Matthew 25:31-46

[0:00] I'm very grateful to be with you this morning. I thank the leadership in the church for giving me this privilege. And thank you for your generosity.

[0:13] For many years you've been partners with us and been a blessing for us and for so many people and many refugees as well. I'd like, if I may, read Matthew 25, verse 31 to 46.

[0:40] Matthew 25, start with verse 31. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.

[0:56] All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

[1:08] He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

[1:29] For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in.

[1:39] I needed clothes, and you closed me. I was sick, and you looked after me. I was in a prison, and you came to visit me.

[1:51] Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

[2:01] When did we see you stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and close you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?

[2:13] The king will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

[2:24] Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

[2:36] For I was hungry, and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, and you did not invite me in.

[2:46] I needed clothes, and you did not close me. I was sick and in prison, and you did not look after me. They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or stranger, or needing clothes, or sick, or in prison, and did not help you?

[3:05] He will reply, Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do it. You did not do for me.

[3:16] Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. May God bless his word. Let us pray.

[3:27] Just ask God to bless his word to us. Lord, we thank you for this moment. Lord, we pray to open our hearts and our minds.

[3:37] I pray to give us freedom as we share, and freedom as we listen to your word. And we pray to cover our weakness, Lord Jesus, under your precious blood.

[3:48] And I pray that you help us continue to be clothes walking with you, as you continue walking with us in this wonderful journey.

[4:00] We love you, and we give you all the honor and the praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. The date, it was December 7, 1941.

[4:14] The American soldier saw some signals on the screen radar that there is Japanese jets fighter coming.

[4:26] The soldiers on the operation system informed junior soldier who disregard and neglect this warning.

[4:37] And we know what's happened with Beryl Harbor when the Japanese jets fighters bombed there. The damage was huge.

[4:49] And the main cause, probably it was, because they're neglect and they're not really prepared. And they didn't take the warning very serious.

[5:01] More than 2,400 American soldiers been killed at that time. Hundreds, about more than 180 lands been destroyed.

[5:13] And the damage could be minimized, but because lack of a preparation and receiving this warning, this what's happened.

[5:25] What I want to say, loved one, the second coming of our Lord Jesus is reality, that he is coming back. Many people around the world are waiting for that moment.

[5:39] The Christians, the Jews, the Muslims. Even though each group, they have their own perspective about second coming of the Lord Jesus.

[5:50] But what we know for sure, that the Lord Jesus, who was faithful according to hundreds of prophecies in the Old Testament, came true for his first coming, for sure he is faithful in his second coming.

[6:10] For every prophecy about the first coming in the Old Testament, there is eight prophecies about the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[6:22] One person said, probably in every average, every five verses in the New Testament, in a way or another, it talks about the second coming of the Lord Jesus.

[6:34] Though the second coming, it's reality that Jesus Christ, he will come back as he promised. We see so many prophecies in the Old Testament, but also we see in the New Testament, for example, in Matthew 24, the Lord Jesus talks about the signs, which precede his second coming, and we see many of these signs already fulfilled.

[7:02] And in the end of chapter 24, and in chapter 25, he talks about three parables, about be ready for the second coming.

[7:12] And the first parable about the faithful servant who was waiting, and he was faithful, and he was taking care of his fellow servants.

[7:23] So when the master came, he was prepared, and he was ready. And the second parable in Matthew 25, you know the ten virgins, when we're ready, five is ready, and the other five wasn't ready because there wasn't enough oil in the lamb, and they missed the opportunity.

[7:42] And the third parable, it's about, where is the master give five talents to one of his servants, and another two talents, and another one talent, and we know the parable, where is the five multiply the talents, and the second, the two, have the two also multiplied his talent, but the one, he missed it.

[8:03] The question is, are we prepared for the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ? I want to say, loved one, the Lord Jesus, the first time when he came, he came as the Lamb of God who laid his life on the cross for you and for me.

[8:22] He shed his blood to give us forgiveness, healing, restoration, and to experience wonderful relationship with him. But in the second coming, he will come as a judge.

[8:36] And I want to say, if you didn't meet with him now at the cross, as the Lamb of God, and experience this wonderful salvation, you have to meet with him before the white throne of God.

[8:51] But you will meet with him as a judge, and it will be too late, and you will be eternally separated from the very presence of God. Are we ready to the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ?

[9:06] In the verses I just read with you this morning, it talks about that the Son of Man, named Son of Man, because he's the one who's going to judge humanity.

[9:20] And I want to say, he's the one and the only one qualified to judge, because the one who has the right to judge, he should be that he died, that he raised, that he's sitting in the right hand of the Father, and he intercedes for us.

[9:36] And this is what Romans 8 talks about, that Jesus is the one and the only one have these qualifications. But when he is coming with his glory, and with all the angels, he will be sitting in his glorious throne, and then all the nations will stand in front of him.

[9:55] And then he will, what the shepherd does, he will do, he will separate the sheep from the goats, the goats, and the sheep will be on the right and the goats will be on the left. And then he will say to the sheep on the right, come, you have been blessed by my heavenly Father.

