And I'll pick up reading in verse
31. 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
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. then in verse 41, 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. Many of you are somewhat familiar
with this portion of scripture but I felt the Lord would have
us read this, talk about it this morning. In centuries past faithful
men of God have preached what I believe to be the true teaching
of Scripture, that Christ our Redeemer came into the world
once to live and die, pay for the sins of His people, rise
again, ascend back into the glory that He had with the Father before
the world was, and also that He is coming Once again, as is
stated here in verse 31, when the Son of Man shall come in
His glory, He's coming once again to separate completely and eternally
His people from all other people. The language of the text here
is clear about that. Verse 33, he shall set the sheep
on his right hand, but the goats on the left. In recent generations, however,
much confusion has been created. Many people have been deceived
and misled. Millions of dollars have been
made on a religious theory, an eschological theory, end-time
theory called dispensationalism, including
a theory called the rapture, the belief that the Lord Jesus
is going to come partway back to the earth and snatch his people
up to be with him and let this wicked world continue on. And that would mark the beginning
of another theory, a seven-year period they refer to as Tribulation
Period. But according to the New Testament,
and specifically the words of our Lord for His people, This very life,
this very world we're in right now and all the time that goes against the grain with
the people of God is a tribulation. It is tribulation. Tribulation
is not spoken of in Scripture as a specific seven-year period
of time with a capital T, the tribulation period. Oh, no. Oh, no. In the world you shall have tribulation. That's the words of scripture.
Then with other theories comes the great battle of Armageddon
and then a thousand year millennial reign. All these things are theories. Now granted the Bible speaks
of all these subjects except the word rapture, it don't say
that. And we've preached messages on these subjects through the
years, especially on Wednesday nights. We've looked at them
lots of times. And we need to do it again. The coming of the
Lord. What is tribulation? What about
Armageddon? What about millennial reign? But there is no span of
time involved. with the scriptural understanding
of these things. The Lord is coming once more. And in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, all these things shall have occurred. The redeemed shall be immediately
and forever in the immediate blissful presence
of our Redeemer. And all others will be cast into
the lake of fire, alienated from Him forever. Lord Jesus came
once to suffer and die. He's coming once more to separate
His own called sheep from the rest of humanity called goats. Now this one time future coming
of the Lord, it could be today. It could be any day. It's at His discretion. It's
in His power. It's at His determination. It's not ours. I urge you, pay no attention
to these false prophets who so dogmatically tell us about all
the steps and the progression what the next step is toward
end-time prophecy. They're obsessed with it. They
watch the news like a hawk, and they talk more about the newspaper
than they do the Word of God. And some of them, every time
a flea jumps from one dog to another in the Middle East, that
has some prophetic significance, to hear them tell it. I don't
believe all that garbage. I've been exposed to them, I've
been listening to them for a long, long time. And I've been listening
long enough to see some of them change their story several times
through the years. But verse 31 here speaks of a
one-time return of our Lord. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory. This is the only time He's coming.
This is the only way He's coming. When the Son of Man shall come
in His glory. He's not coming in shame. He's
coming in glory. He's not coming in secrecy, as
some say. Revelation 1-7, every eye shall
see Him. reading this morning, Brother
Andrew did read there in Thessalonians, that he would come as a thief
in the night. But the reference of that is
not to secrecy, but to suddenness, suddenly, unexpected coming. He's not coming in shame, he's
not coming in secrecy, and he's not coming in silence. Verse
34 here said, shall the king say. He's coming in all his sovereignty
to end world history when he comes. Time shall be no more.
