Now we're looking back at our
text here this morning. Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25 at verse 31. And I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory. Now you think about that for
a minute. Just meditate upon that for a minute. When. We don't
know the time, the hour, the day. We don't need to know. We need to know that He's coming
back. His final coming. He came the first time to put
away our sin. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth His Son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory. He came the first time in humiliation,
didn't He? born of a woman, made under the
law. Here he comes a second time,
the final time, with all glory, with all power, with all majesty. Every knee will bow, every tongue
will confess that he's Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And all the holy angels with him All the elect of God that
have died and have gone on to be glorified in Christ, when
He comes, they will come back with Him, with all the elect
angels, with all the elect saints of God. Then the Lord shall sit
upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered
all nations. All nations of all people that
have ever lived upon the face of this earth, out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, nation under heaven, all nations shall be
gathered before him, and he shall separate them one from another. Here's a distinction made by
the sovereign shepherd, by the great shepherd of the sheep.
As a shepherd divided the sheep from the goats, and he shall
set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left hand. Now who are the sheep? Who are
the goats? Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, come, come you blessed of my father,
inherit, inherit the kingdom. The kingdom has been prepared.
The salvation has been prepared for you from the foundation,
from the foundation of the world. The salvation that we enjoy as
believers is an eternal salvation. It was prepared for us before
Adam every fell. The Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
stood. Look at verse 41 for a moment. Then shall He also say unto them
on the left hand, the left hand, It's not come ye blessed, it's
depart ye cursed. You see the difference? What
a contrast. He shall say unto them on the
left hand, depart from me, you are cursed. And it's cursed into everlasting
condemnation, everlasting judgment, fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. Now what a separation. What a
judgment. It's not a matter of if the Lord's
coming back, but when the Lord Jesus. And he shall return with
great power and all glory to take his redeemed bride whom
he had chosen, his elect to himself forever, and to righteously judge
and cast out the reprobate. the ungodly, the wicked forever
as well. Now, does he have the right to
do that? Absolutely. He's a sovereign, sovereign Lord. There will be a great separation. Look down at verse 46, and these
shall go away, shall go away into everlasting punishment but
the righteous unto eternal life." Now, again, what a contrast. Eternal life, eternal punishment. There will be a final and great
separation. We studied about that in Revelation
chapter 20. There it's called the Great White
Throne Judgment. When God will pass a righteous,
just judgment upon all men without exception." God will either judge
us in Christ, judge our sin in the Lord Jesus Christ, or you'll
stand before Him with your sin still on you, and you will be
judged by the righteous, almighty God. Now, a few passages in the
Bible are more solemn, heart-searching, as the words that we've just
read. It's somber, isn't it? Think about it. The final separation,
the final judgment. I pray the Lord will cause us
to seriously consider these things about the judgment throne of
Christ, the judgment seat of the Lord Jesus Christ. As it
says there, He shall sit upon the throne of His glory. His
throne. The glorious throne. It's a throne
of judgment, and justice is the habitation of His throne. I pray
the Lord will give us a serious attention to this, and I pray
the Lord will be our teacher and show us the way of salvation
only in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no other way of salvation.
He says, Come ye, blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you. Now there's no parable here as
we studied before in chapter 24 and chapter 25. The Lord spoke
to the people in parables. Here everything is plain and
bold and clear. We understand the language, don't
we? Even if we don't believe what is said, we at least understand
the language. A shepherd divides his sheep
and the goats. Why does he do that? He's the
wise shepherd. We understand that concept, don't
we? There's no problem with understanding
what he's saying here. The Lord has the right to make
this distinction, sovereignly as he will. We may not believe what the Lord
is saying here, but we certainly understand the message, don't
we? He is the one who makes the distinction. Now, let's look
at several things here. Verse 31, first of all, we see
who the judge is. Who's the judge in that day?
