Look with me to Matthew chapter
25. This passage that I'm going to be dealing with, beginning
at verse 31, concerning the subject of the king's judgment of sheep
and goats. This passage is the conclusion
of our Lord's message from the Mount of Olives. It's called
sometimes the Olivet Discourse because it was preached to the
disciples from the Mount of Olives began back in Matthew 24. And what he was speaking of is
the last days of the church here on earth leading up to his second
coming and ultimately the final judgment. Look at verse 31. He
says, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory. The Son of
Man is a messianic title. In other words, it's a title,
it's a phrase that identifies him as the Messiah. Now, I know
if you go back into the Old Testament, you'll see one of the prophets,
especially Ezekiel, referring to himself as son of man, but
not in this way. When Ezekiel refers to himself
as the son of man, that's like us doing that. We're just mere
men and women, human beings, sinful human beings. Two types
of people on this earth. Sinners lost in their sins and
sinners saved by grace. That's all there are. But the
son of man here is Messiah. And that's what he's talking
about. When the Messiah, when Christ Jesus himself comes in
his glory, that's his second coming. The scripture speaks
of the reality of the second coming and of the judgment. We've
read this one. Hebrews chapter 9, 27. Listen
to it. As it is appointed unto men once
to die, but after this the judgment. So, Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many. That's his sheep. He bore the
sins of his sheep. Remember the good shepherd laid
down his life for the sheep. That's God's elect. That's the
church. That's all who will eventually
in this life come to faith in Christ. and true repentance,
so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto
them that look for him shall he appear the second time without
sin in the salvation. You see, he came the first time
to put away sin, to bear the iniquity of his sheep. The Lord
hath laid upon him the iniquity of us all, Isaiah preached. All
we like sheep were gone astray. So Christ died for His sheep. But when He comes again, it's
not to bear their iniquities. He'll come without sin unto salvation. That is final glory is what He's
talking about there. The finalization of all things
according to the purpose of God from eternity be culminated right
there. And so verse 31, when the Son
of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with
Him as all His attendants Then shall he sit upon the throne
of his glory, it says. And the throne of his glory will
be a judgment throne, he says in verse 32, and before him shall
be gathered all nations, all the nations of the world. So
we see the reality of the second coming and the reality of judgment
there. We've seen the standard of the
judgment. How many times do you hear me quote Acts 1731? where
God has commanded all men everywhere to repent because he's appointed
a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness by that
man whom he hath ordained and that he hath given assurance
unto all men and that he raised him from the dead. That's the
standard. Righteousness is the standard
of judgment. Christ is the judge himself.
Son of man, the king, he's going to say. Verse 34, the king. That's
how he identifies himself. He's the potentate, as somebody
said. That means he's the all-powerful
king, omnipotent king. He's the Lord of lords. All of this because of his earned
right as God-man, the mediator. And he's going to judge the world
in righteousness. The righteous judge will judge
the world in righteousness. And we've read about the declaration
that God will declare at judgment through Christ, John 5, 28, remember
that? Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice
and shall come forth. They that have done good, it
says, under the resurrection of life, and they that have done
evil under the resurrection of damnation. Where do we fit into
that? Is he talking about judgment
based on the works of men? Is he going to judge believers
based on their works? You know, this message that I'm
preaching has to do with that same subject, where do our works
fit in? What is the role of our works
as believers at judgment? That's what we're going to talk
about. Well, that's not talking about judgment based on our works. To do good in the scripture refers
to the entire life of a sinner saved by the grace
of God in Christ. And I went over that, so I'm
not gonna preach two messages in one this morning. I'm not
gonna go back over that. But those who have done evil
refers to the entire life of a person who dies in their sins
without Christ and stands before God without a mediator, without
a righteousness, without the blood. That's why the Apostle
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10 concerning judgment. He says, knowing therefore the
terror of the Lord. The terror of the Lord is a sinner
standing before God without Christ. It's a terrible thing to fall
into the hands of an angry God. The day of final judgment will
be a terrible day for many, many people. but not for the people
of God. And we read over there in 1 John
4, when he says, herein is our love made perfect, verse 17. He's not talking about the fact
that when we are saved, we now love with a perfect love, because
we don't. We still struggle, we have to
fight the flesh. We do love Christ. We can say
that without embarrassment. But we don't love him perfectly. Love God with all your heart,
soul, mind, and spirit. Love your neighbor as yourself.
