Would you turn back to Matthew
chapter 25? Betsy Fitzpatrick had a surgery
on her foot this week and it went well. Everyone remember
her, Betsy Birch. And continue to remember Susan
Holtow. She had a small operation, if
there's a small operation on your heart, I don't guess there
is such a thing, but she's doing well as I understand it. But
continue to remember them. I've entitled this message, The
Final Judgment. Everything is headed toward this
end, the final judgment. I don't think there is a passage
of scripture that is any more majestic than this passage before
us that is found only in the book of Matthew. 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, every man and woman to ever live. Remember, this
takes place in eternity. There's not a sequence of events
at this time. Of course, I don't understand
that, but this takes place in eternity. There'll be billions
of people, and the judgment will all take place. It's not going
to be a long wait. The sentence is going to come
out quick. And he shall separate them one
from another, As a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. The final judgment. And notice the final judgment. There is no court of appeals.
This is the last judgment. The final judgment. Notice how We read that he shall
sit upon the throne of his glory. Now I don't have any doubt that
that is referring to that great white throne of judgment we read
in Revelation chapter 20. Would you turn with me there
for a moment? Revelation chapter 20. Verse 11. John tells us, and I saw a great
white throne. That's the same throne that our
Lord sit upon. And him that sat on it from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found
no place for them. And I saw the dead. dead in trespasses and sin, small
and great, stand before God, and the books were opened. Now, this is symbolic language,
perhaps. Maybe there are literal books,
I don't know. But I do know this, every sin
every man or woman has ever committed is recorded in these books. Every sin. Sins that have been
long forgotten. Mostly sins that people didn't
even know were sins in the first place. Every sin will be recorded
in this book. And another book was opened,
which is the book of life. There were books and there is
the book. called in Revelation chapter
13 verse eight, the book of life of the lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. There's one book and there are
many books. Now let's go on reading. And
the dead, those who never had spiritual life, were judged out
of those things which were written in the books according to their
works. God's judgment is absolutely
just. The punishment always fits the
crime with God. And 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. And death and hell were cast
into the lake of fire. This is the second death and
whosoever was not found written in the book of life with the
names of God's elect. Whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now, go back to Matthew 25. When the son of man shall come
in his glory. Now, this is not speaking of
his inherent glory, which he has as the son of God, which
he's always had. This is talking about the glory
that he achieved by his great work on Calvary's tree. Glory
that he would not have had had he not gone to the cross. That's
the glory he's returning in. And all the holy angels with
him, then shall he sit. I love that language. The sitting
savior. Then shall he sit on that great
white throne. You see Hebrews 1.3 says, when
he had by himself purged our sins, he, what? Sat down. Why did he sit down? The work
was finished. The sitting savior, the sitting
sovereign. He sits, not pacing back and
forth in frustration that his will is not being done. He sits
in regal splendor. undisturbed by opposition, the
sitting Savior. Verse 32, and before him shall be gathered
all nations, every man, woman to ever live, and he shall separate
them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats. Now, at this time, a great separation
will take place. And who's the one doing the separating?
He is. You see, me and you don't have
enough sense to do anything like that. We would count the goat
sheep and the sheep goats. But He knows. And there will
be no doubt at that time who the sheep are and who the goats
are. He will make this great separation. Now, who are the sheep? Well, in the context, verse 33,
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats
on his left. Then shall the king, don't you
love the way he says that? He's speaking of himself. Then
shall the king say unto them on his right hand, The sheep
who were set on his right hand, come ye blessed of my father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. Now, obviously, the sheep are
the elect. Those who have had the kingdom
prepared for them from the very foundation of the world. Turn with me just for a moment
to John chapter 10. Now, a sheep can never become
a goat. A goat can never become a sheep. There are sheep and there are
goats. Now, who are these sheep? Verse one of John chapter 10,
verily I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into
the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a
thief and a robber, but he that entereth in by the door is the
shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth, and
the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name. and leadeth them out. These sheep
are called his own sheep, and he calls them by name. And when he put forth his own
sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for
they know his voice. They know the voice of the gospel.
