Well, this morning we, Lord willing, are going to complete our study of the Olivet Discourse as we complete Matthew 24 and 25. If you want to take your Bibles together with me and turn to Matthew 25, we'll be looking this morning at verses 31 to 46, which I have very creatively titled The Sheep and the Goats, because that is the context of our message. It is the the separation of the sheep and the goats at the end of the tribulation prior to the millennial kingdom. Now, in the last several months, as we both prepared to study the Olivet Discourse and as we have gone through passage by passage and verse by verse through the Olivet Discourse, we have talked about at some length both the nature and the sequence events, a sequence of events related to Christ's second coming in the end of the age. And indeed, I remind you that in Matthew chapter 24, that's specifically what the disciples were asking about to begin with in verse 3, when they said, Tell us, when will these things happen? What will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? And for the better part of two chapters, and as we conclude our text this morning, for two chapters, Jesus has been answering that question, the question of the sign of his coming and of the end of the age. Now, if I just kind of step back and give you like the snapshot, the bird's eye view of God's plan for redemptive history and what is what is yet future from this perspective, we've talked in detail about what the next event on the divine timetable is, have we not? What's next for us as as Christians? What's next for the church? The rapture, 1 Thessalonians chapter 4, when Christ returns and we are caught up together with Him in the air, He takes us to the marriage supper of the Lamb, and that also inaugurates the next major event on the divine timetable for Israel, which is what? The tribulation, the fulfillment of Daniel's 70th week. It's also referred to as the Great Tribulation, the Jacob's Trouble, the 70th week of Daniel, etc. This is the time when the fullness of the Gentiles has come in and now God returns to deal with the nation of Israel directly. This is the time that we talked about that even Zechariah discusses of, they will look on me whom they have pierced. And they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only son. Israel will at last recognize Jesus as their Messiah. And the way that you will know that you are in the middle of this time and the return of the Son of Man is at hand is, well, that promised sign of Daniel will again be present, the setting up of the abomination of desolations there in the holy place. And if you put all of this together, and I know we've gone through lots of these details, and I went through it all in detail as well when we went through our study verse by verse of the book of Revelation. At some point, who knows, maybe next we'll do Daniel, I don't know. But in any case, if you step back and you look at it, when the rapture happens, the church and the Holy Spirit are taken out of the way so that evil can run its course. And there will be a man that will present himself that will facilitate the unification of all nations in uniting together as one people. In essence, you have the undoing of the confusion of the languages and the separations of people. And he will be a tremendous politician. He will be a tremendous manipulator and deceiver. He is the beast, the Antichrist. He is Satan's man. And he will lead the world into a unification exercise, and they will recognize a way in which to make peace with Israel and grant them the ability, again, to offer sacrifices on the Temple Mount. Now, that'll be a seven-year covenant, a seven-year international agreement that is made. In the middle of that seven years, and again, we're back to Daniel's prophecy, he will break that agreement And he will set up an idol of himself and he will call everyone to worship it. And when the Jews refuse, guess what happens? And we'll hunt them down and persecute them. And the whole world will be united and seeking to destroy them. You'll have one hundred and forty four thousand Jews preaching the gospel and being persecuted and hunted, et cetera, just like the book of Revelation talks about. The whole world unites against God. You get to the end of that seven years, the end of that. And typically the Great Tribulation is just a reference to the last half of that 70th week. And you get to the end of that and now the world is united and they're following the beast and his false prophet. They've gotten the mark of the beast. They're worshiping the idol that he has set up to himself, essentially worshiping him. And they're all lined up in rebellion, ready to wipe out God's people, wipe out Israel and anybody else that has come to faith in Christ during that tribulation period. Why do I say anybody else has come to faith in Christ during that period? Because what happened to all believers at the beginning of that period? The rapture. We're all gone. Now, there are still some Gentiles saved during the tribulation period. All of those people that are still alive, at the culmination of the tribulation. Christ returns, and if you keep your finger in Matthew 25, turn to Revelation 19. And let me read you the description here, because Matthew 25 in the text we're going to look at is a further elaboration of the end of Revelation 19 and the beginning of Revelation 20. This is where this event fits in to the divine timetable. Revelation 19, the Apostle John is given a revelation of the person of Jesus Christ. And it comes from Jesus as to the consummation of the age and even the eternal state. And he sees a vision with regard to what is going to happen. And he writes it down. He says, starting in verse 11 of Revelation 19, I saw heaven open and behold, a white horse. And he who sat upon it is called faithful and true in righteousness. He what? judges and wages war. When Jesus comes back, it is to end the rebellion. It is to judge sin. It is to establish His kingdom. His eyes are a flame of fire on his head are many diadems. Now, each of these descriptions has significance. And we went through this in the past. You can you can listen to the messages if you want. I believe all of Revelation is up on the Internet. But the idea of many diadems means many, many crowns in a sense. He has the right to exercise authority over all the nations. And he has a name written on him, which no one knows except himself. So when we get to the end of the message, and Tim, you want to come up and ask me what that name is. Nobody knows except Jesus, so you can ask him. He is clothed with a robe, dipped in blood. His name is called the Word of God. Now, immediately you know who it is, right? Who is the Word of God? