You may be seated. Jesus, we ask for your help now as we read your word, as we proclaim your word, as we receive your word, as we love your word, as we treasure what is there, as we want to be taught by your word, filled by your word, spurred on by your word, Lord, can even one of these things be done by the words of any of us, mine or anyone? No, but only by your word, and it attended by the Holy Spirit, it given to the hearts of faith and laid to our consciences, this, Lord, we pray for. We pray that it would be done, that your saints would grow in the knowledge and in the admiration of who Christ is, that we would have true affections for you, our Savior. May your name be glorified now, if you would be so kind and so gracious to deal this way with us according to what Christ's work has won for us. In your name, amen. Well, as you'll recall, we're dealing in this section with Christ's final major instructions given to his disciples after Jesus had dealt with the Pharisees and the leaders, and after the disciples had come to Jesus and asked them about the signs of the times and when will be your return, doubtless they thinking that Christ's return would be soon. and they conflating two events, right? One event was the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and one, of course, the return of Christ at the end of the age. The first foreshadowing the second. And so Jesus, having straightened these things out for them and giving them specific commands, both near-term and long-term for all of his church broadly, Jesus has now been urging and pressing his disciples on specifically to perseverance in the faith, to being ready, to watching and waiting for his return. And we've seen three parables, right? We saw the foolish servant who began to beat his fellow servants on the delay of his master. And we saw, of course, the preparations of the virgins and how there were those who were wise and ready for the bridegroom's return and those who were foolish. And then last time we were together, we saw how the good master had given portions to each of his servants, each according to their ability, and the master upon his return had expected return of this obligation to them. And so we were urged on again to be ready, knowing the goodness and justice of our master to give us not more than we are able, but giving us what we are able to be faithful in it, that he would see fit to bless us in Christ. Now we come to this final exhortation, and I dare say it doesn't seem really to even fit as a parable now. The teaching is so clear and so vivid that Jesus puts before us today. It is perhaps the clearest, most vivid expression of Jesus' return that we have in all the scriptures, as it details what the Son of Man will do on His return. And so as we look at this text, we want to bear in mind that Jesus is urging us on in Christian duties. He is giving instructions to his disciples, particularly, that they would be faithful in Christ, faithful to the end, to that great day of his return. And yet, he is dealing and has been consistently dealing in all of these sections with the reality of the fact that not everyone we will see in the church is clearly will be on the last day found true and faithful to Him. Particularly today, though, the scope has broadened out to all nations. That is, every people. This is the final judgment where both the righteous and the unrighteous are present before Jesus Christ. And so as we come to this, We want to take careful note of the things which are said first so that we might understand the things which are said later. And I give this caveat because this text is easily taken to preach a false gospel. That is, there are some, as we'll deal with, who would want to take this text and say, see, no person may ever know whether they've been righteous or foolish until the final day. That is, your eternal state will be held somewhat in limbo. In fact, the Catholic Church would like to preach it this way. That means they would bind you to do good works upon the threat of curse on the final day. You may not know whether Christ will say, well done or not, until you have done your part. And yet, while we don't want to fall into that error, the text is very, very clearly emphasizing the works of the saints, the necessity of doing them, and for us to say anything beyond this of the text would be to preach more or less our system without applying specifically what Jesus, applying ourselves to what Jesus is saying here. So the organization this morning, we're going to look specifically about the Son of Man coming as king and shepherd. That's the first thing. And then we're going to look at the kingdom heirs revealed. So the king comes, the heirs are revealed, and then there are kingdom proclamations made. So those three things, the king comes, he's seen as a king shepherd, the kingdom heirs, those who inherit the kingdom, and then what does the kingdom proclaim about these heirs, the inheritors, and those who are wicked? Now, when we get to kingdom proclamations then, we're going to need to use the things that we've already seen about the King Shepard, about the way the kingdom works, as we look to the text. So, starting then this morning, verse 31 we read, Then he will sit on his glorious throne, and before him all