Glad to be with you this morning.
Look forward to coming. This is one of the appointments
I kept when they called me to Spring Lake. I canceled six or
so appointments, but I told Don, I said, I'll keep this one. Enjoyed
coming down here preaching to you. Over here preaching to you,
depends on where I'm at. I love your pastor. He was the
first one that I heard, after I heard the gospel, I heard Henry
preaching on television. I was 23 years old and I wanted
to go down and hear him in person. So I showed up at 13th Street
and Don was preaching. And I got to hear him and I was
just, I was just astounded. that there was such power in
preaching. I'd never heard such power in preaching. When I heard
Henry and I heard Don and started hearing other men, before that
I just heard men standing in a pulpit. There was no power
to it at all. There was no truth to what they
were saying. And then I heard the gospel and the power of God's
spirit. And when you hear that, you will
not be the same. Never again. Never again. Turn to Matthew chapter 25. Matthew chapter 25. You may start reading In verse 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 a 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. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a hungry and fed thee, or
thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king,
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 the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For 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? or thirsty,
or 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 you did it not to one of the
least of these, you did it not to me. And these shall go away
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. I just read to you what's coming. You know, this morning I read,
I was reading in my motel room the last two chapters of Revelation. And I thought, I'm reading the
future. Right, here's the future, I know
what's gonna happen. Because at the very end of Revelation
it says, the end. It's the only book that says
the end. I know how it's gonna go about. I know what's gonna happen. I
know how it's gonna end. I know how it ends. It's all gonna end with Christ.
And it's gonna end with him being the judge of the quick and the
dead. Now our Lord tells us here in
these verses that he's coming again. If you'll notice, he doesn't
say here in verse 31, when I shall come in glory. He says, when
the son of man, that's his identification with us. But he also doesn't
say when I, because it says over in Philippians that he made himself
of no reputation. It wasn't his time at that time
to be glorified. It was his time to die, to die. But He tells us here, He says
that when the Son of Man comes again, He's gonna come in great glory.
You see, the first time He came, it was barely noticed. Just a
few people knew about it the first time. But this time, He's
gonna come in His full glory. And we can't comprehend what
that is. Such glory can't be comprehended
by such little minds. It can't be done. And he says, I'm coming. And
there's going to be a final separation between the sheep and the goats. He said all nations are going
to be brought before him. And then he's going to separate
them. Sheep on the right hand, goats
on the left. There's gonna be a distinction
made. There's not gonna be neutral ground. It's either gonna be
lost or saved, a sheep or a goat. It's the only two. It's the only two types of people
living in this world. You're either a sheep or a goat,
one or the other. Now the first thing we have here
is a person revealed. He says, 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. The
judge, he's telling us here that the judge is none other than
himself, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the judge. The one who was
despised and rejected of men, the one who was nailed to the
cross, the one who was made fun of, he's the judge. He's the judge. This is the one
whom the Jews said, we will not have this man to reign over us. He's the judge. He's the one.
This is the one whom God the Father exalted at His right hand
to be a prince and a savior, and He is also the judge. And He says He's going to come
in all His glory. The first time He came, He was
laid in a manger. Can you imagine that? God manifested
in the flesh, God in human flesh. God comes into this world and
he's born in a barn. But when he comes again, this
second time, he's gonna come with all the holy angels. And
that's a number you cannot number. And they're gonna be following
him. They're gonna be with Him. And He's gonna take His throne
of judgment. That's what He says here. And the administration
of the judgment of the great day, every bit of it, every bit
of it is committed to Him. Look over in John chapter five.