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. The Word of God is none other than Jesus Christ Himself. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following him on white horses. Now, here's the here's the catch, though, the armies that come with them, the angelic host and all of his people together with them. We come as a host, as the armies of heaven to do nothing except watch. From his mouth comes a sharp sword. so that with it he may strike down the nations. He brings his armies to watch. What is this sword that comes out of his mouth? Some of you younger people are maybe trying to draw what I'm saying. Draw a sword coming out of Jesus's mouth. And then imagine what that means. What is the imagery that's being portrayed there? Jesus destroys his enemies with a what? With a word. Do you know that the climax of redemptive history, the great battle when Jesus returns? Do you know it is going to be epic? It is going to be way better than any of the battles in the Lord of the Rings or the Avengers or whatever, whatever fanciful story you want to think of. There were the bad guys aren't going to be winning. And then suddenly the good guys come and it goes back and forth. And lo and behold, at the last minute, some great thing happens in a rescue. No, Jesus comes back and with a word wins. Battles over, Jesus wins. It's that simple. There's no contest. There's no great struggle. The same power that said, let there be light and spoke the universe into existence out of nothing, says die. And his enemies what? Obey. They die. It's that simple. He shows up at a battlefield and with the word ends the war. From his mouth comes a sharp sword so that with it he may strike down the nations, everybody. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. Where does that come from? Psalm 2. This is the fulfillment. This is the beginning of the fulfillment of all of the kingdom promises here on this earth for the nation of Israel with the Messiah reigning over not just Israel, but all the nations. This is the fulfillment of Psalm 2, the fulfillment of Psalm 110, the fulfillment of the Davidic covenant and the Abrahamic covenant. This is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies related to the establishment of the kingdom. He treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. He comes and squashes the grapes. He comes and stamps out all rebellion. Then it is total. I saw an angel standing in the sun cried out with a loud voice saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven come assemble for the great supper of God so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders in the flesh of mighty men. Everybody that stood against God and against his people and the and the flesh of horses and of those who sat upon them and the flesh of all men both free men slaves small and great everybody everybody in rebellion against God on that day. We'll meet God's wrath in the person of Jesus Christ with the exercise of simply a word from him. And I saw the beast, the Antichrist and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army, and they're ready for the great struggle. Here's Satan's substitute for the for the Messiah. And all the armies of the earth ready to stand against Christ and against his armies. And Jesus shows up. And with a word, his armies don't do anything but watch with a word. He knocks them all down. It's just over. It's. You remember the movie, what was it, the original one, Raiders of the Lost Ark, remember that one? Do you remember the one fight scene where this guy comes out with a big sword and he flips it around and then just and then Indiana Jones just kind of pulls out a gun and bang and it's over? But that's so hilarious, isn't it? OK, this is that. A thousandfold. The beast and all the forces of darkness and all of mankind in rebellion against God all get together with all their instruments of war and they're ready to stand toe to toe with the Messiah and with a word done over. Over. And the beast was seized and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who had worshipped his image. And these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone. The rest of them that were there, the army, the rest of them were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of him who sat upon the horse. There's not a great struggle. There's not a great battle. Jesus says a word and it's done. And all the birds were filled with their flesh. Be a horrific battlefield, but casualties on only one side. And destruction and the victory will be total. Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He lays hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan. Who's that? It's this dragon of old, the serpent, the devil, Satan. Yes, the wicked one himself. He is chained up and cast into the abyss and it's shut and there's a seal put on it over him so that he would not deceive the nations any longer until the thousand years were completed. And what's that tell you? When Christ comes back, Satan gets locked up for how long? A thousand years. There's a thousand year reign of Christ here on this earth. Well, how do you know that? Because that's what it says. Now, people want to make 1,000 years, not 1,000 years and all that. But what does it say? When Jesus Christ comes back, Satan gets arrested and locked away for 1,000 years. Some people want to say, well, this happened in 70 AD or 135 or whatever. Really? It's been more than 1,000 years. And I haven't seen the consummation yet. So your math doesn't work. When Christ comes back, he's going to set up a 1,000-year kingdom. Because that's what he says he's going to do. You say, well, why does he take Satan and lock him away so the nations won't be deceived? Well, OK, well, what's the big deal of