Matthew 25:35–40: “For I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited Me in, I was naked and you gave Me clothing, I was sick and you took care of Me, I was in prison and you visited Me. Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink? When did we see You a stranger and invite You in, or naked and clothe You? When did we see You sick or in prison and visit You?’ And the King will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’”

Remember, this is me exploring this passage and telling you that Jesus Christ actually did all these things for us. He is the One who fed us, gave us food—spiritual food. He is the bread of life. He fed us with Himself. He said, “If you do not eat My flesh and drink My blood, you have no life in you” (John 6:53). That is it. We have life in us—the life of God. We have come from death to life.

I have talked about food. I have talked about “I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink.” Now, what about “I was a stranger and you invited Me in”?

Could we be more of strangers? We were aliens, according to Paul. We were far away from God. Now we have become members of the household of God. Who brought you in? Jesus brought you in. You are no longer an outsider. You have been brought in. You are an insider. You are now a member of the household of God. You can call God your Father.

“As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God… The Spirit Himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children” (Romans 8:14, 16). Look at you. Your status has changed. An alien before, an outsider before—someone who is outside, outside.

Remember what happened in the garden of Eden. God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden because of sin (Genesis 3:23–24). But now, because Christ bore sin for us on the cross, He took care of sin, so that when you believe in Him you will be saved (Romans 10:9–13). Paul was very clear: “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:13).

You have become a participant in salvation through Jesus Christ. We were told about His name: “You are to name Him Jesus, because He will save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). That is awesome, because sin is a big deal. What we know about God is His holiness, but Christ came with one sacrifice. Hebrews tells us that by one offering He has perfected for all time those who are made holy (Hebrews 10:14). With one divine action He perfects forever those who come to God through Him.

He is the One. He is Him. He is the One who brought you in. He is the One who welcomed you in. He is the One who changed you. He is the One who brought about that change of status. We were outsiders. We were aliens to the commonwealth of Israel, but now we “are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but… fellow citizens with the saints and… members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:12, 19).

Now we sit with princes.

Look at what happened with Mephibosheth in the time of David (2 Samuel 9). Mephibosheth, as a descendant of Saul, naturally stood on the side that opposed David. His natural portion was judgment. Our natural portion is judgment. That is the truth. Our natural portion is banishment from the presence of God into eternal damnation. That is our natural portion because of sin, because through Adam sin entered the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all people (Romans 5:12). Everybody came in with our portion in sin. Do not argue with that. Do not try to gainsay that. Scripture is right to conclude that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

So we are all locked into one room, and only Christ is the door out of that room (John 10:9). Otherwise, everybody is going down.

What happened with Mephibosheth? Because of Jonathan, David brought Mephibosheth in and had him eat at the king’s table like one of the king’s sons (2 Samuel 9:7, 11). Because of Jesus, we have been brought in to be members of God’s household. We are no longer outsiders.

God bless you. See you later.