It's not me. It's not you. We have no right
to make this judgment, do we? The Son of Man shall come in
His exalted majesty and almighty power in His glory as the Son
of Man who is the God-Man, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Son of Man, but He
also is God the Son. He was the real man, the Word
would make flesh, and dwelt among us. He comes in the glory He
comes in all glory as our mediator, one God, one mediator between
God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He comes in the glory as the
righteous judge. The Father judged no man, but
committed all judgment to the Son. God has appointed a day
in which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man,
that God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's your judge. He's
your judge. It's appointed unto men once
to die, Hebrews 9, 27. And after that, judgment. Judgment. He comes in the glory
as God himself. He comes with all glory as God
himself. The Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel. We
read that a moment ago in 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, chapter 4, verse 16. Second thing we see, that his
companions, we see companions that come with him, all the elect
angels and all the redeemed and all the glorified saints, and
all his holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory. We read a moment ago, the Lord will come again. If we believe that Jesus died
and rose again, even so them also which sleep in him will
God bring with him. To you who are troubled, rest
with us. The Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels. He's coming back with a host
of his redeemed saints and with a host of his elect angels. You remember back in, turn one
page back to Matthew 24, 31. He shall send his angels with
the great sound of a trumpet and they shall gather together
his elect from the four winds from one end of heaven and to
the other. For the Lord is coming with a
multitude of hosts, the redeemed saints and the elect angels,
they will come. Secondly, there will be a great
separation, a great distinction, a great dividing between all
nations, as we read there in verse 32. And before him shall
be gathered all nations. And he shall separate them one
from another as the shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand and the goats on the left hand. There will
be a great separation, a dividing between all nations of the earth
by the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. A great separation and a final
separation. Now, we don't have the right
or knowledge to make this distinction, do we? I don't. No man does. But he
does. We don't have the right or knowledge
to make this distinction between the tares and the wheat. Remember
the parable about the tares and the wheat? He said, just leave
those tares alone. I'll take care of them when I
come back. Don't go tearing up the tares.
You mess up the wheat. He said, just leave them alone.
I'll take care of it. We don't have the right knowledge
or ability or right or knowledge or distinction. to make the difference
and say who's saved and who is lost. A lot of preachers do that. Well, that man's saved, that
man's lost. I don't know that. Neither do you. He does. He does. And we don't know who the sheep
or the goats are. We'd mess up every time. We don't
have the right to make that distinction. The Lord doth know them that
are His. The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal. The Lord knoweth them that are
His. He knows His sheep by name and
He calls them out. He calls them out by name, one
by one. One by one. Hold your place here.
Let's see if we can read about that over here in John chapter
10. Turn over there. The sheep of
Christ, the elect of God, that includes every believer, shall
be set on his right hand. These were chosen in that eternal
covenant of grace given to the Lord Jesus Christ, who will be
set on his right hand, a place of honor and a place of love.
Who are these sheep? Turn over here to John 10, look
at verse 22. And it was at Jerusalem, the
Feast of the Dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked
in the temple of Solomon's port. Then came the Jews, round about
Him and said to Him, How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If
You be the Christ, tell us plainly. The Lord answered, I told you,
and you believe not. The works that I do in My Father's
name, they bear witness of Me. But you believe not, because
you are not of My sheep. You're not one of my sheep. As
I said to you, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they
follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall
never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man
is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father
are one. Where'd he get these sheep? Turn
back to John chapter six. These are the elect of God chosen
unto salvation before the foundation of the world. In John chapter
6, look at verse 37. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, and those that come to me I'll never cast them
out. For I came down from heaven not
to do the will of him that I came down from heaven, not to do my
own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the
Father's will, which has sent me, that of all which he has
given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth
on him, may have everlasting life. I'll raise him up at the
last day. Their names, who are these sheep?
Their names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before the
foundation of the world. Their salvation was certain and
sure in the Lord Jesus Christ. They were certain and sure in
the Lord Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world.
