Open your Bibles to the book
of Matthew, chapter 25, and we'll read verses 31 to 34. The name of the message is blessed
by the Father. In this portion of scripture,
it's the great judgment throne. It's when all the nations and
all the people of the earth shall be gathered together, who have
ever lived shall be gathered together before the Lord. And
we see in our text that there's two different people groups,
one called the sheep and the other called the goats. And let
us pay attention as we read this scripture, who separates the
two groups? Who separates the two groups?
Matthew 25 verses 31 to 34. The scripture declares, when
the son of man shall come in his glory, that's the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is his second coming. 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.
No one will miss this. All people who have ever lived,
man, woman, and child, shall be gathered all nations, and
he shall separate them from one from another, as the shepherd
divides his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king,
look at that, singular, the king, the king of kings and the Lord
of lords, the sovereign God and ruler over all, shall say unto
them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Beloved of God, we who are the
sheep of God, we see in this text that it's only God who's
made us to differ. Vicki and I were talking earlier
and I said, take note of this text that I'll preach on of who
does the separating between the sheep and the goats. And we see
that it's our great God in verse 32, and he shall separate them
one from another. Beloved, the only reason we are
made to differ from anyone else in this world is the grace and
mercy of God. It is he who has separated us
from this world. It is he who has chosen us by
his grace. It is he who has redeemed us
by the shedding of the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
God incarnate in the flesh. And he is the king. He is the
king. The only king, the only potentate,
the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Oh my, so the only
one who made us to differ, the only one who's made us to differ,
and he's made us to differ in Christ, beloved, is God the Father. Oh, he chose us in Christ, and
we see at the final judgment that the sheep of God will be
separated from the goats, which are natural men and women. a
state that we were taken out of. They, just like us, were
born dead in trespasses and sins. But they are left in that state,
beloved. And God chooses to save us. This
is amazing. Let us marvel at this. And note
the separation of the two groups of people in verse 33. It says,
that God will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats
on his left. God does this, beloved. God separates
us. God has set us apart from eternity by his distinguishing grace.
And note, Note our verse in verse 34, and we see what the king
shall say to the sheep on his right hand. Then shall the king
say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Wonderful words, beloved. Wonderful
words. The Lord Jesus Christ is speaking
to us. Then shall the king say. Then shall the sovereign of sovereigns
say. Then shall the king of kings
and lord of lords say. The one who's redeemed us with
his precious blood. Come ye blessed of my father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you. From when? From when,
beloved? The foundation of the world.
Oh, this is amazing. This is God himself saying this
to his people. And this is the great day of
judgment. Take note of what day this is.
This is the great day of judgment, when everyone shall be gathered
before the Lord, before the Lord Jesus Christ on his throne. People
say, well, I don't believe in him. Well, you're going to see
him. You're going to see him face to face on this great day,
and he will either be your judge or your savior, one or the other.
Oh, my. Oh, my. this great day when the
great shepherd of the sheep shall make a just distinction, a just
distinction only because we're made just by Christ, only because
we're redeemed by his blood, a just distinction between his
elect, those he redeemed with his blood, those who were chosen
and blessed in Christ from before the foundation of the world,
as opposed to those who are left to justly perish in their sins. which we see in verse 41. Look
at verse 41, oh my. Then shall he say, also unto
them on the left hand depart from me ye cursed in everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Oh my. As the sovereign Lord of all,
the Lord Jesus Christ has supreme knowledge and divine right to
make these exact distinctions, beloved, between the sheep, believers,
and the goats. This is bought forth in 2 Timothy
2, verse 19. It says, nevertheless, the foundation
of God standeth sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them
that are his. and let every one that nameth
the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Note that the Lord
knoweth, the Lord knoweth. He knoweth them that are his.
They were given to him by the Father in eternity. He left the
glory and splendor of heaven to redeem them with his precious
blood when he became a man, the God-man. And scripture says he
came to save his people from their sins and praise be to God,
he did it. Oh my. Now let us take careful
note of the words of comfort given to those on the right hand
who are called the sheep of God. The born again blood washed church,
the scripture declares, the king shall say unto them, first word,
come, come. The great shepherd calls his
sheep unto himself, beloved. 10,000 welcomes is in an answer
to his prayer. John 17, 24, he says, Father,
in the great high priestly prayer, I will that they also, whom thou
has given me, be with me where I am, that they may know, that
they may behold my glory, which thou has given me. For thou lovest
me before the foundation of the world. Oh, my beloved. Come to me, he says. Come unto me, my dearest. Embrace. Embrace me. Come into my sweet,
eternal communion. Come into my spiritual kingdom.
