06-25-17, Psalm 138;1-8, Matthew 24 & 25, Our Response

Psalm 138:1-8
Matthew 24 & 25
Our Response
June 25, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

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What’s the number one thing?

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The Glory of God!

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1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
31 So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you
do, do all to the glory of God.

June MemoryVerse
John 15:7 ESV
7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in
you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be
done for you.

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First Baptist Church Jackson Mission:
Multiply Disciples to Live Like Jesus.

Psalm 138:1-8
Matthew 24 & 25
Our Response

Psalm 138:1-8 ESV
GiveThanks to the LORD
1 I give you thanks, O LORD, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;
2 I bow down toward your holyTemple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love
and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.

3 On the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased.
4 All the kings of the earth shall give you thanks, O LORD,
for they have heard the words of your mouth,
5 and they shall sing of the ways of the LORD,
for great is the glory of the LORD.
6 For though the LORD is high, he regards the lowly,
but the haughty he knows from afar.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble,
you preserve my life;
you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my
enemies,
and your right hand delivers me.
8 The LORD will fulfill his purpose for me;
your steadfast love, O LORD, endures forever.
Do not forsake the work of your hands.
Psalm 138:1-8 ESV

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Matthew 25:31-40
Sheep or Goat?

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Throughout the Olivet Discourse in Matthew
24 and 25, Jesus uses three parables (the
parables of the household steward, the ten
virgins and the talents) to illustrate His points
concerning the End of the Age.

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The closing section of the Olivet discourse is
told not in parable but in straightforward
language.

The theme of this section is judgment and Jesus
uses the vivid metaphor of “sheep” and “goats”
to describe what that judgment will be like:

Matthew 25:31-46 ESV
31 “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and
all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His
glorious throne. 32 Before Him will be gathered
all the nations, and He will separate people one
from another as a shepherd separates the
sheep from the goats. 33 And He will place the
sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.

34Then the King will say to those on His right,
‘Come, you who are blessed by My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the
foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and
you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave
Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed
Me, 36 I was naked and you clothed Me, I was
sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you
came to Me.’

37Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord,
when did we seeYou hungry and feedYou, or thirsty
and giveYou drink? 38 And when did we seeYou a
stranger and welcomeYou, or naked and clotheYou?
39And when did we seeYou sick or in prison and visit
You?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say
to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My
brothers,you did it to Me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from
me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for
the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you
gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no
drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome
me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in
prison and you did not visit me.’

44Then they also will answer, saying, ‘Lord, when
did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or
naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to
you?’ 45Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I
say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of
these, you did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go
away into eternal punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life.”
Matthew 25:31-46 ESV

Acts 9:4-5 ESV
4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice
saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you
persecuting me?” 5 And he said, “Who are you,
Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus, whom you are
persecuting.”

Matthew 25:32a
32a Before Him will be gathered all the nations,
The Greek word translated “nations” is ethos
which literally means “Gentiles” or “heathens”.

Jesus is describing the judgment of
the Gentiles, the non-Jewish peoples
of Earth.
They are people living on Earth at the
time of the manifestation of His
presence in power and glory.

At this time, Jesus –Who at this point in the
prophecy has become Judge over all the Earth –
does what no other figure in human history
could ever do: He dissolves all national
distinctions, unites all the nations as one, and
sits over them as Judge.

The purpose of this judgment is to determine
who shall enter the Kingdom of God that the
Son has come to establish – a Kingdom where
the will of God is done on Earth as it is done in
Heaven.

Only the righteous will be allowed to enter this
Kingdom.
This is a judgment of sheep and goats, not
sheep and wolves.
Jesus is not selecting between people who are
obviously bad and people who are obviously
good.

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That separation (between the obviously good
and the obviously bad) is to be made in the very
moment of the appearing of Jesus in power and
glory.

2Thessalonians 1:6-9 ESV
6 since indeed God considers it just to repay
with affliction those who afflict you, 7 and to
grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to
us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from
Heaven with His mighty angels 8 in flaming fire,
inflicting vengeance on those who do not know
God and on those who do not obey the Gospel
of our Lord Jesus.