that? Well, if you continue to read, you'll notice at the end of the thousand years, he's released again and he is able to drum up a huge rebellion one last time to come against Christ and to come against all the people that worship him. And there's another battle, just like the one at the end of Revelation 19, where God just shuts it all down and it's over. Why would that period of time, why would that kind of a manifestation of Christ ruling the world in perfect righteousness, why would that be necessary? To prove once and for all, for all eternity, that man cannot blame his sin on whom? You cannot say the devil made me do it. Sorry, Flip Wilson. You cannot push responsibility for your rebellion off on somebody else. Not even Satan. Yes, he led the world in rebellion, but man is responsible for his own actions. Man willingly chose to follow the rebellion, and anybody else that does not accept God's offer of forgiveness is equally responsible to God for following their own inclinations and joining in the rebellion against God. Verses 4 to 6. After Satan is bound, I saw thrones and they that sat upon them and judgment was given to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God and those who had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They came to life and reigned with Christ for how long? thousand years. Who's this? These are all the people that came to faith in Christ during the tribulation and were martyred for their faith in him. They get resurrected here. Where's our resurrection? The rapture. So we get to this point and now who is alive and reigning with Christ during this kingdom? Old Testament saints, Daniel 12, New Testament saints, rapture and now tribulation. Saints that died are all resurrected in glorified bodies, exercising authority under Christ for a thousand years and functioning as his servants during this kingdom. That's why it says in verse five, the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were completed. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection over these. The second death has no power. They will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. OK, but the rest of the dead, who's that? Everybody who has not come to faith in God, everybody who has never been a Christian, everybody who has has not turned from their sins and been reconciled to God, either looking forward from an Old Testament perspective to what God would do through Christ at the cross. or looking backwards, whether they're in the church age or the tribulation period. All of the wicked will be resurrected in Revelation 20 at the great white throne at the consummation of redemptive history. Now. Who else is left then? Who populates the millennial kingdom? How can there be a rebellion at the end of that thousand years? Answer. because there are people alive at the end of the tribulation. And this is the sheep and the goats judgment that we look at in Matthew chapter 25. You want to turn back with me. We look at verses 31 to 46 in Matthew 25, and you see a further elaboration on an event that's going to take place at the end of the age. When Jesus, with a word, strikes down all of the armies of the beast, okay? The rest of the people on the planet that are still alive are either believers or what? Not believers. And so when Christ returns and defeats with a word the Antichrist and all of his armies, he then sends out his angels to gather the rest of humanity and a separation takes place. If you remember when we were going through the details before we started studying Matthew 24 to 25, we said this is this is those extra 45 days that Daniel talks about from what was it? Daniel 12, the 1290 days versus the 1335 days at the end of Daniel 12. OK. And those 45 days is when this judgment is exercised. And there is an eternal separation that takes place. See, it is the people that are believers and alive at the end of the tribulation that go into the kingdom and populate it. They have children and it is their children and their children's children that repopulate the earth, that make up those who choose to follow Satan at the end of the millennium and join in the rebellion freely when they're given that first opportunity to follow him. Now, in Matthew, chapter 25, Jesus tells us about the separation of the sheep and the goats. And as we look at this text, there are two distinct eternal destinies that await those who are alive at the end of the tribulation that day. And they are the same two distinct destinies that await all men. And as we look at this, I hope that you will gain an appreciation of number one, the eternal magnitude of what's coming in this separation. And number two, understand the necessity of getting right with God through Jesus Christ. Now, while you still have time. Today's message should result in each and every one of us being highly motivated to get right with Christ. And if you are right with him to point others to this. because the consequences are eternal and judgment will come. And there won't be any escape. The reason I started with Revelation 19 today is to make it very clear. Listen, when Jesus Christ comes back, there won't be any discussion. There won't be any debate. You won't be able to lay out your case and justify your rebellion or get a second chance or make an alternative appeal. The one who comes to judge. And to exercise the wrath of God will be the very one who bore God's wrath to pay for your sins and offered you a place in his kingdom when he comes back and you haven't accepted, there is no second chance. That's why the author of Hebrews describes rejecting Christ as trampling underfoot the blood of the son of God. It is an insult. It is an offense. And as we take a look at two distinct eternal destinies this morning, I want you to see that Jesus uses, in a sense, a metaphor to describe it. And He describes it as the separation of the sheep and the goats. We start by looking in verses 31 to 40 at the destiny of the sheep. The sheep here obviously represent the saved, the elect, believers. Those who are alive. At the end of the tribulation, which Jesus Christ returns. Notice the initial gathering in the separation of the two groups in verse 31, when the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne and all the nations will be what gathered before him. And he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. It's in a comparison, just like when the shepherd is out tending his flock. And it might be possible that you have both sheep and goats that you're taking care of. And as you're you lead him out in the pasture, they get intermixed between the two groups. Right. But when you bring them back in, what are you going to do? You're going to separate them. You're going to go through and send the sheep over here, and you're going to send the goats over here, and then you're going to put them in their pens or send them to wherever you're going to stable them, right? And that's a common illustration and an awareness of the people of that day would have recognized this process. This is just like when the shepherd brings the sheep and the goats in and separates them distinctly based upon whether it's a sheep or a goat. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another, just like the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Some commentators say, well, what's the significance of the right? Is it because sheep are right with God and the goats are left out? Well, that's pretty creative. I just think the distinction is the sheep go on the right and the goats go where? The other side. Incidentally, I don't believe this means that if you're left-handed, you're clearly a goat. Okay? There are many people that are right-handed that are going to wind up being goats. Just because you're right-handed doesn't mean you're going to be a sheep. And for those that are ambidextrous, you're not going to get your choice of which side you want to go to. This has to do with standing before God. There's no great spiritual significance to right or left. It just is an indication of separation. Separation into two distinct groups based upon who and what you are and the type of relationship you have with the shepherd. Notice the time frame in verse 31 when the Son of Man comes in his glory. Look back at Matthew 24 and verse 29. This is a similar description to the way Jesus was talking about it already in Matthew 24. He says, listen, you know what the signs of the end of the age and of the coming of the Son of Man aren't? It's not persecution, it's not earthquakes, it's not war, it's not famine, it's not any of those things. Okay? Those are all going to be a part of what happens. And the gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations. Then the end will come. And when the end comes, the way you can be sure it's coming about is when the abomination of desolations is set up in the holy place. That's your big clue. Whoa, we're we're entering into the great tribulation time. Now it's time to get out of out of Dodge or rather out of Jerusalem. And immediately after the tribulation of those days, Matthew 24, verse twenty nine, The sun will be dark and the moon will not give its light. The stars will fall from the sky and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the son of man will appear in the sky. Then all the tribes of the earth will mourn and they will see the son of man coming on the clouds of the sky with what power and great glory. Revelation 19. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet and they will gather together his elect from the four winds from one end to the other of the sky to the other. So all the elect get gathered together and guess where they get put. on his right hand. And all the nations, Matthew 25 verse 32, all the nations are gathered together before him, and he separates them from one another, just like the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The sheep, his elect, go on his right. The goats go where? On his left. The people with a relationship go here. The people without a relationship go there. Why? Because the people with a relationship are going to enter into the kingdom. The people without a relationship are what? Going to be excluded. And that's the point. When the son of man comes and remember that term son of man is a prophetic title, it goes back to Daniel and the reason that's the title that's given to to the Messiah who comes as it's related to the to the claiming of authority. the son of man, because he is the one with the rightful claim to Adam's throne. You remember in Genesis 1 and 2, when God created man in his own image, what did he do with man? He put him in charge of what? Everything. Everything. Subdue the earth. He names the animals. You're in charge of everything. If you read Isaiah and Ezekiel and the text that I'm convinced that talk about the fall of Satan, when Satan sees that God has elevated man above all of his creation, he becomes envious of that and says, I'm the greatest of God's creatures. I should be in charge. That's what is provokes him to rebellion to begin with, according to Ezekiel and Isaiah. But God has placed man on the throne of his creation. He made man in his image. Why is Jesus called the son of man? Why does Luke's genealogy go not just back to Abraham, but all the way back to Adam? Because it's an Adamic throne. Man is supposed to exercise authority over God's creation, and that's why Jesus came as the man Christ Jesus. That's why he is the son of man, not just because it's a prophetic fulfillment title, but also because he took upon himself all the limitations of humanity so that as man he could personally reclaim that throne. And all the angels come with him. We've seen that in three different contexts now, even this morning, and then he sits on his glorious throne. Now he comes. And he establishes the beginning of his kingdom and begins to exercise authority from the throne. And all the nations are gathered before him. Guess who's included in all the nations? All the nations. And I'm convinced this includes Israel. Some dispensational writers want to make a distinction here and say, well, Israel isn't directly a part of this. Israel is referenced in these brothers of mine. I can see how in other passages that fits, but there's no distinct reference to Israel in this context. So I just I can't see all the nations, not including, I don't know, all the nations. And the distinction being whether you're on his right or his left. That's what happens, the angels