The Last Judgement - Matthew 25:31-46

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The Last Judgement Matthew 25:31-46 Sermon by Reed Kerr Hill City Reformed Baptist Church Lynchburg, Virginia

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Good morning, beloved. Welcome. We are continuing again in the book of Matthew, picking up where we have left off previous weeks.
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We're in Matthew chapter 25. This week, my intention is for us to finish the Olivet Discourse.
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This is Jesus's fifth and final discourse before his death.
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And the next week, Lord willing, we'll begin the last section of Matthew's Gospel, the final three chapters, detailing his death and resurrection.
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To briefly recap this discourse, we first have to remember what immediately preceded it.
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The previous section was Jesus's approach to Judea and his ministry there in that region.
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Finally, his entrance into Jerusalem and then the interactions and the teaching that he had and gave there in Jerusalem.
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Substantially, this was with the Jewish leadership. If you recall, Jesus's tone has grown increasingly direct as conflict has been escalating between him and the religious leaders, the scribes and the
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Pharisees. Matthew has made it clear to us since chapter 12 that they have the intention, the explicit intention, of killing him.
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They have been plotting how they may kill him. But our Lord, knowing this, did not shrink back, nor did he try to pacify them or do this diplomatic play.
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Rather, he challenged them all the more. He challenged their corruption. He challenged their faithlessness.
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They questioned his authority in chapter 21, and he pressed back, exposing hypocrisy.
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And this culminated in chapter 23, as he delivered a series of oracles of woe to the scribes and the
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Pharisees and the religious establishment that the Jewish practice is condemned by Christ's declaration of the hypocrisy and emptiness and faithlessness of it.
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And then that culminated with him declaring that their house would be left to them desolate and the temple utterly destroyed.
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This then brings us to the question that prompted this what we call the Olivet Discourse. In chapter 24, the disciples approached our
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Lord after hearing these things that greatly troubled them. In verse 3 of chapter 24, now as our
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Lord sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately saying, Tell us, when will these things be?
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And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? It's important for us to understand that.
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And that this question prompted the rest of this discourse. It provides for us the context of all of our
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Lord's teaching in these chapters. Particularly in light of this escalating conflict and Jesus's words against the
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Jews and the temple, Jesus is going to give here, as we've seen, this most direct teaching about the destruction of the temple and its timing and the devastation that will accompany this event.
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He contrasts that with his teaching about the unknown future time of the end of the age and how it will be sudden and unmistakable and how his people must be found, as we've seen in these parables, faithful and alert and ready and obedient.
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And then Jesus gives this series of parables to emphasize and illustrate and clarify these points.
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It's worth mentioning that there was this transition that we saw in chapter 24 really kind of centralized in verse 36 there, where Jesus went from speaking of the destruction of the temple to speaking of his return.
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Of the destruction of the temple, his emphasis was on its immediacy, that it's going to be within this generation.
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But then in verse 36, the transition happens and now he's speaking of this future event that no one knows the day nor the hour.
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Not even the angels in heaven, but the Father only. Also, these parables are not speaking of successive events as we've as we've been working through them.
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They're not speaking of successive events, but it's been a series of recapitulations. Our Lord is is describing this same great day, this day of the
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Lord, this final judgment, with increasing clarity from different perspectives, emphasizing different aspects of it and drawing different applications.
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So starting in verse 36, we saw that comparison to the the days of Noah when judgment came suddenly to sweep away those who were not ready.
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We saw after that in the parable of the two servants, one who was faithful and wise and one who is evil.
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We saw the parable of the ten virgins. The wise virgins were ready, even though they did not know the time of the return of their bridegroom.
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And yet the foolish virgins were not ready. In the parable of the talents that we looked at last week, in the absence of the master, the good and faithful servants were busy about the service of their master, but the wicked and lazy servant was not serving the master.
