Twenty-fifth chapter, the Gospel
of Matthew, we're going to begin to read at verse 31. We read this passage this morning
and tried to communicate what it means. The Bible talks of
two religions, and only two, a religion of works and a religion
that's all of grace. And there can be no mixture of
the two whatsoever. The prevailing view in our day
is that if we do the best we can, God will accept it. And the Lord Jesus, if there's
any difference to be made up, he'll make up the difference.
And I tell you, that is the most criminal, God dishonoring thought
that a man or a woman could possess. There's absolutely no truth in
it. The scripture puts it this way, just a tiny amount of leaven
leavens the whole lump. And the tiniest, smallest degree
of works turns grace into nothing but works. And yet people allow
themselves I start to say to be raped spiritually by preachers
and churches, preaching them a gospel that is no gospel at
all, none whatsoever. So let's come one more time today
to this wonderful passage and at the same time terrible passage. I remind you that these words
are the precious words of our Lord Jesus Christ. He cannot
be accused of stating too strongly what he's here speaking. He cannot
be mistaken in what he says. It is the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. Let's bow for prayer and then
we'll start to work on it. Lord, here we are again this
day. in this same passage of your
holy word, where the Savior is describing your wonderful grace
and mercy in himself, and at the same time giving an absolutely
true statement describing that religion that is of man's own
making. Lord, help us. Please help us. We've been deceived once, yea,
many times. If you do not prevent it, we'll
be deceived on that final day. Oh, help us, we beg. Attach your
blessing, your Holy Spirit to your word as it is read and preached
this day. Open our understanding. Give
us the wherewithal to see ourselves as we really are and cast ourselves
entirely upon your mercy for sinners in your Son, the Lord
Jesus. Lord, help us, we pray. In ourselves,
we know nothing. In ourselves, we can do nothing.
But in and through your precious and blessed grace in Christ,
we can do all things through Him that loves us. Please open
your word to our minds and hearts and wills. We beg in our Savior's
precious and holy name. Amen. Now, without any possibility
of doing it otherwise, I have to read these verses again and
look at a few of them separately, so let me see if I can read it
without too many times stopping. Matthew 25, beginning at verse
31. Here's the glorious picture of
the Lord Jesus, the King coming and sitting on the throne of
His glory. Mind you, he's already seated
on a throne of glory in heaven. This very hour has been for 2,000
years. But this is a different throne.
This is the throne that the Son of God mounts on the day of judgment
when this world comes to an end and all the human race stand
before him. 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, in his presence,
he shall be gathered all nations, all nations. This entire globe
will be marshaled before the Son of God, and He shall separate
them one from another." Now, these are not ambiguous statements.
These are clear, plain, direct declarations. He shall separate
them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. All who are not Christ's sheep
are goats. Nationality has nothing to do
with it. Age has nothing to do with it.
The generation in which they live on this earth has nothing
to do with it. On the last day, this great seize,
this marshalling of all human beings who have ever lived, no
matter how they died, no matter at what age they died, shall
be gathered before him and His throne of glory in judgment. Verse 33, and He shall set the
sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. You're familiar with that statement.
I forget the reference. The Lord knows them that are
His. Somewhere in 2 Timothy, never
been any doubt. The Lord knows them that are
His. Then we come to the first group
of persons, a number the scriptures speak of as no man can number
they're so great. Then shall the King say unto
them on the right hand, come you blessed of my Father. All
believers are a blessed people. Inherit the kingdom, not buy
it, not earn it. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. This inheritance has
belonged to the believers since before there were believers,
before there was even a man or an earth, before the foundation
of the world. Now here's where we have a problem,
beginning at verse 35, 36, 37, and 38, and 9. Our problem is
our service to Christ, what might be called the believer's works. We have a very legal view of
our works. We think we deserve something
based on our works. And we do. We do. It's called everlasting torment
in hell. That's what we deserve. That's
what we deserve. Everything we do is tainted with
sin because we're sinners. We're fallen sinners. But the
Lord Jesus, in these statements, describes the believer's works
or deeds or service to Christ, whatever you want to call it,
he describes it as being absolutely perfect. I mean, not one single
thing is there a deficiency in. Let me read it. Verse 35. For
I was an 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. Now the righteous here were called
sheep back in verse 32. Then shall the righteous answer
him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or
thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger
and took you in or naked and clothed you? Or when did we see
you sick or in prison and come visit you? All of them, every
last one of them, is pictured as being unable to identify with
anything the Savior said they did. The believer has a strange
relationship with his works. If you'll turn to one little
verse of Scripture, I'll try to show you that relationship. Revelation chapter 14, and I
want you to know that this is not just Nitpicking, this ain't
Quistlin Dixie. This is the critical issue and
matter of our day. What does it mean to serve God? Do believers serve God in order
to be rewarded in heaven? Absolutely not. The persons described
in the verses we've just read were unaware that they had done
these things to the honor and glory of Christ. Here's what
it means. Revelation 14, 13. Here's a view
in glory as believers go from this world to the next. These
are people who have died in the Lord. And here's what it says
about their works. John said, and I heard a voice
from heaven saying unto me, write, quote, blessed are the dead which
die in the Lord from henceforth. Yea, says the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors. They do labor in the kingdom
and gospel of Christ. But that's not what they think
about. That is most certainly not what they talk about. They
think about Christ and talk about Him. That they may rest from
their labors and their works. There it is. What about their
works? Do follow them. They're not on their mind. They're
not on their tongue. And they ain't in their hand.
