It's good to be with you, good
to be with God's children, God's family, and to be able to worship
God together in spirit and in truth. I thank God for that song. It sounded like something Job
would have written. When I was listening to the words
of it, I thought of Job. I thought it sounded like something
he would have written. Turn to Matthew chapter 25. Our
Lord is going to tell us here, starting in verse 31, He's going to tell us here in
these verses, Matthew 25, 31, starting there,
that He's coming again. Now I want you to notice, this
is before He dies. How certain is that? Before He
ever goes to the cross, before He is put to death, He's telling
them, the Son of Man is coming again. I'm coming again. This
is how sure, I won't say He was, this is how sure our Lord is
about everything. And when He comes, it's going
to be with great glory and power. And when He comes, it's going
to be with all the holy angels. saying to Mike on the way down
here, all the holy angels, how many
do you reckon that is? I never really gave that a thought
before. I would say it's innumerable.
Innumerable. And every one of them, every
last one of them is going to be following Him, doing His bidding. serving Him, however many that
is. All the holy angels are going
to be with Him. And He's telling us that He's going to come. He's going to make a final separation
between the sheep and the goats, or the saved and the lost. There are only two types of people
In this world, only two. Those whom the Lord has saved
and those that are lost. It's the only two types of people
in this world. Saved and lost. There is no one
on neutral ground. Before I heard the gospel, I was under Arminianism, and
I had the idea that God wanted to save me. Satan was trying
to dab me. He was trying to keep me. And
somewhere along the way, I had to make a decision. No. I was
born lost. You were born lost. There's no
neutral ground here. We were born lost. If God does
not save us, we're ever going to be on the wrong side. Trouble. Trouble. No neutral ground at
all. And I want us to give great attention
to this message tonight. It's sobering. This portion of
Scripture is so sobering. Let me read it first. Starting
in verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory. Not if, but it's when. When He
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 divideth 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 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
shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch
As you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
you have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them
on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire. Prepare for the devil and his
angels. For I was a 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 a hungry, or
a thirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or imprisoned, and did
not minister unto thee? They're trying to justify themselves.
And did not do these things. We've always done these things.
But you notice the righteous didn't do this. They were just,
when did we ever do this? These 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."
Now, the first thing he does here is that he speaks of himself
as the Son of Man. We have here a person revealed.
And that name, Son of Man, is His name of humiliation. He's
identifying Himself with that name of humiliation. That's also
a name of identification with us. Bone of our bone, flesh of
our flesh. 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 throne of judgment, the judge
of all the earth, the judge of the quick and the dead is none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ, that despised Nazarene, that
one who was rejected and despised of men. This is the one whom
the Jew said, we will not have this man to reign over us. That is the man that's going
to sit on the throne And He's going to judge everyone, every
nation. He said all the nations are going
to be gathered before Him, all of them. No one's going to escape.
The sea's going to give up its dead. The graves are going to
give up the dead. Every one of them are going to
stand before Jesus Christ that despised Nazarene. And He's the
judge. He's the judge. They said, we
will not have this man reign over us. But God made him to reign over
us. God made him to reign over all. This is the one whom God
the Father has exalted at His right hand to be a Prince and
a Savior. Seated right now, at the right
hand of God, is a man. A God-man, but a man. There's
a man seated in glory, and all judgment and all authority is
committed unto Him. I'm glad that it's so. I'm glad
that it's so because this, this world, this Son of Man, and He
identifies Himself as the King, on down in the verses here, then
He identifies Himself as the Lord, is our Savior, our Redeemer. Our God. He has absolute control
and sovereign domain over everything and everyone. All the angels,
the elect angels and the fallen ones are all under His power
and under His control. This thing's not out of control.
I know you and I, we look at the world and it looks sometimes,
it looks immense, doesn't it? It's not. It's under the power
of our Lord, and it's going according to His purpose. I mean right
down to the gnat flying in the air. It's going according to
His purpose. And He says here, He's going
to come in all His glory, all His majesty. We can't even begin
to imagine, and I sure cannot begin to put it into words, The
glory and the majesty and the splendor that's going to be revealed
when we see Jesus Christ. When we look into His face. The
first time He came, it was barely noticed. A few shepherds, the
angels announced it to a few shepherds and some wise men,
but it was barely noticed. But this time, When He comes
this time, this last time, it's going to be in great glory and
power. Power. They're not going to see
this mutilated flesh. They're not going to see this
man who was despised. He's not going to look like that.
