In this sermon, the speaker focuses on two parables from the book of Luke and Matthew. The first parable is about a moneylender who forgives the debts of two debtors, illustrating how we are all in debt to God for our sins. The speaker emphasizes that the amount of love we have for God is reflected in our willingness to sacrifice and give. The second parable is about separating the sheep from the goats, where Jesus commends those who showed love and compassion to others in practical ways, such as feeding the hungry, giving drink to the thirsty, and clothing the naked. The speaker encourages listeners to be alert to the needs of those around them and to prioritize caring for others.

We'll turn this evening to Luke's Gospel chapter 7. First of all, we're going to study parable number 10. And our subject today is loving God and man. And Jesus spoke here a parable which tells us the reason why we are to love God. And the reason why some people love God more than others. Why some people are willing to sacrifice more and give more because they love more. Luke chapter 7, Jesus said in verse 41 and 42, a certain moneylender had two debtors and that moneylender is a picture of God. And the debtors are all human beings. We are in debt to God for all that he has forgiven us, our sins. We are in debt every time we commit a sin. We are in debt. Unbelievers are in debt. Believers are in debt. One owed 500 denarii and the other 50. One owed 10 times more than the other and they were both unable to repay. He graciously forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him more? Simon said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. And he said to him, you have judged correctly. Now let me just say a few words first about these two things. Love for God and love for man. Like the two arms of the cross, vertically love for God and love for man is the sum and substance of the entire Old Testament law and also of the whole Bible. When Jesus died on the cross, he manifested his intense love for his father, first of all, by obeying him completely. And he also manifested his intense love for us by dying on the cross. So the cross is a symbol of total love for God and total love for man. We mustn't forget that when we think of the cross. Sometimes we think of it only as Jesus' love for man. Once when some people wanted to test Jesus in Matthew chapter 22 and came to him and asked him, which is the great commandment in the law? Matthew 22 verse 36. And they were trying to trap him with a question. And they would find fault with him, whichever commandment he mentioned. So he said, the great commandment, the foremost commandment is to love the Lord your God, verse 37, with all your heart, all your soul, and with all your mind. Then he said, it doesn't stop there. The second is like unto it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. So he spoke about that vertical love and the horizontal love. And he said, the entire law in the prophets, verse 40, is dependent on these two commandments. When Moses came down from the mountain, he came with two tablets of stone. And the first tablet had four commandments written on it. The first four commandments which spoke about love for God. And the other tablet had six commandments written on it, which spoke about love for our neighbors, fellow human beings. So the entire law was summed up in these two tablets, one which represented love for God and the other which represented love for one's neighbor. And Jesus said, not only the law but all the teachings of the prophets hung on these two. And this is what the law could never accomplish in anybody's heart. God wanted man to love him with all his heart and to love his fellow human beings as himself. And he gave these two tablets of stone, but nobody in all those 1500 years since the law was given, nobody could come to this which God wanted. And that's what we read in Romans chapter 8 and verse 3. It says there, what the law could not do. What was it that the law could not do? The law could not make a man love God with all his heart. He loved himself. He loved money. He loved the things of the world. No matter how much you preach to them, they still love money. They still love themselves. And they still love the things of the world. And all the great prophets preached to them, it wouldn't change them. It couldn't get one man to love God with all his heart. And it could not get one man to love his neighbor as himself. They all loved themselves and they couldn't care less for most of their neighbors. So that is what that little phrase in Romans 8 3 means, what the law could not do. That is what the law could not do. The law could make them keep external commandments. But now it says in the rest of that verse, God has done it through sending Jesus to the earth who lived that life. And now listen to verse 4, Romans 8 4, that requirement of the law can now be fulfilled inside us who live according to the Holy Spirit. So this is the whole purpose of the coming of the Holy Spirit. That this, these dual commandment, this dual commandment to love God with all your heart and to love your neighbor as yourself, which the