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Visiting the Poor.

The following verses are from Matthew 25:31-46. Please read them before reading the rest of my blog post because I really want to address the issue of compassion.

31 i“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, jthen he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him kwill be gathered lall the nations, andmhe will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates nthe sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Thenothe King will say to pthose on his right, ‘Come, you qwho are blessed by my Father,rinherit sthe kingdom tprepared for you ufrom the foundation of the world. 35 For vI was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you wgave me drink, xI was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 vI was naked and you clothed me, yI was sick andyou zvisited me, aI was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 Andbthe King will answer them, c‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these dmy brothers,6 you did it to me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, e‘Depart from me, you fcursed, into gthe eternal fire prepared for hthe devil and his angels. 42 For iI was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ 44 Then they also will answer, 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?’45 Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one ofthe least of these, jyou did not do it to me.’ 46 And these will go away kinto eternal punishment, but the righteous kinto leternal life.”

In the epoch of time human beings are in they all are being given not just the opportunity to amend their lives, but to practice the truths taught by Jesus himself. You might be wondering why I decided to post these verses from the Gospel of Matthew and I will tell you. Salvation through Jesus Christ is not just about getting your sins forgiven, but demonstrating your faith to a lost world. It says in the bible that we are not just justified by (the) faith but by works as well, (James 2:24).

Some preachers say that this verse is irrelevant, but I believe they are wrong and that's why I want to talk about the things we do to each other after and before we understand the good news of the Gospel. Some people falsely reason that if my sins are eternally forgiven then it doesn't matter how off track I get, Jesus forgives everything I do, even if I neglect members of our society that are less fortunate than they are. This reasoning is wrong because when we come to Christ there is a Sanctification process that is absolutely necessary for anyone to go to Heaven. Doesn't the bible say that without holiness no one will see the Lord? (Hebrews 12:14)

While it is true that Jesus forgives our sins, he doesn't overlook our sins of neglect. The bible says that we must not neglect our Salvation (Hebrews 2:3) and there is a real danger of losing it if we do. "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since athe message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and bevery transgression or disobedience received a just cretribution,3 dhow shall we escape if we eneglect such a great salvation? It was fdeclared at first by the Lord, and it was gattested to us hby those who heard, 4 gwhile God also bore witness iby signs and wonders and various miracles and by jgifts of the Holy Spiritkdistributed according to his will." (Hebrews 2:1-4) This is Mike.

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