Scripture: Luke 14:23 Matt 25.
There Jesus is describing the great Day of Judgment.
• The final judgment
• And in that description -- he represents the entire
judgment turning on one single point.
The nations are standing before Him.
He is separating the people.
Sheep on the right
Goats on the left
One question, one point, that is it:
• Yep, she passes, she can come to heaven. Stand over here please on my right side. You are a
sheep, yours is eternal life.
Nope sir, you did not,
• I’m so sorry, but you need to stand over here to the left with the goats. No second question, no extra
credit points? One question, that’s it. Just one point. Sheep and goats, right and left, saved and lost.
Can you imagine? One point! Everything done in your life boils down to just one point at
the judgment, one point.
Ellen White describes the scene this way:
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."
How does he do it?
Thus Christ on the Mount of Olives pictured to His disciples the scene of the great judgment day. And
He represented its decision as turning upon one point. When the nations are gathered before Him,
there will be but two classes, and their eternal destiny will be determined by what they have done or
have neglected to do for Him in the person of the poor and the suffering. Desire of Ages Chapter 70
page 637
Every person’s eternal destiny turning on one point?!
And I bet you have no idea what it is!?
Do you think you know what it is?
Whether they knew the state of the dead?
Nope
Whether they kept the Sabbath?
Nope
Whether they were vegetarian?
Nope
Whether they were obedient?
Nope
Whether they said the sinner’s prayer and asked him
into their life?
Nope
Whether they were baptized?
Nope
How much they studied their Bible?
How much they gave in offering?
What they wore?
If they understood the mark of the beast?
That they believe in righteousness by faith?
Did they attend the right church?
Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope, Nope, and Nope!
None of the above.
How could she even think to say something like that?
• The whole judgment turning on – one point!
Her words really aren’t her words, and they certainly aren’t my
words – they come right out of Matt 25.
In fact if you had a red letter Bible, you would find these words
in red, because they are Jesus’ words.
She is quoting Matthew is merely quoting Jesus.
31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels
with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 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. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the
goats on his left.
How does he do it?
When the nations are gathered before Him, there will be but
two classes, and their eternal destiny will be determined by
what they have done or have neglected to do for Him in the
person of the poor and the suffering. {DA 637.1}
That is it, your eternal destiny decide on that one thing.
Check it out for yourself. She isn’t making this up, she is
basically quoting Jesus. Matt 25:34-40.
34 "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. 35 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, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was
sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to
visit me.'
40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for
one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
• You took care of my children
• Those in need
• Those who were hungry and thirsty.
You are in!
One question, determines it all, “what have you done for the
least of these?”
Those on the left, the lost. Same question, opposite answer.
Matt 25:41-43, 45
Same question, point of judgment. “What did you do or not do
for the least of these?”
It is interesting – the “righteous” can’t even figure out what
Jesus is talking about.
They will respond:
37 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or
thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see
you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe
you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit
you?'
Lord, I think you might have someone else’s file.
• Lord, I never saw you naked.
• Oh, I never saw you hungry either
• Or thirsty
• Or in prison
Have you ever been at the store and for some reason the clerk
makes a mistake? She types in the wrong code. And instead
of charging you $10 for the organic grapes, it comes out
$2 because the non-organic ones are on sale.
And instead of charging you $5 for 28 pack of Ozarka water, it
rings up $4 because she typed in the code for the store brand
by mistake. No biggie, except you are already sitting in the car when you notice it.
Now what are you going to do? It is going to cost you around 10
minutes of your time to give the store back the dollar they didn’t
charge you. And you are thinking, is it really worth 10 minutes to save the
store a measly $1?
• You really don’t want to
• You are already late because the clerk was so slow.
• But you just have to go back in, because it is the right
thing to do. Right? :-)
I hope so. Religious people are like that aren’t they. They just
have to make sure everyone is treated fairly. :-)
Check out the righteous here on the day of judgment.
