Saved from
Judgment
Matthew 25: 31 –
46.
Introduction
Last
Sunday evening, I had a meeting with a group of people from our church to begin
planning and praying about a new initiative in our church. The initiative is something we are calling
One Focus. Jerry Merriman has agreed to
be our lay leader for One Focus, and Cindy Ramsey has agreed to serve as our
prayer coordinator.
The
basic idea behind One Focus will be to ask each of our church members to
identify one person they can focus on.
We want each of our church members to find one person in your life who
(as far as you can tell) is a non-Christian or is not affiliated with any
church in our community. Over the next
year, we want you to pray for that one person; to love that one person; to
serve that one person; to share the Gospel with that one person (if the
opportunity comes up); and to invite that one person to some specific events we
will hold at our church. Our staff is
going to plan several events with your one person in mind. We will hold some special events which will
be non-threatening (like the choir Christmas musical) and we will hold special
worship services. Each of these will be
opportunities for our church to present the Gospel to people who do not know
Jesus as Lord.
This
One Focus is something we have been building toward and preparing for over the
past (almost) nine months. It is not a
new initiative for our church. Instead,
I like to think of it as getting back to the basics…a concerted effort on evangelism
and outreach.
For
church folks, the idea of evangelism probably doesn’t require any explanation. Evangelism is simply sharing the Good News
with people who do not know Jesus.
Sometimes, evangelism takes the form of proving the truth claims of the
Christian faith. Sometimes, evangelism
takes the form of meeting the real, physical needs of real people in our
community. But, in every form, evangelism
must teach people how they can be “saved.”
What
do we mean when we use the word “saved?”
It means that Jesus is our Savior, and Jesus is the only one who can save
us. But, saved is one of those words
which needs an object. If we claim to be
saved, we must also claim to be saved from something. If we tell other people that they need to be
saved, we need to be prepared to tell them what they need to be saved
from. Therefore, we need to answer the
question, “What have we been saved from?”
I
began answering this question last Sunday.
Jesus died on the cross to save us from sin. Even though we live in a culture where people
do not accept the concept of sin, sin is a reality that affects all of our
lives. The Old Testament clearly
describes God’s expectations for his people.
The Old Testament also describes an elaborate sacrificial system (lambs,
goats, bulls and doves) to make amends for the times that God’s people do not
live up to God’s expectations.
In the New Testament, both of these concepts
are reinterpreted by Jesus. For example,
Jesus was once asked which commandment was the most important commandment in the
Bible. Jesus answered, “Love the Lord
your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul and all your strength. And the second commandment: Love your
neighbor as yourself.” Then, Jesus told
us that these two commandments summarize the entire Old Testament Law (Matthew
22: 34 – 40). In these words, Jesus
reinterpreted the Law for us. In his
death on the cross, Jesus reinterpreted the Old Testament sacrificial
system. We no longer need to sacrifice
lambs, goats, bulls and doves to seek God’s forgiveness for our sins. Jesus gave his own life as the ultimate and
final sacrifice to forgive our sins.
Sin
is one of the things Jesus saves us from.
But, it is not the only thing.
Jesus died on the cross to save us from God’s judgment. And, just as sin is not a very popular
concept in our culture today, judgment is even less popular. Non-Christians do
not like to talk about sin, but at least Christians are willing to talk about
sin. Judgment is different, because
neither Christians nor non-Christians want to talk about God’s judgment…Because
when we talk about God’s judgment, we have to talk about Heaven and Hell. We don’t mind talking about Heaven. But, Hell is a different story. We don’t like to talk about Hell, because it
is a terrible concept…eternal punishment, eternal pain and eternal separation
from God.
I
believe Hell is a necessary and important part of Christian theology. In fact, I think there are several reasons
why we ought to believe in the reality of Hell.
First,
Hell is one of the reasons Jesus had to die on the cross. Our sins deserve to receive the full measure
of God’s justice. No one deserves God’s
Love. Since we do not deserve God’s Love,
Hell reveals God’s Love in that it demonstrates how much God loved us. When we were unlovable—sinners and enemies of
God—God provided the way for us to avoid the eternal judgment we deserve.
Second,
Jesus talked about Hell more than anyone else in the New Testament. There are two Greek words that the NIV
translates as Hell. One is the Greek
word hades—which typically refers to
death or the grave but can mean Hell in certain contexts. The other is the word gehenna—which always refers to the place of eternal judgment. Interestingly, Jesus and his brother, James,
are the only two people to use the word gehenna
in the New Testament. Paul talks about
God’s judgment and tells us that “the wages of sin is death (Romans 6: 23).” But, Paul never gives a name to this judgment. Therefore, since Jesus talked about Hell more
than anyone else, it is important for us to acknowledge the reality of
Hell. We cannot claim that Jesus is
truthful if we deny the existence of Hell.
