Vivi Diaz: This is the Sandals Church Podcast, a place for real people with real struggles learning to follow Jesus. Wherever you are right now, driving, working, or trying to make it through the day, we are really glad you're here. Let's get into today's message.
Pastor Matt Brown: You know, just, man, just some amazing things. Pastor Justin did a great job. Let's give him a shout out. Appreciate him. Amen.
And then last week, we had one of my dear friends. Did you guys like pastor Andrew? Amazing. He and I have been friends for over, ten years, and I love that guy. And they gave him the easiest sermon in the world.
Everybody gets a pot of gold. Go spend it in the name of Jesus. And then I show up and look at what they gave me, and we're gonna talk about hell today. So thank you so much to pastor Fredo who always gives me the tough messages. And so we're gonna talk today about Jesus' tough teaching about the day of judgment.
So here's what's happening. We've been moving through the the the Gospel of Matthew now for almost two years. And Jesus has been great. He's been encouraging. But this message, we don't know exactly, is probably two or three days before he's crucified.
So if he feels tense, if he feels serious, just know he's changing. He's not feeding people. He's about ready to die for people. Do you understand the change? So I just want you to understand, this might feel a little different from the Jesus that you've come to know and love.
And what he wants to know is, man, lives hang in the balance, including his life. But he's not just dying to waste his life, he's dying to save your soul. And so, you know, I I want you to just to to leave today and say, Lord, am I right with you? Am am I right? So let's let's cover some theology before we jump into this passage because we can get a little confused if we just base theology on one verse or one teaching.
It's why we need to know the whole Bible so that we can interpret scriptures in the Bible. So let's talk about all Christians. So all Christians, this is important, write this down, are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus. Now you're some of you as Christians are, wait a I thought we were saved by the grace of God. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. But specifically, you are saved by the act of Jesus dying on the cross for you. So God loved you, but Jesus died for you. So we are saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus.
So let me give you two verses because so many of us are new to Christianity or or we've just become Christians or we're considering Christianity. So this is bedrock Christianity. Anyone who doesn't teach this is not a Christian. Ephesians two eight, for it is by grace you have been saved. What saves you?
Grace. They no one in here knew it. Grace saves you. You didn't save yourself. It's not because you got smart, because you got good, because you earned it.
Jesus earned it for you. For it is by grace you have been saved through faith. So so grace isn't just for everybody. It's for those who repent and believe. Do you understand that?
You have to repent and believe. Second Corinthians. Look at this one. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why did I put this verse in there?
Because I want you to know, how do we receive grace? So this actually was the way the ancient church often would close service. It's called the benediction. Anybody grew up in church where there was a closing benediction? K.
This is one of them. May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen. Now go home. Right?
That's how they would end the service. But I want you to see here, the early church knew and understood that we are here because of Jesus. So why do we meet as a church primarily on Sundays instead of the Sabbath? Because Easter morning changed everything. Amen?
It changed everything. It ushered in a new creation, a new life because Jesus died and rose again from the dead. And because of that, we have new life and grace in him. So my prayer for you today is that you would have the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in your life. Now are you ready for the tough stuff?
Okay. That was the fun stuff. Here's the tough stuff. All Christians, are you ready for this? Are accountable for their service to the Lord Jesus.
We like the grace part. We don't like the service part. Right? Everybody loves buying a new house. Nobody loves cleaning a house.
Can I get an amen? Right? We all love to eat dinner. Nobody loves the dishes. Can I get an amen?
Oh my gosh. Anybody have teenagers? That's my favorite part of raising teenagers. Hey. Can you do the dishes, the eye roll?
Because they feel like they're just slaves in your house. You know? I remember my kids one time asked me, what is it that you do? I said, you know the two things that I ask you to do? Everything else is me, including the room that you sleep in, and the bed that you sleep in, and the food that you ate.
I'm doing all that. We can switch anytime. So we love the grace, we don't like the work. The Gospel is opposed to earning. You cannot earn your salvation, but it encourages effort.
Can I get an amen? Okay. So we are saved by the grace of Lord Jesus Christ. Romans fourteen twelve, look at this. Yes, each of us and you can pray about whether or not that includes you.
Just just pray about it. Lord, is this me? If you're a each of us, that's you. Yes. Each of us will give a personal account to God.