will be gathered, all nations, and he will separate one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats." Now, we have to engage our imaginations this morning, not imaginatively, that is, to imagine things beyond the text, but to picture really what Jesus is saying here. He gives us a story, a declaration, and we want to engage our minds and our hearts with what he is saying. So, picturing this, the Son of Man, of course using that term that Jesus loves to say, this is the Son of Man proclaimed in Daniel, right? He calls Himself Son of Man not only because He was the Son of Man as humiliated, but He is the Son of Man exalted. Notice, this is the Son of Man returning on His throne. He is high and lifted up, but He has come as the one who was lowly. Now he is the glorious one. He's enthroned over all the earth. He has the praise and admiration, all authority given to him. He is the one triumphing over all of this. And he comes, not by himself, but he comes gloriously attended by his angels. And he comes, we've already seen as it is, with the clouds. And all the hosts of heaven coming with him, doing his bidding, coming and gathering this fold of the world, all the nations gathered before him. And so we see Jesus as a king, but then we see Jesus acting as a shepherd in verse 32. Before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Now, I wonder how often we think of a shepherd as something like this. Oftentimes, when we hear shepherd, we think of a good shepherd who feeds and waters his sheep, who cares for them, who's tender and loving. But it is also the fact that a good shepherd defends his sheep. A good shepherd seeks the peace of his sheep. A good shepherd is a warrior that would kill a bear or a lion that would attack his sheep. And here, the good shepherd is one who will separate the sheep at the end of the day. Now it would be helpful for us to understand a little bit of this analogy, would it not? A shepherd who may like care for sheep and goats together in one herd during the day, there's ample room to spread out abroad in the grazing fields, when it comes night at the end of the day would need to separate the sheep from the goats The sheep being something more susceptible to the bullying of the goats, more susceptible to specific dietary needs. The sheep are the more vulnerable of the two, the goats being a little more sturdy. The goats also being a little bit more ornery are liable to harass the sheep and to give the sheep no rest. And so we see, even as we have the rest of the story in mind, Jesus is here aiming for the peace and the honor of the sheep. That is, at the end of the day, like a good shepherd, the peace will lie down and graze in peace. They will be nourished, they will be honored, as we will see, and the goats will be removed from their midst. Those who would be wicked, as we will see. So the king comes on his throne, but as a shepherd, he now attends with his eye toward the sheep, separating the sheep from the goats. And we see they're being honored because he says, placing some on his right and some on his left. Of course, the place on the right hand of the king is a place of great honor. The place on the left hand of the king, in this analogy, one of great dishonor. So, now, this kingdom, having been come, Jesus begins to reveal those who are inheriting the kingdom. Okay? So we've dealt with the first part. The kingdom has come. Jesus, as the king of this kingdom, has come on his throne, and he is gloriously attended by his angels, and now he goes about the work of revealing the heirs of his kingdom. So he says this in in verse 33. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Now this, this is a mouthful of a declaration, is it not? This is a grand declaration. Jesus, in one sentence, speaks of the welcome of the Father, the blessedness of the sheep, the inheritance that is theirs, and the eternal and finality of it. Looking specifically at those things, think of this with me, okay? Jesus comes, and as He reveals the heirs, first to them is extended the welcome of the King. And this is, of course, contrasted with what we're going to see, what Jesus will say to the goats, where He says, depart, go, leave. But to the sheep He says, welcome. Welcome to my kingdom. Come and bring them in because I will have fellowship with them and they with me. This is the first thing that Jesus proclaims. Come, you who are blessed by the Father. Now what is this blessing of the Father? We could read, I want to read of this blessing from the book of Ephesians. Some of you perhaps haven't memorized this whole chapter of Ephesians, but Ephesians chapter one, we think of this when we think of the blessing of the Father. Ephesians chapter one reads, starting in verse three, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father, blessed be the Father, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world. Do you see the parallel here? This is a blessing of the Father to those for whom the kingdom is given from the foundation of the world. Paul is talking about the exact same thing. And what is this blessing? This is a blessing of every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. It is there in Christ. It was there for them before the foundation of the world. This is the blessing