2025.11.29 Hopewell @Home ▫ Matthew 25:31–46

 Read Matthew 25:31–46

Questions from the Scripture text: Who is coming (v31)? In what condition? With whom? To do what? Who will be gathered before Him (v32)? What will He do to them (v32–33)? What will He say to those on the right hand (v34–36)? By Whom are they blessed (v34)? What is prepared for them? Since when? What are they now to do with it? What have they done? How will they respond to His saying this (v37–39)? What is His explanation (v40)? What will He say to those on the left hand (v41–43)? Where will they be sent (v41)? What haven’t they done (v42–43)? How will they answer (v44)? What is His explanation (v45)? How does v46 summarize the outcome?

How do you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory? Matthew 25:31–46 looks forward to the morning sermon in the holy assembly on the coming Lord’s Day. In these sixteen verses of Holy Scripture, the Holy Spirit teaches us that you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory by grace-sustained adoration, affection, and action.

How do you get ready for the Son of Man to come in His glory (v31)? What makes you ready is being predestined from the foundation of the world (v34). Who will receive, and what they receive, is prepared from all eternity. All depends upon Him, so even as we think about how to live, we realize that this will only be by His grace. We are dependent upon Him for our living that way. The rest of humanity are cursed. They are volitional, they make their choices, their real choices, they are wicked, but ultimately it is because they are reprobate. There is a double predestination, and God is righteous and just in doing so.

So election is one answer. But those who are elected have these three attributes: adoration, affection, and action.

The first is adoration. It is all done as worship unto Him. He receives what is done, particularly to Christians, as being done unto Him. And therefore, they are not just actions made in affection for particular people. they are actions made in adoration of the Glorious One.

Do you adore the Lord Jesus? Do you worship him? In all of the love that you have for those who are Christians, is it especially because they are His? Is it especially because they are His, and because He receives it as done unto Him? We can't skip adoration. We can't go straight to feeling really warm and fuzzy towards those who are called Christians. Adoration first.

Second, affection. If we adore Him, we will love Him and all those who are united to Him (v40). So He'll say, for I was hungry, you gave Me food. I was thirsty, you gave Me drink. I was a stranger, you took Me in. I was naked, you clothed Me. I was sick and you visited Me. I was in prison, you came to Me (v35–36). How could the Lord Himself have ben in such situations (v37)? He has so united Himself to those whom He is saving that they inherit with Him, but He suffers with them (cf. Rom 8:16–18). Thus, adoration of Christ must necessarily be joined to affection toward Christians. If you do not adore Jesus, then whatever affection you have for others who are called Christian is not truly Christian affection, because true Christian affection is rooted in adoration of the Christ to Whom they are united. But if you don't have affection towards Christians, it is also true then that you don't adore Jesus.

Finally, affection towards Christians isn't just a warm feeling. Affection is expressed in actions. Those who are His have real earthly needs, like food and hunger and clothing and illness, like having no home and needing a place to stay, or being imprisoned and needing to be remembered or advocated for. If we take no action, then there was no affection. That doesn't mean that love is only an action. That means that love includes both. There are those who take lots of actions, but they do it out of pride or a desire to justify themselves or feel good about themselves. These actions are a litmus test, not because they make the difference between the sheep and the goats, but because the difference between the sheep and the goats makes their actions.

So that's one of the ways that we can diagnose whether we need to be brought to a repentance that begins with renewed adoration of the Lord Jesus, and is felt in affection for Christians, which is expressed in those actions. And that's how you live as someone who is ready for his return.

How are you adoring Jesus? What is your affection to Christians? How are you putting this into action?

Sample prayer:  Father, we thank You for this portion of Your Word. We thank You for Your Son and His clear teaching about His return and what makes the difference in us. We thank You for Your electing love and for Your free decree and predestining out of Your good pleasure. And we ask that by Your Spirit, You would produce in us that adoration of Christ, and affection towards Christians, that produces Christian action. For we ask it in Christ's name, AMEN!

 Suggested Songs: ARP32AB “What Blessedness” or TPH98A “O Sing a New Song to the Lord”