Matthew 25:31-46 | The End

This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Please take your Bibles with me.

Open them to Matthew chapter 25.

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

Yet again, I am I am awed at how the Lord has led us in his word and through what we've sung to the text of Scripture.

What I'm going to be preaching this morning is not new because we've just sung it.

Almost every bit of it.

If you have your Bible, I'll read this morning from Matthew 25, beginning in verse 31.

We'll read to the end of the chapter.

Again, that's Matthew 25, beginning in verse 31.

Jesus is speaking, and this is the end of his long speech on the Mount of Olives.

It's the last speech that Jesus gives to his disciples.

He says, When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty, and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.

But then the righteous will answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?

And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you?

And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?

Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me.

You cursed ones, and to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

For I was hungry and you gave me no food.

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.

I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

Then they also will answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger or naked or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you?

Then he will answer them, saying, Truly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.

And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

Amen.

I've titled this sermon The End.

But some may wonder the end of what?

Is it the end of all things?

Is it the end of the millennial reign of Christ?

Or is it the end of this present age?

These are essential.

Sorry, pardon me.

I'm not showing up up here.

So I don't know what's going on.

I'll just have to look over my shoulder.

You'll forgive me, right?

Thank you.

Now these are essential questions for those who enjoy working out the details of God's prophetic plan.

When is it?

When does what Jesus say here speak to the whole plan of events?

This section describes a judgment.

So there's a key question.

Does this judgment reflect only the living, or does it reflect the living and the resurrected dead?

Which is it?

So is it at the end of the ages before Christ reigns, meaning that it applies only to those living at the time of Christ's return in glory and judgment?

So sending unbelievers to hell and believers into the kingdom of Christ, or is it referring to the great white throne judgment and referred to in Revelation 20 at the end of the millennial reign of Christ and before the renewal of all things?

Which is it?

There are legitimate arguments for both perspectives.

And so there's a need, I think, for humility regarding these conclusions because God hasn't given us a single passage with a timeline on it saying this will happen, then this, then this, then this, then this, and you can put these all in order.

So we're left to try to piece together how all things fit together from multiple passages.

And here, Jesus did not intend to lay out exactly how all of the puzzle pieces of eternity fit together.

So what is he doing?

Glad you asked.

If you look back at Matthew 25, verse 3, you'll see the answer.

Matthew 25:3

He's answering the disciples' question.

Disciples came to him and asked two questions.

When will these things be?

And what will be the sign of your coming and the close or the end of the age?

Jesus refers to that again in verse 14 of chapter 24.

The gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

They asked about the sign of the Lord's coming, which would conclude the end of this current age of earth history.

And our section for this morning, beginning in chapter 25, verse 31, restates that theme of the Lord's coming.

That verb in verse 31 comes describes this event as coming as complete.

That coming is so awesome in its completion that the term glory is repeated so that we fully grasp that this glorious coming will outshine anything that earth has ever experienced.

Jesus doesn't give a step-by-step chronology, but he does speak of what his coming will do.

It will end this age.

It will reveal him in his glory as the shepherd judge.

And it will reveal him as the righteous king.

For those reasons, I lean towards this being at the end of the tribulation period and before the beginning of the millennial reign of Christ.

That seems the best time to bring the nations together to reveal his glory and to judge them all.

But the timing is not the Lord's point.

After answering the disciples' questions in chapter 24, he then commands them to be ready, to be watchful, to persevere with readiness, always faithful for when he comes.

And our waiting, he says, will end when he comes.

The waiting of his people will end when he comes.

Our watchfulness will end when he comes, and judgment will commence when he comes.

But this conclusion to the Lord's speech isn't intended to be sad or disturbing.

In spite of its judgment, it's not intended to be dreadful or full of woe.

Instead, Jesus intends it to be stimulating and encouraging as we look at the finish line.

No, it will be dreadful for those represented here by goats.

Matthew 13, verses 38, 41, 42, describe this same group of people, these same goats as they're described here.

Matthew 13:38

It describes them in chapter 13 as children of the evil one who live out sin and rebellion against God.

They are those who do not believe in the risen Christ.

And so they will be punished forever for their unbelief.