of being an heir, of being adopted into Christ, of being blessed with all the glory that is there prepared for them. This is the blessing of being an heir to the wonderful inheritance that 1 Peter speaks of when he says, you have been called to, you have an inheritance which is incorruptible, undefiled, prepared, reserved in heaven for you. So Jesus here proclaims, welcome, blessed of the Father. In our circles, we understand, because the scriptures understand, this is speaking to the elect. You are chosen in Christ. And indeed, it says, before the foundation of the world, this kingdom is prepared. Now, when we think of prepared, what do we think of? Now, take the analogies that we have immediately before us, right? The wedding feast. The wedding feast is probably the last time this word prepared was used, where the bridegroom had prepared a great feast, and he went out and he welcomed all of them in. Come, though animals are slaughtered, the feast is made ready. The kingdom is prepared. Or in Hebrews, we could think of the preparation in Hebrews 11. A city has been prepared for them. He speaks of this grand city governed by the king, and it has been made ready for them from the foundation of the world. This isn't an afterthought. This isn't something that we're only creating right now. This isn't God doling out what is due to them, but this is God revealing his eternal plan for them who are his sheep. Come. So notice the kingdom. First, the kingdom is inherited. That's our first thing. If you want to know this kingdom, the kingdom heirs receive the kingdom because it is inherited. You who are blessed receive the inheritance prepared. It is prepared from the foundation of the world and notice it is conclusive. That is, this kingdom has been prepared with this end in mind from the beginning. That's helpful as we move on because the finality, the permanence, and the grandeur of this proclamation when Jesus welcomes them, declares their inheritance, which they have not by merit, but by sure grant in Christ, and the finality of it, this is yours in Christ, all of that is captured in this phrase as we move on and Jesus speaks to the sheep. But then what does he say? So we've seen the king has come. The kingdom and its heirs are revealed, a kingdom that comes by inheritance, prepared for these people, and it's a conclusive final thing. Now the king makes his proclamations. These kingdom proclamations are said, beginning in verse 35. Come, welcome. I'll read verse 34 so we get the whole thrust here. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me food. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was 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. Now notice that four. It's very clear here, isn't it? Jesus is not saying what we would expect him to say. If I was writing this, and I had my particular theology on, I might expect Jesus to say something like this. Come, welcome, for even though you were wicked, I clothed you. Even though you were poor, I made you rich. That's what I would expect Jesus to be saying. But here Jesus points specifically to the righteous deeds of the saints. Four. This is the basis. This is what I want to proclaim over my saints. I was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me drink. It's quite unexpected, isn't it? This more or less is a proclamation of, look, for you kept the law of God. We could summarize the law of God. Love God and love neighbor. And what is the love of God and neighbor but this? To feed. To clothe. to welcome, to visit. Jesus declares over His bride, His bride's righteousness. And it's a jolting reality. It is for me as I think about it. I'm much safer in the ground of thinking about this in terms of God declaring His own righteousness. But we read even in Revelation, as the bride comes down, God has ordained that the bride clothe herself in fine linen, and the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. So what are we talking about here? What are we talking about here? Well, to work through this, I would like you to see this in the text. What I don't want to do is go through and just talk about all that this isn't, but we must take into account what is not being said here so that we can rightly get what is being said. We already saw who the king is, and I want you to see who the king is not being said here, right? First off, we must understand that Jesus is not here being pictured as someone helpless, someone who needs the help of the saints, right? When he says, I was naked and clothed, Jesus is not picturing himself as a king that is somehow beholden to our works that he would be glorious. He is glorious. But nevertheless, Jesus is identifying with the lowly, even as he sits on his glorious throne, right? Jesus says, look, as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me. So Jesus, sitting on his throne, wants to identify himself with even the lowliest of his kingdom. And he's speaking of his own humiliation in many ways. Right? As one which was attended to and responded to by the saints while he walked here on earth. And he is showing the work which he began on earth as finding its completion in the lives of the saints. There's a profound mystery here. Even Paul speaks about filling up what was lacking in Christ's suffering. That