Text: Matt 25:31- 46

Theme: When you love the King, you love His servants…. Because they are one

Preacher: Kruger de Kock

Date preached: 2004/8/22

 

Introduction

As a school boy it has often been good to have friends. Especially on schoolboys week outing to Veldschool. Veldschool happened once in High School to each S.A. boy, taking him to a school dedicated to teach him about the environment. Usually we ended learning more about human nature, and in thise fights were inevitable. Our primal instinct heightened by exploring the great outdoors.

 

I remember the one specific run-up to a fight, which at the moment didn’t look as if it is going to last very long. The small one looked somewhat like Niles Frasier. He had a small build, and behind his dark framed glasses he was constantly flicking his hair out of his eyes. André had the build of a refuse truck – the size of his hands was big enough to single-handedly pick Niles up on the rounding of his head. It sent shivers down my spine when I saw the two of them starting to lock in confrontation. Niles’ frightened eyes were scanning the silent crowd which gathered to watch the thrashing. The first shove sent him screeching through the leaves on the ground. Now, more that before he was looking around … when suddenly he heard a rustle in the leaves behind him. Through billowing smoke appeared Muis, having a last cracking drag on his infinitely valuable cigarette. He turned to see Niles straitening his glasses, frightfully backing away. Seeing André about to abuse Niles filled Muis with a silent anger – the tip of which could be heard when he stomped towards André. “You touch him, you touch me.” He said in a provoking tone. The stare down continued for about a 10 second eternity when André suddenly turned around, hiding his shame in mocking comments.

 

That day I realized – it’s good to have friends – big friends.

 

This illustration is luckily only halfway true because our Veldschool trips never was that brutal, but mostly it felt that way. Our text on the other hand is true – a severity which we cannot begin to comprehend. What we cannot fail to witness when we listen to Matthew 25 is the fact that Jesus unifies Himself with us. Love towards believers is love towards me. Lack of love towards believers is lack of love towards me. He is one with us, His Church. Today we will see how this fact not only encourages us – but truly save us.

 

Let us turn now to the text.

 

In Matthew 24:3 the disciples asked Jesus: “Tell us,” they said, “when will end of the age happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?”

 

Matthew 25 is part of Jesus’ answer to the disciples in which He paints a vivid picture of His second coming, both in detail and through various illustrations. We have read the last of the illustrations, but previously Jesus drives to the point that His second coming will be a time of persecution and suffering. He also tells them to be constantly ready through the parable of the ten girls, waiting on the arrival of the bridegroom. Five of them have enough oil in their lamps while the other five haven’t. Jesus uses this illustration to tell them to be ready, constantly for His return because the time of His second coming is not revealed. Today we have read the 2nd illustration, an Apocalyptic Prophesy that Jesus uses to prepare His disciples for what is going to happen at His second coming.

 

Look with me then at verses 31-33 – The King will come to judge everyone.

 

1. The King will come to judge everyone (31-33)

 

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.

 

When the Son of Man comes

 

Matthew wants firstly to point our attention to the fact that Jesus’ second coming is not to be questioned – it is not “If the Son of Man comes…” but “When…”. It is certain that He will come. And this is not the first and only reference to Jesus’ second coming in the Bible. There are numerous accounts where it is explicitly and implicitly clear that the Son of Man will return after His earthly ministry – specifically to be the triumphant King and Judge.

 

In the O.T. the first account where there is mention of Jesus’ triumph over evil is in the promise after the fall that the snakes head will be crushed by the Son of Man. (Gen 3:15). The prophet Ezekiel prophesied about the triumphant King’s judgment in Ch 34:17 saying after God: “I will judge between one sheep and another, and between rams and goats.” In the N.T. the believers are once again encouraged with the promise that “This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.”

 

In Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians (1 Tess 4:14) he reaffirms God’s promise telling the believers “For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.”

 

Lastly we are assured that He will come again when we listen to the prophesy of John in Rev. 20:11,12. “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.”

