We are at the end of this Olivet Discourse. It's the famous sermon. or teaching section in Matthew 24 and 25, where on Tuesday of Passion Week, Jesus began to explain two main subjects with his disciples. A coming judgment on Jerusalem that would happen in 70 AD, and a subject that shifts to the future second coming of Jesus that will also bring judgment, but in a final way. A way that is spoken about in our passage this morning, and that we've already seen in the last several weeks passages and parables, most specifically, dealing with his return. I think a shift to the new subject of his return happened in chapter 2436. We don't have time to go over why, but if you missed any of the Olivet Discourse sermons, this is the seventh sermon and final one in the Olivet Discourse, and you can get them on the church website to catch up and get the full teaching of these chapters. Jesus has been instructing his disciples through Old Testament examples and through parables that must do the following. He wants us to be ready, he wants us to be watchful, and he wants us to be faithful. Those three ideas are woven through these parables and have been clear up to this point. The reason for readiness, watchfulness, and for faithfulness is because the return of Christ will come unexpectedly. He doesn't give them a bunch of signs to be looking for. He says it's really going to be life going on as normal, like in the days of Noah, when they were marrying and giving in marriage and going about their daily life. And they were planning for the future and thinking about what is to come and for their own lives, but only having their lives in view. They were only caring about the here and the now. And Jesus is wanting to draw our attention to a future hope for the people of God that Christ will return. This is something that all of the Christian creeds have held in the earliest centuries of the church. And I think it's because it's a right reading of scripture. It has been a precious truth that he will come again to judge the quick and the dead and he will come to raise and he will come to judge and put into everlasting states all of mankind. So therefore we have the need for readiness, watchfulness and faithfulness for the Lord will come. There is a twist in our passage this morning, just as there have been in previous parables, a bit of a curveball. The twist in the passage this morning, though, isn't in the return of Christ or the separation of believer and unbeliever at the judgment. We've actually seen truths about His coming and the separation of peoples at His judgment already in the Olivet Discourse. The twist comes in the reactions of the people at the judgment when Jesus projects this kind of conversation to happen with believers and unbelievers, the sheep and the goats, those on his right and left. And their responses are surprising. So the surprise for the reader is the surprise of the people. They are surprised at what he is saying because to their recollection, they haven't had any opportunities where they have fed, clothed, housed, provided for, and welcomed him. And it becomes apparent in the story that he says some people did seize such opportunities, and he has to explain to them why. Others did not seize such opportunities. And these different responses, they expose the different hearts of the groups. We're not dealing with the same kind of person here. We're dealing with believer and unbeliever in the passage, sheep and goat, righteous and unrighteous, saved and lost. These are binary. There is no ambiguity here. There's no gray or third middle way. They're either lost or they're saved. You're not a little bit pregnant. You're not a little bit saved. You know, I mean, you either are or you aren't. And so you have this truth here of these binary options of save and loss under the metaphors of sheep and goats. None of the two groups remember having opportunity to serve and care for Jesus. But that doesn't mean opportunities weren't given. It doesn't mean they weren't seized. It just means that the groups didn't see the opportunities for what they were. That's the surprise. The groups are saying, wait a second, when did we house you, clothe you, feed you, give you drink? So Jesus first speaks to the sheep, and then he addresses the goats. And this makes the passage end on a warning note, similar to the same kind of thing you've seen in the parables before this. They're ending on a warning note because he wants his people to be encouraged and exhorted, but he wants them to be warned so that they know how to rightly fear and what to rightly think and how to rightly live in light of what's coming. The warning has been the main point in all the passages of the Olivet Discourse. They should be ready. They should be watchful. They should be faithful. And he is coming when they least expect it. We want to explore the connection, especially this morning, between Jesus and the group he refers to as the least of these my brothers. I think that this passage is a very appropriate place to note common misunderstandings and misinterpretations of this phrase. And what in the world does it mean? And how might we love the least of these my brothers or sisters and therefore serve and honor Christ? So we want to look at the passage in three parts. Verses 31 to 33 give us the gathering of the nations for judgment, and then it's at the judgment where the next two parts take place. The second part is the words of the king to the sheep, verses 34 to 40, and then the words of the king to the goats, verses 41 to 46. So what is being pictured here is the return of Christ, the gathering of all people, and he addresses them. He addresses them and then they are responding so that in this projected