In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of Christian work being tested by fire. He uses the analogy of a housewife's efforts in building a home, emphasizing that even though great efforts are put into building, it can all be destroyed in a matter of minutes if a fire breaks out. Similarly, there is Christian work that will be consumed by fire and those who have done the building will have to run out in their night shirts, saved only by fire. The speaker also references a story about a young boy who dies in a blizzard while caring for his sheep, but finds comfort in the image of Jesus as the good shepherd. The sermon concludes with a reminder of the coming day of judgment and reward for the Lord's people, urging obedience and service to God.

Will you turn with me, please, this morning to Matthew chapter 25. If you catch me with any Americanisms, some of them are beginning to stick, but forgive me. Praise the Lord. Matthew 25. The last week of our Lord's ministry was, to a great degree, concentrated on his own inner circle of disciples. There was some public ministry, but Matthew tells us of a series of talks and parables that he gave to his disciples in association with their comments on the temple. John tells us some of the things he said to them on the last day when he was about to leave them. Tremendous words. In Matthew 24, our Lord answered the disciples' comments about the temple by warning them of two great events, the destruction of the temple and the city, and also the second coming of our Lord in glory. And then, while he didn't take much trouble, apparently, to differentiate between those two, I think he deliberately allowed them to be obscure, so that no one could say, this is the day he's coming back. He followed those with three parables concerning our responsibility in relation to his second coming, and those are found in Matthew chapter 25. The first is the parable of the virgins, the second the parable of the servants, and the third the parable of the sheep and goats. In the first one, there was a separation. The foolish virgins were shut outside the door. In the second one, there was a separation. The unprofitable servant was dispatched to outer darkness, and there was weeping and gnashing of teeth. In the third one, there was a separation, and this time the goats were consigned to that eternal fire and everlasting punishment prepared for the devil and his angels. Our Lord was on his way to his suffering and death, and he needed to bring home to us all the intensity of the reality of life and death which he was handling. It's one thing for the blessed Son of God to go solitary to Calvary. It is another matter for those who believe on him to understand the important weight of these things, and to know how important are life and death and judgment and eternity. In the first parable, the parable of the virgins, the separation took place because the five foolish virgins weren't ready. And Jesus said, Be ye also ready, for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of Man shall come. Not ready. In the second parable, the separation took place because the servant was not involved in his master's business. In the third parable, the separation took place because these were not his sheep. It is particularly the third parable which I wish to bring to you. Matthew 25 verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was unhungred, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee unhungred, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say to them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Then shall he say also to them on the left hand, Depart ye from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was unhungred, and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me not in. Naked, and ye clothed me not. Sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee unhungred, or a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and didn't minister unto thee? Then he shall answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not to me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal." Jesus talked more about judgment and hell fire than anyone else in scripture, and even warned his own inner group of disciples in words something like this, If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee. For it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go whole into hell fire. He was a most disturbing teacher. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild, who told us that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. Jesus it was, who above all Bible teachers, spoke most plainly about judgment, outer darkness, hell fire, eternity. We have lost out on these things. Our forefathers, a couple generations ago, capitalized on these subjects. With raised fists and waving Bible, they shouted to the passing crowd of the dangers of Christ's rejection. But we in our day have modified our approach, and possibly have lost something thereby. And I pause here to remind you that thou Lord did not talk about hell fire to the passing crowd, but to the religious people. To Pharisees, how shall ye escape the damnation of hell? To his own disciples, to the inner circle, he warned of eternal things. Now this parable of the sheep and the goats has been used traditionally down through the teachings of Christendom as teaching salvation by works. In countless churches and to many generations has the phrase been quoted and re-quoted, inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me. And therefore the deduction has been that salvation is by works, coupled of course with the grace of God. This difficulty was so real and so plain that the editors of the Scofield Bible came to our rescue, and helped us out of a great problem. They said this is a special judgment, not the general judgment, but a special one, which is related to the nations and not to individuals. And the nations will be judged