The Coming Judgment
Matthew 25:31-46
December 16, 2012
When you read through the Scriptures,
There are obvious themes that continually emerge.
On one hand Scripture is extremely complex.
It is spiritually appraised, transcendent and we realize that to some degree we will never fully grasp all that it contains.
But on the other hand Scripture is also clear and even repetitive.
Moses said:
Deuteronomy 29:29 “The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”
There are certainly secret things that we can’t know now,
But there are also things which are revealed,
And some of those things are revealed over and over.
And one of those things that continually emerges for everyone to see
Is the fact that humanity has a decision to make.
Scripture is filled with invitations to choose one path or another
In regard to following God.
Moses:
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”
Joshua:
Joshua 24:14-15 “Now, therefore, fear the LORD and serve Him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the LORD. “If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
Elijah:
1 Kings 18:21 “Elijah came near to all the people and said, ” How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him.” But the people did not answer him a word.”
Isaiah:
Isaiah 55:1-3 “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat.Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And delight yourself in abundance. “Incline your ear and come to Me. Listen, that you may live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, According to the faithful mercies shown to David.”
Jesus:
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Of course there are many more to list.
The point is that God is continually asking humanity to make a decision
As to how they are going to live and who they are going to serve.
One reason is to protect us from immediate consequences.
If you go down the wrong path,
It can certainly bring immediate consequences against you.
Commands from God like “No Adultery” or “No Drunkenness”
Or “No Coveting” are certainly good advice.
There is a definite protection in choosing God’s way
From the immediate consequences of this world.
The other reason is to protect us from the eternal consequences.
And rest assured friends, the judgment is real.
Hebrews 9:27 “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,”
Psalms 98:8-9 “Let the rivers clap their hands, Let the mountains sing together for joy Before the LORD, for He is coming to judge the earth; He will judge the world with righteousness And the peoples with equity.
There is an eternal judgment that men will face.
And that judgment is on sin.
See, God knows about sin.
Numbers 32:23 “… be sure your sin will find you out.”
Psalms 90:8 “You have placed our iniquities before You, Our secret sins in the light of Your presence.”
Revelation 20:11-12 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”
God knows about man’s sin, and man can rest assured that
God will render justice on his sin.
Isaiah 3:11 “Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him, For what he deserves will be done to him.”
Romans 2:9 “There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek,”
See, judgment is certain.
And that thought is really the climax of this Olivet Discourse
That Jesus has been giving.
This discourse wasn’t given to satisfy your curiosity.
(It didn’t really do that)
This discourse was giving to stir up your preparation.
Over and over we are reminded to “Be ready”
The coming of the Lord and the subsequent judgment
Will be Sudden, Surprising, and Severe.
You had better be ready.
Now, we’ve already seen two examples of those who weren’t prepared.
The first group was pictured as 5 foolish virgins.
• Those girls who took torches, but no oil.
• They were those who had external deeds, but no internal sincerity.
• They did all the religious stuff, but they didn’t know the Lord and they didn’t
have the Holy Spirit.
Being religious without a true love for God or a relationship with Christ
Is not what it means to be prepared.
The second group was pictured as a wicked, lazy slave.
• That slave that hid his master’s money instead of using it.
• He was the one with a claim of being genuine, but who had no external deeds.
• He talked a big game, but his walk didn’t back it up.
Certainly external deeds will not save you, but you will have a hard time proving you are saved with no external deeds.
Both were unprepared, and ultimately judged.
And this morning it is that judgment that we focus on.
I suppose we could break it down quite a bit more than I am going to do this morning, but I think we’ll still get the point.
There are four main things I want you to see about this judgment.
#1 THE TIMING
Matthew 25:31
One of the things the disciples were really curious about
Was the timing of all the events of the end.
Jesus never gave a date, but He did give a timeline.
• First would be the abomination of desolation
• Immediately followed by devastation
• Immediately followed by tribulation
• Immediately followed by the return of Christ.
