The Messiah and the Great Separation
Text: Matt. 25:31-46
Introduction
1. Illustration: One of my all-time favorite movies is "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." In the movie the father in the story tells his daughter, "Tula, there are two kinds of people in the world; Greeks, and everyone that wish they was Greek!"
2. Well, that father sort of had it right; there are two kinds of people in the world. However, according to Jesus, the separation has nothing to do with nationalities, but with character.
3. According to Jesus, there are two kinds of people: sheep and goats.
4. At the Great Judgment we will see...
a. The Great Separation
b. The Sheep
c. The Goats
5. Let's all stand as we read from Matt. 25:31-46.
Proposition: At the Great Judgment, we will either be considered a sheep or a goat.
Transition: First, there will be...
I. The Great Separation (31-33).
A. He Will Separate The People
1. In our text today, Jesus does what He usually did; used a common illustration to explain a spiritual truth.
a. He explains that the inevitability of His Second Coming is the judgment of the earth.
b. He does using an illustration that to the people of His day would have been common - separating the sheep from the goats.
2. Jesus begins by saying, “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne."
a. When Jesus came the first time, it was as unostentatious as it gets.
b. He came to a working class family, and was born in a stable with a horse trough for a bed.
c. However, when He comes to judge the world it will be quite different.
d. When Jesus comes to judge the world He will do it in a way that is filled with splendor, majesty, and magnificence.
e. It will be so spectacular that it can only be explained with one word, glory!
f. He will sit on a throne that is worthy of the King of the Universe.
3. Jesus says that at this time, "All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."
a. The debated expression "the nations" has been interpreted to mean the church, all humanity, or all unbelievers, but within the context of Matthew's Gospel it is most likely intended to mean both Jews and Gentiles who throughout this age are the combined object of the Great Commission (Wilkins).
b. He says that at this time He will separate the sheep from the goats.
c. Although sheep and goats grazed together, it is said that Palestinian shepherds normally separated sheep and goats at night because goats need to be warm at night while sheep prefer open air.
d. Sheep were more valuable than goats, which seems to be the point here (Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary – New Testament).
e. There is some debate as to when this will take place. Some say it is at the beginning of the millennial reign and others say it is at the end of the Millennium.
f. However, the more important concept for us to grasp here, I believe, is that there will come a time when King Jesus will separate people into two classes - sheep and goats. The distinction between the two will be evident.
4. Jesus says "He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left."
a. The right is the preferred side in ancient texts; in the few scenes of judgment where it occurs, the right side is for the righteous and the left for the wicked (Keener, IVP Bible Background Commentary – New Testament).
b. The right side is a side of joy and blessing, whereas the left side is one of condemnation, judgment, and sorrow (Horton, 559).
c. Notice that there is no debate here. There will be no defense lawyers at the Judgment. Jesus will make the decision, and it will be a just decision.
B. Judgment
1. Illustration: Charles Spurgeon offers this warning: "If you haven’t looked at Christ on the cross, you’ll have to look at Him on the throne—with great trembling. The sacrificial death of Christ will be brought before the eyes of all who refuse to accept His free gift of forgiveness and eternal life. In Bethlehem He came in mercy to forgive sin. In the future He will come on the clouds in glory to establish justice. What will we do without a Savior? On the day of judgment there is nothing we can do if we have not trusted Christ."
2. Jesus will judge fairly and do what is right.
a. Genesis 18:25 (NLT)
Surely you wouldn’t do such a thing, destroying the righteous along with the wicked. Why, you would be treating the righteous and the wicked exactly the same! Surely you wouldn’t do that! Should not the Judge of all the earth do what is right?”
b. He will judge based on truth.
c. He will judge based on fairness.
d. He will judge all of us according to what we have done.
e. Anything we receive will be deserved.
3. He will judge fairly because He sees what no one else can see.
a. Jeremiah 11:20 (NLT)
O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, you make righteous judgments, and you examine the deepest thoughts and secrets...
b. He will judge fairly because He can see our hearts.
c. He will judge fairly because He can see our thoughts.
d. He will judge fairly because He knows our attitudes.
e. We cannot hide them from Him, and He will judge us for who we really are.
