Our lesson this morning is in
Matthew chapter 25. The words of these verses are so solemn and so fearful, but also very, very clear, plain. And I want us to take the time
this morning to read through these verses together. Matthew
25, 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
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..."
That's what these verses are all about here in Matthew 25.
It's about the king. the king sitting upon his throne. 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 wasn't hungered, 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, these
are the sheep, these are the blessed of his Father, then shall
the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee a-hungered,
and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee to 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 ye have done
it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me. Then shall he say also to them
on the left hand, Depart from me, Ye curse it into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was a hungred,
and ye gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me
no drink. I was a stranger, and ye took
me not in. Naked, and ye clothed me not.
Sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. Then shall they also
answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee hungred? or a thirst,
or a 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 unto me. And these shall go in a way into
everlasting punishment. but the righteous into life eternal. My subject this morning is the
King unveiled. Unveiled. And I have four things
that I want you to see in these verses, and I pray as we read
and consider these things that God the Holy Spirit will be pleased
to press them upon our hearts. And the first thing I see here
is that in that great and terrible day of the Lord, He shall be
seen as He is. As He is. God's sovereign, omnipotent
King. Now make no mistake about it. Jesus Christ is King. He is King. Regardless of what things look
like around you, things are not the way they look. They're not
the way they look. Things are the way they are.
They're not the way they look. It doesn't appear as if he's
king at all in our day. The majorities in this world
are blinded. The majorities in this world
of the nations are in darkness. You've got to go a ways here
and there to find believers. Believers are not on every street
corner. It doesn't appear. We look around and see degeneracy
of morality in men, we see that they wax worse and worse, just
as the Scripture said they would. It doesn't appear that he's king
of anything down here. Men laugh and mock at his gospel. They mock his means. They disregard his commandments.
It doesn't appear that he's king. But don't you be fooled for a
minute. He sits on the throne of absolute sovereignty. He is
King. He is King. Make no mistake about
it. He was King when God appointed
Him to the throne before the world began. You can read about
it in Psalm chapter 2, he said, why does the heathen rage? Why
do the kings and rulers, why do they vent out their animosity
toward me? Why do they fight against this
thing? I've set my king on my holy hill in Zion. When did he
put him there? When he declared the decree,
this day have I begotten thee. He's king. And He is not just
sovereign, but He was sovereign as the second person of the Godhead.
He always was sovereign, but in this capacity as God's mediatorial
King, that sovereignty reigns for the salvation of His elect.
It was given to Him to mediate the everlasting covenant of grace.
And all things put under His authority, all things done by
His hands, all things accomplished for His honor and glory. In Colossians chapter 1, here's
some verses here if you want to turn over there that might
give you a clearer understanding as to what I'm saying. He tells
us here in verse 13 that believers have been delivered from the
power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of His dear
Son. Now listen as He describes this King. who also is His own
dear Son. Who is the image? See it there? Who is the image of the invisible
God, the firstborn of all creation, or every creature? For by Him
were all things created that are in heaven, that are in earth,
visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were created by Him.
Now watch it, and for Him, and for Him. And He is before all
things, and by Him all things consist. This is the King. And God said to this man, in
spite of the objections of men and angels, of kings and rulers,
of heathens and religionists, I have set my King upon my holy
hill. And what He desires, I'll give
Him. What He asks for, He shall have. And all those incensed
against Him, He'll break with a rod of iron and dash them to
pieces as a potter's vessel." Well, preacher, what can we do?
You can do what the psalmist suggested, what he commanded,
what he told the people to do. Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son. That's all you can do with the
Sovereign. You can't fight Him. You can't resist Him. You can't
change Him. You can't overthrow Him. What's
left to do? Kiss the Son. Kiss the Son lest
He be angry and you perish from the way when His wrath is kindled
but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. Our Redeemer and Savior sits
upon the throne of His glory and He reigns over everything
that is. He tells us over in the book of Romans, for to this
end Christ both died and rose and revived, that He might be
Lord both of the dead and the living. Providence is His to
command. Do you ever think about that? Opportunities are not with you,
they are with Him. There with Him, He can open doors
and He can close doors. He said, I open the door and
no man shut it. And I shut the door and no man
open it. That's providence. That's God's
providence. Providence is His to command
salvation. It's His to dispense. No man
cometh unto the Father but by Me. You can't even know the Father
apart from Him. He is the manifestation of God. Salvation is His to dispense. And judgment is His to officiate. It all belongs to Him. He is
the King. And the gospel cannot be preached
nor a sinner be drawn to hear it without His command. Paul
tells us in Romans chapter 10, he said, How shall you hear without
a preacher? And how shall he preach except
he be sent? In that great day, every nation,
every tribe, every kindred and tongue under heaven shall see
Him sit upon the throne of His glory where He's always sat. The difference is in that day
that every eye will see Him as He is. They're going to see the
King unveiled. We've been telling you about
the King. I've been telling folks about Him for a long time. And
men just do that. Men say, well, that's your opinion,
you know. In that day, be no opinions,
you'll see Him as He is. That's what this verse is telling
us, in that last day. When He comes, He's coming in
all the glory of His Father's house with His holy angels. And
in that day, all nations will be gathered before Him, and they'll
see Him sit upon the throne of His glory. Paul told Timothy
that in his times he shall show who is the blessed and only potentate,
the King of kings and Lord of lords, who only hath immortality,
dwelling in a light which no man can approach unto. That's 1 Timothy 6, 15 and 16. And that day the king of Zion
shall unveil himself sitting upon the throne of his glory.