So last week, pastor Andrew talked about the bag of gold that you got. Some of us got one, some of us got two, some of us got five. Right? And so most of us spend our life bitter because we only got one and not two, and others of us are bitter because we only got two and not five. Listen to me.
You're only gonna be accountable for what God gave you. But you are gonna be accountable. Listen to me for what God gave you. And so we need to serve the Lord with what he gave us. Second Corinthians five ten, for we must all stand before Christ to be judged.
Now let's pray about this. Let's think about this. Let's invite the Holy Spirit to help us understand what just was said. Let's try again. For we must all stand before, and you pray about whether or not all includes you.
For we must all stand before Christ to be judged, not to be condemned. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. K? One amen. One person got it.
So we're saved by grace, but we're accountable for our works. And we gotta understand that. And this is why Christians wrestle with this. K? God didn't save you for you just to do nothing.
He saved you and he preordained good works that you and I should do. Now listen to this. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body. Okay? Every single person listening to me, your life matters.
Your life counts. It matters. It counts. You are a big deal when it comes to eternity. And so many of us, we feel unseen.
We feel unheard. We feel like our lives don't matter, but they do. They do. And what you do in this life matters. And one day, you're gonna stand before God, and they're gonna roll the tape.
And we're gonna watch what you did with what you were given. And so many of you were in therapy blaming your parents for what they did. And that's fine when you're 16, but you're 60. Can I get an amen? When you're 60, it's on you.
Can I get an amen? When you're 16, we can blame your parents a little bit. Right? But so many of us are so focused on what our parents did or didn't do that we've never thought about what we did or didn't do. Jesus is not gonna hold you accountable for what your parents did.
He's gonna hold you accountable for what you did. Judgment day is real. Are you ready? Are you ready? All Christians will be judged.
Now we're saved. And the Apostle Paul in his incredible way of encouraging us says as though through fire. That's not as encouraging as I would have liked it to be. Amen? I would have liked it to be as through a rainbow.
You know, that's the verse that, you know, we're gonna go through a rainbow of judgment. Paul says, we're going through fire because the Bible says that God is a consuming fire. And so many people are afraid of the fires of hell. We should be afraid of the fire of God. That's what the devil's afraid of.
Okay? Okay. So judgment day. We'll reveal whose faith was real. Now, let's just say this.
I'm sorry that Christians hurt you. Pastors have mistreated you. People are awful, gross, and terrible in the church. Can I just say this? Not everybody's a real Christian.
K? When you go how many guys ever been to a sporting event in your life? An NFL game, an NBA game, a baseball game? Raise your hands. You ever look at a guy in the stands with a jersey on and confuse him for a real athlete?
Well, he's wearing the jersey. He's setting his beer on his belly. Yeah. That guy couldn't run to first. You know what I'm saying?
He couldn't get to first base. But in the church, we think everybody who's wearing a jersey is the real deal. Look. I I don't know who is the real deal and who isn't, but Jesus does. And one day, listen to me, he's gonna sort us.
So let's open our bibles to Matthew chapter 25 verse thirty one and thirty three. And Jesus is telling us not everyone is a real believer, including one of his 12. One of his own that he recruited, that he discipled, that he ministered to sold him out for some quick cash. Matthew twenty five thirty one. But when the son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne and all the nations will be gathered in his presence.
And then he will separate people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And then he will place the sheep at his right and he will put the goats at his left. Now who in here is a shepherd? Do we have any shepherds in here? Okay.
I know we have church in Banning. Amen? Any shepherds in Banning? I love you. I love Banning.
Hey, man. By the way, Banning's doing great, man. They got revival out there. Let's give them a hand. We love you guys.
Okay. I am not do I look like a shepherd? I am not a shepherd. I'm not. K?
If you put me on a farm, it would go under in a week. I I don't understand anything about farming. All I know is I go to the grocery store and there's meat there. Can I get an amen? That's all I know.
But in Jesus' day, they would have understood exactly what this meant. So if you were a shepherd, you allowed the goats and the sheep to be together during the day. But at night, you separated them for a couple of reasons. Number one, they would interbreed if they were allowed to be together all night long. They would frolic, and you didn't want that.