They know when they're hearing the gospel, and they know when
they're not hearing the gospel. They know, every one of them. They
know his voice. And a stranger will they not
follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of
strangers. Look in verse 11. I am the good
shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. Verse 15, as the Father knoweth
me, even so know I the Father, I lay down my life for the sheep.
The sheep are the people Christ died for. The sheep are the people
he laid down his life for, to save. They're identified like
that. Look in verse 14. I am the good
shepherd, I know my sheep, and I've known of mine. I know them,
they know me. That's the distinction of a sheep.
Look in verse 24 of this same chapter. Then came the Jews round
about him and said unto him, how long dost thou make us to
doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered
them, I told you and you believe not. The works that I do in my
Father's name, they bear witness of me, but you believe not because
you're not of my sheep. Can words be any plainer? The
reason you do not believe is because you are not of my sheep. As I said to you, My sheep, hear
my voice, I know them, they follow me, and I give unto them eternal
life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand, my Father which gave them me. They're the elect,
they're the elect, the ones given to him by the Father. My father
which gave them me is greater than all. No man is able to pluck
them out of my father's hand. Now the sheep were set on his
right hand and the goats are set on his left. You know, right now, we're on
the trail of God's sheep, aren't we? That's what we're about. But then they'll all be present
and accounted for. He will not lose one of them.
They'll all be set on his right hand and the goats will all be
set on his left. Then, verse 34, then shall the
king say unto them on his right hand, Come. Don't go away. Come and welcome. Come and welcome. Come, ye blessed of my Father. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Inherit. Inherit. Now, why do you inherit
something? because of your relationship
with somebody else. Not because of anything you've done, but
because of your relationship with someone else. You were in
their will. Come, inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now this is so important. My salvation, the salvation of
every one of the sheep, the salvation of every one of God's elect was
completed. before time began. It was prepared for you from
the very foundation of the world. Hebrews 4.3 says all the works
were finished from the foundation of the world. Now, I love this. My salvation, the salvation of
all of God's elect, was completed before time ever began. Now there's something very beautiful
about that. It means I cannot mar it. I cannot lose it. I cannot mess
it up. It's already done. already completed. And it was so before time began. I love that scripture Mitch just
read. 2 Timothy 1, 9, he saved us. Isn't that what we believe? He
saved us. And he called us. Now, The saving came before the
calling, before I was called in the mind and purpose and will
of God Almighty. I was already saved. I mean,
it was completed. But he called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which
was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Saved in eternity. And eternal salvation. I love Greg Elmquist's statement
about heaven. He said, when we get to heaven,
we'll find out we've always been there. Are you saying that what happens
in time doesn't matter? No, I'm not saying that. I'm
saying in time we hear the gospel, in time we believe, in time we
lay hold upon Christ, in time we repent, we do all those things
in time because it was purposed and accomplished in eternity.
That's why you do it. Inherit, you know when the Lord
said, I go and prepare a place for you? He's talking about going
to the cross. I'm going to prepare a place
for you. Inherit the kingdom prepared
for you from the foundation of the world. Now let's go on reading.
Four. Now before I go on reading these
verses, these are the go-to verses people use to prove that it's
your good works that give evidence of your salvation. In a surface
reading, I can see why people would say that. But that is not
what this means. And I hope you'll see that as
we consider this. Now let's look at what the Lord
says. Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. For I was an hungred, 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." Now, the point of this is not The evidence you gave
that I accomplished salvation for you is you doing these various
things. That's not what this is about. I repeat, that is not what this
is about. Now, I'm all for hospitals. I'm all for clothing the naked. I'm all for feeding the hungry. I'm all for visiting those who
are sick and in prison. And, you know, this has been
used by many social agencies as a reason, taking strangers
in, opening up your borders to foreigners. This has been used
for all these social purposes. And, you know, who's against
any of that? Aren't you for hospitals, healing
the sick? Don't you want the hungry to
be fed? Don't you want the naked to be
clothed? Sure we do. But that is not what this is
about. I'm going to show you that in
a minute, but let's go on reading. Then shall the righteous answer him,
saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered and fed thee? We
have no knowledge of this. Were 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?