I
believe Hell is a reality. I believe
Hell is a necessary and important part of Christian theology, but I do not find
any pleasure in talking about Hell. I
once heard it said that we should never preach on the reality of Hell until it
breaks our hearts that people are going to Hell.
I
believe we should base our views on Hell on what the Bible says about
Hell. There is no better place to turn
than the words of Jesus himself.
Matthew 25: 31 – 46.
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.
34 “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. 35 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.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘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?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’
44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, 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.’
46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
In
this passage, Jesus never used the word Hell (or gehenna). However, Jesus did
talk about the reality of judgment and described that judgment with the concept
we can recognize as Hell.
This
passage is the conclusion to a lengthy answer Jesus gave to his disciples. Jesus told his disciples that he would go
away and return. When he returned, he
would return as the glorified Son of Man.
Then, in Matthew 24: 3, the disciples asked Jesus to tell them when he
would return. In this lengthy reply,
Jesus never actually answered the disciples’ question. Instead of telling them WHEN he would return
in glory, Jesus told them HOW he would return and that his return would come
suddenly and unexpectedly.
According
to this concluding statement, the purpose of Jesus’ return would be to judge
all the nations of the earth. Jesus
would sit on the throne as the rightful King of all creation. Jesus would perform the work of a shepherd,
separating the sheep from the goats.
Fruit of Righteousness
But,
there is something rather disturbing about what Jesus says here. He tells us that we will all be judged
according to our actions—feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the
sick and visiting the prisoners. It
almost sounds like Jesus is promoting a kind of “works righteousness.” It seems like Jesus is telling us that we can
work our way into the Kingdom of God by doing good deeds.
If
Jesus’ words are interpreted to mean we can be good enough to save ourselves,
then this is not a Christian teaching.
It goes against the basic meaning of the Gospel. We cannot solve our own sin problem. We cannot save ourselves from the natural
consequences of our sins—God’s eternal judgment. Instead, God solved our sin problem and saved
us from judgment by sending Jesus to die on the cross and rise again.
What
Jesus is describing is the fact that salvation is supposed to change our
lives. As long as we are unsaved
sinners, we live a selfish existence. We
only please ourselves and never consider the needs of other people. However, once we have been forgiven and set
free, we are supposed to consider the needs of other people. In particular, we are to look out for the
people who are forgotten, overlooked and cast out by society. Just as Jesus took care of outcasts, the
followers of Jesus are supposed to take care of outcasts.
Jesus
is not telling us that our works can make us righteous. Instead, Jesus is telling us that when we are
righteous—in a right relationship with God—it will change the way we live our
lives. Another way of saying this is to
say, we are saved by faith in Jesus, but we will be judged by our actions. We will be judged by the degree to which
faith has changed our lives. We will be
judged by the sins we commit. AND, we
will be judged by the good works which we omit.
Judgment—Matthew 25: 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.”
Jesus
is speaking about his future coming—the second coming. He didn’t give his disciples a timeline, and
he is not giving us a timeline. Jesus
speaks about the significance of his second coming rather than the time of his
coming. The second coming of Jesus will
be a time of judgment. It is enough for
us to acknowledge that since this has not happened, it is still in the future.
Jesus
tells us that Jesus himself will be the judge.
He will be the one sitting on the throne. At the second coming of Christ, there will be
no doubt who is the King. He even refers
to himself as the King in verse 34. Jesus
will return to earth in such a way that his glory and identity will be known to
all. But, for some, it will be too late.
Since
Jesus tells us that “all nations” will face judgment, we can draw a couple of
important conclusions. First, God’s
judgment will be comprehensive. All
nations, all races, all people groups will face Jesus as our judge. But we will face this judgment as
individuals, just as sheep are individually separated from the goats. Second, God’s judgment will be
inescapable. No individual will be
allowed to skip judgment. One day, we
will all stand before Jesus as our judge.
The
judgment Jesus speaks about will involve two things. Every individual will be held accountable for
his or her life. Then, Jesus will divide
all people into two groups—the sheep and the goats, the blessed and the cursed,
those who will be rewarded and those who will be punished.
Jesus
will not judge us on what we do at the moment of judgment. Instead, Jesus will pass down a verdict on a
decision which has already taken place.
We will be judged on our decision to have faith in Jesus. That decision will affect the ways we live
our lives, whether we live out our faith by taking care of the vulnerable and
outcasts or continue to live a selfish and self-centered life.