That's the perfection of love that we see and ought to attain
for. But we won't make that in this
life because we have the sinful flesh that contaminates us. We
have enough self-love in each one of us to sink a world to
hell. Long and short of it. So when
he talks about our love made perfect, it literally, and you
may have this in your concordance in 1 John 4, 17, it says herein
is love with us made perfect. What is that love with us? That's
God's love for us reaching its goal. And what is the goal of
God's love for us? Well, it's the redemption of
our souls from our sins, it's our justification before God,
and it's our regeneration by the Holy Spirit to bring us to
faith in Christ. So listen to it, verse 17. Herein
is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness, confidence
in the day of judgment. Now remember I said that the
judgment's gonna be a terrible day for many, many people, but
not for the people of God. They'll have confidence in the
day of judgment, why? Well, what does the verse say
in 1 John 4, 17? Because as he is, as Christ is, so are we in
this world. Now, how can I say that as Christ
is right now, I am right now in this world? Not in myself,
but as I stand in him, washed in his blood and justified by
his righteousness. His righteousness imputed. That's
what we're talking about. That's our confidence at judgment. So think about this. Now go back
to Matthew 25. Read it again. Look at verses
31 and 32. Here's Christ the supreme judge
of all. Now listen to what it says. 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. He's
going to make the world his footstool. 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. A shepherd. Christ is the great
shepherd. He's the good shepherd. He's
the chief shepherd. He's the shepherd king. That's
who Christ is. He's the shepherd of the sheep.
It's amazing when you go through the Bible and you see all the
titles and descriptions and identifications and distinctions that belong
only to Christ. There's too many to name. In
fact, as you study the scriptures and you grow in grace and knowledge,
you find more and more how many things apply to him and him alone.
Not only is he called the shepherd, for example, but he's also called
the lamb. He's the lamb of sacrifice. That's an amazing thing. He's
the high priest of his people. He is our altar, he is our sacrifice,
but he's our shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not lack, want for anything. Psalm 23. And more and more and
more we see how he himself took control of all the salvation
upon himself the responsibility of the whole salvation of his
sheep. John chapter 10 speaks of it. We won't turn there, but
read that chapter sometime. The shepherd of the sheep, the
good shepherd gives his life for the sheep. For whom did Jesus Christ die
on the cross? He died for his sheep. Now here,
as judge, he's gonna separate, it says. He's gonna separate
them one from another, the sheep and the goats. You know, the
Bible teaches us that there's only two kinds of people. I mentioned
before, sinners lost in their sins, sinners saved by grace,
but another distinction, sheep and goats. The sheep refer to the elect
of God. That's what the scripture teaches. I know people don't
like that, but that's the way it is. The Bible never talks
about a sheep being changed into a goat or a goat being changed
into a sheep. You don't see that in the scripture. When Christ came to the earth,
he came to die for his sheep. And that's another thing in the
book of John that teaches us that the reason that men by nature
don't believe is because they're left to themselves, they're not
of the sheep. But that's not the issue that we on this plane
are to be concerned with. What we're to be concerned with
is there's lost sheep and then there's saved sheep. Christ spoke
of the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He had some lost sheep
in Israel. He had lost sheep among the Gentiles. I quoted it earlier. In Isaiah
53, all we like sheep have gone astray. That's what we are by
nature. In other words, by nature there's no difference. between
the sheep and the goats, by nature. Paul wrote that in Ephesians
chapter two, he said, we are all by nature children of wrath,
even as others. When we're born, we're born into
this world spiritually dead, without spiritual life, walking
in the lust of our flesh, however that manifests itself. But if we ever find ourselves
to be sheep, we find in the scripture that we always were sheep, we've
just lost sheep. I like what one old preacher
said about salvation. A lot of times we like to put
things very succinctly, and that's okay if we understand what we're
talking about. And they asked the old man, they
said, how do you know you're saved? He said, I know I'm saved because
I know the way. You see, if you don't know the
way, what is it? You're lost if you don't know the way. He
said, I know the way. Well, Christ said, I am the way,
the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I know the way of salvation. It's a way of grace.
