Have you ever considered how
Christ is the all-reigning King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Have you ever just considered
that? Christ is King of Kings. Christ
is Lord of Lords. Have you ever considered that
Christ's kingdom is an everlasting kingdom? An everlasting kingdom. Would John chapter 17, where
we had two verses out of our master's lips, Words which he proclaimed in
his high priestly prayer. John chapter 17 verses 5 and 6. Look at these words. And remember
this is spoken of. These words are spoken by He
who is God incarnate in the flesh. the Word of God incarnate. The sinless, spotless Lamb of
God, the One who came to this world on a mission, and that
mission was to save His people from their sins, and He accomplished
that mission perfectly, and now He's back with the Father. But
look at these words while He's on earth. He says, and now, O Father, glorify
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. He's speaking of eternity past,
isn't he? He's speaking before he came
to this world. He's speaking of the glory, which
is why I said that song was so fitting in the operatory to give
God all the glory. He's speaking of the glory which
he had with the Father in eternity. And he says to the Father, O Father, glorify me with thine
own self for the glory which I had with thee before the world
was. He's just unveiled in these words
his deity, beloved. He's God. I have manifested thy name among
the men whom thou gavest me out of the world, thine they were,
and thou gavest them to me. My, oh my. Think of that if you're
one of the number. We were given to Christ by the
father. Of God, the father's own pleasure. And according to his will. They have kept thy word, and
we know from studying the scriptures that God's people are kept by
the power of God. We are saved by the grace of
God, right? Salvation's of the Lord. He's
the Alpha, and He's the Omega of our salvation. And we also
know that we're kept, though, by the grace of God. Because
if we weren't kept by the grace of God, we'd be in a heap of
trouble, wouldn't we? But praise God. Those He saves,
He keeps, just like a good shepherd watches over all his sheep, right? We may wander off a little bit,
But he brings us right back lovingly, lovingly brings us back, doesn't
he? He's amazing. God is so good to his people. So good. But look at these words
in verse 5. Glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. So we are commanded to flee to
the one who said these words. We are commanded in the Word
of God to flee to the One who said, glorify Thou me with Thine
own self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world
was. That's our Savior. And again, He's revealing His
deity to us through these words, beloved. Remember He gave the three disciples
just a glimpse on the Mount of Transfiguration? Just a glimpse
of his glory. Right. We're getting a little
glimpse here in these words. Oh, my. With a note, yes, with
the glory which I had with thee before the world was. OK. Now, we are great sinners to
our shame, aren't we? We are great sinners to our shame,
but beloved, we have a great savior. We have a great Savior,
and His name is the Lord Jesus Christ, and He's the one who
spoke these words right here. He spoke these words right here,
and He is God incarnate in the flesh. Now, we've had that revealed
to us, but we also see that revealed to us in these words, don't we?
And praise God, He's given us an understanding, and He's given
us faith to believe these words. when there's so many others who
do not believe these words at all. So let us rejoice then. Let us
rejoice in our great Savior and let us lean on Him, beloved.
Let us lean on Him through trials. Let us lean on Him through temptations. Let us lean on Him through various
afflictions of the heart, of the mind. Let us lean on Him. Come unto me, all ye that are
weary and heavy laden. Come unto me, he says, and I'll
give you rest. And that's, beloved, that's rest
for your souls. And we who are sinners, we found,
we who are safe sinners, we found rest in the one who spoke these
very words to the Father. We found rest in God incarnate
in the flesh, Emmanuel. The Lord Jesus Christ. So rejoice,
weak and tried and tested and tempted believer. Rejoice. Rejoice. Rejoice because Christ has all
power. He has all power. He's able to
save to the uttermost. And every believer can say, I'm
proof of that, right? Don't we say with Paul, I'm the
chief of sinners? We testify that he's able to
save to the uttermost. Because he saved my soul. And
if you're a believer, he saved your soul, and you know what
he saved you from. You know what he saved you from. Oh my. And the reason he's able to save
to the uttermost, and he's able to save the most vile sinner,
which we say that's me, is because he's divine. He's God. He's God, beloved. He's prophet, priest, and king
of His people. His offices, His power, His preexistence combined
to prove that He is God. These very words prove that He's God. With the glory which I had
with Thee before the world was. These words prove that He's God. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah
chapter 6. And we're looking at these verses here to set up
the text that we're going to go to. Isaiah chapter 6. Now as we read these words in
Isaiah, I'm going to read those words again in John chapter 17.
