Matt 25:31-46 The Day of the Lord 10/3/2004 ίΰ
#1. The Son of Man Shall Come (Matt 25:31, Dan 7:13-14, Isa 53:6)
#2. Separation of the Sheep and the Goats (Matt 25:32-33, Prov 3:33, John 10:16)
Please open your Bibles to the Gospel According to Matthew 25:31 (2X). I have titled the sermon for today, The Day of the Lord (2X). As you know, most of the time we find this term The Day of the Lord in the Bible, it refers to the End of Time, or the Last Day of this earth, which is the Day of Judgment for all those dwelling on the earth. This is a fearful day. But we need to keep in mind that every passage and every verse in the Bible was written for our comfort. Listen God says in Rom 15:4,
Rom 15:4 For
whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we
through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
God says that we should derive comfort and hope from every passage that was written in the Bible, even from fearful passages such as this one. And so, let us read in Matt 25:31 ff. This is:
Mt 25:31-32 Ά When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mt 25:33 And he
shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Mt 25:34 Then shall
the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mt 25:35-36 For I
was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was
a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked,
and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came
unto me.
Mt 25:37-39 Then
shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and
fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and
clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mt 25:40 And the
King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me.
Mt 25:41 Then shall
he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
Mt 25:42 For I was
an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
Mt 25:43 I was a
stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in
prison, and ye visited me not.
Mt 25:44 Then shall
they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or
a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
Mt 25:45 Then shall
he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not
to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
Mt 25:46 And these
shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.
We must remember that this is a parable. This is not the true scenario of the judgment on the Last
Day. If this were the true scenario we would not be able
to harmonize this with the scenario given in 1Thess 4:17, which says, And
so shall we ever be with the Lord. Once we have been raptured up to be
with Christ, we shall never be separated again. The Bible teaches us the
principle that the saints have already been judged with Christ and in Christ,
and since God is righteous God does not require that we will be judged again.
But did you know that all the parables that Jesus spoke were pointing to
the judgment on the Last Day? That is indeed true: All the parables are
pointing to the judgment on the Last Day, because all the parables speak about
the righteous and the wicked, or the just and the unjust, or the believers and
the unbelievers, or those who hear and those who turn away their ear from
hearing the Word of God. All the parables are contrasts between the
#1. The Son of Man Shall Come (Matt 25:31, Dan 7:13-14, Isa 53:6, Rev 1:7)
Mt 25:31 Ά When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
Why did Jesus use the title Son of Man here, when He pictures Himself as the Judge? Christ used this title in Dan 7:13. Please turn about 145 pages to your left (ΰ) to the Prophecy of Daniel 7:13 (2X). This title Son of Man is associated with Christs authority to Judge in the name of the Father. And whenever Jesus used this title in the NT He uses it to indicate His authority to judge the unsaved, as it was given to Him by the Father, or to be judged for the sins of all His elect, which was a judgment of the Elect that was also granted to Him by the Father. We read here in Dan 7:13-14,
Da 7:13 I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one
like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of
days, and they brought him near before him.
Da 7:14 And there was given him dominion, and glory, and
a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his
dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his
kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.
Therefore this name Son of Man implies that the Lord Jesus Christ
truly came in our flesh. He was truly the Son of Man who dwelt with us, and
dwelt among us, and was like us in all things, except for sin. His incarnation
made Him the Son of Man. He was God with us, Emanuel. But the name Son of
Man also implies that He was able to bear our sins. He went to the cross
to bear the full measure of the wrath of God on behalf of our sins. His
suffering was in our place, because God said in Isa 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Therefore, since Christ was perfectly obedient to Gods
purpose in all things pertaining to His atonement, He also was exalted above
all things. His exaltation included that He can judge all men in the Fathers
name. His exaltation is not complete until His Kingdom is finally and perfectly
established. And the way to this goal is the way of judgment (2X). Please
turn about 370 pages to your right (ί) to the Epistle to the Romans 3:10 (2X).
Way in the beginning, when God talked with Adam
in the Garden of Eden, God said to Adam in Gen 2:17, But of the tree
of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day
that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. God laid down the law to
Adam, and God stated the penalty for violating the law. But this was not enough
of a deterrent, for Adam and Eve did eat from that tree. Judgment followed.
It was the moment they died spiritually and became slaves of Satan. But the
consequences were that every human being that came out of the loins of Adam was
also a slave of Satan. This is how everyone of us came into the world, as
slaves of Satan and enemies of God. That is why God said in Rom 3:10, and now
we read in Rom 3:10, As it is written, There is none righteous, no,
not one. No one is good enough to come into Gods holy heaven, because no
one is righteous. And what is the consequence of being unrighteous? If anyone
dies in a state of unrighteousness, then Judgment follows, and God says,
To Hell you go! Please turn to Rom 6:23 (2X). There God says,
in Rom 6:23, For the wages of sin is death, and the
death that God has in view is to spend an eternity in Hell. But God did not
create the human race to send everyone to Hell. Let us read Rom 6:23 again, Rom
6:23, For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The gift of God is something
that God gives freely. Please turn to Rom 5:8 (2X). What is that gift of
God? God says in Rom 5:8, But God commendeth his love toward us, in
that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Why did Christ die
for us? What could that accomplish? Well, after Adam and Eve delivered themselves
into the hands of Satan, God intervened and God revealed that He will accept the
principle of substitution. In other words, someone else could bear the
guilt of our sins and could stand in our place before the judgment throne of
God, and this someone else could endure the penalty for our sins in our place.
