Matthew 25:31–46

November 23 2014 Sermon Last Sunday

³¹"When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. ³²Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. ³⁴Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ³⁶I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' ³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' ⁴⁰And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' ⁴¹"Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴²For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, ⁴³I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' ⁴⁴Then they also will answer, 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?' ⁴⁵Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' ⁴⁶And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

(Mat 25:31 ESV)

A teenager once said, "If I'm on Jesus' left hand when he comes, I'll run over to his right; I'm pretty fast on our high school track team!" Perhaps the sheep and the goats sounded a bit scary to him. It's the conclusion of Jesus' words to the disciples about the end, his final answer to their question "And what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?" (Mt 24:3). The sheep and the goats describes what will be when the Son of Man comes.

"So, will I be on his right when the Son of Man comes? What if I'm not? That's an awesome prospect, to stand in front of the Son of Man, coming with all the angels and sitting on his glorious throne. After all, he'll be separating all the nations and putting me either on his right to go to heaven or on his left to go to hell. That's one time I don't want to be in the wrong place. So, how do those on his right get there? How do those on his left end up there? I'm a little apprehensive about the Last Day. Surely a loving Savior doesn't want me to be afraid of his coming at the end of time, does he?"

Certainly not! Apprehensive. Afraid. Anxious. Panicky. No. No. And, no. In fact, when Paul wrote about the Last Day, he said, "Therefore encourage one another with these words" (1 Thess 4:18). "Well, Pastor, I need some encouragement about when the Son of Man comes.

"I remember some words John the Baptist preached, words that are a bit scary: 'Bear fruit in keeping with repentance' (Mt 3:8); 'Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire' (3:10). And Jesus didn't help matters any when he said that 'his angels . . . will gather . . . all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace' (13:41–42).

"Pastor, that sounds like me, way too often breaking God's Holy Law, my sinful acts, my sinful thoughts. (Give examples.) Besides, when did I give Jesus food and drink? When did I welcome him? When did I visit him in prison? I feel more like I should be on his left when the Son of Man comes. I should hear him saying to me, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels' (25:41). My sins make me feel that way."

Did you notice? No words are spoken before the Son of Man separates all the nations—some on his right, some on his left. Silence. Is there even a shuffling of feet as they take their places—some on his right, some on his left? Does anyone question where he stands—on his right, on his left? Or do all the nations observe the silence as they take their places? Some on his right, some on his left.

No words will be spoken before the Son of Man separates the nations. Why all that silence? Something has happened before the time that all the nations will be gathered before the Son of Man. Something has happened to each individual on his or her way to Judgment Day.

In his account of the Gospel, John explains what has happened: "Whoever believes in him is not condemned" (Jn 3:18). Jesus adds that those who believe have "eternal life" and have "passed from death to life" (5:24). On the other hand, John states, "but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God" (3:18).

The silence is broken as the one sitting on the glorious throne speaks. Speaking as King, he says to those on his right, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father" (Mt 25:34). "Blessed by my Father"? Yes, "Blessed by my Father." Those on his right are blessed by Jesus' Father. That must be like God the Father blessing Abraham: "I will bless you and . . . in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed" (Gen 12:2–3). Even at Sinai, where God gave the Ten Commandments, he said, "In every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you" (Ex 20:24). A little later, God told Moses that Aaron should speak the words you've heard from your pastor: "The Lord bless you and keep you . . ." (Num 6:24). And Jesus told John the Baptist's disciples, "Blessed is the one who is not offended by me" (Mt 11:6).

The Son of Man will use another word too to describe those on his right, "Then the righteous will answer him" (Mt 25:37). First, "blessed" and now "righteous." How did those on his right come to be "the righteous"? Again, take Abraham for example: "And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness" (Gen 15:6). It's as if Abraham had a business account with God and in that account was a large debt of sinfulness. Abraham believed God. And God entered Abraham's faith into his account, crediting Abraham's account with righteousness, cancelling the debt of sin. Someone else had paid the price of that free gift of righteousness for Abraham. It's that simple. People who believe are called "the righteous" ones.

In other words, the people who believe in Jesus will be on his right, and he will say to them, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father." Those who have not believed in Jesus are condemned to be on his left and will hear Jesus say, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Mt 25:41).

The author of Hebrews writes, "It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment" (Heb 9:27). After death, each person faces judgment, here when the Son of Man comes, sitting on his glorious throne. Thus, those to be on his right and those to be on his left is decided while a person is living, determined by her believing in Jesus (on his right) or not believing (on his left.)

God blessed Abraham. In Gal 3:9, we read, "So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith." Those who are of faith—you people who believe—you will be on Jesus' right and you will be called "blessed!" And because of your faith, God also will credit your account with righteousness, canceling out the debt of sin you've racked up.

But that debt had to be paid. The one who will separate sheep from goats first became a lamb—the Lamb of God, suffering on the cross the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. What the angel had told Joseph has come true: "You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins" (Mt 1:21). Jesus paid the price for the debt of your sins and mine, suffering the eternal fire. We believe in Jesus, who saved us from our sins. That means

You, a Believer, Will Be on His Right

When the Son of Man Comes.

He will tell you, "Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you." You will stand with those believers he calls "righteous." And you will be with those who go into eternal life.

When he comes, the Son of Man will tell you, "Come . . . inherit the kingdom prepared for you" (Mt 25:34). And instead of having a ledger full of sinfulness, God has credited you with the righteousness Jesus won for you.

In the illustration of the sheep and the goats, Jesus describes the way you will live now. He said, "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me" (vv 35–36). Jesus went on to explain: "as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me" (v 40). Jesus' brothers today are the believers who are proclaiming the Gospel of the kingdom throughout the whole world (24:14) and are making disciples of all nations (28:19). Jesus is saying that you look to show hospitality, first to Jesus' brothers and sisters, especially the least of them. Further, you also are one of Jesus' brothers or sisters, proclaiming the Gospel, for example, just by the way you live. You live proclaiming the Gospel and showing hospitality to the other believers while you wait for Jesus to come on the Last Day.

After Jesus finished all his sayings, he told his disciples, "The Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified" (26:2). We hear of no words spoken as they nailed him to the cross, with one on his right, one on his left. But Jesus himself broke the silence: "It is finished." You believe in Jesus. The Father will call you "blessed" and "righteous." You have passed from death to life. And for that hunger and thirst inside you, Jesus gives food and drink to all his brothers and sisters at the Table he has prepared. "Take, eat; this is my body." "Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (26:26–28). And where there is forgiveness, there also is life and salvation. You, a believer, will be on his right when the Son of Man comes. Amen.