Now we're going to look in Isaiah 6 here, and this is Christ upon
the throne, Right? Before he comes to this
world. That's who's on this throne.
It's Christ. Look at this in Isaiah chapter
6. And again, it's a glimpse of his glory. This is a glimpse of Christ's glory before he comes
to this world. Isaiah 6, verses 1-5, In the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up. He is on the throne, beloved.
Look at that. And His train filled the temple.
You've heard me say many times that the length of a train of
a king showed His dominion. So the longer the train, the
more land that they had dominion over. Well, this says his whole
train filled the temple, and that's the train that falls behind
them when they walk. It fills the whole temple, because
he's Lord of all. He is King of kings and Lord
of lords. And look at this. These are holy
beings. Above it stood the seraphims,
each one had six wings, and with twain he covered his face, with
twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. They hid
themselves from the presence of our holy God. These are holy angels. They've
covered their faces in his presence. See, we think,
I'm gonna say this statement, and it's true. We humans think
too little of God. We think too little of God. And
even as believers, we sometimes think too little of God. This
is who God is. Now, let this bless you. This
is our Savior upon the throne in glory. That's my king. And if you're
a believer, that's your king. And holy angels have to cover
themselves in his presence. They have to cover themselves
in his presence. Look at this. And one cried unto
another. This is their cry. And they said,
holy, holy, holy. Several commentators said, there's
the Trinity. Three holies, holy, God the Father's holy, God the
Son's holy, and God the Holy Spirit is holy. Oh my. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
of hosts. The whole earth is full of his
glory. Full of his glory. We just look
around, and we know that the world is plagued with the curse,
but we still see beauty, don't we? We go to them lakes, and
they're like inland oceans, and just look at them. Go down to Arizona and the desert's
not, it's just beautiful. There's that big old Grand Canyon.
Go mountains, you see mountains. You can go to see Yellowstone
and all these beautiful places. They just manifest the glory
of God. Even a little bird. Even a beautiful bird that comes
in the tree and sings a beautiful song when you're walking by glorifies
God. Oh, my. It's absolutely wonderful. The whole earth is full of his
glory. And look at this. And the posts of the door moved
the voice of him that cried and the house was filled with smoke.
And what's Isaiah's response to this? Look at this. Then said he, woe is I. Woe is
me. He's not saying woe is them and
them anymore, is he? And if you read the first part
of chapters of the book of Isaiah, he's saying woe is them and woe
is them. Now after getting a glimpse of the holiness of God and who
he really is, he says, woe is me for I'm a man undone. I'm
a man of unclean lips. And I dwell in the presence of
a people of unclean lips. So not only does he see his own
depravity and his own sinfulness, but he sees the sinfulness. He
sees the sinfulness. of all the people who dwell around
him. And he says, for mine eyes have seen the singular King. Note that, it's singular, the
King, the Lord of hosts. My, he's got a glimpse. He got a glimpse of who God is.
So may we see our Lord as King on the throne in all majesty
and power. Now again, I'll read the words
of our master. Turn to Matthew chapter 25. This
will be our text today. Matthew chapter 25. Let's turn
there. And I'll read the words of our
master again in John chapter 17, verse 5. Our master said to the father,
glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I
had with thee before the world was. Now we got a glimpse of
that in Isaiah 6, didn't we? We got a glimpse of Him in glory.