John chapter five. In John chapter 5, let's look
at, let me just read some of these verses. Let's go to verse
20, John chapter 5. For the father loveth the son,
and showeth him all things that himself doeth. And he will show
him greater works than these that you may marvel. For as the
father raises up the dead, and quickeneth them, Even so the
Son quickeneth whom he will. For the Father judges no man,
but hath committed all judgment unto the Son, unto that man Jesus
Christ. That all men should honor the
Son even as they honor the Father. He that honoreth not the Son
honoreth not the Father which hath sent him. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him
that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Verily, verily,
I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall
live. 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, the right, the power, to execute
judgment also, because he's the son of man. All judgment's been committed
to the man Christ Jesus. And by him, God is going to judge
this world in righteousness. It says in Acts 17 31, because
he hath appointed a day into which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained. There is a man right now seated
at God's right hand. He is ruling, he is reigning
over all things. Absolutely everything is under
his authority. And when the end of all this
comes to an end, he's the judge. And you know what gives me great
comfort? The judge is my savior. The judge is my redeemer. The blood of the judge is my
atonement. Doesn't that give you great comfort? I don't have to fear this day
because the judge took my place. The judge took my wrath. The
judge took my hell. The judge took the curse of the
law that was on me and took it to himself. The judge was made
to be sin for me. He was made to be sin. He took
my place, made to be what I am. that he might put it away. And
now when I stand before him, I stand before him what? Justified. Justified. Cleared of all charges
because the judge put them away. He put them away. Now it says in verse 32, and
before him shall be gathered all nations. They are all his. The earth is the Lord's, the
fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein. All are his, and
he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth
his sheep from the goats. We all dwell together here. It's
not easy. It's not always easy to tell
who's who, is it? But Scripture said, the Lord
knoweth them that are His. He knows exactly who the sheep
are. All these nations, can you imagine the billions? We're talking billions upon billions
of people, and He knows who His sheep are in all that
mass. He knows his sheep. He knows
every one of them. And he knows every one of them
by name. I'm trying to learn the names
of just the people down in Spring Lake. I'm still trying to. I've been down there for weeks
and I'm trying to learn the names of some of the people. Trying
to remember them. I come home and I've got a sheet
of paper with names on them and I try to place the face and the
names. I do this every week trying to remember. There's billions
and billions and billions and He knoweth them that are His. He knoweth them that are His.
You're not going to get lost in the crowd. No. But there's going to be a
clear distinction made between the righteous and the wicked. Clear distinction, it says over
Malachi 3, 18. Then shall you return and discern between the
righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that
serves him not. Clear distinction gonna be made. And it says here in verse 33
that he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats
on the left. The right hand is often spoken
of as a place of power. It's a place of honor. It's a
place of dignity. Christ sits at where? The right
hand of God. He says here they're gonna be
on his right hand. The righteous are gonna have a place of honor. They're gonna have a place of
glory. You go over in, let's turn over to Hebrews chapter
11. Hebrews chapter 11. In Hebrews chapter 11, look in
verse 36. And others had trial of cruel
mockings, scourgings, yea moreover of bonds and imprisonments. They
were stoned, they were sawed asunder, were tempted, tried,
were slain with the sword. They wondered about in sheepskins
and goatskins, this is our ancestry that I'm reading to you here,
our forefathers. being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. But now, now, now where are they? In glory. In glory. place of honor, place of distinction. But the
goats, he said, the goats represent all that are lost. The goats,
they're on a place of dishonor and a place of contempt. That's
their place. It does not say that the rich
are on the right hand and the poor on the left. It does not
say that the educated are on the right hand and the uneducated
on the left. All distinction is gone. You're
either a sheep or you are a goat. It's one or the other. All distinction's
gone. The Jews said, we be Abraham's
seed. They made much of being Abraham's
seed. No, you're either a sheep or you're a goat. That's who
you are, one or the other. And notice he takes care of the
righteous first. He says, then, in verse 34, then
shall the king say unto them on his right hand, come. That's what he's always saying
to his sheep, isn't it? Come unto me, all ye that labor and
heavy laden. I'll give you rest. He says, come ye blessed of my
father. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Here the judge is
revealed to be none other than the king of glory. And we know
who that is, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who was reproached and
cursed, but now blessed of God. And when he speaks to them on
the right hand, when he speaks to the sheep, he speaks in peace. He speaks in peace and he tells
them that they are blessed. He said, you're blessed of my
father. You're blessed of my father. First thing he does is he gives
all the glory of salvation to his father. He lets them know,
he lets every one of the sheep know, you are blessed of my father. You're my Father. He's the first
cause and a love. He loved you with an everlasting
love. He's the first cause and election, chose us in Christ
before the foundation of the world. He's the first cause and
calling. He's called us by His grace. He's the first cause and purpose.