Transition: Those on the right will be...
II. The Sheep (34-40).
A. Those On the Right
1. After the separation, the King will address the sheep.
2. He will say them, "‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’"
a. Those on the right will be recognized as those who already belong to the Father, which is emphasized in the Greek text.
b. They word "inherit" is usually used of the gift of God to His own people.
c. It also has the implication of receiving, sharing in, and coming in full possession of the inheritance (Horton, 559).
d. The word "for" introduces the explanation why the sheep receive the inheritance: Kingdom inheritance is the reward for caring for Jesus' physical needs.
e. The king pronounces, "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat."
f. The sheep cared for Jesus when he was in need with hunger, thirst, being a stranger, naked, sick, and imprisoned.
g. The precedent is found in those Old Testament, where God rejects Israel's external displays of religion as a sham and declares that true righteousness is displayed in caring for the needy (Wilkins).
h. They treated everyone like family.
i. They shared their clothing. An extra coat was a luxury in ancient Palestine, and many had nothing to wear but a simple shirt. Yet Jerusalem was cold enough in the wintertime for considerable ice and snow. The disciple's of Jesus shared what they had to help those in need.
j. The true sheep of Jesus' also visited those who were sick. It was more than just stopping by, but actually doing whatever you can to alleviate the pain and suffering of the one who is sick.
k. Most importantly, they realized that we all make mistakes, and were willing to reach to those whose consequences caused them to spend time in jail (Horton, 559).
3. After hearing this, the sheep are dumbfounded because they can't ever remember doing any of this to Jesus. They reply, "‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?'"
a. The surprise of the "righteous" sheep comes from their taking literally his words, because they can recall no time when they have done this to the King.
b. Such surprise indicates that these were not intentional acts to gain access to the kingdom.
c. Rather, these acts of mercy are evidences that the sheep belong to the kingdom, just as the preceding parables pointed out external behavioral evidences of a person who has truly received the gift of salvation and the resulting transformation by the Spirit (Wilkins).
d. Our righteous acts do not earn us salvation. Nothing we could ever do would earn us the right to eternal life.
e. However, they are evidence that Jesus is truly Lord of our life, and they are the overflow of our faith in Him.
4. Jesus reply to the sheep’s question is, "‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’"
a. Following on the surprise of the righteous, this statement of Jesus is a central principle of the passage - in caring for the needs of "the least" of these brothers of Jesus, they have served Jesus.
b. Jesus affirms that believers are to care for one another, but especially the least and insignificant among them (Wilkins).
c. In Jesus mind, we are all important.
d. How much money we have is not important. How much or how little education we have is not important. Where we live is not important. What car we drive is not important.
e. Being a person in need of His grace and mercy is the only thing that matters.
f. When we do something good for even the lowliest of person from a society point of view is the same as doing it to Jesus.
g. Question: what have you done to Jesus lately?
B. Actions of True Believers
1. Illustration: Francis of Assisi said, "Preaching the Gospel everywhere you go, and if necessary use words."
2. Our faith is evidenced by our actions.
a. 2 Corinthians 5:15 (NLT)
He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them.
b. It is not evidenced by how big a Bible we carry around with us.
c. The Christian t-shirt you wear does not evidence it.
d. It is not even evidenced by where we go to church.
e. It is evidenced by whether or not we live our lives the way Jesus did.
3. Faith without actions is dead faith.
a. James 2:26 (NLT)
Just as the body is dead without breath, so also faith is dead without good works.
b. Good works themselves do not save us, but neither does saying I believe in Jesus and not acting like it.
c. Good works are the genuine result of true and living faith.
d. As we grow closer to Jesus and our faith grows so will our desire to live out a life of real faith.
Transition: Finally, Jesus turns to...
III. The Goats (41-46).
A. Away With You
1. The sad reality of spiritual life is that some, by an act of their own will in not accepting Christ, will be separated from Him forever. Here they are called the goats.