They're out of sight and out of mind because the believer,
by the grace of God, is pursuing one thing, the person and glory
of his Savior. And he cannot rest or find peace
in anything he's ever done or will do. Christ is our peace
and Christ is our rest. And in heaven, there will be
no competition with him. He'll have all the glory, so
we may as well give it to Him down here because it's His and
not ours. That, my friend, is what a believer
is when he gets to glory. Now, preachers can eulogize people
up one side and down the other at funerals, and they're lying,
and they know they're lying. They're dishonest men. And I
tell you, if you do anything like that when I kick the bucket,
I'm coming back to haunt you. People at funerals hear little,
precious little enough about Christ as it is. And if I'm asked
to do a funeral, I don't do eulogies. I've never done one and I ain't
going to start now. I think it's inappropriate. I
think if the person who has died is a true believer, they would
say to that preacher, glorify my savior, don't glorify me.
People that knew them and loved them know about them, and you
don't have to tell them. And people that didn't, it isn't
in their business, frankly. Ah, but we let this world rule
us. Well, everybody does this. So what? All right, back to Matthew
25. This description that the Lord
Jesus gives of His children, His sheep, His righteous, call
them what you will, They're believers. He said in verse 34, come you
blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you
from the foundation of the world. And it goes on to describe his
people. Then when you get to verse 40,
after they have objected and said, Lord, when did we, when
did we do this? We don't remember doing this.
Our Savior said in verse 40, and the king shall answer and
say unto them, verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you've done
it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it
unto me. Believers love helping believers. And you've proved that so many
times that it doesn't even need to be said. But the subject of
works is not finished. Verse 41 says, then shall he
say also unto them on the left hand, these are the goats, depart
from me you cursed. Cursed with a curse that time
cannot remove. It's endless and timeless. The day about which we're reading
is a day with no time. It's that eternal day. Depart
from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels. And he goes back through the
very same thing, except that in this case, you find a bunch
of nos and nots. N-O's and N-O-T's. I was a stranger
and you took me not in. naked and you clothed me not,
sick and in prison you visited me not, all the way through the
list. Then shall they also, in verse
44, then shall they also answer him saying, Lord, when did we
see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or
in prison and did not minister unto you? Well, look here on
my chest at all these awards that I have won for doing these
very things for you. Verse 45, then shall our Savior
answer 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,
the goats, the wicked, shall go away into everlasting punishment. but the righteous shall go away
into life eternal." Now that's about as brief, as clear, as
plain as words can say. But except for the grace of God,
we still will not have it. All right, let's look at some
scriptures now to make our focus a little bit more clear, understand
a little bit better how it is that believers could serve Christ
so faithfully. and not know it. They said in
verse 38, when did we see you in these ways and do these things
for you? All right, in regard to verse
31, if you would please turn to Matthew chapter 16 for
the moment. I'll try to limit myself now.
Let's see if we can live up to the promise. Matthew 16 verse
27. Matthew 16, 27. Here's another
statement, very much like the one we're considering in chapter
25. For the Son of Man shall come
in the glory of His Father with His angels, and He shall reward
every man. How? On what basis? according to His works? Well, did we miss it over here? Would you turn to Revelation
chapter 20? Here we have the secret revealed. I know these verses that I'm about to
read to you would bring the house down in most churches in our
day. Revelation 20, Verse 11. Now you and I have seen these
verses before many times, but I want you to see them through
the eyes of Matthew 25, or see Matthew 25 through the eyes of
these statements in Revelation 20. All right, verse 11. Now
here's that throne that we read about in verse 31 back in Matthew
25. It's not His present throne,
it's the throne on the day of judgment. Here it's called a
great white throne. And I saw a great white throne,
and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
heaven fled away, gone. And there was found no place
for the heavens or the earth. Now these are the heavens. It
is not talking about the abode of God or of his children. I presume that wherever that
is, that is where this great white throne is. I couldn't say
that with any absolute certainty, but it seems to be the case.