It's His purpose before the world began to give you a kingdom. to give it to you. And they are
welcomed, listen, they are welcomed into the kingdom. Welcome! Welcome! That's what he does,
he welcomes them. It is your father, it says in
one place, it is your father's good pleasure. And brethren,
when it talks about God's good pleasure, that's on a level you
and I can't even think at. You know, the scripture says
that he delights to show mercy. God delights to show mercy on
such a level that you and I can't even comprehend. God delights to show mercy more,
more than I will ever delight to have it. More, it's on a much
higher level. It is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. give it to you. My, what joy,
what joy will be in the hearts of the saints in that day when
all of this is over. And brethren, it's going to be
over. Do you believe that? Do you honestly believe that God's
going to burn this place up? Do you believe that just what
I've read to you, there's going to be a judgment, one final judgment
yet to come? Do you believe that? What joy, what joy should fill
our hearts to know what's coming? This is what's coming. Right
now we come boldly to the throne of grace, but then we're gonna
come boldly to the throne of God's glory. And we are going
to enjoy his glory forever and ever and ever. That makes these
things look so minute, doesn't it? The things of this life is
just a little while and then our time, our time with the Lord
is forever and ever and ever. And he says here, you're coming
to an inheritance. He says here, inherit the kingdom
prepared for you from the foundation of the world. This kingdom that he's speaking
of was purposed of God before creation. And it was prepared
of God before creation. And it was prepared for you. You, you and mine. You and mine. And if God prepared it, mine
wasn't what it must be. Can you imagine, can you use
your imagination just for a minute and try to imagine the Garden
of Eden? Perfect. In fact, right where we stand,
right here, there was a time that all this was perfect, that
there's no sin in it. And God made the garden of Eden,
and he put Adam in it. And what did Adam bring to the
garden? What did Adam do to the garden? What did he prepare? Nothing. God prepared it all. And he said,
here it is, Adam. Here it is. Here it is. Inherit the kingdom. You do not earn an inheritance,
do you? You don't earn an inheritance.
My boys is not gonna earn an inheritance. They're gonna inherit
it because they're my boys. You're going to inherit a kingdom
because you're the children of God. You're royalty. Do I look like royalty? No, I
don't look like royalty. You don't look like royalty.
But I'm telling you, you're the children of God. That's royalty. and you're gonna inherit a kingdom,
and there's no kingdom that's ever been on this earth like
that kingdom. It's a kingdom of righteousness,
it's a kingdom of grace, it's a kingdom of love, of peace. Have you ever seen a kingdom
like that on this earth? No. Always fighting, bickering, killing. That's the kingdom of men, but
the kingdom of God has for us is a kingdom of righteousness
and peace and love and grace. That's what it is. And he says
it here, it's a prepared kingdom. God's the one who prepared it.
Christ said this in John 14, I go and prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I'm coming again to receive you to myself. And what's going on right now
is that the Holy Spirit is preparing us for the place, that kingdom. He's preparing us for it. But notice here, he gives the
character, he gives the character of the ones that the kingdom
is prepared for. Someone said this, in order to
lay hold of a promise, you must fit the character described in
the promise. For example, come unto me all
you that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. If you are not laboring and heavy
laden under sin, he's not talking to you. He's talking to them
who are heavy laden, burdened. Burdened. So it says here in verse 35 and
36, 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
to me. The one thing I want you to notice
here as I read this, how our Lord is so identified with us,
how he is so one with us, that he says, when I was hungry, you
gave me something to eat. When I was thirsty, and they
said, Lord, when will we ever see you like that? He said, well,
as much as you did it to the least of these by bread, you've
done it to me. You've done it to me. That's how identified
he is with his own. But if you'll notice here, how
the Lord makes mention of their works. of their works. He doesn't mention what they
believed. He doesn't mention what they believed. But how they
lived. How they lived. And the reason
he mentions this is because it's a demonstration of the work of
grace in the heart. Not as their right to the kingdom. Our right to the kingdom is not
because of what I do. But listen, what I do is evidence
of the grace of God in me. It's evidence that God has saved
me. It's evidence that Christ is
in me. It's the evidence of it, is what it is. It's not my right
to it, but the evidence that I'm a child of God. It's a mark
of sonship. It's a mark of sonship. Love
to the brethren is a mark of sonship. It's a mark of sonship. We see here true humility. This
is not put on. This is true humility here. Then
shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, When saw we thee
hungry and fed thee? When did that ever happen? I
don't remember doing that. Do you? Or thirsty and gave thee
drink? When saw we thee a stranger and
took thee in? Here's true humility. Or naked
and clothed thee? When did we ever do this? When
did we ever see you like this and do this? Or when saw we thee
sick or in prison and came to thee? Notice how in his providence
the Lord brings some of his own into trial for the exercise of
grace in others. He might empty me and fill you.