as to how they have treated the brethren of Christ who are the Jews at his second coming. And so we all heaved a sigh of relief and said well very well, we can now go on believing that salvation is by grace after all. And we were very grateful for the notes at the foot of the page in our Scofield Bible. But there are certain difficulties I find there. One of the most obvious difficulties is that the judgments and rewards meted out are so colossal. These go into life eternal, and these go into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Does that really mean then that all the American nation is going to enter into life eternal because they have provided a home for our financial Jewish brethren? Or does it mean that the German nation from the highest to the lowest mother with infant shall be consigned into everlasting punishment as a nation because they treated the Jews so cruelly? I think not. Eternal judgment is not meted out to nations as such but to individuals. Every man shall give account of himself to God. In Ezekiel's day they were saying the fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children's teeth are set on edge. And Ezekiel said something like this, don't you believe it? The soul that sinneth it shall die. Everyone shall face his own responsibility. It's not national salvation but individual judgment which you have to face. And then again this word nations, let me see, how is it? All nations penta ta ethne is roughly the Greek according to my pronunciation. Don't take any notice of that because we each have our own way of saying it. It's the same phrase that Matthew used later on when he says go teach all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost. Well I know that the Catholic Apostolic Church some 150 years ago did get the idea of sending 12 apostles out to all the nations and they wouldn't do any preaching until they got the head of the nation and they preached to him thereby teaching the whole nation. Which is rather odd. Philip of course spoke to individuals and Peter talked to a household and things like that. And I don't think that was really it. Besides it says go teach all nations baptizing them. What a dreadful splash it would make if you baptize the whole nation all at once. Uh no no they the the word ethnos is the normal word used for gentiles and I don't think that interpretation cunning as it may seem will really stand. This is an individual judgment which is in view. But whatever do you do with it? Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren and ye have done it unto me and these shall enter into life eternal. The best way when you come across a difficulty in the Bible is to look at it straight. Face it as straight as you know how. When my wife and I were first in Nigeria we got mixed up between the sheep and the goats that occupied the village streets and ran round the corners of little mud huts and things. And we could not distinguish between them. I would say uh no my wife would say uh look at that goat over there and I would say no that's a sheep. And our host would say you're wrong you know that's a goat. And so we'd go on arguing because they were all dirty. They were all scraggy and generally miserable looking and we couldn't tell the one from the other at first. I don't know whether you had that trouble Mike but we did. Eventually we sorted them out and this is how. The first thing I discovered was the goat's tail stuck up. And so I looked for a tail pointing up in the air and I said that's a goat and I was generally right. But not only his tail stuck up his head stuck up and his horn stuck up and his ears stuck out. And you could generally find them fighting quarreling or stealing uh surreptitiously poking a nose in somebody's doorway and pulling out a whole yam. You've ever seen that kind of thing Mike? There was something about the goats that one could recognize. And the sheep were so different. Their tails hung down, their ears hang down, their heads hang down, they congregate in the village street. The trouble with a goat is he might rush across your path. The trouble with a sheep is you've got a job to get him out of your way. Different altogether in nature. And if you look at this wonderful picture of the shepherd with his sheep and goats you will see that they are divided not according to works but according to nature. He divides the sheep from the goats. He didn't look at a sheep and say well what have you done today you're only a goat and throw him among the other people. He didn't look look at a goat and say what have you done today you've been a good boy all right you can join the sheep. Not a bit of it. No as a shepherd and everyone would understand this he divided the sheep from the goats according to nature. That's as plain as can be. Anyone who wasn't a theologian jumped to that right away. All you needed to be was a farmer. And so he the shepherd the great king of glory the Lord Jesus will divide the sheep from the goats according to their nature. For we are separated according to nature but judged according to works. Just as simple as all that. Have a look at the whole parable and it sorts itself out just like ABC. And the question you have to ask yourself this morning and I have to ask myself primarily is am I a sheep or am I a goat? I wanted to make a horrible pun about goats butting but I'll leave that one out for the time being. But what is your nature? Are you one of Christ's sheep? We were all goats at one time rebellious in nature and corrupt. And even though we tried to reform ourselves and brush our coat a bit and clean up we could never quite turn ourselves into sheep could we? Until Jesus did it. Hallelujah. And he washed us and cleansed us and renewed us and gave us a new heart and a new nature. My sheep says Jesus hear my voice. Is that what you do? And they follow me. Is that what you do? And I know them. Does he know you? And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish and no man shall pluck them out of my hands. Are you in his hands? Here are the marks of the sheep. You can't imitate it. Either you are a sheep or else you belong to the other crowd the goats trying to look like sheep. And that's why the great shepherd is the appointed judge who will sort out every man. Thank God that the right judge is appointed who will never make any mistake. No matter how bedraggled a sheep looks he'll still be a sheep at heart and the shepherd will know. And no matter how spruced up and refined a goat may appear he'll still be a goat at heart and the shepherd will know. He will make no mistake whatsoever. He divides as a shepherd divides the sheep from the goats in that great judgment day when the son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him. Then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats and he shall set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on the left. And then first of all he deals with the sheep and afterwards he deals with the goats. Which is interesting because in the book of Revelation we have a chapter there which some take literally and some take symbolically and I'm still trying to find out how to take it. But it does chapter 20 does deal with a separation in association with the great millennial day of God. And it says at the beginning I saw verse four I saw thrones and they sat on them and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus for the word of God which hadn't worshipped the beast nor his image and so on. They lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years. And then later on the dead in Christ verse 12 at the close of that thousand years apparently the books were opened and another book was opened. The dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. Death and hell cast into the lake of fire. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Obviously a parallel there with the second judgment in Matthew 25. And you may be interested to notice that when Peter is talking about these things in his second epistle he also mentions a thousand years. Look at this verse 7 chapter 3 2 Peter 3 verse 7. But the heavens and the earth which are now by the same word kept in store reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men but beloved be not ignorant of this that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day. He's quoting from Moses. The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some men count slackness but is long suffering to us word not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance but the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent heat the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up or some other word there I forgot what it is seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and the element shall melt with fervent heat nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness wherefore beloved seeing that ye look for such things be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless. Now isn't it interesting that when Peter is writing about that mighty day of the Lord he too should mention a thousand years that makes me think that probably there is a millennial day with a judgment of those who are Christ at its beginning and the judgment for the rest of mankind and it's closed. I might be wrong but at any rate to save us all falling out and arguing on eschatology we can say that it might be right anyway. Now then let me come back to my parable our Lord's parable. Believer you are saved by grace alone and through the blood of Jesus and you will become one of Christ's sheep by grace. I think it was Jane Darby who somewhere in the bog land beyond Dublin was talking to a lad who was dying of consumption a shepherd boy who had been overexposed in looking after his sheep and Darby was appalled to find that he had no means of contact with the boy. The boy did not know the bible had never been taught anything about the things of God and he knew the lad didn't have long to live and he wondered however he could contact him. He talked to him and he said tell me about your life and tell me how did you get ill? Well he said I've never been very strong sir and he spoke in an Irish which I can't possibly imitate. I'm not going to try but several times I've been sick and cold when I've been caring for the sheep for so you know if I don't care for them and get them in shelter when the rains are heavy they'll die they get a cough and they die and I'm afraid sir I was out too long and the last time I haven't got better again. Jane Darby realized that there was a channel open to the boy's mind and he read from John 10 about the good shepherd who gives his life for the sheep and read to him from Psalm 23 and the little lad's understanding was enlightened and he saw Jesus his great shepherd and he saw himself as the poor little sheep in danger of death and JND records what a marvellous change took place in that lad manifest on his countenance in his dying days. Praise the Lord. Let me tell you another little story this one from Scotland which I heard from Arthur Wood of Young Life Campaign some 50 years ago or more or less from which you may deduce a few things. This story comes from Scotland and it's very similar to the Jane Darby story. An elderly Scottish ministry minister used to go up into the Highlands sometimes to reach his remote parishioners and hold a weekend services with them and one day talking by the peat fire he too was talking to a Scottish shepherd lad and he shared about the great shepherd and he taught the boy the first lines of Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want and he said to him would you like the Lord Jesus to be your shepherd and care for you as you care for your sheep? He said yes sir I would. He told him about the good shepherd giving his life upon Calvary's cross and together by the fireside they knelt and the little fellow