Number two, listen to me, sheep. We always we often make fun of sheep being dumb, but sheep were smart enough to huddle together at night to create warmth for each other. Goats did not do that. Goats didn't have the wool. Goats were skinnier.
And if those of you don't know, they got little horns on their head. Now, wouldn't it be nice if the non Christians at our church just walked around with little devil horns? Like, all the singles ladies would be like, that would be helpful if he's just like, let's go on a date. You're like, I see your horns. So the ancient world would have understood this.
This is a daily practice and the shepherd always knows who's a sheep and who's a goat. And one day he's gonna separate them. So if you're new to Christianity, listen to me. Write this down. Not everybody makes it to heaven.
Oh, I wish that was true. I wish that was true. Only people that have repented and placed their faith in Jesus Christ. Those are the sheep. Jesus says my sheep know my voice.
Goats don't know his voice. So judgment day will reveal whose faith was real, whose faith was not. Now you can lie to me, can lie to your mom, and you can lie to everybody. There's gonna be people with giant social media platforms in the name of Jesus that are not real Christians. They're goats.
They're goats. And we don't know who those goats are, but listen to me. If you're a goat, listen to me. Jesus knows who you are. This is your day to become a sheep.
Amen. This is your day. Next, judgment day will reveal Jesus as a generous king. He's a generous king. He distributes gifts.
He's incredible. I I I can't believe the things that the Lord has done for me. He's a generous king. Remember last week, pastor Andrew, the guy with the glorious voice who told us what God sounds like? He gives out bags of gold.
He gives out bags of gold. God gives, our government takes. Can I get an amen? They want the gold. They want it.
God gives it. Verse 34. Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed by my father. How many of you wanna be blessed by God? Come on.
I wanna be blessed by God. Listen. Underline this. If you're bitter, if your house is too small, if you're a young person and you say, I'll never be able to afford a house. No.
You might not be able to, but your father has a mansion for you. He's a mansion for you. All of us Riversideians, we're gonna get upgraded to Laguna Beach. Can I get an amen? Watch out Laguna.
Christians are here. I'm gonna invite you all on my yacht. It's gonna be spectacular. It's gonna be called the Mattathias. It's gonna be it's gonna be glorious.
And why am I gonna have a yacht? Why am I and it's not because of what I have. It's because I'm a son of the king and he's rich. He's rich. Amen?
He says, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. How many of you guys appreciate your home, Earth? Yeah. A couple of guys. Some of are like, not so sure.
So I was moved last week when astronauts went to space. And I know some of you think the Earth was flat, but they saw a round Earth. And I I love you. Flat Earthers. But they saw around did did anybody see, the astronaut that was moved to tears?
He was moved to tears. And he said, I know some of you don't believe in God. He said he but he said, I don't know how you cannot when you see what we get to live on. Now just pause for a second. If this is what God made in six days, I can't wait to see what he can do with 2,000.
Can I get an amen? I mean, it's gonna be glorious. Amen? Thank you for the golf clap. Some of you guys, you're not coming on my yacht.
Okay. Now this is one of the most misunderstood passages in scripture. Years ago, my first writing gig I ever got was for LifeWay Christian Bookstores. And they asked me to write a bible study on this passage. And I and I and I wrote on it, turned it in, they said I was wrong, and they gave it back.
And I said, I'm not wrong. You guys are wrong. Now, you know, I was a young pastor telling LifeWay Christian Bible Stores, you guys are all idiots. You know? I need to learn learn and work on my tact.
But most Chris I think this is one of the most misunderstood passages in scripture. Most Christians think this is about taking care of the poor. Most Christians think this is about visiting people in prison. Most people think this is about praying over those who are sick. Now listen to me.
Poor people matter to God. Sick people matter to God. God loves people in prison. This passage has nothing to do with that. Nothing to do with that at all.
And listen to me, Sandals Church is one of the most generous churches there is. Last year, we took an offering and we gave over a half $1,000,000 just to take care of poor hungry needy people in Africa. A place many of us will never go. Okay. So so so don't so don't tell me we don't care about poor people.
We do. But this passage is not about poor people. This passage is about something some of you've never thought. So Jesus says in verse 35, for I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
I was a stranger and you invited me into your home. I was naked. That's weird. California, not so weird. But if you're watching from another state, you're like, that's crazy.
