Turn back to Matthew 25. The title of the message is The Final Separation. The Final Separation. We have looked at this chapter
now. This is, I believe, the third week. And now we've come to the close
of it. And this is the close of that message on the Mount
of Olives that he's given to his disciples. This is that message. And I want us to look at verses
31 through 46. Now our thoughts are so often taken up With what are we going to eat? What are we going to eat today?
What are we going to wear? Where are we going to live? Our
jobs? The things of this life. And
most of our worrying is due to these things. This is a worrisome,
worrisome world, isn't it? It is. The Word of God tells us over
in Colossians chapter 3 to set our affection on things above
where our Lord sits at the Father's right hand, to set our affection
there. And when we are able to do that, when we are able to set our affection
on our Lord and on that Kingdom that is coming, it helps us to
deal with these earthly things much better, much better. The more real, I've been looking at this for
the last three days, the more real, well hopefully I've been
looking at it for the last thirty years, But I've especially been
looking at this particular scripture for the last three days. But
the more real the world to come is to the believer, the more
content he will find himself to be till it comes. Till it
comes. Our affections are to be set
on him. on him. He's the joy of that
place. A prison, a palace would prove
if Jesus would dwell with me there. He is the joy of that
place. And we will be, well, what is
it he said earlier in this chapter? Enter into the joy of thy Enter
into it. Now, we were given two parables
earlier in this chapter. And now this is a summation of
those two parables, what we have from verse 31 to verse 46 is
not a parable. It's not a parable. This is the
way it is. We are given a glimpse here.
I don't know if we realize this, But the Lord is pulling the curtain
back a little bit here and allowing us a glimpse into that day when
He shall come in His glory and separate the sheep and the goats
and we will inherit a kingdom. Of course, the goats will be
commanded to depart. We're given a glimpse of what's
going to happen and who's going to do it. Who's going to be the
head of that day? Now first of all, we have a person
revealed. He says here, when the Son of
Man, earlier it was the bridegroom, and then it was the man who was
going away to a far country, and now here it is the Son of
Man. 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 first manifests Himself here
as the Son of Man to identify Himself with us. He identifies
Himself with us. The Son of Man is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The one who was despised and
rejected of men. This is the man, this is the
son of man, this is the one who is coming in great, great glory. I cannot find, I tried these
last few days to find some words to explain this. I can't do it.
There's not any. My vocabulary is not that extensive. It does not go there. This is
a glory beyond imagination. But this is the one who was despised
and rejected of men. This is the one whom the Jew
said, we will not have this man to reign over us. This is the one whom God the
Father exalted at his right hand to be a prince and a savior.
This is that man. This is that man that Pilate
brought out on the porch After having beaten him, Scripture
says his visage was so marred more than any man. He brought
him out on the porch and he said, Behold the man! And their verdict
was, Crucify him! Crucify him! Well, this is the
man that's coming in glory, great glory. This is the man. And he
will come, it says, in all his glory. The first time He came, it was
barely noticed. A few shepherds, a few wise men,
born in a stable. This is the King of Glory. But
when He came the first time, He didn't come to be recognized
as the King. He came as a Lamb to be slain the first time. Now
He's coming as the King. Now He's coming as the Judge
of the quick and dead. First time He came, barely noticed.
But this time, all, all who have ever stepped a foot on this earth,
all who has ever had a breath of life, will see Him in all
His splendor and glory. No words to describe such glory. And listen, all the holy angels
shall be within. All of them. How many angels
do you reckon there are? All of them are with Him. Can
you imagine? I mean, can you just imagine this train of glory
and angels following this one man? A man, now. I'm talking about a man. A real
man. A man of flesh and bones. A man like us, except without
sin. A man. That's what we're going
to see. We're going to see a man, the
man Christ Jesus. And here's what he's going to
do. This man who was despised and rejected of men, this man
is going to take the throne, it says, of his glory. He's going
to take the throne of judgment at this time. Can you imagine
seeing that? This man who was so despised
and still despised, except by a few. And he had to do something
for them to keep them from despising him. He had to do a work of grace
in them. He had to give them a new heart.