All right, verse 12. And I saw the dead, dead. Now, you know this, I hope. Dead does not always mean the
same thing in our Bibles. For example, the Lord Jesus said
to a man that promised to follow him after he took care of a few
details, namely waiting for his father to die so he could bury
him, what did the Savior say to him? Let the dead bury the
dead. You come and follow me. Obviously
that means let the spiritually dead bury the physically dead. So the word dead does not mean
the same thing in both instances. And that's the case here. I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books, plural
with an S, the books were opened. I wonder what's in these books. And another book, singular, was
opened. And that book is said to be the
book of life. Oh, that's a good book, the book
of life. I hope and pray we're all in
that book. And the dead were judged out of those things which
were written in the books, plural, according to what their works. Now, ladies and gentlemen, Every
man and every woman who is judged out of the books must and will
perish. The only persons exempt from
this eternal punishment are people whose names are in another book,
singular. Watch it. Verse 13, And the sea
gave up the dead which were in it, No matter how a person died,
it won't prevent them from standing before this throne of judgment.
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, still being judged out
of the books. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire, This is the second death. The first death is the death
of the body. This, my friend, is the never-dying
death of the soul. Verse 15. This one little verse
will resolve this whole issue and will explain to us what our
Savior meant when He said that They did all these things for
him and yet they were unconscious of it. But look what it says,
and whosoever was not found, whoever was not found written
in the book, singular, the book, was cast into the lake of fire. But everybody in this book is
not cast into the lake of fire, but is welcomed and received
by their Savior." All right, hang on to Revelation. Let's
go to chapter 21 for just a second. I want you to consider this verse. Chapter 21, verse 7. I couldn't resist going to this
one since it was close by. It's not exactly the same but
it has a great deal to do with what we're speaking about tonight
because the issue is the same. Verse 7, chapter 21, he that
overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he
shall be my son. Who are the overcomers? They
are people. who are made overcomers by virtue
of being in Christ, who is Himself the overcomer. If we are overcomers
at all, it is a gift of God's grace in Christ, and to be in
Him, and Him the overcomer, is indeed to be called an overcomer
themselves. You'll find that the Most of
the time it's at the end. Sometimes it's a couple of three
verses before the end. All the letters in the second
and third chapter of Revelation end with statements about overcomers. And until you can read those
statements in all seven of those letters and see God's grace in
Christ and not my distinguishing myself by something that I have
done, until we can do that, we do not know this book nor anything
in it. We're proud of what we do, and
we expect to be rewarded for it. Oh, and you will be. That's what you want. You will
be. But it won't be in heaven, and it won't be in the presence
of Christ. It'll be with the devil and his
angels. All right, let's go to the Gospel
of John, chapter 3. It's surprising when one looks
at it and researches it reads these various passages and statements. The Bible speaks of works a great
deal. And here are some verses that
cannot be overlooked. We've seen them before, but I
had not time this morning to go to them. I referred you to
them. But since you may not have gotten
or taken the opportunity today to read them, I'd like to read
them for you because they certainly have a part in understanding
what we're reading in Matthew 25. All right, beginning at verse
19 in John chapter 3, and this is the condemnation. Now, that's
what we've been reading about, people who could not understand
why they're on the left and not on the right, why they're goats
and not sheep, and how could they be judged for not doing
those things for the Savior, and they not be aware of it. Here it is. This is the condemnation,
that light is come into the world. What light is that? It's the
light of the world, the Lord Jesus, the light of the world.
But men love darkness rather than light. How come? because
our deeds were evil. The book says even the plowing
of the wicked is an abomination in God's sight. Man can't even
be a farmer and be lost. And God see anything in anything
He does. Verse 20, for everyone that does
evil hates the light. So if we do evil, do we? You know good and well we do.
You mean we hate Christ? we do unless he's conquered us
by his grace and given us a new heart and a new mind and a new
man and a new will. But that old nature still hates
him. Everyone that does evil hates the light. Neither comes
to the light lest his deeds should be reproved. But verse 21, he
that does truth, he that doeth truth, he that does truth comes
to the light. Why? And here it is, brethren,
as plain as it can get, that his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought. That word means worked. You ever
heard of wrought iron? That's iron that's been worked
on. Here are some sinners who by the grace of God have been
worked on. That his deeds may be made manifest,
that they are wrought in God. What does that mean? That God
is the author of the very works for which you are being blessed.
That's it. We put our greasy hands on it
and it's polluted. God help us.