On the throne. King. King. Now let's read verses
31 to 42 of Matthew, chapter 25. And we're going to see that
that high priestly prayer of Christ has been fulfilled. After
He's redeemed His people. After He went to the cross. And
He shed His precious blood as an atonement for our sins. After
He has obtained eternal salvation for us, where is He now? He is in glory, beloved. He's
not waiting to reign. He's reigning right now. And
we're going to see that at the great white judgment throne,
which we'll be looking at, He's the King upon the throne. He's
the one that every man, woman, Everyone, the top side of this
earth, will face in the last day. Will face in the last day. So
again, I'll read those words. Glorify thou me with thine own
self, with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
Now, let's read Matthew 20, 25. We'll read verses 31 to 46. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory, Remember, glorify thou me with thine own self,
with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. Look at this. Oh, he's coming
again. He is. 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. King, beloved, the King
of kings and the Lord of lords. and before him shall be gathered
all nations. There will be no one who will
miss this gathering. No one. All are summoned to it. All. You say, I don't believe
in God. I don't, I don't, I don't believe
in that. Y'all, he's a fairy tale. Well, you're going to meet
him one day. You're going to find out it's
not fairytale. You're going to find out it's
real. Oh yeah? And my prayer is, the person
that says that, and I know your prayer is, God have mercy on
them before they die. Oh God, please have mercy on
them before they die. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and he shall separate them one from another. Look at
this. Great distinction being made. As a shepherd divided the
sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right
hand, over here, and the goats on his left. 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.
For I was hungered and you gave me meat. Remember in Matthew,
I'm going to stop here quickly. Remember in Matthew 7, there's
a group of folks that say, Lord, Lord, have we not done all these
wondrous things for you? And those are religious folks.
Those are religious people. He says to them, depart from
me, you cursed, you workers of iniquity, for I never knew you. And knew you, there is that intimate
word again of gnoska, there's no intimate relationship. But
they say, well, we've done all these things. Now, God's people,
we often say, when did we do these things? We have no idea
when we've done things for the Lord, do we? Because if you think
you've done something for the Lord, you didn't do something
for the Lord, you did it for yourself. But when we, but look at this,
look at this, this is marvelous, this brings it right down, look
at this. And the king shall answer and say unto them, verily I say
unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least
of my brethren, oh actually let me backtrack here, in verse 35. For I was in hunger and you gave
me meat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger
and you took me in, naked and you clothed me, I was sick and
you visited me, I was in prison, and you came unto me. Then shall
the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungered
and fed, or thirsty and dry, and gave thee drink? What a total
opposite to the folks in Matthew 7.22 who say, Lord, we've done
all these things for you. The saints of God say, when did
we do these things? When did we do these things for
you? When saw we thee and hungered
and fed thee, or thirsty and gave thee drink? When saw we
thee and took thee in, or naked and clothed thee? Or when saw
we sick or in prison and came unto thee? And the king, singular,
the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto
you, inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these
my brethren, ye have done it unto me. That's pretty serious,
isn't it? That's incredible. So think about people slandering
believers. My. Then shall he say unto them,
on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was in
hunger, and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took
me not in. Naked, and ye clothed me not.
Sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger, or thirst,
or stranger, or naked, or sick in prison, and did not minister
unto thee? "'Then shall ye answer, saying, Verily I say unto you,
"'Inasmuch as ye have did it not to one of the least of these.'"
And he's, that's a sheep. He did it not to me. Remember
what our Lord told Paul? Paul was going around and he
was persecuting Christians, wasn't he? And our Lord, he arrested him
on that road, didn't he? And he said, Saul, Saul, why
persecutest thou me? Look at that right there. We should take treating our brethren
in a good manner seriously, shouldn't we? Very, very seriously. Look at that. Then shall he answer
them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not
to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. And these
shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into life eternal. So we see the king here high
and lifted up, don't we? We see the king upon his throne. And one may ask, well, how do
you know this is Christ? Turn, if you would, to John chapter
five. How do you know this is Christ? Well, we know that from
the text, but we always like to compare scripture with scripture,
don't we? We always like to compare scripture
to scripture. John chapter five, verses 21 to 23. For as the Father raises up the
dead and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom He
will. The Father judges no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son. And beloved, the passage we just
looked at is the great white judgment throne. That's the Son of God sitting
on that throne. He's the very one who they nailed to a cross. He's the very one who some of
those who stand before Him despised and rejected and spit in His
face. Is it any wonder then that the
Scripture says that they cry for the mountains to fall upon
them at the sight of His coming? The Father judges no man, but
hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. And
then look at verses 26 to 29, same chapter. For as the Father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life
in himself, given him authority to execute judgment also, because
he is the Son of man. He's the son of man. Marvel not
at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in
the graves shall hear his voice. And we saw that. Everyone, every
nation, every person will be in his presence. Believers and
unbelievers. People who said there's no God
will face our God. We'll face him. They shall come forth, they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation. Paul wrote these words
in 2 Timothy 4, verses 1 to 2. He says, I charge thee therefore
before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick
and the dead. He's the judge, beloved, at his appearing in
his kingdom. Preach the word, be instant in
season, out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering
and doctrine. That's why it's so urgent to
preach Christ. Every time I get in the pulpit
or any grace preacher gets in the pulpit or anybody teaching
is to preach Christ. We don't have time for shenanigans. Preach the life-giving Savior. The Lord Jesus Christ. When we see that the words of
our Master in John 17 clearly being answered, it says, Glorify
thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was. Before the world was. For our
text in Matthew 25.31 and verse C, our text identifies who's
sitting upon the throne. Who's sitting upon the throne?