He had to give them a new spirit. We were enemies in our minds
by wicked works, it says. But this man is going to take
the throne of judgment. And he is going to administer
the judgment of that great day. All judgment has been committed
to the Son. But you notice here, he doesn't
say when the Son of God comes, although he is the Son of God.
He's saying when the Son of Man, this is the man. This is the
man that was crucified. This is the man that was whipped.
This is the man that died. This is the man that was buried. This man is going to ascend the
throne and all judgment has been committed to him. All judgment. God is going to judge the world
through that man. Look over in John chapter 5.
Gospel of John chapter 5. In the Gospel of John chapter
5, look in verse 22. For the Father judgeth no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should
honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth
not the Son honors not the Father which hath sent him. Now look
down in verse 27. Well, in verse 26, For as the
Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to
have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute
judgment also, because he is the Son not only of God, he is
also the Son of Man. Son of Man. It says over in Acts
17.31, Because he, that is God the Father, hath appointed a
day. A particular day. He knows that day, we don't know
it. The Lord says no man knows that day nor hour. But there
is a particular day marked on God's calendar for this day. Because he hath appointed a day
in which he will judge the world, listen, in righteousness, in
righteousness. He'll not judge according to
political favor. He'll judge a righteous judgment.
He will judge the world in righteousness by that man, by that man whom
he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all
men, and that he raised him from the dead. But he hath appointed
a day in which he'll judge the world in righteousness by that
man. That Son of Man. And then He tells us that all
must appear before that Man. In verse 32, And before Him shall
be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from
another, because they all belong to Him. All nations have to appear
before Him. All of them. And He shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
Those that dwell together here will be separated there. Many
of them will. The scripture says this, he knoweth
them that are his, he knoweth them that trust in him, and he
knows them that don't trust in him also. There will be a clear
distinction made between the righteous and the unrighteous. Here it's hard to tell. You remember
he gave the parable of the five wise virgins and the five foolish? He has given us the parable of
the tares and the wheat. He said, let them grow together
until the end. You see, here it's hard to tell.
But in that day, it will be made very clear. It's not hard for
him to tell. He knows. He knoweth them that
are his. But without this separation, without this separation, heaven
wouldn't be any better than this place, would it? It would not
be any better than this place without this separation. And
he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on
the left. The sheep shall have the place
of honor and glory. Here they don't. Here they are
despised, just like he was despised. He said, if they hated me, they'll
hate you. Now his sheep truly are hated by this world, by this
religious world, this lost world, and Satan and his angels, his
demons hate him. But in that day, in that day,
they are going to have a place of honor and glory while the
goats have the place of dishonor and contempt. Now I want you
to notice, it does not say the rich shall be sent on his right
hand and the poor on the left. It does not say the educated
will be sent on the right hand and the uneducated on the left. All distinction is God. All distinction. You know, there's
two great levelers of men that I can think of. Two. One is grace. The other is the grave. I was
reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon the other day. And it's just,
I thought his point was so good. He said, you can go and pick
up the skull of the most educated man in the world, and then you can go pick up the
skull of the most uneducated man in the world, and you wouldn't
be able to tell the difference. You wouldn't be able to tell
the difference by looking at their skulls. once they've hit
the grave and the worms have done their duty. Grace and the
grave are the two great levelers. And here, he said, you're either
a sheep or you're either a goat. You are one or the other. There
are two classes of people in this world that God sees. Sheep
and goats. That's it. Now you and I see
class distinctions, we see social distinctions, we see a lot of
different distinctions. God sees sheep and goats. And that's how he's going to
deal with them. That's how they're going to be dealt with. And notice
here how he takes care of the righteous first. And here's one
of the reasons I believe that I thought about this as I read
this. First, he speaks to the righteous. He says, Then shall
the king stand to them on his right hand, the sheep. Come,
ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. He takes care of them first,
because if he took care of them last, it would be too painful.