He's going to come as the King. The King of glory. Who is this
King of glory, it says in the Psalm? It's the Lord. Who's the Lord? Jesus Christ.
That's who He is. And He's going to take His throne
of judgment. Now people can ignore Him. They
can make fun of Him. They can say whatever they want.
But one day, one day, every knee is going to bow and every tongue
is going to confess to the glory of God the Father that this man,
Jesus Christ, is Lord. He's Lord. He's the Sovereign
Potente. He's the Ruler. And all judgment
will be in His hands. Be in His hands. The administration of the judgment
of the great day is committed to the Son of Man. Turn over
to John chapter 5. John chapter 5. Look at verse 25. 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 to execute judgment also, because
he is the Son of Man. Marvel not at this, for the hour
is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his
voice, and shall come forth, they that have done good unto
the resurrection of life, they that have done evil unto the
resurrection of damnation. Notice in verse 30, I can of
my own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment,
my judgment is just. His judgment in this day of every
person that's ever walked on this earth is going to be just,
right down to the jot and tittle. It'll be just. And the administration
of judgment is committed to Him. It's committed to Him. For by
him God will judge the world, and to him all judgments committed.
Listen to this in Acts 17.31. Because he hath appointed a day,
God hath appointed a day, in which he will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men that he raised him from
the dead. He's the Judge. Our Savior. You believe on Christ? You believe
Him, our Savior? If you do, He's your Savior.
Our Savior, the Savior of the church, is the Judge. Our Redeemer
is the Judge. The Lamb of God is the Judge.
It's all committed to Him. And all must appear before Him.
Look at verse 32. And before him shall be gathered
all nations, all nations, all people, all tribes, all languages. It doesn't matter what religion
nations hold. I don't care if it's Islamic
or Buddhism. It doesn't matter. Every one
of them, when it's finally over, is going to be called to judgment
in front of him. in front of Him. All nations,
He said here, gather all nations and He shall separate them one
from another. He's not going to separate this
nation from this nation. What He's saying here, He's going
to separate every nation all together, individually, one by
one. No one escapes. No one escapes. Those that dwell together here
on this earth, we all live together. The saved and the lost all live
together, don't we? It says God's sun shines on the
just and the unjust. It rains on the just and the
unjust. Because we all live here on the
same earth. We live in the same communities. But one day, You
believe this? You believe this? You believe
there's a judgment coming? You believe God's going to destroy
this earth that we walk on? You believe that there's coming
a day that when everyone will be called into judgment? Now,
the believer's judgment's already passed. We were judged at Calvary. But He's going to take and He's
going to judge everyone. And those that dwell together
here shall be separated there. The Scripture says, He knoweth
them that are His. You know, we are not to separate
the sheep and the goats and the tares and the wheat, because
you and I will mess it up. We'll shoot the wrong one. I
guarantee you, we'll shoot the wrong one. We will shoot a just
lot. You know what Scripture calls?
Just lot. Read the Scriptures. There's not one good thing that
can be said about that man. That man left Abraham, left worship,
went down into Sodom and stayed down there with his family. And
when he told his family that God was going to destroy that
place, they laughed at him as one that mocked. His whole testimony
was destroyed. But when Peter speaks of him,
you know what he calls him? Just life. That righteous man. That righteous man. Oh, we'd shoot a just life is
what we'd do. But He won't make that mistake.