dialogue, we're able to learn what we ought to learn, exhorted rightly and warned rightly. So may the Lord give us ears to hear this morning's text. What an important passage we have before us in verse 31 through 33, the gathering of the nations for judgment. Notice, he says, when the son of man comes in his glory, it's been clear up through this point that the son of man is Jesus's favorite self designation in his ministry. It's a title rooted in Daniel 7. In Daniel 7, there's someone like a son of man that comes to the ancient of days with the clouds. And he receives authority over all things. And Jesus identifies himself again and again in his teachings as this figure that was still ambiguous in the minds of the people. And they were still putting flesh on to try and understand what this Daniel 7 figure was going to do. But nonetheless, it's rooted in a glorious passage in the son of man goes to the ancient of days with the clouds, which is a place of vindication, a place of exaltation, a place of deity to be with God on the clouds. It's to make one think of the presence of God himself, the presence of God itself. Speaking of the presence of God, look at verse 31, where he comes in his glory and all the angels with him. This speaks of the supremacy and superiority of Jesus here. He's coming in his glory. This second return is very different from the first one. The first coming of Christ, he comes as a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. It doesn't seem to us, to the naked eye, that that's a coming in glory. And if maybe we designed what the presentation and the circumstances would look like, there may have been pomp and circumstance and the whole world would have known that everybody was no doubt asleep going about their own daily lives and patterns of night behavior when the Christ was born. The second coming, though, the second coming, it says He will come in His glory which speaks of the divine glory that does belong to the Son of God. He prays in John's Gospel, chapter 17, that when He goes to be with the Father, He will have the glory that He had with the Father before all the world began. This speaks of the deity of the Son of God. Jesus, speaking of the Son of Man coming in His glory, does not believe Himself to simply be a virtuous, noble teacher. Jesus believes that all the nations of the world are going to be gathered before him. You're either crazy to say that, or you have the authority because you are God to say such a thing. But what we can't be is indifferent about Jesus. Because to say the kind of thing that he's saying here is something that's appropriate only for one who has the authority and exalted state as God to make this claim. We must consider these kinds of statements of Jesus. He comes in glory with his angels. The angels are coming with him. It's this picture of heavenly pomp and circumstance. It's this picture of acclaim and this parade of angelic support and angelic host. We've been able to see throughout the Bible many occasions where God uses angelic messengers for his word. And we see angels ministering to Jesus after his temptation in Matthew 4. We see Jesus saying that he could call down angels if he wanted to, to spare him the betrayal and the suffering and the death that was to come. And so Jesus coming in glory is pictured here with all the angels, this heavenly support system and worship throng. They're coming with him. He will sit on his glorious throne. I think this is the picture here of the end. I think this is the picture here of the awaited return when Christ comes to rule his world. all and making all things new, coming to sit on his glorious throne. In other words, there's a glorious coming to a glorious throne. And this is a throne that will never be abdicated, a throne that will never be replaced, but rather Christ ruling and reigning forever. What is he doing when he comes? It tells us in verse 32 that he comes for judgment. He comes for judgment. In verse 32, he gathers before him all nations. And I take this to mean quite literally everybody, because everybody is going to fit in that phrase. He's gathering all nations and separating people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. It's the kind of situation Jesus spoke about in Matthew 12, when he said in Matthew 12, 41, the men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it. So he's speaking there of those who believed in Jonah's day, who were believers, rising up for the judgment with this generation, Jesus says, and they were rejecting him. And they would be the ones who would see their temple destroyed in 70 AD. They were a wicked and rebellious generation. I believe that Scripture sees these events happening at the same time, so that this gathering of the nations in verse 32 is a gathering of all nations through resurrection, because people have died. How are all nations going to be gathered and rightly separated? Well, I think in Matthew 12, you see that at the judgment, they rise to the judgment. And he says the men of Nineveh are going to rise with this generation and then condemn it. In other words, they'll be vindicated. And the people of this generation of Jesus's day will be rightly seen to be the unbelievers they are. I think what we're awaiting is the return of Christ at which all people will be raised from the dead. And this glorious separation will happen before this glorious throne. Jesus says the Son of Man will separate people again. Notice Jesus doesn't say you're all going to face God one day. Jesus believes they're going to face him. Jesus believes that everybody on Earth will be raised and separated before him. It tells us in verse 32, he will separate one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. It