February 8, 2012
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Matthew 25/Revelation 20- judging, dividing sheep from goats by Pastor Don Moore
Pastor Don taught this Bible study on September 10, 2011 – this was taught after Hurricane Irene, and a question was raised by someone about helping others. We need to help the brethren first. – We can help others, but we need to make sure that it is done with the goal of reaching others for the Kingdom of God. But we also need to make sure our brethren in need are taken care of.
Matthew 25:41 Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels
The left hand is the place of rejection, cursed. These people did not have a personal relationship with the King and neglected the brethren.
We have to be obedient to the Lord, and be careful how we help others, not wanting to go against the grain of the Lord. We don’t want to be unequally yoked.
If we are doing what we think we should be doing according to the flesh, we may be disobedient to what God wants.
Matthew 25:31-40 When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’
There are goat nations and sheep nations. Goats do not follow the Lord, they rebel. There are times when sheep follow goats and that can be to their detriment.
Goats are stubborn and can’t be led. They have a short memory.
Pastor Don said that there are times when we sin years earlier, and then something bad happens – we forget the seeds of the sin that we had sown years ago and blame God for the disaster, forgetting that we are reaping what we have sown. We need to pray that there is a crop failure for seeds of sin sown much earlier.
There are two kinds of fire – there is a purging fire to cleanse and restore and there is a fire for punishment that lasts forever.
We need to have faith through the purging fires. Purging fires hurt, but if we maintain or faith and are obedient, we come out the other side purged.
Pastor gave an example of David and the census – he said that when David disobeyed God, a plague hit the nation. God offered David a chance to be punished by men or punished by Him. David asked God to mete out the punishment for he knew that he would fare better with God’s punishment. God removed his hand of protection and the satan caused a plague to hit the nation. David said that he accepted the responsibility for his disobedience. At the right time, God stopped the plague.
But, even though God stayed the punishment, for the rest of David’s life, there was a constant state of war in Israel
God can mitigate in our favor or against us.
Matthew 25:41-46 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they also will answer Him, 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?’ Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Notice – the least of these (the brethren). They fed and clothed someone – but did they neglect the brethren? The brethren are fellow believers, and we all have a relationship with the Lord. God is going to ask: How did you treat the brethren.
1 John 3:16 By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
John 13:35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
We are to do what we do to the glory of Christ. The glory should come back to God
Revelation 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
There will be a judgment. Pastor asked, would God have us do something if there was no purpose in it?
Those who, during the tribulation, lived right and held to the Word of God will be given the honor to rule and reign with Christ for one thousand years. What happened to others?
Some are the Bride of Christ and they were with Jesus at the wedding feast during the tribulation time. They will come back with Him to conquer.
These are the ones who did not get raptured, who are are on earth during the reign of the antichrist and who do not worship the beast or take the mark of the beast. They will be beheaded for their faith.
Revelation 20:5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
The thousand years is the millennial reign of Christ – The Bride of Christ are already on thrones. Those who died in faith, are already with Christ, but they won’t be reunited with their resurrection bodies until this millennial reign is finished.
Revelation 20:6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years
This is the best way to be – to be in the rapture, to be the Bride of Christ. Next best, to be in faith, not take the mark of the beast, and resist the antichrist, and they won’t have to face the second death = the second death will have no power over them.
Revelation 20:14-15 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
Death, Hades and those who are not found written in the book of life will face the second death – the lake of fire
Those who die in faith, not taking taking the mark will rule and reign with Jesus for 1000 years as priests of God and Christ.
The culmination of Matthew 25 goats and sheep is fulfilled in Revelation 20.
Joel and Amos speak of the Bride who comes as an obedient and powerful army.
The end of the story is we win, satan loses.
Praying your day is blessed
Heather