He'll not make that mistake. He knoweth them that are His. There'll be a clear distinction
made between the righteous and the wicked then. Here it's not
that easy to tell sometimes. It's not that easy to tell. But
in that day it'll be made very clear. Listen to this scripture
in 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. There'll be a day when that distinction
is very, very clear. And without this separation,
heaven, paradise, wouldn't be any better than this place. Without
that separation. And he shall set the sheep on
his right hand, verse 33, but the goats on the left. The sheep shall have the place
of honor and glory. Now, in this life, they're persecuted. If you stand for the gospel now,
you're going to be persecuted. If you stand to tell the truth,
you stand for the gospel, you're not going to be popular. There's
no way you're going to be popular. Not if you stand for it. But in that day, You're going
to be given a place of honor and glory, while the goats have
the place of dishonor and contempt. I want you to notice here, it
does not say that the rich will be on his right hand and the
poor on his left. It doesn't say the educated will
be on his right hand and the uneducated on the left. I want you to notice this. All
distinction is gone. It's either sheep or goat. You're either a sheep or you're
a goat. It's not you're rich or you're
poor or you're this or that. It's you're either a sheep, redeemed
by the blood of Christ, or you're a goat. A vessel of wrath, fitted
to destruction. It's one or the other. Now, the righteous are going
to be taken care of first. I want you to notice here. Verse
34. Then shall the king... I wrote above this. Then shall king Jesus. Then shall
king Jesus. That's what Pilate wrote that
over. This is the king of the Jews. They said, don't you write
that. You write that he said that. Put over his head that he said
that. Now God put that over there,
the King of the Jews. Then shall the King, you see
He goes from Son of Man, He identifies Himself as the Son of Man, He
identifies Himself with us, now He's identified Himself as the
King. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand,
Come! You that believe the gospel. The curtain is pulled back here.
We need to realize it. Right now He's pulling the curtain
back and we are getting to look into the future of how this is
going to happen. And He's going to say, Come ye
blessed of my Father. This is what the believer is
going to hear. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. You and I have nothing to do
with preparing this kingdom. He prepared it. John 14, Christ
said, I go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare
a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself,
that where I am, there you may be also. Oh, He says here, Then shall
the King, the King of glory, the Judge, the Judge of all the
earth, then shall He say, Come ye blessed of My Father. He said to Peter, He said to
His disciples, He said, Whom do men say that I am? Peter said,
Thou art to Christ, the Son of the Living God. He said, Blessed
art thou, Barjona. Flesh and blood didn't reveal
this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. Do you believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ? I mean, do you really, with all
your heart, believe on Christ? Blessed. Blessed, aren't you? Blessed. He said, my Father revealed that
to you. You are the work of God. if you believe your work of God. Here, the judge is revealed to
be none other than the King of Glory, reproached and cursed
by the world, but blessed of God. Oh, he said, blessed of
my Father. And when he speaks to them on
his right hand, they need not fear. They need not fear. For He speaks to them in peace. There is no fire and thunder
and lightning, but peace. Peace. He's going to say to sheep, who were at one time by nature,
as it says in Ephesians 2, children of wrath, even as others. And He's going to say to them,
Come on in. Come on in. He's going to speak peace to
them and tells them that they are blessed of His Father. The
King here gives all the glory of salvation to His Father. He's the first cause. He's the
first cause in love. He's the first cause in election.
He's the first cause in calling. He's the first cause in purpose.
All the glory belongs to Him. All of it. And they are welcomed
into the kingdom. Welcomed into the kingdom. Here,
His people bear a cross. Christ said, take up your cross
and follow Me. But there, they wear the crown. Oh my. What we had to look forward
to. What the believer had to look
forward to. What joy. But joy ought to fill
the hearts of the saints in that day. Joy unspeakable, full of
glory. We can now come boldly to the
throne of grace, but then we can come boldly to the throne
of judgment. Because we have nothing to fear.
Judgment was passed on our substitute. He took my health. He took my
wrath. He took my torment. That rich
man lifted up his eyes and the hell beat him and tore him in. He took that away. He took that away. And we can
come boldly, boldly in that day, knowing that we have peace with
God through that man, Jesus Christ. Boldly. And he says, here we have an
inheritance. He says, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. The kingdom, this kingdom, it
was purposed by God before the world began. This was not thrown
together after Adam fell. This had all been settled long
before creation. It was all settled. It was purposed and it was prepared. When God created Adam and He put him in the garden, did Adam add anything to the
garden? Did he have to do one thing to
make it complete? Before God created Adam, He created
the garden of Eden. And then He made Adam. And then
He put Adam in the garden. And Adam had that beautiful garden.
It was all prepared. All prepared. And God has purposed
and prepared a kingdom for every one of His children. It's a kingdom
of grace. It's a kingdom of righteousness.
It's a kingdom, listen, it's a kingdom of love. Not a hateful
word will ever be spoken in that kingdom. Not a tear will be shed. There'll be no pain in that kingdom.
There'll be no sin in that kingdom. It's a kingdom of righteousness.
