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 Have you given much thought to your relationship with Jesus recently?

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 That's a good question we all need to ask ourselves.

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 A meteorologist predicts a snowmageddon.

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 And I'm telling you, we beat each other to death trying to get to Walmart and trying to get to Kroger and trying to get to different stores, Home Depot to get our generators, our milk, our bread and all that kind of stuff. (Congregation Laughing)

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 But a preacher standing behind a pulpit

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 challenges people to get ready for the return of Jesus and people yawn.

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 There's something wrong with that picture.

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 For weeks now, we've been in a series entitled "Perfect Ending."

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 We started in Matthew chapter 24, verse one.

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 And today we finish with the last verse, verse 46 of Matthew chapter 25.

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 It's called the Olivet Discourse.

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 And it's all about prophecy.

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 It's all about how this thing is going to come to an end.

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 And can I tell you with Jesus at the helm, it's going to be a perfect ending, a perfect ending.

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 You know, we started off in Matthew chapter 24 and we looked at the birth pangs

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 that lead up to the coming of Christ. Jesus gave us some signs that we can look at and know that His coming is near.

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 And then we looked at that period of time, that dark period of time that's coming in the future called the Tribulation, seven years of Tribulation. The last three and a half years called the Great Tribulation, the time as the Old Testament prophets said, the time of Jacob's trouble.

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 And then we looked at the coming of Christ, the description of the coming of Christ.

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 Then we moved into chapter 25 and we look at the parable of the 10 virgins

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 and the whole meaning of that parable is get ready for Jesus to come.

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 Be prepared.

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 And then we looked at the parable of the talents,

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 the importance of using what He's provided for us, our time, our treasure, our talents for His glory

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 and for the advancement of His kingdom.

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 And now today we come to Matthew chapter 25

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 verses 31 to 46.

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 I read about a pastor by the name of Lee E. Cloth.

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 He was in a bagel shop and he was eating some breakfast with two of his friends who happened to be non-Christians.

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 And he looked at them and he said, what's the most important thing I can pray for you about?

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 And the lady said, well, I guess you could pray for our health.

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 And Lee E. Cloth said, health,

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 that's not the most important thing.

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 Sooner or later, your health will fail you no matter who prays for you.

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 There's gotta be something more important than your health.

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 And she was stopped.

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 And she said, what's more important than that?

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 And Lee E. Cloth said, what about your relationship with God?

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 And she said, I never thought about that. And by the way, there's a lot of people in our world today who have never thought about their relationship with God.

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 Then her husband chimed in and he said this, I quote, he said, you mean God is going to haul us into court or something?

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 And Lee E. Cloth thought for a minute and said,

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 I guess you could say that.

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 There is a judgment day coming for the entire world.

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 Now, in Matthew chapter 24 verse three, we're reminded of the question that the disciples asked Jesus that launched him into this teaching time. By the way, this is the last significant teaching time that Jesus had prior to going to the cross.

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 Isn't it interesting? He used that last chance to teach prophecy

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 about how this world is going to end.

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 So the disciples came to Jesus right there after they left the temple. He was sitting on the Mount of Olives, Matthew 24 verse three. And the disciples came to him privately saying, tell us when will these things happen?

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 And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?

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 And through a series of parables, he tells him the importance of being ready when he comes. In Matthew chapter 24 verses 29 to 31, he describes in beautiful detail the second coming of Christ.

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 The Bible says in Matthew 24, beginning with verse 29, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days,

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 "the sun will be darkened and the moon "will not give its light. "And the stars will fall from the sky. "And the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

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 "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky. "And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn "and they will see the Son of Man "coming on the clouds of the sky "with power and great glory.

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 "And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet.

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 "And they will gather together his elect from the four winds, "from one end of the sky to the other."

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 You see the Lord Jesus Christ who was crucified to atone for our sins. The Lord Jesus Christ who was buried in a borrowed tomb right outside of Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead after three days. The Lord Jesus Christ who ascended to heaven.

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 It's coming again.

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 Look at me now, I'm telling you. He's coming.

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 And I'm telling you the signs are everywhere that his coming is near.

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 And it would behoove every person listening to my voice, whether you're right here in this room or whether you're live stream, it would behoove every single person to pay as much attention to what I'm saying today as you did to the meteorologist who predicted the snowmageddon.

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 We must stay alert.

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 We must be ready at all times. In Matthew 24, 42,

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 the Lord Jesus said, "Therefore be on the alert

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 "for you do not know which day your Lord is coming."