That's disturbing.

And that reality ought to motivate us to proclaim the gospel, the good news of the kingdom more and more.

The truth of an eternal judgment without God's goodness, without God's mercy, without the grace of Christ should prod us to speak more of Him, not less.

So, my friends, please consider what Jesus says here.

If you have yet to recognize that the broad road of your own personal freedom and sinful living is leading you directly to judgment.

You do not know how long you have to trust in the sovereign king and follow him.

Don't delay.

Jesus stands ready to forgive.

He is a good and gracious king.

And he calls you to take up your cross and follow him.

That dreadful judgment note is included here because it's important.

It's a part of the end.

But it is not the focal point.

We must hear these words of Jesus as they were intended, for they were directed to a group of beleaguered yet believing followers commanded to wait, to watch, and endure faithfully in a rebellious world.

To those who were promised that they're waiting and they're watching and they're faithful endurance, Jesus says, it will be worth it all.

So we see here a glimpse of the end.

But for God's people, that end is more like a finish line to a long race.

It's an image of relief that the race will be finished.

There's joy that what has been seen with eyes of faith will become a reality.

But as with all races, there will be those for whom the race's conclusion is the end.

There will be no participation certificates at the end of this race.

There will be anything but relief, joy, and reward.

But I want to focus on what Jesus intended for the remainder of our time.

Look at this conclusion of his speech with me, not as a moment of judgment in God's prophetic timeline.

That's part of it.

But the focal point is it is the finish line for watchful, ready disciples.

Yes, there are elements that are dark and dreadful, but they are dark and terrifying because of the brilliance of God's grace towards his own.

Jesus portrays our finish line with an image that is glorious, that is regal, that is judicial, that fulfills his purposes, that is unexpected, and that is rewarding.

Did you catch all of those?

There's six of them.

Let's walk through those.

Follow along with me as we consider these six characteristics of our finish line briefly.

And as we consider these characteristics of this finish line, you will see a pattern develop.

It's a subtle pattern.

But if you can see it, it should motivate you to wait with faithful readiness for the return of Christ, for his coming is not about us.

It's about him.

Jesus portrays our finish line first as a glorious finish line.

Think about the glory of the finish line.

A finish line assumes a winner and a loser.

Or losers, depending on how many are racing.

A team may win when the clock reaches zero.

A runner may take the tape.

A team or an individual may have may have the lowest or the highest scores, depending on what the sport is.

Generally, the person or team that wins receives the prize.

The winner receives the honor, receives the glory.

There is honor and glory at this finish line in Matthew 25, but the human beings and even the angels present at the end do not win or receive the glory.

In this case, the winner is not really a winner in the sense that we would think of the term.

But if we think in the storyline of Scripture, we might think of this winner as a winner.

For the Lord Jesus, in the first advent, did not even have a place to lay his head.

He was born in a stable.

He escaped to another country to survive, Herod the headhunter.

Scripture says he was despised and rejected by men.

He was beaten, he was spit upon, he was mocked, and he was crucified.

Many thought that he lost until the third day.

But just as an ant's perspective is not the same as an elephant's, or a mouse's perspective is not the same as an eagle's flying high in the sky, the human view is not the same as God's eternal view.

For the scriptures say that Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count his deity, his divinity as something to be held onto at all costs, but instead he made himself purposely, intentionally, nothing so much as taking the form of a slave, was born in the likeness of men.

Being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Therefore, what happened?

God highly exalted him.

So that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Yahweh to the glory of God the Father.

As he conquered sin and death, Jesus will subdue everything and everyone that opposes him.

Therefore, he comes in glory with angels to sit on his glorious throne.

Do you see?

Our line overflows with his glory.

My friends, we may be overwhelmed and discouraged and depressed if we wait for Jesus as though the end is about me, as if the end is about my accomplishments and how well I ran the race and what I did or did not do for him.

But seeing the finish line as all about Jesus and all about his glory enables us to endure toward his unchanging glory.

The finish line is glorious because it is about his glory.

Second, the finish line is regal.

It is regal.

No human enthronement compares to this event.

The King of Kings and the Lord of Lords will take his seat at the end of the age.