And it is at the return of Christ that the first judgment will occur.
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.”
Christ isn’t coming back
To take another beating at the hand of sinners.
When He returns there will be
No need for a Manger, or a Cross, or a Crown of Thorns.
He is coming back to rule.
Isaiah 11:1-5 “Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear; But with righteousness He will judge the poor, And decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; And He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, And with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, And faithfulness the belt about His waist.”
Jesus is without a doubt the King that Isaiah saw.
The other familiar prophecy about Him comes in Isaiah’s 9th chapter.
Isaiah 9:6-7 “For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”
That is commonly quoted at Christmas,
But most of it will be fulfilled at His return.
When Christ comes,
• That is when He will rule.
• That is when He will judge.
• That is when the entire world will be forced to submit to His reign.
So the timing of judgment will be the return of Christ.
#2 THE RECIPIENTS
Matthew 25:32a
“All the nations will be gathered before Him”
Now, don’t confuse this with the great white throne judgment.
That will occur at the end of Christ’s 1,000 year reign.
At the end of Christ’s reign all the dead will rise and will stand before
The great white throne and final judgment will be delivered.
This judgment will be for all those living at the time of His return.
On the day He returns every single human alive on earth
Will be required to come and stand before Him.
There will be no stragglers, there will be none able to escape.
Every person from every nation “will be gathered before Him”
No one is hidden, no one escapes.
Hebrews 4:12-13 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
Everyone is judged.
And that is true not only for this judgment, but for all judgments.
No one escapes judgment.
(3 Major ones)
• Those who are raptured will also stand before Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”
• Everyone alive at the return stands before Christ.
• Non-believers will stand before the Great White Throne judgment.
Revelation 20:11-12 “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds.”
And as we see in all those accounts, no one is exempt.
This week we were shocked and saddened once again
By an outbreak of evil in the land.
This shooting in Connecticut is awful, it makes one literally angry.
And when you find that the shooters killed themselves my first thought, was,
“Oh man I wish we would have gotten to them first,
before they took the easy way out.”
But that isn’t true.
He bypassed the judgment of men
And instead opted to immediately face the judgment of God.
“Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul;
but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
Those guys just thought they were bypassing punishment.
At this moment they’d give anything to come back and face man’s wrath.
Everyone faces judgment.
• No one is exempt.
• No one is rich enough…
• No one is strong enough…
• No one is secret enough…
• No one is persuasive enough…
Everyone stands for judgment,
And that will be true of those alive when Christ returns.
Those who survive the terrors of the anti-Christ
Will face the judgment of the actual Christ.
The Timing, The Recipients
#3 THE CERTAINTY
Matthew 25:32b-33
We talked about the certainly of Christ’s return,
Well here we learn of the certainty of His judgment.
“He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”
Commonly a shepherd would heard a flock of sheep and goats together, but at night it was necessary to separate them as goats could very easily upset the sheep.
The shepherd was in charge of separating the two.
And Jesus says, that is exactly what I will do when I return.
I’ll take every human alive and there will be a great separation.
Those I see as sheep, will be on My right.
Those I see as goats, will be on My left.
But rest assured, the judgment will occur.
It is a certain thing.
“He will separate…”
“He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.”
Matthew 3:11-12 “As for me, I baptize you with water for repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, and I am not fit to remove His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. “His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clear His threshing floor; and He will gather His wheat into the barn, but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”
Matthew 13:40-43 “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. “Then THE RIGHTEOUS WILL SHINE FORTH AS THE SUN in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.”
Matthew 13:47-50 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. “So it will be at the end of the age; the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
You get the idea.
The judgment is certainly coming.
The Timing, The Recipients, The Certainty
#4 THE CRITERIA
Matthew 25:34-46
And this is obvious the bulk of the passage.
This once again focuses on what it means to be prepared.
