I want you to turn your Bibles
back, if you would, to Matthew Chapter 25, Matthew's Gospel
Chapter 25. I appreciate again being here,
appreciate your pastor and his faithfulness, and thank you ladies
so much for all the food that you've provided and the food
for today. For the labors, all your labors
in doing that, and your love, the labor of love, thank you
so much. Matthew chapter 25, the Lord
Jesus had spoken two parables in this chapter. You remember the parable of the
ten virgins. Five were wise and five were
foolish. And five took oil in their vessels. Five had the Spirit of Christ
and five did not have the Spirit of Christ. And at midnight there
was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh
in verse 6 of this chapter. And they all went out to meet
him. And while the five foolish went to buy oil, the bridegroom
cometh. And the wives went in to the
wedding. The theme of that is the Lord
is coming. The bridegroom is coming. Be
ready. And then he speaks another parable
to us of the master giving to his servants some money to trade. And he went into a far country
for many days and he came back, he tells us in verse 19, after
a long time the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoneth
with them, called them to account for the money that he gave them. And what he signifies here in
these two parables, he begins in verse 31 to teach us plainly
The Son of Man shall come again. Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
is in heaven, and He's coming again to gather all nations before
Him, to judge every man and every woman, and to assign every person
who has ever lived their long home, their eternal home. He's
coming. And He says you're when? The
Son of Man shall come. Now some, the Scripture tells
us in the last days will say, where is the promise of His coming?
Everything continues as it were. But the Scripture never says
if He comes, but when He comes. There's no doubt about it. The
Son of Man is coming again. When He comes. The Scripture
every place speaks of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
coming of the Lord draweth nigh. The Lord standeth before the
door. Yet a little while, and he that
shall come will come, and will not tarry. He shall come with
ten thousands of his saints." He's coming. He's coming again.
And you notice how he identifies himself here, the one who is
coming. He says, when the Son of Man
shall come in His glory. He often called Himself the Son
of Man. And this is so important to you
and I because this is the name the Son of God took to Himself
in His humiliation. He couldn't really be called
this while He was in heaven. But when He came to this earth,
He was born of a woman. He was made under the law The
eternal Son of God, the Word of God, was made flesh. Flesh not in its upright state
back there in the garden before the fall, but He was made in
the likeness of sinful flesh. He was born of a woman, though
He was born without sin, had no sin, could not sin, yet He
was born in fashion as a man. Being found in the form of a
servant, the Scripture tells us, he humbled himself and became
obedient to death. The Son of Man in our humanity.
What humiliation. Someone said if you could imagine
a mighty cherub or Michael the archangel taken to himself, the
form of a maggot. If you could look down at a maggot
crawling across the floor. and say there is Michael the
archangel and He has taken upon Him the form of a man. How humiliating
that would be. And when we think of the Son
of God, the eternal Son of God coming down from heaven and joining
Himself to our humanity in a real way, a human soul, a human body,
what humiliation, what astute, what condescension that is. And he often dressed himself
this way, as a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, subject,
subject to our physical infirmities. A man who could hunger, a man
who could thirst, a man who could grow weary, a man who had a soul
that could feel. that could fear, that could groan,
that could be so heavy he thought he was ready to die. He was a
real man. The Son of Man, the Son of Man.
When the Son of Man shall come again. And he says this about
himself. The Son of Man shall suffer many
things. He shall suffer many things. God cannot suffer. God cannot
die. Man cannot atone for sin. But
God the man, the incarnate Son, can atone for sin because He
is God. He has the merit to do that.
The man, Christ Jesus, can suffer and He can die because He is
indeed a real man. The Son of Man shall suffer many
things. He'll be rejected, he'll be despised,
he'll be betrayed into the hands of sinful man and be crucified,
the Son of Man. And he said as Jonas was three
days and three nights in that whale's belly, the Son of Man
must descend into that tomb, a dead man, in the heart of the
earth for three days and three nights. That's why his flesh is redeeming flesh, because he
could suffer. That's why his soul made atonement
for sin, because it was a real human soul, the Son of Man. But you know it didn't stop there,
did it? Thank God it didn't stop with him giving his life a ransom. When the ladies went to the tomb
on that early Sunday morning, just as the sun was arising.