 

Jesus Christ will return, He will come again. Don’t expect the wrong Jesus because this time He will not come meek and humble in a crib, but He will come in heavenly Glory. He will not shamefully hang on a cross but He will be sitting on His throne of glory – even earth and sky will flee from His presence. He will not be cursed as a disgraceful criminal, but He will be praised as the King of all Kings – “far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything.”Eph 2:21,22

 

Jesus Christ will return, He will come again. Don’t expect the wrong Jesus because this time He will not come meek and humble in a crib…

 

Verse 32 tells us that everyone will be gathered to His throne of justice. In Revelation 9 the gathering of the world is described and John tells us that he can see “a great multitude that no-one can count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.” More than is imaginable - 3000 million people – including me and you.

 

We will be gathered to be separated – separated like a Sheppard separates the sheep from the goat at night. For Matthews’s first readers and Jesus’ disciples this was a well known picture – The shepherd used to separate the flock at night to let the goats sleep in a cave or a dwelling because their short hair wasn’t suitable to keep them warm during the evening. The sheep were taken to a pen under the stars – able to survive because of their thick wool coats. In the same way we will be separated at this unknown day in the future.

 

The sheep and goat will be separated, but the sheep, says Jesus, they will be His own. In John’s Gospel Jesus calls Himself the Good Shepard, leading the flock given to Him to the pen. They where given to the Sheppard by the Father. His chosen flock follows the Sheppard’s voice because they know Him. He is the only way they can enter the pen.

 

2. The blessed are saved through faith (34-40)

Verses 34 -40 could be summarized as our 2nd point – The blessed are saved through faith.

 

See how the metaphor suddenly changes in these verses:

 

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance…”

 

The blessed are not called sheep anymore, but the language of a family are used. The King, the judge and the Sheppard says to them:

 

take your inheritance…”

 

The family of God, the brothers and sisters of Christ are heirs to an inheritance. They gain an inheritance not a paycheck. They gain a free gift not a bought appraisal. They gain an inheritance not by wit or effort but on the grounds of family ties with the owner.

 

The owner is the Father – He shares an inheritance with the ones He blessed. “…you who are blessed by my Father…” Notice that the active person is not the heir, but the Father. The son, the daughter are blessed by the Father. Without digging into the predestination we can resolve to say that the Father chooses His children, children whom He definitely blesses with an inheritance. In Joh 12:15 Jesus says: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.”

 

But what is the content of the Father’s property portfolio – this inheritance?

 

Verse 34 says: “take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

 

Remember the Garden of Eden, the place of perfect communion with the Father? The place where the LORD dwelt among all His children, before we separated ourselves from Him through our sin. In verse 34 He has this Kingdom in view. The kingdom prepared for us since the creation was lost by our sin but here He is promising its return. That is the history of the whole Bible, God promising and fulfilling His gracious promise to restore us to the Kingdom. He promised this Kingdom to Abraham in Gen 17. This Kingdom was foreshadowed by David’s reign as King of the 12 tribes united, only to see it slip away again because of sin. This same Kingdom was prophesied by Isaiah and Ezekiel. This promise is being fulfilled by Jesus Christ. It started when He triumphed over the punishment of sin – death. One day He will return to complete His work and fulfill the promise of God. This kingdom is the inheritance of His brothers and sisters.

 

This brings us perhaps to the most pressing of questions on our minds when we hear Matt 25. Who are His brothers and sisters to whom this Kingdom will belong?

 

Just a few chapters ago, in Matt 12:50 Jesus answers this question: “Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. 50 For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

 

His brothers and sisters are the ones doing the will of the Father. To them this Kingdom belongs!

 

To them ….?

 

There is only one way to enter the Kingdom of God – through the doing the will of the Father – “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ a 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. ’Matt 22:36

 

Then the Kingdom is certainly not for me, or for you! We fall short…. Far short of God’s great command.

 

Look at the criteria for entering the Kingdom in Jesus’ own words:

 

“Come in… 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.’

 

But it can’t be - then I will not inherit it! I tell you the truth brothers and sisters - we will only inherit the Kingdom if we do the will of the Father.