It would be too painful. Henry said this. I heard this
when I was in my early twenties. When I heard the gospel, I came
and I heard him preaching. He preached this and said this
in a message one time. He said, I could not say this now. Could
not say this now. But when we are in glory, when
he takes his people to final glory, and we have the mind of
Christ, if he casts my family into hell, I'll shout hallelujah.
He said, I can't do it now. He said, but we'll do it then.
When he casts that great whore into hell, we will shout hallelujah. That's why I said he takes care
of the righteous first, because if he took care of them last,
it would be too painful. But in that day, when he takes care
of his people, we will have the mind of Christ. We will see as
God sees without sin. But it says, 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. Hear the judge The Son of Man
is revealed to be none other than the King of Glory. Read
Psalm 2 when you get time. Who is this King of Glory? The
Lord, strong and mighty in battle, the Lord of Hosts. He's the King
of Glory. And He's going to say to His
people, come, not go, not go. Well, I tell you what, if he
said, go, you can't change them. That verdict can't be changed.
You can't say, whoa, wait a minute. There's more evidence here. I
got some evidence. No, he says, go, you go. Boy,
he says, come, you come. And you're coming, he says, to
a kingdom. I thought of Adam when God created the heavens
and the earth. He made a garden. Garden of Eden. You know that
had to be beautiful. That had to be a beautiful garden.
And then He created Adam and Eve and He says, put them in
the garden. Everything was prepared. Everything
in this kingdom, this kingdom of Christ, this kingdom of grace,
this kingdom of righteousness, everything in it is already prepared. You don't have to bring a dish.
This is not a potluck dinner. This is the kingdom and it's
already prepared, he said, before the foundation of the world.
It's already done. I read that to you over in Revelations.
I'm asking for the way. It's done. It's done. And he says to his people who
now bear reproach for his name, who are cursed by this world,
Yet, he says, you're blessed. You're blessed of my Father. David said, although it be not
so with my house, God hath made with me an everlasting covenant. Order in all things is sure. You're blessed of my Father. When he speaks to them on his
right hand, They need not fear. You know, over in Revelation,
there's going to be a time when He's going to speak and they are going
to cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them and
hide them from the face of Him that sits on the throne. But
can you imagine when we see Him, when the believers see Him, His
sheep see Him? Man, it'll be joy. It'll be joy. It'd be a joy to see Him come
today, wouldn't it? I wish He would. I wish he had
come today and put an end to all this. It would be a joy.
But when he speaks, they need not fear, because he speaks to
them in peace. And he tells them, you are blessed
of my Father. You are blessed of my Father. You notice here how the king
Son of man gives all the glory of salvation to his Father. You
notice how they brag on each other. The Father honors the
Son. The Son honors the Father. The
Spirit honors the Father and the Son. They honor each other.
Totally different than the human race, isn't it? Solomon said,
don't let your own mouth brag on yourself. Paraphrase it. They don't. They brag on each
other. You are blessed of my Father. He gives all the glory
of salvation to His Father, for He's the first cause in love. You love God, if you love God.
If I love God, it's because He first loved me. He first loved
you. He's the source of it. It came
from Him. He's the first cause in election. He chose me. That's
what the Lord said. He said to those disciples, you
didn't choose me, I chose you. I chose you. He's the first cause
in calling. If I called upon God, it's because
He called upon me. He's the first cause in purpose.
Everything He's doing, He's doing on purpose. And notice, they are welcoming
to the kingdom. They are, it's welcome. You ever
go to somebody's house and they just really make you feel welcome?
I mean, I've been to some places I didn't feel welcome and I'm
ready to leave. But I have been to some homes,
your homes. I've been in some of your homes.