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 And then in verse 44, "For this reason you also must be ready "for the Son of Man is coming at an hour "when you do not think he is."

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 He's coming. And there's not a person in this room, there's not a person watching live stream who knows when that moment is going to be, he's coming.

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 And we need to be ready.

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 When our Lord comes, he will initiate a series of judgments.

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 The first one that we're gonna look at today

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 is the sheep and goat judgment or what some have entitled the judgment of the nations.

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 We find it in the rest of our text here in our series chapter 25, verse 31 to 46.

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 I hope you're not shocked that Jesus, as the man in the bagel shop said, will haul people into court for judgment.

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 I hope that doesn't shock you.

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 For the next few minutes, I want us to open our Bibles

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 and let's put a bow on this series, perfect ending.

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 Look at verse 31.

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 "But when the Son of Man comes in his glory

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 "and all the angels with him, "then he will sit on his glorious throne."

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 Now, I want you to understand that this is a reference to time. If you wanna know when the judgment of the nations will take place or the sheep and goat judgment,

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 then you need to know it's going to happen when he comes,

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 right here, when he comes in his glory and he's sitting on his throne.

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 We're talking about the millennial kingdom of Christ here.

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 Now, God the Father has delegated all judgment to the Lord Jesus. You say, how do you know that pastor?

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 Because Jesus said that. In John chapter five, verse 22 and 23, Jesus said, "For not even the Father judges anyone,

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 "but he's given all judgment to the Son,

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 "so that all will honor the Son "even as they honor the Father. "He who does not honor the Son "does not honor the Father who sent him."

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 See, you can't get by with this idea. Well, I believe in God, but I don't believe in Jesus.

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 I worship God, but I'm not gonna worship Jesus.

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 That dog won't hunt. Jesus said that if we are going to honor God, we must honor the Son. If we're gonna honor the Son, we must honor the Father.

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 The amazing thing is not that Jesus will someday come in glory to judge the world, but the amazing thing is that 2,000 years ago, Jesus came in humility to save the world by offering his body and blood on the cross of Calvary. That's the amazing thing.

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 The Lord Jesus will come with his angels and with believers of the Second Coming.

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 This includes Old Testament believers like Moses and David and Solomon and Joshua. It includes Old Testament believers. It includes believers in the church who have died and been translated to heaven. It includes believers who will have been raptured. There's people who have been asked me, "Pastor, do you believe in the rapture?" I do believe in the rapture of the church.

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 I believe that the church will be raptured before the tribulation begins. Now look, I'm not dogmatic.

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 I can't be dogmatic about that. I can be dogmatic about the blood atonement of Christ.

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 I can be dogmatic about the bodily resurrection of Christ.

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 But I can't be dogmatic about how everything's gonna play out in the end time. But I do believe in the rapture of the church before the tribulation starts.

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 Now look at this.

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 So when Jesus comes, his Second Coming, we're talking about his Second Coming,

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 he'll bring with him Old Testament believers, believers in the church who have died and been translated to heaven, believers who will have been raptured and believers who will have been martyred during the tribulation period. And there's gonna be a ton of believers martyred during the tribulation period. You say how have they been raptured? Because there's a lot of people gonna be saved during the tribulation period.

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 A lot of Jews and a lot of Gentiles will come to faith in Christ through the preaching and the ministry of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists that God has anointed and set apart to preach the gospel in the world at that time.

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 They will all accompany Christ and his angels

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 when he descends to earth to establish his millennial kingdom. Now, when I say millennial kingdom, I want you to understand I'm talking about a thousand year reign of Christ on the earth.

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 In fact, in Colossians 3-4, the Bible says when Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also as a born again believer will be revealed with him in glory.

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 Now take your Bible and flip over to Revelation 20, just a moment.

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 Revelation 20.

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 Let's begin reading at verse one.

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 "Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven,

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 "holding the key of the abyss "and a great chain in his hand.

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 "And he laid hold of the dragon,

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 "the serpent of old who is the devil in Satan "and bound him for how long? "A thousand years.

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 "Satan is bound for a thousand years.

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 "And he threw him into the abyss "and shut it and sealed it over him "so that he would not deceive the nations any longer "until the thousand years were completed "and these things must be released, "then he must be released for a short time."

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 So already twice.

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 We've seen a reference to a thousand years.