[10:15] You have been blessed. Come enter, come take the inheritance, enter the kingdom which has been prepared for you before the foundation of the earth.

[10:28] I want to say, when Jesus said these words to his children, that every person who put his trust on the Lord, who believed what Jesus did in Calvary for him, and became a child of God, he been blessed by our heavenly Father.

[10:47] And I want to say, loved one, every one of us as the children of God, we have this privilege, we have this honor, and this blessing. And this is what Ephesians chapter 1 say, that all of us have been blessed by our heavenly Father.

[11:04] And we have been blessed by every heavenly blessing. We have the redemption, we have the reconciliation, we have the forgiveness, we have the restoration, we experience, we experience these blessings in our life.

[11:17] What I want to remind you and to remind myself, especially when we go through tough times, and all of us go through that. When you go through time of trials, when you feel down, when there is sadness, or even depression, please remember that you've been blessed by your heavenly Father.

[11:38] Don't listen to the liar, don't listen to the evil one when he tries to put these lies into your head. Remember, you are blessed by your heavenly Father.

[11:54] And then he said, come to inherit the kingdom, the kingdom of God, which is prepared for you from the very beginning, before the foundation, or before the creation of this universe.

[12:10] before this world. And I want to say, this kingdom, the moment you give your life to the Lord and you allow him to rule in your life, you become part of this kingdom.

[12:21] The kingdom of God, it's within, where Jesus ruling in your life. But the kingdom, as we say, it's now, and yet to come. Which means, this kingdom will be completed in the second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[12:37] And this kingdom, loved one, is not by chance, but he said, it's been prepared for you before the foundation, before the creation of this world.

[12:51] What I want to say, that you and I have been in the mind of God and in the heart of God before this creation.

[13:02] This is how much he loves you, and this is how much he cares about you. I love the words in Ephesians chapter 1, that he chose us before anything else.

[13:18] Before God created this wonderful universe, this wonderful world, he chose you. You've been in his mind and in his heart. I love the verse in Ephesians 2, chapter 2, verse 10, where he said, you are his workmanship, you are his masterpiece.

[13:40] You've been created in Christ Jesus for good works. God already prepared for you in order that you walk in these good works.

[13:54] imagine with me God saying, I want to do wonderful work in the 20th century or 21st century. In specific, in 1960 to 2020 or 2040, I want to do good works in this part of the world.

[14:13] And I know my son, so and so, whom I created in my image, whom I preparing him, he will be the one and the right one to go and to do this good works in certain time, in certain place.

[14:33] Many people may be doing good things, but they're not doing the best. The best which is God prepared for you and for me, loved one, and the blessed the man and the woman who are able to discover and to experience God's ultimate plan for their life.

[14:56] You know, the sad thing is many people wasting their life, wasting many years of their life. Imagine with me, a person after 50 years, he relies, he laying the ladder of his life in the wrong building.

[15:13] the Lord put passion in your heart when you are created in Christ Jesus, a special passion for certain things to do in this life.

[15:28] And he will give you the talents, the abilities, in order to do the things which he prepared for you. There are special things no one could do better than you.

[15:41] the way God created, designed you, the way he allowed you to go through different tribulation in life, different trials in life, different circumstances, all these things, loved one, to prepare you, to make you the person he wants you to be.

[16:03] And no one else could do it better than you. But the sad thing, if you miss what God best for you, I pray God help us all as a believer continue to discover these good works which God already preceded and prepared for his children to walk into and to reflect his love through these wonderful things.

[16:32] Thanks. we see in verse 34, after he said, you blessed come to inherit, then he invites his children when he said, because I was hungry, you give me something to eat, I was thirsty and you give me something to drink, I was stranger and you invited me in.

[17:05] I want to say, loved one, the Lord Jesus didn't give them the kingdom according to their good works. We didn't inherit God's kingdom because of good things we do.

[17:19] We know who we are. But these good works coming as naturally as the good seed of faith been planted in you as you received his goodness and his grace and his work on the cross, naturally after you're born again, good works start to come out naturally from you.

[17:42] I want to say, when Jesus said, I was hungry, I was thirsty, he knows what he was talking about. Because for 40 days and 40 nights he was in the desert in Palestine, hungry.

[17:56] He knows what it means to be hungry. hungry. And when he was on the cross, he said, I'm thirsty. And they gave him vinegar instead of water.

[18:09] When he said I was a stranger, he's the one who lived the heavens. He's the eternal one. He's the Logos. He chose to incarnate through Mary, lift the glorious heaven and born in simple place in Palestine in Bethlehem as a stranger.

[18:36] And when he was a baby, he left his town where he been home for him and went to Egypt as a stranger and as a refugee.

[18:51] So he knows what it means to be a refugee. I never forget when we have to evacuate from Gaza, my family, and about seven, eight other families, because it became very dangerous.