2. He will turn to them and say, "‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.'"
a. King Jesus now turns his attention to those on the left.
b. Notice that He does not curse them, but merely states that they are cursed. In the Greek it actually reads, "having been cursed."
c. If we choose not to come to Christ and be blessed, resulting in our being cursed (the opposite of blessing), we have no one to blame but ourselves.
d. The result of their actions caused them to be sent into the everlasting fire that was prepared, not for people, but for the devil and his demons.
e. As Adam Clarke stated in his commentary many years ago, "They are cursed, because they refused to be blessed; and they are damned, because they refused to be saved" (Clarke's Commentary, 5:244).
3. Again Jesus states the reason for their eternal separation from Him: "For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’"
a. The reason for their being sent into the fire is that the did the exact opposite of the sheep.
b. These goats did not give food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothes to those who were naked.
c. Notice that the sins pointed out are not the things they did, but rather the things they didn't do.
d. He focuses on their sins of omission; failing to act out of love and compassion for those in need.
e. Yet their condemnation is just as strong as if they were a murderer or a rapist. This ought to be a grim warning for us of not doing the do's (Horton, 563).
4. Just like the sheep, the goats don't understand. They ask, "‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’"
a. Just like the sheep, the goats don't have a clue what King Jesus is talking about.
b. They can't remember seeing Him in need and not helping Him. Certainly they would have rushed to His side if they saw Him in need of help.
c. The goats respond similarly to the way that the sheep have. Jesus responds in the same way as he has to the sheep, except the goats have not acted in behalf of "the least" (Wilkins).
5. Jesus then informs them, "‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.’"
a. So here, "sins of omission" are also worthy of eternal damnation, because they are evidence that a person has not been made righteous by association with the kingdom of God.
b. Righteous acts spring from a heart sanctified by the Spirit of God while unrighteous acts, even of omission, indicate a heart lacking in the Spirit's work of transformation (Wilkins).
6. However, the thing that we need to pay the closest attention to is the permanence of the separation. Jesus tells us, “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.”
a. In both cases, the word "eternal" is used. This word means "pertaining to an unlimited duration of time (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
b. When I was a young boy, a Catholic Nun gave me the best definition of eternity I think I have ever heard. She said, "imagine the biggest mountain in the world. If God sent a bird to take one pebble away from that mountain once every million years, by the time that mountain was reduced to nothing, eternity would just be beginning.
c. Forever is time reference without end!
B. Role Models
1. Illustration: Some of you may remember Charles Barkley, the NBA Basketball star who didn’t want people watching him too closely. People were disappointed with his actions and attitude on and off the court and challenged him to be a better role model. His response was basically, "Hey, I’m a basketball player. I didn’t ask to be anyone’s role model and I don’t need that added responsibility." As an NBA star, Barkley didn’t have the option to choose whether or not he wanted to be a role model. That decision had already been made for him when he signed a contract to play in the highly publicized NBA. The same is true for those of us who call ourselves Christians. Once we make that decision to follow Christ, people are watching. Whether you like it or not or whether or not you think it’s fair, you’ve become an example for the family of God.
2. What we are talking about is eternal consequences.
a. Daniel 12:2 (NLT)
Many of those whose bodies lie dead and buried will rise up, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting disgrace.
b. We're not talking about missing your flight, but it's no biggie because another one will come along soon.
c. We're talking about if you miss this flight there are no more options.
d. There won't be any second chance at this point!
3. We are talking about forever!
a. 2 Thessalonians 1:9 (NLT)
They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.
b. There will be no end to punishment.
c. There will be no end to the despair.
d. There will be no do over's.
4. However, that will be then, but now there is hope!
a. Romans 13:11-12 (NLT)
11 This is all the more urgent, for you know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
12 The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living.
b. There is time today to turn and by faith accept Christ as Savior.
c. There is time today to live in a way that is honoring to God.
d. There is time today to truly say, "Jesus is Lord!"
Conclusion
1. According to Jesus, there are two kinds of people: sheep and goats.
2. At the Great Judgment we will see...
a. The Great Separation
b. The Sheep
c. The Goats
3. At the Great Separation what side will you be on?
a. The Right and headed to eternal life?
b. The Left and headed to eternal punishment?
4. Let us be on the right!