law could not accomplish, can now be accomplished by the Holy Spirit coming into our hearts. Because now God says, I will write these laws inside your heart, inside your mind. And when God writes it inside, that means I can do it. That means I can love God with all my heart so that I don't love money, so that I don't love myself, and I don't love the things of the world. And I can have a concern for my neighbor like Jesus had, that I'm willing to deny myself to serve him and love him. And so it says in Romans chapter 5 and verse 5, Romans chapter 5 and verse 5, the middle of that verse it says, the love of God is poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that is given to us. So why was the Holy Spirit given to us? That the love of God may be poured into our hearts so that my entire heart can be filled with love for God and love for my neighbor as myself. And that is what real holiness is. And all these parables that we're going to look at today deal with this dual love manifested on the cross, which the law could not accomplish, which can now be accomplished in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. If you open yourself to the Holy Spirit of God to fill you continuously, you will love God with all your heart. You don't have to produce it. No, we cannot produce it. People tried for 1500 years to do it and they did not succeed. You're not going to succeed today. We have to recognize our weakness and say, Lord, I cannot do it, but I want you to fill my heart with the love of God through the Holy Spirit so that you write your laws in my heart and I do what the law could not accomplish. And then as I said, we will be holy. Now this is not a burdensome life. The devil says, oh, if you start loving everybody like yourself, it'll be a tremendous burden. No, it's when you love yourself that you're sick. When you obey God's commandments to love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself, you're perfectly healthy. Is anybody afraid of being perfectly healthy? Supposing we say God's going to do a work for you that there's no sickness in you. Oh, how wonderful that'll be. Well, whatever is health for the body is what I'm saying for our spirit. A man is perfectly healthy in his spirit when he loves God with all his heart and he loves his neighbor as himself. If he doesn't do that, he is sick. Health is not a burden. Sickness is a burden. So having said those words as an introduction, let me go to this parable. The first one here, number 10 in Luke chapter 7, which we just read. This is a story of a Pharisee who invited Jesus to his house. And while Jesus was in the house, a very sinful woman. We read in Luke chapter 7 in verse 37, there was a woman in the city who was a sinner. She was in all probability a prostitute who had lived a very wicked life, but who had repented, whom Jesus had forgiven, and she did not know how to express her love for Jesus. So you know what she did? She took all the savings that she had got in her earnings as a prostitute and she went to the market and she spent all that money and bought a very expensive perfume. If you go to these shops that sell perfume bottles, they are very, very expensive. And she bought a large bottle of perfume, spending her entire savings. And she came to the feet of Jesus and she poured it on his feet and anointed his feet. We read that in verse 38. Now Simon was a Pharisee who had invited Jesus and he knew the Old Testament law. And I want you to read a verse in the Old Testament in Deuteronomy chapter 23 and verse 18. In Deuteronomy chapter 23 and verse 18, there was an Old Testament law which said that you must never bring the earnings of a prostitute into the house of God. That is an abomination to God if a prostitute brings her earnings and gives it to God. So Simon knew that law and he said, I know where this woman got her money from. She got it through earning it as a prostitute, a harlot. And if Jesus were really a prophet, he would have known this is wrong. Even I can discern it. How is it he can't discern it? So he said, Jesus cannot be a prophet. That's what he said in Luke 7 39. But Jesus was a person who was always breaking these ceremonial laws because he loved people. He was not here to, you know, make life difficult for people with the laws. He would break the Sabbath laws and all types of laws. And this is another one that he broke where he received that hire of a harlot that was forbidden in Deuteronomy because he saw the woman's heart. God looks at a man's heart. God looks at a woman's heart. Whereas religious people like that Pharisee, they're always careful to see whether you obeyed some little letter of the law. That's how the Pharisees were always seeking to get people to see if they're obeying some letter of the law. And they've got scriptures to quote. And I've seen through the years, religious people like that in Christian circles in all denominations. I've seen one thing about them. They never grow spiritually till they get rid of this legalistic, trying to find fault in other people with little verses of scripture. And if any of you are like that, I want to encourage you to get rid of it. Otherwise, you won't find yourself in fellowship with Jesus Christ. And then Jesus told this parable to this person that here were two people who were in debt and one person owed 10 times what the other person owed. 500 denarii one person owed and the other person owed 50 denarii. 