your attention to the gospel
according to Matthew chapter 25. We begin reading in verse number
31. 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. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, and 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. 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 in hunger, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye
gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took
me in, naked, and ye clothed me. I was sick, and ye visited
me. I was in prison, and ye came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger, and fed or thirsty,
and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in? Or naked, and clothed thee? Or
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. Then shall he say also unto them
on his left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was unhungered,
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, When saw we thee, and hungered, or athirst, or a stranger,
or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee? Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the
least of these, ye did it not to me. shall go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." From this
text tonight, if God be pleased, we would look at the subject
of the final judgment. Our Lord, in the previous part
of this chapter, has described the the things that would occur
preceding that time, the false Christs and the false prophets,
the perilous times that must come, but he also promised that
his gospel would go forth unto the ends of this earth. And then
he brings us to the final day with this description of that
final judgment. I first would have you to note
the time of that judgment will be that of Christ's coming in
His glory. For we read in verse 31 that
it occurs when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the
holy angels with Him. When He came to this earth the
first time, it was as the Son of God to become the Son of Man,
and to enshroud His glory to a great degree in the flesh of
His humanity. But when He comes that second
time, it will be as the God-Man, and all His glory shall be revealed
most clearly and distinctly to all. Luke declares that He comes
in His own glory, and in His Father's glory, and in the glory
of the holy angels. His Father's glory is the divine
glory which Christ shared with His Father from all eternity,
as when He prayed, Restore to me now the glory that I had with
you before the world was. That's the Father's glory, and
Christ comes in that glory. His own glory? is His, by virtue
of His being the brightness of the Father's glory and the express
image of His person. And it is His glory as the own
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. And every eye will behold Him
as the God of glory, as He is called in Acts 7, verse 2. as
the King of Glory as our brother described Him a moment ago in
Psalm 24, verse 7, and the glory of all the holy angels who have
found great delight in glorifying Him from eternity. And every eye will behold as
never before they have beheld the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, when He comes in all His glory. That's the
time of the judgment. When you see the Son of Man come
in all His glory, judgment day has arrived. The judge at the
final judgment will be Christ in all His glory. For we read
that then he will sit on the throne of his glory. Notice that
it here is called the throne of his glory. In the book of
Revelation, chapter 20, it is called the great white throne.
It is great because it is greater than any other. It is white because
it is immaculately pure and spotless and sinless. It is called his
throne for judgment in Psalm 9, verse 7, and therefore called
the judgment seat of Christ in Romans 14, verse 10. I want you to observe that he
who was maliciously and despitefully and unjustly judged by men when
he came the first time, will be the righteous judge of all
when he returns in that day of the final judgment. Third, observe
that the judge, that this final judgment, will be all mankind. In verse 32 we read that all
the nations will be gathered before him. For we must all appear
before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the
things done in the body according to what he has done. whether
good or bad. All who died in Christ will be
joined to resurrected bodies and glorified bodies. The sea
will deliver everyone who is in it. Death in Hades will be
delivered by the appropriate means to this final judgment. And Christ's angels will go across
the face of the earth and gather everyone, both the righteous
and the unrighteous, both the weak and the tares. No one will
be absent in this day of judgment. You will be there. I will be
there. Everyone who ever lived will
be there in that day. And every eye will see Him. Every eye. One beholds him and oohs and
ahs at what he beholds. It's a pastor, and a member of his church asks,
what is it that causes you to exclaim in such delight? And
he says, I have spent my ministry trying my best to present Christ
and all his righteousness unto you. I've spent my ministry declaring
Jehovah, our righteousness, found in the person of Jesus Christ,
but I must admit that he's far more righteous than ever I imagined. My friend, do you realize that
you are going to finally see what righteousness looks like? Behold him in all his righteousness. And yet on the other hand, there
is another man who says, woe is me, woe is me. Why is woe
is you? Because I have spent my life
preparing this robe of righteousness that you see me wearing. I have
spent my life taking all my good deeds and all my meritorious
works All the virtues that I was convinced that I possessed, I
have woven them together in a robe of righteousness, and I am so
proud of my righteousness. But now I see what true righteousness
looks like, and behold, it appears I stand here in filthy rags,
and every eye shall behold Him." Here's another pastor. He stands in awe and wonder at
what he beholds. And someone asks him, why are
you in such amazement? And he says, I have spent my
ministry presenting Christ and all his holiness to you. The
holiness of his majesty. The holiness of his virtue. the holiness of His person. I
have spent my ministry declaring unto you Christ in all His holiness."