And in that day, Philippians 2, verses 10 and 11, every knee
is going to bow. They won't bow here. They won't
bow here. They won't bow to His means.
They won't bow to His Word. They won't bow to His preacher.
They won't bow to the work of the Holy Spirit of God. But in
that day, you're going to bow. Every knee is going to bow. Every
knee of things in heaven, things in earth and things under the
earth. Every knee is going to bow. And every tongue shall confess
that Jesus Christ is Lord. That's the issue. He's Lord. And He's Lord to the glory of
God the Father. Those who feared Him not here
will cry for the rocks and the mountains to hide Him from the
face of Him who sits upon the throne of His glory. And then
secondly, I see in this passage, I see this, that Jesus Christ
Himself shall separate His sheep from the goats. The whole of
the human race, white folks, black folks, red folks, and yellow
folks, God made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell
on all the faces of the earth. We like to separate them into
sects, don't we? We like to separate them into
nationalities. We like to get our scale and
put some here and some there and some down here. The whole of the human race is
divided into two groups. Sheep and goats. That's what's
out there. That's what's out there. and
goats. And you'll never begin to have
any understanding of this divine book until God the Holy Spirit
teaches you something about this thing of goats and sheep. None of our earthly distinctions
will prevail in that day. Race and nationality and social
status and mental aptitude or religious affiliation, none of
it is going to amount to a hill of beans. Nothing will matter
in that day except whether you're a sheep or a goat. That's what's
going to matter. And sheep have always been sheep. And goats have always been goats.
He don't take goats and make them sheep. He calls his sheep. Isn't that what he says? I gave
my life for the sheep. He didn't say I gave my life
to make goats sheep. He gave his life for the sheep.
Well, how do sheep get to be sheep? The Father chose them
in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's how they
got to be sheep. Some sheep are saved and some
are lost, but all His sheep are sheep. And all His sheep shall
ultimately be saved. Goats never will. Never will. It says His sheep shall every
one be placed at his right hand, the place of honor and privilege
and fellowship, but the goats on his left hand, that's the
place of contempt and judgment and condemnation. And then thirdly,
the kingdom of the sovereign king of glory shall in that day
be possessed, they will possess that kingdom in its fullness,
in its fullness. And they are those for which
it was prepared, he said, before the foundation of the world. The inheritance of God's elect
has not been left to chance or circumstance. It has never been
turned over to man before or after the fall. Rather, the Bible
says this. Will you listen to the Word of
God? We have obtained an inheritance. I'm talking about a man being
saved, isn't it? I'm talking about a man being
called of God, given an understanding, called out of darkness into His
life, given life. We have obtained an inheritance
being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will. Or, in order that, we should
be to the praise of His glory, God's glory, who first trusted
in Christ. Salvation is of the Lord, and
salvation is the gift of God. And it's all together according
to His mercy and His grace. It is particular, it is effectual,
and it is eternal. Were it not for God's eternal
purpose of grace, He would have destroyed this world in Adam
when sin entered the world. He would have destroyed it. Why
didn't He? God is holy. God is not going to tolerate
sin. Every sin will receive a just recompensive reward. Why didn't
He destroy Adam? Because God had a purpose of
grace. That's why. God had a purpose
of grace. Kingdom of God is a kingdom,
he said, prepared for God's sheep before the foundation of the
world, prepared against the fall and condemnation of man in the
garden, prepared against the reign of sin in the hearts of
sinners, prepared against the nature, will, and rebellion of
fallen man, prepared against the deception and lying wonders
of antichrist religion. prepared to satisfy a holy God
and meet His perfect standards, prepared against the death of
these bodies and the eternal judgment of God. This kingdom
is a kingdom prepared, and it was prepared before the world
was. Not one sheep. He said, I give
unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. neither shall
any man pluck them out of my hand." And then fourthly, I know
this by this passage that I read to you, that all unregenerate
men and women, all those who refuse to receive his Christ
as God has set him forth, all those who love darkness rather
than light, all those who found satisfaction in religion and
would not receive the love of the truth that they might be
saved, shall be cast into everlasting fire." Isn't that what that says?