500 denarii was about two years salary if you exclude all the holidays. Two years salary. It's a lot of money. And the other person owed only about two months salary. And both were freely forgiven. So who will love more? And that man said obviously if somebody's forgiven more, he loves more. So there we see the reason why some believers love God more than others. And when we love God more, we will sacrifice more. Have you seen how a mother sacrifices for her child? You know what all she'll give up for the sake of her children? Parents. What a lot parents do for their children is because they love their children. They don't do it for strangers out in the streets. Love always produces devotion, service, sacrifice. And you can see that especially in a mother's love for her children. She'll deny herself food if the children can eat properly. She'll deny herself clothes if the children can have clothes. Why is it some people love Jesus also like that? That they deny themselves so many things because they want to pour out their life, their money, their energy, everything for the Lord in his work. And then there are other believers who just choose a little comfortable life. Just go to the meetings regularly on Sundays and ease their conscience. Shall I tell you the reason? One has been forgiven 500 and the other has been forgiven only 50. Why did the apostle Paul, who was the son of a very rich businessman in Tarsus, only rich Jewish businessman went to Tarsus and who could have lived as a, he after he was converted he could have gone to Tarsus and been a respectable Christian businessman and lived there and attended a local church there and been a good brother in that church. Maybe an elder and run his business and given money for God's work. Why didn't he do that? Why did he choose a life of sacrifice and difficulty? Where you read 2nd Corinthians chapter 11. He says there are times when he did not have enough money to buy food. This is the greatest apostle of the first century. He did not have enough money to buy food. Another place in the same chapter he says he didn't have enough money to buy warm clothes. He shivered in the cold. Why should he choose such a life? The son of such a rich businessman choosing such a life. It was love. He said I am the chief of sinners and I have been forgiven and that's why I want to pour out my love at the Lord's feet. Now you know many of us when we pray we all like to say oh God I'm such a filthy sinner. That sounds very humble but most of us don't really believe it. Because if somebody else says we are filthy sinners we get a little upset. That proves we don't really believe it. But if you really believe that you're a filthy sinner and some people say even strong statements like oh God I'm the filthiest sinner in the world. Really? Well if you are then you must love the Lord more than anybody else in the world. Right? Because you've been forgiven more than anybody else. So the next time you call yourself a filthy sinner please remember that you are under obligation to prove that by loving the Lord more than everybody else. If you believe that you're the worst sinner in this congregation then you must prove by your life of sacrifice and devotion to Christ more than anybody else here. That's the only way to prove that I have been forgiven much. Now does this parable mean that we have to actually go out and sin a lot before we love the Lord? No no no no no. Paul did not actually go out and commit so many sins because in another place he says according to the righteousness of the law I am blameless. How do these two things go together? I'm blameless according to the righteousness of the law. Another place he says I'm the chief of sinners. It's because the awareness of sin is different in different people. It's a question of how much your conscience convicts you. Conscience is like a weighing machine. You know when a weighing machine the spring in a weighing machine is spoiled. Even if a big man stands on it the needle doesn't move because the spring is spoiled. And when we are unconverted our conscience is like that. Even a big sin we don't get convicted. You can put one ton and the needle just moves slightly. Something's wrong and that's the condition of man's conscience. But once we accept Christ gradually the Holy Spirit begins to work on our conscience on this weighing machine and makes it more and more sensitive. That's how you know you're growing spiritually. That some sins which you never thought were sins before now you're convicted. Now you're convicted about a little word that you spoke or a little bit of unfaithfulness in money. That means the weighing machine is which did not register even one ton before is now registering at least 100 pounds or 100 kilos. And then it's now it's getting a little more sensitive is registering 10 kilos and then it gets more sensitive. Now the