go out and they gather together all the nations. And they're separated. Those with a relationship to him go to the right. Those without a relationship go with him, go to the left. Following this, you get to verse 34. And then the king will say, stop there for a minute. If you underline key words in your Bible, that word king is worth underlining. Do you know why? This is the only time Jesus refers to himself as king. And that's because it's in a context where he's actually on the throne. When he refers to himself, he refers to himself typically as what? The son of man. Even when Peter says, you are the Christ, the son of the living God. Jesus doesn't apply. He says, he says to Peter, you're right. You didn't come up with that on your own. My father has revealed that to you. Yes, that's correct. But he doesn't address himself that way, does he? He calls himself the son. He uses submissive terminology and submissive titles or uses the prophetic title son of man. The only time he refers to himself as king is in a context where he's talking about when the son of man sits on his glorious throne. Then the king will say to those on his right. And in Jesus's case, then I will say when I am king to those on my right, come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from when? From the foundation of the world. When's the foundation of the world? Genesis one. Ephesians one in verse four Paul says we were chosen in him before what the foundation of the world God has chosen his people God had a clear plan and a commitment within himself on how he was even going to overthrow the rebellion of Satan before it happened. and how He was going to establish His kingdom and establish His righteousness and provide for your forgiveness and mine through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And when you get to the end of the age, when Jesus comes back in His glory and with a word shuts down the rebellion and has all the rest of mankind that's alive at that time, all those not on the battlefield brought before Him, He separates them, those with a relationship on the right, those without a relationship on the left. And the king says to those on his right, come, you who are blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. And that's a perfect participle, which means having been prepared for you from before the foundation of the world, with the lasting results being that now you're going to enter in it and enjoy everything that has always been intended. You ever have plans to do something and then circumstances just don't exactly go right? And so, you know, the plans change. I thought we were going to watch a movie tonight. Dad, well, yeah, but this happened and that happened. And and so we're just going to do leftover pizza. Oh, bummer. You ever had that experience? You know. You're promised that Aunt Debbie's coming over and she's going to soup up dinner and the whole bit. The next thing you know, oh, well, you know, this happened and that happened. And so we're just going to do leftover meatloaf. Oh, goody dear. Right. You know, I'm saying, see, the kingdom won't be like that. The kingdom is going to be everything God has promised and everything God has intended and everything God has said is going to be. It's been set up and it's going to play out exactly the way God promised. From before the foundation of the world, what God intends to do is going to happen and it's going to happen the way he says it. There's nothing that's going to be last minute changes. There'll be no interruptions of the program. And the interesting part here is when he he says, then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed of my father, or you could even translate it blessed by my father. And the word blessed is not the normal word that we know from the Beatitudes. That's the Greek word Makarios. It means to be in the enviable state of divine approval. Blessed are the poor in spirit for there's the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth in the enviable state of divine approval. are true kingdom citizens. And this is what they're like, right? Poor in spirit, mourning over their sin, humble, hungering and thirsting for righteousness. The people that are that are kingdom citizens and in a state of divine approval are the people that are characterized by those things Jesus talked about in the Beatitudes. This isn't the word for the Beatitude. This is from Eula Geo. This is a word that means to to be granted favor, to be shown favor, to be given an enablement, shown or granted some special favor, provided with some privilege or granted some benefit. And this also is a perfect participle. He says, to those on his right, come inherit the kingdom prepared before the foundation of the world. You who have been blessed by my father. From eternity past. This is the expression of kindness. This is what the grant is. With the lasting effect being when you enter the kingdom, you are his forever. And you're a citizen of his kingdom forever, not just through the thousand years, but into the eternal state as well. It's a marvelous way to stress eternal security. It's a it's a marvelous description of the kind of favor God has actively shown to those who are his own. And he gives the reason why he says, for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Now, as we walk through each of these really quick, I want you to see that each of them is a description of active service. I was hungry. And you what? You met that need. You gave me something to eat so that I wasn't what? Hungry anymore. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. You met that need. I was a stranger and you invited me in. This is where today we kind of lose touch with this a little bit. Stranger doesn't just mean we've never met. Stranger in this context typically has the idea of being someone that lives elsewhere, typically a foreigner. And when it says, I was a stranger and you invited me in, means you provided for my lodging. You offered me a place to stay so I could sleep the night under a roof, maybe even be given some provisions and then head on my way. Ancient hospitality practices, and don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that in the context of the fellowship of the saints, that you shouldn't have people over for dinner, that that's not within the context of being hospitable. But when we talk about hospitality in a first century biblical context, hospitality was was in a context where the inn, remember, it says Jesus could find no room at the end. Well, technically, it was his parents. They couldn't find any room at the end. But you understand that we're not talking about the days in or the comfort in or the holiday in or what's that other one that always leaves the light on? Motel 6 or 7 or 8 or however many they have now, right? That's not what we're talking about. The inns in those contexts were essentially like a pub or a house of ill repute or some combination thereof. And that's why when you came into town, if you're a stranger, you're traveling from point A to point B. As you're going along the way, you stop at the little villages in town and you wait in the city square, hoping that somebody that lives there will be kind enough to let you come in and spend the night in their stable. In Judges chapter 19, you remember the Levite that had his concubine and they traveled and you remember all the grotesque stuff that happened there in the war with Benjamin. He even is there in the town square and he says, listen, I even have fodder for my animals and food for me and my concubine. I just need a safe place to stay. See, hospitality wasn't even necessarily, you know, just giving, letting somebody sit at your dinner table. It was just giving them a place to stay so that they could move, meeting the practical need of a roof over my head as I travel, typically in those days, as I travel three times a year from wherever I live to Jerusalem and back or to Shiloh where the tabernacle is and back. Now, I was a stranger. And you invited me in. You brought me in and you helped me on my way. It's meeting practical needs. Naked and you what? You gave me something to wear. I was sick and you visited me. And again, the word for visited, it's the same idea. Visited is not just I stopped by the hospital and I sat by your bed and I held your hand and I prayed for you and said some encouraging words. There's nothing wrong with any of that. But that's not what visited means here. The word visited is is act. Well, sick means physically ill or weak and visited isn't just stopping by for a nice chat. The root word here is Episcopal. And some of you might even recognize you ever heard of Episcopalians or Episcopal Church or Episcopal. That's the Greek word for an overseer. This is a verb form means to to show up and oversee something so it can get done. In this case, it means to show up and look after someone. You're taking care of things for them because they can't do it themselves or they're sick. It doesn't even necessarily being a doctor. It might be you're showing up and fixing their fence or you're showing up and bringing in their harvest because they can't physically do it. You're overseeing their household because they're laid up. You're meeting the need. I was in prison and you came to me. And again, this is one of those places where we maybe lose a little bit of the context. But in an ancient context, there are two kinds of of prisons that you wound up in. One was called, well, what we call house arrest. That's what Paul was in the first time when he went to Rome. Remember that he rented his own place, paid for it out of his pocket. OK, and he was chained to a Roman soldier, but he was in his own place. He was eating his own meals. People had free access to him, etc. The second time he's in prison in Rome, he's locked in a pit. You know what visiting somebody that's in prison in that context is? The difference between living and not. The Philippian jailer, okay? Paul and those guys were in stocks. And they're singing hymns, which is blowing everybody away, because normally you get locked up in a prison like that, most people die there, abandoned. If you're lucky, the jailer throws a dry crust of bread and maybe some water. It costs money to feed prisoners. And if you were worth keeping around, you wouldn't have wound up there. So when family comes and visits, when friends come and visit and give you something to eat, they're meeting your needs. That's the same type of description Jesus is using here. And this is exactly what people in those days would have thought of. I was in prison and you came to me. And then the righteous will answer him. Notice he uses the term righteous. He doesn't call him sheep anymore because he's he's gone beyond the analogy and he's describing them on the basis of their standing before God. They are in a right relationship with him. They are righteous. Doesn't mean they've never sinned. It means they are right with God. The righteous will answer him and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothed you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the king will answer and say to them. Truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these my brothers, even to the least of them, you did it to me. And this is a verse right here where some will say that these my brothers refers to the Jews. But I just see that foreign in this context. I think that these, my brothers, has to be one of the two groups that are standing there. That's the only people that are described in the context of standing there, right? In the way Jesus is telling it. And which group would be a reference to these, my brothers? The sheep. To the extent that any of you did it to these, the least of my brothers, you did it to me. Remember what Jesus says in the upper room? They will know you are my disciples if you have what? Love one for another? Yeah, see, listen, that is how you reveal the reality of saving faith. It's not just whether you show up for church. It's not just whether you do your devotions. It's how you treat each other. It's how you not only treat each other, it's how you look out for each other. That's how you meet the needs of each other. It's how you genuinely are committed to each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. I notice, by the way, the sheep are surprised. When did we do that to you? And what's the point? Anytime you take care of one of my people, you're doing a service to me. You know, by the way, this