Can you imagine that? Can you imagine not locking the
door? Can you imagine not hearing,
not one time hearing bad news? I normally don't watch the news
because I'm sick of bad news. I usually turn it on for the
weather and I turn it off. They give it to you bad because
it gets the ratings up. But there'll come a day that
there'll be no bad news. There'll be no aches. There'll
be no pain. Nothing sinful will enter into
that kingdom. The kingdom of righteousness. And that's the kingdom we're
going to inherit. And it's a kingdom prepared, listen, by God. If I prepared it, it would be
just as much a mess as this is. But God prepared this kingdom. It's a kingdom prepared by God.
Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the joy of that?
And the glory of that? No, we can't. Not with these
minds. Not with these minds. It's a
kingdom prepared. The happiness has to be great.
It's a product of wise... Now listen, it's a product of
wise counsel. Can you imagine that? The Father designed it for His people. Designed by God. You take this world, even with
all the sin that's in it, it's beautiful, isn't it? Imagine what it is you take sin
out of. Reminds me of an old song, where never is heard a
discouraging word. I don't remember the rest of
it, but I remember that. It's not a gospel song, it's a country
song or something. But anyway, it's a kingdom prepared
by God. And it's a kingdom where our
forerunner has already entered. He's already there. He's already
there. In the Spirit of God. The Spirit
of God calls us, regenerates us, and is preparing us for that
kingdom. The song you sang, the troubles
and the heartaches that we go through, that God sends our way,
He is preparing us for that kingdom. He knows what He's doing. Now
He reveals a character here. In verse 35 through 36. For I
was hungry, you gave me meat. I was thirsty. This is the character
of those who will inherit the kingdom. I was hungry and 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. This people Saved by the grace of God are
a gracious people. They're a kind people. They're
a loving people. They really are. If grace is
in you, it's going to come out. If the love of God is shared
abroad in your heart, it's going to come out. It's going to come
out. If it's there, it's going to
come out. But you notice here, you notice here, We mentioned
their character. He doesn't mention what they
believed. He doesn't mention that. He mentions how they lived. That's what he mentions. I was hungry and you fed me. There's a spiritual application
here. Are you hungry tonight? Blessed are those who hunger
and thirst after righteousness. Does not your pastor feed you
week after week after week? I remember before I heard the
gospel, I sat under a ministry that did not feed me Christ. He mentioned as made of their
obedience. As someone said, not as a right
to the kingdom, but as their evidence of their interest in
Jesus Christ. It's an evidence. They denied
themselves. That's what our Lord said, Matthew 16. If you deny yourself, you cannot
be my disciple. They love the brethren. And they believed on the Lord
Jesus Christ. They had faith in Christ. And here's their humility. Their humility shines here. Verse
37-39, Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord... See, now he reveals himself as
Lord. The Son of Man, the King, and now he's here Lord. Whence
are we thee hungry and fed thee? Or thirsty? and gave you something
to drink. When we ever see you as a stranger,
when saw we thee as a stranger and took thee in? Or naked and
clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick or in
prison and came to thee? You know, I want you to notice
something here. I want you to notice how in his
providence the Lord brings some of his own into trial to exercise
the grace in others. He might empty me, and that would
be a trial. But he might fill you. You may
be filled, and that's a trial. I had a man tell me one time,
a man that I knew that was a wealthy man, and he was a believer, and
he told me, he said, John, you don't know the responsibility
that comes with having money. We think we'd like to have it,
but a great responsibility comes with it. Great responsibility. You got the rich man. And you got Lazarus. You got
Lazarus laying at his gate. I think I'd rather be, knowing
what I know now, by God's grace, I would rather be the one hungry
than the one with all the food and no heart to give it. Knowing what I know now, by grace. And they said, Lord, when will
we ever see you hungry, thirsty, naked? And he 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 one of the least of these my brethren, you
have done it to me. This shows the oneness, the oneness that
Christ has with every one of His children. As much as you've done it unto
one of the least. That one that nobody notices.
That one that sits in the back, nobody knows, he's just quiet,
comes and goes, or she's quiet, comes and goes. As much as you've
done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have
done it unto me. That is the oneness, the union
of Jesus Christ with his children. If you do it to them, you do
it to Him. That's what He said to Paul.