In California, that's Tuesday. Can I get an amen? I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you cared for me. I was in prison and you visited me.
I want you to work through this passage and just underline me, me, me, me. And that will help lead you to what he's talking about. I love verse 37. He says, then the the righteous ones will reply. This is incredible.
The righteous ones. These are the saved ones. These are the sheep. Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? This is one of the most glorious passages.
You see, godly people don't even realize when they're serving Jesus because they just do it naturally. They don't they don't even know. Lord, when did we see you? When did we ever see you hungry? When did we ever feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink?
Or when did we see you as a stranger? Or when did we show you hospitality? Oh Lord, when were you naked and when did we give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you? Verse 40, and the king will say, I tell you the truth.
Here's the answer. It's not just any poor person. It's not just any sick person. It's not just any imprisoned person. Listen to Jesus.
When you did it to one of the least of these, underline this, my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me. This passage is about loving the church. This passage is about taking care of the church. This passage is when you see your church has a need, you meet it. When you see your church has a problem, you work on it.
When your church is struggling with service, you serve. This is what he's talking about. He's saying, I'm building my family. I'm building my kingdom. And blessed are those that when you saw a need, when you saw a work, when you saw a problem, you solved it.
Now here's the thing. A lot of us think when we read our Bibles that Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were written first. They actually weren't. The first books of your New Testament were the epistles. So this is Romans, first Corinthians, second Corinthians, Ephesians, Philippians, the letters.
So when the early church first read the Gospel of Matthew, they would have been more familiar with the letters Paul wrote than they were the Gospel that Matthew just wrote. So the first thing that circulated was the letters of Paul. So let me take you just for a second to second Corinthians. When Paul talks about being naked, being imprisoned, being hungry, and needing hospitality. The early church would have automatically connected.
We gotta take care of people that represent Jesus and are spreading the gospel and taking it global. Now listen to me. Hold on. There was a time when the church became too rich, had too much stuff, had too many things, became too powerful. And that was an ugly season.
Just so you know, that's not Sandals. Can I get an amen? You are in the Costco of Christianity. That is where you are. You wanna see wealth?
Go to the Vatican. Go to Rome. You wanna be in Costco? Welcome to Sandals Church. Right?
We are discount disciples. Can I get an amen? But here's the thing. I want you to understand that one day, you're gonna be held accountable for how did you serve him. Specifically, Jesus says in those epistles that the church, listen to me, is his body.
The church is his family. That the church is the place where the manifold wisdom of God is communicated to the world. There are so many people today that say they love Jesus and hate the church. And let me tell you something, you can't do that because the church is his body. The church is his bride.
And you gotta learn to take care of the church. You gotta learn to love the church. So Jesus will bless those, look at this, who took care of his servants. Now this first group, Lord, when do we see you? I want you to circle the passage where he said, I was a stranger and you invited me in.
Some of you are sitting in church, some of you watching online. You you don't know who I am. You know what I am to you? Stranger. You don't know whether to trust me or not.
Right? You you have no idea. I mean, of being a part of a church is is living in faith, trusting that the people who are preaching the word are actually living the word. And that's a decision you have to make. I I can't I can't make the decision for you of whether you trust me or not or whether you trust Sandals Church or not.
That's your decision. This is not a cult cult. You have agency. But if in your agency, you say this is my church. This is my home.
This is where I learn about Jesus. Listen to me. You need to be hospitable. You need to open up your life to the people in this church. Now I'm not naked.
Can I get an amen? But it doesn't just mean literal nakedness. You know what it means? Meeting needs. Meeting needs.
There's an epidemic in America today of pastors fleeing the church and they will do anything and everything but serve the church because they're fed up. Do you know why? Because the church forgot this passage. We've forgotten this. We gotta take care of our pastors.
We gotta take care of our ministers. The church needs pastors to be loved and cared for. And I don't mean me, you take care of me. You love me and I am grateful for you. But we need to care about all ministers, all pastors because in ten years, here's the data, we're gonna be 10,000 pastors short in America.
And I don't blame young people. Would you want to be one? Would you want everybody in the community to talk about how much money you make? What you do, where you live, where you go? You want that?
