Introduction
A. Our passage this morning is the same as last week. The judgment of the sheep and the goats.
1. Last week I covered the first two points in this passage
a. The Son of Man is coming to judge (v.31-33).
b. The judgment of sheep (v.34-40).
B. I pointed out that this is what is known as the judgement of the nations
1. And that nations are made up of people
a. I pointed out the compassion that we as a nation demonstrate
b. That we have a nation that is concerned about other people
c. That we have a nation that gives to charities and disaster relief in record amounts
d. That it is the individuals that give to the charities and disaster relief efforts
e. I also pointed out that there has to be millions of Americans who give nothing
(1) That if each of the 300 million Americans gave a single dollar to the Red Cross each year, it would never be short of funds.
(2) So why does the Red Cross continually need more funds?
(3) Because a lot of individuals in our country that never give a dime to charity
f. The king in our passage is dealing with the people of the nations
(1) And the goats, the cheap, penny-pinching, chintzy, petty and miserly individuals will be judged for their goaty ways
C. The last two points in our passage are as follows
1. The judgment of goats (v.41-45).
2. This judgment is for eternity (v.46).
a. For a quick review of our first two points, let us turn to Matthew 25:31 - 33
II. Body
A. The Son of Man is coming to judge (v.31-33).
Matthew 25:31-33 (NKJV)
"When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. {32} "All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. {33} "And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left.
1. Jesus says that the Son of Man comes in His glory to sit on the throne of His glory, that is the throne of David
a. He is coming as the King of Kings to rule the earth with His rod of iron
b. He will become the Judge of the whole universe, the Judge who is exalted above all
2. When He comes, He is coming to gather all nations.
a. All men will be gathered by the angels and brought before Him.
b. As I said, the word nations stresses that every single country, place, nationality, race, creed, color, language-every living citizen will be gathered before Him in judgment.
3. When He comes, He is coming to separate the individuals of the nations.
a. There has always been a mixture of sheep and goats, of good and evil, of wheat and tares that have grown up together
(1) In the same world
(2) In the same employments
(3) In the same nations
(4) In the same churches
(5) In the same cities
(6) In the same families
4. Christ will separate the good from the bad, the sheep from the goats
(1) The sheep will be placed on His right hand, the position of honor, glory, acceptance, and favor.
(2) The goats will be place at His left hand, the place of dishonor, and rejection
5. Again, these are the individuals who are living when Christ returns to the earth the reign and rule
a. Believers will be judged at the judgment seat of Christ immediately after the rapture
(1) This separation of the sheep and goats will not affect the sheep us
(2) But, this is Jesus declaration of good and bad behavior and as such we ought to take these things to heart
6. Just a reminder that Christ is now sitting on the throne at the right hand of God.
a. This is the throne of grace
b. In our passage He will sit on the throne of judgment
c. There is a difference between the throne of grace and the throne of judgment
(1) We, people, can come to the throne of grace for help, now
(2) But when Christ returns in glory, it will be too late to receive help.
(3) His throne will be a throne of judgment to which there will be no approach apart from judgment.
(a) Lets turn to Matthew 25:34 - 40 as we review
7. The judgment of sheep
Matthew 25:34-40 (NKJV)
"Then the King will say to those on His right hand, 'Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: {35} 'for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; {36} 'I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' {37} "Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? {38} 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? {39} 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' {40} "And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.'
a. The King gives His invitation “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”
b. The sheep ministered to Christ in this way
(1) By feeding the hungry and giving a drink to the thirsty
(2) By being hospitable to strangers and clothing the naked
(3) By ministering to the sick and visiting the prisoner
(4) That is they ministered to other people
(5) What they did was done "for Christ's sake."
(6) They ministered "as believers" in Him.
c. The sheep ministered because they loved their brothers
8. I also pointed out that the sheep have to ask Jesus what He means, look, again, at verses 37 - 39
Matthew 25:37-39 (NKJV)
"Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? {38} 'When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? {39} 'Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'
a. Their righteous, compassionate acts of kindness are so instinctive, so natural that they are really unconscious of them
b. The ministry is a humble, instinctive ministry.
(1) It has no thought of reward
(2) Only of helping people in need
(a) Now lets consider Matthew 25:41 - 45 and
B. The judgment of the goats
Matthew 25:41-45 (NKJV)
"Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels: {42} 'for I was hungry and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; {43} 'I was a stranger and you did not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.' {44} "Then they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' {45} "Then He will answer them, saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.'
1. The judgment of these goats will be twofold
a. The goats will be cut off and separated from God.
(1) Christ will say, "Depart from me"
(a) Words that mean a world of misery
(b) Words that mean a world of outer darkness
(c) Words that mean a world of weeping and gnashing of teeth
(d) Words that mean a world of everlasting punishment
(e) Words that mean a world without God and hope
b. The goats rejected Christ and refused to be identified with Him while on earth
(1) When they stand before Him, they will never have been associated with Him
(2) Therefore, they will not be allowed to associate with Him.