The angels met him there and they said, why seek you the living
among the dead? He's not here, but he's risen.
And then they make this wonderful statement. Remember what he said
to you when he was still alive. The son of man must suffer many
things and be crucified and raise again from the dead. The Son
of Man came in His humiliation, He suffered, He died, He atoned
for sin in His divine person. They buried Him and He rose again. And Peter said, He's gone into
heaven. He has gone into heaven. Earth rejected Him, but heaven
received Him. The kings of this earth judged
him. The mighty and the princess of
this earth said, we won't have this man to reign over us. But
God said, son, set at my right hand until I make your enemies
your footstool. And as he sits there this morning,
all authority, all power, all angels, all principalities, all
powers, everything is subject to him. He is reigning. this morning, the Son of Man,
the Son of God. Ain't that a marvelous thought?
And it's Him that He says here that's coming. And notice, this
is so precious, that He still identifies Himself as the Son
of Man. There on His throne, in all His
glory, He still identifies with you and with me. He joined Himself
to our humanity and He'll never be separated from us again. For
all eternity, He is the Man, Christ Jesus. You know, we think
sometimes if He were only here, or if I lived 2,000 years ago
to see Him, I could have went up to Him and I could have just
poured out my soul to Him. All my needs and all my complaints
and all my desires. And I would have felt so free
to do that if I could just have seen Him there in His humanity
like me. Well, brothers and sisters, He
tells us here that He has not changed. His exalted position
is just that. It is in that exalted position.
He is out of our sight. He is in heaven on His throne.
But who is He? He is still the Son of Man. He
still identifies with us. His heart has never changed.
His disposition has never changed. When He was here, He told us
that He was meek and lowly in His heart. Has He changed? Don't
we read today of the gentleness of Christ? Don't He tell us today
that He can be touched with the feelings of our infirmities?
I doubt that he's weeping. I wouldn't say that. But he's
feeling. He feels what his people feel.
He knows them. He's touched. His heart is touched. Why? He's the Son of Man. And
he has not forgotten what this life is like. The temptations,
the sorrows, the heartaches, the weaknesses of it all. And
he says, therefore, since I'm still the Son of Man, Come boldly
to the throne of grace, and obtain mercy from Me, and grace to help
in your time of need." What a wonderful thought that the eternal Son
of God identified with us in all His humiliation, and now
He's exalted. But He refuses to be separated
from us. He says, I'm still one of them.
I am indeed the Son of Man. What a wonderful thought. The
Son of Man shall come. But notice how He's coming this
time. He's not coming again in His humiliation. He's not coming
to be rejected and despised. But the Scripture says here in
verse 31, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory. He's coming in His glory. A glorious
coming, if you will. How is He coming? Well, when
He comes again, the heavens is going to open up, and He is going
to descend Himself with a great shout. And He has this body,
this glorious body, and He Himself will lighten the universe. Can
you imagine what a coming that will be? And the King, He's dressed
here as the King on His throne. And where the words of the King
are, there's power. And when He speaks, the graves
will open up. And all of His people, those
who have these corruptible bodies will be changed and put on incorruption. And the mortals that are living
will be changed to immortal, back into His glorious body.
And they'll be gathered there in His presence. What a glorious
coming that that is. But everything that surrounds
His coming will be glorious because He says here that He's bringing
His holy angels with Him. The brightness of His coming.
In other places it said it would be flame and fire coming with
those angels. Here's what the psalmist David
said about it in Psalm 50. He shall come. He's coming. The
Son of Man is coming. And he shall not keep silent.