Paul, Paul, or Saul, Saul at that time. Saul, Saul, why persecutest
thou me? He was going about persecuting
the church and that's His body. And that's very real. That's
very real. And notice their humility. They
said, Lord, when did we see you hungry? When did we see you thirsty
and all this? And He said, remember that one
that was thirsty, that one that was hungry? You did that to me. You did that
to me. How different the attitude of
those in Isaiah 58.3 who said, Wherefore have we fasted, and
thou seest not? Why are we fasting, Lord, and
you haven't taken notice of it?" They said, Lord, we don't recall
this. We don't recall this. Now he turns to the wicked. Now
he turns to them. Then shall he say, in verse 41,
and I'll wind this down, Then shall he say also unto them on
the left hand, Depart from me, brethren, there can be nothing
worse said or to be heard than this. Because there's no change. You can't say, well, wait a minute.
Well, hold on. There's no argument. There's
no going back. There's no trying to do something
to make it better. When he says depart, it is depart. It's final. It's final. Depart from me, you
cursed. into everlasting fire, prepared
for the devil and his angels. They are ordered to depart, cursed. He gives them a place to go to,
and it is a prepared place also. It's a prepared place. They are given a place to go
to that's called everlasting fire. Judgment's real. Hell is real. Eternity is real. It's a prepared place. He says
here it was prepared for the devil and his angels. You say
that has to be a terrible place. Well, those who are cast there
have to be just as bad to have to be that place. Go to that
place. It is a place, I know this, it's
a place without mercy. And it is a place without hope. You know, the angels that fell,
they were not given a Savior. There is no hope. There is no
hope. That's why I said this is a very
sobering message. And it's without light. That's
why it's called outer darkness. There's no end to it. They had the same opportunities.
And they revealed who and what they are. Who they were and what
they are. In verse 42 and 45, For I was
hungry, and you gave me no meat. That rich man did not go out
there and offer Lazarus anything to eat. The dogs licked his sores. I was thirsty. I was thirsty. Not only did you not give me
anything to drink, you gave me nothing from the pulpit. The
message was empty. Christ was not in the message.
Christ is our bread. Christ is our drink. And when the people gathered,
you gave them slop. That's what you gave them. You
gave them slot. You did not feed them the bread
from heaven. You left them hungry. I was a stranger and you ran
me off. I remember this very well. When
I heard the gospel, when I heard the gospel, I was so excited
about it. I was so excited about it. I
thought the place where I was going would be excited about
it. And when I told them about it, I told that pastor about
it, he wanted me to leave. He wanted me to leave. First thing, he stood in the
pulpit and said, well, we've got a Calvinist now in our midst. And he wanted me to leave. I
was a stranger and you didn't take me in, you ran me off. I
was naked. And you didn't clothe me. No,
you left me in my rags. You left me in my rags. When Don stands here and he preaches
to you the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is your
clothing. That is the sheep's clothing.
The righteousness of Jesus Christ. But he says here, you didn't
clothe them. Naked. You clothed me not. Sick. Sick of sin. Sin sick. And you didn't give me the balm
of Gilead. No, you just gave me a profession.
Told me to come up here to the mourner's bench and accept Jesus
as my personal Savior. And you let me go home just as
lost as I came. Made me two-fold the child of
hell. In prison! In prison. Have you ever been
in prison by your sins? Have you ever been in prison
by them? Have you ever been in prison
by the lust of your flesh? Have you ever been in prison
by them? The Catholic gives you a few
Hail Marys to say, and Hail Mary full of grace, and da-da-da,
this, that, and then you go on your way. No, you left me in prison. You
did not set the captive free by preaching the gospel to him. And you didn't visit me, he says.
These shall they also answer and say, Lord, when saw we thee
hungry and thirsty and a stranger and naked and sick in prison?
And notice their arrogance. Notice the arrogance here and
the hypocrisy. Notice how the self-righteousness
just jumps out of here. And did not minister to thee. The sheep didn't say that. They
just said, Lord, when did we ever see you like this? And when
did we ever? When did we ever clothe you? But they said, when did we ever
see this and didn't do it? 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." I sat under a ministry
for a while before I heard the gospel. Guilty of this. Did not feed me Christ, His righteousness,
His person, His atonement. It was evident by their conduct
that they were graceless and Christless. And these, he says, shall go
away into everlasting punishment. There's no end to it. No end. But the righteous. Here's the
good news. Oh, here's the good news. The
righteous. All of them that believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, that look to Him, He is their righteousness. But to the righteous, but the
righteous into life eternal. What a day that'll be. What a
day. All right.