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In all these cases, the bitter fruit of their faithlessness, the bitter fruit of their wickedness and foolishness comes upon them when the
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Lord returns. Now here in our text this week, Jesus concludes this discourse with his most direct and clear teaching on the final judgment.
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This is sometimes spoken of and treated as another parable, but in actuality, it's not a parable. He's literally telling them what will happen.
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It's not figurative or allegorical. He's telling them of the judgment of the great day.
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That which awaits all mankind at the end of the age, the last judgment. The disciples asked about the end of the age and here
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Jesus tells them. And so I'm going to read our passage, Matthew chapter 25, starting in verse 31 to the end of the chapter.
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Let us hear the word of the Lord. When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory.
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All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
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And he will set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
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Then the king will say to those on his right hand, come you blessed of my father.
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Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
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For I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink.
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I was a stranger and you took me in. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
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I was in prison and you came. To me. Then the righteous will answer him saying,
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Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and take you in or naked and clothe you?
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Or when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them, assuredly
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I say to you, in as much as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.
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Then he will also say to those on the left hand, depart from me you cursed.
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Into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food.
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I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in. Naked and you did not clothe me.
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Sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they will also answer him saying,
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Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?
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Then he will answer them saying, assuredly I say to you, in as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.
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And these will go away into everlasting punishment.
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But the righteous into everlasting life. Our Father in heaven, as we read these words of our
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Lord, cause our hearts to feel the weight of these truths.
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Would you help me to proclaim Christ faithfully?
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And would your spirit make my proclamation, feeble and imperfect though it is, make it fruitful.
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Cause our hearts to tremble before this great day and drive us to the cross of Christ where we can be reconciled to you.
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In his name we pray, amen. In this passage there's five events, five things that we need to recognize and understand to rightly interpret this passage and to rightly apply it.
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We're not going to spend equal time on each of these five, but I'm going to outline them for you so that you have an idea of where we're going.
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First, the coming of the Son of Man. Second, we must consider the gathering of the nations.
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Third, the division of the people. Fourth, the blessing of the righteous.
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And then finally, the sentencing of the wicked. Before we begin,
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I thought it might be helpful just at the outset to briefly address some wrong interpretations of this passage.
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First of all, there are a great many people who will not accept the doctrine of everlasting punishment.
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This is not a doctrine that we take lightly. This is not something that we consider with a cold and smug attitude, but it is nevertheless the plain and undeniable teaching of our
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Lord. This truth is sobering as it teaches us about the holiness and righteousness of our
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God and the immensity and depth of our sin and rebellion against him.
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We'll touch more on that later. Another error that some make as they approach this passage is to try to limit the scope of who and what is in view here.
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Whether they're trying to take what I might call a hyper -preterist view, that this is really just describing the events of specific groups and things that happened in the first century, or on the other hand what
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I might call the hyper -dispensational view, that portions of this text are referring to distinctions just between Jews and Gentiles in some future tribulational period.
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In my view, neither of these can be supported by this text. What our Lord is describing here is very clearly a universal judgment that will come upon everyone.
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All the nations will be gathered before him and this will happen at the end of this age and that which is followed by it immediately is the age to come, which is the eternal state.
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They're entering into these states by this division, by these judgments made into the eternal state.
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And that will happen immediately after this event. Those are important observations that we need to make to conform our understanding of history and eschatology and biblical continuity to scripture, to safeguard us from falling into unbiblical teachings.
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And we'll see that as we're walking through the text, but I want to be careful not to make this text primarily about theological systems because that is not our
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Lord's focus here. While it does correct some wrong teachings of the day, it would be easy for us to get stuck there in the weeds and lose sight of the purpose with which our
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Lord spoke these words. The primary focus is on developing and perfecting the themes that Matthew has been weaving together throughout his gospel account.
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Most clearly here in the Olivet Discourse, but really stretching out throughout the entire gospel.
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Namely, that the Lord will return and that we must be ready.
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We must be found faithful. We must be alert. We must be obedient.
