Matthew 25:31-46
A common theme in popular movies involves a villainous character who does a lot of harm to a lot of people. Good people are killed, and the evil character seems to be prevailing, until justice is, in the end, meted out to him: either by a vengeful survivor hero, a skilled martial arts hero, a wise police detective hero, or a brave old-west cowboy or sheriff hero.
The chieftain of the gang of marauders, the brutal crime boss, the sadistic urban murderer, and the corrupt land baron get what is coming to them. Usually, in most movies, that means that the arch-villain is killed by the hero.
If there were ever a movie where good did not triumph over evil, and where, in the end, the bad guys won, and the good guys lost, we wouldn’t like that movie. And that’s because there is something deep inside of us that tells us that this is not the way these stories are supposed to end.
We have a sense of justice, deep down in our conscience, which also in real life causes us to be troubled when the innocent suffer, and when the wicked succeed in their schemes and prosper. We wonder why God allows this, or perhaps even makes this happen.
The Prophet Jeremiah was also disturbed by these perceptions and these questions. And so he prayed:
“Righteous are You, O Lord, when I plead with You; yet let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?”
What today’s appointed lessons from Scripture teach us, however, is that there will someday be a final accounting for all the sin and evil that have ever taken place throughout human history. Judgment day will be that final accounting.
Jesus tells us about this – and about what he himself will do on that day – in today’s Gospel from St. Matthew. He says that,
“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.”
In his Second Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul tells us a bit more about how we should be preparing ourselves and others for this unavoidable future event:
“Therefore, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to [the Lord]. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men…”
For the wicked who cause pain and suffering in the lives of others, or who fail to protect others from pain and suffering, even if they don’t get their just deserts during this life, they will get their just deserts in the life to come. Jesus is the “hero” who will make that happen.
Atheists and idolaters, the hypocritical and the indifferent, will all know who the true God is on judgment day. And they will all know that the authority to judge and pass sentence has indeed been given to the Son of God.
No one enjoys believing in hell, and in eternal damnation for those who have hardened themselves against God and his will. I preach that these things are real – frighteningly and soberly real – not because I enjoy preaching this, but because Holy Scripture testifies to this doctrine.
And my call as a public teacher of the church obligates me to instruct and warn you about it. Jesus tells us in today’s Gospel that in the final judgment, he will
“say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting 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 take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.’ Then they…will answer Him, 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, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch 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 everlasting punishment…”
Something we do notice here is that the destination of the unrighteous – after they are judged – is an “everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Hell was not created for human beings, and it does not please God when people hurl themselves into a place where only Satan and the demons actually belong.
But when unbelievers ignore God, reject God, and hate God – which are all just variations on the same wrong attitude – they are thereby making it clear that they do not want to spend eternity in the loving presence of God, and with his redeemed and forgiven saints. If that’s what they did actually want in eternity, then they would be in church now – since the fellowship of the church is a foretaste of the fellowship of heaven.
In his Second Epistle to the Thessalonians, St. Paul explains that “when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,” in flaming fire, he will take vengeance “on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes, in that Day…”
But you know, according to the Scriptures, it is not only the most notorious and brutal tyrants of human history who will experience this. It’s not just the merciless murderers and the ruthless dictators who will hear the condemning voice of Christ on judgment day.
We are often comforted by the words that Jesus spoke toward the end of St. Mark’s Gospel, since these words are frequently quoted: “He who believes and is baptized will be saved.” But the very next phrase, finishing the Lord’s sentence, is equally important: “but he who does not believe will be condemned.”
Do you believe? This is not merely a matter of arranging your mental furniture in a certain way, so that you accept certain propositions and historical data as true. The devil has that kind of faith.
He knows that God became flesh in the babe of Bethlehem, and that the death and resurrection of Jesus were real historical events. A saving faith in Christ and in God’s promises concerning Christ is more than that.
Our consciences impress upon us the difference between right and wrong, not only so that we can sit in judgment on Adolf Hitler or Joseph Stalin, but so that we can evaluate ourselves and our own deeds. And when we do, we come up short. All of us come up short.