9They will suffer the punishment of eternal
destruction, away from the presence of the
Lord and from the glory of His might, 10 when
He comes on that Day to be glorified in His
saints, and to be marveled at among all who
have believed, because our testimony to you
was believed.
2Thessalonians 1:6-9 ESV

But the judgment of the sheep and goats is a
different judgment from the one Paul describes
in 2Thessalonians.
In the judgment of the sheep and goats, Jesus
culls the true and false from among all of those
who profess to be Christians.

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It is the separation of the hypocrites from the
real, of the false from the true.

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There are three groups in this judgment scene:
the sheep, the goats and “these brothers of
Mine”.

These brothers of Mine are Jewish people who
have been undergoing a time of extreme trial
and testing that involves hunger and thirst,
homelessness and lack of adequate clothing,
sickness and imprisonment.

This extreme level of suffering speaks of
intense persecution of the 144,000 Jewish
believers who are closely identified with the
Lord during the whole period of His presence
behind the scenes of the GreatTribulation.

Anyone who shows kindness to these hated,
hunted Jewish Christians in the last days will be
taking an enormous risk and demonstrating a
profound depth of love and kindness.

Anyone caught ministering to the needs of
those brothers and sisters of the Lord will
immediately become the object of the fury and
wrath of the Antichrist and his evil one-world
government.

The Lord says to both the sheep and to the
goats “whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers of Mine, you did for Me”.
All of this will be taken into account in the
judgment of the sheep and the goats.

Jesus clearly states the ultimate mark of an
authentic Christian is not his creed nor his
doctrine nor his Bible knowledge but the reality
of his heart.
It is the Christlike love and concern he shows to
those who are in need.

The practical demonstration of love is the final
proof of his faith.
Jesus does not ask anyone to present his case
or to argue his defense.

He asks no questions, He simply says to one
group – the sheep – “Come you who are blessed
by My Father;Take your inheritance, the
Kingdom prepared for you since the creation of
the world.”
Then Jesus explains the basis of His choice:
When the sheep had an opportunity to help
someone in need, they did it!

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The sheep are those who responded to the
needs of others even though it was costly and
risky to reach out in love to meet those needs.

Since it was risky and costly for Jesus to reach
out from Heaven in order to meet our needs,
shouldn’t we, the members of His Followers
Sunday School class, be willing to pay the price
and take the risk to follow His example?

He told the goats, “Depart from Me, you who
are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the
devil and his angels.”
He is talking to people who thought all along
that they were sheep.

If they are allowed to say anything they would
probably say, “I am a church member in good
standing, even a leader in the congregation. I
can give mental assent to a creed and proper
doctrine.”
Agreeing with a creed or doctrine is not faith.

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But when God had given them opportunities to
help people in need, they shut their ears and
looked the other way.

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Opp0rtunity

They took no risk to reach out to the hungry,
the thirsty, the homeless and ill-clothed, the
sick and the imprisoned.
By their lack of love and compassion, they
revealed themselves to be what they are: not
sheep, but goats.

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Faith means to place complete trust in God,
and to make a commitment of one’s life to
Jesus as Lord.

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Authentic conversion means a complete
transformation of life, a complete change of
masters, and the adoption of the role of a
servant to the OneWho is Lord of all.
There are many goats who have all the right
beliefs but lack faith.

They have tried to receive Jesus as Savior
without also receiving Him as Lord.
They spent much of their lives working for
charity, fighting for a worthy cause but they did
it for their own glory, not His.

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They forgot what Jesus said in the Sermon of
the Mount:

Matthew 6:1-4 ESV
1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness
before other people in order to be seen by
them, for then you will have no reward from
your FatherWho is in Heaven.

2 “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no
trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the
synagogues and in the streets, that they may
be praised by others.Truly, I say to you, they
have received their reward.

3 But when you give to the needy, do not let
your left hand know what your right hand is
doing, 4 so that your giving may be in secret.
And your FatherWho sees in secret will reward
you.
Matthew 6:1-4 ESV

When it comes to good works, the source of our
motivation matters.
Those who do good works just to get noticed
and praised already have their reward.

Those who do good works out of a love for
others and a desire to please God will get their
reward in the Kingdom that was prepared
before the foundation of the world.

Not only should we not seek praise and notice
from others when we do good works – we
should not even take any note of it ourselves.
We should not let our left hand know what our
right hand is doing.

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In other words, we should not even privately
pat ourselves on the back.

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1 Chronicles 28:9 ESV
9 for the LORD searches all hearts and
understands every plan and thought.