And what a trial that is for both of us. Good works are the product of
salvation, not the cause of it. And when the Lord mentions them,
He hasn't forgotten them. This is why He's bringing up
a judgment. He hasn't forgotten a thing.
And they're like surprised. We never saw that. When did we
ever see you like that? and the king shall answer and
say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you've done
it to one of the least of these my brethren, you've done it to
me. You know how we serve Christ? How we truly serve Christ is
when we truly serve one another. Cain. After he had killed Abel,
God said, where's your brother? And Cain said, am I my brother's
keeper? You know the answer to that is
yes, you are, and I am. We are to prefer one another,
take care of one another, look after one another. And the king said, and this is,
as I said before, this is how closely united the Lord is to
every one of his children. As much as you've done it to
the least of these, my brethren, the least, you've done it to
me. This reveals the humble admiration
which the saints will be filled with to have such things mentioned
at such a time. Be taken notice of. Or when do
we ever see you hungry and feed you? Take care of you. You know, it's so different than
the unrighteous. How different their attitude
is. In Isaiah 58, 3, they said, wherefore have we fasted, and
thou seest not? Lord, isn't that what the Pharisees
said, we fast twice a day? Why haven't we fasted and you
haven't taken notice of it? And here he said, you fed me,
clothed me, and they said, Lord, when did we ever do that? I say this, the Lord Jesus Christ
is among us more than we realize, more than we realize. And then he turns to the wicked.
After he speaks peace to the righteous, after he comforts
them, Tells them to come into the kingdom prepared for them
by the Father. You're blessed of my Father. God's taking care
of you. You haven't had to provide anything.
He's provided all of it. Before the foundation of the
world, He provided all of this. Taking care of us. But then He's
gonna turn to the wicked. Then shall He say to them on
the left hand, depart from me. I can't imagine that because
there's no argument. If God says depart, you're not
gonna say, well, wait a minute. Wait a minute, let's talk about
this. Boy, when he says depart, that's it. That's it. Depart from me, you cursed into
everlasting fire. Prepare, it's prepared also.
God is always prepared. He's taken care of all the, he's
never caught off guard. Hell is also prepared. There's
a kingdom prepared by the Father for all his children. But there's
another place prepared by God for the devil. And he says here,
prepared for the devil and his angels. They are ordered to depart
because they're cursed. Cursed, and this is a real curse.
This is a real curse. It's a law curse. This is a law
curse. It's not some voodoo curse. That's
a joke. But this curse isn't. This curse
is real. Cursed is what they are. They
have a place to go to. Everlasting fire. I can't imagine
that. I was thinking this morning,
hell is full of people right now that have no hope, that have
no hope. That rich man that lifted up
his eyes in hell being in torment, he's still there and he's still
in torment. Cursed. An everlasting fire. A place prepared for the devil
and his angels. You know what that says? Everybody
he sends there is just as bad as they are. Just as bad as they
are. Just as bad as the devil. It's
a place without mercy. It's a place without hope. It's
a place without light, that's why it's called outer darkness. And it's for everyone outside of Christ. Just like
in the days of Noah, the only ones who were saved were in the
ark. Everyone outside that ark perished, everyone. And notice here, they had the
same opportunities. He doesn't say one thing different
to the wicked than he said to the righteous. 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. The grace of God is absent. The love of God, if the love
of God is shed abroad in your heart, in my heart, it's gonna
leak out. It's gonna come out now. You
can't help but be gracious if God's been gracious to you. You
can't help but show mercy if God has shown mercy to you. You
can't help but forgive if God's forgiven you. You can't help it. It's your
nature. It's that new nature. He said, I was naked, you clothed
me not, sick and in prison, and you visited me not. Then shall
they also answer him and say, Lord, when saw we thee hungry
and thirsty, stranger and naked and sick and in prison? Listen,
and did not minister to you. Hear the difference? The righteous
said, Lord, when did we ever see you like this and do anything?