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 That thousand years is the millennial reign of Christ. Look at verse four. "Then I saw thrones and they sat on them "and judgment was given to them "and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded "because of their testimony of Jesus "and because of the word of God "and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image "and had not received the mark on their forehead "and on their hands and they came to life "and reign with Christ for how long? "A thousand years."

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 Third reference to the thousand year millennial reign of Christ.

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 Verse five, "The rest of the dead did not come into life "until the thousand years were completed." Again, fourth time.

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 In a short span of time here, a short section in the Bible, it refers to the thousand years.

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 So the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed.

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 This is the first resurrection.

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 Verse six, "Blessed and holy is the one "who has a part in the first resurrection

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 "and over these the second death has no power

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 "but they will be priests of Christ "and will reign with him for a thousand years." Fifth time.

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 Look at verse seven. "When the thousand years are completed, "Satan will be released from prison

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 "and he will deceive the nations after the thousand years."

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 Do you understand that for us

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 to just outright reject the idea of the millennial reign of Christ, a thousand year reign of Christ on this earth at some point in the future,

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 is to just basically say we don't believe what revelation says.

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 We don't believe what the Old Testament teaches.

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 We call into question the integrity of God and his word.

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 Let me tell you something, I believe in the millennial reign of Christ

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 and I'm not ashamed to say I believe in the millennial reign of Christ.

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 Listen, some of the most scholarly people in the world may look at me and say, well, you're some kind of country bumpkin' me, you don't know anything, man.

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 I know what the Bible says.

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 I'll go with the Bible any day

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 over some scholar in some ivory tower somewhere that says that he does not believe in the millennial reign of Christ.

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 In Joel chapter three, verse 16 and 17, this is about the millennial reign of Christ. The Lord roars from where? From Zion and honors his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and earth tremble, but the Lord is a refuge for his people and a stronghold to the sons of Israel.

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 God helped those who have written Israel off and have given in to anti-Semitism.

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 Let me tell you some folks,

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 what God promised Abraham is still in vogue today.

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 He promised Abraham that he would bless his people

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 and he would multiply them like the sand of the sea, the stars in the sky and any nation that blesses Israel would be blessed to God. Any nation that curses Israel will be cursed by God.

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 Verse 17, Joel chapter three,

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 "Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain, so Jerusalem will be holy and strangers will pass through it no more."

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 You say, "Well, where will Jesus reign in his millennial kingdom? Where will he establish his throne of glory in Jerusalem?"

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 In Jerusalem, I could go to other places and prove that to you. Look at Matthew chapter 25, verses 32 and 33.

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 "All the nations will be gathered before him

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 and he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

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 And he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left." Now the word nations here in the Greek language, ethnae, refers to every person alive on earth when the Lord returns, when the Lord returns.

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 During that dreadful time of tribulation,

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 multiple numbers of Gentiles as well as surviving Jews will be brought to faith in Christ.

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 Believers, the sheep at Jesus refers to them here who are alive at the Lord's coming and glory will go directly into our Lord's millennial kingdom and they will go into his millennial kingdom in their earthly bodies.

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 Now notice there's a separation between sheep and goats here.

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 I've been told, I read this, I assume it's right, I'm sure Dr. Horn could help me with this. But I've been told that goats are rather,

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 they act strangely sometimes.

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 And sheep are more docile, but goats, they get into stuff.

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 And so Jesus here says that there's sheep and goats.

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 Now, Palestinian shepherds frequently had to separate their flocks between sheep and goats.

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 In a similar way, the Lord Jesus will separate believers from unbelievers when he returns to establish his millennial kingdom.

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 He will put the believing sheep on his right,

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 the place of favor and blessing, and he will put the goats on his left, the place of disfavor and rejection.

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 Matthew chapter 25, verses 34 to 36.

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 Then the king will say to those on his right, the sheep,

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 come you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry.

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 You gave me something to eat.

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 I was thirsty.

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 You gave me something to drink.

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 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.

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 It's very important as you try to interpret

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 what Jesus is saying here that you remember the context.

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 You got to remember the context.

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 Anything without a context is a pretext.

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 So you need to remember what Jesus told me. We just come out of the tribulation.

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 Seven years of tribulation. And you can read about those tribulation judgments

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 in Matthew, excuse me, Revelation chapter six.

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 Through 19, you can read about those tribulation judgments

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 and it's gonna be a horrendous time on this earth.

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 And Jesus says these sheep represent those believers who have survived the horrors of the tribulation.

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 They will be ushered alive into the kingdom of our Lord and they will receive their inheritance.