• We’ve seen that apathy isn’t preparation.
• We’ve seen that outward conformity isn’t preparation.
• We’ve seen that laziness isn’t conformity.
Well here we learn a little more about the criteria
By which the Lord will judge when He returns.
We first see the sheep (the righteous) and then the goats (the wicked)
(34-40) “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. ‘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; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”
Just a few observations here
First of all, it would be real easy to look at this judgment as a works based judgment.
After all, doesn’t appear that the reason they are being spared
Is because they remembered the poor,
Where as those who are wicked are being judged for neglecting them.
It certainly can appear that way, but that is not accurate.
Notice closely what Jesus says in verse 34.
(34) “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
Don’t disregard the role of the sovereignty of God.
These did not earn the kingdom through their benevolent efforts.
They received the kingdom because they were “blessed of My Father”
Furthermore the kingdom they are inheriting was “prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”
In other words.
They aren’t getting in the kingdom
Because they had better works than the next group.
They are getting in the kingdom because they were blessed by the Father to have been called to faith in Jesus Christ.
They didn’t earn their salvation, they received it.
They were God’s chosen.
They were saved by Christ.
SO WHAT THEN IS ALL THIS TALK ABOUT BENEVOLENCE?
The benevolence was their fruit.
Ephesians 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.”
Christians aren’t saved BY works, they are saved FOR works.
God saves us by grace and then expects us to have works.
Wasn’t that the problem with the wicked, lazy slave in the last parable?
And James is clear about this.
James 2:14-17 “What use is it, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but he has no works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and be filled,” and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that? Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead, being by itself.”
If you say you have faith, but your faith doesn’t produce works,
Can that faith save you?
“NO”
A faith that doesn’t produce good works is a faith that cannot save.
True saving faith, also produces good works.
And so these in the parable did not earn their salvation,
They proved their salvation.
HOW?
By benevolence.
(35-36) “’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; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’”
They proved themselves to be genuine followers of Christ,
As evidenced by their measurable love for Christ.
Now another interesting thing here is that
This group is somewhat shocked by this ruling.
(37-39) “Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? ‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? ‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’”
Initially, they don’t have any idea what He is talking about.
They weren’t the type to boast about all the good they had done.
They weren’t the type to bring up a resume.
• They were poor in spirit.
• They were those who mourned over their sin.
• They were those who were meek.
• They were those who hungered for righteousness.
They also, by the way, were those who showed mercy.
But they don’t know when they did all this for Jesus,
They certainly never saw Him.
(40) “The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”
Jesus said, by showing love for your poor brothers,
You proved yourself as one who loved Me.
Did they earn their salvation by helping the poor?
No
1 Corinthians 13:3 “And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.”
You can’t purchase your salvation by helping the poor.
The old song is still true:
“What can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus”
However, these people revealed that they had been saved
And it was evident when they helped the poor.
That means if your faith isn’t measurable by your compassion to those in need, you need to check the reality of your faith.
1 John 3:17-18 “But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.”
John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Helping the poor is a great indicator of genuine salvation.
It ultimately is an expression of love to God.
Proverbs 19:17 “One who is gracious to a poor man lends to the LORD, And He will repay him for his good deed.”
See, helping those who can help you back
Can be done for selfish reasons.
But helping those who cannot repay can only be done for God.
Luke 14:12-14 “And He also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. “But when you give a reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
And so these revealed themselves righteous by helping the poor.
THE OTHER THING WE NOTICE is that nothing Jesus mentioned here could be categorized as “magnificent”
Notice the difference between this group
And a previous group we have seen.
Matthew 7:21-23 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’”
Those people thought their magnificent works
Would assure them a spot in the kingdom. NO
Jesus wasn’t looking for magnificent work,
Jesus was looking for genuine work.
He saw these as those who helped the poor, and they did it for His sake,
They actually lent to Him and He now welcomed them into His kingdom.
