I am reading this morning from
the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25. Matthew's Gospel, chapter
25, and I begin reading with verse 31. The Lord Jesus Christ
is speaking here, and He says, beginning with verse 31, when
the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the angels
with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory." What
a different Lord and Christ the Scriptures declare than the one
most believe in today, than the Jesus that most believe in today. Scriptures declare and tell us
of a sovereign, ruling, reigning, controlling, satisfied, successful,
seated, expectant, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient Lord
and Christ, One who does as He will, with whom He will, what
he will and because he will, one who wants for nothing, who
wishes nothing, who needs nothing or no want, that all persons,
places, and things, and events are under his sovereign control. That's the Christ the Lord declared
in Scripture. Men only think of a man named
Jesus who came riding on a donkey into town, into Jerusalem one
day, meek and lowly. Well, the reason he did that
was to fulfill the scriptures written in Zechariah 9, 9, which
says, Behold thy King cometh, meek and lowly, riding on an
ass. He was meek and lowly as a man because he was the perfect
representative of men. For men should be meek and lowly
before God Almighty, humble before God, and so he humbled himself. 2 declares, or Psalm 8 declares
that, that he was made a little lower than the angels. And Paul
talks about that, how he was made that way for the suffering
of death as the humble servant of God, which we should be. But now he's coming again. He's coming again as Lord and
King in all his glory. That's what he said. when the
Son of Man shall come in His glory. And every eye, the Scripture
says, shall see Him as He is." Not as He was, but as He is. He is no longer gentle Jesus,
as some like to call Him. Gentle Jesus, meek and mild. No, no. He's the reigning, ruling,
sovereign Lord, King, and Judge of all flesh." He is coming again
as the Judge of all flesh. And this is what he goes on to
talk about right now in this passage. Verse 32, he says, and
I read, "...and before him shall be gathered all nations, and
he shall separate them, one from another, as a shepherd divideth
his sheep from the goats." It says, "...all nations shall be
gathered before him." Buddhist nations, Hindu nations, Muslim
nations, Christian nations, all gathered before Jesus Christ,
the Judge of all flesh. And it says, He shall separate
them one from another as a shepherd divided his sheep from the goats. He shall separate them one from
another. He, the Lord Jesus Christ. the coming one, the judge of
all flesh. He is the one who separates. He is the one who decides who
is who. He is the one who discriminates
one from another. He is the one, as Scripture says,
causes one to differ from another. He is the one. It is Christ himself
who separates one from another. who causes one to be a sheep
as differing from a goat. It is Christ Himself, not us. We do not separate ourselves,
but it is Christ Himself who does the separating. Verse 32,
I read, He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd
divided his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, but the goats on the left. As a shepherd, he
divides his sheep from the goats, it says. In John chapter 10,
the Lord speaks much of the shepherd and his sheep. In John chapter
10, and I'm reading in John 10 verse 14, Christ says, I am the
good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." I am the
good shepherd. As David wrote in Psalm 23, the
Lord is my shepherd. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
shepherd of the sheep. He says, I am the good shepherd
and know my sheep. Up in verse 10, he says, I am
come that they, that is the sheep, might have life. Jesus Christ
came to give life to the sheep who were, as Ephesians 2 says,
were dead in trespasses and sin. They do not give themselves life. The Lord Jesus Christ gives them
life. He grants them life from the
dead. He raises them from the dead, spiritually speaking. In
verse 11 he says, I am the good shepherd and the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ giveth
them life and he layeth down his own life. He died for the
sheep. He lived for the sheep to establish
a perfect righteousness before God as a man for these men, these
chosen ones, these sheep, and imputed that perfect righteousness
to them so that they will be accounted holy before God, imputed
righteous before God. And verse 11 says he gives his
life for the sheep, the Lord Jesus Christ, as the substitute
for his sheep, as the sin offering, the sin atonement for his sheep,
For without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin. As the Lamb of God for the sheep,
He laid down His life. He was made sin for the sheep. that they might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He was made sin and took their
sins upon him and was punished in their place, thus paying for
every single sin the sheep committed, past, present, and future. He laid down his life for the
sheep as a perfect sin atonement, sin offering to God the Father,
and their sins have been paid for. Now, he did not lay down
his life for the goats. He did not lay down his life
for everyone. No, sir. He said, I give my life
for the sheep. Verse 15, he says it again, in
case we didn't hear it the first time, As the Father knoweth me,
Even so, know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep."
Over in verse 26, he says to some who argued with him, some
who rejected him, some who did not believe him, he says in verse
26, you believe not because you are not of my sheep. As I sit under you, my sheep,
hear my voice, and I know them." Paul wrote this in one place,
"...the foundation of God standeth sure, the Lord having this seal,
the Lord knoweth them that are his." Well, in verse 28 he says,
"...I give unto them," that is, the sheep, "...I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish." The sheep shall
never perish. Neither shall any pluck them
out of my hand. My Father, I'm continuing to
read, my Father which gave them to me, my Father which gave the
sheep to 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. One
in essence, one in person, one in purpose, one in salvation. And the Father, it says, gave
these sheep to Christ. They are sheep. These believers,
these children, these people of God are sheep because God
chose them. God gave them to Christ who came
to live and die for them. And the Holy Spirit comes into
this world through the preaching of the gospel and separates them
by the gospel. It is the gospel which separates
them. It is the voice of Christ, and they all hear it, and they
believe. The Holy Spirit regenerates them
by this life-giving call of the gospel, granting them life, granting
them faith, granting them repentance. Back in Matthew 25, verse 34,
the Lord goes on to say, after he gathers his sheep, all nations
before him are gathered, and the sheep on his right, the goats
on his left, and he says in verse 34, Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, that is, the sheep, Come, ye blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Come, ye blessed. They have been
blessed because God chose them. They have been blessed because
Christ died for them. They have been blessed because
the Holy Spirit separated them. And they inherit this kingdom
prepared for them before the foundation of the world. Yeah,
that's what Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4 says, according as
he chose them in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And then he describes the sheep. He describes their works in verses
35 through 40. I read. I was hungry, he said,
and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me
in. Naked, you clothed me. Sick, you visited me. I was in
prison, and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous, the
sheep that is, answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry,
and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we
thee a stranger, and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee?
When saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And
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." The true sheep of Christ
do good works. They do works of faith and labors
of love. And they do what they do unto
others. They do it in love. They do it
not to be seen of men, not to take credit or honor. They don't
even recognize that they did it. Did you notice that? They
didn't recognize that they'd done anything because they did
it in love. The Pharisees of old, Christ
said, did what they did to be seen of men. They loved the praise
of men. They'd pray on the street corner.
They wore religious clothing to be noted as being religious.
They tithed before all. They did works before all. Not
the righteous. No. And it says in verse 44,
the Lord upbraided the goats for not doing these things. And
they said in verse 44, when did we not do these things unto thee? As a rich young ruler said to
Christ, what lack I yet? All these things have I done,
what do I lack yet? Well, our Lord says, Then shall
he answer them, and say unto the sheep, Come into my kingdom, and inherit
this eternal life. Verse 46, These goats shall go
away to everlasting punishment, but the righteous to life eternal. So Christ the Lord and King comes
to judge. And he has his sheep chosen,
given by the Father, blessed, all prepared for them who do
works. They're known by works of love
to Christ and his people, and all others are goats. Which are
you? Do you believe this message?
Then perhaps you're a sheep. Is any part of it you reject?
Then you must be a goat. I hope not. I hope you believe.
Until next Sunday, good day. Okay.