That seat is a throne.

No longer do we see Stephen's vision in the book of Acts of the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.

No, the Son of Man will take his seat.

And that seat is no lazy boy recliner.

This is the enthroned one to whom Hezekiah prayed in 2 Kings chapter 19, verse 15.

2 Kings 19:15

Oh Yahweh, the God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim.

You, you are the God, you alone of all the kingdoms of the earth.

And who is gathered together here before his throne?

All the nations.

He is the one of whom the psalmist declared in Psalm 9, but Yahweh sits enthroned forever.

He has established his throne in justice.

He judges the world with righteousness.

He judges the people with uprightness.

And again in Psalm 29, verse 10, Yahweh sits enthroned over the flood.

Psalms 29:10

He sits enthroned as king forever.

The glory encompassing the end of the age and the glory encompassing our finish line is not our winning glory, but Christ's reigning glory.

And so every person in heaven and on earth will see the Son of Man and will bow the knee and proclaim that Jesus is the glorious King.

Third, notice with me that the finish line is judicial.

It is judicial.

The glory of the reigning king is displayed in his actions as the judge of all the earth.

Passages like Psalm 98, especially the end of the Psalm, I think about verse 6, refer to the Lord coming to judge the nation.

So this is nothing new.

This is a continual pattern throughout Scripture that God will gather the nations and he will judge them.

But this description here of judgment is more likely to reflect the fulfillment of Ezekiel chapter 34.

Ezekiel 34 · chapter mention

Especially verse 17, picking up again in verse 23.

There, God the judge speaks of judging sheep and goats.

He says, As for you, my flock, thus says the Lord Yahweh.

Behold, I judge between sheep and sheep, between rams and male goats.

Later on, he picks up and he says, After that judgment, I will set up over them one shepherd, my servant David, and he shall feed them.

He shall feed them and be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David shall be prince among them.

I am the Lord.

I have spoken.

You see, in Ezekiel's time, God promised to gather his flock in.

They were scattered all over.

They had shepherds who were not shepherds after the heart of God, and so he says, I'm gonna fix all of that.

I'm gonna fix all of it first in judgment.

And then after judgment, I will feed them, I will shepherd them, I will guide them.

He would do so by bringing judgment and the incense.

Installation of a Davidic king, and that king would be a shepherd king.

Interestingly, following patterns of ancient shepherding, sheep and goats were separated at times.

Sheep don't mind cold nights.

Goats do.

So oftentimes, especially at night, the shepherd would separate them, put the goats in a warmer place and the sheep in a cooler place.

This glorious shepherd king will sit on his judgment throne and he will separate his sheep from those who are not.

And there will be no arguing in this courtroom.

There will be no last-minute appeals for compassion or mercy or clemency.

The shepherd king will rule with justice and eternal judgment, and you can rest assured that the judge of all the earth will do what is right.

This moment is the end for those pictured as goats.

These are the children of the evil one, having rejected the Lord Jesus and the gospel of his kingdom.

Their end is eternal fire of judgment prepared for the devil and his angels.

They are cursed.

Why?

Because they chose the devil over Jesus.

Even if by merely not choosing to believe in Jesus.

They are judged by how they respond to the gospel of the kingdom now.

But this moment is not the end for the sheep, as it is in the same way for the goats.

This moment is the finish line for the Lord's sheep who have heard his voice and followed him.

They have existed, Jesus says, in a realm of blessedness, and they inherit the kingdom that has been prepared for them.

And so here we see the fourth quality of the finish line.

The finish line is fulfilling.

There we go.

Note two critical characteristics mentioned in verse 34.

Then the king will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world.

Two critical characteristics.

On the one hand, the judicial nature of the finish line recognizes the sheep as those blessed by the Father.

Being blessed by the Father means that they inherit alongside the Son.

They are identified no longer as sheep, but as daughters and sons of God, such that they inherit alongside the Son of God.

So God fulfills his promise to grant an eternal inheritance to his children.

The second critical characteristic we see is an astounding statement in verse 34.

But first, the goats receive their due by being cast into an eternal fire in verse 41.

For whom was that eternal fire prepared?

Jesus says it was prepared for the devil and his angels.