might seem weird that goats and sheep are together. You need to know that surrounding the lands in Palestine, it was very common for sheep and goats to be together. The shepherd would have them in the flock. The flock of sheep and goats would then be separated at night. The goats wanted to be inside, and the sheep preferred to be outside in the pen. And so at the end of the time, this large herd and flock of sheep and goats would be together, and he would separate them at the end for the night. This pictures here that there are a lot of people who might seem to belong and might profess to know Christ, but there will be a separation of people by the Lord Jesus Himself, the Son of Man. And in verse 32, the metaphor of sheep and goats might remind us of promises in John's Gospel and even in the Old Testament. In John 10, Jesus says that He's the Good Shepherd. and that the sheep hear His voice. And then we learn from the Old Testament that in Ezekiel 34, God was very upset with the shepherds of Israel and Jesus in Ezekiel's day. That prophet had many unfaithful leaders that were leading people astray, and God promised in Ezekiel 34 to one day shepherd the people Himself and set up David over them to rule. And I take that to mean that David, who was a shepherd and a king, was a type and a foreshadowing of the ultimate shepherd king, Jesus Himself. So Jesus, in coming and making promises like this, is our shepherd king. Is our shepherd king. Because notice in verse 31, someone who sits on a throne is a king. And that the imagery shifts in verse 32 to a shepherd. So if you say, well, what is it? Is he coming as a king? Is he coming as a shepherd? Well, a shepherd king was a very important image that reminded people of David in the Old Testament. And Jesus is the true and greater David. He's the one who will rule with the promise of that Davidic covenant forever and forever. And so in. Verse 32, you have this picture of him gathering all people, the nations, I think, coming and gathering by resurrection from the dead and then being separated, every one of them without exception into two categories. He gives these metaphors of sheeps and goats. Notice he says in verse 33 that the sheep are on his right and the goats are on his left. And the right seems to be the position of favor and honor. It's like if you were somebody's right hand or my right hand man, you know, we use phrases like that. It's somebody that's important and valued. It's someone who would have your favor and blessing. The left is the opposite here, isn't it? It's a place of disfavor. It's a place of dishonor. So when he's separating, this is a separation of exposing those who are righteous and wicked, those who are believers and unbelievers. the picture of final judgment. So that's verses 31 to 33, as the scene is set for us, the gathering of the nations for judgment. Now, Jesus is going to speak to these two groups. And in verses 34 to 40, he gives the words to the sheep. It tells us in verse 34, the king, because he is a shepherd king, will say to those on his right these words, come you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. This is similar to parables that we've seen already, like the parable of the talents last week. where Jesus said, they will hear on that day, come enter into the joy of your master. Or, like in the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25, 1-13, the people will enter the wedding feast, finally. Those who have prepared and been faithful and ready, and then the door will be shut. It's this picture of entering the final feast. The picture of arriving at where all of those promises and all of those shadows have been pointing. Even in the New Testament, what Jesus has been doing, all of His miracles and all of His promises still point to this final glorious day. And I think when He's telling them in verse 34, come, inherit the kingdom prepared for you, He's not saying they haven't been kingdom citizens already. He's not saying they haven't been raised from death to life spiritually already. But what He's saying is, what has begun in you is now being received in its fullness and consummation. So we have a sense of the kingdom of God that has come already. And there is a sense in which the kingdom is not yet. We live in this overlap of the ages, this tension. And in verse 34, I think he's inviting them to come to the fullness and reality of what awaits the people of God. He calls it an inheritance. He says, inherit the kingdom, because in Christ it is ours. We are co-heirs with him because we are children of Abraham and all the promises and the blessings are ours in Christ. That's what Galatians teaches. That's what Romans teaches. And I think this is what Jesus has in mind here. They are blessed because they have inheritance. So he tells them you're blessed by my father inherit the kingdom for you. I think the fundamental idea of the blessing here is the blessing they're getting this blessing of inheritance of all that God has promised them. Notice here it's been prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I think we should pause for a moment to just process the incredible reality that Christ and His promises and all that He has in store for His people were never plan B. It was always plan A. So that what you see at the end of the world is God bringing to pass where it's all been heading from the Garden of Eden forward. This has been prepared, this reality, this glorious inheritance, before there was a world, before there was a you or a me, that has been the plan. So much so that in the book of Revelation, the lamb is described as a lamb that has been slain from the foundation of the world. And I think what it's doing is conveying for us that in God's