We're not aware of doing any of these things. Now, here is
what this is about. This is about the preaching of
the gospel, the believing of the gospel, the confessing and
the identifying with the gospel. What a description. Hungry, thirsty, an alien, naked, in prison, that's the believer. And the gospel is addressed to
that. Hungering and thirsting, naked
without a covering, a stranger, an alien, in prison, sick, The evidence of these people's
salvation is seen in the presentation of the gospel. This is what happens
in the preaching of the gospel. The hungry are fed. The naked
are clothed. The prisoner imprisoned by his
own evil nature, dead in sins, is set free. All of these things
are realized in the preaching of the gospel. All of this takes
place in the preaching of the gospel. Now you think about this
person described. What is it to be hungry and thirsty? Now when I'm hungry, that means
there's no food in my stomach. Somebody says there might be
a little bit. Well, maybe, I don't know, but it sure feels like
there's not. And when I'm hungry, I need to
have that satisfied. I have to have that satisfied.
Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness. Now you feel you don't have righteousness. And if you ever feel like you
don't have righteousness, you have to have it. Now if you already
got a self-righteousness, you don't need it. But if you don't
have any of your own, you have to have it. Hungering and thirsting. They're described as strangers,
aliens, strangers from the covenants of promise and aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel with no hope and without God in the world. That is the stranger. Naked,
no covering. exposed in nothing but sin to
God, naked, sick, diseased by sin, without strength, bound
in prison, the prison of an evil nature and unable to get out. That's what that's a reference
to. Now, blessed are they, this is what happens in the preaching
of the gospel. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, they shall be filled. For sure. How full? In him dwelleth all
the fullness of the Godhead, and you are complete, plumb,
full, lacking nothing, perfect in Christ Jesus. That's the only
thing that satisfies me. Having his righteousness, A stranger,
an alien, is made a child of God by the gospel. I love that
scripture. No more strangers and foreigners,
but fellow citizens with the saints. That is what the gospel
does. It makes me a fellow citizen
with the saints. I'm a saint. I'm one of them. That's the group
I'm in. I'm no longer a stranger. Behold
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us that we
should be called the sons of God. not a stranger, not an alien,
but a son, naked, no covering. Blessed are they
whose sins are covered, covered in the blood of his son, made
to be clean in the gospel. The sick is the verb form of
with being without strength, Romans 5, 6, when we were yet
without strength. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. In prison, dead in sins, imprisoned
by an evil nature is what that's talking about. You can't get
out of that prison. You can't get out. If you could, it wouldn't
be prison. You can't get out. Thy people
shall be willing. in the day of thy power, he sets
the prisoner free. And that is what is going on
here. This has something to do with the preaching of the gospel
and you and I are either in this or we're not. Now, somebody says,
well, I'm not a preacher. How can I be involved in that?
You're confessing it right now. If you're confessing your love
of this message, you're confessing the gospel right now. I mean,
this is the gospel. And this is the work of the church
to Do what he says here. Now, I'm all for it. Listen to
me. Am I saying anything against good works and helping humanity
and so on? No, I'm not saying anything against
that. There ought to be plenty of that. But that's not the point
of this passage of scripture. It's not the point to say, well,
if you're saved, you'll have these good works as an evidence
of it. No. No. That's not the point
of this passage of scripture at all. Now look in verse 37. Then shall the righteous answer him. That describes every
believer. Righteous. You know what? When the Lord said to his disciples,
if you then, being evil. Now he said that to every one
of his disciples. Does anybody kind of, whoa! You
know it's so, don't you? If you then, if the Lord says
to you, if you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to
your children, how much more shall your heavenly father give
good gifts to them that ask him? That's true. but the believer
is also called righteous. Now, after I'm dead, you won't
be able to call me evil anymore. It'll be nothing but righteous. And at this time, we have the
righteous speaking. Time's no longer at this time.
Time's no longer. And every believer is righteous. You know what that means? Sinless.