 

But there is a way. Through Jesus we can inherit the Kingdom. Jesus unified Himself with us. He unified Himself with us on a much larger scale than did Muis to Niles. Look in verse 40, here He says it plainly:

 

Verse 40 says: “…whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”

 

You love them, you love me. He so unified Himself with us that love to one another is love towards Him. Like a fetus is one with a mother’s body, so too are we part of Christ’s body. No less than the anxious father of the unborn child can separate his love for his child from his love for his mother; no less can you love Jesus without loving his brothers and sisters. We are united with Him through faith.

 

God unites Himself to us for what reason? For the reason that is our deepest need – the need for eternal salvation. Jesus Christ has triumphed over death – He ascended into heaven. Jesus Christ fulfilled the criteria to enter heaven to the full extent. He did the will of the Father completely – loving God perfectly and loving us ceaselessly. He is righteous.

 

See what the heirs of the Kingdom are called by Christ in verse 37 – “…the righteous”.

 

The righteous Son of God calls sinful human beings righteous?! But how can that be.

 

We are condemned by our own deeds. An accused is only righteousness if the judge hasn’t found any guilt in Him.

 

Perhaps this explains the surprised exclamation of them who are destined for the kingdom – “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?’

 

When did Cole Abbey do these things, when did you do these things. Go on, think about it. When did I do one of these things to the glory of … who? God? No, if I did these things I did it for the glory of self! My deeds are riddled with self-love and hidden agendas. Filthied by spiritual transactionalism, trying to buy my way into heaven. When Lord, When did I do these acts of love?”

 

Praise God for His grace. It is possible for sinful humans to inherit the Kingdom – through Christ. Like it is impossible to split love for an unborn baby from love for the mother who carries him, so to is it impossible to split Jesus’ righteousness from them whom is clinging to Him in faith. This is the heart of this text – God’s unimaginable grace towards us, uniting Himself to sinful humans. Almost like a parachute jumper who saw his friend falling to his death after his chute won’t open. The friend jumps out after his friend, catch up with him and lock him to his body. This way he safely lands them with His chute. Jesus, not thinking His Godly status to high to become a mere human. He became one with us so that we could be one with Him, the one and only righteous one.

 

In this heavenly courtroom the evidence of our righteousness will be called to the Judge. Christ tells us that He wants to see evidence of the fact that we are clinging to Him in faith.

 

Keep in mind, a Judges work is to separate the righteous from the unrighteous. Somewhat like a Sheppard separates the sheep from the goat. On the basis of visual evidence the Sheppard knows which is which.

 

Does your life attest to the fact that you are locked onto the body of Christ? Do you now live through the Spirit, a thankful life of obedience to Christ your King? Does acts of love to one another mark your life. Acts of love that follow the example set by Christ – giving yourself away? We are one with Christ through faith given to us as a gift. James says in Chapter 2:14

 

“14 What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? … faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.”

 

3. The cursed are condemned through works (41-45)

Dead like the cursed will be on the day of God’s judgment. Dead like one will be when jumping out of an aero plane without a functionable parachute. Look with me at verses 41-45.

 

Remember what are the criteria for entrance to the Kingdom – the perfect fulfillment of God’s law! But without Christ, a human being can only offer a filthy life, riddled by acts of self-love and hidden agendas. Without Christ a humans’ deeds condemns him. His deeds only win him hell as an inheritance. The only way to inherit the Kingdom is through faith in Jesus Christ. Not lip service – real faith followed by acts of love to fellow believers.

 

Now too, Jesus says in verse 44, the unbelievers will call Him ‘Lord’, imitating the believers who called Jesus Lord long before they could see Him.

 

“Lord” they will say “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.’

 

Only through unity to the body of Christ can they be saved. A unity in faith that is followed by acts of love. Faking it won’t work.

 

Almost like the night shift cleaner who was woken up by the MD of the company. “I thought I paid you to clean my offices?” Still baffled by the presence of the MD at 02h00 in the morning the cleaner replied - “If I knew you were coming I would have cleaned it up.”