sovereign wisdom, he is unfolding the plan of the ages that has been ordained from the foundation of the world. And it has been prepared for us. We don't have the emotions that are fitting for this kind of mercy. We don't have the kind of responses that we need or that we will one day have that are fitting the very awareness that this is what God has for his people. From the foundation of the world, this is what is true. A king having an inheritance for his people. Jesus has been portrayed as the king in Matthew up to this point already. Matthew 1 traces his genealogy through King David and compares him to a new and greater David. Matthew 1, 1 calls him the son of David. And then in Matthew 2, 2, magi seek him, the one born king of the Jews. Jesus declares that the Kingdom is here and they should repent because the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand in Matthew 4. We learn that in the earthly ministry of Jesus, His triumphal entry in Matthew 21, He comes as the Son of David. Hosanna, Hosanna, they sing. Because He's riding in, pictured as the King that one day they would see. The Sanhedrin later accuses him in Matthew 27 of claiming to be the king of the Jews. Later, they mock him as king by putting that very title on the cross itself. Matthew doesn't want you to miss this point that Jesus is the king. And that before this king, we will come, we will be raised and gathered with the nations and there will be a separation and the people of God will receive the inheritance prepared for them from the foundation of the world. And the people on the right, they say to Jesus and Jesus goes on to say to them in verses thirty five and thirty six, why? And he says, for I was hungry and you gave me food thirsty and you gave me drink a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Verses thirty five and thirty six. These are about physical needs, aren't they? In fact, you can boil it down to the three basic needs that humans have food, shelter and companionship. They have him. They give him, he says, what sustains him physically. They welcomed him in as a stranger for shelter and they were visiting him when he was sick, visiting him when he was in prison. And the righteous say to him. Lord, in verse 37, when did this happen? I mean, those are six incredible need meeting statements. Did you count them? The first is Hungry and you gave me food. Second, thirsty and you gave me drink. Third, stranger and you welcomed me. Fourth, naked and you clothed me. Fifth, sick and you visited me. And sixth, in prison and you came to me. They say, when was this the case? In verses 37 and 38, they repeat that whole list. When did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see a stranger and welcome you and naked and clothe you? When were you sick and in prison and we visited you? Jesus says in verse 40, I say to you, as you did it to the one of least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. Now, this is where we come to an important phrase in the gospel, a phrase that I think has earlier parallels to help us interpret it this way, that the least of these, my brothers, is a reference to the saints of God in need. I think we must be very careful here. Sometimes the phrase the least of these is used to describe in general those who are poor and needy. And I don't think that's what Jesus means here in this passage. I think you can make a case for caring for the poor and needy in general, using Old Testament passages and other New Testament passages. The question, though, is, is that what Jesus is meaning here? Because you can make that case elsewhere, but sometimes people have the right notion about something and they use the wrong text to do it. You've got to find the right text for the right thing that you're advocating. Now here, I'm going to try and make a case that he is talking about the saints of God, the brothers and sisters of Christ, the church of Jesus Christ. one of least of these my brothers. We've seen a shift already in Matthew's gospel where Jesus redefines who his brothers and sisters are. He does this in Matthew 12, 48 through 50. They come to him while he's teaching in the house and they say, Jesus, your mother and your brothers, your sisters are all out here. Jesus says, oh, my mother and brother and sister, my family are those who are receiving this teaching and doing the will of God. It's a spiritual family that Jesus is understanding this to mean. And the idea of the least of these, my brothers, goes back to the idea of the child that Jesus puts forward as an example in Matthew 18 of those who believe. They come like a child dependent and needing God and knowing what God has in his high exalted position. They come as a child in need in Matthew 18. And then that child is used in various other ways in Matthew 18 to make the point. So I just want to point to you a few places. Because I think Matthew 25 and this phrase this morning, one of the least of these, my brothers, is often misused. The right idea might be behind someone's intent, but they're using the wrong text to substantiate it. So there are other texts that can be used to make that case. That's just not our purpose this morning. We're wanting to look at what is Jesus saying about with this verse or what is he saying with this verse? And in Matthew 18, it tells us. In verse five, that whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. So you have this connection between receiving this person who believes like the child and receiving Jesus. The key here is there's an, there's an inseparable connection between Jesus and his church. So that to oppose and go against and neglect the church of Jesus Christ. Is to oppose and neglect Jesus Christ himself. The connection must be