A fire shall devour before him, and it shall be very tempestuous
round about him. And he shall call to the heavens
from above and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
And here's what he says, Gather my saints together unto me, those
who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice And the heaven
shall declare his glory, his righteousness, and he himself
will be judged. A glorious coming. And he tells
us here that not only the saints will be gathered to him, but
in verse 32 he says, before him shall be gathered all nations. Everybody will be gathered to
him. Those who love him and those
who don't. Those who believed his gospel
here and those who won't. Those whose faith was in his
blood and those who pierced him. Everybody's coming. As I live,
saith the Lord, unto me every knee shall bow. Every tongue
shall swear. unto him shall all men come."
All are coming. Some of you have already come,
haven't you? You've come seeking for mercy,
and you've found it. You've come by His grace, and
He saved you. You've cast your soul upon Him
as a helpless, empty sinner, and He saved you. You've come
to Him. Everybody else is coming too. All nations shall be gathered
in His presence at His feet before His throne. Isn't that part of
His glory? What would be thought of you
if you were such a person that God gathered all nations at your
feet for you to judge them and assign them their eternal home?
Whoever this person is, he's glorious. to have this kind of
attention, this kind of authority, this kind of power. All nations. No wonder they call it the throne.
Before Him, on His throne, Jesus of Nazareth. Now let's be honest
about it. As you and I listen to so many
of our preachers today, is this the Jesus that we're hearing
about? I heard one man in the little booklet he wrote, he said
that Jesus was frustrated that he's up in heaven wringing his
hands, hoping and praying that somebody will let him do something
for them. That was the fundamentalist preacher.
That wasn't a man pastoring a cult. That was one of our fundamentalist
preachers. Oh, brothers and sisters. Christ has been exalted. He's
head over all things. He's in heaven on His throne.
And He's coming again. And He confirms to us here in
verse 32 what other Scriptures teach us plainly. And that's
this, that God the Father has turned over to His Son, Jesus
Christ, for the fulfilling of His eternal
purpose. God the Father has an eternal
purpose, and He has put the fulfilling of that purpose into the hands
of the Son of Man, His Son. That is why in Ephesians 3 we
read of that very fact. The eternal purpose which God
purposed in Jesus Christ the Lord, and by Him And here we
see the consummation of this purpose. And what is it? A division,
dividing. He divides them, the one from
the other, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. This
is the finality. This is the eternal separation. This is the feral separation. This is the last separation.
It's been going on through the ages. From the beginning of time,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has been fulfilling God's
purpose, and this is what it is, to separate the sheep from
the goats. To separate them from the darkness
of the devil and sin and bring them to Himself. That's the purpose
of God. And that's what the Son of God
has been doing for thousands of years. He said, my sheep,
they hear my voice. And I know them and they follow
me. And when I speak to them, what do they do? They come out.
They come out and they follow me. That's what's been going
on all this time. And here it is. Here it is. The mystery's finished. God's
eternal purpose is consummated. And what's the finality of it
all? The Son of God separating the sheep from the goats. And
you know something? Nobody raised their hand to identify
themselves. Nobody said, wait, wait, wait. You've got me in the wrong group.
Don't you know me? Nobody speaks a word in all of
these verses while the Son of God is separating them and putting
them on either side of Himself. Nobody says a word. There's no
need to say anything, because He knows. He knows. We see somebody make a profession
of faith, and they submit to water baptism. They seem to love
the Lord. There's some evidence there of
it. They seem to be new creatures. They have a certain amount of
conviction about it all. And we are of the opinion, there
goes one of His. That's one of His. But we don't
know for sure, do we? But He does. He does. The foundation of God standeth
sure. The Lord knows them that are
His. He knows them. I know my sheep. And here He separates them. All of them. One from another. As a shepherd divides his sheep
from the goats. Now here's what aggravates people,
and here's sometimes what offends people, because we profess just
exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ here is teaching us, that all
along God has had a people. God chose them from the very
beginning. God the Son redeemed them when
he came to this earth, and God the Holy Spirit calls and seals
them. He separates them. And that's
what we professed all along. Isn't this what we profess? Isn't
this what we preach and what we believe? And why do we believe
that? Because the Son of God teaches
us this. Right here in these verses. Come
you blessed of my Father. When were they blessed? Who was
blessed? This is all answered right here
in this verse, isn't it? Who are blessed? Those on His
right hand. They're blessed. You. Come, you,
blessed of My Father. My Father blessed you when He
chose you. He blessed you when He sent Me
to redeem you. He blessed you when He sent the
Spirit to seal you and to save you and to regenerate you. He
blessed you. Now come and sit on my right hand, you who are
blessed. Inherit this kingdom prepared
for you." When was it prepared? Before the very foundation of
the world. Is that not all that we profess?