Paul writes this, it's God who saved us and called us with a
holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his
own purpose and grace. given us in the Lord Jesus Christ
before the foundation of the world. Their names were written
in the land book of life before the foundation of the world and
their salvation is certainly ensured based upon the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Read this promise We read of
this promise in Revelation 21, verse 27, "...there shall in
no wise enter in anything that defileth, neither whatsoever
worketh an abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written
in the Lamb's book of life." There is that Lamb's book of
life, their names of God's sheep, His elect, were entered into
that book, and nothing can take their names out. So that's who
the sheep are, they're His elect, His chosen. Chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. Who are the goats here
on the left hand? They were placed in a place of
dishonor, contempt, and condemnation. The goats are those who do not
believe the gospel. The goats are the ungodly reprobate. They have no mediator. They have
no savior. They have no righteousness before
God. The goats. Goats will never be sheep. Sheep
will never be goats. Sheep have always been sheep.
They've always been the elect of God. Goats have always been
goats, always been the reprobate. Sheep never become goats and
goats never become sheep. Everything God does in this world,
He does for His sheep, His elect. His church, His chosen. And we know all things work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
redeem who? He came to redeem the sheep.
He didn't lay down His life for the goats. He said, I'm the good
shepherd. I lay down my life for the sheep.
No man takes my life from me. I lay it down of myself. The
Lord Jesus Christ came to honor the law of God for his elect,
for his chosen, for his church. He said, I came not to dishonor
the law, but to honor the law of God for my people. He came
to save his people from their sin, Matthew. 121. He came to
save them. Did he get it done? Absolutely. The Lord said on palm calvary's
tree, it is finished. Christ came to save his sheep
from their sin and he fully completed that mission, didn't he? None
will perish for whom Christ died. There's no one in hell for whom
Christ died. He affectionately forever put
away the sin by the sacrifice of Himself. Our Lord came to
save His lost sheep, and He got the job done. In verse 34, down
through verse 40, we see words of commendation, words of blessing
given toward His sheep, given toward His church, His bride,
His elect, His chosen believers in Christ Jesus. Look at verse
34. Then, when this separation is
made, then shall the King, and we're talking about the Son of
Man, but let's not forget He's the King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. The King shall say unto them on the right hand, His sheep,
a word for the sheep. This is sheep food for the sheep
on His right hand. He said, come, come. You're blessed of my father.
You're blessed of my father. He said, inherit. Inherit the
kingdom that's prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now, what a glorious verse to
think about. Let's look at those things for
just a moment. He said, come, come. The great
shepherd calls his sheep. And he calls them unto himself,
come unto me all ye that labor heavy laden, I will give you
rest. You remember from Hebrews chapter 4, he said, let us therefore
come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Matthew 11, 28, he said,
come unto me all ye that are laboring and heavy laden, come! He said, I'll give you rest.
Isaiah 55, he said to everyone that is thirsty, everyone that
is thirsty, come, come and drink, come and dine. He said to those
fishermen that day, come, come. And then he says, secondly, you're
blessed. You're blessed. Now, if the king
blesses you, how blessed are you? You're blessed with all
spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. The
reason of our coming, And blessing is found in that eternal covenant
of grace. He said, no man can come to me
except the Father which sent me draw him. And I'll raise him
up at the last day. All those who have heard and
learned of the Father, they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. All
blessings that God has for his people are in Christ Jesus. He's the Lord. He's the Christ. He's our Savior. He's the first
cause and last end of all of our salvation. Come. Why should we come? Because you've
been blessed. You're blessed in Christ. Blessed
with the knowledge of Him. Blessed with all salvation that's
revealed in Him. And then he says thirdly, not
only come, not only are you blessed, he says this, inherit. You see that? Inherit the kingdom. Inherit the kingdom. He didn't
say come and work for the kingdom. Work your way up to the kingdom.
Do so many good deeds and you'll have there, then you'll have
the inheritance. No, He said come and inherit
because you're blessed of God with all spiritual blessings
and heavenly in Christ Jesus. Inherit the kingdom that's been
prepared for you. This is the eternal inheritance
that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. That inheritance Peter
called incorruptible and undefiled, reserved in heaven for you who
are kept by the power of God. There we are preserved and reserved
unto this inheritance. It's called, we've been made
heirs of God. and joint heirs with the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are bought with his precious
blood, redeemed with his precious blood. Our redemption and salvation
is not acquired by merit or works, but rather by the free grace
of God. Inheritance, this inheritance
is freely given to all those who are made heirs of God in
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's an inheritance of grace.