Jesus tells them – sir, you are in. Eternal life for you, because
when I was hungry and thirsty you fed me. When I was naked
you cloth me.
• And the righteous say, I think you made a mistake.
• That must not be our file.
• We never saw you hungry or thirsty, or NAKED!
37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to
drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or
needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick
or in prison and go to visit you?'
You think it is hard to give up 10 minutes of your time, just to give
Kroger a $1 back.
• The righteous respond – I’m not so sure that I’m
suppose to have this mansion.
• Maybe the files are mixed up.
• I don’t remember doing any of that.
Jesus says, hmmm, let me check.
• He looks at the records again, nope, no mistake.
Oh wait a minute, here is why you are confused.
• It wasn’t actually me, but it was me.
40 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of
the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
Surprisingly, the ones sent to the left have the same exact
response as the ones on the right.
• And the wicked say, I think you made a mistake.
• That must not be my file.
• I never saw you hungry or thirsty, or NAKED!
• And they get almost, word for word, the same answer.
45 "He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do
for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'
Just two little “not’s” different. And those two words change
everything.
46 "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the
righteous to eternal life."
The whole judgment rests on this one point.
• “What did you do for the least of these?”
You say doesn’t it rest on commandment keeping; nope.
We see that in a story yet coming up in Luke, the story of the
Rich Young Ruler.
Luke 18:18, 20
I’ve been doing them, do I have eternal life? Am I set?
Luke 18:21
Jesus answers.
Okay, you want the whole test?
• Actually, I can give to you in one single point
• The one question final exam right here right now.
Luke 18:22
“Whatever you do the least of these.”
That’s it.
One question, “what did you do for the least of these?”
No other question is sufficient.
Sabbath keeping?
• Nope, the Jews that arranged Jesus’ crucifixion kept
the Sabbath – that isn’t a sufficient test question.
Do you believe in Jesus? Nope, “the devils believe”
• And they are lost.
Study your Bible enough, nope, not enough, the “experts of
the law” knew their inside and out and were lost.
Pay tithe?
• Nope, not enough.
Of course, you should pay tithe. But it is not the test.
Luke 11:42
"Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God
a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs,
but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have
practiced the latter without leaving the former undone."
You should pay tithe, but that isn’t enough.
“You neglect justice and the love of God.”
Wait isn’t that a different question? Loving God?
• What does loving God have to do, with caring for the
least of these?
• Of that is right, whatever you do for them you do for me.
• Want to show God love, show love to those in need.
It is easy for us to say we love God.
• But the test is do you love man.
• But quoting from 641 of DA – “Love to man is the
earthward manifestation of love of God.”
• Get it, no love for man equals no love for God.
• Yet love for man isn’t sufficient – cause we often do
that for our own reasons.
• And love for the least of these -> love for God
It is that simple.
One point, the whole judgment rest on the question – do you
love your brother?
From the same paragraph in the Desire of Ages
When we love the world as He has loved it, then for us His
mission is accomplished. We are fitted for heaven; for we have
heaven in our hearts. {DA 641.3}
In this context many of Jesus’ words make more sense.
John 15:12 My command is this: Love each other as I have
loved you.
John 13:35 By this all men will know that you are my
disciples, if you love one another."
1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed from death to
life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love
remains in death.
Life changing point – what have you done for the least of
these?
Jesus gave you the whole final exam. It has just one question
on it and you have it.
Want to stand on judgment day one question.
• What did you to for the least of these?
All the rest of it is good, terrific, even great, but all that comes
down to one question.
What was it Ellen White said? “When we love the world as
He has loved it, then for us His mission is accomplished. We
are fitted for heaven;”
• Every 2 Years we enter ministry placement time.
It is an important time, because it is during this time God calls
leaders to lead the various ministries of the church for the next 2 years.
• But, I wonder if perhaps something more important is
taking place?
Could it be, we will all be taking the pre-test for that great final exam.