[19:11] One of our church members had been kidnapped and after ten hours been executed because of his faith and because he refused to be converted to another faith. He was willing to pay the ultimate price.

[19:25] So when we went to another town in Palestine, even though that town is Bethlehem, it's part of Palestine, but when we left Gaza, we felt a stranger and that was hard.

[19:37] I don't know if you were able to imagine what it means to leave your home, to leave the streets you love and the people you like. And then the Lord put in my heart to come back to Jordan and I was a pastor in the exile.

[19:54] But then the Lord connected me with Iraqi Christian refugees. Both of us went through suffering and persecution. Both of us experienced what it's like to leave home.

[20:10] But you know, loved one, through suffering and persecution, God connected us together. And many of our Christians, brothers and sisters, especially in 2014, when ISIS came in, literally they lost almost everything.

[20:29] Their homes, their properties, their cars, and some of them even lost their savings. It wasn't easy to see that, and some of them are doctors, engineers, and professors at the university.

[20:45] And they never thought one day they will be coming to church, waiting for a parcel of food. And always I tell my brothers, any one of us in the Middle East, especially as a Christian, could be in their place.

[21:06] We see widows and losing their husbands and the mother become overnight, the father and the mother for their children. children. But we saw also many people are rejoice and very excited in spite of everything.

[21:27] What's happened and the things they lost, they still have this joy and that they didn't deny their faith and continue to be faithful even they lost almost everything.

[21:42] I want to say, is it possible to have joy in the midst of persecution? This is what we read in Matthew 5, in the beatitude number 8, that to rejoice.

[21:59] And we experience that by the grace of God. But I want to say we cannot experience the 8th beatitude before we are able to experience what is the first beatitude is all about, what it means to be meek, what is to be poor and desperate that you desperate want God in your life and what it means to mourn over your sins, what it means to be humble and before the Lord and what it means to hunger and thirst for the things of God, what it means to forgive and have mercy toward others and how to be pure in your heart, to do the right thing when it's nobody's watching, what it means to be man of peace.

[22:45] When we are able to experience these seven beatitudes, I assure you loved one, when you go through the toughest days of your life, you are able to experience joy and peace in the midst of persecution.

[23:00] And we saw that in the life of so many people. The Lord Jesus said, I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was a stranger.

[23:19] And then he said, if you did that, because they asked him, Lord, when, when, when, because when we did that to you, you know, to you, and he said, if you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.

[23:36] Because his children, his disciples did that out of love to the people and to their master. Why, as the body of Christ, why, as a church, we need loved one to continue to do what we do?

[24:00] Again, I'm grateful for your church. They've been very generous and standing with us all these years. We need to continue to do that and to reach out to our brothers and sisters and also to the people even who's unbelievers, because this is what the Lord Jesus teaches.

[24:19] We need to do that because Jesus command us. And he said, if you do that, if you reach out to the people, if you reach out to the refugees, and if you did it in my name as if you do it to me personally.

[24:35] You know, the theologian William Barclay, he say these two stories. The first one, it's about Francis Assisi.

[24:49] Francis Assisi in Italian town, you know, he was a rich person, but he didn't feel content at a certain time in his life.

[24:59] So the story said he was walking down and he noticed there a leper, a person with leprosy. And when he saw him, he moved by what he saw.

[25:12] And he came close to him and he held his head in his hand. And the story said, the face of that leper, it changed to become the face of Jesus in his hand.

[25:26] And remind him, when you did it to one of these, as if you did it to me personally. And the second story he mentioned, it's about Martin of Taurus.

[25:37] Martin was a Roman soldier, but he was a Christian. One day he was working downtown and he, a beggar, approached him and asking for money.

[25:50] And Martin didn't have anything. He didn't have money to give him, but he gave him what he had. And it was a cold night and this beggar was, you know, it was very cold and so he took his, his coat, the Roman soldier coat and even though it was an old coat and torn, but he cut it in half.

[26:16] And he kept half and he gave the person the other half. And the story said that Martin, that night he saw a dream when he was asleep and in that dream he saw the heavens.

[26:33] And in the heavens he saw the Lord Jesus and there's angels around him and he was in the midst and Jesus have this coat. He were wearing that coat.

[26:45] And one of the angels he said, what do you have on, you know, from where you get that coat, master? And Jesus softly said, my servant Martin gave me that coat.

[27:00] If we do it to one of these as if you do it to me. Why we need to continue? Because our brothers and sisters belong to the same body, the body of Christ.

[27:15] And if it's part of the body has been hurt, all the body is hurting. It's wonderful to see, my beloved, the east and the west get together and to do what God called us to do.

[27:32] The last thing I want to say, why we should continue to do what we do, because history will keep the records. History will write down how the body of Christ, how the church of the Lord Jesus around the Lord responded when our brothers and sisters became refugees.

[27:57] May God help us all to stand together and to do what God called us to do. Thank you and God bless you. Thank you. Well, brothers and sisters, we come now to the Lord's Supper where we remember what it means.