Eternity dawns with his coming. 1 Corinthians 15, 23 and 24, But
every man in his order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward they
that are Christ, at his coming, a single coming. Then cometh the end, not later,
but then, at his coming. Then cometh the end, when he
shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when
he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power,
such it shall be at his coming." He's not coming back numerous
times in a series of events, spanning periods of time, giving
people another chance, as some will talk about. No, no. He's
not making repeated efforts time after time after time to try
to get this world's attention. No, no. His coming. The world is over. 1 Thessalonians
2.19, For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are
not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His
coming? A single coming. 1 John 2.28,
And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear,
we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him, at His
coming, a single coming. Now this passage here in Matthew
25 teaches us that when He comes, verse 32 says, before Him shall
be gathered all nations, all nations. And so there's several
things we want to look at here. He does not mention a rapture
when he takes his church out of the world and allows this
world to continue on in wickedness and in rebellion against him
as we know it today. He does not mention any seven-year
period of time men call the tribulation period. Christ taught rather, and we
already said this, that life in general for His children is
a life of tribulation. In the world you shall have tribulation,
trouble, trials, heartaches. So He does not mention a seven-year
period of history after the church is gone, and then He'll come
back a third time in judgment. No, no, no. Neither does He mention
any thousand-year period in which He'll reign that is literally
measured off as a thousand years as we know it. But the Scripture
rather teaches that He shall reign forever and ever. You see, the number thousand,
one thousand, the word thousand throughout Scripture represents
totality. It's a symbolic figure. He owns
the cattle on a thousand hills, the Scripture says. Well now,
if that's literal, you might ask, what about hill number a
thousand and one? Don't he own them? Who owns them?
He owns them too. A thousand is put for totality. Also in the book of Deuteronomy,
chapter 7, I believe it is, God is faithful to a thousand generations. Well, man has only been here
6,000 years. Surely a generation is more than
six years. No, it means that God is faithful
to all generations. A thousand is symbolic of totality. All there is. So Christ is not
coming to reign a thousand years, literally. He is coming to reign
forever and ever. So with that said, there's only
two comings. He came the first time to die
in shame. He's coming again in His glory,
it says here, to end history as we know it, and eternity begins. I'm especially drawn this morning
to verse 34 in this passage we've read. Verse 34 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. There is a kingdom prepared,
a kingdom of perfect righteousness and glory for the Lord's people. I think back over the years of
my life, and the older I get, the more I think of this. Of
all the precious people I've known who love the Lord, I wake
up in the night and I think about it and I count. And I can't count
them all, but I count those I knew as a lad, those I knew in church
growing up, those I knew in the community. I go out this road
and out that road and in those days you knew for miles who lived
where, every house along each road. And I'd count how many
of them I knew that I felt like loved the Lord, and they're gone.
They're gone. And then I'd think about those
in churches, and I'd think about those I've worked with, and all
these who are already gone and have joined that great company.
Hebrews 11 says that these were men and women of faith of whom
this world was not worthy. I know initially that's the reference
to the list in Hebrews 11, but I have known many people, and
you have known many people, of whom this world is not worthy.
Don't feel sorry for this God-hating world. The only interest God has in
it is that some of His children are here. Now that don't sit
well with a lot of folks, but I want to tell you when he comes
at this separation, he's going to destroy all but his children. He's not going to damn anyone
apologetically and say, I had hoped to be able to get your
attention and change your mind and change your heart. Oh no,
not at all. He is not going to damn anyone
apologetically. This kingdom we've read about,
prepared for God's children, verse 34 said, is prepared from
the foundation of the world. That is, in the mind of God,
from eternity past, He knew exactly what He would do. And all He
would do, to secure the everlasting salvation of His people, whom
He chose in Christ before the foundation of the world. Acts
chapter 15 and verse 18 says this, Known unto God are all
His works from the beginning of the world. That's a good verse
to get in your mind. That's a good verse to quote
from memory. That's a good verse for you children.
You teachers get a hold of this. Acts 15, 18. I'd love for every
child here to know this verse. Quote it. Often known unto God
are all his works from the beginning of the world. What is that saying? I'll tell you what it's saying.
It's saying He hadn't decided on anything since. He's not on a day-by-day, plan-as-you-go,
like we are. No. Known unto God are all His
works from the beginning of the world. He purposed it. He perfected
it. He decreed it. Ordained it. committed
himself to it before he ever hung out the stars. But in time,
he actually accomplished it by coming into this world in the
person of his only begotten son, laying down his life. Now notice
in this passage that we've read this morning, Three titles are
given to the Lord, and these come from His own lips. In verse
31, He's the Son of Man. In verse 32, He's the Shepherd. And in verse 34, He's the King. And the order of those titles
tells us the message of redemption. the message of Christ in his
gospel. First, he's the Son of Man. He's the Son of Man. It has always
seemed strange to me that since Jesus Christ had no earthly father,
that he should be called the Son of Man. But that's a reference
to his condescension, his humiliation, His identification with such
as we are, with flesh, becoming flesh, being God, deity from
all eternity. He became the Son of Man without
ceasing to be the Son of God. How blessed to know that our
Redeemer, And our Lord, who we come this morning to worship
and whom our hope is in, He is one who has felt in His own flesh
everything of sorrow, pain, heartache, rejection, everything we've felt,
He's felt. Everything we ever will feel,
He's felt bodily and actually came and lived through it. Hebrews says, we have not an
high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities.