It is a little scary because in the past, the departments
hardest to fill have always been those focused on the
children’s departments.
That is scary, because the final exam question is:
• What did you to for the least of these?
Conclusion:
Yet, the message today is really much deeper than Church leader placement,
It is a call to rethink our entire value system – both as
individuals and as a church.
In Luke chapter 14, Jesus shares a parable about a great
banquet.
• A banquet to which a very wealthy man has invited
many guests.
• He has invited everyone who is anyone.
• Please come to my incredible party, where only the
best of everything will be served.
• I imagine that as the invitations go out, the whole
country-side is filled with great excitement.
• Did you get an invitation?
• Did you hear who else is coming?
• I heard that he is having the food imported from across
the whole world.
• Everyone is reserving a spot no need to ask for RSVPs
• But, as time begins to go by, people get busy.
• Soon the conversation has moved on to other social events.
• People are getting married.
• Business is rolling.
• And by the time the day of the party arrives, well,
the great host has everything ready, and just to make sure no
one forgets he sends out his servants to remind everyone that
today is the day.
• But at house after house
• Family after family
• The excuses begin coming in.
His servants have a simple job – invite people to the greatest
party of their life time.
• But, no one is coming.
• And everything is prepared.
I can’t help think about what is taking place in Christianity right now.
• Across America, less and less people are attending
church, even as churches keep getting bigger and
bigger.
• When the Adventist movement began, it swept across
the US. People meeting in one room church buildings,
heated by a wood stove.
• Anxious to gather to worship Jesus.
Now the book growth rate of Christianity in America is less
than the population growth rate, and the attendance is falling
even faster.
But in spite of that, the Adventist church is now baptizing more
than 3000 a day around the world.
(Every day is Pentecost)
With less than 5% of the Adventist members living in the US,
the place where the movement started – I can’t help but think
of the rest of Jesus parable
And Jesus Said, Luke 14:21 "The servant came back and reported this to his master.
Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant,
'Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled,
the blind and the lame.
Could this be what is happening right now, our churches have
empty seats, and we can’t build churches fast enough in the
poorest parts of the world. People are standing outside the
windows to hear the messages and be part of the worship
service?
I wonder if it is Jesus way to say to us like the master to his
servants Luke 14:23 "Then the master told his servant, 'Go out to the roads and country lanes and
make them come in, so that my house will be full
As we conclude. I would like to challenge each of you here to
reflect on this command.
We tend to focus on those that have it all. And wish they
would come.
But that question isn’t on the final exam.
The final exam, turns on a different point.
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." Thus Christ on the Mount of
Olives pictured to His disciples the scene of the great
judgment day. And He represented its decision as turning
upon one point. When the nations are gathered before Him,
there will be but two classes, and their eternal destiny will be
determined by what they have done or have neglected to do
for Him in the person of the poor and the suffering.
“What have you done for the least of these?”
I remember reading about Dwight L Moody. He was working
as a shoe salesman, in a time, when to go to church, you had
to rent a pew.
Churches weren’t interested in those who had nothing to give
to the church.
Yet in the midst of that attitude, he began to save his money,
and he rented a pew for the poor youth to use as he began to
reach out to his community.
• Then he rented another, and another, and still another.
• Every week, Dwight would pack four pews full of young
people neglected by other churches.
• His own church made him pay to bring to those young
people to church.
• Yet he didn’t leave, he paid it out of his pocket.
“What have you done for the least of these?”
There has yet to be a week when we didn’t have at least one
empty seat. And it is free – “what have you done for the least
of these?”
Ask God today, that he would put a burning love in your heart
for the people he is calling to that great banquet. Those in the
most need those who will accept the invitation.
Luke 14:1 One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the
house of a prominent Pharisee,..
Luke 14:12 Jesus said to his host, "When you give a
(Sabbath) luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your
brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they
may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you
give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the
blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay
you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
If you do this, you will get to meet Jesus
How To Get To Heaven
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