And I mean, I felt at home. Welcome. Come on in. Don't have to take your shoes
off. Come in. Welcome! He says, Welcome! Come,
ye blessed of my Father, welcome into the kingdom! You that follow
the Lord Jesus Christ now, bearing His reproach, will someday, in
a little while, wear a crown of glory, following Him into
that kingdom. What joy will fill the hearts
of the saints in that day! One writer said this, We now
come boldly to the throne of grace, but then we shall come
boldly to the throne of His glory. Oh, what majestic glory. And
we'll come boldly to it. And welcome to it. Welcome. And listen, we have an inheritance.
Peter said that over in 1 Peter chapter 1. to an inheritance,
incorruptible, undefiled, and that fades not away. We have
an inheritance. He says, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. It's been prepared
for you. It's been prepared for you. This kingdom was purposed by
the Father and prepared for you, but for the foundation of the
world. Now, if God prepared it, if God
prepared this kingdom, how glorious, how glorious must that kingdom
be. You know, this world, this earth
with all the sin in it, it's still beautiful, isn't it? And
there's still some real beauty in this earth. You take sin out
of it, my, what a place. Well, he did take sin out of
this one. There is no sin. I read that to you earlier. If
God prepared it, my soul. You know, there are certain people
I've known in my life. My grandfather was one of them.
He was a great carpenter. Basically, he was a specialist
at doing trim work. And I'm telling you, when he
did it, it was right. It was right. And there's people
I've known over my life, if I was going to build a house, they
would be the ones I'd want to build it because it would be
right. But how much more God, how much more our Father who
prepared this kingdom. This is just a journey home and
the things that we suffer is just part of the journey home.
But boy, when we get there, When we get there, we are going to
enjoy His glory. We are going to enjoy Him and
this kingdom. This kingdom. We who are beggars
here, and that's what we are. We who find
ourselves prisoners here. We who are accounted as nothing
here, shall inherit a kingdom. And
glory that's beyond description. And it is a kingdom prepared. The happiness of it is going
to be unimaginable. It's the product of the wisdom
and power of God. The product. The Father designed
it. How would you like to have Him
as your architect? He designed this kingdom. He
purposed this kingdom in His wise counsel. The Son of God
purchased it by His blood. And He has now entered into it
as the forerunner. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you. In John 14. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'll come again and get you. I'll get you. And the
Spirit is now preparing us for that place. He's preparing us
for it. And it is an inheritance. You
do not earn an inheritance. An inheritance is something that's
given to you. It's given to you by your parents,
but someone else that loves you can give you an inheritance.
But our Father has given us this inheritance, and it's given to
us by grace, not by law, which means I can't lose it. Because
if it was by law, I would not even get to smell it, let alone
enter in. Listen to this in Galatians 3.18,
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise. Remember, it is not of promise,
it is not of grace. But God gave it to Abraham by
promise. You and I, all the sheep on His
right hand, we have this inheritance, we have this kingdom by a promise
that the Father gave to His Son. And we have inherited through
the promise this came. Now notice here, I want you to
notice the character of those on his right hand. He reveals
their character. He said, I was hungry and you
gave me meat. I was thirsty and 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. Now, if you'll notice,
When all the sheep are gathered together, how the Lord makes
mention of their works. You say, but we're not saved
by works. No, but I tell you what, works is sure an evidence
of salvation. Not the cause, but an evidence. If you'll notice here also, this
jumped out at me as I was reading this. He does not mention what
they bleed. He mentions what they did. He doesn't say one word. You
believe the doctrine of election. He doesn't say it. You believe
in particular redemption. He mentions their life on this
earth and the way they lived, which is evidence of His grace
in them. It's evidence of it. He mentions
their obedience. Not as their right to the kingdom,
but an evidence of their union to Christ. It's an evidence of
it. And there's three things about
these sheep that he mentions or that stand out in reading
this. Verse thirty five to thirty six.