is, God's work of salvation is finished, and yet there is something that God has ordained for His saints to do and to be that fills up the glory that is begun in Christ's humiliation and is seen as complete in the lives of the saints. Second, Jesus is not one who sets aside the law of God when welcoming the saints. Notice that. Jesus is not here saying, welcome, you sheep, for though you are wicked, I don't care. For though you were cursed, I didn't care. No, Jesus is declaring the righteousness of the law and he's declaring it over and above his sheep here. The law of God is and ever will be that perfect rule of righteousness even on the final day. There is no lesser standard of perfection to Jesus other than his perfect righteous law. And Jesus will judge every person by that law. Make no mistake, God has decreed to show the honor of his elect. It has been granted to them to be clothed in the righteous deeds of the saints. Christ will proclaim the beauty of righteousness over his bride. Do we realize that? Do we stop to think about that? It is good, it is right to dwell on the righteousness which Christ is clothing us with. But part of what that means, as we're about to see, is that as God has chosen us, has justified us, has welcomed us, given us not only forgiveness for our transgressions, but clothed us in his righteousness, his act of obedience to the end, yet on the final day, God has ordained to proclaim over us the righteousness of the saints. God will have glory in the righteous deeds done by His people. He has given them His Spirit and His people will be said to be righteous. Do we think about that in terms of the final day? Because that ought to sit on us as we think about what faithfulness is like before Jesus even now. God has not ordained to save those who will never believe and who will never walk according to the footsteps of Christ. God will proclaim over them this beauty of perfection. But then we must ask, well, then who are the sheep? Specifically, we saw who the king is not, right? The king is not helpless, and the king is not one who sets aside the law of God. Likewise, though, brothers and sisters, the sheep are not those who will merit the kingdom on that final day. Notice how Jesus phrases this, okay? Inasmuch as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me. Inasmuch as you did not do it to the least of these, you did not do it to me. Now, another way of saying that is, You realize all Christians fall between the least charity and the smallest neglect. That is, let me put it this way, who has done even a small act of charity ever? Well, probably everyone in the world. Someone has done some small act of charity. Who has neglected some small act of charity? Who has failed to do what the law of God requires? Everyone in the world. No exceptions. You realize every single saint falls between these two poles. And we already saw the kingdom comes by inheritance. So what is not being said here is, come you who earned the kingdom. And what is not being said here either is, come you who perfectly always kept the law. We know this. Romans says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. He who stumbles in one point, says James, is guilty of all of it, the whole law. And so when Jesus here proclaims the righteousness over his sheep, what is he doing? Well, I had this analogy in mind, and whenever I think of an analogy, I always almost take it all back because I think it's so silly. So maybe it's helpful, but think about this with me for just a minute. I bet there's not a single husband or, you know, inverse wife, but a single husband who has not at some point proclaimed to his bride, my wife, you are beautiful beyond anything. and proclaims absolutely his love unquestioned over his bride. Now, when he does that, does he mean to inflate her ego or to make her somehow believe objectively the purest perfection ever to be found over any person ever there? Well, no. He is proclaiming His love over that bride, the covenant love that is there. And because of that love, He is sure to proclaim to her all the goodness that is there. Now, that's something of an analogy, but it's certainly not perfect, because even a husband, while he proclaims all this over his wife and his bride, can by no means make perfect what is lacking. and we are all lacking. Even if our wives lack half as much as we do, we are all lacking. But Jesus here will proclaim perfection over his bride. So one might ask, you could see in this day, right? Jesus here proclaims, for I was hungry, you gave me food, I was thirsty, you gave me drink, I was stranger, you welcomed me, I was naked, you clothed me, I was sick, you visited me, I was in prison, and you came to me, and you could think of someone standing there and saying, Yeah, well, what about them though? Did they ever see you thirsty and only drink themselves? Wasn't there some time where they saw you naked and clothed only themselves? What happened to their wickedness? What about that, Jesus? Why aren't you accusing them of their wickedness? Where's their wickedness in this passage? It's not there. It's not even spoken of. Realize what's being done here is upon the basis of Jesus Christ's righteousness toward them, He is not only their Savior and the one who justifies