On Judgment Day There Is No Middle of the Road
Matthew 25:31-46
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 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, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45 “He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
It does not matter who you are. It does not matter where you are. It does not matter what you are. It does not matter whether you are rich or you are poor, whether you are a very important person or a very insignificant nobody. The facts of the matter are clear: You are a human being. You have been conceived. You have been born. You possess a human body and an immortal human soul. Now that you have come into existence, you will continue to exist forever, either in the presence of God’s eternal love or subject to God’s eternal fury. And there is waiting for you an appointment, a date with the Almighty that cannot be canceled. You must stand before the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes with all his holy ones to judge the living and the dead. There is no changing that reality.
Many people think that death is the end of the road. They figure you only go around once, and when your time is up, you die, you’re dead, you’re gone, and there is nothing more. Many people think they can avoid their date with the Almighty. Some imagine that if they are buried deep enough or buried at sea or their bodies are cremated and their ashes scattered to the four winds, God won’t be able to find them on Judgment Day. They are mistaken. Still others propose to have an "arrangement" with God and try to go through life walking down the middle of the road. The agnostic says that "he doesn’t know" whether God even exists or not, but he figures that on Judgment Day he’ll have a way out by being able to say, "But God, I never outright denied that you exist." Others figure that they have plenty of time to get serious about their relationship with God—like when they’re done with college and get a real job. Or when they finally settle down and have kids. Or when they are finally retired and have more time for God. Well, brothers and sisters, death and judgment are not the end of the road. In fact, quite to the contrary, they are only the beginning. But on Judgment Day there is no middle of the road.
Jesus illustrates that fact for us as he gives his disciples a description of Judgment Day. He says, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.” Jesus says there are only two places to stand on the Day of Judgment—you’re either on the right hand or on the left. You stand either among the sheep or with the goats. There is no middle of the road.
But let’s take a little closer look at who stands where. On the right stand the righteous; they are the sheep of Jesus’ flock. What does it take for a person to be counted as righteous on Judgment Day? The Bible says in Revelation, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14).
These are the believers. Whether they had a strong faith or a weak faith, these are the souls who lived and died in faith, clinging to the cross of Jesus for forgiveness. They are from every nation, tribe, language and people who learned the saving name of Jesus Christ. At first glance it might seem that people on Jesus’ right are there because of their good works. Jesus 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, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me."
But if we look a little deeper we see that the good works that the believers performed were not the cause of their salvation; but were the result of the faith in their hearts. That becomes obvious when we see that the people on the right didn’t even realize that they were doing good works; they certainly weren’t counting on their righteous deeds to earn them a place in heaven. They simply did what came naturally as a result of their trust in Jesus: they loved and they served and they gave, and when they were all done they said, “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 needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”
You see, there is only one thing that can make us righteous to stand before God on the Last Day. That is the righteousness of Christ, our substitute. The Bible tells us in the book of Romans, "But now a righteousness apart from Law has been revealed . . . This righteousness from God comes by faith to all who believe" (Romans 3:21,22). When the Holy Spirit works repentance in our hearts and causes us to grieve over the sins we have committed, when he plants in our hearts the trust that holds on to Jesus and Jesus alone for the assurance of salvation, we are counted as righteous before God, for Jesus’ sake. Scripture tells us that in the waters of Baptism we were clothed with Jesus.
Perhaps this becomes clearer when we look at who stands on the other side of the King on Judgment Day. Instead of a blessed invitation to eternal rest, those who do not listen to God’s word, the ones who either walked the middle of the road, they hear the horrifying words, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
The first thing we notice about the group on the left is that it is much larger than the group on the right. Jesus had told his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, "Wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it" (Matthew 7:13).
These, of course, are the unbelievers, the ones about whose conduct there is warning after warning in the Bible. Paul warned the Galatians, "The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God" (Galatians 5:19-21).
Paul wrote to the Corinthians, "Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 6:9,10). Other sections of Scripture give us more insight to who stands on the left on Judgment Day. These are the ones who try and walk down the middle of the road, the apathetic (the Bible calls them the lukewarm and says God will spit them out of his mouth). On the left are the fine, upstanding do-gooders, the self-righteous, who thought God would be pleased with them because of their good deeds. They relied on their goodness to save them, and their deeds failed them, as Scripture says, "All who rely on observing the Law are under a curse" (Galatians 3:10).
Counted among the wicked on the left are the hypocrites, the outward believers who graced the church with their presence for a show of piety, but whose hearts did not belong to Christ. Surely, as Jesus taught in the parable of the wheat and the weeds that grow together, the visible kingdom of God is a mixture of believers and hypocrites. Also included here on the left are those whom James the apostle calls the double-minded, those whose hearts were divided between loyalty to Christ and a desire for the material things of this world. They tried to serve both God and Money, even though Jesus said you can’t do that. They still tried—and they lost both God and their money—and their soul. In fact, they lost everything.
Once again, it’s interesting to see the reaction of the wicked, the unbelieving, those who walked down the middle of the road, the apathetic, the double-minded. Listen to their sense of injustice, as they hear the horrible decree that is handed out to them: “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?” Lord, we were counting on all these things that we did! What do you mean it wasn’t enough? And Jesus’ answer will be: You weren’t even close. “I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”
Brothers and sisters, there are two things that will enable you to stand on the right side of Jesus on Judgment Day, and two things alone. They are (1) the grace of God and (2) the merits of Christ. These are the cause of your salvation. It is only by the grace of God that you have been found, lost and wandering in the darkness; it is only by the grace of God that you have been given the precious gift of trust in your Lord Jesus Christ, saving faith that has brought you to despair of your own righteousness and to cling unswervingly to the perfect obedience of Jesus. It is the merits of Christ, his obedience for you that has covered your sins and made you beautiful and holy and acceptable to God. These are your hope on the Day of Judgment: the grace of God and the merits of Christ. These are God’s gifts to you that were given to you in Baptism, that you celebrate in his Sacrament, and for which you give humble thanks with your Christian life of service.
Judgment Day is coming. It does not matter who you are. It does not matter where you are, it does not matter what you are. God says, “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). There is no escape. There will be no middle of the road to walk down. You are either on the right or the left of Jesus and you will face judgment. Thankfully—praise God!—with Jesus himself as our Savior and our Friend, for the believer, there is no need to fear judgment because “they will go away… to eternal life.” Amen.
