Sheep Or Goat - Which Are You & Which Do You Want To Be?

Sheep or Goat;

Which are you and which do you want to be?

Dear Brothers and Sisters, the Bible speaks often of heaven and eternal life.

It speaks often of Hell.

It speaks often of righteousness and unrighteousness.

It speaks about judgment day.

Today, I want to preach on these subjects from a portion of scripture that uses animals metaphorically to make some points. Specifically, it uses sheep and goats.

The title of this message is, “Sheep or Goat; which are you and which do you want to be?

Please turn to the Gospel of Matthew; Chapter 25.

We’ll be talking about verses 31 through 46.

That’s Matthew Chapter 25, starting with verse 31.

Verse 31 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.”

This verse of scripture is indicating to us that The Son of Man, Jesus Christ, in his glory and with all the angels around Him will sit on His throne of judgment.

This is substantiated by the following verses that we will look at shortly, but also by other passages of Scripture.

For instance in the Gospel of John in Chapter 5 verse 22 Jesus said, “Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son.”

Also, in John Chapter 5 verses 26 and 27, Jesus said, “For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.”

Now, let’s go back to the passages that we are talking about.

Verse 31 indicates that the Son of Man, Jesus, is a King. In this verse of scripture we are told that Jesus will be sitting on his throne.

Most people do not sit on thrones. Typically and normally, only Kings and other royalty legitimately sit on thrones.

In addition, Notice that the first word of verse 31 is “When.”

That means and indicates beyond any shadow of doubt that judgment by Jesus, the King, is inevitable.

It is not a question of if, but rather a question of when.

The bottom line is: Judgment will occur.

Back to our topic passage, in Matthew Chapter 25 verse 32 Jesus states, “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.”

Jesus is indicating that everyone will be subject to judgment. Every person will have to go before him.

In addition, Chapter 9 verse 27 of the book of Hebrews says, “Just as man is to die once, and after that to face judgment.”

Now, I want to say some things about sheep and goats.

Some people who are not familiar with livestock often confuse sheep and goats.

So, let me tell you some of the differences.

Sheep have fleece, goats have hair.

Sheep say baa, and goats say maa.

Seriously, though, their voices are different.

Sheep are stupid animals. They are. It is a fact. Goats are smart.

Sheep are more skittish than goats.

The instinct of sheep is to flee, not fight.

Just about the only thing sheep can do well is to be led by a shepherd.

In the Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 10 verse 16, Jesus said to his disciples, “I am sending you out like sheep among wolves.”

This indicates the vulnerability of sheep when they are sent out on their own without their shepherd.

It is very interesting that Jesus said that “He will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”

This metaphor provides some very interesting information for us.

First, we see that people will be judged by Jesus and be put into one of two categories.

They will either be designate as sheep or as goats.

Second, this metaphor tells us that it will be very easy for Jesus to determine which category we fall into.

While it may be easy for some people, not familiar with livestock, to confuse sheep and goats; it is very easy for a shepherd to tell the difference between sheep and goats and always get it right.

See, a shepherd can easily differentiate sheep from goats. More than that, however, is that a shepherd knows the sheep that he is shepherding well.

He knows the differences in their markings, the way they act, the way they eat, their temperaments, etc.

Verse 33 says, “He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.”

Notice the symbolism here.

When Jesus was before the Sanhedrin the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?”

In Mark Chapter 14 verse 62 Jesus replied, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.”