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[0:00] you may take your Bibles and go to Matthew Matthew's Gospel chapter 25 oh yeah thanks Matthew chapter 25 if you're using that black Bible in the chair in front of you it's page 22 towards the back they renumber the New Testament so fine going to the back page 22 Matthew chapter 25 starting in verse 31 Matthew chapter 25 starting in verse 31 I'll read verse 31 to verse 46 31 to 46 of Matthew chapter 25 but when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him then He will sit on His throne of glory and all the nations will be gathered before Him and He'll separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and He'll put the sheep on His right and the goats on His left then the King will say to those on His right come the ones blessed of My Father inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat

[1:45] I was thirsty and you gave me drink I was a stranger and you invited me naked you clothed me I was sick you envisited me I was in prison you came to me then the righteous will answer Him saying Lord when do we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink and when do we see you a stranger and invite you naked clothe you and when do we see you sick or in prison and come to you and the King answering will say to them truly I say to you insofar that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine the least you did to Me then He will also say to those on His left go from Me cursed ones and to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat I was thirsty you gave me no drink I was a stranger you did not invite me naked you did not clothe me sick and in prison and you did not visit me then they themselves also will answer saying

[2:50] Lord when did we see you hungrier thirstier or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not serve you then He will answer them saying truly I say to you insofar that you did not do to one of the least of these you did not do to Me and these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life George Floyd another name that will go down in U.S.

[3:31] history sad God and yet we as a church have spoken many times in the past about how God views these events from His word the illusion of race the hatred of racism that's in the word of God how the church is supposed to be multi-ethnic etc those things many times we've we've talked about this we've talked about how reconciliation does not happen this way first it must happen this way when it happens this way between us and God then it can most effectively happen this way between human to human and when we come to a passage like today we're reminded once again about how God from His perfect inerrant sufficient word views these events you might say what do you mean what does this passage have to do with racism everything because no matter where you stand in this whole situation no matter where you're at no matter the color of your skin one thing is for sure you will be judged by a

[5:23] God by the only God who shows no partiality who's perfect in His justice and His righteousness no matter where you stand we will all be judged Matthew's driving theme of his gospel is to bow down and worship Jesus the Messiah the Son of God King of Israel you know and I was going to add that shoot and I forgot Messiah Son of God King of Israel judge of the world this is Matthew's driving theme of his gospel and today the last part of this long discourse start in chapter 24 of Matthew's gospel we will see this beware of the judgment to come and then a positive element be a compassionate steward beware of the judgment to come be a compassionate steward

[6:35] Jesus will come to judge beware of that and the way that you can express this or put in a long statement as I normally like to do Jesus calls us to be alert ready and prepared for his coming and he warns us of the judgment to come by exhorting us as his disciples to faithful compassionate stewardship to our brethren he showed us compassion right he showed us mercy he showed us grace by sending his son as our substitute who died on the cross in our place for our sins what great compassion he's shown to us so part of being alert ready and prepared for his coming is he exhorts us as his people as his disciples as his followers to faithful compassionate stewardship to our brethren compassion or another way to put it compassionate stewardship is shown by helping our fellow believers in their time of need we come to their aid we help fellow

[8:04] Christians followers of Christ in their time of need as we'll bring up later on we value the kingdom of God and remember in the context of what Jesus was talking about in Matthew's gospel when he talks about the kingdom for us specifically the local church compassionate stewardship is shown by helping our fellow believers in their time of need we come to their aid why the text gives us two reasons why first because we will be rewarded for our works which display true faith in our king and the father's election we'll be rewarded for our works which displays it display true faith these works display true faith and it also displays the father's election of us that's the first reason second reason because serving our fellow slaves we're all slaves so serving our fellow slaves is really a service to Jesus himself we're serving our fellow slaves this takes us back to chapter 24 remember the good faithful slave versus the evil slave we're all slaves and so when we're serving our fellow slaves we're really serving

[9:44] Jesus himself and the reward that we receive is eternal life with our king here is the great final judgment Jesus comes and judges all the nations everyone will be held accountable to the great king of Israel to the judge of the universe there's only one God and there's only one judge his name is Jesus all will be called to give an account now this may be it is one of the most difficult if not the most difficult passage to interpret in Matthew's gospel it's true it is to what does this refer at the outset when you read it you're thinking is salvation based on our good works it depends entirely on what Jesus meant by the phrase my brothers or the least of these