The only problem with that arrangement is that this someone else had to be sinless,
because if that person had a sin of his own, then he would have to endure the
penalty of Hell first for his own sin. He would never come out of Hell to atone
for our sins, because the penalty for sin is an eternity in Hell. And thus,
there is no other human being who could take our place, because God stated in Rom
3:23, For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Therefore God Himself provided the Person who qualifies to be our Substitute.
God provided the Lord Jesus Christ, who was fully man, except for sin, and He
was fully God at the same time. Christ could bear the guilt of our sins, and He
could endure the wrath of God that is equivalent to us spending an eternity in
Hell, and He could do that within a finite time span, less than 24 hours, and
be successful. He did that about 2000 years ago, when all our sins were still
future sins, and when we were yet sinners as we have read in Rom 5:8.
That is why we read in Rom 5:15 (2X), But not as the offence, so
also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead,
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man,
Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. But now a new problem arises.
He did not do it for the whole human race,
because many are not saved, and many die unsaved. If Christ atoned for the sins
of an individual, then that person cannot die unsaved, because Christ cannot be
unsuccessful in His atoning work. You see in Rom 5:15 that the free
gift is called the gift by grace. What is grace? We find in Websters
Dictionary that Grace is The unmerited Divine assistance given
man for his regeneration or sanctification. In other words, grace
is the unmerited favor of God. Grace is receiving a gift that we do
not deserve. Gods free gift of salvation is a gift by grace. Therefore, can
you merit unmerited favor? Absolutely not! Salvation is a free gift
because you cannot DO anything to earn it. It means you cannot make a
decision to follow Jesus so that you become worthy to receive this gift of
salvation, because making a decision is something YOU DO, and that by
definition is a work. It also means you cannot conjure up faith so that
you become worthy to receive this gift of salvation, because this decision to
believe is again something that YOU DO, and that by definition is a work. Well
then, if heaven is given by grace, then it is a gift that does not depend on
anything YOU DO, and therefore God must make the decision whom to give it to.
Indeed God, did that before the foundation of the world, as we read in Eph
1:4. God decided before the foundation of the world to draw into His holy
heaven those people whom He chose to be saved, His Elect, and God sent the Lord
Jesus Christ to this earth to suffer and die for the guilt of the sins of His
Elect on the cross of
Christ had to be judged. All the Elect had to be judged in Christ. And to remove all uncleanness out of His Kingdom all the reprobate have to be judged and removed into Hell on the Last Day. And so, Christ shall come in the glory of the Father and with the authority of the Father. Gods glory is not something that shines out of Him, with some kind of radiation. Gods glory existed before radiation existed. Gods glory is His ability to be victorious over all sin and uncleanness. His glory exposes the sin of mankind, even unto our deepest thoughts. His glory is also the glory of Gods absolute and sovereign right to judge all men. His judgment is always a righteous judgment. The throne of His judgment is the throne of His glory. Christ on this throne will be revealed as King of kings and Lord of lords. And Christ will judge in strictest conformity to the highest principles of judgment, and so He will pass the judgment of the Father. That will be a terrible day for all the unsaved, because the thoughts and intents of their hearts are horrible. Let us return to the Parable of Judgment Day in Matt 25:31.
#2. Separation of the Sheep and the Goats (Matt 25:32-33, Prov 3:33, John 10:16)
Again this is only a parable. It is not the real scenario of judgment day. However, the Lord Jesus chose His words very carefully, so that we can derive from these the principles of Gods methodology. The picture is that of a Shepherd and His flocks. The Lord Jesus said in Matt 25:32,
Mt 25:32 And before
him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another,
as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
Mt 25:33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
Initially, when we
think of sheep and goats, we think of those in the OT congregation, or
those in the NT church, because both sheep and goats were clean animals. Both
sheep and goats were used for OT animal sacrifices. But these people, who are
represented by sheep and goats, are not only those who go to church, because
Jesus said very emphatically in verse 32, before
him shall be gathered all nations.