The
idea of judgment is a terrifying idea.
Because Jesus will know our true identity. We might be able to fool our friends and
family. We might even be able to fool
our pastor and church members. But, the
Shepherd knows the difference between sheep and goats. The sheep will be given a place of honor at
Jesus’ right hand. The goats will be
assigned to a place of dishonor at Jesus’ left hand.
Hell—Matthew 25: 41, “41 Then
he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the
eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
The
words Jesus speaks to the goats in verse 41 are completely opposite of the
words Jesus spoke to the sheep in verse 34.
There are five opposite statements in these verses.
Left
Hand / Right Hand… The right hand was
recognized as the place of honor in the ancient world. The left hand was the place of dishonor.
Depart
/ Come… This is the basic difference
between Heaven and Hell. Heaven is being
welcomed into the presence of God for all eternity. Hell is being forever separated from
God. This is really no different from
the way we choose to live our natural lives.
The life of faith is a life lived fully in the presence of God. The opposite of faith is a life running away
from the presence of God. We don’t want
to live according to God’s will and God’s way.
We don’t want to acknowledge God’s Love which he demonstrated through
the life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Instead, we say with our lifestyle, “Leave me
alone. I want to do it my way.” At the day of judgment, Jesus will give us
exactly what we wanted. Either you will be
welcomed into an eternity in the presence of God, or you will be banished to an
eternity outside of God’s presence. I
once heard it said that the theme song of Hell is the song, “I Did It My Way.” You did it your way in life. You will do it your way in eternity. God does not send anyone to Hell. He simply gives you what you want—a life
apart from God.
Cursed
/ Blessed… On one hand, blessed and
cursed can refer to the words we say about other people. We bless others by saying good things to them
and about them. We curse others by
saying bad things to them and about them.
On the other hand, it can refer to our existence. Some people live a blessed life. Some people live a cursed life. I prefer to think of Jesus’ words as
referring to how our eternal existence will play out. Those who spend eternity in the presence of
God experience true blessing. Those who
spend eternity outside of God’s presence experience the opposite of
blessing. Hell is a place of pain and
punishment.
Eternal
Fire / Kingdom… Jesus spoke a lot about
the Kingdom of God. Sometimes, he told
us the Kingdom is right here and now.
Here, he refers to the Kingdom as something in the future. Perhaps the best way to think of the Kingdom
at this point is to say it is the realm in which God is the King. It begins in our natural life. It finds it fullest expression in Heaven.
As
I mentioned before, we cannot say that Jesus is truthful and deny the existence
of Hell. So, when Jesus described
judgment as an eternal fire, I believe he meant it. Either, Jesus meant that Hell is a literal
fire which burns eternally with literal flames, or Jesus used the image of
eternal fire to describe Hell as a place of unimaginable pain and torment. The pain, punishment and eternal separation
from God is worse than anything we can imagine.
Prepared
for the Devil and His Angels / Prepared for You Since the Creation of the World… Hell is the place which was prepared for the
devil and his angels. Hell was not created
for human being. Hell was not created
for you, and you were not created for Hell.
You were created for a relationship with God—a relationship with God in
your natural life and a relationship with God in your eternal life. As far as we know, the devil and his angels
were never given the opportunity to repent and accept God’s gift of
salvation. However, all humans are given
that opportunity to be saved and escape an eternity in a place which was not
prepared for us. God does not send
anyone to Hell. He gives us the choice
to spend eternity in the place prepared for us (the Kingdom) or to spend
eternity in the place prepared for the devil (Hell).
Conclusion
Jesus
sets a choice before us. We can choose
between his right hand and is left hand.
We can choose to come to Jesus or to depart from his presence
forever. We can choose between an
eternity of blessing or an eternity of being cursed. We can choose between the Kingdom of God or
eternal fire. We can choose to live the
life God created for us or to live in a place prepared for the devil. On judgment day, Jesus will give exactly what
we want.
Before
we can launch an evangelism initiative, each one of us needs to make sure that
we have been saved. We need to examine
our own spiritual condition before we try to share the Gospel with other people.
The
Gospel is simply this. All of us have a
sin problem which we cannot solve. Our
sin problem deserves to experience the full weight of God’s justice. Yet, God loved us so much, he provided the
only solution. Only Jesus can forgive
you of sin. Only Jesus can save you from
God’s judgment.
How
have you responded to God’s love?
How
have you shared God’s love with others? Since
all the nations will be judged, all the nations need to hear.
1 comment:
Good sermon!
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