We're looking over the last number of weeks at a number of passages that present the place of hell to us. And we're going to look at one more this morning and then we'll transition next time to the place of heaven. Matthew chapter 25. So we're returning this morning. Matthew chapter 25. I'm going to read the last part of the passage, verses 31 to verse 46. And in the sermon, we'll consider this passage with a particular focus on verse 41. Matthew chapter 25, beginning at verse 31. Let's hear God's holy word. when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him. Then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, and before Him shall be gathered all nations. And He shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on His left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, you blessed of my father, and here at the kingdom prepare for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we a hungred, and fed thee, or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we a stranger, and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, you have done it unto me. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was a hungered, and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger, and you took me not in. Naked, and you clothed me not. Sick and in prison, and you visited me not. Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when we saw thee a-hungered, or a-thirst, or a-stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee, then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not unto me. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Our text is verse 41, although we'll be considering the whole passage. Verse 41, then shall he say unto them on the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and for his angels. Beloved in the Lord, we've been considering the place of hell. As we have done so, we have swum in two parallel streams of thought. On one hand, the nature of God's judgment of hell. And then on the other hand, the people who go down there. God's distinction of those people from others. In Psalm 55 verses 15 and 16, we see those two aspects. Death and judgment comes quickly. That's the nature of it. And the wicked are brought swiftly to it. It's the wicked. Isaiah chapter 5, verses 14 to 16. It's a place that levels out the high and mighty. That's the nature of hell and the nature of those who go there. It's not just wicked, unclean nations, but even those among God's covenant people. Isaiah chapter 28, verses 15 to 16. Its nature, its entrance, is the moment of truth when delusions are shattered. Those who go there are people who thought they could make bargains with death. Matthew 5, verses 29 and 30. Hell is the place of God's just judgment of the sinner. And those who go there are enslaved to their sin. Luke 5, verse 12. Hell is eternal death inflicted by God upon the body and soul. And those who experience it are those who would not fear God. In this first verse before us, we see a further development. We see the connection of curse with those who go to hell. God's pronouncement and the curse upon them The verse we're looking at, verse 41 of Luke chapter 25, in that verse, there's a parallel, a parallel of contrast with verse 34, juxtaposition. There are those who are blessed in verse 34, for whom Christ describes their future blessed state. They are the blessed. But here in our verse, in our text, there are also those who are cursed, for whom Christ describes their future state, their future cursed state. So God makes a distinction then, dividing humanity into two groups, which means God discriminates. Some will go to His left hand, and some will go to His right hand. including us, some of us to his left hand, some of us to his right hand. God discriminates. Today there's an ideological divide over the matter of whether a western country such as Canada or the United States or Britain or whatever whether any of these countries should vet its immigration applicants, whether they should say, whether they should try to understand what the values of these people are. And particularly, they're targeting, or this debate is centered over whether we should target those coming from Middle Eastern Islamic countries. On the one side of the debate, there are those concerned about whether the applicants share common values of the country and whether the values held will present security concerns for those already in this country, for the citizens. They are concerned with protecting the nation from terrorist threats. On the other side of the debate, it is contested that vetting people and making the process more arduous on the basis of religion is unjust and offensive. Well, whatever our opinions on the matter, I'm sure we all have an opinion on the matter. We see here, with regard to God's kingdom, which is different than the kingdoms of this world, is that God does discriminate through Jesus Christ, who is judge. These words of our scripture reading present not a parable, but an account of what will happen in the future. Often it's described as a parable, but wrongly so. That makes it somewhat fictitious. Makes it a story. But Christ is saying this will happen. Notice how He introduces when He says, when the Son of Man shall come in His glory. This is a future historical event. Not a parable. And this shall happen at the end of this age, in the great judgment. These words are an answer to the disciples' question in chapter 24, verse 3. When shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of your coming? And Christ says, describe the events leading up to his coming, to his second coming. and now describes the actual events and the coming of his kingdom, the actual events of his second coming and the coming of his kingdom. And he gives the parable here in this chapter of the 10 virgins