Definitely He is speaking about all people who have ever lived, in all the
nations of the world. But they are called sheep and goats to indicate that the
sheep and the goats were together. They feed together, and they are
watered together. And so it is in this life. The saints and the sinners live
together, and they work together. There are most likely sheep and goats in the
same family, and there are sheep and goats in the same church, hearing the same
Gospel. There are sheep and goats teaching future pastors in the same seminary,
because apostasy begins in the seminaries. But now in the Day of the Lord
they are separated. In the true scenario the saints are separated because they
have been raptured up to be with Christ forever, and the reprobate are left to
be judged. Here in the parable the sheep are placed at the right hand of
the Lord Jesus Christ. What is significant about that? Christ sat down at the
right hand of God the Father, because the right hand indicates a position of
authority. Christ is given the authority to rule as King of kings and Lord of
lords. The saints are placed at His right hand because the saints are destined
to rule with Christ, and to judge with Christ. The saints are going to judge
even the fallen angels. But when we think of the separation, we must realize
that separation has already taken place now, in the spiritual realm. Even now
the righteous and the wicked have already been determined. God says in Prov
3:33, The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but
he blesseth the habitation of the just. Even though the righteous and the
wicked live together, they do not share the grace of God. And when the moment
of physical death strikes the righteous and the wicked are truly separated. The
souls of the righteous go immediately to live and reign with Christ in heaven,
whereas the souls of the wicked are going to a place of silence. And when the Day
of the Lord has arrived, Christ brings with him the souls of all the
saints, who will be joined to their new glorified bodies. Then the souls of the
wicked shall come out of hibernation and shall be joined to their resurrected
bodies that are designed to survive the torments of Hell. This is the final
separation when we will know for sure who our enemies are. The saints are
called sheep. This is to indicate that they are Gods Elect. They were
always the sheep of Christs pasture, and the flock of His hand. The saints
were not once goats who changed into sheep. They are Gods sheep, because
Christ is their Shepherd and He gives His life for the sheep. Through
the preaching of the Gospel these sheep are brought into the sheepfold of
Christ. But they were always sheep, as we can read in John 10:16 And other sheep I have, which are not of
this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there
shall be one fold, and one shepherd. And now that we know that the
sheep will be separated from the goats,
In Matt 25:34 the sheep are called the blessed of my Father.
They were always the ones whom God chose to bless. That is why they are also
called the righteous in verse 37. Their righteousness did not
come from their own good works, because there are none. Even our best works are
tainted with sin. But the Lord Jesus Christ gave us our righteousness as a free
gift. And now we can stand before God and not be afraid, because He sees us as
perfectly righteous. But is that really so? Are we really sure that we
belong to the sheep of Christ? Are we really sure that we have received the
gift of salvation? Gods gift of salvation is accompanied by outward signs,
indicating that a miracle of God has made us a new creature. For example, we
can see that in the parable of Judgment Day in Matt 25. What did the
righteous do? They treated their fellow sheep in a very loving manner. They
did not do that for everyone in the world. Did you notice in Matt 25:40
that the Lord Jesus said, these my brethren. This is significant,
because the brethren refer to those to whom Christ is a Kinsman.
How we treat our fellow believers in Christ matters a great deal. Please
turn almost to the end of your Bibles, to the 1st Epistle of
John 3:14 (2X). The Lord Jesus repeatedly said that we must love our fellow
believers in Christ. He said in Joh 13:34-35 A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you,
that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye
are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Moreover He said in John
15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved
you. What can we conclude from these? Well, we can say, These are only
two isolated cases, and obeying a commandment has not saved anyone. Let us
then read what God says through the pen of the Apostle John in 1John 3:14,
We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the
brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Please
do not misunderstand this verse. It does not say that obeying the command to
love our brethren in Christ can save us. God says in Gal 3:21, if
there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness
should have been by the law. But certainly if we are saved then the love
of God placed in our hearts will manifest itself in showing the love we have
for one another. The love God has placed in our hearts will first of all be
toward God Himself. But the love for God will be evident in how we obey His commandments.
God says here in 1John 5:2 (2X), By this we know that we love the
children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this
is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not
grievous. Do we want to know where we will stand in the Day of the Lord?
Then check to see if we love the children of God. If we find that loving the
brethren is grievous to us, then we should worry if we really have been saved.
God says that if we have been saved the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. Is this really so?
Please turn again to the parable of the Day of the Lord in Matt 25:40 (2X). Yes, what did we do with Christ? Do we love Him? It is easy to say we love the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is in heaven. Only for a few years was He on earth. So then, the real question is, What did you do with Christs saints? Christ and His saints are one body. They are united together in perfect union. What is done to the saints is therefore done to Christ Himself. We read in Matt 25:40,
Mt 25:40 And the
King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it
unto me.
It is true that the people of God have the calling to love their neighbor as themselves, but this must not be interpreted in terms of a general social calling. This parable with which the Lord Jesus concluded His ministry has nothing to do with the social gospel, which is so popular these days. If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maranatha. But if we love Christ, then we must love His brethren, which are also our brethren. This is not grievous. This will be our 2nd nature, if we indeed have been saved. And so, when we love our fellow believers in Christ we have not only fulfilled the direct command of Christ, but we have also contributed to the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
AMEN. Let us turn to the Lord in prayer.