God has determined to bless a great host of people in this world,
and blessed they are. And now here the Son of God proclaims
it openly before the world, the nations, and He says, You're
blessed of My Father. You've always been blessed. You've
not always known it and believed it, but you've always been blessed. And people hear us say this.
They bring all kinds of accusations against us for saying this. You're saying God predestinated
men to go to hell. That's what you guys are saying.
I never heard anybody say that. Why would God have to predestinate
a man to go to hell? He's clawing with both hands
to get there, is He not? You believe that babies go to
hell. I do not believe such a thing. Your pastor believes no such
thing. They bring all these false accusations against us for just
believing what the Son of God tells us. And isn't it ironic
That people that hate this truth, that God has a people He's determined
to bless, the last word they'll hear is the Son of God proclaiming
that very truth to Himself. You hate God's sovereignty and
won't bow to Him? The last thing, dear soul, you'll
hear is God's sovereignty that He has determined to bless a
people. And this is why they were there
on the right hand of the Son of God. That's the reason they
were there. Come, you blessed of my Father. This is why I'm putting you here.
You're blessed of my Father. This is why I redeemed you at
such a great cost of myself. You're blessed. You're here because
you're blessed. Somebody said, I'm going to heaven
because of who I am. I'm going to heaven because of
what I've done. Here's what the saint says, I'm
going to heaven because I'm blessed. God has blessed me. That's the
foundation upon which everything else rests. I believe Him because
I'm blessed. I come to Him. I serve Him. I
follow Him. I love Him because I'm blessed. I hope in His mercy and I'll
hope to the end because I'm blessed. That's it, ain't it? Come, you
blessed. Can you just throw everything
else away and say, it's because I'm blessed? For you, blessed of my Father. Oh, it may not seem much here,
and it surely don't to the world, but oh, it'll be something yonder. Let's just throw this blessed
old truth of election out. Let's just not say anything about
what God, the sovereign God, is determined to do. It causes
too much division. Let's talk about man and his
sufferings and his need and his will. Let's talk about all of
this. Oh, but God's determination to be something yonder, because
it says who's on the right hand and who's on the left. Blessed. Graciously blessed. Or justly cursed. Then he begins here in verse
35 through verse 40. And he doesn't tell the reason
here for their being blessed. He seems to say that until you
compare it with other scriptures. For I was a hunger and you gave
me meat. I was thirsty and you gave me
drink and so on. And some might say, well, this
is the reason they were there. No. No. That's twisting the Scripture. He already says that this is
an inheritance. You don't work for an inheritance. We have an inheritance because
somebody gave us what was theirs. You have an inheritance usually
because you're a member of the family, don't you? But you don't
earn it. If you earn it, You're just being
paid what you earn. This is something you receive
graciously. That kingdom is graciously received.
But he's simply telling here the character of these people. His sheep. What kind of people
are the sheep of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, he tells us here
in these verses. Look at them. They're very gracious
people. They're very giving people. They're
very generous people. Look what a gracious life and
generous life they live. I was hungry and you gave me meat.
I was thirsty and you gave me drink. They're giving people. They're just giving. They're
just giving. They gave themselves to the Lord
and they've been given ever since. They have the Spirit of God in
their heart. God so loved that he gave. Christ
loved me and he gave himself. And they just give. Boy, that's
one of the characteristics of a child of God. He's given. He's given. And we have something
else. Look here how hospitable they
are. Look how courteous they are.
I was a stranger and you tucked me in. The children of God are always
taking people in. They're so vulnerable sometimes.