Prepared for the devil and his angels. That word is ministers. There are four solemn truths
concerning the final judgment at the coming of Christ. And
the first is this, that Jesus Christ Himself shall judge both
men and angels from His sovereign throne of glory. Do you know
what he's talking about when he talks about his throne of
glory? He's talking about the perfections
of God's glory. That's what he's talking about.
When his judgments from that throne are going to be perfectly
in line with the absolute, spotless, perfect justice of God. He will
not compromise that. He will not change that. He is
not going to lessen that. The mercy of God does not compromise
the justice of God. The mercy of God satisfies the
justice of God. That is what the gospel is all
about. How God can be just and justify guilty sinners. How can
that be? We know it is so because God
is perfect. God is God. He tells us that. Jesus Christ Himself shall judge
men and angels. In Acts 17, verse 31, it says,
God hath appointed a day in the which He will judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained. Judged
by Him who has both the power and the authority to destroy
both soul and body in hell. And he said, fear not man. Isn't
that what our Lord taught? Fear not man that can destroy
the body. Fear God who can destroy both
soul and body in hell. Fear Him. And then secondly,
I know this about that judgment. All shall appear before Him.
Nobody is going to escape that judgment. every generation from
Adam to the last baby brought into this world. John said, I
saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. You know, I
think folks would listen if they believed that. There's coming
a day when you're going to stand before God. You're not going
to stand before me. You're not going to stand before
members of this church. You're not going to stand before
some preacher on the radio. You're going to stand before
God. That ought to have a solemn impact
on our soul. It ought to change the way we
hear. Of his own will, he said, begat
he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first
fruits of his creature. Therefore, he said, be careful
how you hear. Be careful how you hear. John said, I saw the
dead. The sea gave up the dead. which
were in it. And death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man
according to their works. You might walk away from the
church, and you might walk away from the preacher, and you might
suppress your conscience until it becomes seared as with a hot
iron. But I tell you, in that day,
you're not going to escape. You're going to look Him in the
face, and you're going to hear Him. You are going to bow to
Him and you are going to receive those things which He gives you
from that throne of glory. And then thirdly, I know that
this judgment shall be totally righteous, just, and equitable. Our Lord in that day of judgment
will justify the faith of His elect. Now if you want to know
what that means, you read the book of James. That is not talking
about our justification before God. That is talking about our
faith being justified by our works. And so when our Lord talked
about this day of righteous, equitable judgment, here is how
He did it. He said, I was hungry and you
fed me. What has that got to do with
anything? That justifies the faith of God's
elect. They love one another. They love
one another. They care for one another. They love and care for the souls
of men. Not just for those who gather
with them in the church, but for, he said, the heathen does
that. I was in prison and you visited
me. I was sick and you came to see
me, ministered to me. No man saved or lost will dispute
this judgment. His evidence and His words shall
be as clear as the air after the rain. And then, fourthly,
I know by the Word of God that what takes place at this judgment
shall be forever. It will be forever. His sheep,
the righteous, He said, shall enter into life eternal. And the accursed of God into
everlasting punishment. The eternal misery of hell goes
past anything you can imagine. I'm not even going to attempt.
I'll just use the words that the Bible uses to describe it.
Eternal wrath. Wrath. You know, we've got some
examples in the Scriptures of the wrath of God. He grounded
a whole world and saved eight souls. That's the wrath of God. The wrath of God came down in
fine brimstone on Sodom and there was nothing left but smoke and
ashes. Eternal wrath. Everlasting fire. Undying torment. Where the worm
dieth not, he says. He calls it the second death
and he calls it everlasting hell. Imagine a place where all restraint
is gone. One of these days, you children,
you're going to think about the love of your mother. Do you know
that that's part of God's restraint in this world? A mother's love? A father's compassion? All those
things that we think on here and we think on with compassion,
in this place, they're going to be gone. All restraint is
gone. All goodness gone. All mercy is gone. All light
is gone. All love is gone. All hope is gone. And there's no prospect of these
things anymore. That's hell. That's hell. everlasting separation from God. May God in His sovereign mercy
intervene in our lives before it's too late. That's what this
day is all about. That's what this day coming is
all about. And you can escape things here, but you're not going
to escape them there. You're not going to escape them
there. And so I tell you, you better take the words of this
book seriously. You better take them seriously.
And you better give preaching a hearing. Give it a hearing. Don't pull the shoulder. He said
that's what Israel did. Pulled the shoulder. They didn't
want to be talked to. That's what Cain did. Picked
up a rock, killed his brother. He didn't want to hear it. There's coming a day when you'll
hear. But it'll be a day too late. Thank you.