And the member says, yes, and the half has never yet been told. You tried. You tried to show
me a holy Christ, but now I behold that this holiness is infinitely
greater than even I could have ever imagined. And someone else
is saying, Alas and Alack, why do you cry? Because I have spent
my life perfecting my holiness. I have spent my life in my progressive
sanctification. I have spent my life making myself
holier and holier and holier until finally I could come to
the place where I could say to everyone else, get away from
me. I am holier than thou. But now
I see one who is infinitely more holy than me. I see his gaze
upon me. It appears that I am smoke in
his nostrils, and every eye will behold him." Here sits one who has spent his
ministry trying to discover Christ in all the scriptures, and an
admiral job you've done. He's presented Christ in this
place and that, and in places where we did not know He was.
But on that day, the discovery will be far greater than anything
you've ever been shown, showing to us, when Christ is discovered
in all His glory. But here's another, woe is me,
woe is me. Why? Because I have been running
from Christ. I have rebelled against Him.
I have gone my own way. I have rejected Him. I want nothing
to do with Him. But now He discovers me, and
I'm unfit. Woe is me! And every eye shall
behold Him. And while some are shouting,
What a glorious King is this on His throne in all His glory! Others are crying, O mountains,
fall on us, O rocks, hide us from the face of the land, for
the great day of his wrath has come, and we are not ready. In that day you're going to stand
before that king, and what will come from your lips Will you
be in awe and wonder at His righteousness and His holiness and His glory?
Or will you realize that the righteousness
and the holier-than-thou-ness that you perfected for yourself
are quite unfit in that day, when every eye shall behold Him? The fourth thing I want you to
see is that the righteous will be separated from the unrighteous. We read in verse 32 that he will
separate them, that is, everyone who is gathered there, one from
another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. He
will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. Now, do you see what the king
has done? He was sitting on his throne. And now he arises and walks through
the midst, that mass of humanity, comprised of everyone who ever
lived, and he walks through, and he's making a great and final
separation. David Collier. Lord, you know
my name? Know your name? I've known your
name from before you ever had a name. I've known your name
from before the foundation of the world. I've known your name
when your name was written in my Lamb's Book of Life before
time began. Of course I know your name. It's
inscribed here in my hand. I know your name. You're one
of my sheep. Angels put him on my right hand
and they take him. And the Lord walks through. He's
calling out names. If He calls out a name, you're
blessed because He knows you. If He calls out your name, you're
His from eternity and shall be with Him through eternity. And
He'll put you on His right hand. And then He comes to another.
He says, I do not know this one. Put it
on my left. These are my rye for my sheep,
but these I do not know. The devil's goats, put them on
my left. What a great separation. I want to stand there that day
on his right hand. I want to stand there on that
day with my beloved wife. I want to present to my wife
a proper husband. I want to look around me on his
right hand and I'm going to look for my son
and I'm going to look for my daughter. And I'm going to look for my
grandchildren. And I'm going to look for you. And I hope that you're standing
on His right hand. Ye that are on my right hand,
I hope that in that day you're on His right hand. And ye that
are on my left hand, I hope you're not on His left hand in that
day. when he separates the sheep from
the goats for all eternity. Now where will you stand in that
day? Do you know the shepherd who was just preached to you
a moment ago? Do you know him? He'll know you
in that day. Have you denied his gospel? He'll deny you in that day. Now
where will you stand when the shepherd separates his sheep
from the goats? Fifth, I want you to observe
that the righteous will be called into an eternal kingdom in that
judgment in verse 34. Then shall the king," now notice
he's there as not only a king, but also a shepherd. The king
on his throne, the shepherd gathering his sheep, And now it appears
he has again ascended his throne. And he will 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. Now this is God's
kingdom, but it's prepared for God's children. And here's the reason why they're
going in. For I was in hunger, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty,
and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took
me in naked, and ye clothed me. When I was sick, ye visited me.