Matthew 25, 31. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory. There's the identification. He's
the Son of Man. He sit upon the throne of His
glory. The judge in the last days, beloved,
at the Great White Judgment Throne is the Son of Man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that same Jesus was born
in the manger of Bethlehem and took upon Him the form of a servant. And again, He was despised and
rejected of man. He was a man of souls and acquainted
with grief. He was condemned by the princes
of this world. He was beaten and scourged, beloved,
and nailed to a cross. And that same Jesus, that same
Jesus shall himself judge the world. Shall himself judge the
world when he comes. And to Him, the Father, is all
judgment. We saw that in John 5.22. To
Him, every knee bows and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Now we who are believers can
take great comfort in this truth. Great comfort. knowing that He
who sits upon the throne in that great and dreadful day which
we looked at, is none other than our glorious Savior. When I was
studying this, I found great comfort in this. And that's my
prayer for you as believers, that you will find great comfort
in this message. Knowing that the King upon the
throne is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ at that great
day. The shepherd of our souls. Our
high priest. Our elder brother. And when we
see him. The saints will have no cause
for alarm. Isn't that wonderful? Now, not so for the goats. But the saints will have no cause
for alarm. Because we've been redeemed by
our King. We've been bought with a price.
Precious, precious blood of Christ. We've been born again by the
Holy Spirit of God. But let unconverted people think
upon this and be their judge. will be that very day Christ. Christ. Whose gospel they now
despise. And how great will their confusion
be at the last, if they turn from their own belief and die
in their sins. To be condemned in this great
day, the great day of judgment, by none other than the one they
hated without a cause. Well, the psalmist says, kiss
the son lest he be angry. Kiss the son lest he be angry.
Now, I'd like us to consider verses 33 and 34 here. And this is a wonderful text
for God's people. Let's read verses 31, though,
to 34 to see the context of the verses. 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 glory, all nations, all nations, all
of them. And He shall separate them one
from another, as the sheep divided the sheep from the goats. on the left. The king say unto
them on his right, blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. So we see here before us in this
text that great notable day of judgment. The great shepherd
of the sheep shall make a a just distinction. He shall make a just distinction
between his elect, between his chosen sheep, those who are blessed in Christ.
He shall make a just distinction between them and those who will
perish in their sins. Now before we Look into this
more, turn, if you would, to 1 Corinthians 4, verse 7, because
this is extremely important verse here in light of what we're looking
at. Now, that just distinction has
nothing to do with us, okay? Except that we're receivers of
the grace and mercy of God. We didn't do anything to merit
being distinguished from anyone else. We didn't do any works
that would distinguish us from anyone else. The only thing that
has made us to differ as believers is the grace of God in Christ. That's the only thing. And we're
going to see, it's God who makes this distinction even at the
last day. It's God who does it. It's absolutely incredible. Some people might say, well,
that's not fair. I don't want fair, do you? Fair would we be
all goats, right? That's true. Have we got what
we deserve? But that's not so. God has a
people that he chose by his mercy and his grace. And he's the one. Look at this in 1 Corinthians
4, 7. For who maketh thee to differ? In the Greek, that word
differ is distinguished. For who distinguished you? Right? One, who made you to differ from
another? Who made we who are the people
of God to differ from our brothers and sisters in the flesh? Or
our family members? Or our friends? Because we're certainly not better
than them, are we? No, we're sinners just like they
are. See, this scripture is incredible here. For who maketh thee to
differ? Who distinguished you from another? And what hast thou that thou
didst not receive? What do we have from God's people
that we didn't receive? He's revealed Himself to us.