Take possession of all covenant mercies. And come unto the throne
of grace. Find grace to help in time of
need. The same one who said, come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, says to his people, come. Come. Note the next words in the text. Who does he say come to? Look
at this. Come, ye blessed of my Father. Oh, isn't that wonderful? He makes a distinction between
his people and the rest of humanity. Those he's redeemed with his
blood, he says, come. And then he says, ye blessed
of the Father. Oh, the reason of our coming. The reason of
our coming and the blessing of God's people being in Christ
is found in the eternal covenant of grace, beloved. The scripture
declares, blessed is the man whom thou choosest and causes
to approach unto thee. God causes us to approach unto
him. He makes us willing in the day
of his power, beloved. that he may dwell in my courts.
We shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of
thy holy temple. Praise be to God. This is wonderful.
God's people are called blessed of my father by the king. As
the spirit glorifies the son, so the son glorifies the father
by referring the salvation of his sheep to the eternal purpose
of God. Note that with these words, he's
referring to the eternal purpose of God, beloved. We're blessed
in the Father. From when? From eternity. Isn't
that marvelous, beloved? Marvel. Marvel, beloved of God. For of him, and through him,
and to him are all things to whom be glory forever. Amen.
Give God all the glory for your salvation, beloved. In Ephesians
chapter 3, verses 8 to 11, it says this. And think of this as I read this. Think of this. God is the first
cause and the last cause, the last end in justifying his elect. He chose us in Christ. And now
here we see, come ye blessed of the Father. We're just in
Christ, beloved. Listen to this. Ephesians 3,
verses 8 to 11. Unto me, who am the least of
all saints. Don't we all feel that way, beloved?
is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ. This is what the gospel is. The
gospel is the unsearchable riches of Christ, salvation in Christ
alone. and to make all men see what
is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the
world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ,
to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers and
heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom
of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in
Christ Jesus our Lord. We are the blessed of the Father,
beloved, all according to his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus
our Lord. Now look what's next. It just
keeps getting better and better. Look at this. Come, ye blessed
of the Lord, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. This is the
eternal inheritance of God's grace, bought with the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ by his perfect sin atoning work
in our room and place at Calvary's cross. God in the flesh came
and saved his people from their sins to which we say hallelujah. What a savior is Jesus Christ,
my Lord. This eternal inheritance of God's
grace in Christ is not acquired by our merit. We don't merit
nothing but condemnation. But rather it comes by the free
grace of God in Christ. And this inheritance is freely
given to all those made heirs and joint heirs with the Lord
Jesus Christ. How? By being blessed by the
Father through the perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ in our
room and place. The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the children of God. And if children,
then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. If so
be that we suffer with him, that we may also, that we may be also
glorified together, Romans 8, 16 and 17. And then the last
portion, we see the words here, prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. All God's preparations for the
sheep on his right hand are all by his eternal decree, beloved.
Acts 15, 18 says, no one under God are all his works from the
beginning of the world. These preparations are not only
for, not only eternal, but also particular. Note the words in
our text, for you, for the sheep of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
lived as our mediator and died as our substitute. for the sheep
on his right hand. He saved us from our sins. For
God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we
wake or sleep, we should live together with him. 1 Thessalonians
5.9. One can easily see that the whole
of our salvation is in Christ. and by Christ, and our final
glorification is all of God's free and sovereign grace, just
like our salvation. To the total exclusion in any
consideration of creature merit, we don't deserve this mercy,
not at all. To the total exclusion of any
work we can do, we can't work our way to salvation. to the
total exclusion of any righteousness. All our righteousnesses are like
filthy rags. And but praise be to God, God's
people are clothed in the perfect, spotless righteousness of Christ,
saved from all their sins. Saved from all their sins, beloved. And I'll read this verse one
more. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand,
those he's redeemed with his blood, come, ye blessed of my
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Amen.