them, but He is the one who will vindicate them on the last day. There's a distinction made in theology between the justification of the saints, that is, the meritorious basis upon which they stand reckoned righteous before God for all time, that is Christ's work, His death, His resurrection, His life, His righteousness applied, and His judgment that He bore on our half. All of that given to the saints, and they are absolutely His eternally done. That's justification. And yet, on the final day, the saints will be vindicated, that is, declared before the world to be righteous. And the Lord will point to all the goodness that he has given them to do. Remember Paul's words in Ephesians where he says, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works in you both to will and to do and just before that he had spoken of the good works which were preordained beforehand that the saints should walk in them. That is God has established good works for the saints to do and He has given them the Spirit, and He has cleansed them from all unrighteousness. And on the final day, God will point to what is done, not because it is ever done in absolute perfection or because it merits anything, but because it glorifies God and His work in them to point to them as opposed to the wicked world and say, look, my bride. It has been granted to her sovereignly because of the work of Christ that she will be clothed in this beauty of the work that God has given them to do. And so they are not those who have earned the kingdom, and they are not those who perfectly kept the law. And like we said earlier, though, we want to be clear, they are not those who lived in doubt all their life. Am I a sheep or am I not? Is there any assurance that I have in Christ? Well, if the final declaration of righteousness was to be founded upon the basis of what the sheep did, certainly not one of us would be in a state to be able to fix our assurance in Christ. But because Christ here declares His work to be sufficient to give them the kingdom as an inheritance, that they are His by election, we know this passage is not here to strip assurance from the saints or quench the Spirit that is in our hearts as a guarantee of the righteousness which we have in Christ. So, if that's not who the King is, and that's not who the sheep are, who is the King? Who are the sheep? That's really what this text is about, after all, is it not? Who is the king and who are the sheep? Well, the first proclamation is this. My sheep are those. First of all, put it this way, or it's helpful for me, the sheep are those who responded to Christ's humiliation with compassion and service and charity. And we can think of this specifically of the work and ministry of Christ, right? So before Jesus even reveals that insomuch as you did it to the least of these, you did it to me, he says, you did it to me. I was hungry, I was naked, and you did this to me. And we can see here a picture of all that Christ was as he walked this earth, or was about to be. For Jesus was hungry when He was tempted in the wilderness. Jesus was hungry when He came to look for figs on the fig tree. He was thirsty when He came to the woman at the well. He was a stranger when He was welcomed to Zacchaeus' house. He was naked on that cross. He took our infirmities and our sicknesses. He was captured as a prisoner to be crucified. And the ones who see all this and respond in faith are the sheep. But that has specific, tangible expression. It is not as though you can say, oh, I believe all that, as James said, and profess a dead faith. That kind of faith cannot save you. That is a dead faith. But a living faith reveals that those who are his are those who have an active and living faith. And so, secondly, the sheep are those who respond to Christ's humiliation, but they are also those who loved even the least brother of the king. And that's just very clear and obvious, isn't it? Who are the sheep? Well, God will declare, they are the ones who loved even the least of these in My name. Do you love the brothers and the sisters that God has bought with His own blood? Do you give your heart to them in compassion and affection? Do you see their need as joy and duty before Christ? Do you know that God has ordained that his sheep will be those declared as those who gave themselves to even the least? You must ask, well, who are the least? Perhaps for each one of us, we see that as differently, but you must ask in your own heart, who do I tend to see as the least in the kingdom of heaven? Who do I tend to neglect? Who do I have the least appetite to clothe and to feed and to visit? For Christ would have no sheep with calloused hearts and calloused souls who make no profession of the gospel and who give no evidence of faith. But then notice with me this peculiar thing. What do the sheep ask? They ask, when? When did we see you hungry and thirsty? And it's interesting, isn't it? What are the sheep asking here? They're more or less surprised as we were over the proclamations of Jesus. Jesus stands over them and proclaims the righteous deeds of the saints, and they're saying, when did we do that, Jesus? And Jesus says, well, in so much as you did it to the least of them, you did it to me. In other words, the sheep are those who will marvel at