That's why they get hurt often. Because they're always taking
people into their hearts, into their affection, into their homes. You tuck me in. I'll be honest
with you. I'm not too worried about going
broke. I'm not too worried about not
having a house to live in or a vehicle to drive. As long as
there's a church in this world, I'm not too worried about it.
Are you? I don't know, and you could say
the same thing. Maybe me being a preacher and John being a pastor,
it more applies to us. But I tell you, I have more houses
than I can stay in. I have more tables than I can
sit at, more beds than I can sleep in, more cars than I can
drive. I'm not worried about these things
as long as God has a church in this world. Why? Because they're
such a generous people. and such a hospitable people.
You took me in. Look how sympathizing they are.
Look how tender-hearted. Look how caring they are. I was
naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came
to me. Aren't these simple things? The
world looks over these things, you see. The Lord didn't condemn
these people because they didn't build any cathedrals. You may have them here. We have
a family life center. You guys may have some in this
neighborhood. They build these huge centers for all the family. They've got something for all
the family. He didn't say, why didn't you have missionary outreach
through all the world? He didn't condemn them for doing
that. He commended them for doing what they could. What they had
a heart to do. That you just had a curing heart.
You had an opportunity to do something. You had a will to
do something and that's what you did. He didn't say I was sick and
you paid my hospital bill. You can't do that, can you? I
don't have the money to do that. But you visited me in there.
And you set up all that with me. And you prayed with me. And you comforted me. And I was
in prison. And you came to me there. You
didn't have the influence to get me out. But you visited me
while I was there. It's just the simple things,
brothers and sisters, ain't it? It's things the world overlooks. Religion today is looking for
some reason the world can pat him on the back and brag on him. And the sheep are just loving,
caring, gracious people. I think the judgment will probably
turn everything upside down. A man like the great Spurgeon
who has got all of his volumes of messages and did so greater
work for the Lord and the cause of Christ in this world. He'll
probably be standing behind some poor widow, give just what she
had and that's all she had. And the Lord will say, Mr. Spurgeon,
there's somebody here I want to commend more than you, and
that's this poor widow. The Lord don't look at things,
does he, the way we do and the way the world does. Our families,
brothers and sisters, and our communities and our country would
probably all be in a better condition if Christians just lived out
their life like the Lord said we should. Just loving, caring,
hospitable, gracious people. And notice here in verse 41 through
verse 46, Here's the character of these empty professors. And the Lord, the Lord here says,
I was hungry. You never fed me. I was thirsty
and you never gave me a drink. You know, I think it would be
sort of naive of us to say and think that these people never
did any of these things. Because no doubt they did. You
know, to say these fellows never visited the sick, or never provided
food for the hungry. I imagine they did that several
times. But what the Master is saying
is this. You never fed me. You never gave me to drink. You never visited me. That's what it came down to.
My people. You did everything for everybody
else. You loved everybody else, but my people you hated. You
didn't love my people. You didn't care for my people.
As soon as you found out they were my people, you turned your
face against them. I went in one time, a fellow,
I was in some difficulty, and a fellow that could help me,
and I went into his office, and I said and talked to him. And
he was ready to assist me in some difficult times I was going
in. And he could have done it with just a phone call. He could
have done it. And was willing to do it until
he found out I was a believer. And as soon as he found that
out, I was invited to leave his office without any help whatsoever. He helped other people. Why didn't
he help me? Brothers and sisters, does the
church Love your God. Does the world love your God? When they find out who your God
is, does the world love Him? Is the world following your Savior?