You want all that stress? You wanna have your life to talk online where people get to evaluate what you said forever? Oh, the blessed Internet. I would have been the best pastor in the eighties. Man, you're like, you said, I'm like, that's just a rumor.
You got no proof. You got no proof. Nowadays. Right? You're like, no.
No. No. I've transcribed your very words. Here's what it says. I'm like, wow.
That was bad. But he's gonna bless those that took care of his service. Next, he's gonna bless those that ministered to his church. Now listen to me, you don't have to be a pastor, but you have to minister to his church. I got a text message, and literally it said, hey, you don't remember me, but I used to know you and my dad is dying.
Could you come pray over him? I said, I can't because I'm out of town, but I'll send the minister. Do you know who I mean? You guys. You're ministers.
You're ministers of the Gospel of Christ. Every Sandals member is a minister. I said, I don't know who will sin, but we'll send someone. Can I get an amen? Someone will be there to pray with you.
Someone will be there to weep with you. Someone will be there to cry with you. Why? Because you are part of this church. And you're naked.
You're hurting. You're imprisoned in pain and you're suffering. And blessed are those who ministered in Jesus name. Can I get an amen? Amen.
Man, let me tell you something. We should have to tell people no in every one of our churches. We should have a line of people that wanna pray with people at the end of service. We should have people begging us, let me pray. Let me come alongside.
Hurting people, people who are crying, people who are ready to change their lives for Jesus. We should have a line of people that wanna do that. Because Jesus said, blessed are those people. Next, he says this. We're generous in funding his mission.
That's what nakedness is. Go in second Corinthians and read Paul. Paul's naked. Do wanna know why? He ran out of money.
You wanna know he's shipwrecked? You wanna know he's starving? Blessed are you. And let me just say, every person at Sandals Church that gives, thank you so much. There is no Sandals Church without your generosity.
It does not exist. And if you're new to Sandals Church, listen to me. At some point in time, you have to decide what you believe Jesus is, and you have to decide what you what you believe the church is. But the church does not exist with government funding, and God help us if we ever get government funding because that's what runs the church. Government funding comes with fingers, And those fingers control what we preach, what we say, and what we do.
And I say no to that. I don't wanna trust government. I wanna trust God. Can I get an amen? I don't want them involved in what we do.
I don't want them involved. We don't do bake sales. We don't do yard sales. Here's what I believe. People who love Jesus are gonna be generous to his church.
That's what I believe. That's what I'm trusting. And at some point in time, you gotta decide. Am I going to bless my church? My church would be naked if I don't fund it.
Amen. My church would be hungry if I don't feed it. My church would not be okay if I don't minister to it. So every Christian, listen to me, can do something. Okay?
So maybe you're broke. I get it. Start serving. That's free. Anybody know that?
That's free. Like, it's free. Like we won't even pay you. It's free. You just you start serving.
Man, I was on the phone with a church in Cork, Ireland this week, and I love pastor Tom. And I I feel a deep connection to Cork, Ireland. That that's where my relatives were sold into slavery, 300,000 of the Irish. We don't they don't teach that in schools, but 300,000 of us were were put on ships and sold around the world in Cork, Ireland. And both Tammy and I are genetically from Cork.
That's why our kids are so special. But I I love him. And and the church in Europe, pastor Andrew shared last week that only two percent of people in Europe identify as Christians. And pastors are struggling, and they're hurting. And I I preached at pastor Tom's Church, and they tried to pay me.
They tried to pay me for preaching. And I said, there's no there's no way. And you know that thing, like, you know, when you you go out to dinner with someone and you there's that false sense of humility where, like, I'll pay the check. No. You pay the check.
And what you're really hoping is they're the last person holding on to the check. You know what I'm saying? And I think he thought it was that. And I just said, listen to me. I am not going to take a check from a starving church.
God help me. I'm not taking a check from a starving church. And I just said, hey, Tammy and I are gonna be in Europe. We're gonna be there for the the church planting conference. Because just so you know, Sandals Church, we we help churches in Europe.
Do you know why? They need our help. They need our help. They don't have our resources. They don't have our size.
They don't have our funding. And I said, hey, I'm gonna be there. Could could I come preach again? You see, and you know why? There's no greater blessing than serving the Lord for free.