It's a way of the cross. It's a way of righteousness.
It's the way of the blood. We could go on and on with that.
But he's going to separate the sheep and the goats. And then
look at verse 33. Now here's the sheep and the goats. He said
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
his left. Christ identifies his sheep,
as I said, in passages like John 10. The goats describe everyone
else. But look at this. What does the
right hand represent? It's the right hand of judgment.
It's the right hand of acceptance. He accepts us. If you go back
through the Old Testament and you talk about the right hand
of God, you know who you're talking about? Jesus Christ, the Lord
our righteousness. We're accepted of God in the
beloved. It's the right hand of fellowship,
we speak of that. It's the right hand because it
honors God. It glorifies him in every attribute
of his character as both a just God and a savior. They'll be
on the right hand of being justified before God by the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And then the left hand, that's
the left hand of rejection. It's a judgment too. So here's
acceptance, there's rejection. And he separates them. And then
in verse 34 he gives the pronouncement. Now listen to this very carefully.
Don't let this slip by you. The language here is very important.
It says in verse 34, then shall the king say unto them on his
right hand, now listen, he's talking to the sheep now. And
he says, come ye blessed of my father. Now that's the first
way he describes them, blessed of God. Now how can a sinner
be blessed of God and not cursed of God? Well, there's only one
way, and that's by the grace of God through Jesus Christ.
The scripture says that we're blessed with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. There's no blessing, there's
no eternal blessings from God outside of Christ. There's nothing
but curse. You see, those who don't have
Christ, those who are not washed in his blood and clothed in his
righteousness are cursed by the law. So what he's talking about
here is people who are sinners saved by the grace of God. They're
blessed of the Father. And God is their Father in a
redemptive way. You see, to those who stand before
God at judgment without Christ, God is not a father. He's a righteous
judge who judges according to truth. But to the ones on his right
hand, the sheep, he says, come ye blessed of my father. And
then look at the next word. Inherit the kingdom. Now right
away, we know that they're blessed of the father, they're sinners
saved by grace, and secondly, they inherit the kingdom, they
didn't earn it, and they didn't deserve it. They didn't work
for it. They didn't earn their salvation. Again, the grace of
God. Peter spoke of an inheritance
incorruptible. reserved for his people in heaven
because of what? Because of the righteousness
of God in Christ. His obedience unto death. What
we have by way of salvation and acceptance with God and blessings
and benefits is all earned by Christ. Not by us. We have an inheritance. I mean
somebody else worked for it, earned it, and died to give it
to us. That's what Christ did. So inherit the kingdom. Kingdom
there being salvation with all of its benefits and blessings.
And then look at the next word, prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. That means that we didn't prepare
it. It means it wasn't conditioned on us. It was prepared for us
from the foundation of the world. This is all of salvation by the
predestinating purpose of Almighty God, who works all things after
the counsel of his own will, given us in Christ Jesus, as
Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 1, before the world began. All conditioned
on Christ. Somebody prepared this whole
thing for us. This is not a potluck salvation. This is not bring your own beans. This is a supper prepared. This
is a salvation prepared. This is a salvation freely provided,
and we inherit it. Now that sets the tone of everything
else that's gonna be said in this. Some people call this a
parable, and it has some identifying marks of a parable,
but it's reality, it's teaching a truth, and this is what sets
the tone right here now. These sheep, They're blessed
of God by the grace of God in Christ. They inherit the kingdom
because Christ earned it, and it was all prepared for them
from the foundation the Lord has given them in Christ. It's
all of grace. You can't get away from it in
the scripture. Somebody told a preacher, all you preach is
grace. Well, yeah. Tell me about it. Say that again. Make me a t-shirt with that on
it. Yeah, put that on my headstone. And that's the pronouncement,
that judgment to the sheep. He's not sitting here tallying
up this or tallying up that or weighing this or weighing that.
We've already been judged for all our sins in Christ Jesus. And he bore them away at Calvary.