 

Their lack of works of love towards the body of Christ, the Church will condemn those who think they will be able to fool the Heavenly King-Judge when He separates the believers from the unbelievers. He wants hard evidence of our faith, our unity with Him. He wants to see the acts of love to the members of the body of Christ as evidence that they are one with the righteous body of Christ.

 

But the separation from Christ is evident in the way they live – it is clear that they neither are part of His body, nor intend to be. They’re own deeds condemn them.

 

4. Blessed forever, cursed forever (46)

Their condemnation is unthinkable. They forsake God for their short lives on earth to be forsaken by God for eternity in hell.

 

“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” Matt 25:47

 

We can’t begin to grasp the concept of eternity. The biggest number we can think of can’t describe that length of time.

 

The movie The Hanging Tree was set in a western gold-mining camp in the late 1800’s. Gary Cooper played the role of doctor for the camp. One day, a young boy was seen robbing gold from the camp. He was shot from a distance but managed to hobble into hiding. All hands in the camp spread out to see who would be the first to kill him for this offense. The doctor found the hurt, frightened youth. He took him into his cabin, nursed him, and removed the bullet. After the boy regained consciousness, he inquired what the doctor would do with him now. The doctor held the slug in the boy’s face and said, “You will be my servant for as long as I want you to be, maybe forever, because that is how long you would be dead if this slug had remained in you.”

 

5. Practical

Today, like that day before the throne of Christ we are also two groups in this Church. Those with the slug of a self-love still engrossed in our flesh, destined for eternal damnation, and those whose slug has been removed by the Surgeon, destined to inherit the Kingdom.

 

Unbeliever

If you are an unbeliever here this morning, my heart is sad for you, although I don’t know who you are. I am sad for your inheritance which is being forsaken by the presence of God.

 

The fact that you are here this morning witnesses to the fact that you understand that the Judge is approaching. Today you have heard the terrible facts of the last day – the last hour. The Judge has condemned everyone who cannot live up to His standard – 100%. The punishment – ETERNAL DEATH. But hear once again the Gospel. God is not only the Judge. He is also a loving Father who doesn’t want one person to die but repent and live. To this end He has given His Son to take our punishment on Him. Jesus Christ was stricken for our transgressions. He died so that we can live. But He didn’t remain dead – He is alive today. He is not only the Judge but He is also our Saviour. In the acts of love that we, His people do to one another you can see proof that He is still alive today. His Spirit working powerfully within us. Believe in Him today – when you see Him face to face it will be too late.

 

Believer

Believers, once again decide to commit yourselves to acts of love to one another. There are unbelievers among us whose eternal destiny can be worked out through our mere acts of love to one another.

 

Pray for them, and pray for yourselves to recommit yourself to self sacrificial acts of love to one another. These acts of love should follow the principle set by Christ. Give yourself away ... Jesus said give food when one is hungry, drink when one is thirsty, clothes when one is without any, fellowship when one is foreign. These first ones are pretty self-explanatory, but think for the moment about the last one. Visit one who is in jail. Although one’s own sins isolate him from the community, shouldn’t we then comfort and encourage him? Jesus says that even the least of His brothers and sisters should be encouraged this way. Does He say only the least? No! From the least to the most. Remember then also the seemingly strong folk among us.

 

Let us conclude:

1. The King will come to judge everyone (31-33) His definite judgment will separate the blessed from the cursed.

2. The blessed are saved through faith (34-40) Through faith in Jesus Christ they are one with Him, inheriting the Kingdom that can only be entered by those who are perfectly righteous.

3. The cursed are condemned through works (41-45). Their works attest to the fact that they are not one with the righteous body of Jesus Christ, inheriting the eternal punishment.

4. Blessed forever, cursed forever (46). Lastly we heard that the curse and the blessing will last forever.

 

May these facts awaken your heart to you eternal destiny. May you also hear these words from our Lord Jesus Christ: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”

 

Amen.