[10:47] I think I read one comment here there's like what is saying nine twelve something like that different interpretations there's like a plethora of interpretations on this but there's actually three main views that people will land on first view is salvation is based on our good works that's one of the main that's one of the main views second view this is how the nations treated the Jews some strong dispensationalists take this view view two the third view that's the view that we're going to take and and if you want to take another view you're more than welcome to be wrong it's fine I'm sorry was that out loud I'm just kidding how the sheep took care of needy Christians it's the third view how the sheep and it's coming from how Jesus described them sheep or you can say sheep slash righteous how the righteous took care of needy

[12:04] Christians maybe missionaries maybe being possibly more specific to that but definitely generally taking care of needy Christians our fellow brethren just a view we will take just a view I take in this passage those who trust Christ they have their faith tested by how they treated those within the faith community their faith is demonstrated by their good works works that help their needy brethren true followers of Jesus care for their spiritual brethren siblings the goats are the fakers believers this is like what Jesus started back in chapter 24 in verse 45 with the faithful good servant and then the evil servant or evil slave

[13:07] Jesus calls him later on in the end of chapter 24 that he will have his place with the hypocrites remember that's where it started that theme the goats are the fakers whose lack of help faithful works demonstrates they were not true followers of Jesus because see faith equals justification plus works we're saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone but the faith that saves is never alone our works are evidence of the grace of God at work in our lives we started out here in chapter 24 verse 36 I express this to you there's two groups that Jesus presents to us saved lost prepared unprepared responsible faithful wise slave irresponsible faithless wicked slave the wise virgins the moronic virgins the good faithful slaves five talents two talents and the wicked lazy slave one talent and now the sheep and the goats he's just following suit how we started in chapter 24 verse 36 hypocrisy with the evil slave hypocrisy with the five moronic virgins hypocrisy with the slave given one talent and now the truth is revealed you won't be able to hide from

[14:48] Jesus the real versus the fake see friends being alert equals being faithful get on with the task your lord is graciously entrusted to you we're called to display faithful compassion in our lives and will be rewarded for displaying that service because displaying that will display no pun intended displaying that will display your true heart these are solemn words spoken by Jesus this is an intense passage this is weighty even Aaron when you're reading that passage in Revelation 20 that was weighty so friends take a hard look at yourself today your eternal destiny is at stake today if you don't know

[15:54] Jesus ah friend may you repent and trust him today may you not leave today without turning from your sin and trusting Christ even if you're there in the live stream for you as well you should trust Christ you should come to Jesus he the words of Jesus what he says here let's break this down let's walk through this passage and we'll start here first our judge and his judgment comes in verse 31 but when the son of man comes Jesus favored designation of himself son of man comes in his glory and all the angels with him then he will sit on his throne of glory he'll come in his glory the angels with him sit on his throne of glory there's an emphasis here he came first as a humble servant to die for sinners but when he comes again he's going to come in glory his coming will be marked by majesty splendor great glory and this is probably slightly the great white throne judgment of revelation chapter 20 which Aaron read for us a few moments ago our judge and his judgment comes and notice the second point to this all identities are revealed and there's really only two but it's revealed you can't hide from Jesus verse 32 and to verse 33 and all the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats everyone is gathered before Jesus

[17:50] Jesus the judge will judge every human being because he has that right as the one who is resurrected from the dead he'll judge all your skin color won't matter white or black he'll be judged are you ready to be judged by Jesus are you ready to face to face him to see the king and notice this first action he separates the sheep from the goats as a shepherd would separate sheep from goats so Jesus would do the same and notice verse 33 and he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left the right is the place of honor the left is the place of shame being cursed and notice he already knew those who belonged to him he already knew those who were his sheep and those who did not belong to him those who were not his sheep those who were his goats here you see already right in front of us the great doctrine of sovereign election it's not the first time this idea is mentioned in Matthew's gospel

[19:27] John the Baptist chapter 3 verse 12 the wheat from the chaff chapter 13 verse 30 verse 48 verse 49 separating the wheat from the tares that's not the first time Jesus has mentioned this and Jesus had just said that he would gather together his elect in chapter 24 verse 31 the sheep are favored by Jesus the goats did not receive his favor friends remember the reason why people believe the gospel is because they're chosen he knew them like a shepherd knows his sheep John chapter 10 Matthew chapter 7 verse 23 I never knew you chapter 24 verse 12 the bridegroom says to those five moronic virgins