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That our good works matter. And we will be made to answer for them.
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We are to trust in Christ completely, for we do not know the day of his return.
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And on that day, there will be two destinies of every person, and only two.
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Either to be made perfectly blessed, both in soul and body, in the full enjoyment of God to all eternity, or to be sentenced to unspeakable torments with the devil and his angels forever.
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God have mercy on us. So the first thing we have to consider here is the coming of the
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Son of Man. Our passage opens for us here in verse 31, which lays out the context of this great event for us.
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For this will be the sign that it has come. We do not know when this will happen.
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It will come suddenly, like lightning flashing across the sky, as we've already seen here in this discourse, when the
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Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him.
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This presupposes that he will leave them first. Remember, he's speaking to his disciples.
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He will leave them first, but at some unspecified point in actual history, the
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Lord will return. Jesus uses this title,
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Son of Man, here again, which we've talked about before, but it is very deliberate. It is a reference to Daniel chapter 7.
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Daniel sees this vision in Daniel chapter 7 of the
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Ancient of Days and of the Son of Man. In his vision, he sees the
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Ancient of Days seated on his throne and a whole huge multitude gathered before him as in a court.
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And the beast, the ancient dragon, the serpent of old, is slain.
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And the rest of the beasts, the rulers of the nations, their dominion is taken away from them.
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And then this is what Daniel describes for us in Daniel chapter 7. I was watching in the night visions and behold one like the
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Son of Man coming with the clouds of heaven. He came to the Ancient of Days and they brought him near before him.
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Then to him, to the Son of Man, to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.
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His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away and his kingdom is the one that shall not be destroyed.
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This here in Daniel's vision is describing our Lord as the
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Son of Man. And he comes, here in our text in Matthew, he comes in his glory.
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This alludes to the fact that Jesus in his first coming has concealed his glory.
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He came in humility, he came in the likeness, being in the form of a servant as Philippians tells us.
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But when he returns, his full glory will be on full display.
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And who will come with him? The text says, all the holy angels with him.
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First Thessalonians 4 speaks of this event also. First Thessalonians 4 says, for the
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Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God and the dead in Christ will rise first.
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I hope you know that God's angels are not cute little babies floating around on clouds or whatever nonsense our culture has produced.
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These, beloved, are holy warriors, the armies of God.
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The Bible speaks of classes or types of angels, there's the cherubim and the seraphim and the watchers.
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Much of this is mysterious to us, but we see it all throughout scripture. The Bible tells us of the one who guarded the entrance to the garden after Adam and Eve were cast out.
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It tells us of the ones who witnessed the depravity of Sodom and delivered
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Lot out of it. It tells us of the one who swept through Pharaoh's kingdom on that faithful night, slaying the firstborn of every
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Egyptian. The multitudes that stood before Elisha when they were opposed by the
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Syrians. If you recall, Elisha's servant feared, and so Elisha prayed that his servant's eyes would be opened.
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And when he opened his eyes, he saw the hills were full of chariots of fire, of these mighty warriors all around them.
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These, beloved, are the heavenly hosts that appeared on that night in Bethlehem, praising
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God, announcing the birth of the Son of God in Bethlehem. They are real, they are mighty in battle, and they are here.
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The Bible tells us that they peer in, they long to see the worship that we provide and the glory of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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Our eyes do not see them, but they are ready and willing to do his bidding.
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And our Lord says that they will come with him on that day. All the holy angels will come with him, and he will sit on the throne of his glory.
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That is the day of the Lord. Secondly, what happens when that day comes?
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What will he do as he sits on the throne of his glory? Jesus describes the gathering of all the nations.
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Now the word translated nations here, ethne in the Greek, most simply means a group or a multitude or a number that have this common association.
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Most commonly, a tribe or a nation of people, a people group. It's sometimes used to describe the
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Gentiles in particular, but every time it's used as a part of this phrase, all the nations, it's not speaking of the
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Gentiles as distinct from the Israelites. It's speaking of the nations of the world, all of them, all the peoples, all nations.