When did we ever see you naked and feed you? And the unrighteous
here said, Lord, when did we ever see this and not do it?
We'd done it every time. Then shall he answer them, saying,
Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the
least of these, you did it not to me. Remember that Samaritan? He was laying down on the road
and that Pharisee went around him. Didn't want to have anything
to do with him. It was evident by their conduct they were graceless. They were graceless. The work of the Spirit was not
in them, even though they professed They professed to be saved. They professed to know God. They
professed to believe. They professed to be the Lord's people. It is written
in the book of Job, they were confounded because they had hoped. They were confounded. What's
he saying? Because they had hope. He says,
depart from me. He said, I thought I was saved.
I did what the preacher said. I accepted Jesus as my personal
savior back 13 years ago. Man told me the other day, man's
been a drunk, been a womanizer all his life, that I've known
him. And he told me, he said, when I die, I know I'm going
to heaven. And the reason he believes that is back about 40
years ago, he was at, I guess, a revival, but he went to the
front, he made a profession, and now he believes in eternal
security. And all these years, this man
has been a drunk, he's been nothing but a womanizer. I know his life. But because of something that
he did, something that happened years back, that's his hope. And he said this, when I die,
I know I'm going to heaven. That's his idea of salvation.
Salvation is God saving me from my sin, that I can be one with
him again. Salvation has everything to do
with me being made one with God, not going to heaven. It's not
a matter of going to heaven and missing hell. I was talking to
a man some years ago, I worked with him, I just heard the gospel,
young man, we both were young. And he was all tore up about
dying and going to hell. And I was talking to him, I said,
which do you fear the most, hell or God? He said, I don't want
to go to hell. He said, I don't want to go to
hell. I said, well, if you find favor with a judge, you don't
have to worry about the prison house. You fear the wrong thing,
son. Our fear, Christ said this, I'll
tell you who to fear. Don't fear them who can kill
the body, but they have no more they can do to it. They can't
kill my soul. But fear him who can cast body and soul into hell. That's who you fear. They were confounded. They were
surprised. You know, in another place, they'll
be saying, when the Lord says, depart from them, they'll say,
Lord, we preached in your name. We cast out devils in your name. We've done many mighty works
in your name. And he's gonna say, he's not
gonna argue with them. He's just gonna say, depart from me. I
never knew you. I never knew you. I don't want to be, I don't want
to be religious, but lost. Like over in Romans chapter 10,
they had a zeal of God, and I know some people that have a zeal of God, but not according to
knowledge, not according to the scriptures. It's not of God. They're religious, but they're
lost without Christ. That's what they're saying here.
Lord, when did we ever see this and not do it? We're good people. That's what the Pharisees thought. We're good people, moral. We
believe God, God, country, and anything else that seems to be
good. And he gives us here the end
in verse 46, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment. You know why it's everlasting? It's everlasting because those
who go away into everlasting punishment cannot, by their own
death, by their own suffering, satisfy God's justice, can't
do it. I don't care how painful it is,
how long it is, there's only one that was able to satisfy
the justice of God and put it to rest, the Lord Jesus Christ. But the righteous, they go into life. You notice
here it says the wicked go into everlasting punishment, it's
never gonna end. But the righteous are going into what? Life eternal. That's the quality of it. That's
not the length of it. It's the life of God. Life eternal
is the life of God. The life of God in the soul. That's the final separation. And that's gonna happen. I assure
you what we just read is go ahead.