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St Matthew 25:31-46
“The Confused Sheep”
Morning Service
2nd Last Sunday of the Church Year
November 13th, 2005
Dear Saints of God,
I. “He will come again with glory to judge the quick and the dead.” Sunday after Sunday we confess this wonderful truth, that the Lord Jesus will return at any moment, perhaps next year, perhaps this week, perhaps before the end of this sermon. We live our lives in joyous expectation of the Lord's Second coming in glory.
But why do we believe this, that the Lord will come again to judge the quick and the dead? Why do we confess it? Like every teaching in the church, we believe, teach and confess the Lord Jesus' second coming because the Scriptures promise that the He will come again. One of those Scriptures is the Gospel text appointed to today, the 2nd Last Sunday in the Church Year from St Matthew 25. The text begins, “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory.” [25:31] He will come again with glory. And when He comes, what will He do? He will judge the quick, that is, the living, and the dead. The text continues, “All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate the people from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on His right and the goats on the left.” [25:32-33]
This division of the sheep and the goats is the great last judgment, where all people are divided and sorted for their eternal home. “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.” [25:34] The ones on the right hand, the sheep, these are the believers, the saints, the blessed children of the heavenly Father, those who are washed and made clean by the blood of the Lamb, and they are here invited to their inheritance, into heaven, into the kingdom of God, into eternal life and the no-sickness, no-death, no-tears new heaven and earth.
On the other hand, literally, the left hand, we hear of a different judgment, of the goats: “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'” [25:41] Notice how the eternal fires of hell are not prepared for the goats, for the unbelievers, but rather, the Lord God created hell for the devil and the devil's angels, and yet this is the unbeliever's eternal home, the unquenchable black fires that consume with God's wrath all of the goats.
So the Lord will judge the quick and the dead, the righteous and the unrighteous. “And these [goats] will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” [25:46]
II. This, Jesus teaches, is what the last judgment will look like. But there is more in the text, and I'd like to take a closer look at the conversation between the King and the sheep and the goats, and I would like to consider this under the theme:
THE CONFUSED SHEEP.
After the Lord divides the sheep and the goats, He turns to the sheep and says, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation 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, 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.” [25:24-27]
The King commends the righteous for all their good works, and it seems like the judgment is based on the good works of the sheep. This is very similar to that phrase in the Athanasian Creed, when we confess:
At [His] coming all men shall rise again with their bodies and shall give an account of their own works. And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting; and they that have done evil, into everlasting fire. [The Lutheran Hymnal, p. 53]
The good go to eternal life, the evil to eternal death. Simple. But what of God's mercy? What about salvation by grace through faith apart from the works of the law?
This is why there is great comfort for us in the confusion of the sheep. For the sheep, the righteous, after hearing of all their good works, are confused. They say, “Lord, when?... when did we see You hungry and 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?” [25:37-39]
This confusion I have heard called “Gospel Amnesia”. For this text is not just telling us about the good works of the sheep, that the Lord Jesus received these humble acts of love and compassion that they had done for their Christian neighbors, but is telling us how they did them, that all their good works were done in the forgetfulness of faith. The sheep certainly did these good works, but not out of compulsion or coercion, but out of love and joy. Not saying, “look at these good works,” but quietly, the left hand not know what the right hand is doing. These are the humble, selfless, unseen by any but the Father in heavenly good works that are only done by the children of the heavenly Father, that are only done by faith.
For “without faith it is impossible to please God,” [Hebrews 11:6] but with faith, it is impossible not to please Him. For “faith is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, so that it is impossible for it not to be constantly doing what is good... Faith does not ask is good works are to be done, but before one can ask, faith has already done them and is constantly active.” All of the good works of the sheep, “this the Holy Spirit works by faith, and therefore without any coercion a man is willing and desirous to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer everything for the love of God and to His glory, Who has been so gracious to him. It is therefore as impossible to separate works from faith as it is to separate heat and light from fire.”
“Hence faith alone is the mother and source of the truly good and God-pleasing works that God will reward both in this and in the next world.” [These quotations are from the Formula of Concord, IV.9-12, many quoting Luther's Introduction to Romans]
See what a blessed gift is faith, that by it the Lord declares us righteous and holy, and then He gives us His Holy Spirit, that we are taken up into the Lord's loving as He uses us to love each other and care for each other and forgive and show mercy to each other. He is pleased to use us, His dear children, to feed and clothe and visit, to show mercy and generosity to all who are in need, and He gives us this blessed confusion, the confusion of the sheep, that we do not cling to our good works for salvation, but we let them go, giving, always giving to the neighbor, to those in need. Never trusting in ourselves but in the Father who has done all for us, who has even prepared for us an eternal home in the radiance of His glory.
The judgment of the sheep is of these tremendous works of love that only flow from their faith.
And so, dear saints of God, may the Lord grant you His Holy Spirit, that you would continue to be confused sheep. That by faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus, you would have the boldness and confidence of faith that knows that the heavenly Father smiles upon you. And my you be full of quiet, humble, giving and forgotten good works, that it would be your joy to give and love as the Father in heaven has given and loved you. And may it be, for all of us, that when the Lord returns, we would hear these wonderful and blessed words, “Come, you who are blessed by My Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.” Amen.
And now may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.
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