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One prime example of this, of course, is at the end of Matthew in the Great Commission. Our Lord says, the risen
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Lord Jesus says, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations. Now this isn't just speaking of the
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Gentiles. For in Acts, he says, you will be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all
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Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. All the nations means every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
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Paul would clarify this too in his letter to the Romans, to the Jew first and then to the
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Greek. This will be all, we will all, everyone will be brought forth to stand before the throne of the son of man in his glory as he sits in judgment.
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Thirdly, we see this division of the people. What will happen here at this great gathering? There will be a division made, not a division based on geography, not a division based on when in history you lived, not into different races, not genders or social class.
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On that great day, there is one division that matters, beloved. The ultimate reality that determines where you will stand on that day.
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There will be on that great day only two types of people. There is no pending status.
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There is no middle ground. There is no second chance. There are those who are the sheep of his pasture, whom he loves.
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And there are the goats who have rejected him, who he despises with a perfect hatred.
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This should remind you of John chapter 10. John chapter 10,
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Jesus is the true and the good shepherd. The sheep hear his voice.
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He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. And when he brings out his own sheep, he goes before them and the sheep follow him for they know his voice.
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In John chapter 10, he speaks of other sheep that are not of this fold, but that will be brought in.
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And so there will be one flock and one shepherd and he will guard them.
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He will keep them for he is the good and the true shepherd.
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And he says in verse 28 of John chapter 10, I give them eternal life and they shall never perish.
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Neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand. The analogy is plain here.
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This should remind us also of some of the parables that we already have addressed in Matthew.
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Matthew chapter 13, for example, gives us the parable of the tares sown among wheat.
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If you recall, the master sowed good seed in his field. And while he was sleeping, the enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat.
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And his servants said, shall we go out and pluck up these tares out of your field?
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And what did the master say? The master said to wait, to wait until harvest time.
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For at harvest time, all will be gathered in. The tares first to be thrown into the fire and then the wheat.
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The righteous then, he says, will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father.
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He who has ears to hear, let him hear. This, beloved, is the great division at the end of this age.
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Fourthly, we see here the blessing of the righteous. Matthew chapter 25 verse 34 says,
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Then the king will say to those on his right hand, come.
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You, blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
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Beloved, can you think of sweeter words than these? To hear from our Lord, come.
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To hear him beckon you to come. Consider your sin.
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Consider your guilt and your failures. You know how unworthy you are.
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We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and yet he calls us to come.
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He calls us to come. We who deserve nothing but wrath. We stand before the king who dwells in unapproachable light beyond comprehension.
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He calls us to come and stand before him. How can this be?
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How can this be, beloved? It's because of the next words. Come, you, blessed of my father.
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Galatians 4 tells us you are no longer a slave, but a son.
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And if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
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There is no other way, beloved. Our guilt is ever before us, and yet because those who have placed their faith in Christ are blessed of the
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Father, they are able to come. They are able, as Hebrews tells us, to boldly approach the throne of grace.
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It is because of Christ and Christ alone. This is the sovereign grace of God in unconditional election.
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Ephesians 1 says he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he made us acceptable in the beloved, in which we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.
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Though we are sinners, we're called to come. We have the blessing of the
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Father, and we receive an inheritance, an inheritance, not merely a name, not even a treasure.
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What do we inherit? It says we inherit a kingdom. Can you think of any other analogy, any other thing that God could say?
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What on earth is greater than a kingdom that we could receive? But this kingdom, this kingdom is the kingdom that can never be shaken, that can never be destroyed.
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It's not prone to corruption. It's not prone to failure. It can never be broken.
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This is the everlasting kingdom of our God, not one perishing, but it is the kingdom prepared by God himself.
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We, as the redeemed of God, inherit an everlasting kingdom, the kingdom of heaven, as kings and priests to our
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God, according to the riches of his grace. That is the only foundation of all of this, beloved, the riches of his grace.