Amen. That's the greatest blessing. Next, you could do this. You could help care for members. Figure out how to help.
How could I help? We have seniors that can't get to church. Are are we ministering to them? Are we caring for them? Are we making sure that they can get to church?
I met a gal one time, she came to studio. She took three bus rides to get here to studio, and then she had in her electric wheelchair, had to go, like, a half a mile to get here. I'm like, that's a problem, Sandals Church. I mean, that's a problem. Some of you guys, you're you're you feel like you're being tempted by the devil on Sunday mornings because you can't do you can't, like, touch your gas pedal.
She took three bus rides, and literally, it was like one of those Riverside days. You know what I'm saying? A 110 degrees, and I'm like, we we have to do this. We have to care for our members to make sure they can get to church. And when they get to the age where they can't come to church, we still have to care for them.
We have to care for them. Next, if you're at a place where you can do this, you can start supporting church financially. I'm not a legalist. I'm never gonna tell you what you have to do. But I wanna encourage you, start supporting the church financially.
So what do you do? Be generous. Be generous. Be consistent. You know what doesn't help me as a pastor?
A great month, a bad month. A great month, a bad month. That makes me have to go to therapy. Stop doing that. So pick a number.
Say, Lord, I wanna be generous. And I get it if you're new to Sandals Church, you're a new disciple, you just got baptized, you you just started believing. Look, just say, tell me what I should give. I'm not gonna tell you. Just ask the Lord.
Lord, what should I give? And then be consistent. Don't just give once and forget about it. Be consistent. And here's a big part.
Make giving a part of your worship. Make it a part of your worship. Because that's what it is. God, it's not about me. It's about you.
Alright, let's jump back into judgment day. Alright, judgment day will separate fake believers from God forever. I know in our culture, we wanna believe everyone's saved, everyone's going to heaven, God would never judge. But listen to me, I wanna scare you right now. I wanna scare the hell out of you right now.
Literally scare the hell out of you because I don't want you to go to hell and Jesus doesn't either. Remember we said a couple weeks ago, CS Lewis was the first to say that the gates of hell are locked from the inside? People refused the grace of Lord Jesus Christ. People refused to repent. People refused to believe.
People refused to follow, and they choose their own desires. Matthew twenty five forty one through 43. Then the king will the king will turn to those on the left and say so remember the right that we just saw, know, they were ministering, they were caring, they were generous, and they didn't even realize it was Jesus. They just were doing what born again people do. Born again people are generous.
Born again people serve. Born again people care. Born again people minister. It's just what we do. Then the other group, the fakers.
Listen to what he says, away with you. These are the goats, you cursed ones. This is scary. Into the eternal fire prepared not for you, but for the devil and his demons. So contrast this, the sheep go into the kingdom that was prepared for us for two thousand years from all eternity.
The goats go to the place prepared for the devil. The choice is yours. You choose. You punch your own ticket. God's grace is for you.
Jesus has already done all the work. It was all on his shoulders. All you have to do is repent and believe. And Jesus says, look for verse 42, for I was hungry and you didn't feed me. You didn't feed me.
So many people say this, don't wanna go to the church because the church is all about money. Okay. Or maybe you're all about money. Maybe it's you. Maybe it's you.
I mean, frankly, can I be honest? I I wish I never had to talk about money ever. I was thirsty and you didn't give me a drink. What is Jesus addressing? The self centeredness of sin.
I was a stranger and you didn't invite me into your home. Did you see? They've rejected Jesus. You cannot come into my life. You are not welcome in my heart.
I am the king of me and you are out. Jesus says, I was naked and you didn't give me clothing. I was sick and in prison and you didn't visit me. Then they will reply, Lord, ain't it interesting? They know who he is, but they never believed him.
They never followed him. They acted their entire life like a sheep, but what were they? They were a goat. Lord, when do we ever see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick or in prison and not help you? Verse 45, and he will answer, I tell you the truth.
When you refuse to help, and then he points to his disciples, the least of these, my brothers and sisters, Because you were refusing to help me. Man. Some of you say, well, I'd help Jesus if I saw Jesus. You see him every week at church. You see him in the pastors that service.
You see him in the ministers that care for us. You see him in the teachers that teach our kids, Jesus loves you. You see him in the greeters that smile at you and welcome you. Walmart pays their greeters, we don't. We don't.