Of course, the references to those Old Testament high priests
who to some of them it just became a ritual, it just became a job,
and they weren't really touched with people's feelings and heartaches.
But oh, our great High Priest is touched. He's been here. He's felt it. He's the Son of
Man. Then secondly, He's the Shepherd,
verse 32. In the role of Shepherd, He gives
His life, lays down His life for the sheep. That is, His eternally
loved flock. John 10 and 11, the good shepherd
giveth his life for the sheep. The Lord Jesus Christ was not
obsessed with humanistic, sentimental religion as we have in this day
and hour, insisting on a universal atonement, willing to take goats
into the family. Oh, no. He was locked into His
purpose for being here. His interest was in His sheep. They never became His sheep after
He got here. They never became His sheep after
they made a decision from the beginning, chosen in Christ. He prayed in John 17 to the Father,
I am come to give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given
Me. When did He give them to Him?
before He made the world. Oh, yes. It never bothered Him
to see God rejecters and those who despised Him. It never bothered
Him to see them go their way who had the attitude they could
survive without Him and didn't need Him. Oh, no. He was here to go after His lost
sheep. who truly needed him, truly belonged
to him, he would find them. So Christ is seen in a threefold
manner in this shepherd role. As the good shepherd, he laid
down his life for the sheep. As the great shepherd, he intercedes
for his sheep as our great high priest presently. And as the
chief shepherd, He's coming again to claim His sheep. Then the
third title, verse 34, He's the King. As the Son of Man, He's
made one with His sheep. As the Shepherd, He dies for
His sheep. And as the King, He's coming
back to claim His sheep. Now, verse 34, Then shall the
King say unto them, On his right hand, that is the sheep. He's
not saying this to all humanity. He's saying this to his sheep.
The goats don't hear this. And there's only two classes.
Sheep and goats. The king alone separates them. Because the king alone can distinguish
between them. That's a fact. Don't you go deciding
who's God's child and who's not. You're not that smart. Remember the parable in Matthew
13 of the wheat and the tares. The wheat's God's children. The tares is not just the secular
world, but the religious world as well. That's tares. Satan has done such a good job
planting tares in the wheat field. They went to the householder
and said, hey, shouldn't we get out there and tare those tares
out? No, leave them alone. Lest, in pulling out the tares,
you would uproot some of the wheat. You can't tell. They said,
leave them alone. Leave them alone until the time
of the harvest. He will take care of the separating. Satan has done such a good job
in our generation, in our lifetime, planting multitudes of people in the visible church, professing
to be followers of Christ. He's done such a good job, and
he is such a deceiver. I don't know, and you don't know,
really, who God's people are. But the King knows. The King
knows. Now, if this kingdom was prepared
for the sheep from the foundation of the world, and He says it
was, then the King surely foreknew His sheep, and they were His
sheep from the foundation of the world. And that's what Ephesians
1-4 says, chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.
There's no such thing as potential sheep in this world. There is
to us, but not to the King. A goat has never become a sheep,
and a sheep can never become a goat. The Holy Spirit takes this precious
truth and pricks the hearts of His
little lambs throughout the world, puts a hunger in us, puts a longing
in us, causes us to cry out to Him to want to be one of His
sheep. You know why that happens? Because
we already are one of His sheep. Or else we wouldn't cry to Him. But guess what? None of this
fazes goats. They spew and fume and cuss the
preacher for talking about a God who don't love everybody and
for talking about a God who's not doing his dead-level best
to try to save everybody. Folks have a problem with a God
who is God. But this high doctrine From the
lips of Christ himself, it's like dynamite to modern day religion. They're trying to make sheep
out of goats and it don't happen. It don't happen. Their message for the most part
is, if we'll do thus and thus, God will do thus and thus. If
we'll do thus and thus, God will think more of us. That's a fool's doctrine. Somebody
as little as you changing the mind of somebody as big as God?