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As Jesus promised early in his ministry, and Matthew recorded for us, in Matthew chapter 5, blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth.
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In Matthew chapter 18, Jesus said, I assuredly I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.
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Therefore, whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
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Whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me.
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We must consider this unfathomable transaction that must take place for this to be true.
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Surely the grace of God is on display here, and it must move us to worship.
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Not pride, to not be puffed up, but to worship the one who justifies sinners.
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Consider the words of Revelation 5. I love the book of Revelation, and I lament that the church is so afraid of the book of Revelation, because it contains such hope, such promise, that enables us to stand through trials and tribulations that gives us hope for that great day.
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I want to read a longer section here of Revelation chapter 5. You can turn there if you'd like.
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Revelation chapter 5. I'm going to start in verse 8. Speaking of the lamb, it's just described the lamb who was slain, who alone is worthy to do this.
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It says, Now when he, the lamb, had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each having a harp, a golden bowl of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.
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And they sang a new song, saying, Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and have made them kings and priests to our
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God, and they shall reign on the earth. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,
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Worthy is the lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
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And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and which are in the sea and all that are in them,
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I heard saying blessing and honor and glory and power to him who sits on the throne and to the lamb forever and ever.
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Amen. Beloved, this provides the context for us of this great scene that our
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Lord is revealing to us. Jesus is sitting on the throne of his glory for he alone is worthy.
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And he is worthy because he is the lamb of God, the lamb who was slain to make these people, this multitude his own, his spotless and blameless bride on the day of his return.
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We have to understand this. It is only by the blood of Christ that we have standing before his throne on the day of judgment.
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Now we have to deal with this aspect of this passage when Jesus appeals to the works of the saints done in kindness and in love and in service to Jesus's needy brothers.
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He says, my brethren, the least of these, whoever receives one little child like this in my name receives me.
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He's not saying that they've earned their place in the kingdom by doing these good works.
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If you understand the immensity of the inheritance that they are to receive and the depth of their sin, there's nothing that we could do to earn our place in this kingdom.
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We can't earn our sonship. And yet Jesus here points to the love that they've shown to what he refers to as his brethren.
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All our righteousness are like filthy rags. And yet Jesus here at length talks about the good deeds done to the least of these.
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Why is this? We have to grapple with this reality. So the least of these, meaning his disciples, right?
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He refers to us, to believers as his brethren because he is the firstborn of the dead and we are adopted as sons with him.
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Disciples are his brethren. We, if we are in Christ, are his brothers. We have to recognize, at least at the bare minimum,
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Jesus in speaking of the deeds done in love to fellow believers, particularly those in need, that this is at the bare minimum an urgent call for us to give to those in need.
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The primary focus here is on Christ's disciples, those who are our brothers and sisters in the faith.
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I would apply this to our context. It's most expressly those in your local church who you have covenanted together.
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You ought to love them. And we are to love each other sacrificially.
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But even beyond that, believers in other places too are worthy of our love and our sacrifice for them.
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Our brothers in Christ are to be first in our hearts, to bless and to care for and to meet needs.
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This ought to be out of a place of sincere love. Love that is willing to sacrifice our own good for the good of another.
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This isn't the social gospel, a perversion of the liberal church that wants to replace the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone with a false gospel of merely being nice, of merely meeting physical needs, a false gospel that's impotent to save or even offer true love.
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Rather, this love that believers are to have of their brothers and sisters is to be a true love that is an overflow of their understanding of the gospel, an overflow of the love that's been poured out for us.
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We are to love as Christ has loved. We are to love as Christ has loved and we can do this because the gospel is transformative.
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The only gospel that saves is the only gospel that has the power to change us.
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John 13 says, by this all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another.
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He says, all will know that you are my disciples. It's helpful,
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I think, for us to at least just consider for a moment this teaching, this idea of ordo amoris, rightly ordered affections, rightly ordered loves.