He's given us the gift of salvation. We're born again by His Holy
Spirit, by the Holy Spirit of God. All the knowledge that we
know of anything in this world comes from Him. Our life comes from Him, both
physical and spiritual. The breath we breathe comes from
Him. What is thou that thou didst
not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory?
See, we don't have anything to glory in as believers except
for Christ. That's what Paul's writing. He's
correcting these the Corinthians who went off track, still believers,
but they went off track a little while, a little bit. But see,
he's bringing them back to Christ. He's using that music attuning
fork, bring them right to Christ. Who made you to differ? Christ.
It's Christ. Christ has made you to differ,
right? And if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? So we
see here a distinction has been made It's God who distinguishes
his people from the rest of the world. And we see clearly that the only
one who has made the sheep to differ from the goats is our
great God. Now we do not know who the sheep
of God are, we don't know. Therefore the Gospels preach
to everyone and we say Come to Christ, flee to Christ. And we
know the Lord is the one who makes them well in, but we say
that, don't we? Look to Christ and live. Look
to Christ and live. There's no savior, no salvation
outside of Christ. And it's only God's grace and
only God's mercy that's made it so that we are to differ from
one from another. Only the mercy and grace of God.
Think of this. As the sovereign Lord of all,
Our great God has supreme knowledge. He has supreme knowledge and
divine right. He has divine right to make these
distinct, he has divine right to make these distinctions. He
has the right to do that because he's God. And the scripture says
none can stay his hand or say to him, why do you do that? Even though men still do, that
ain't fair. Like I said, I don't want fair.
My gosh, Lord, give me mercy. Give me mercy, Lord. And he has
in Christ. And he has, if you're a believer,
he's done the same for you. And so he's the one who makes
the distinction between the sheep and the goats. It's him. And
the sheep are believers and the goats are unbelievers. We know
that. And it's he who has done this
according to his will and according to his purpose. Do you know if
the Lord saved you, it was on purpose? Yeah. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, boy.
That'll make your heart sing. God saved you if you're one of
his people on purpose and according to his divine will. That's wonderful. Oh, my. Think of that, too. He made the unwilling willing.
according to his will and purpose. It's absolutely wonderful. Turn,
if you would, to 2 Timothy, 2 Timothy chapter one. 2 Timothy chapter
one. And then we'll go back, put your
finger back in Matthew 25, though, because we'll be going back there.
2 Timothy chapter one. 2 Timothy chapter one. We'll read verses, Verses 8 to 10. And marvel at these words in
light of how it is God who makes the distinction. It's God who's
made us to differ one from another. Okay. 2 Timothy 1, 8 to 10. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord. Don't ever be ashamed of the
testimony of the Lord, what he's done for you. Don't ever be ashamed
of that. nor of me, his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions
of the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us
and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works. Again,
I'm gonna read that little part, not according to our works. And
that means anything you can do mentally or physically. Not according
to our works. but according to his own purpose,
God saved you on purpose if you're a believer, and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus, oh, here we go, before the world
began. Oh my goodness. But now is made
manifest by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who
hath abolished death and hath bought life and immortality to
light through the gospel. It's wonderful, absolutely wonderful. Now let's go back to Matthew
chapter 25. Matthew 25, and let's consider the words of verse 33
here. And we see that it's God who
separates the sheep from the goats. It's God who does the
separation. Look at this. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. That's God doing that. For who made you to differ one
from another? God. God's the one who's made
us to differ. And we see here even at the last
day there's a distinction made. Goats to the left, sheep to the
right. And he has the right to do whatever
he pleases, doesn't he? What does God have to do for
a man to go to hell? Just leave him alone. What does God have to do for
a man or a woman to go to glory? Everything. And we acknowledge that as believers,
don't we? Now, did we know we were sheep when we were born?
No. Did we know we were sheep when we were living in rebellion?