He gives us grace now and all glory forever. Listen to scripture
in Revelation 21. He said, it is done. I'm Alpha,
Omega, the beginning, the end. I'll give unto them that is the
first mountain of the water of life freely. He that cometh shall
inherit. He that overcometh shall inherit
all things. I will be his God and he shall
be my son. Behold what manner of love the
Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called sons of God,
prepared for you before the foundation of the world. We read in the
Revelation the Lord Jesus Christ is a lamb slain before or from
the foundation of the world. These preparations are not only
eternal but also particular. Notice it says this inheritance
and this kingdom of salvation is prepared for you. His sheep, believers who've been
called out of darkness into His marvelous light. And this is
all done, our salvation was already done from eternity. God has eternally justified His
people in Christ Jesus. And in time, He comes and makes
it known to them before the foundation of the
world. For God has not appointed us under 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. One can easily see by reading
that verse, one can easily see when it has eyes to see. One
can easily see that the whole of our salvation and final glorification
is all of God's free and sovereign grace to the total exclusion
of any consideration of creature, merit, or righteousness. It's all of grace, is it not?
You can't put works in there anywhere as to the merit or to
earn salvation. It's not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy. He saved us. The Lord has made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and He's all our redemption. Now, in verse 35 down through
verse 40, the Lord describes the character of the sheep. The humility of the sheep. and
the obedience of the sheep. Now, it's not obedience to be
saved. It's not humility to be saved. It's obedience and humility because
they have been redeemed by the grace of God. I look at verse
35, down through verse 40. He said, I was hungered. and you gave me meat. I was,
this is the Lord speaking, I was. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. I was a stranger and he took
me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was
sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came
to me. Then shall the righteous say,
now how are they made righteous? Not by anything they have done.
Christ is our righteousness. Then shall the righteous answer
him saying, Lord, when? When saw we thee hungered, and
fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? Or when saw we thee
a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or
when saw we thee sick, or imprisoned, and came unto thee? And the king
shall answer, and say to them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
verily, truly, inasmuch as you have done it, and to the least
of these my brethren, you did that. to me." Now, what do we
see here? We serve the Lord Jesus Christ
as believers by serving one another. He said, as much as you've done
it to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto
me. But the blessings that he's talking about here in these verses
are spiritual blessings. He's not talking about works
of humanity. and good deeds, and taking in
the homeless, and feeding the hungry. I'm not opposed to those
things. But what he's talking here is about spiritual blessings
we have in the inheritance of the kingdom of God. That's what
this is about. He said, I was hungry and you
gave me meat. Now notice, the union between
Christ and his people, they're one. They're one. What is the
sheep, the lost, dirty, ugly, sinful sheep who is hungry and
lost? What does he need? Meat. Meat. He needs food. The Lord Jesus
Christ said, I am the bread of life. So we have here The gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's people, by his grace, they
hunger and thirst for righteousness in Christ Jesus. And he gives
them the meat of the word. The bread of life. You see what
he's saying here? And then he said, I was thirsty.
As the heart paneth after the water brook, so paneth my soul
after thee, O God. Psalm 47, or excuse me, Psalm
42. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
what? The water of life. He told that
woman at the well, you drink of that water and you're thirst
again, but you drink of the water that I give you will be a well
of water springing up into everlasting life. You see what he's saying
here? Christ is the water of life. Christ is the bread of life.
And we have all these spiritual blessings because we are chosen
in Him before the foundation of the world. And we preach this
Gospel message. There's bread for the hungry.