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Jesus is not subverting the idea that we have a first responsibility to care for and sacrificially love those who are entrusted to our care, those who are in covenant with us.
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That's why I put the emphasis first and foremost on our families and on our local church, the family here gathered together.
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But the lesson, the lesson is that we must not show partiality based on what we are able to receive in return for our sacrifice for others, but an expression of the gospel, freely received, freely given.
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We are to love as Christ loved. It's possible for us to take away from this an emphasis on loving others, but still miss the point of what
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Christ brings up here. Why is Christ mentioning the love of the brothers here in this context, specifically in the context of the judgment on the last day?
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And I think there's two facets here worth mentioning that I want to take a moment to address. First, we must know, we must know that the good works done by a believer are a demonstration of the work of grace done in his heart.
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Without holiness, no one will see God. Scripture is clear. That means if you don't have a work of sanctification going on in your heart, you're simply not in Christ.
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He sanctifies those who are his. He changes them because the gospel is not impotent.
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His grace is not powerless. It doesn't justify a person. That sanctification doesn't make you blameless and just in his sight.
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It doesn't, but at the same time, it doesn't justify you and then leave you dead in your sin.
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Does that make sense? It gives life. And that life, that spiritual life that God's grace gives to believers will always bear fruit.
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The fruit is the evidence of God's saving grace. It's not meritorious in any sense.
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It doesn't earn us our justification, but it demonstrates it.
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It's not optional. It's not optional. If you are remaining in your sin and not warring against your flesh, then you're not in Christ.
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Ephesians, again, is helpful here. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves.
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It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works.
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Created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
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So Christ, in appealing to the works done by the saints, is making clear to his disciples that those who follow him are those who are truly partakers in this redemption.
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Those who have been redeemed are those who will love their brothers. It's absolutely critical that we hear and understand that.
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But there's a second facet here to Jesus bringing up the good works done by believers in their lives on the day of judgment that I think we need to talk about because I think we often overlook this second facet.
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Satan, even the very name Satan, means the accuser. We know that in life, the
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Christian is constantly assailed by accusations of guilt and shame as Satan is opposing the work and the growth of the kingdom.
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Satan and the principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this age, the spiritual hosts of wickedness, one of their strategies to oppose the church is to bring up our guilt and to try to discredit us.
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And I'll quote Martin Luther here. I love this quote. He said, so when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this,
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I admit that I deserve death and hell. What of it? For I know one who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf.
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His name is Jesus Christ, son of God. And where he is, there I shall be also.
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This is something, beloved, that we must do daily. We must regularly remind ourselves that though we are guilty, we are yet his and we are created for his glory to do his works.
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This is something that we must remind ourselves. We must preach this gospel to ourselves.
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But something even more incredible than this will happen on the last day. Those powers, those accusers, those enemies of God will be there on that last day gathered before the throne of our
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Lord. And all of creation will be gathered together to made witness to what happens here where the sheep and the goats are divided before all creation.
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God himself will openly before all of creation, before these evil forces, these powers and principalities, before all mankind, he will openly acknowledge and acquit his own.
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The work of grace that God has done in their life will stand as a testimony to what
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God has done. As he says, they have loved the brethren, even the least of these, even those who are small and insignificant, even those who seemed unworthy of their love.
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They showed that love and it will be a testament to what God has done.
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They are not like the wicked who despise the poor and the needy.
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Their good deeds indeed are imperfect and corrupted. All that we do is stained by sin, but yet nevertheless, the good works that believers do by grace are real.
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They're good works. They do not justify a man, but in the sincerity of their faith, they please the father.
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Only the righteousness of Christ justifies, but the father, nevertheless, looks on the good deeds of his saints, the deeds done in the sincerity of faith, and he smiles.