weighing machine is getting repaired it's registering one kilo and it's registering a hundred grams and more. The Holy Spirit works on our conscience and it begins to register 10 grams and it begins to register one gram and it begins to register one milligram. Boy what a work that is. And so when a very sensitive conscience like that conscience which can register one milligram any little weight you put on it the needle flickers. So such a man even though he may be a very holy man he considers himself a very very great sinner because his conscience is so sensitive. And the other man who's actually a much filthier sinner than this man he doesn't feel he's such a great sinner because his weighing machine is defective. His conscience doesn't register anything. So that was why a man like Paul who kept the law from his childhood felt that he was the greatest of sinners and that's why according to this parable he felt he had been forgiven so much. And if he had been forgiven so much it was his duty to love the Lord in return so much. It all depends on your definition of sin. Now in the scriptures there are two definitions of sin. 1 John chapter 3 verse 4 which says sin is transgression of the law. That means if God draws a circle and says don't go outside you go outside and do something which God told you not to do transgression of the law that is sin. The other verse is in James 4 verse 17 where it says if you know that you should do something good and you don't do it that's sin. The first is a sin of commission and the second is a sin of omission. Omission means you didn't do it. You didn't do something that you should have done. Now many people don't think of sins of omission as sins. For example if the Lord wanted you to help somebody and you didn't help somebody you didn't slap him but you didn't help him. That's a sin. It's a sin of omission. But the best definition of sin is in Romans 3 verse 23 where it says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So when your definition of sin is if I do something wrong that's sin. You won't be committing many sins because you can live a whole day without doing anything wrong and you can say well I didn't commit any sin today. You know why you say that? Because your definition of sin is so shallow. But when your definition of sin is according to Romans 3 23 all have sinned and come short the glory of God. Then you realize I did not get 100% according to God's standard today and God shows me sin. The glory of God was seen in Jesus Christ. So anything less than that is sin. So when my definition of sin is if I have acted in any unchristlike way or spoken an unchristlike word or thought an unchristlike thought or had an unchristlike motive in what I did or I had an unchristlike attitude towards another brother or sister that I've sinned. Then my standard of sin becomes so high that I feel there's so many sins in my life and I ask the Lord to forgive me and I realize he has forgiven me so much. I hope I've explained that clearly that your awareness of sin depends upon your definition of sin and you can be a very holy man and feel that you're a greater sinner than a prostitute or a thief. You know like Isaiah when he came into God's presence he said oh God I'm a sinful man. He never felt that till he came into God's presence and he saw the holiness of God. So we see here that this is God's will that we recognize our sin and from the fact that God has forgiven us so much flows out a gratitude to him because he's forgiven us so much that we pour out our life in service for him. Now we turn to parable number 11 in Matthew chapter 18. Matthew's gospel chapter 18 in verse 23 to 35 we know this well-known story of a king who forgave his servant and that servant went out and did not forgive his fellow servant. Now I tried to find out what this means when it says here in verse 24 that there was a man who owed the king 10,000 talents. Now when we read 10,000 talents we don't know exactly what it means. So I tried to find out what is the value of 10,000 talents and I discovered that 10,000 talents is like 500 million rupees. I imagine if you had a debt of 500 million rupees. Boy what a lot of money that is 10 million dollars and Jesus was trying to show us how many sins we have been forgiven. How many sins have you been forgiven thousand two thousand no five hundred million. That's how many I hope you recognize that that's why we need to love the Lord with all our hearts and this man was forgiven 500 million rupees and he went out and he met another man it says here verse 28 who owed him a hundred denary which is 800 rupees. Now you got the understanding of this story. Here I am forgiven 500 million rupees and I meet another man who owes me 800 rupees. Now I realize 800 rupees is a lot of money but it's nothing compared to 500 million rupees which the king forgave me. And we read here that when this first slave did not forgive his fellow slave the other slaves reported it to the king. Now I want you to see what the king said the Lord said to him verse 32 you wicked slave when you don't forgive somebody what are you you are a wicked person. Don't get angry with