also shows that the ministry to one another between believers is just natural love for each other and commitment to each other as fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. It's just a natural outworking of being a part of a family. You know, in my household, we have periodically seen really cool demonstrations of sacrificial love and consideration between brothers and sisters, and they're both teenagers. Those are kind of amazing moments, right? And I won't say any specific ones so I don't put anybody on the spot or embarrass anybody for doing something nice, but those kinds of things, that's what it means to be family, isn't it? You just look out for each other. You just love each other. You just meet each other's needs. And that's when Jesus is saying, you guys are just doing it for each other because you all recognize your family. But every time you did it for each other, just because you're treating each other as family, every time that happened, you were doing it to me. That's how close and important my people are to me. Now, we could obviously spend a lot of time on that very point. But Jesus made it clear in Matthew 18, verses 4 to 6, and then again in verses 7 to 10, that if you mess with his kids, If you mess with God's kids, it would be better to have a heavy millstone hung around your neck and be thrown into the sea, right? Because you mess with God's kids and you're messing with God. You know what? You show love to one of God's kids and you know what you're doing? You're showing love to God. That's how beloved God's children are to God. Again, this is why This is why salvation is more than about having our sins forgiven and escaping divine wrath. This is why it also includes everything that goes together with being in an eternal right relationship with God as your Father, and Christ as your Lord and Savior and brother. Now, what about the destiny of the goats? Verses 41 to 46. He turns his attention now to those on his left. And Jesus says, then he that is, the king will also say to those on his left, depart from me, accursed ones into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. Depart from me. Sound familiar? What do you think of when you hear that? That's the end of the sermon on the Mount. This is a theme. This is a repeat. This is a clear articulation of what you can expect to hear if you stand before Jesus Christ and you do not have a relationship with him. Go away. Depart from me. Listen, you didn't want a relationship with me the whole of your life up to this point. You're not going to get one now. I don't even want you in my presence. I know I've used this as an illustration before, but growing up, the worst experience, the worst punishment my dad ever gave me was to say, I'm very disappointed in you. Go to your room. I would have rather been beaten with rods. My heart was crushed. My dad doesn't even want to sit. And that was in those days, that was my primary relationship. That was just crushing. That's what's going to happen Depart from me Depart from me go away. I don't want to see you. I don't want to relate to you I don't want to have anything to do with you and notice he adds accursed ones into the eternal fire Which has been prepared for the devil and his angels Depart from me a curse to an accursed ones and means literally, and it's a perfect again, which means with lasting effects, those who have been put in a state of irrevocable condemnation. Depart from me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire. Now, what does fire mean? Means there's burning, means there's pain, means destruction. And what does eternal mean? How long is eternity? It's forever. You understand as we go through here, the same word eternal life is used for eternal fire. Both conditions are eternal, forever. And the real eye-opener here, the real humbling point is to read in the middle of verse 41 that this is all of those on his left being sent into the eternal fire, which was prepared not for them, but for whom? The devil and his angels. This place is a place of punishment. It is a place of eternal torment. It is a place where the punishment for sin is forever meted out upon those who persisted in rebellion against God. And it wasn't even made for man. Man only winds up there because he will not come to Christ. He will not come to God on God's terms and repent. He persists in being disinterested in a relationship with God and the end result, you wind up suffering then the same punishment. That God prepared for Satan, who led the rebellion to begin with, and those that portion of the angelic host that followed him. He says, For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me. And they themselves also will answer and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn't take care of you? Notice the reference to taking care. When did we see the need that you had, and we not meet that need." And then He will answer them, "'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you didn't do it to Me. You will be known by your fruit.'" Throughout Jesus' earthly ministry, He repeatedly said things like, "'Why do you call Me, Lord, Lord, and don't do what I say?' You can read Revelation 20 and the description of the great white throne judgment, and you know what it says there? Every person will be judged according to what? Their deeds. Why? Because your deeds reveal your heart. This isn't about them not having enough good deeds or any good deeds to get them into heaven. This is about the fact that their lives manifested their true lack of any interest in Jesus. Depart from me to the eternal fire. prepared for the devil and his angels. Now final words are in verse 46. These, on his left, will go into eternal punishment. But the righteous, those on his right, they will go into what? Eternal life. Do you know that little word, eternal? Do you know what it literally means? Eternal. Forever. forever punishment or forever life. In John 17 Jesus describes or defines rather what eternal life is. He says this is eternal life that they may know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. See it's not just living forever. It's living forever in a right relationship with God in intimate communion and fellowship with God as your father and