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Is God pleased with those who love and obey him? Yes. Proverbs 8 says,
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God says, I love those who love me. By contrast,
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Hebrews 11 tells us, without faith, it is impossible to please God. That tells us, beloved, with faith, it is possible to please
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God. Not to earn his favor, but to serve him. He delights in the obedience of his saints.
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I know this makes us uncomfortable, but there are so many false teachings that want to distort this in every way imaginable, but this should make sense to us.
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Beloved, think as a father. You love your children with an unconditional love.
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They are your sons and your daughters. They are heirs to all that is yours, and nothing can change that.
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Nothing that they do can change that. And yet, when your children love and obey you, and submit to you, and show honor to you, does that not please a father?
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Is he not delighted in his children when they honor him in that way?
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They're not earning the place in your family, but they please a father when they obey. In the same manner, the father delights over his children.
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On the last day, they will be openly acknowledged and acquitted of all wrongs before all creation, and they will stand before the throne, arrayed in the blood -washed garments of righteousness.
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That leads us, lastly, to the sentencing of the wicked. The last truth of our text here today.
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Just as the righteous are justified by what Christ has done, and are eternally blessed by the
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Father, and publicly commended for the righteous works done in faith by grace, in the same way, beloved, the wicked are condemned eternally for their rejection of Christ, eternally damned by the
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Father, and publicly sentenced to everlasting punishment. At this point on the day of judgment, there is no middle ground or second chance.
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When the nations are gathered before the throne, when the Son of Man comes in glory and in power, the judgment is final and the decision is made.
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The sobering reality of eternal wrath is one that should rightly cause us to tremble.
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Just like we don't and frankly can't fathom the beauty and the glory and the splendor of eternal blessing from the
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Father, we don't and can't truly comprehend the horror of eternal wrath.
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Both of these are absolute. Both of these are complete and perfect and unending.
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Both of them are for the same reason. God himself is infinitely and inexhaustibly glorious and good and holy and righteous and wrathful.
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Those who are adopted as sons and receive every spiritual blessing in Christ are heirs to this endless glory to which everything good and true and beautiful in this life is but a dim shadow, a dim reflection of.
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God himself is the ultimate and endless source of this good.
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But that means those who have spurned his son, whose hearts are hard to the grace of God, their sin is ever before them.
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The weight of guilt of their sin is not measured against our perception of the evil.
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It is measured against the infinite holiness of an infinite God. It's measured against the glory of the one that they have sinned against.
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An infinitely holy and righteous God must have an infinitely and inexhaustibly righteous wrath against sin.
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Truly, beloved, we are but sinners in the hands of an angry
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God suspended by a mere thread above an endless chasm of unquenchable fire that is never satisfied for he is holy, holy, holy.
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Dear one, do not presume upon his mercy today. The breath that you draw is not promised to you.
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Not one more breath, not one more beat of your heart. But in kindness, he has brought you here today.
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The word is opened before you. The gospel is laid bare. There is one who can deal with your sin.
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Lay it at the foot of the cross. Be reconciled to him. He is merciful.
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He is faithful. And he will forgive because of Christ's blood.
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I want to close with Hebrews chapter three. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief departing from the living
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God. But exhort one another daily while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.
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While it is said today, it is today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.
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The offer of the gospel is for all who would believe to be reconciled, to be forgiven, to receive an internal inheritance.
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That is the gospel. That is the hope that we have in Christ. Let us pray.
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Our father and our God, we tremble before the words of our
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Lord. For we know we are guilty. We know we are sinners.
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We know we are unworthy. But there is one who is worthy.
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Father, we thank you for Christ. We thank you for his perfect obedience and his death satisfying the wrath that we deserve.
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Father, would you make us by your grace, obedient children, make us to be what you have called us to be.
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Teach us to love sacrificially as Christ our Lord has shown us on the cross.
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Give us a sincere love of the brethren. Teach us to love sacrificially that on that great day, because of what
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Christ has done, we can stand in glory, not our own, before your throne and hear those words, come blessed of my father.