I don't think so. I don't think so. But in this
thing of sheep and goats, the nature of an animal is just what
it is. Goats never truly desire to be
sheep. Goats never think enough of the
shepherd. to love Him and follow Him. Sheep
do. And the Lord Jesus said here
in verse 33, He sets the goats on His left hand and He says
to them in verse 41, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. That's the whole
story of the goats. That's the whole story of those
who love not the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the future. If you today
do not love and long for the Lord Jesus Christ, to be one
of His and have a heart for Him, this is all you have to look
forward to. is to hear him say, depart from
me ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels. Departing from his presence,
cursed of God into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his
messengers. That's what the word angels means
there. messengers, followers, spokesmen. Some refer to this scripture
and say hell was not created for men, but it was created for
the devil and his angel. Well, study that out. Angels
right here means messengers. All men, women, boys and girls
who love not the Lord Jesus Christ are Satan's angels. or messengers. Oh, we're not
angelic beings, no, but messengers, messengers. If you're one of
that company today, I have no word for you at all except that
unless you flee to and cry to the Lord Jesus Christ, there's
no hope for you now or never. But I want to hurriedly mention
three precious things for the sheep, the redeemed, the Lord's
people, in verse 34. One is the effectual call. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, Come. That single word, Come, is an
effectual call. It's the most beautiful word
there is falling from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. Come! In contrast to go. Come means acceptance. Go means
rejection. To the goats in verse 41, He
says, Depart! Go! Get away from Me! But to the sheep, He says, come. And He tells the goats where
to go. He's the only one who's got a right to do that, by the
way. He tells them where to go. He tells the sheep where to come.
Come to where I am. Come. What a beautiful word.
Remember, God said to Noah upon the completion of the ark, Genesis
7-1. He never said to him, now go
into it. Uh-uh. What he said was, come. Come,
thou and all thy house, into the ark. God was already in there. Come. You say, was that an effectual
call? It sure was. How do we know it
was effectual? Because Noah did it. That's how.
It was effectual. Noah and his family came into
the ark. Were there any billboards saying,
come one, come all? Uh-uh. Was there anybody passing out
religious literature? No. Was there anybody singing an
invitation hymn? No. But there was God who can read
men's minds and hearts better than we can read our own name.
It was God. God. I heard a preacher say this
week, he said, when Noah finished the ark, God said, now you and
all who will believe get on the ark. That's not what God said. Now it is true that all who believe
got on the ark. And all who didn't were unbelievers. But God's invitation was not
to whosoever will. His invitation was to those whom
He would bring to believe. And they would get on the ark.
Come thou and all thy house into the ark. Those eight souls were
the whosoever wills. The purpose of gospel pleading,
gospel preaching, is not God pleading with whosoever wants. It's God the Holy Spirit informing,
transforming, infusing, bringing whosoever will to Himself. He's not trying to change the
whosoever wants. Not trying to make sheep out of goats. But oh, how wonderful if he ever
affectionately speaks this word to your heart, come, come. It's an affectual word of hope,
of trust, of desire, of longing. And when he affectionately calls
and says come, his sheep come. Have you heard God's call today? I'm not talking about the call
of some arm-twisting religionist. But have you heard God's call? Well, if you have, you came. And how do you know if you've
come? I'll tell you how you know. You're still coming. You've been
coming ever since. You desire even today to come
to bow his feet, to worship him. You see, Noah never had a problem
entering that ark physically when God said, come. Why? Because his heart had already
been in there a long, long time. A long time. There's a lot more bodies in
church today Then there are hearts. A lot of folks in church bodily,
but their heart's somewhere else. Man looketh on the outward appearance,
but God looketh on the heart. Come, come. The Song of Solomon
uses this beautiful word repeatedly. calling his bride. Come away with me, my spouse. Come into my garden. Come, my
beloved. The Lord used it in Isaiah 118. Come now. Let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Consider the mess you are. Consider the blackness, the filthiness
of your heart. The Lord says, Come, let's reason. The blood of my Son will wash
you white as snow. Christ Himself used that word,
Matthew 11, 28. unto me, all you that labor and
are heavy laden, you that are troubled over your sin, and I'll
give you rest." The King's call is a welcome
call. It's an effectual call to His
sheep. Come, come. Not only an effectual
call, but the second thing in this verse, verse 34, and I'm
hurrying, is an excellent condition. Look at the next statement. After
Christ says, come, it's you blessed of my Father. You blessed of
my Father. You can't improve on that. Blessed
of my Father. Blessed of my Father. You might
not be blessed by your neighbors. You might not be blessed by your
relatives. You might not be blessed by your
community. You might not be blessed by your
countrymen. But to be blessed of God outweighs
all else. What an excellent condition.