the glory bestowed and how it came to be. They're not those who came in and saying, yeah, Yeah, this is what I expected, my own righteousness declared. No, the sheep are those who will come in and marvel. How on earth could it be that you will make such a proclamation over me? And Jesus will say, it is by my sovereign decree that as you did it to the least of them, you did it to me. What a profound thing to think of. What an amazing, what an amazing thing. We do not yet understand how wonderful that will be. That in Christ, the least deed done will be done as a deed done to the king himself. Amen and amen. But then we must ask, who are the goats? Who is it that Jesus puts on the left and banishes? This is the second proclamation. The first proclamation, these are the sheep. They are the ones who have clothed and fed and done righteousness to me. But who are the goats? Well, first, and in like manner, They are those who will be renounced as callous and cold to Christ's humiliation. The parallel of these two is striking actually. The writer and Jesus did not have to put just as much detail about the goats as he did the sheep. But if you want to look for some like minute detail that he's talking about differently, it's not there. All that he says about the sheep is said opposite of the goats. And he repeats it almost word for word. And so likewise, we ought to take into consideration what Jesus says here. First, If the sheep were those who responded to Christ's humiliation, rightly, the goats are those who did not, even to the least. That is, there may be some, even much, good charity done, but the goats will be known as those who would not do it, even to the least, of Jesus' brothers. Lives that bear no lasting effect of the humiliation and death and burial of Jesus are lives that will be found at fault in the end. And this is not in any way to say, again, that Jesus' righteousness doesn't cover those who are His. It's to say quite the opposite. It's to say that those who are not his will not be declared righteous in the end, nor will they have the blessing of having their deeds purified by Christ, and they will be spoken of only as that which is done in pride and in arrogance and self-serving and in callous. The goats are those who stop short of loving the least brothers. And so now we must come to the real hard work of this text. The hard work isn't looking at this and defining what it is and what it isn't. If this is the vindication of the saints, if this is Jesus declaring righteousness, now we must come to the really hard part. And the really hard part is taking what Jesus here says and realizing that there is great duty, great encouragement, great obligation to us, brothers and sisters, to press on in this, loving what the Lord loves. If the great Shepherd King will love with joy, proclaiming over us the goodness done, we must love the righteousness of God that we are called to walk in. We must love the clothing of the naked, the strengthening of the weak, the giving of drinks to the thirsty. We must delight in these things ourselves, and we can no more say we delight in it than to do it. There is no lie greater than to say, I love all these things and I will not do it. It doesn't work. Humans don't work that way. We cannot say we love and never give expression to that love. And so, let us stir one another up in these ways. First, I want to realize the divisive nature of Jesus' teaching here. Fundamentally, what is Christ doing? Well, he's dividing sheep from goats. Likewise, this proclamation is divisive even now as I proclaim it. Back in that day, all the Jews had an expectation that there would be a Christ, a Messiah to come. And yet when Jesus himself showed up, he divided families and homes and he divided much of the Jewish people. There were those who responded to the gospel call and those who did not. There were Pharisees and there were fishermen. And Jesus called to all, and yet his teaching divided them. Likewise, as he teaches, there are those who even now, whose souls are pricked and who understand that this is a great privilege and duty laid to them. To one soul here today, perhaps he impresses upon your conscience the significance of the least brother or sister. And you who are pricked in this way, you can no more deny them a good thing in their need than you can deny the humiliation of Jesus Christ. This teaching of Jesus Christ beckons you on to continue in faithfulness. But likewise, to another soul, maybe, and I shudder, but even maybe sitting here today, other lines are being drawn right now. Lines that perhaps are beginning to harden, beginning to make the deception complete. That is, no matter how adamant that soul is that they have affections for Jesus, the heart grows more and more callous because they refuse more and more to follow in the footsteps of Christ in these matters. They tell themselves more and more each day, oh I love Jesus and I have no lasting obligation to do and keep the law, and this terribly will divide on the last day. Those who have been hardened to the extent that there is no true, vivid faith in Christ will not have this blessing proclaimed over them. So, if this Teaching divides. Let us be those who receive it with joy. Let us be those who are spurred on to increase in love