There's shelter for the weary. Where? In Christ Jesus. In the Lord Jesus Christ. And
it says there, you were a stranger. I was a stranger. And you took
me in. Well, that's us. By nature, we're
estranged from God. Foreigners, aliens, without God,
without hope, and without Christ. He took us into His family. He
made us one with Himself. We were strangers from salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And by His grace, He adopted
us into His family. You see the spiritual blessings
we have here in the Lord Jesus Christ. We were naked. Naked, destitute. Naked before
God. And He clothed us, it says there.
Well, it was naked. That's us by nature. And He clothes
us. Now, what does the Lord clothe
His people with? What are the spiritual blessings
we have in Christ Jesus? He clothes us with the righteous
garments of salvation we have in Christ. We were naked, he
closed us. Christ is our righteousness. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputed righteousness without works. And then he says, I was sick.
I was sick. And you visited me. We were sick
with sin. Totally depraved. How are we
made whole? How are we healed? He was wounded
for our transgression, bruised for our iniquity, and with his
stripes, we are what? Healed. Healed. We're healed in Christ Jesus.
We were sick with his stripes. We are healed. We were in prison. Imprisoned in bondage to our
sin. in bondage and debt to the law.
The Lord Jesus Christ came in the fullness of time. He came
and what did He do? He set the prisoner free. He
said, you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
Listen to this scripture. Remember, I'll just read it to
you. He's familiar with this. Luke
chapter 4 verse 18. Our Lord there preaching in a
synagogue in Nazareth, his hometown. He said, the Spirit of the Lord
is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the
poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach
deliverance to the captive, recovering of sight to the blind, to set
at liberty them that are bruised. Did he do it? Absolutely. This poor, naked, dead stranger
to God, He came and gave me life, delivered me from the bondage
of sin, from the debtor's prison of sin, and was set at liberty,
freedom in the Lord Jesus Christ, in Christ alone. Now, notice
here, Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when did we see all these things, seeing
you hungry and thirsty and gave you drink and a stranger and
took you in naked and clothed thee? Or when did we see you
sick and in prison and came to thee? They weren't even really
aware. how they've been blessed to preach
the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to see strangers, those
who were naked, clothed strangers, adopted into the family. Then
the King shall answer them, verse 40, and say to them, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, inasmuch as you've done it to the least
of these, my brethren, We preach the Gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ saying that all salvation is in Him. We are clothed in
Him. We are set free in Him. We are
at liberty in Him. As much as you've done it to
the least of these, my brethren, you've done it unto me. That's the Gospel message that
we have right there. And then the Lord says to them,
and I'll let you go home and look at the rest of this, those
on his left hand. It's not come ye blessed, it's
depart from me you cursed. They had no gospel message. They had nothing for the hungry.
All they had was the lives of men and a false refuge. They
had nothing to give to those thirsty sinners but the cup of
iniquity. They had no message for the stranger. They had nothing for the naked
sinner to be clothed with but filthy rags of self-righteousness. And then, you visited me not. There's a companion scripture
to this, and I had this on the radio this morning, and I'll
close with this. Turn over to Matthew 7. Matthew
7. They seem to indicate in that
parable, or that preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ, when didn't
we minister unto thee? I mean, they're saying, like,
we did all these things. Matthew 7, Luke verse 21. Not
everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into
the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven. Now what is it to do the will
of my Father? Believe the gospel, bow to the
Lord Jesus Christ. For many will say to me in that
day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? We were
preachers. Did you preach the gospel? You
remember, the Lord said there'll be many false prophets in that
day. Many will say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied
in thy name? And Lord, Lord, in thy name we've
cast out many demons. And in thy name we've done many
wonderful works. Well, that sounds pretty good,
like a pretty good resume, doesn't it? Doesn't that sound like a
good resume? Did it impress the Lord Jesus
Christ? Read on. Then I will profess
unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me. Same message,
isn't it? Depart from me. You cursed my
father. Depart from me. I never knew
you. I never loved you. All you did
was nothing but works of iniquity. You can work and work and work. Give and give and give. That
means nothing toward salvation. Salvation is by the sovereign
grace of God alone. Period. Exclamation mark. Salvation is of the Lord, isn't
it? From first to last.