I don't even want to think about it. We've talked about that. Did
we know we were sheep? No, we had no clue. No clue at
all. But God knew we were sheep. He'd
made us to differ from before the foundation of the world,
beloved. But we had no idea. And note here, too. And he shall
set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. And
note here, verse 32, and before him shall be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one
from another, as a shepherd divided the sheep from the goats. All that have ever lived, all that shall ever live will
give an account of themselves. at the bar of Christ. None will
escape this day. None. All must obey this summons. All. All must obey this great
summons. It's the summons of the great
King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And all men and women shall stand
before our great God in this day. And we see here that there'll
be divided into two great classes. And it's God who is the one doing
the dividing. The goats on the left hand and
the sheep on the right hand. Now think of this, vessels of
honor, vessels of dishonor. That's what the scripture says,
right? The potter hath power to do whatever he wills with
the clay. And we see it right there. Oh,
bless his holy name that we're in that number, we who are his
people, that we're in the number of the sheep. It's only by the
grace of God. It's only he who has made that
distinction. Only he. Only he. Man, there's two great classes,
the sheep and the goats. And think of this. There will
no longer be any distinction between kings and presidents
or prime ministers, rich or poor, no mention of ranks in life. There'll be sheep on the right
and goats on the left. And all that are not found in
Christ will be placed among the goats at his left. And they, beloved, who are in Christ are the sheep
on his right hand. Now let's look at verse 34 here.
Knowing that it's only the grace of God who's made us to differ, Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come ye blessed of the Father, blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Notice again who's making this
proclamation. And notice carefully the words, the words of commendation and
grace given to his church. The king, it says, shall say
unto them. Excuse me, I'm sorry. The King. This is who's making this proclamation.
The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. And what joy, what joy can be
found here in these verses, this verse especially, for the believer
in Christ, for true believers. Listen again to these precious
words, which God's sheep shall hear. Come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Oh, what precious words these are to God's people.
Come ye blessed of the father, inherit the kingdom. They will
be owned and confessed by their master before the father and
before the holy angels, the least and the lowest, the poorest of
the family of God, shall enter into his rest. Shall enter into
his rest. Praise his mighty name. And it's
all because of God's grace. It's all because of God's eternal
love that he's had for his people. It's God who's made us to differ. Let's consider some of these
words quickly in this verse. Come. The great shepherd calls
his sheep unto himself. A number of welcomes that no
man can number. I got that from a commentator.
I like that. A number of welcomes that no man can number. Come,
he says to all his sheep. Come. Because God's people are
said to be a number that no man can number. Come to me. Come unto my dearest
embraces. Come into my sweet and eternal
communion. Come into my rest, our king says. Eternal rest. Take possession of all the covenant
mercies that are found in Christ. Look at verse 21. Look at verse
21 of this same chapter. His Lord said unto him, well
done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful
over a few things. I will make thee ruler over many
things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Oh, the king says, come to his
people. Let us look now at these words,
come ye blessed of my father. Look at that. Come ye blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Come ye blessed of my father. This is speaking of God's people.
See, we are just as blessed as the people in heaven right now.
in Christ, aren't we? The only difference is we're
still locked in this sinful body of flesh, but one day we'll be
released from it, and we'll be in the presence of the King,
beloved. What a glorious day that'll be. The reason of our
coming and the reason of our being blessed in the Father is
found in the eternal covenant of grace, beloved. It says this
in Jeremiah chapter 3, verse, or Jeremiah 31.3. The Lord hath
appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an
everlasting love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. We're blessed to the Lord, aren't
we? We're blessed to the Father. We've been loved with an everlasting
love. Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest, and causes us to approach unto thee. He causes us to approach
unto thee. He makes us willing in the day
of his power. And he may dwell in thy courts,
we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, even of
thy holy temple, Psalm 65, 4. And we know that no man can come
unto the Father except Christ draws, right? Which in the Greek means drag
us. My, doesn't sound like somebody
all of a sudden deciding to walk down a mile, does it? No. No man can come unto me except
the Father which hath sent me draw him, drag him, and I will
raise him up in the last day. It is written in the prophets,
and they shall all be taught of God. Every man, therefore,
that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh unto me. As the Spirit glorifies the Son,
so the Son glorifies the Father, beloved, in the salvation of
his sheep. Now look at these wonderful words
that continue. They just get better and better.
Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. My. Turn, if you would, to 1
Peter 1. 1 Peter 1. God's inheritance
for his people is an eternal inheritance. It's an eternal. And it can never be affected
by the things of this world. Why? Because it's in Christ.
who dwells in glory. Boy, we can get an inheritance
here and squander it, can't we? But this inheritance that we
have in Christ can never be squandered. Never, for the believer. 1 Peter
1, verses three to five. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
hath begotten us into a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus
Christ from the dead. We have a living hope, beloved.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ, to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven
for you, who are kept, again, kept by the power of God through
faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. So this wondrous inheritance,
this wondrous salvation has been bought with the precious blood
of Christ. The precious blood of Christ, when he died on Calvary's
cross to redeem his people from their sins. It was not, neither
could it be acquired by our merit, it all comes to us by the free
grace of God, beloved. And this inheritance is given
freely to all those who are made heirs of God, In joint errors
with the Lord Jesus Christ listen to this in Revelation Chapter
21 verses 5 and 6 and he said he that sat upon the throne said
behold I make all things new I Was talking to brother norm
about this this week all things new We have a new spirit on us we
have a new love for the brethren We have a new love for the gospel.
We have a new love for his word. We have a new love to gather
together with the Lord's people. We didn't have that before, did
we? Oh, God's so good to his people. He's so good to us. Oh, my. Behold, I make all things
new, and he said unto me, write. For these words are true and
faithful. And he said unto me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega,
the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Now lastly, let us consider from
the words of our text that all this has been prepared by God
for his people. I was thinking upon that this
week. All this has been prepared by our great God for we who are his people. I have not seen nor ear heard
the things that God has prepared for those that love him. We can't even, you know, you
see these guys write books on heaven, they don't know, they
don't know what they're talking about. Paul said he went to heaven,
he couldn't even, you know, when he caught up to the third heaven,
he couldn't even, he couldn't even say what he saw. I have not seen. That means that
the most beautiful thing is nothing that we've seen in this world,
is nothing in comparison to what awaits us. How about that? Now think of that. Not only for
what awaits us, but for those who we love who went home to
be with the Lord. Think of that. Oh my goodness. What they are
experiencing right now, we can't even fathom. Makes us homesick, doesn't it?
Makes us homesick, beloved. Look at this. Come ye blessed.
Come, so the call is come because we're his people, right? Ye blessed
are the father. We're totally blessed to the
Father, right? He chose us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. He granted us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Holy Spirit's regenerated us. Christ has purchased us with
his precious blood, all according to the determined counsel and
foreknowledge of God, right? Come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you, a kingdom that'll never
end, an inheritance that can't be tainted in any way by us.
And then it says here, prepared for you, prepared for you. Every
believer, prepared for you. From the foundation of the world. And I'm sure you're thinking
the same as me. Prepared for me? My, what mercy. My, what grace. Prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Now, did you and I have anything
to do with what God did before the foundation of the world?
Do we have anything to do with what God does on this earth?
No. You see how it takes creature
merit and qualification Right out the window it goes. Prepared for you from before
the foundation of the world. All of God's preparations for
the sheep on his right hand are by his eternal decrees. By his
eternal decrees, by his divine will. By his divine will. And those
preparations are not only eternal, but also particular. Look at
that. For you. For you. My. Turn, if you would, one more
place we'll turn to. 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2. 2
Thessalonians, Chapter 2. 2 Thessalonians, Chapter 2. God's people. We're a thankful
people. We're a thankful people because
we know what our Lord has done for us. We know what our Lord
has done in us. And we know that we could never
save ourselves. And we know and we see so clearly
that it's God who's made us to differ. And this will even be
distinguished, that distinction will even be shown at the great
white judgment throne. And it just proves that it's
God who's made this distinction, again, because it was all prepared
for us from before the foundation of the world. See, the reason
people buck against the sovereignty of God is because they want something
to do with it. And we who are God's people are
so thankful that we have nothing to do with it. because we know
we mess it up. And it's all by God's grace and
mercy, beloved. It's all by his mercy and grace.
Look at this, 2 Thessalonians 2, 13 and 14. But we are bound
to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of
the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.