I was in prison, and ye came unto me." Now note the reason why these are called
into that kingdom. inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. He who comes as a son of man
in all his divine glory, he who sits on the throne of his glory
as the universal judge, he who separates his sheep from the
goats as the good shepherd, he now speaks as the King of kings
and Lord of lords and God of gods. He here speaks to all who
obey Him when He earlier called, Come to Me, all you who labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. They then came
to Him when He called. He now calls them into His Father's
kingdom, the kingdom prepared for them. They were blessed with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. And
at the final judgment, they received the final of the blessings. I
am you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom. The kingdom
is theirs now by right, in that days it will be theirs in fact. Since I want you to observe,
the kingdom will be a reward for good deeds done to Christ. And this is where he says that
I was hungry and you fed me. and all these other things they
did. Now, all these good deeds were
preceded by an eternal preparation. The kingdom was prepared, and
then those for whom it was prepared performed these deeds for which
the Lord blesses them. They who perform these good deeds
have done to Christ physically as he has done for them spiritually. He fed them with the bread of
life when they were hungry. He gave to them the water of
life when they were thirsty. He received them when they were
strangers. He clothed them with righteousness
when they were naked. He healed them when they were
sick, and he delivered them from the prison of Satan's snare.
And now these, his children, his sheep, have gone forth doing
unto others what Christ has done unto them. Seventh, observe that the righteous
will be surprised at learning they had done good deeds to Christ. Then the righteous will answer
him, saying, Lord, when did we see you in this condition and
do all these things unto you? It is an interesting thing that
the self-righteous boast of good deeds they have never done, and
the righteous, the truly righteous, are quite unaware of the good
deeds they indeed have done. Lord, when did we do these things?
And note that Christ here calls his people the righteous. The righteous. Observe that righteousness
imputed is accompanied by righteousness imparted and results always in
righteousness performed. And they are surprised. Number eight, observe that the
righteous will be told good deeds to Christ's brethren were good
deeds to him. And the king will say unto them,
assuredly I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least
of these my brethren, ye did it to me." The deeds that the righteous
do to their brethren are done to Christ. It's a thought that may be a
little hard to comprehend, but it's true. And here are the righteous
being told to enter into that kingdom, and they discussing
among themselves, when did we ever do these things? Until this
very day, I never saw him. When did I do these things to
him? And one turns around and says,
Lord, we would not contradict. And we do not deny the truth
of what you've said, but we don't understand it. We never saw you.
When did we do these things? And the king might say, Mary,
Mary, Mary. Do you remember the 15th of June
in the year of your Lord 2012 and a preacher showed up at your
back door? Well, yes, I remember. He was hungry, so I fixed him
a meal. And he was thirsty. And I made
him a pot of coffee. And he was tired. I let him sit
in one of my chairs. He was a long way from home and
obviously had no place to sleep, so I put him in one of my beds. Tried to make his life comfortable,
but I did nothing for him. I did not do for Todd, who showed
up just a few minutes later. But Lord, these men are your
ministers. They're going up and down the
country preaching your gospel. I enjoy hearing it. So when they
show up, I take care of them. And the Lord says, when you did
it to one of the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me. You did it to me. How blessed is our union with
Christ. Our union with Christ is of such
degree that if you do something to one of the least of his brethren,
you did it to him. Number nine, observe that the
young righteous will be expelled to everlasting torment in verse
41. Then he will also say to those
on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into an everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And whereas the kingdom
of the sheep was prepared for them, the torment of the goats
was prepared for Satan and his minions, which unbelievers have
chosen to be. They receive what they deserve. Observe number 10, the torment
will be recompensed for disregards to Christ. In verses 42 and 44,
I was hungry, you gave me no food. I was thirsty, you gave
me no drink. I was a stranger, you took me
not in. I was naked, you clothed me not. I was sick and in prison, and
you did not visit me. Now note very well, that all
these deeds are sins of omission and not of commission. Everything
he signs is a deed of omission, not of commission. Note, furthermore,
that the righteous are blessed by good deeds they've done. You
may say, but nothing is said of their faith. Well, yes it
is, because when you do good deeds for Christ's brethren
is because you love them. If you love Christ's brethren,
you love their father. If you love their father, you
love his son. If you love his son, you believe
his gospel. And if you believe his gospel,
it is manifested in the good deeds that you do to his children. But here are these who have completely
disregarded Christ. The wicked will be judged more
for the good they did not do than for the bad they did indeed
do. Because when they disregarded
Christ, brethren, they disregarded Him. Note 11, that the curse
will be bewildered at being accused of disregarding Christ. They
will answer Him saying, Lord, when was it that we did not do
these things to You? Jesus tells us that many will
say to me in that day, Lord, have we not prophesied in your
name? Cast out demons in your name?