me I'm not insulting you I'm just telling you what God's word says I'm he said you wicked slave verse 32 when you don't forgive somebody I don't care whether you call yourself believer spirit-filled or this group or that group if you don't forgive somebody you're a wicked person. Wicked what a word what was his crime did he kill somebody no did he commit adultery no what was the crime of this wicked person he just didn't forgive somebody you know many of us don't realize how serious a sin it is when we don't forgive others if you love a person as yourself don't you want other people to forgive you well then you must forgive that person and because he didn't forgive that person it says this king was first of all moved with compassion towards him now he was moved with anger verse 34 God's compassion can become anger notice that it says here earlier on the Lord felt compassion verse 27 and the same Lord verse 34 was moved with anger God can be moved with compassion towards us or God can be moved with anger towards us what does it depend on it depends on whether you've forgiven the people around you how many people did he not forgive one person and if there is one person in your life whom you have not forgiven God is moved with anger towards you and says you wicked man you wicked woman I forgave you 500 million rupees and you go and catch somebody's throat for 800 rupees and you know what the Lord did he unforgave his sins now have you ever heard of unforgiveness you've all heard of forgiveness but have you heard of unforgiveness canceling the forgiveness now there are some people who believe that God never cancels forgiveness but read this story did he cancel his forgiveness or not yes he called him and said hey you pay back your 500 million rupees and you stay in jail till you pay it back how long do you think it'll take you to pay 500 million rupees especially if you're in jail you'll have to stay there all your life and then do you know what Jesus said listen to this verse 35 so shall my heavenly father do to you so shall my heavenly father do to you if you don't forgive your brother from your heart it's not enough to say to him okay you're forgiven it must be from your heart I'll give you a personal testimony you know once someone did some harm to me and like I have made it a practice always in my life I say Lord I've forgiven him I don't want to hold anything against him I don't think any evil I don't wish any evil I want to greet him when I see him I want to love him I forgive him but then after some weeks I heard that something bad happened to him and I felt a little happy in my heart see I'm no different from you just the same the same flesh and then God showed me you know why you felt so happy in your heart because you did not forgive him from your heart I said Lord thank you for showing that to me I never knew that I thought I'd forgiven him from my heart I said Lord I want to really forgive him from my heart so that next time I hear if something bad has happened to him I will not be happy I will grieve just like I grieve for my brother or if something good happens to him I'll rejoice instead of feeling a bit jealous so very often God shows us by the thoughts that come in our heart whether we have forgiven somebody from our heart or not one of the prayers which I pray and I've taught all the people in our church to pray is Psalm 139 verse 24 the last verse of Psalm 139 where the living Bible says Lord show me anything in my life that's making you sad point out anything in my life that's making you sad it may be that you haven't forgiven somebody from your heart so that's the lesson we have to learn here forgive others because God has forgiven us so much there's a lovely verse in the book of Hebrews which says we have come to the blood of Jesus Hebrews chapter 12 the blood of Jesus which speaks better things than the blood of Abel you know what the blood of Abel cried out for God judge Cain judge Cain judge Cain God said that your brother's blood is crying out to me from the ground Genesis chapter 4 when Jesus died on the cross his blood also fell to the ground and you know what Jesus blood was crying out father forgive them forgive them forgive them that's the difference between Jesus blood and Abel's blood we're not under the old covenant we're under the new covenant we don't follow Abel though he was a righteous man we follow Jesus Christ and we forgive and our heart's cry is forgive now we go to parable number 12 Luke chapter 10 the parable of the good Samaritan Luke chapter 10 verse 30 to 37 you know the story there was this man beaten up when he was traveling from Jerusalem to Jericho robbers came and beat him up and he was lying there half dead and this priest verse 31 came by that road I want you to see here in Luke chapter 10 verse 31 what did the priest do what did he do nothing can you sin by doing nothing yes he did nothing he didn't kick him no he just left him alone then a Levite came verse 32 what did he do he also did nothing he didn't kick him or spit on him or call him a bad name or nothing he just left him alone and then came a Samaritan and he saw him and picked him