[20:34] I don't know you he knows a sheep sheep so sheep are Jesus disciples his followers those who trust him and you'll see the next points the next piece of the passage once again the emphasis about the doctrine of election so you have our judge and his judgment comes all identities are revealed there's only two three walking us through this text the father's sheep are rewarded 34 to 40 notice then the king the sentiment is the king will say to those on his right come the ones blessed of my father the father's sheep are rewarded and notice first of all blessed of my father they received the blessing of the father in other words they belong to the father and the father has shown them his amazing grace and service they do not deserve this they do not merit this

[21:55] God showed his blessing the father showed his blessing to them notice what he says the next part of verse 34 inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world before so they're blessed of the father they belong to the father he's shown them his amazing grace and service and because they've been blessed by the father they will inherit the kingdom which was prepared for them before the beginning of the world before their existence unconditional election is glaring at us right now one writer said this quote the basis of their salvation hence also of these good deeds is their having been chosen from eternity mercy we receive mercy we're given

[23:02] God's grace he shows us compassion in Christ we did nothing to deserve it so this election this belonging to the father they've inherited the kingdom prepared for them before before they were even in existence a question how did God's election practically play itself out in their lives practically in practical ways how did they show they belong to Jesus verse 35 for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat thirsty drink stranger you invited me naked you clothed me sick you visited me in prison you came to me these six ministries

[24:06] Jesus was all of these to them and these sheep acted accordingly so as to help to serve and notice the sheep in verse 37 the sheep excuse me the righteous notice it's interchanged the righteous they're the sheep the righteous will answer him Lord when we see you hungry feed you thirsty give you drink see stranger invite you naked clothe you you sick or in prison and come to you they were not surprised that they're entering the kingdom mind you they were surprised that their service to destitute brethren was really a service to Jesus himself wait when did we see you like this in all these ways that they were showing love we were doing this to you verse 40 and the king answering will say to them truly

[25:15] I say to you in so far as another way to translate that you did to one of these brothers of mine the least you did to me if they did these things for one of Jesus little brother or sister they were in essence helping serving him their sheep because they were elected by the father and they showed they were sheep by how they treated their needy brethren this is the basis of their reward and that phrase least of these the least or little ones it's not the first time that Jesus used this phrase chapter 10 verse 42 give these little ones a cup of cold water in my name chapter 18 verse 6 these little ones who received me don't let them stumble in chapter 18 verse 6 verse 10 verse 14 see friends these are true humble disciples of Jesus who've received

[26:33] Jesus those who receive these little ones are really in essence receiving Jesus it's so vital to understand the whole context of Matthew's gospel then we'll be able to accurately understand what Jesus means here when he says least of these these brothers of mine as his people as we go on mission even the great commission we will face and experience hardships difficulties trials so we'll need help from our fellow brethren to endure hard times and those who receive the message of Jesus will come to our aid so when these brethren help those in need they're helping Jesus see we should have a special love for each other as the body of

[27:34] Christ once again we see true believers highly value the kingdom of God and remember the context of kingdom when Jesus mentions about the reference to kingdom he's talking about the church us gathered together as God's people we value the kingdom we value the local body we value each other we value the church because we are his body we as Christians should be known as those who care for each other how can we say we love God yet hate our fellow brother or sister in Christ I don't need to make a statement about racism why by this all men will know that you're my disciples John 13 as you love one another we should be the very display of what racial reconciliation is all about because reconciliation must happen first with

[28:45] God and when you're reconciled with God then you can reconcile with anybody especially a fellow believer right and we believe that right so the Bible teaches but be kind to one another tenderhearted forgiving each other just as God in Christ has forgiven you the gospel undergirds all of this I mentioned this Wednesday we should be the poster child of reconciliation of there's diverse ethnicities but there's such unity in Christ from every nation tribe tongue and people God has ransomed a people for himself all friends in the kingdom there'll be all shades there'll be all shades and there'll be millions and millions of them all around you on that day we should be the very example of this to know we love

[29:58] Jesus when we value his kingdom the goats are judged notice verse 41 then he'll say to those on his left go from me same words he expressed in chapter 7 verse 23 depart from me cursed ones into the eternal fire these goats are cursed and sent to the eternal fire because they did not do these six acts of mercy to Jesus or rather to Jesus brothers or sisters their true colors are shown as with the wicked lazy slave with the one talent as with the five moronic virgins earlier in chapter 25 as with the evil slave towards the end of chapter 24 so here their true colors are revealed and notice what Jesus says here about the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels angels try and make sense of that because what