Tie that in with those words Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. See how they come alive? They come alive. God from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief in the
truth. Where unto? He called you by our gospel to
the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. So
all this was planned and purposed by God. And never forget who
the Lord Jesus Christ was. He's God incarnate in the flesh.
And he lived as meat-eater and died as substitute for the sheep
on his right hand. And he proclaimed this blessed
truth. In John chapter 10, he said, and think of this, so many
people, again, when you bring up election, they just lose it. I've experienced it many times.
I actually, before I've told you this, before the Lord saved
me, and somebody told me about election, I thought they were
crazy. But now it's the most wonderful doctrine I've ever,
ever, it's beautiful. Because I know that if God hadn't
chosen me, I'd never choose him. And so when you say that Christ
died for a sheep, and didn't we not see that distinction of
maid between the sheep and the goats? People get upset when
you say that. But listen to the words of the
master, In John 10, verse 15, as the Father knoweth me, even
so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep, those
on the right hand. It's clear, isn't it? Christ's
death was for his people. And he redeemed his people. He's
a successful Savior of the world. Oh my. So we clearly see, again
in our text, who the sheep of God are. They're His blood-bought
bride. They're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. They've been chosen by the Father
in Christ. Again, before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. And think upon this, the only
reason that we will hear these wonderful words Come, ye blessed
of the Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. The only reason we will hear
these wonderful words is because we are accepted in the beloved.
We're accepted in Christ. That's the only reason. The scripture
says we're saved for Christ's sake, aren't we? And because
of what he's done, beloved, because what he's done. For God hath
not appointed us to wrath, because the wrath due us fell upon Christ.
For God hath not appointed us wrath, but to obtain salvation
by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, for those sheep. Wonder of wonders, the believer
says, wonder of wonders, God incarnate in the flesh died for
me, a sinner. Wonder of wonders. I don't think
we're ever gonna get over that, are we? No, because even in glory
we're saying, We sing glory to the Lamb, don't we? And to Him
who washed us in His blood. Oh my. Oh my. My, oh my. So we've seen today
the distinguishing grace of God on full display in our text.
And my hope, my hope for you and for I, is that studying this
wonderful passage will give God's, it'll give God's tried and tempted
people Comfort this week. Comfort this week. Comfort while
we're in this world. And one can easily see that the
whole of our salvation from beginning to the final glorification of
all the believers is all by God's free and sovereign grace. So
clear, isn't it, in the text? It's so clear. To the total exclusion
of any consideration of creature merit or righteousness. No merit. No merit, no merit. And think about these wonderful
truths that we looked at today. Meditate upon them this week.
Just think upon them. Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. And know that it is only God,
it is only God, who made you to be numbered among the sheep.
It's only God who made you to be numbered among the sheep of
God. and it's all according to His grace, and it's all according
to His mercy, so let this truth, beloved, warm your soul this
week. Let this truth just warm your
soul, because it's God who's made us to differ, and it's He,
it's He who says to His people, come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom, prepared for you, prepared for you, prepared
for you, right? from the foundation of the world.
Glory to his name. Heavenly Father, we thank you
for your mercy, your grace to we who are your people. Oh, how
undeserving we are of thy mercy and thy grace. But Lord, as we've
read in the text, you prepared it, purpose to all this would
occur before the foundation of the world. And this for the born
again sinner, makes it even more wondrous for us that you would
have mercy upon us. Let us think upon this wonderful
verse this week. Oh, may it comfort our hearts
and souls. We do not know what we're going
to face this week, Lord, but you know, you are the one who
holds tomorrow and you know what's coming our way, Lord. And so
we who are your people, we rest in you and we trust in you. And
we also pray as the people of God that you would use this message
to draw on your lost sheep, O Lord, to reveal to sinners their lost
estate. It's hard to find sinners nowadays,
Lord, but you have shown we who are your people that we're but
safe sinners. And we know that you're still working, still moving,
still saving and gathering in thy sheep, O Lord. So we pray
that as this message goes forth, as it goes forth on the internet,
O Lord, that you'd use it for your glory. Draw on your lost
sheep, we pray, if it be thy will. Edify your people and build
them up, we pray. Glory to your name, Lord. In
Jesus' name, amen.