up and took care of him and Jesus used this parable to show that we have to be concerned about the needy people around us whom we meet we must not be indifferent to their need the priest was going for a meeting he says no I can't be bothered to help somebody I have to go for the meeting you know he's a holy man going for the meeting and he didn't want to be late for the meeting and the Levite was also going for the meeting so he's I can't be delayed by all this but the Samaritan maybe he was also going for a meeting but he said well I'll have to skip the meeting today because this man's dying I got to help him you know religious people are very interested in going to meetings and reading the bible but spiritual people are interested in helping others who they see in need you know to married couples I often say this in a home where there are a number of small children I know my wife had small children in our home at one time and I know how difficult it is for a mother with small children somebody's got to be got ready for going to school got to send their lunch box with them and so many things a little baby is crying and so many things the mother has to do early in the morning and the holy father can be sitting reading the bible in the sitting room he's having his quiet time and he's studying hebrews chapter 9 about the tabernacle or something like that and saying oh god speak to me and god is trying to say to him close your bible and go and help your wife in the kitchen but he doesn't hear that he's trying to study the tabernacle that's the levite and the priest oh he got to go to the meeting they're going to study the bible but another fellow who's not so holy who doesn't read the bible in the morning perhaps he goes and helps his wife in the kitchen that's the good samaritan so I'm not saying we shouldn't read the bible what I say is there is a time and a place for all these things and Jesus taught us to be considerate about struggling people around us it may be your sister maybe your brother who's in need and you are engaged in some religious activity like reading the bible or going to a meeting or something like that you ignore the need of this person it may be your wife it may be somebody in your home sometimes we don't think our nearest neighbor is the one we see right in our home a lot of christians are indifferent to the needs of those in their home you know Jesus said how some of you fellows who go into full-time work and your father is in need and you say Korban sorry dad can't give you any money I've given it for God and Jesus said you haven't kept the law when the law says honor your father and mother Jesus said that he's how can you say you keep the law when with all your holy activity you ignore your father who is not having enough money to survive Jesus spoke about practical christianity which is not just involved in religious activities like fasting and praying and reading the bible and going to meetings but in actually helping people in need both must go together if this religious activity does not lead to that type of activity my faith is dead the bible says faith without good works is dead if I say I love God with all my heart and I don't love that neighbor of mine that brother of mine who's in need John the apostle says you're a liar so that's the meaning of this variable in this story here and Jesus asked this man which of these three people verse 36 do you think proved to be a neighbor he said the one who went and helped him and then Jesus said verse 37 go and do the same sometimes we have to interrupt our religious activities to help other people I tell fathers who got little children supposing the two-year-old child comes with a broken toy and says dad please fix this broken toy and the holy father is reading the bible what should he do he can say get away I'm busy here you know what will happen the poor child will cry and go away one day that two-year-old child will grow up to be 18 years old and he will turn to his dad and say I don't want to talk to you why why is it many young people have no time to talk to their fathers today because their fathers had no time for them when they were young don't make the mistake that your fathers did when you have children take time for them there's nothing wrong in closing the bible you can read it some other time fix that little broken toy and build some fellowship with your little child that is how we care for the little little needs of people around us and I believe a true Christian is one who is alert to the needs he sees around him in people I want to encourage you if you're filled with the holy spirit you will be alert to the needs of people around you they won't have to tell you you'll be alert this good Samaritan was alert and he helped this man who was in need now the last parable number 13 is in Matthew chapter 25 verse 31 to 36 is the parable where Jesus spoke about the time when he's going to separate people the nations Matthew 25 verse 32 like the sheep and the goats now who are the sheep and who are the goats this is the point now we all like to think that we are sheep and all those other fellows are goats well let's