That means your sins have been put away. The righteousness of
Christ has been given to you. You are the righteousness of
God. That's what the Bible says. Every believer is the righteousness
of God. And I love the way they're designated
by the Lord himself. The righteous, the righteous. That's what Christ calls me.
The righteous, the righteous. Then shall the righteous answer
him saying, Before we read this, the righteous
never, ever look at their works as meritorious. And this is demonstrated
in this passage of scripture. They say, we don't have any idea
what you're talking about. We don't have a clue as to what
you're talking about. We don't remember any of that.
You see, a righteous man is not going to look at his works and
say, yeah, that was meritorious. Lord, bring that up. That was
a good one. No, that's not gonna happen.
It's not gonna happen, look. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee,
or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? When saw we thee
sick, or in prison, and came unto them? We're completely unaware
of this. Well, here's the answer, 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've done it to
me. Now there are a couple things
that strike me about that. First is the union of Christ
and his people with each other. He said, when you did it to them,
you did it to me. Not, it's as if you did it to
me, you did it to me. Christ cannot be separated from
his bride. The two are one. You did it to me. Well, what
did you do? You preached the gospel. You
identified with the gospel. You fed the hungry with the gospel. You clothed the naked with the
gospel. You visited the prisoner with
the gospel. You came to the sick with the
gospel. This is the preaching of the
gospel. Now, once again, I know some
people say, do you think that these things like feeding the
poor and clothing the hungry and healing the sick and so on
are unnecessary? I'm not saying those things,
but I'm saying it has absolutely nothing to do with what this passage
is teaching. This passage is teaching the gospel. 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've done it unto
me. Now the story's not over. Verse
41. Then shall he say unto them on
the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed. into everlasting fire
prepared for the devil and his angels. Now, in verse 34, he
talked about the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world. But here he talks about the kingdom
prepared for the devil. and his angels, this everlasting
fire that you're going to be thrown into because of your sin.
That's what he's saying. But let's go on reading. Verse
41, then shall he say unto them on the left hand, depart from
me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and
his angels. Four, I was unhungered 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. I was naked and you clothed me
not. I was sick and in prison and
you visited me not. So they also answer him, what's
this all about? Now, I started a hospital. I started a food line for the
poor. I opened up a goodwill shop so
the naked could be clothed. I started prison ministries.
I've done all of these things. What are you talking about? You know, these are things that
any lost man can do and has done. There have been lost men and
women, many lost men and women who have done all of these things. They've helped the poor. They've
helped the sick. They've clothed the naked. They've
done all of these things. But a lost man never preached
the gospel. A lost man never identified with
the gospel. A lost man never confessed the
gospel. Now these people are saying,
man, we've done all these things. You haven't done anything. You haven't done anything. Now
an unbeliever can do any of these things, and they no doubt have.
But once again, this is not what this is talking about. This is
not talking about good works that give evidence of your salvation.
This is talking about the gospel, what takes place in the gospel.
Now look what the Lord said, verse 43. 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. You didn't
preach the gospel. You didn't believe the gospel.
You didn't clothe the naked. You didn't feed the hungry because
you had no gospel for them. And inasmuch as you did it not
to the least of these, my brethren, you've done it not to me. Verse 46, and these who did it not shall
go away into everlasting punishment. Now it's almost in vogue in this
day for people to deny that hell is everlasting. Surely God's not going to punish
somebody eternally. Well, when we say something like
that, all we demonstrate by that is we don't know who God is. We don't know His holiness. We
don't know His justice. We don't realize our sin. We
don't believe our sin. If you had some, if I have some
idea of my sin, I'll understand. Killing the Son of God, there
can be no satisfaction for that. That's why hell is eternal. My
sin, God can never be satisfied with the punishment of my sin.
It's going to go on and on. And that's the truth with regard
to all who die outside of Christ. All who do not believe the gospel,
they'll go into everlasting punishment. But the righteous, I love the
way the Lord refers to his people, the righteous, the righteous,
into life eternal. I want us to remember this. This
is not life. This just is not life. But life is coming for every
believer. Let's pray.