But for whom has the kingdom been prepared?

For you.

For you.

But wait.

Jesus is the shepherd king who rules the kingdom on his throne.

And it's the gospel of his kingdom that is proclaimed.

And scripture says that he is the Davidic king who rules the kingdom of heaven.

And so the good news of the kingdom is about Jesus.

How is it that we can be accounted as worthy of having an eternal kingdom prepared for us?

The answer is we can't.

We can't be counted worthy.

For we are not worthy in and of ourselves.

It is only by the grace of God in Jesus, by whom we are declared righteous, that we can be among those for whom an eternal kingdom has been prepared.

So if you find yourself in Christ, this kingdom has been prepared for you.

For you.

Hold your finger here and pull it back to Ephesians chapter one with me.

We sing this routinely here.

One of my favorite songs of singing scripture, Ephesians chapter one.

Paul starts out here, he says, this is to the saints, to the holy ones who are in Ephesus and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

So he's speaking to believers in Christ.

Then in verse 3, he says these words Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Why?

Because he has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places.

What kind of blessings are we talking about?

He goes on, even as he chose us in him.

When?

Before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and blameless before him.

In love, he predestined us for adoption.

What kind of adoption?

As sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the beloved.

In him, in Jesus, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses.

How much forgiveness?

According to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us in all wisdom and insight, making known to us the mystery of his will to unite all things in him.

Things that are where?

In heaven and on earth.

Now get this.

In Jesus, we have received an inheritance.

Having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory.

In him, you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, you were sealed, like you sealed the contents of an envelope.

You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee, the down payment literally of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it to the praise of his glory.

Now don't let that all go to your head because it's not about you.

Oh, it's glorious.

It's glorious.

But it's about Jesus.

It is in him.

Again and again, Ephesians says, in him, in him, in Christ, through him.

God fulfills his word about his children and to his children who are found in Christ.

Therefore, the finish line is glorious because it is the reign of Christ in which the kingdom is established, and that kingdom is for which we are judged worthy because of the righteousness of the king.

It is the king's righteousness that is granted to the sheep, as they are seen to be children of God for whom the kingdom has been prepared.

My friends, this is glorious.

This ought to inspire you to go and to proclaim the praises of the king, to be ready and waiting with faithful endurance and readiness, because we get to participate in the glory of the king.

That leads naturally to the fifth quality of this finish line.

It is unexpected.

Come and inherit.

And then there's this list of actions that the sheep have undertaken toward the king.

He says, I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me drink.

I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

I was naked and you clothed me.

I was sick and you visited me.

I was in prison and you came to me.

But those accolades are unexpected because the sheep respond, Lord, what are you talking about?

We never saw you like this.

We never did anything like this for you.

What are you talking about?

And that's how we know that this judgment is based on something other than works, than good deeds, and personal goodness.

They didn't even know what they were doing in their service to Christ.

So they could not pursue the finish line by doing good for the king when they didn't even know they were doing good.

Rather, their good deeds are done as a result of their already existing relationship to the king.

The king's goodness and the king's grace motivates them to live for him.

And then they begin to see all of the other sheep in the Lord's flock as though they were the king.

Notice, he says, the answer, truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.

The least of these my brothers refers only to believers in the gospel of Matthew.

This isn't a social gospel.

This isn't something that says, go out and do all kinds of good things to the poor and the underprivileged.

That doesn't mean that's a bad thing.

It doesn't mean don't do that.

That's just not what Matthew's talking about.

It's not what Jesus is talking about here.

He's talking about how you view brothers and sisters of Christ.

So as you treat your brothers and sisters in Christ, you are treating them as though they were Christ Himself.

This refers, we might say, more to the one another's in Scripture.

God's children treat his other children as though they were engaging with the King, the Son of God Himself.

But so often we just we live with one another and we we serve with one another and we just operate as though we're just we're just brothers and sisters.

There's nothing unusual about that.

We're human beings, we we all fail and we all do well at times, and we have this roller coaster of a life, and we understand that and we do life together.

And so they say, Lord, what are you talking about?

We've just lived life.

They didn't expect the praise.

Neither did the goats expect the judgment.