[31:27] Jesus is saying is the eternal fire was originally not made for humans but for the devil and his angels or his demons so when did when did he make it when did he make hell like after the fall between Genesis chapter 2 and 3 I don't know but there's a point here that needs to be made the eternal fire was originally not made for humans kind of puts out of our minds the fact that God is some sadistic sadomasochist the eternal habitation will be with the devil and his demonic realm and notice what he says verse 42 for

[32:30] I was hungry gave nothing to eat thirsty gave me nothing to drink stranger you'd invite me naked you'd not clothe me sick in prison you'd not visit me see they committed the sin of omission they did not serve the brother sister in Christ when they were in their time of need they showed by the way they lived they rejected Jesus and his message their hypocrisy was revealed you can't hide from Jesus that's daunting isn't it at least it should be it should be weighty on us in a good way we can't we can't hide from the king he knows all they had no consciousness of having failed to serve Jesus verse 44 then they themselves also answered saying Lord interestingly they call them Lord when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger naked sick or in prison and did not take care of you literally serve you that's why

[33:41] I've been using that word that verb serving service the noun form that's what that means where actually we get the word diakonos we get the word deacon when do when do we not see all these things that did not deacon you serve you did no consciousness of having failed to serve Jesus yet if they were beating their fellow slaves and partying remember chapter 24 verse 49 remember that evil slave says oh my master he's taking a long time to come so he starts beating his fellow slaves and partying all the time then their lives drastically showed how they failed to serve Jesus it's hypocrisy see friends that's why this is a warning where are you at with Jesus where are you at with the king you answer them saying truly

[35:01] I say to you in so far as you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do to me you didn't serve me you didn't serve my people you didn't serve my sheep you didn't serve those who follow me you didn't serve my disciples so you weren't serving me you didn't serve me you didn't serve me you didn't serve me in verse 46 the final destiny and these will go away into eternal punishment notice the inversion versus the punishment and then the reward those on the left go to the eternal punishment friends eternal damnation is real it is true it is biblical Jesus himself said it either you take Jesus words for it or you think he's an idiot he's a liar there's no in between are you one of his own you need to be sure you know

[36:13] Jesus or rather that he knows you but the righteous Jesus says notice he used the phrase righteous who are the sheep into eternal life one group is not annihilated while the other group lives forever no both live forever some in forever torment separated from God and yet the righteous they'll be to forever bliss with their king in unspeakable joy in the presence of God unspeakable joy joy that continues and grows more and more and more oh what a glorious day that will be take a hard look at yourself today these are solemn words spoken by Jesus your eternal destiny is at stake come to

[37:20] Jesus today don't wait don't wait here Jesus he's the king right the judge of the whole world right and you know what the irony is in this whole thing you'll see it happen next week as is his last main discourse and then this king this judge will allow himself to be delivered up to be crucified on our behalf for his sheep who will take eternal life excuse me eternal hell for you so that you can have eternal life he will take the brunt of the wrath of God upon himself he will take eternal punishment for his sheep so that way we can be rewarded with eternal life isn't that such irony

[38:35] Jesus calls us to be alert prepared for his coming and he warns us of the judgment to come by exhorting us as his disciples to faithful compassionate stewardship to our brethren he has shown us his compassion he has shown us such great compassion may we show that same compassion to each other that we value God we value his kingdom is this not what this world needs they need that they're so lost and they're so fallen and they're so backwards they have no idea compassionate stewardship is shown by helping our fellow believers in their time of need we come to their aid why do we do this the text told us the two reasons because we'll be rewarded for our works which display true faith in our king and the father's election of us and because serving our fellow slaves is really a service to

[40:04]  Jesus himself we're serving our king beware of the judgment to come it would be a people who are compassionate stewards would you pray with me and father thank you that we fall so short of that and we know which is why Jesus you had to die because we fall short that's very clear so we thank you we turn from sin we repent of the times where we're not loving each other we're not caring for each other we're not showing compassion to each other we pray that we as your church as your kingdom a small part of your kingdom here and all different parts throughout this whole world there's all the little parts of your kingdom everywhere throughout the whole world but for us here a small little portion of your kingdom may we display that work in us as we're so raptured by your grace and your compassion toward us help me help us to show that same compassion to each other let your gospel flow out of us in word and in deed and we pray that you spirit would work in us empower us to do that to display these works that we have true faith in our king in jesus name amen sing a couple more songs together and then i'll make a announcement thanks aaron pat i