Our greeters are all here for free smiling at you for free. You see Jesus every week. And listen to me, some of you, you're hearing Jesus right now. And he's saying you're a goat and it's time to become a sheep. It's time to be saved.
Listen to me church, when we get to heaven, I I wanna know I wanna know that I made a difference. How many of you guys, you wanna know that you made a difference? Tammy and I, we were in the South Pacific last week. And I I wanna confess, I don't know as much about my grandfather as I I wish I did. My grandpa fought in World War two.
He lied about his age, joined at 16. Can you imagine? 16 year olds fighting now. I don't know. They're like, I have allergies.
I don't know. Can't I can't I can't do it. But he graduated boot camp and was shipped to the South Pacific at 17. He was wounded at 19. He was wounded at 20, and he almost died at 21.
My grandfather is a triple per part. And Tammy and I, we're standing on an island that I found out he fought on. Listen to me. I was so convicted. This is one of the most beautiful islands in the world.
It was paradise to me. And I'm standing on this beautiful beach, and I thought about my teenage grandfather who got off a metal boat and charged a beach, and I saw the guns. 200 millimeter guns that were embedded in the rocks in the jungle. They couldn't see where they were firing from. And my teenage grandfather took that beach, and I get to stand on it, and I did nothing.
And I'm telling you, I was I was I was a mess. I was a mess because I have a freedom in this country that I did not earn, that I did not fight for, and I'm grateful. And here's all I could think about it. I text my uncle, my grandfather's only son, and I just said, I'm I'm moved. I don't know what to do with this.
And my uncle texted me and he said this. My grand my my father didn't talk much about the war, but he said for whatever reason, God spared him. And he never knew why, but he always tried to live a life worth his grace. That'll preach. That'll preach.
Listen to me. When I see Jesus in heaven, he didn't take a beach for me. He went to hell for me. And I see him, and he embraces me with those big hands that hung on a cross, and I can still see the scars. I wanna at least have a callous.
Can I get an amen? I wanna at least have a callous. When I see the holes in his hands, I want a callous on mine that I at least did something for you. And when I hold him, and when he hugs me, saved by grace, and I can feel his ribs, they're not right. They're not broken, but they're not right because a Roman soldier shoved a 22 inch blade between him to stab his heart and his ribs protrude.
I want him to know that I did something. Can I get an amen? I did something. Amen. Amen?
And and I think as Christians, I think as Christians, we forget we're not moved. I was standing there with a bunch of pastors, a bunch of people all over the world. And let me tell you, they weren't crying in the museum. Do you know why? Cause it wasn't their grandpa who fought there.
It was mine. You see, had relationship with the battle. Can I get an amen? I had a connection to the fight. And when we worship, when we gather, when we remember what the Lord Jesus and when we when we read this tent, my gosh, Jesus is mean.
He's gonna separate the sheep from the goats. There doesn't have to be a goat. He died so we could all be sheep. Can I get an amen? We died so we could all be sheep.
And we need to serve him. Amen? We need to serve him. Let's have some calluses on our hands. So when we meet him, we're not ashamed.
Amen, church? We're not ashamed. But we hear these words, well done, good and faithful servant. You were faithful with a little. Now, you're in charge of much.
Let's pray. Heavenly father, I'm so thankful, for what you did for us on the cross, the battle that you fought, the grief and the suffering that you endured. Lord, let us all become sheep today. And, Lord, for those of us who are sheep, in the name of Jesus, let us work hard for your kingdom. Let us suffer at least a little to reach this world for Christ and let us be faithful servants to the end.
Bless us with the attitude to see when you're naked, to see when you're in prison, to see when you're needy, and to meet the needs of our risen savior. We pray this in Jesus name and all God's people said, amen.
Pastor Fredo Ramos: Hard to follow that up. And what a word for us today on receiving grace and being moved to service and to care. And for all of you who are watching online, just wanna take a moment and say thank you for being a part of the church experience here today. And I wanna invite you, if we have served you or blessed you in any way through this message or through the rest of our content, would you pray about supporting the work that God is doing in and through this church? To do that, you can go to sandalschurch.com/support.
Grace and peace, and we'll see you next week.