and then the parable of the talents. And then this historical prophecy or this prophecy of this historical event that is coming. In this passage, the goats will be separated from the sheep. Sheep are white, as are most goats. They can easily be confused together. And in Middle Eastern countries, they were often herded together. But then they were separated at night. A shepherd would go among them. And in the darkness, you can imagine how easily it might be to confuse the sheep with the goats, especially if you just recently shorn the sheep. He needed to know, he needed to understand the animals and know the animals. The goats, they needed to be tight together at nighttime because they'd get cold quickly. That's why you'd separate them. They're not gonna mix well with the sheep at nighttime. The sheep need space. And so Christ processes all humanity. Separating the goats from the sheep. Separating those who he has determined to be heirs of his kingdom from those he's determined to leave out of his kingdom. To cut off from his kingdom. And in Psalm then, the blessing is pronounced. And on others, the curse. Christ makes a distinction. We're going to look at the meaning of this curse. the basis for it, or the speaker of it, the basis for it, and its effect. Look at the meaning of the curse. Sorry, just to follow in line with my own points here of the sermon. The speaker of the curse, the targets of the curse, and the effect of the curse. First, the meaning of the curse. Among the many meanings of curse. There is the meaning of imprecating. That is calling upon God to bring down evil upon someone. Calling upon God, praying to God to bring down evil upon someone. Invoking a deity to bring evil. And yet, we know that God himself can utter a curse. He speaks curses in the Old Testament. Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Which means he enacts evil upon someone. And this is the meaning of the Greek word here. Which has a sense of praying down judgment. Or bringing down judgment upon them. Not just praying down, but bringing this judgment upon them. Enacting that judgment upon them. Psalm 37 verse two says, for those blessed by him shall inherit the earth, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. There's a sense in this word then of bringing down judgment, bringing down terrible things upon the heads of these people. Jesus cursed the fig tree in Mark 11 verse 21, which meant he called down death upon it, and the effect of that was it died. So in contrast, and to those who are blessed, for whom a glorious future awaits, a glorious inheritance, verse 34, to be cursed is to be that for which a great judgment is coming, everlasting fire. So curse speaks of a sentence of coming judgment, but there's also something more in the word here as well. It also speaks to their regard. It speaks to their status before God. They have this label of cursed on them. The blessed are those who are regarded with God's approval. They are within the favor of God. And in contrast, those who are cursed are those who arouse the anger of God and against whom His anger burns. They are in the ill status They're in the status of ill favor. And so thus, curse involves two things from God. It involves His justice from which comes this sentence of judgment. And then it also involves His disposition towards them, His regard for them, His wrath, His anger. Both of these are connected. His righteous wrath burns justly. His righteous wrath burns in justice against the wicked. And we can say that the punishment that is given by His justice involves His wrath being poured out upon the sinner. So here Christ Jesus then speaks of the goats on His left hand as being cursed. That is, the holy ire of God and of His Son boils down as He considers them. And a future of miseries, therefore, awaits them. They have the label cursed. And nothing really could be worse in all human experience. The meaning of the curse, the speaker of the curse, Jesus, when he says in our text, verse 41, then shall he say unto them, he's speaking of himself, isn't he? He is the king. He is the one who shall appear in his glory and he shall mete out just judgment. Interestingly enough, however, in verse 34, Jesus says he, the king, shall say unto them on his right hand, come you blessed of my father. Here we see something left out of the parallel between verse 34 and verse 41. There it says, blessed of my father. The one who's giving this blessing, pronouncing the blessing is the father. He's specified here. It doesn't just simply say, come now blessed. Come blessed of my father. Here in our text, however, it simply says, curse it. It's passive. They've been cursed by someone, spoken by someone, but does not say curse it of my father or of God. Perhaps this is to allow our focus to rest upon that reality and that word cursed. At that time in the future, when the epoch of creation under the fall has come to a close, there will be no time left for people to change their hearts, to change their lives anymore. At that time, when a new era begins for a humanity that's blessed by God and whom He delights, these shall have no part in it. They shall have pronounced on them, you are cursed. But just as those blessed have their blessing pronounced by Jesus Christ, these have their curse pronounced by Jesus Christ as well. This is directly related to His exaltation as mediator. Christ speaking these words and sending them to judgment has to do with His own exaltation, with His own role as mediator. The Father has handed judgment to Him, He says in John 5. And he says, a son of man shall come in his glory and sit upon the throne of his glory. Verses 31 and 32. All nations shall be gathered before him and he shall sift through them all. Of those who make curses, some beheld him when he was humbled as a