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 Now look at the good deeds that Jesus talked about here in verses 35 and 36.

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 Now let me just make a clarification. I wanna make sure you understand this. In no way, shape, form or fashion,

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 is Jesus saying you can earn your way into heaven. You can earn your way into the millennial kingdom. You can earn your way into salvation by giving water to somebody who's thirsty, by giving food to somebody who's hungry or by giving a shelter to somebody who needs shelter.

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 Listen, listen very carefully. We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone.

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 Would you repeat that after me? Repeat after me. We are saved by grace.

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 Through faith in Christ alone.

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 Period.

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 There's no other way of salvation.

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 We can't earn our salvation.

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 It's very important now. A lot of people have taken what Jesus said here and they've turned it into what they call the social gospel.

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 A way to earn their way into the kingdom.

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 That's not what Jesus is teaching.

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 Let me make sure you understand.

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 What Jesus is commending here, these good deeds are the effect of salvation, not the cause of salvation.

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 When you're saved, when you're generally born again, you will love people and you will care about meeting the needs of people.

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 You'll give somebody a pat on the back when they need a pat on the back. You'll give somebody a drink of water when they need a drink of water. You'll give somebody a coat when they need a coat. But I want you to understand folks, that is the effect of being saved, not the cause of being saved. Let me tell you, good works like these

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 are the direct overflow of the fruit of the Spirit in a person's life.

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 The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithless, gentleness and self-control. You read about it right there in Galatians chapter five.

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 In 1 John chapter three verse 17 and 18,

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 John wrote, "But whoever has the world's goods and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?

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 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth."

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 The assurance of true salvation

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 is not found in a decision that you made 15 years ago.

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 The assurance of salvation is found in a continuous pattern of righteous behavior.

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 Because I'm gonna tell you something, if you're genuinely saved, you'll be a chained person.

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 He'll change you.

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 He'll give you a desire to do the things that he wants you to do.

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 Now, let me say this.

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 These actions here in our text

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 are actions that were directed to the Jewish people who have been suffering horrendously in the great tribulation.

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 And they are deeds that are done for those who have believed in Christ during the tribulation period,

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 both Gentiles and Jews.

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 Now, in Matthew chapter 25, verse 37 to 39,

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 Jesus went on to say, "Then the righteous will answer him, "Lord, when do we see you hungry and feed you

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 "or thirsty and give you something to drink?

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 "And when do we see you as stranger "and invite you in or naked and clothe you? "And when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you?

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 "Notice, the text never says they did not understand,

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 "the text says they did not understand "how they had ministered so directly to Jesus."

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 In other words, they're saying, "Lord Jesus, how did me giving a drink of water "to that person, how is that giving a drink of water to you?

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 "How is me giving a coat to that person who was cold,

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 "giving a coat to you, how? "I don't understand, Lord." That's what they're saying.

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 Now, the Good Dees mentioned in these verses all deal with common everyday needs. Notice, there's nothing monumental about this.

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 It's not like they gave money and it built a building for the cause of Christ. Nothing like that. It's just basic, ordinary things, right?

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 There's no mention of spectacular accomplishments.

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 Look at verse 40. "The king will answer and say," this is King Jesus.

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 "The king will answer and say to them," and remember, he's established his throne in Jerusalem. He's ruling over the entire world for a thousand years and they come to him, "and he 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."

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 When I was studying, I thought about

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 when Jesus had that encounter with Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, remember that?

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 Saul was persecuting the church.

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 Christians, he was going to Damascus to arrest some Christians and torment them, throw them in jail, maybe even have them killed.

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 And Jesus appeared to him, the resurrected Christ appeared to him

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 and the resurrected Christ said

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 to Paul or Saul there on the road to Damascus.

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 "Why are you doing this to me? "Why are you persecuting me?"

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 Now think about it.

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 Saul didn't even believe Jesus was real,

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 but Jesus said, "Why are you persecuting me?" Understand that, here's what Jesus say. "When you persecute one of my children, "one of my believers, you're persecuting me."

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 So if you do something good for a believer, you're doing it to Jesus.

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 Whatever believers do for each other,

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 they also do it for their Lord and savor Jesus Christ.

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 Now, those who will have met the needs of Jews and fellow believers will themselves have suffered great needs. Now think about this, this is the tribulation period.

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 Do you know what the Antichrist's gonna do in the tribulation period?

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 He's gonna demand that you get some kind of mark

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 and that if you don't get this mark, you can't buy any food.

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 You can't get any gas for your vehicle.