You see, the sheep, the sheep see Christ in all of his people.

The goats cannot see Christ at all.

When we hear the shepherd's voice and follow him, our vision of him grows greater as we know more of him and we love him more and we follow him more.

Our conception of his grace to us is now magnificent because of his glory at the finish line, and that all overwhelms us so that all we care about is pleasing him, and any praise that we receive at the finish line is unexpected.

We will get there and we say, what do you mean, Lord?

I I just loved you.

Finally, the finish line is rewarding.

The last sentence here in verse 46 is tragic and life-giving.

It is darkness and light juxtaposed.

It's the fires of hell serving the purposes of the glories of the King.

Here the race is finished.

The sheep will have run with endurance, looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith, casting all praise back onto the one who gave himself for them.

All while the goats keep on balking, we never saw you hungry, thirsty, a stranger, naked, sick, or in prison.

We can't be blamed for not serving you.

This last speech of the Lord Jesus to his disciples ends with incredible irony.

And it sets up the rest of the book.

To be ironic as well.

You see the word in verse 44, where the goats answer, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister to you?

That word minister is the same word from which we get our words service.

Sometimes it's translated deacon.

You see, a deacon is someone who serves and is so-called a minister.

A minister and a deacon consider the needs of others more significant than their own.

Instead of putting themselves out in front, they look to serve others.

The goats will be shouting in the line to the eternal fires that they never had an opportunity to serve Jesus the King because they never saw him in need of service.

When does the divine king need anything?

They will claim that they never knew that they needed to serve the great king.

The nations gathered here to be judged individually will claim that they never knew that they needed to kiss the son lest he be angry and they perish.

The irony is that the sheep said the same thing.

Did you catch that?

Verse 37.

Lord, Lord, we we never saw you in need.

Lord, when did we see you?

The sheep who heard the shepherd's voice are humble before him, deflecting the praise.

The goats are arrogant, deflecting the responsibility.

And I can imagine the king holding up the page of Paul's writing of Romans 1.

They are therefore without excuse.

The result matters for eternity.

Both groups face an eternity.

Verse 46, eternal punishment and eternal life.

Both groups face an eternity, but only the righteous face eternal life in the kingdom made for them.

Did you notice that twice they are called righteous?

The sheep are called righteous.

They're not righteous because of their actions.

They're not righteous because of who they are.

They are righteous because of their faith in the glorious shepherd king.

1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 30.

1 Corinthians 1:30

And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts boasts in the Lord.

If you look over at chapter 27, verse 19, this sets up the situation in Pilate's house, where Pilate's wife comes out to him and says, Have nothing to do with this righteous man.

Jesus is the righteous one.

And John spoke of these sheep in 1 John chapter 2, beginning in verse 28, where he says, And now, little children, abide in him, remain in him, so that when he appears, we may have confidence and not shrink from him at his coming.

1 John 2 · chapter mention

If you know he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has already been born of him.

Righteousness comes not from what we do, but from the one who is righteous.

As we have our faith in him, he declares us righteous, and then we do righteousness because we've been born of him.

My friends, the finish line is rewarding because of Christ's righteousness given to his own.

This is the finish line for all who have put their faith in him, and so we are rewarded not because of ourselves, but because of him.

It is his glory at the finish line.

It is his throne at the finish line.

It is his justice and judgment.

It is him fulfilling his promises.

It is his glory that is praised, and it is his grace that rewards.

This is all about Jesus.

And so we lift up our eyes to our finish line, keeping our eyes focused on Jesus, the beginning and the finisher of our faith.

And we see Him waiting, ready and faithful, knowing that it will be worth it all when we see Jesus.

Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, we come to you, seeking your grace and your mercy to us.

Thank you for this prelude of reality, this vision of what will be at the end.

We can't even begin to imagine how glorious it will be.

And yet, for all of us who hope in you, it will be so rich.

May you be our all.

May you inspire us to be bold, to boldly proclaim the good news of the kingdom, that we may go out wherever you send us and make disciples.

That we may even be standing next to at that finish line.

Enable us to see a glimpse of your glory now to propel us onward for that day.

In your name we ask these things, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.

Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.

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