and charity towards the saints this day. Let us remember, there is no place for jealousy or animosity in the house of God. All those who do not belong to God's fold will be removed on that last day. He will take and He will not give blessing to those who are not in Christ. So now, brothers and sisters, let us not resent one another. If we come to the table of the Lord together, let us have fellowship with one another. Let us be charitable to one another. Let us not look at one another as those who are or are not deserving of our charity or compassion. God will render to each what is due on the last day. let this not be a stumbling block to us. Christ here is revealing something future so that it would come upon us even now. The future reality that the saints will marvel at this great vindication comes to us even now that we might live a certain way, that we might persevere in the faith a certain way. What of the future then comes to us? Well, notice Jesus here, how great a representative he is as he speaks. He takes up and identifies with the meanest of us, the lowliest of us. He identifies with us absolutely. He is united to even the least brother. Inasmuch as you did it to them, you did it to me. How much more also ought we to have compassion to the least? If Christ the Greatest, the Exalted One, the One attended by angels and seated on the throne, will in that final day of vindication identify with the least, how much more we sinners be willing to identify with the lowly. God has called us to this great calling, brothers and sisters. It is a holy calling. He strips all of our desire for resentment and jealousy. He demonstrates the evil of regarding someone merely according to the flesh. He doesn't dress as nicely. He doesn't manage his household as well as he ought. He doesn't look. It doesn't seem like they conform. But Jesus says, no, we ought to regard each of these according to the Spirit. That is, do I see Christ in them? Does the church welcome them in and bring them to the table? So also ought I. We must press one another in to give ourselves to this charity toward one another. He excludes any thoughts that we will have on that last day of boasting in our own works because It is the goats who will say to Jesus, wait a minute, when did we neglect to feed you? Show me, when was it that we neglected to give you drink? You see, the goats take on this whole attitude of those who at the final day ought to have been vindicated. They see nothing of themselves that was to be left out. And Jesus says, whenever you did not do it to the least, you didn't do it to me. And that is sufficient to condemn. So also, we ought to take no pride in what we have done. It will be Christ's delight to proclaim over us what is there to proclaim, but let us be those who, seeing nothing of our own works, look at Christ and say, this I must be because He has called me to a holy calling. And yes, I would be remiss if I did not speak of what Christ here speaks in the end, the terrifying reality of an eternal punishment prepared, prepared for Satan and his demons, and to which the goats will be thrown. So Jesus motivates his sheep, not only with the great delights of the honor to be bestowed upon them, but he also here applies the fires of hell to warm their cold hearts. And we must tremble at his threatenings. True faith does not disregard the threatenings of the scriptures, but trembles at them. This is not a trembling which is, again, a trembling without joy and delight for who Christ is. Quite the opposite, this is a trembling which says, Christ, you are the one who has saved me from such an end as this. We must think what is due, the punishment that all the punishment that God has prepared for Satan and his demons, the eternal punishment, the eternal casting away from the Father, all that is due to me, had it not been for Jesus Christ. How much more ought we then to love the things that Jesus loved? to love the works that Jesus did, to delight ourselves in doing that which Christ calls us to do. Brothers and sisters, this is a high calling, and it does not strip any of the assurance of the work of Christ from us, and it does not cause us to lean at all upon the works which we have done, but it does beckon to us, does it not, to see and delight and to do the righteousness of the law because God has called us to this? These are the words of Christ. May he add his blessing to it, and may we walk humbly before our God as we trust him for his righteousness and trust him as we seek to be righteous. Lord, thank you for your word. I ask that if in any way I have perverted or softened what you aim to do, which I'm sure I have, Lord, that you would straighten it out in the hearts of these, my brothers and sisters, if not now, by the words and teachings of others to come. Lord, I ask that you would use these words to spur us on, that our hearts would not be hard, soft to the struggles of our brothers and sisters. Seeing the hunger, seeing the thirst, seeing the lack that is there, and knowing the great king had such lack, would I not be willing to do this to him? But in so much as I do it to the least of these, I know I have done it to him, for he is truly united to his brothers. Lord, may this be our sincere desire and our sure work, I pray, amen.