asked the Lord Jesus to come into his heart and the old minister said do you really believe he has come in and forgiven your sins? He said yes sir. Well he said I want you to think of that first verse of the psalm when you're out on the hills and you can remember it like this hold up your left hand the Lord is my shepherd do that after me the Lord is my shepherd. Yes the boy did it did it again until he could remember it then he said now this time I want you to do something different watch me the Lord is my shepherd laying hold of the third finger and the boy did it the Lord is my shepherd the old man the old minister went down to the valley again and a few months passed by and during that winter there was a great blizzard bitter and cold and a little fellow was caught out and they couldn't get to him isolated on the Scottish moors and when at last the search party did locate him and his sheep although they found several of the sheep alive huddled under a stone wall the little fellow was frozen dead and they brought his body back to the cottage and sent for the old minister to conduct the funeral and he talked to them and sought to comfort them and they said sir there's one thing that puzzled us maybe you can tell us when we found him he was holding the third finger of his left hand do you know what it means he was able to say yes I do he knew that Jesus was his shepherd and the great shepherd took him home saved by grace hallelujah but make no mistake about it judged by works God is faithful and just and true and as surely as he judges the rest of the world according to their works so you and I shall give account of ourselves to God and I want to bring to you those great familiar Pauline scriptures on this subject first of all 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 9 wherefore we labor that whether present or absent we may be accepted of him for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men but we are made manifest unto God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences the word terror is really the old-fashioned word fear but it's still quite a strong word it's the word from which we get our phobia you know hydrophobia and claustrophobia that's the word behind this knowing the fear of the Lord we persuade men we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ they used to tell me that the judgment seat of Christ was rather like a Sunday school prize giving in which every boy and girl received a prize some better than others but even the smallest child got away with a little stick of chocolate or candy or something but Paul speaks of the judgment seat the high seat the beamer seat of Christ in stronger language than that he says everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad knowing therefore the fear of the Lord we persuade men Christian if you are saved if you are born again it is by the grace of God but make no mistake about it you will answer at the judgment seat of Christ for the things you have done in your body whether they be good or bad let's not have a sloppy gospel which makes Jesus just a merciful savior and robs him of his glory as judge he is the judge of all the world and the judge of every man let me read you one or two other scriptures from the new testament also romans 14 verse 7 to 13 for none of us liveth to himself no man dieth to himself for whether we live we live unto the Lord whether we die we die unto the Lord whether we live therefore or die we are the Lord for to this end Christ both died and rose and revived that he might be Lord both of the dead and the living but why dost thou judge thy brother or why dost thou set at naught thy brother for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ for it is written as I live saith the Lord every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God so then every one of us shall give account of himself to God let us not therefore judge one another anymore but judge this rather that no man put a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way you theologians may notice in this passage that the word Christ and the word Lord and the word God are used interchangeably one of those incidental demonstrations of the deity of our Lord Jesus but thank God he is appointed to judge us not solely on the grounds of his deity but also on the grounds of his humanity God has appointed the day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained whereof he has given assurance to all men in that he hath raised him from the dead our judge is God in authority man in understanding hallelujah touch with the feelings of our infirmities there will be no hiding no deception from him he understands us through and through he knows our temptations he knows every secret thing God and man he's the he is the appointed one I'm glad that Jesus is the judge and I'm glad too that the hidden things are going to be brought to light the other day I was called upon to do a tv interview thing and I made an awful mess of it I'm no good on tv uh but one of my troubles was I was supposed to talk about my ministry in Africa and I didn't know whether to play it up or play it down you know I could have made given some tremendous figures and shown something very very colossal which of course would have suited would have suited the American mind very well uh bless them they're wonderful people I like them or I could do the English thing and play it all down well I did the English thing and I was a real flunk Paul says we judge nothing until the day he says I don't even judge my own self Jesus is going to sort it all out hallelujah and you know most of us have a little streak of hypocrisy in us at least I'm sorry I am sometimes tempted to be slightly hypocritical not very of course don't think that but but it's there and there is a certain amount attached to our Christian life and and service which is not as real as it should be thank God it's going through the judgment