That's what it means he was made sin, he was made a curse for
us. But then he begins to speak of
something that to many people turn the whole thing around and
they think it focuses in on work salvation. But it doesn't mean
that at all. The foundation's already been laid now. Here it
is. Come ye blessed of my father.
Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. And then look at verse 35. Here's evidence of the sheep's
union with the shepherd. And he says, for I was unhungry,
you gave me meat. I was thirsty, 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. What is he talking about? Well,
I'll tell you exactly what he's talking about. He's talking about
Christian love and fellowship that gives evidence of a believer's
union with Christ. That's what he's talking about.
This is Christian love in the truth. He's talking about love
and support of our brethren in the faith in light of the world's
hatred of us. Remember he said in 1 John 3
after he gave the example of Cain and Abel, Cain hated Abel,
Cain killed Abel, why? Because his works were evil and
his brothers righteous. And immediately he said after
that, I think it's verse 13, he said, marvel not if the world
hates you. Christ spoke of that in John
chapter 15 beginning at verse 18. Don't be amazed that the
world hates you. He said it hated me before it
hated you, and you're a follower of Christ. And he went on to
tell them, he said, the reason the world hates us is because
of our message. Now there are true believers
who have what I would say are bad attitudes. Now I'm not one
of them. No, there's too often I do have
a bad attitude. You've got a bad attitude. I
say that in the mirror a lot. You got a bad attitude, buddy. And Christians ought not have
a bad attitude. But that's not why the world
hates us. There are times that a true believer
will act like the world. Paul spoke of that in Corinth.
He said, you're all acting like carnal people. And we ought not
do that. But that's not why the world
hates us. The world hates us because of the message of God's
grace, which leaves sinners with no hope or boast or confidence
in themselves or their works, but only gives glory to Christ.
And Christ said, well, don't be amazed if the world hates
you. It hated me. He said in John 16, he said, they'll throw
you out of their worship services and seek to kill you in the name
of God. But he says, you stick together
in this message. And that's what he's talking
about here. Back then especially, you know,
I thank God that we live in the time that we've lived in where
we live in a country that we have a constitution that enables
us to worship as God leads us and without harm from the state.
Back then they didn't have that, did they? hungry over their profession
of faith in Christ. Some of them went thirsty, some
of them were jailed, some of them lost their jobs, their means
of support. And that's what Christ is talking
about. When I was hungry, you gave me food. When I was thirsty,
you gave me water. When I was sick, you visited
me. When I was in jail, you came. That's what he's talking about.
Now this Christian love that we're talking about does not
make us righteous before God. It is no part of our righteousness
before God, but it evidences our union with Christ, who alone,
100%, is our righteousness before God. You understand that? Love does not earn us God's favor
and rewards. Christ did that. Love does give
evidence of our salvation, the grace of God within, the love
of God shed abroad in our hearts. Turn back over to that first
John 4 passage. Let me show you something there. When he said in verse 17, and
you know the whole passage there is teaching us that we as brethren
in Christ should love one another. Now listen. We're commanded to
love all without exception as ourselves, our neighbors ourselves,
to do good unto everybody. But these passages that I'm talking
about speaks of a special Christian love, the love of God's grace
or the grace of love within us, divine love, that binds us together
in the gospel. That's what he's talking about.
If I see a hungry man and I have the means to feed him, then that's
fine. But I don't have religious fellowship
with him unless he loves Christ, this Christ, and believes in
him. You understand that. But this
whole passage is talking about how we are to love one another
because God loved us. And he says in verse 17, herein
is our love made perfect. Here's how it reaches the perfection
of its goal, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment,
because as Christ is, so are we in this world, there's no
fear in love, there's no legal fear in this love. But perfect
love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth
is not made perfect in love. You see, if I'm looking to Christ
and believing in Christ, there's no condemnation for me. There's no tally of my sins.