Is the world embracing these truths of God's Word? No, they're
not, are they? And you let them find out. God
is your God. Christ is yours. And these truths
you hold to. It's almost a natural thing for
them to say in their hearts, you fanned for yourself. You
fanned for yourself. I was hungry. You fed everybody
else. Our country, our country right
now, and I think we've reached the point, and the Lord has removed
His hand, and there are so many in our nation, especially in
high places, would much rather see Islam religion established
in this country than Christianity. Do you know that? And here is
the reason. In spite of all the good that
Christ did to this world through His Church, and it being the
only foundation of truth in this world, in spite of all of that,
they hate Him and they hate His people. And they're willing to
say, you let a bunch of butchers, you let a bunch of radicals be
over us rather than the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
brothers and sisters, the world gets along with the church as
long as the church is hidden and not saying much. But you
let the Lord remove His hand. You let the world find out. who
the church is and who the church is and what she believes. They'll
kill her. I was hungry. And one last thing
in closing is this, verse 41. And the Lord tells us here there's
no middle ground. There's no place somewhere between
heaven and hell. He'd already said to the righteous,
Come and sit on my right hand." But now he speaks in verse 41
to the wicked and says, Depart from me, ye cursed. Some people wish there was a
middle place. They don't thank themselves good
enough to go to heaven, but they don't thank themselves bad enough
to go to hell. So they live with this secret
hope that there's some middle place. But there is none. There's
heaven. That holy place. The blessed
place. That happy place. And then there's
hell. And the Scriptures never says,
as far as I know, it was prepared for the wicked. It was prepared
for the devil and his angels. But where's the wicked going?
Where else can he go? There's no other place prepared
for him. But that place which was prepared for the devil, Is
not the Lord Jesus telling us that though man thinks so highly
of himself, he's no better than devils? And deserves to be with
them for all eternity? Depart from me, you curse. Go
to be with the devils. You hated me. You hated my gospel. You hated my grace. You wanted
nothing to do with me. Go to the devils. And I don't
know of anything more frightful to have the Lamb of God, this
meek and lowly Lamb, to rise and you see anger in
His face. We had a man when I was in high
school, a young man. I was a senior in high school.
We had this big fellow. He was a huge fellow, but he
was a teddy bear. And we abused that young man.
We smacked around on him, pushed around on him. And he'd never
done a thing to us. He was a gentle, good, young
man. And one day I saw him come in
and I saw his countenance had changed. And I knew, boy, I better leave
this fellow alone today. And I advise all my bully friends
to leave him alone today. Because he's had all he's going
to take. And boy, he's watching, he's laying wait. And everybody
saw the same thing that I saw. This man who was so kind and
was so tender and so gentle, there was a point that he reached
and said, no more. I'm not only a gentle man, I
have some strength and I have some wrath built up. And I'm
looking for an opportunity to put you fellas on your back and
I can do it. And here is the blessed Son of
God who now says, Come unto Me, for I am meek and lowly in my
heart. And here He speaks to those who refuse to come. And
He says, Now you depart. I despise your image. You go
to be with the devils. Go to be punished for all eternity. How awful will that be? The wrath
of the Lamb. And boy, this sealed it, didn't
it? This was the finality. This was the last day. And there
was no appeal. This was final. Depart from me,
if you trust. May God bless His Word. Our Father,
gracious and wise and tender, merciful, merciful Father in
Heaven, we thank You for the Son of Man. the Lord Jesus Christ,
the mediator between us and you, God in our humanity. We bow this morning, our Father
in Heaven, bringing nothing with us, looking simply to Him, the
Lamb of God. Thanking you for this great privilege
it is to side of this great and awful judgment this awesome day
that you've appointed, the final separation, thanking you for
a privilege to pray, a privilege of making our call in an election
sure, to make sure we indeed trust you, to make sure we indeed
have been made new by you, that your love has been shed abroad
in our heart, that you indeed have made us
gracious people. Thank you for your church. Thank
you for letting us know them and be among them and be loved
by them. Thank you, Lord in heaven, for
this body here, this dear man that you've called a pastor.
I pray, Lord, that you'll uphold him in the days and the months
and years ahead. Bless this dear people. Bless
their work that they're doing for your glory. Bless the messages
here to the hearts. Oh, this is your work. Spirit
of God, the Teacher be, show in the fangs of Christ to this
dear people. We thank you for the food these
dear ladies have prepared. Thank you for their labors. In
Jesus Christ, our Lord's name, Amen.