and it's going to be sorted out and we're not going to carry one iota of false glory into eternity hallelujah all the dud things all the pretended things all the vain boastings all the great big edifices that men were so pleased about will all be tested and nothing false is going to go through God's blessed sieve at the judgment seat Jesus will sort the whole thing out there's another scripture in one Corinthians isn't there on this line which is talking especially about Christian work one Corinthians chapter three and he's talking about his ministry and his service in the gospel and those who worked with him and those who worked after him and he said verse 11 for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Jesus Christ now if any man build on this foundation gold silver precious stones wood hay stubble the first group being indestructible the wood hay stubble being those things that barns are made of and which are easily burned every man's work shall be made manifest for the day shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is if any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon he shall receive a reward if any man's work shall be burned he shall suffer loss but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire I was talking to the owner of one of those American mobile homes or house trailers beautiful things some of them 80 85 feet long and tremendous efforts furnished to the nth degree with everything a housewife could desire but he told me that if if one of these things catches fire you have two minutes to get out and just go up in flames no chance of sending for the fire brigade and there is some Christian work Paul says which being tested by fire will be so consumed that the folk who've done the building will have to run out in their nightshirts saved as by fire another one the same epistle and chapter 4 and verse 5 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 5 therefore judge nothing before the time until the Lord come who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the counsels of the heart and then shall every man have praise of God my friends in the states they're so kind they pat me on the back at every available opportunity and every unseemly opportunity too and tell me how wonderful I am don't they Mike and it really is nice we get an inflated idea of ourselves that God is going to handle it what a wonderful thing it will be if God praises you oh my nothing false or imitation or artificial about it utterly gloriously and eternally genuine alleluia all the dead things swept away burned up and only the gold silver precious stones coming through into that a blessed eternity with our Lord and Savior let me see did I give you one yes I think no 1 Peter 1 5 7 I hope you people don't mind a bible study 1 Peter 1 5 who there's an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time wherein ye greatly rejoice though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation that the trial of your faith being much more precious than a gold that perishes though it be tried with fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ whom having not seen ye love in whom though now you see him not yet believing you rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your souls there's a tremendous day of judgment and revelation and reward coming for the Lord's people Ephesians 6 servants verse 5 servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ not that I service as men pleases but as servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart with goodwill doing service as unto the Lord and not unto men knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth the same shall he receive of the Lord whether he be bond or free and ye masters do the same things for them for you have a master which is in heaven and there is no respect of persons with him during my work in in all days I have to confess there are times when I sneak five minutes off to read my new testament and unless I've put that matter right with the Lord at his judgment seat he'll say to me why weren't you getting on with your job that's right we our master is in heaven and whatever we do we do unto him and from him we receive the meat recompense of reward I want you to notice the element of surprise that the sheep manifest when they said Lord did we see thee a hungered or thirsty or a stranger or naked and we closed thee when Lord and he'll explain in as much as he did it unto one of the least of these my brethren he did it unto me the element of surprise suggests this that is it is the sort of thing you do without thinking that is of real value in heaven that which comes out of your heart of love and compassion when you rush to help somebody just because you can't bear to see them suffering you had no thought about doing it to your master in heaven those are the things that are full of weight because they spring from the new nature they spring from the new heart that when we gear ourselves up and tauten all our bow strings and try and be a little bit more righteous than we used to be and then go blundering around doing our supposed good works hoping somebody notices us that's the sort of thing that won't stand the test it's what springs from new birth new nature and Christ in you the hope of glory being spontaneously expressed that is what will stand the fires on the great testing day and it's what springs from new birth new nature and Christ in you the hope of glory being spontaneously expressed that is what will stand the fires on the great testing day hallelujah and you and I are going to be surprised at the things the Lord noticed and a little bit disappointed at some of the things he overlooked hallelujah wonderful Jesus he knows exactly what he's doing praise the Lord I want to read the scripture from Jude Jude 20 just to cheer you up verse 24 now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy to the only wise God our Savior