God expects us to build Christ into our lives on a
daily, moment-by-moment basis.
There is only one kind of life that can transform
us from goats into sheep, and that is the life of
the Shepherd Himself.

Only He is capable of responding to human
need with risky, unselfish love.
Only He is capable of doing good deeds out of
pure and unsullied motives – so we must build
His life into our lives.

Once we have received Him into our hearts, we
need to make ourselves available to Him.
We must invite Him to live through us as He
brings opportunities for love and ministry our
way.

We must be willing to set aside our agendas and
schedules and wants and wishes in order to
reach out to others in the strength and love He
imparts to us.
This alone is the life that meets the test.

This alone is the life of a true sheep, led by the
Great Shepherd.
The Great Shepherd is also the greatest
ProphetWho has ever lived and He has told us
how this whole thing ends so the question now
is, what are we going to do about it?

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What will our response be?
He has given us the answer to this question also
– “Watch & Pray!”

Luke 21:36 ESV
36 But stay awake at all times, praying that you
may have strength to escape all these things
that are going to take place, and to stand
before the Son of Man.”

The issue of watchfulness is so important to
Him that He underscores it four times
throughout the Olivet discourse:
1) Matthew 24:4 – “Watch out that no one
deceives you.”
2) Matthew 24:42 – “Therefore keep watch,
because you do not know on what day your
Lord will come.”

3) Matthew24:44 – “So you also must be
ready, because the Son of Man will come at
an hour when you do not expect Him.”
4) Matthew 25:13 – “Therefore keep watch,
because you do not know the day or the
hour.”

The meaning of the command to watch, pray
and be ready can be summed up in three
specific principles:
1. Meditate on God’s Word.
2. Walk in God’s Spirit.
3. God’s love - Live dangerously and love
dangerously for Jesus Christ.

1. To watch means to help one another feed
upon the living Lord Jesus, as He is revealed
in the writtenWord of God.
• We must study, memorize and meditate
on God’sWord.

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2. To watch means to walk in the Spirit, depending
not upon our fallible human resources but upon
the power of God’s indwelling Spirit at work in
and through us.

3. To watch means we must live dangerously
and love dangerously, venturing and risking
for Christ’s sake.
• We must boldly take advantage of every
opportunity to meet the needs of those
around us, with no thought of praise for
us.

Luke 21:34-36 ESV
34 “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be
weighed down with dissipation and
drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day
come upon you suddenly like a trap. 35 For it will
come upon all who dwell on the face of the
whole earth.

36 But stay awake (watch) at all times, praying
that you may have strength to escape all these
things that are going to take place, and to stand
before the Son of Man.”
Luke 21:34-36 ESV

1 John 2:28 ESV
28 And now, little children, abide in Him, so that
when He appears we may have confidence and
not shrink from Him in shame at His coming.

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The point is, “Be ready all the time”.
• We are not waiting for the undertaker, we
are waiting for the Upper-taker!

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Sunday

Psalm 84:1-12
His Presence
July 2, 2017
First Baptist Church
Jackson, Mississippi
USA

The Plan of Hope & Salvation
John 3:16 ESV
16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish but have
eternal life.”
John 14:6 ESV
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the
life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Romans 3:23 ESV
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23a ESV
23a For the wages of sin is death,
• Death in this life (the first death) is 100%.
• Even Jesus, the only one who doesn’t deserve death,
died in this life to pay the penalty for our sins.
• The death referred to in Romans 6:23a is the second
death explained in Revelation 21:8.

Revelation 21:8 ESV
8 “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as
for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters,
and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns
with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Romans 6:23b ESV
23b but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our
Lord.

Romans 5:8 ESV
8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still
sinners, Christ died for us.
Revelation 21:7 ESV
7 "The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will
be his God and he will be my son.”
Romans 10:9-10 explains to us how to be conquerors.

Romans 10:9-10 ESV
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is
Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from
the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one
believes and is justified, and with the mouth one
confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:13 ESV
13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be
saved.”

If you have questions or would like to know more, Please,
contact First Baptist Church Jackson at 601-949-1900 or
http://firstbaptistjackson.org/contact/

06-25-17, Psalm 138;1-8, Matthew 24 & 25, Our Response

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06-25-17, Psalm 138;1-8, Matthew 24 & 25, Our Response