BUT THAT IS ONLY HALF OF THE JUDGMENT.
(41-46) “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ “Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ “Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Here it is just the opposite.
Again, they weren’t lost for failing to help the poor,
But rather they revealed themselves lost by failing to help the poor.
And the tragic part is that they were totally oblivious to the fact.
They had been so content and self-focused in their lives
They never even noticed the plight of the poor around them.
This selfish focus revealed a lack of love for Christ
And the absence of saving faith.
In fact, notice that the sins listed against them aren’t gross immoralities.
Often times when talking to people about the judgment
People will say something like, “but I’ve never killed anyone, I don’t sleep around, I’m not a drug dealer, I’m not a thief”
WELL, NEITHER WERE THESE PEOPLE
AND THEY WERE STILL ON THE LEFT HAND OF THE JUDGE
AND THEY WERE STILL BANISHED TO ETERNAL TORMENT!
They weren’t condemned for their gross immorality,
They were condemned for their lack of saving faith.
And you get the idea here.
• Judgment is real, it is coming, and every man will face it.
• And every man will be judged on the reality of his faith in Christ.
The implication is again that you be ready, that you be prepared.
Now let me be clear.
That does not mean you need to go out and give to charity.
That is a backward approach, and you will not earn salvation that way.
What it means is that you need to submit your life to Jesus Christ,
And then your new found love for Him
Will cause you to go out and help the poor.
This judgment is meant to push you to Jesus and to beg Him for His forgiveness and to plead for His salvation.
John MacArthur wrote:
“In light of the utter and perfect holiness of the Almighty and the persistent sinfulness and ungodliness of man…it is not the Lord’s coming in wrath to render judgment that is amazing but rather His first coming in grace to offer salvation. The wonder is not that Jesus will some day come in glory to judge the world but that He first came in humility to save sinners. The marvel is not that God promises to condemn sinners for their sin but that He first offers them deliverance from it. In coming to save those who trust in Him, the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated His great love for the unlovely by bearing the penalty of their sin, dying the death they deserve. What is remarkable is that He came to redeem sinners who are worthy only of His judgment.”
(MacArthur, John [The MacArthur New Testament Commentary; Matthew 24-28; Moody Press, Chicago, Ill, 1984] pg. 114)
And that is true isn’t it?
Furthermore, that is where we are today.
Jesus warned of the judgment, BUT the judgment hasn’t come yet.
Some day you will find yourself standing before
The crossed arms of the Judge, but that day is not today.
Today we find ourselves standing before the open arms of the Savior.
And He is giving that invitation to escape the coming judgment.
Moses said, “I set before you life and death…so choose life”
Joshua said, “Choose this day whom you will serve…”
Elijah said, “If the Lord is God, follow Him…”
Jesus said, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
Now, as you can see, this morning
We are going to come to the table of the Lord.
This table is a place where we are reminded
Of the sacrifice of Christ on our behalf.
Before we come, we always have a time of preparation.
It is a time of self-examination.
And this morning, if you are not a child of God.
• If you are not saved.
• If you have no oil for your lamp.
• If you have no works to validate your faith.
Then this morning, standing in view of the salvation of Christ,
Surrender your life to Jesus Christ.
If today you are saved, and you are a child of God,
And it is measurable by the fruit in your life.
Then worship Jesus Christ,
Knowing that even though you only deserve judgment,
He first gave you salvation.
That is what this time is for.
THE LORD’S SUPPER
• Deacons come
Romans 3:19-24 “Now we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law, so that every mouth may be closed and all the world may become accountable to God; because by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified in His sight; for through the Law comes the knowledge of sin. But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus;”
• Give Bread
• Prayer
• Pass out Bread
Matthew 26:26 “While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
• Take bread
Romans 5:6-11 “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.”
• Give juice to deacons
• Deacon prayer
• Pass out juice
Matthew 26:27-28 “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”
• Parting Hymn