(3) Jesus calls the goats “You cursed” Hebrews 10:31 says
Hebrews 10:31 (NKJV)
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
c. The goats will be placed into "everlasting fire"
(1) This is a place of anguish, torment, and punishment
(2) This is a place that is eternal, having no end
(3) And it was prepared for the devil and his angels, not for man.
(a) But, it will be their place because of their life choices
2. Now, the basis of judgment and the reasons why the goats will be separated from God is the very same basis as the judgment of the sheep, but with a very different out come
a. The goats failed to minister
b. Very simply, the goats are persons who fail to help the hungry, allowed the needy to go hungry
c. The allowed people to go thirsty
(1) I have always found this very interesting, in Arizona that is a law on the books that is still enforced in places: If a person asks a land owner for a drink, the land owner is obligated to give the thirsty individual a drink of water. Now, Biblically this makes sense, and for a place like Arizona, it makes a whole lot of sense.
d. The goats are not hospitable to the stranger
e. Allows the naked to go without clothing
f. Does not minister to the sick
g. And cares not about the prisoner
3. They are people who do not become involved in meeting the needs of other people.
a. They are people who do not dedicate themselves to meeting the desperate needs of a corruptible world
4. The goats lived a selfish life.
a. The goats are people who live a life of comfort and ease
b. A life without concern and care
c. A life of materialism and things
d. A life of pleasure and indulgence
e. A life of money and plenty
f. They live selfishly while the world around them is suffering with privation, hunger, sickness and death.
5. The goats are the spiritually blind
a. The goats are people who refuse to see the truth about Christ, that He identifies Himself with the suffering masses, with the pain and need of individuals.
b. The goats refuse to open their eyes to see those lying all around, those desperately in need: the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the prisoner.
c. They refuse to see the stamp of God, His glorious love for every man, woman, boy and girl
(1) In Matthew 19:21 what did Jesus tell the rich young man who inquired about eternal life?
Matthew 19:21 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me."
(2) Jesus told him to become a sheep like person
(3) And what happened in the next verse?
Matthew 19:22 (NKJV)
But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
(4) The young man choose to remain a goat like person
6. Christ says to the goats, "Depart from me."
a. Where are the goats sent?
b. It is not a place of comfort and pleasure.
c. It is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth.
d. It is not a place of good friends and fellowship
e. It is the company of the devil and his demons
C. Notice the striking difference between the sheep and the goats
1. The sheep heard "come"
2. The goats heard "depart."
3. The sheep are called "blessed"
4. The goats are called "cursed."
5. The sheep are invited to "inherit"
6. The goats are "cursed."
7. The sheep receive a kingdom;
8. The goats receive "everlasting fire."
9. The sheep dwell in a place prepared for God's people
10. The goats dwell in a place prepared for the devil and his angels.
11. The sheep spend eternity with God and their Christian brothers
a. The overriding principle of the kingdom is love, compassion, grace and mercy
12. The goats spend eternity with the devil and his angels.
a. The overriding principle of hell is hatred, envy, selfishness, lovelessness, loneliness and sorrow
13. The goats are not condemned for what they did, but for what they did not do.
a. Their sin was the sin of omission, not commission
b. But see how terrible the sin is, how many destitute people were left suffering all through life because a goat did not help them.
14. Selfishness, indulgence, extravagance, hoarding, that is all that leads to and indicates the neglect of others, will visibly condemn a person when he stands before Christ
D. I want to interject a note here, please turn to Matthew 10:42, now there are three readings of this passage which differ and so lets read first the King James
Matthew 10:42 (KJV)
And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.
1. Now notice it says, whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple
a. To give a drink to the thirsty not in Christ’s name but, say in Peter’s name of Jeana’s name or Pastor Von’s name shall earn a reward
(1) I believe that if I give that drink in my name, my reward will be the recognition of the thirsty one
(2) But, if in another’s name my reward will come
2. Now lets read the passage in the New King James
Matthew 10:42 (NKJV)
"And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward."
a. Now I have to believe that this is also a correct rendering of the passage, and it says, whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water
(1) So if all a person does is to give a drink of water, that act will be remembered and rewarded
3. And the NIV says
Matthew 10:42 (NIV)
And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."
a. And finally altruistic acts of kindness to Christians will not be forgotten
b. Jesus promises that anyone who helps another for unselfish reasons is going to be rewarded, believer or unbeliever
(1) Many theologians believe there will be degrees of hell and I must agree
(2) Still hell will be hell and heaven will be the kingdom
III. Conclusion
A. I have pointed out that this is Jesus’ criteria for righteous living
1. This is the direct result of obedience to Christ’s commandment to love your neighbor as yourself
2. Love your neighbor as yourself is found specifically 9 times in the Bible
a. One in the Old Testament, Leviticus 18:19
b. And 8 times in the New Testament,
(1) Matthew 5:43
(2) Matthew 19:19
(3) Matthew 22:39
(4) Mark 12:31
(5) Luke 10:27
(6) Romans 13:9
(7) Galatians 5:14
(8) James 2:8
B. Once again my challenge to us is to emulate the sheep
1. To maintain a sheep lifestyle
2. To minister to our neighbors in the love of Christ