We've done many wonders in your name. And he'll say, but I never
knew you. We knew you! No, you didn't,
or I would have known you. Depart, ye that work iniquity. Many will boast in that day,
now Lord it's not fair to say that we did not do the feeding
and the clothing and the providing of drink. We would have you know,
Lord, Lord, that in your name we built pantries and kitchens
for the hungry, oases for the thirsty, hospitals for the strangers,
used clothing centers for the naked, clinics and hospitals
for the sick, rest homes for the aged, schools for the ignorant,
rescue missions for the indigent, self-help recovery programs for
the addicts, and we conducted visitation ministries in jails
and in prison. Lord, Lord, in your name we protested
against immoral practices. In your name we campaigned for
moral politicians. And in your name we marched for
social justice. Lord, Lord, in your name we did
all these good deeds and everything else we could to evangelize the
lost and be sole winners for you. Now, how can you dare say
that we did not minister to you? Because when you do those things
for the world, it's not to Christ. It must be done to His brethren.
And this is His answer. Verse 45. Assuredly, I say to
you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of
these, my brethren, you did not do it to me. While it is true that many of
the deeds performed by the religious are good, they are not worthy
of reward at the final judgment. Deeds done for the needy of the
world are not to be confused with deeds done for the brethren
of Christ. And the Lord will let them know,
you did these things for your own, but you did not do it to
me. And did I not put a preacher
of my gospel in your community and on your radio station, on
your television station? Did you not despise the Christ
he preached? Did you not refuse to believe
the gospel he preached? And did you not mock the grace
he preached? Well, when you did that to my
preachers, you did it to me. Depart, I never knew you." Last, observe that the judgments
of this judgment are irrevocable. Verse 46. And these will go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. It's an awesome day. Crown him, close his sheep, and
usher them into an everlasting kingdom, and you'll never bring
them back out. It's irrevocable. That blessing
is irrevocable. None will be brought back out.
They will live in His eternal presence. Here on earth, they fed Him. There He feeds them. Here on earth, they gave water
to the thirsty. There He gives water to the thirsty. Here on earth, they clothe the
naked. There, He shows them a righteous
garment, spotless and pure, His own righteousness. He delivered them from snake
and snare in order to bring them into His Father's house. O my friend, will you be on his right hand
that day? I ask you. Because just as surely as that
blessing is irrevocable, so is the curse. Depart, and the smoke of their torment
ascends forever and ever. And O my dear one, How will you
fare in that day of judgment? You will fare in that day of
judgment as you have lived on this earth. Have you denied the
gospel of Christ? He'll deny you. Have you received
Christ? He'll receive you. I hope and
pray that When I stand in that day of judgment, when I behold
the King in all His glory, hope I can look around and see every
one of you, every one of you. Grandfathers and grandmothers,
fathers and mothers, children and grandchildren, and hearing
together, come you blessed of my Father, and I implore you, Be not of
those who hear him say, Depart, I never knew you. Now how will you fare in that
day?