God told me that if I'm in Christ, he will never remember my sins
again. He'll never lay them to my, who
shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? Who can condemn
us? It's God that justifies, Christ
that died. And he says in verse 19, we love him because he first
loved us. In other words, our love for
Christ, our pitiful love for Christ, And it's, listen, and
it's by the grace of God that we do love him. But our love
for him is not the source or cause of his love for us, it's
his love in Christ that brought us to love him. In verse 20,
if a man say I love God and hateth his brother. You see that? He's
a liar. For he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
And this is the commandment we have from him, that he who loveth
God loveth his brother also. Now who is our brother? Who is
our sister? What did Christ say? Who is my
mother? He said, who is my brother? Them that do the will of my Father.
He's talking about the spiritual family there. Yes, we're to love
our earthly mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers. But we
can have no religious fellowship apart from the truth. That's what he's talking about
in Matthew 25. We're to be steadfast and unmovable, always abounding
in the work of the Lord. That's the labor of love that
he's talking about that God doesn't forget. It would be unrighteous
to forget these labors of love, not because they earn us anything,
but because He created us to do them. Didn't He? For by grace
are ye saved through faith, that none of yourselves is the gift
of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are
his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus, unto good works which
God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them." You
see? That's what He created us for.
For His glory. He didn't create His people.
to be legalist or mercenaries trying to establish their own
righteousness. He created them in Christ Jesus based on his
righteousness imputed and freely received by faith. We'll look
back at Matthew 25. Now look at verse 37. Now notice
this. Here's the response of the righteous
and I love this. He calls the sheep the righteous. How's a sinner righteous before
God? There's only one way in the Scripture
from Genesis to Revelation. And that's by His grace through
Christ. That's to be washed in His blood and clothed in His
righteousness. And then shall the righteous answer Him, saying,
Lord, when saw we thee unhungry and fed thee, 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 to thee? When do we ever do that to you?
Incidentally, you might compare that to, or contrast it rather,
to Matthew 7, 22. Lord, haven't we preached in
your name? Lord, haven't we cast out demons? Lord, haven't we
done this? The righteous say, Lord, when did we ever do that?
I can tell you right now. The one thing they have on their
mind is not what they've done. It's what Christ has done. The
king's the one who brings up what they did as evidence of
their union with him and the grace of God in them. And it
says in verse 40, and the king shall answer and say unto them,
verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done it unto me,
these are my brethren. Now Christ calls them his brethren.
You have done it unto me. Now how do you know this is talking
about the spiritual family? Number one, they're the sheep.
Number two, they're blessed of God. Number three, they inherit
the kingdom. Number four, which was prepared
for them before the foundation of the world. And number five,
they're his brethren. Read Hebrews 2 sometime. He calls
them brethren. Who are my brothers? Them that
do the will of my Father. And he says, in that you've done
it unto the least of these my brethren, you did it unto me.
In other words, what we do to his sheep, our brothers and sisters
in Christ, he takes it personally. how we treat each other in this
gospel. Peter, do you love me? Yeah,
Lord, I love you. Feed my sheep. Peter, do you
love me? Lord, yeah, I love you. Feed
my lambs. Peter, do you love me? Lord,
you know. Feed my sheep. Well, look at, look at, I'll
hurry now, look at verse 40. Here's the pronouncement, or
verse 41, the pronouncement upon the goats. He says, then shall
he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye
cursed. Remember Matthew 7, 23, depart
from me, ye that worketh iniquity, I never knew you. Same thing,
you cursed, cursed by the law. No hope, no grace, no Christ.
Into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
For I was unhungry, and you gave me no meat, I was thirsty, you
gave me no drink, I was a stranger, and you took me not in naked,
and you clothed me not sick, and in prison you visited me
not." See, they evidenced what we call the world's hatred of
the church, of the sheep. It was evidence of their unbelief. No life from God. I could go
to all kinds of scripture, and I'll probably do some more of
that later on. But look at verse 44. Then shall they also answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee in hunger, or thirst, or
stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not menace?
When did we not do this? I'm sure they had charitable
works in the world, but it didn't evidence their love for Christ
and his people. Verse 45, then shall he answer
them saying, verily, verily, I send you in as much as you
did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. That's the answer of the king. And he says in verse 46, and
these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous
into eternal life. What does this teach us? It teaches
us that there is absolutely no hope. for any of us except God's
amazing grace in Christ.