seen to be this, whoever receives this child in my name receives me. And then he says, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it'd be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and be drowned in the depth of the sea. So this child is used in Matthew 18 to represent disciples, not because we're actually children, right? Because, of course, we grow physically, mentally, spiritually, intellectually. The point is that we come with childlike faith. Someone's got to believe like a child would in dependence upon Christ in Matthew 18. You can see this in verse 10 of that chapter, Matthew 18, 10. See that you don't despise one of these little ones. I tell you, in heaven, their angels always see the face of my father who's in heaven. I think he still has in mind the disciples. not necessarily physical children, though, including them if they're believers. And then in Matthew 18, verse 14, it is the will of my father who's in heaven that not one of these little ones should perish. Again, referring to the child likeness of the disciple of Christ, that we are secure and will never perish. But look a little earlier in Matthew's gospel, Matthew chapter 10. He says in Matthew 10, verse 40, Whoever receives you receives me. Now, who is he talking to in Matthew 10? He's talking to his disciples. Again, the child is used in Matthew 18 to illustrate representatively believers. It's most clear, I think, in Matthew 10, 40, because he talks about disciples that are going to be received by others. He said, whoever receives you receives me. You see the connection there? Jesus inseparably connected to his church. Whoever receives me receives him who sent me. The one who receives a prophet because he's a prophet will receive a prophet's reward. And the one who receives a righteous person because he's a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward. Then look in verse 42, whoever gives one of these little ones a cup of cold water because he is a disciple. Truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. So you have the idea of meeting a physical need where clearly disciples of Christ are in view and they're spoken of as one of these little ones, one of these little ones. The reason that matters is because the language of the little ones or the least of these, it makes you think of someone who would be in need as a believer. That's picked up in our passage this morning in Matthew 25. So I think Jesus has been very consistent using the image of childlike faith and coming to him like a child and little ones, brothers, sisters that are a spiritual family as what's in view here and the people who receive them, who, in other words, who bless and who are for the church of Jesus Christ, that is a good thing. If we look at our passage this morning in Matthew 25, let's put the pieces together. He tells him in verse 35, I was hungry and you fed me thirsty. I was a stranger. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick. I was in prison. This is true in Jesus's day for believers who, in reading Matthew's gospel, have been faithful in such points that have led them into sickness, that have landed them in prison. And these believers have needs. They might need food. They might need shelter. They might need a drink. They might need companionship. So Jesus, I think, is speaking actually very specifically here with earlier passages paralleled in view that he's talking about the believers in the church of Jesus Christ who are in need. And he says, what did you do when this was the case? Well, when they said when he says to them, you did this for me and they say in verse 37, when did we do this? Verses 37 and 30 through 39. He tells him in verse 40, when you did it to them, you did it to me. The reason the Church of Jesus Christ, disciples in particular, should be in view is because the connection is between Jesus and his church. Jesus does not have an inseparable connection with unbelievers. Do you see the point here? Earlier in Matthew, to receive the disciple is to receive Jesus. They're connected. Think about Acts 9. Paul is going to Damascus. He's persecuting the people of God. But what does Jesus ask him? Paul's persecuting the people. Jesus says, why do you persecute me? Because in opposing the people of God, he's opposing Jesus Christ. You see in Acts 9? Think about the image in 1 Corinthians 12 about the head and the body. I think the organic connection between Christ and His church is seen most perfectly in the head-body metaphor of 1 Corinthians 12. If I gash my arm, I can say, my arm hurts. But because I feel everything with this head connection to my body, I can say, oh man, I'm in pain. And I'm also saying something that is true, even though I'm speaking about something that's just a part of my body at the same time, I am in pain, even though it's just a particular part. If Jesus is speaking here about the body of Christ and there are needs in the body of Christ that these people are caring for and serving and loving, then the head is being served in the body being cared for. Do you see the connection? I think the connection has to be seen this way. Otherwise, I think we do violence to the interpretation of what Jesus means when he says the least of these my brothers. He says when you did it to them, you did it to me. I tell you what I think this ultimately goes back to is Genesis when Abraham is given great promises in Genesis 12. And in Genesis 12. He's told. I will make of you a great nation and I will bless those who bless you. In verse three, and him who dishonors you, I will curse. Jesus is the ultimate son of Abraham. True and greater Isaac, Matthew tells us in Matthew one, one, the son of Abraham. And Jesus is the heir of all God's promises. And