Come, be blessed of my Father. Ephesians 1-3, Blessed be the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. So the redemption that we have
of God in Christ, it's so complete. We're blessed, not partially
blessed. He said all spiritual blessings.
We're not partially, but we're blessed. It's so complete it cannot be
added to nor taken from. It is so perfect, God Himself
cannot improve it. And Satan himself cannot invade
it. Oh, excellent condition. Blessed of my Father. We're blessed with being given
to Christ from eternity. We're blessed with being represented
in Christ in the everlasting covenant. We're blessed with
being loved by Him so much so that He would lay down His life
and purchase our redemption with His own blood. We're blessed
by acceptance with God in Him. We're blessed with everlasting
life in him that was dead and liveth. And he said, Behold,
I am alive forevermore. Excellent condition of the sheep. Ye blessed of my Father. This is real to me, folks. So
much for my worthiness. Blessed of my Father is my hope. So much for my religion. Blessed
of my Father is my hope. So much for my reputation. Blessed
of my Father is my hope. So much for my turning over a
new leaf. I don't have a new one to turn over. Blessed of
my Father is my hope. Oh, excellent condition. Not
obtained by anything we've done or could do. but by what we are reckoned to
be in Him, in Him. Pontius Pilate said of Him, I
find no fault in Him. And you know what God our Father
says of His Son? I find no fault in Him, and I
find no fault in any who are in Him. accepted in the blood. Oh, excellent
condition. Final thing in this verse, an
everlasting comfort. Look what he said. Come, you
blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom. Oh, what a comfort
is given here. Inherit the kingdom. It's not
would you make a decision, it's inherit the kingdom. Inheritance is not the choice
of the beneficiary. Now, you know enough about insurance
policies to see this point. You don't walk up to a total
stranger and say, how about you take out a million dollar policy
and make me the beneficiary? You'd like to do that. Inheritance
is not the choice of the beneficiary. It's the choice of the bestower,
see? Well, forgiveness is not the
choice of the one who owes the debt. It's the choice of the
creditor. You see, religion has really
thrown us a curve in this generation. The religious world today is
exactly like the rich young ruler when he asked the question, What must I do that I may inherit
eternal life? The answer is, you don't do anything
to inherit something. It's what the bestower of the
inheritance does that counts. Whether He's put your name in
His will or not, that's what counts. That determines your inheritance. It's not a matter of you doing
anything. Christ is speaking to the sheep now and He says,
inherit the kingdom. It's not inherit the kingdom
and make something of it, oh no. It's the kingdom prepared. Inherit the kingdom prepared.
Prepared means it's already everything it's supposed to be. What kind of dummy would have
the idea, I'm going to make heaven a better place? No. The kingdom is already everything
it's supposed to be. And notice it's not the kingdom
prepared for whosoever will. It's the kingdom prepared for
you. You on my right hand, the sheep. Just as we had a few nights ago
in the Lord's Supper. He took the bread and blessed
it and said, this is my body broken for you, not the heathen
world. And He took the cup likewise
and said, this is my blood in the New Testament shed for you,
not the heathen world. This is about Christ and His
sheep. It's a kingdom prepared for you. Not because of the life you've
lived. It's the kingdom prepared for
you by Him from the foundation of the world. It was all fixed
in Christ before we got here. Before God ever hung out the
stars, it was all settled. And according to His promise
here, These will be his words of welcome home, children, when
he comes. When he comes. Come, you blessed
of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. My prayer this morning is that
someone might hear, hear, not the preacher's call, but the
shepherd's effectual call to leave a life of sin and self
and follow him. Leave a life of supposed independence
and trust in him. He is coming to gather his people
to himself forever, forever, forever. The one thing this intelligent
world has not told us, the one thing advanced technology
has not told us, the computer age has not told
us, is what to do when it's time to lay down and die. But God
has told us and told us clearly, if there's concern for your soul,
flee to Christ. Come, He said, all you that labor
and are heavy laden, you that are troubled over your sins,
burdened over your sins, convicted over your sins, condemned over
your sins, come, I'll give you rest. Oh, to say with the sick woman,
if I can but touch Him, I know I'll be whole. May the
Lord add his blessing to this scripture and to these thoughts
today and touch some heart is our prayer.