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 And here are people at the very launching of the Millennial Kingdom,

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 and they have given some of their meager supplies to help other people, Jews and Christians, with their needs.

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 And what generosity is that?

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 And it shows the effect of the power of Christ in their lives.

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 Look at verse 41 to 43.

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 "Then he will also say to those on his left."

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 Now, who are the ones on the left?

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 Goats, goats.

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 "He will say to those on the left, "apart 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.

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 "I was thirsty, 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."

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 Now, understand this.

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 The goats on Jesus' left are rejected and sent in. They were sent into hell not because they failed to give somebody a drink of water, not because they failed to give somebody some clothes that needed clothes, not because they failed to provide food for somebody who was hungry. No, no, no, that's not why they were sent into hell. That's not why the king rejected them.

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 He rejected them because they rejected him.

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 Let me tell you, the most important aspect of your life is your relationship with Jesus.

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 Nothing can compare.

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 You say, "But what about my finances?

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 "What about my career?

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 "What about my hobbies?" I'm telling you, all of that pales in comparison

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 to your relationship with Jesus Christ.

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 Look at verse 43.

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 "I was a stranger, you did not invite me in." Hey, I read a story about an American serviceman who was coming home after World War II.

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 And he got to San Diego and he called his parents

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 and he talked to his mom. He said, "Hey, Mom, I've got a friend

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 "who is severely wounded.

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 "He lost an eye, he lost an arm and he lost a leg.

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 "Mom, can we bring him to our house "and let him live with us?"

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 The mom hesitated for a moment.

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 And she said, "Well, son, he can stay for a while,

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 "but only for a while."

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 The next thing those parents knew,

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 they got a telegram from San Diego

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 and their son had jumped out of wind and killed himself.

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 When his body was shipped to them

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 and they opened the casket, they noticed that their son only had one eye,

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 one arm and one leg.

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 Can't you hear them?

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 If we only knew, if we only knew it was our son,

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 let me tell you something.

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 There's nobody within the sound of my voice who can ever say, "I never knew that Jesus was coming. "I never knew that I would stand before him in judgment.

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 "I never knew that the most important thing in my life "was my relationship with Christ."

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 Oh, you've heard it.

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 You know it.

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 You're accountable to Jesus for what you've heard. Then he will also say to those on his left,

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 "Depart from me, accursed ones into the eternal fire "which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.

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 "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 imprisoned "and you did not visit me.

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 "I remind you once again, they are rejected by Christ, "the King of Kings and Lord of Lords "and his millennial kingdom on his throne. "They're rejected because they rejected Christ "as our Lord and Savior."

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 Because we're talking about cause and effect here.

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 The fact that they didn't show the effects of salvation show that they never were saved to begin with.

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 JC Ryle wrote this, I quote,

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 "Who shall describe the misery of eternal punishment?

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 "It is something utterly indescribable and inconceivable.

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 "The eternal pain of body,

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 "the eternal sting of an accusing conscious,

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 "the eternal society of none but the wicked, "the devil and his angels, "the eternal remembrance of opportunities "neglected in Christ despised,

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 "the eternal prospect of a weary, hopeless future.

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 "All of this is misery indeed. "It is enough to make our ears tingle "and our blood run cold."

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 Look at verses 44 to 46 and we'll close out.

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 "Then they themselves also will answer, "Lord, when did we see you hungry?" Remember, this is the goats now.

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 "Or thirsty or stranger or naked or sick or in prison "and did not care of you.

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 "Then he will answer 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." You refuse to take care of a Jew.

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 You refuse to take care of a believer and these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life.

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 I say this once again.

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 The person who is shut out of the millennial kingdom of Christ is not condemned because of the great danger is not condemned because of the greatness of his sin

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 but because of the absence of his faith.

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 Ultimately, listen, ultimately,

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 there are only two kinds of people in the entire world.

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 Only two kinds of people in America.

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 Only two kinds of people in Canada.

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 Only two kinds of people in Iran, Iraq, in Europe. Only two kinds of people.

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 There are the sheep and there are the goats.

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 There are the saved, there are the lost, there are the wheat and there are the tares.

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 Which are you?

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 Are you a sheep or are you a goat?

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 I say it again.

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 Your relationship with Jesus

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 is by far the most important aspect of your life.

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 Don't minimize it.

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 Make sure you are ready for his coming

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 and demonstrate Christ's lordship over your life by meeting the needs of others.

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 That's what this all boils down to.

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