in Christ, we are co-heirs with him. And therefore, the promises are true for him so that any who oppose him or the people of God should expect judgment. But as we care for and love the people of God, it is a way of loving and serving Christ as well. So notice the language used here. The ones on the right are blessed and the ones on the left, the goats are cursed. The same language used in Genesis 12 for Abraham. I think in Genesis 12, you've got a organic line that goes all the way to the day of judgment. Those promises are never revoked, but they're for God's son and the people in his son that we might be blessed and favored of God in Christ and in Christ alone. Here's what I think this puts us in the position to ask. Do we love the people of God? Do we desire to care for and serve the Church of Jesus Christ as we walk together disciples of our Lord? I think it's an important, impressing question that we have to consistently ask ourselves, because the life of the disciple is not a plateau. It's a slope. So that if we are not striving in love for one another, we are sliding in the wrong direction. We must strive and pursue others and seeking others' interests more than our own in Philippians 2. Loving and caring for the body of Christ. This is the call on every one of us. And here's what Jesus tells us. As we serve and love one another, it is honoring and glorifying to him. But the converse is also horrifically true. That's the danger in the story, is that this second group, these goats, have a whole different experience. So let's look at his words to them. In verse 41, we get to the third part of the passage, the words of the king to the goats. And he says to those on his left, Depart from me. Notice the contrast. Earlier, he said, come to those on the right. These, he says, depart. Doesn't this remind you of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7, when Jesus says, those of you on that day, many are going to say, Lord, Lord, but I'm going to say, depart from me, worker of iniquity, workers of lawlessness. You've not done the will of my father who is in heaven. So this, just as Matthew 7, I think, had the ultimate judgment of Christ in view, this too has the judgment seat of Christ in view. And in verse 41, he says, Depart from me, you cursed, because where they're going is not blessing. It is not inheritance for the people of God. Where they're going is what is reserved for the wicked. And to typify most clearly who belongs there, he lists the devil and his angels in this eternal fire prepared for them. This is a ghastly image. Notice Jesus comes with his angels in glory. The devil also has angels. And so passages like this are used by those who work on Christian doctrines to show how there are rebellious angels who have gone in league with the evil one himself. The devil and his angels here are portrayed as those that will experience everlasting punishment. If you have imagined Satan being the prince of hell, who for all eternity is going to be prancing around in glee, That is not the picture here. Satan will face everlasting judgment and all of his angels. It's not like hell is the safest place for him. No. It is a place of destruction and judgment, eternally so. This is a promise worked out in Revelation 20 when Satan is cast into the lake of fire. I think this is what Paul promised in Romans 16, 20, when he tells the readers of Romans that God will soon crush Satan underneath your feet. So we have a defeat of Satan that we can say took place at the cross and the full fruits of what Christ accomplished will be worked out in the eternal judgment of Satan himself in the future. For now, he prowls around like a roaring lion, 1 Peter 5 tells us. Revelation 12 depicts Him as a dragon cast down to earth, who knows that His time is short, so He pursues those who hold to the commandments of Christ. Here's what verse 41 tells us, friends. It tells us that God in His righteousness, in sending His Son, this return of Christ will mean a resurrection of the nations and a judgment of the nations, and it will include the devil and his angels who will perish. They will be judged eternally And this is a place for the wicked. He tells those on his left, depart from me into that, into the eternal fire typified by devil and his angels. What a horrific reality this is. This puts before us the reality of hell as a parallel idea to the reality of heaven. And just as we see the new creation eternally so, we should also see the reality and destruction and judgment of hell as eternally so. not as something that's temporary, not as something where people get a second chance, not as something where they will be later annihilated and will no longer exist. The parallel is in verse 46. They will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life, the life and the punishment of the sheep and the goats are eternal in their duration. They are eternal in their duration. And I think we compromise the parallel if we say, oh, no, believers will last forever, but God will eventually destroy the wicked and they will be annihilated. That's an appeal to an idea that seems more comforting to some people. It's sentimentally comforting because they may find it difficult to view the justice of God expressed in eternal hell to be something that they want to process. But I would just invite you to consider God's word. and to believe God's Word on this matter. That again and again, these images, they portray distress and judgment and punishment. But to call it eternal, parallel with the eternal life, does not seem to mean something that I think will one day come to an end, but rather eternal states in which these people are sent. Don't believe the lie, friends, that God doesn't send anybody