First of all, it's evident they denied themselves. You said I
was hungry and you gave me to me, you gave me something to
eat, you gave me what you had, you took You took what you had
and gave it to me. I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink. I was a stranger and you took
me in. You opened your door naked and
you clothed me. You see, they denied themselves.
They loved the brethren and they loved all men in general too.
And they exhibited faith in Christ. by their conduct. And you'll note here, and this
is more of their character revealed here. True humility. Listen to
this. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry? When did we feed you? When did
we see you thirsty and gave you drink? When did we see you a
stranger and took you in naked and clothed there? Well, when
did we see you sick or in prison? When did this happen? When did
we ever do anything good? Notice how in his providence,
the Lord brings some of his own into trial for the exercise of
grace in others. He said, I was hungry and you
fed me. So one of his sheep had to be
hungry or somebody had to be hungry and somebody was given
food, plenty, and they used it to feed the poor. He might empty
me and fill you. And oh, what a trial for both
of us, for both of us. Works of love and kindness are
products of salvation. They are the products of salvation,
not the cause. They are the product. And it's amazing that in judgment, he's going to mention,
I was hungry and you fed me. I was thirsty and you gave me
something to drink. You wouldn't believe that he
would even take notice of anything that I would do. But he does. He does. And the king shall answer and
say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you have done
it unto me, unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have
done it to me. What was it he said to Paul on
the road to Damascus? Paul, Paul, why persecutest thou
the church, the brethren, the people of Damascus? Why are you
going there to do that? He said, Paul, why are you persecuting
me? Me? The Lord was in heaven. He was
seated at God's right hand. He's seated at God's right hand.
But Paul was taking his children Listen, His body. His body. This is the body of Christ. The believers here, we make up
the body of Christ. You touch one believer and you
have touched the Lord Jesus Christ personally. It's His body. You
touch my hand, you've touched me. Step on my toe, you've touched
me. Offend one of His little ones,
And you've offended Him personally. And this verse here reveals their
humbleness. And the king said, Verily I say
unto you, inasmuch as you've done it unto one of the least
of these, my brethren, you've done it to me. You've done it to me. They are surprised. They are
surprised. that anything that they have
done would even be recognized. Christ is more, one writer said this, Christ
is more among us than we think He is. The Lord is in this place by
His Word, His ordinances, His ministers, His Spirit. And like
Jacob said, and we knew it not, Jacob said, the Lord was in this
place and I knew it not. He said, what you've done to
the least of me, least of these, you've done it to me. And then
he turned to the wicked and I closed. Then shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. They are ordered
to depart. They are cursed. They have a place to go to, everlasting
fire. It is a prepared place, just
like the kingdom is prepared for the sheep. This place is
prepared also. And he says it was prepared for
the devil and his angels. And that being so, how terrible
must that place be? I'm not even going to try to
describe it. But I'll tell you what it does show. It also shows
that those who go there, or as bad as the devil, or as wicked
as he is. It's a place of misery. It's
a place without mercy. It's a place without hope. It's
a place without light that's called out of darkness. And it's
a place without end, everlasting. The word everlasting in the Greek
and the word eternal mean the same thing. And they had noticed
they had the same opportunities in verses 42 through 45. I was
hungry and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty and 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 and
you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungry and thirsty, or stranger,
or naked, and sick, or in prison, and did not minister to 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." By their conduct, by their life, it was evident that
they were graceless. The work of the Spirit was not
in them, even though they made a profession of believing the
gospel. He says, your life proved different.
That's what he's saying. And then in the last verse, verse
46, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the
righteous into life eternal. The end. The end. I was watching a movie with Cole, Friday night, and the end of
the movie came. And I said, OK, we had a disk
in. I said, let's take it out. He
said, no, the words haven't come up yet. You know, you've got
to have the word to come up and say the end. The end. That's it. That's the way it is. We got
a little glimpse this morning of that day. All right, Mike.