find out who are the sheep and who are the goats it says here that Jesus will turn round to the sheep on his right hand verse 33 and 34 of Matthew 25 and he will say to them come you who are blessed of my father inherit the kingdom which has been prepared for you from the foundation of the world why what's the reason because once upon a time you said lord Jesus come into my heart no was it only that once upon a time you signed a decision card please come into the kingdom no read carefully because i was hungry and you gave me something to eat i was thirsty and you gave me something to drink you didn't just sign decision cards you helped me i was a stranger not knowing my way around and you helped me you took me into my your house and gave me a meal i was naked i was in torn clothes and you had some extra clothes and you gave them to me and i was in prison and you thought about me how i must be feeling lonely in prison and you came and visited me and encouraged me and the righteous will say the sheep lord you hungry i never saw you hungry in my whole life i never saw you thirsty i never saw you in torn clothes in fact i never saw you at all in my whole earthly life i was always wanting to see you i was always saying lord show me Jesus show me Jesus and i never saw Jesus how many of you would like to see Jesus isn't that wonderful and Jesus said yes you did see me when you saw one of these young brothers of mine you actually saw me because i dwelt in his heart that young sister who was poor who was hungry that young brother who was thirsty who didn't have proper clothes who was in prison who was sick you came and encouraged me if you want to see Jesus you can see him he's far closer than we think in the needy brothers and sisters in the church he's not talking about the whole world he says my brothers he's not talking about the whole world he's talking about my brothers those who are particularly his children who are in need what is your attitude towards them that is your attitude to Jesus and that determines which side of the lord you're going to stand in the final day that determines whether you're a sheep or a goat and remember this that in that day we will not be able to move from one side to the other isn't it interesting that the righteous could say lord when did that happen you know that's one mark of a righteous man he does good and he doesn't remember it what about you do you remember all the good that you've done to different people or will you say oh i don't remember that when did i do that it's a mark of a righteous man he does good and he forgets it now the opposite of this we find in Matthew chapter 7 verse 22 of some other people who stand at the judgment seat of Christ but they remember everything they did they're not like these people they say lord here's a list of all that i did in my life i prophesied in your name i cast out demons in your name Matthew 7 22 i did miracles in your name and that's just a little sample lord i give out tracts in your name i went to so many places and preached in your name i did this in your name i did that in your name and i did the other thing in your name i healed the sick in your name and Jesus would say get away from me i don't even know you isn't that amazing that the people who got a list of all the things they did for the lord are sent to hell and the other people who say lord when did we do anything good for you i don't even remember they say come to heaven god's ways are not our ways but notice one thing what did the fellow in Matthew chapter 25 do he visited the sick and he went to heaven what did the fellow in Matthew 7 do he healed the sick and he went to hell how do you like that you visit the sick and you go to heaven you heal the sick and you go to hell because the man who visited the sick said brother i'm sorry i don't have any gift of healing but i brought you some plantains and oranges that's all i can do i just came to encourage you and pray for you i don't have any gift of healing i want to pray for you i just want to tell you i'm praying for you and that fellow was so encouraged the other fellow who healed the sick he was just seeking his own honor he didn't know the lord it's interesting faith without works is dead if you say you love god so much and you don't love your fellow believers you're a liar these parables teach us the importance of love for god with all of our hearts because we've been forgiven so much and love for our fellow believers who are in need may god help us let's pray the word of god demands a response from your heart what you have heard is a standard so high that you can never reach it you know what you need you need to be filled with the holy spirit so that god can write his laws in your heart and mind ask him to fill you with the holy spirit to fill your heart with the love of god so that you can love god with all your heart and never love anything on this earth because you love god with all your heart and that you will ask god to fill your heart with love for your fellow believers heavenly father as we bow before you help us to live in the light of the word of god that we have read we pray in jesus name