to hell. On Judgment Day, Jesus will. He will say, depart from me into this eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Now, their surprise comes after his explanation. He explains in verses 42 to 43 why. He says, I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty, you gave me no drink. A stranger and you didn't welcome me. Naked, you didn't clothe me. Sick and in prison and you didn't visit me. And they say to him the same kind of surprising words that the sheep said earlier. They say in verse 44, Lord, when did this happen? When did we ever come across such opportunities where you were hungry, thirsty, stranger, naked, sick or in prison and didn't minister? His explanation is the same in verse 45. It's the connection between Jesus and his people. He says, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. You know, a lot of people say something that's completely out of bounds with the entire Bible. I can follow Jesus Christ, but I don't really need the church. We've got to be very careful when we see passages like this in Matthew 25. I mean, going to church does not save us, but the saved will love the people of God. They will be eternally with They will be eternally with the Lord. They will want to obey the commands of the New Testament given to the Church of Jesus Christ. Commands. So your whole obedience hangs on this, right? Commands to love one another and serve one another and consider one another. I mean, it assumes a gathering, doesn't it? It assumes an assembly of God's people. It's far too simplistic to say, well, going to church doesn't save us, so that's optional. No, the truth is the Bible doesn't teach that going to church saves you, but the Bible doesn't consider being with the people of God optional. It considers being with the people of God something that is a responsibility for all those who come to know Christ. And on this day of judgment, here are those on the left who did not love the people of God. And Jesus is giving this as a basis for their judgment, friends. Do you see the heaviness of this picture? Oh, that the Lord would renew and revive always in our hearts and minds, our love and care for each other. Lest our profession be mere profession. And on that last day, this be shown to be the case. Verse 46 ends with saying, these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. This is consistent with Jesus's words in John 5, 29, which say that those in the tombs will hear his voice and come out. And then those who've done good to the resurrection of life and then those who've committed evil to the resurrection of judgment. Again, this separation at the voice of the son of man, they rise and are gathered for judgment. The just and the unjust. This is what Daniel 12 to teaches people are waking from the dust, either to everlasting life or everlasting judgment. This is what Paul taught in Acts 24, that there will be a resurrection of the just and the unjust. Friends, this is what the Bible teaches and throughout church history. That is, this is what has been believed, exemplified by the creeds of the church. Christ will come again for resurrection and for judgment. And we need to see the heavy truths here that our love for the people of God is not some bonus optional thing that those who are just really, really serious about Jesus would might consider. No, no, no. We should consider the people of God as the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we don't want a decapitated discipleship where we say, well, I just want the head. I just want Jesus. It's going to be me and Jesus. We're not we're not an island here as a disciple of Christ. We have been grafted in and we have been linked in and every part of the body needs every other part. And we might know this most clearly by analogy with our own bodies. When one part stops working, when the leg or an arm or a part of our body, we, or has to go, we recognize the value of, of the parts of the body. And we should consider these truths as the church of Jesus Christ. Oh, the cosmos tale would buy the grace and mercy of God increase and abound in our love for each other. That was Paul's prayer for so many of his listeners in his letters. I pray that your love would abound. He loved hearing that they loved one another. And he said, I just want that to just increase. We should want that for ourselves and pray for it often that the Lord would do this kind of work. I'm going to close this morning with a couple of passages from First John. My voice is almost out. Bear with me. First John, chapter three. Verse 16. By this, we know love that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let's not love in word and talk, but in deed and in truth. Jesus is saying, let's really love one another and not just say we love one another, but like really care for and love one another. John says, that's what we should do. It's a way of living a self-sacrificing life for the sake of the church of Jesus Christ. Would you say this morning that that's your heart? That that's your mindset? Oh, that the Lord would give you grace to see the importance of this and cultivate that in you. One last one from 1 John 4. 1 John 4, 19, we love because he first loved us. And if anyone says, I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. For he doesn't love his brother whom he's seen. He can't love God whom he's not seen. This commandment we have from him, whoever loves God must must, must also love his brother. If we love the Lord Jesus Christ, we will love his church. And on Judgment Day, we will rise with the nations and we will be gathered before the Son of Man at his glorious throne. And he will say to us, come receive what has been prepared for you before the foundation of the world.