creature walking among them. but accomplishing salvation for sinners on the cross, He ascended and entered into His glory, sending forth His Spirit so that the gospel of Himself might be preached unto all nations. People heard His call. They heard His voice as He beckoned unto them to believe, as He sent forth His church into the world with the message of the gospel. They heard him. They had Jesus Christ presented to them as having been crucified. Being the one then who has accomplished salvation, being the one who has taken that full role of being mediator and taking upon himself the sins of sinners before God, and having accomplished that and being set at God's right hand, he has been given a name that is above every name. And it is His right and His privilege then to judge the nations and to pronounce this curse. And as we shall see, that curse is a very personal matter then. It's very personal, which we can see when we consider Psalm 2. The psalmist warns His hearers to beware of the wrath of the Son. His wrath shall be kindled, and to kiss the Son then. Third, we look at the targets of the curse. The judgment has surprises in it. We would say, we would wonder, well, what is He going to look at? when He comes to judge the peoples. Doesn't He look at the heart, first of all? Doesn't He look for faith, first of all? We're saved through faith. We're justified by faith. Doesn't He look for faith, first of all? But it's surprising. The focus is upon our works. Our works, which are the very evidences of our faith. Faith without works is dead. Christ looks at that which declares whether we have faith. Our works. The proof is in the pudding, so to speak. It's in what is produced by faith. So Christ then looks at the whole of the Christian life. at all that which comes out of faith. He doesn't simply just look at the root, but he looks at the whole tree that bears witness to the root. And the focus is particularly upon the object of our service, who is Jesus Christ. He tells the righteous, I was hungry, you fed me. I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger, you took me in. I was naked, you clothed me. I was sick, you visited me. I was in prison, you came to me. And they're astonished. Wouldn't we be astonished? What? When? When did we see you in these conditions? When did we see you hungry and thirsty and naked and in prison? We don't remember doing these things for you. This stuff is wrong. He tells them, when you did it to the least of these, my brethren, you did it to me, verse 40. So you see how personal it is. Christ is that united to his church. He is that united to believers that when you help out a believer, perhaps in financial need, you are ministering to Christ. When you take in somebody, whose life is a mess and they need help. And they're a believer. You're doing it unto Christ. You're ministering to Christ. There's Christ that is united to that one. Christ identifies with the plight of his people. And so God calls us then, he regenerates us, he justifies us in order that he might rejoice in the works that we do and receive these works personally. But the wicked are also shocked by Christ's judgment. Christ tells them, I was hungry, I was thirsty, I was a stranger, I was naked, I was sick, I was in prison, and you did nothing for me. What, when did we see you in such a way? He says, when one of the least of these you saw and you didn't do it to them, you did not do it to me. And they are shocked as well. Now you think of Paul on the road to Damascus. We see the same principle at work, don't we? He's on the road to Damascus about to persecute the church of Jesus Christ and drag off men and women who believed in Jesus Christ and called on his name. And Christ stopped him on the road and said, why are you persecuting me? This is why Christ pronounces a curse upon them in our text. They hated Christians because Christ they see in them. Christ said that, didn't he? They will hate you. They will persecute you. They will mock you. But they do so because they hated me first. It's personal against Christ. And therefore, Christ takes it personally. Thus he says to them on the left hand, depart from me, cursed ones, into everlasting fire. You had nothing to do with me here on earth. When I offered my grace, when I sent my witnesses to you, you turned from them, you would not minister to them, you closed your wallets, you kept the doors of your house locked, you looked after yourself and nothing else, you cared not to minister to these of mine who were in distress. the person who have nothing to do with Christ or Christians now. Why should they expect Christ to have anything to do with them in eternity? Thus, it is a personal matter. And Christ, as he is exalted on the judgment seat before all men and women, As He comes to the close of His mediatorial work of salvation and of grace, it is a point in His exaltation to take vengeance on those who have labeled themselves as enemies of Christ. Who have heard His message of the Gospel and have turned away from it, have not opened up their hearts to it. Of those who maybe perhaps even say they're in the church, but yet they act like those in the world. In terms of what they do, there's no difference. These are the targets of Christ's curse. And what is this curse? Or what is the fallout of this curse? We see this in verse four, or sorry, point four, the effect of the curse. Christ's wrath is inflamed against these who rejected Him. Christ is so often presented as if He's some passive Santa Claus, some bubblegum-giving, kind, soft man. He's a King. He's a glorious, majestic, and powerful King who is righteous and holy and just. as well as gracious to sinners. And his wrath, his anger is inflamed against these who rejected him as he through the spirit was united to his people and manifest among them