Christ as your Lord Savior and brother. This is why Paul says in Romans 8 that we are heirs of God, joint heirs with Jesus Christ. What our eternal inheritance ultimately is, is not the kingdom. It's not the new creation. It's not even a reunion and right relationship with each other. Our ultimate inheritance is what? God. A right relationship with our creator on an intimate, personal level. He's our father. We're his children. The righteous are granted eternal life, not just forgiveness of sins. But a fully right established relationship with God as one of his children. The opposite eternal destiny is that of the goats, they go away into eternal what? Punishment. That word punishment. It's a very strong word in the Greek. It literally means punishment or chastisement in an extreme sense. It's used to describe everything from physical torture to scourging, beatings, and other physical punishments inflicted upon criminals in those days. You remember what Pilate said when the religious leaders kept pushing to crucify Jesus? He says, well, I'll have Him scourge... I don't find any guilt in Him. But I'll have him scourged. Right. I'll have that the flesh ripped off of his back as he's beaten as a punishment for upsetting you guys. But then I'm going to release him. That's the term for punishment here. Never heard the saying, it's better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven. Never heard that. I've heard people say that before. Oh, it's better. And once in a while I've read stuff like that. I remember it as kind of a theme back in the 80s when I was a kid. Well, I guess I was older then. I was in my 20s. That's a kid to me now. Is better to rule in hell than to serve in heaven? Well, I got news for you. The same person that's ruling in heaven is ruling in hell. God rules hell. Hell is not a place where Satan's in charge. Hell is not a place where the demons have the run of the course. Hell is a place, the lake of fire is a place where God will ultimately cast Satan and the beast and the false prophet and all the wicked to suffer his wrath forever, be punished for their sins and their rebellion forever. I've heard it said, well, I'd rather go to hell because all my friends will be there. That may be true, but I guarantee you're not going to enjoy your stay regardless of whether all of your friends are there or not. Because hell is a place of fire, of torment, of God expressing forever his wrath because you rebelled against him. You may say, well, I'm not as bad as so and so. That might be true. And there certainly are degrees of punishment. Jesus made this clear in Matthew 11 and Luke 12. Woe to you, Chorazin and Bethsaida, because it'll be better in the day of judgment for Sodom and Gomorrah than for you. Yeah, there are degrees of punishment, but it's still punishment and it's still eternal. And there's only one escape. And that's coming to Jesus Christ and recognizing what he did for us on the cross. As we close, I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to Revelation 20. I want you to just look at these final verses. This is after the kingdom. This is when there is the resurrection. This is, by the way, not a reference to Matthew 25, because there is no reference to the righteous and the wicked being separated. This is the second resurrection which is now the judgment of everybody that has died throughout all of redemptive history without a relationship to God. Revelation 20 verse 11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead the great and the small In other words, you can still tell who they are, whether they were important in life or not. And they were standing before the throne. And the books were opened, and another book was opened, which was the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. Everybody will be judged and answered for the whole of their life and everything they've ever done. The sea gave up the dead which were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them. And they were judged, every one of them, according to what? their deeds. He will answer for every thought, every word, and every deed. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown where? Into the lake of fire. Skip back to verse 10. When the devil is judged, right before the great white throne judgment, The devil who deceived the people was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are also notice the beast and the false prophet are still there. How long has it been thousand years. They're still there and they will be tormented there in the lake of fire day and night. How long forever and ever. How long is forever. It's forever. So then why do you even need to say and ever. To make it very clear, forever means forever. I want you to notice very clearly there are two absolutely distinct eternal destinies in store for every person. You will, in the end, either be one who has a relationship with God through the personal work of Jesus Christ on the cross, or you will not. If you have a relationship with God, your sins will be forgiven and you will forever have a place not just in his kingdom, but with him, even in the new creation for all eternity. And so it's it's a relationship that will be more treasured and more marvelous than you can even imagine today. If you do not have that relationship with him when you die or he returns, then your destiny is the lake of fire and there is no other possibility. I hope you think about that very clearly for yourself and for your loved ones and for the people around you. If you don't have a relationship, I beg you, open your eyes. Your eternity is at stake and I love you and I don't want to see you go there. And if you do have a relationship with Christ, does this not move you to want to point people to Him? Are you really so stuck on yourself that you just rejoice in your salvation and the glorious things in store for you that you can't have the heartbeat of Christ, see the lost around you all day, every day, and even bring up Jesus once? Father, thank You for Your kindness to us in Christ. Open our eyes to the truth and move us to point people to You. And open the hearts and minds of those who do not know You to consider their own eternal destiny, because it is at hand. In Jesus' name, Amen.