be glory and majesty dominion and power both now and ever you see the only thing which is going to stand the test is that which is done in fellowship with the one who keeps you the sheep that keeps closest to the shepherd is the one who's going to see the great big rewards praise the Lord that if you love the Lord Jesus ever increasingly with all your heart and soul and mind and strength you'll be like a branch in the vine bringing forth fruit in his season like a tree planted by the waters you're going to get your blessed reward in his presence because of the life of Christ manifest in word and deed that's why John says let us not love in word only but in deed and truth praise the Lord this blessed life within us must find expression but now I want to say a few words about the goats not much this is a sad and terrible topic when we read our bible we are horrified at the judgments of God in the old and the new testaments it shows how far we are away from God's thoughts he is holy we live in a sort of pigsty and our concepts of holiness are not like his he is angry with an awful eternal anger of thwarted divine love against sin there are parents these days who when they see that it's brought to their notice that their boy is taking drugs they'll say oh well it's nothing everybody else is doing it and besides he'll grow out of it later on would you feel like that would that be your reaction parent I don't think so they would rise up in you and anger against those who had led your lad or girl astray isn't that right my bible shows a God of love who is angry angry with the thing that's destroying his creation and there will come that great day of judgment when the goats shall be gathered there and they shall hear the condemnation of the just judge oh my god I cannot measure these things I don't understand them but the anger of God is the obverse of his love it's the other side of his great unfathomable nature and I notice one of the terrible things about that judgment is that these people are not condemned for doing anything particularly wicked they're not condemned as murderers and adulterers in this parable they're condemned for doing precisely nothing ye did it not it's a sentence of condemnation what did we do when did we see thee you didn't do a thing the the branch in the vine which was withered and burned didn't do a thing the unprofitable servant who buried his talent didn't do a thing the barren ground that was cursed didn't do a thing in the judgment God puts on the scales our inactivities as well as our activities and we may learn from even that terrible judgment that we too have a responsibility before God my words and the teaching from scripture this morning has been a little heavy but I don't think I have exaggerated what the bible has said on these things and in view of that blessed and wonderful judgment day in which we shall give an account before God we need to recognize the fear of the Lord and move out of our lethargy and half-heartedness into total commitment he is not only our savior he is our judge we look back to the cross we look forward to the being the seat of Christ and we shall give account I was talking to a dear brother the other day who had come through some fearsome operations nearly all his intestines had been removed in pieces from time to time and it had seemed a hard life for him and his wife but she was saying we feel that God has been teaching us some lessons I will always remember she said our little girl when she was very young and she got a great big splinter in her finger and I comforted her and I went to the medicine cupboard and to get the tweezers and when she saw the tweezers she said mommy mommy band-aid please mommy and for all her tears from the child and all the mother's love she could not give that child a band-aid without removing the splinter there are many of us who want the comfort of the scripture and we shrink when the Lord is saying there's a whole splinter in there to be pulled out and if you have been apathetic or half-hearted if you haven't appreciated that that salvation which is operating in you so that you are working out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you to will and do of his good pleasure then accept the painful operation of the word of God this morning and come right back to Jesus the Lord you won't be able to do a thing on your own you won't be able to do a thing by reformation the only that you can do is to be right with him and allow his pardoning love to find expression through you to other folk glory to God band-aid no fear Lord I want you to get every splinter out and if there's a beam in my eye Lord get it out I want to walk worthy of the Lord and to all well-pleasing I got some of our American friends to sing a little hymn out of the out of one of their books by Elijah Hoffman I think have thine affections been nailed to the cross is thy heart right with God does thou for Jesus count all things but loss is thine heart right with God is thy heart right with God washed in the crimson flood humble and holy humble and lowly made pure and holy right in the sight of God if the heart is clean and Christ dwells therein without contention there'll be fruit unto life eternal praise the Lord will you stand with me and pray ask father this morning for a return of the fear of the Lord we would know the greatness of thine immeasurable love we would also know the awfulness of thy holiness and understand that tremendous things devolve upon our everyday war and not only because Jesus loves us and died for us but also because thou hast appointed him to be the judge the blessed wonderful judge with eyes as a flame of fire thou hast appointed him we would yield ourselves Lord afresh and ask so to be filled with the Holy Ghost that no other loyalty shall claim us except the loyalty of our Lord Jesus who died for us that whether we sleep or wake we should live together with him amen and amen