in his weakness. And they had nothing to do with him. Therefore he says to them, depart from me. You see how personal it is. Leave me. cast you out. And in doing so, he separates himself from them as the one who is a son of righteousness, as the one who is the way, the truth, and the life, as the one who is the light of the world, the one who is the good shepherd and the savior of sinners, and they will not know him as such. His grace, his love, his mercy, his compassion, his beauty, they will never experience having always rejected it before. Can you imagine such a reality? Christ says, depart from me. That's the end. I should make our blood run cold, shouldn't it? If you love and know now the Lord Jesus Christ, it must. And therefore, I beseech you, To call out to Him now. To take hold of Jesus Christ in prayer. To present yourself to Him and ask Him to show Himself to you. To reveal His grace to you. Open your heart to Him. Confess your sins to Him. His wrath comes upon those who have rejected him and his people before. And it comes with an eternal prison term of misery from the law core of heaven. Depart from me and depart into everlasting fire. That's the sentence. Fire is sometimes used in scripture to depict that which is being purified. But that's only when the fire is experienced for a time. This is never-ending fire. It burns without end. That which is in it never becomes pure. It's constantly burning and burning. And therefore, it depicts here the ever-active judgment of God. You think of those flames, they're living flames. They depict the ever-active judgment of God upon sinners. A son of man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. And in that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So in God's justice then, he gives out misery and suffering upon the wicked, and he asks you, why should it be any different? How can it be any different if God is just? Why should they experience anything else from a righteous God and Jesus Christ who is offered but rejected? Thus, this is just, and yet it is personal. It is God's wrath coming out against them. Christ said it is everlasting punishment in verse 46. Punishment. This is a matter of justice, although it's also a personal matter. The last mark of this place of judgment is that it has been prepared by God for the devil and his angels. And this tells us that unbelievers and those who do not do the works of Christ shall not be able to escape it. If Satan shall be cast in with all his demons, he who is so vile and wicked, and we have no doubt in our mind that indeed he should go to hell. So shall the sinner. The fact that Satan goes to hell with his demons and into the same place proceed also all those who rejected Jesus Christ, all these sinners, does not mean that it's a place of company. It does not mean that some people depict it as it's a place where you can frolic with one another and laugh and play with the devil. What a way of twisting Christ's words from the truth of what he says. No, it's a place of constant misery and alienation. Death, death is separation in every which way. Separation of the soul from the body, separation of the creature from God, separation of creatures from creatures. That's the definition of death. It's destruction, it severs us apart. So hell is a place of continual suffering and anguish and shame. And this last phrase also informs us of how the Savior Jesus Christ regards those who did not care for His own and rejected Him. He lumps them with the devil. Along with the devil, they'll also receive this sentence. Now, indeed, there will undoubtedly be different degrees of suffering, but they shall all be sentenced to the same place everlastingly. sentenced to hell. Congregation, how should we respond? We've heard a bit about hell and God sending people to that place. May it clear the fog from our minds so that we see clearly the will of God for us, so that we see crystal clear his righteousness and his holiness and his justice. We see how gracious His grace really is. May it split open our hearts to take in Christ as our Savior. May we believers be enthralled and be filled with new love, burning love for this Lord Jesus Christ, and driven to serve Him, to love Him, We must turn in faith to Him. And our whole lives must be aligned to His Word. It's a serious matter. He'll look at not just the root of faith, but at the tree of our whole life. Look to Christ, then, and the power of His Spirit to change you to His grace. And move forward in the love of Him and a love of Jesus Christ, who has endured the horrors of hell, so that you might be redeemed from this curse, and be blessed, blessed by God, and so that you might also then love all who are His, even the least of those who are His. Amen. O Lord, our God, only be with humble hearts that we come before you, we sinners, who have no right to claim any good thing, any day that has gone well, any paycheck, any good weather, any good future. We have no right to claim any such thing, Lord. We have sinned against you. O Lord, our God, we look to you, Lord, for your grace to forgive us for our sins. Have mercy upon us, we pray. And Lord, as we consider the work of our Lord Jesus Christ and how he has come here to bring a full, a glorious, and a most manifest salvation. We are amazed at Your grace, that looking to Christ and seeking to serve Him, that we could be among those sheep on His right hand, to live with You forever in the Father's kingdom. O Lord God, What grace of all grace that we see in this world. What love far surpassing our own love. What mercy that is over and above any mercy that we see here on earth below. We praise you, O God. We love you, O God. And we look to you, your son, Jesus Christ, and put our lives, our hearts in him. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.