals their true nature. Now you can see how it is.

In the day when Israel is going to be hated of all men for the sake of the Lord, as our Lord Jesus told us. In the day when anti-Semitism is going to flourish as it's never flourished before, including the days of Nazi Germany. In the days when the Jew is despised and spit upon as no other people have ever been at any time.

It's a costly business to show friendship to a Jew in those days. But because the sheep, you see, these people, these Gentiles who are on the right hand of the Lord. Because the sheep really know Jesus Christ in that day.

And because the love of Christ cannot be hidden, they minister to the least and the last and the lost in their day. Can't hide that. If Christ is in the heart, the love of Christ will see to it that despite all the obstacles, love shows itself forth in ministry.

But just because it's such a costly business, you see, the goats who only appear to be good, who talk a great deal about kindness and tolerance and love and mercy. But, you know, the soup and sunshine boys. But really not ready to dirty their skirts.

They shun Israel in the hour of its need. But notice something. They don't join in persecution of Israel.

They don't openly reject the Jews. The king does not charge these goats with positive evil. He just charges them with neglect of good.

You often hear somebody say today, well, I'm going to be all right when I get before God. I never hurt anybody in my life. I've never done anybody any harm.

Well, that's not the question. The question is, did you ever do anybody any good? Did you ever at cost to yourself, did you ever go out of your way to help somebody? That's the thing that reveals the inner nature within. And you see how this ties directly into the Sermon on the Mount that we've been studying on Sunday morning? That great message was spoken by the king when he came the first time and began to establish this same kingdom.

But his people refused to have him as king. Nevertheless, he stood on the mountain and he gave them a description of what people must be like to enter into the kingdom. Do you remember what that sermon said? Accept your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.

You cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And you can see what he means there. What is this exceeding righteousness? Why, it's the righteousness of love.

The fact that if love is in the human heart, real, genuine, deep-seated love from God, that love will manifest itself in deeds of mercy and kindness. Now it's the same basis for judgment that he judges today. You tell me you're a Christian? Well, have you ever gone out of your way to help somebody else? Or do you sit in your smug complacency and let your neighbors stumble on in spiritual agony from week to week to week to week and never think a thing about it? Then I question whether you're a Christian or not.

You see, the test, does love show itself for you out of your heart? That's the test. That's what he's going to judge on in that very day. My, how we saw that this morning in Mrs. Saint's message to us.

What drove those men and their wives down there to lose themselves in that Ecuadorian jungle and for the sake of a handful of naked savages hazard their priceless lives? Well, do you think they loved it? They enjoyed it? They liked dirty Indians? No. It was the love of Christ because their lives have been transformed by him. So that you see these actions prove in that day the reality of whether a person knows Jesus Christ or not.

Now one verse quickly and we're through. This gives us the result of judgment. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment.

That's the goals. But the righteous into life eternal. Now there's the results of the judgment of that day.

And you know, some people have quibbled over this verse and they've said, well, everlasting punishment. My, that's too much. That just couldn't be.

God's a God of love. He never would let anybody suffer forever. Be punished forever.

But life eternal. Oh, that's wonderful. That goes on forever and ever and ever.

God's a God of love and he certainly would let us enjoy it forever. And do you know that the word everlasting and the word eternal are exactly the same word in the Greek language? They're just translated two different ways by our English authors because they thought we, we get tired of seeing it the same way every time. The same word exact.

So if the life is eternal, so is the punishment. If the punishment is not eternal, neither is the life. Same word.

But you see, life is identified with the kingdom here. He's not talking now about the church. That is an entirely different thing.

You belong to the church of Christ today, the living body of Christ. Your fate is not dealt with here at this scene. This is a scene for the judgment of those alive in the day when our Lord returns and many perhaps today will be alive at that hour and they shall enter into the glory of God manifested in the earth in the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world.

That's when God thought of this thing. No afterthought to him. But the punishment is in the lake of fire.

It's not prepared for man. Will you notice that? God never prepared the lake of fire for any man. God's not willing that any should perish.

He doesn't want man there. Prepared for the devil and his angels. But the man that refuses the gift of God and contents himself with an outward show of righteousness is just like the devil.

He's outwardly an angel of light, but inwardly he's a malicious, murderous rebel against the government of God. And so he finds his place with the devil and his angels. Now this is a solemn scene isn't it? And how it brings again in focus to us today the need for reality in our lives.

If the love of God is in our hearts through faith in Jesus Christ, why we need to be showing it in these very same ways, one to another. Today Christ identifies himself not with just Israel, but with the whole world. Our Lord taught us that every man is our neighbor that needs help.

And this is the test today of our righteousness. Whether we're showing these same things. Well I'm sorry to have taken a little extra time tonight, but this has been a searching and solemn scene before us.

We wanted to do it right. Now shall we bow in prayer.