There is a common human impulse for people who do admit their failures to try to undo the damage they have done by trying to do better. We should, of course, always try to do better in showing compassion to the hurting, in showing generosity to the poor and needy, and in showing friendship to the lonely.
But the good works of the present do not erase the bad works of the past. And besides, those remedial good works are never really good enough. They are half-hearted in zeal and are tainted with mixed motives.
The promises from God that we believe – once we admit that in ourselves and in our own works we have no hope – are promises about Christ’s work for us. The Formula of Concord explains
“that our works cannot reconcile us with God or obtain grace for us, for this happens only through faith, that is, when we believe that our sins are forgiven for Christ’s sake, who alone is the mediator who reconciles the Father. Whoever imagines that he can accomplish this by works, or that he can merit grace, despises Christ and seeks his own way to God, contrary to the Gospel.” This teaching about faith is plainly and clearly treated by Paul in many passages, especially in Ephesians 2, ‘For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not because of works, lest any man should boast.’” …
“The conscience cannot come to rest and peace through works, but only through faith, that is, when it is assured and knows that for Christ’s sake it has a gracious God, as Paul says in Romans 5, ‘Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God.’ …the faith here spoken of is not that possessed by the devil and the ungodly, who also believe the history of Christ’s suffering and his resurrection from the dead, but we mean such true faith as believes that we receive grace and forgiveness of sin through Christ. Whoever knows that in Christ he has a gracious God, truly knows God, calls upon him, and is not, like the heathen, without God. For the devil and the ungodly do not believe this article concerning the forgiveness of sin, and so they are at enmity with God, cannot call upon him, and have no hope of receiving good from him.”
So far, the Formula.
The faith in Jesus that gives us confidence to stand before him on judgment day – with a certain hope that we will receive good from him and not damnation – is a faith that knows that we are saved from sin and from eternal death because of what he did for us, in his death and resurrection.
From one angle, he has forgiven and washed away our sins before God. From another angle, he has justified us, and with his own righteousness has covered over our sins before God. We don’t do these things to save ourselves.
By faith, we receive the salvation that Jesus has accomplished for us. And, by faith, we receive what Jesus continues to do in us. The Formula of Concord goes on to say also that
“Good works should and must be done, not that we are to rely on them to earn grace, but that we may do God’s will and glorify him. It is always faith alone that apprehends grace and forgiveness of sin. When through faith the Holy Spirit is given, the heart is moved to do good works.”
All of this is involved in how we become well-pleasing to the Lord, and in how and why we will be well-pleasing to him as we stand before him in the final judgment.
The Lord Jesus makes us perfectly righteous in his Father’s sight by his gracious forgiveness, thereby changing our standing with God. And the Lord Jesus puts his Spirit within us, who changes us on the inside, and causes us to become ever more righteous in how we live and act.
There is a natural and necessary connection between the perfect justifying righteousness that God’s Word declares to us and bestows upon us – which we receive by faith – and the ever-growing practical righteousness that takes shape in our lives as we continually learn from God how to think and act as Christians.
As we continue to hear and believe God’s reconciling and forgiving Word, God’s Spirit continues to live in us, and to transform us: bearing his fruit through us as he works in us new desires and new instincts. As Jesus describes what will happen on judgment day, he also speaks of this when he tells us that he
“will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of 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 took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
And Jesus adds, at the end of this account, that “the righteous” will then go away “into eternal life.”
Notice that Jesus tells us that those who are vindicated and approved in this judgment are those who were “blessed of My Father.” The word “blessed” translates a form of the Greek term “eulogeó.” This is the same term from which we get the English word “eulogy.” It means literally a “good word.”
Those who are here commended, and who are ushered into the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world, are those over whom a “good word” from God has been spoken: a word of grace and mercy in Christ; a word of forgiveness and reconciliation in Christ; a word of regeneration and new life in Christ.
And as this “good word” was continually spoken over them through the means of grace, they continually believed what was spoken. And so they lived in Christ their Savior by faith, and Christ lived in them by his sanctifying Spirit.
That’s why they had been so unselfconscious in their works of love and service to others. They just naturally lived out what God’s Word and Spirit had graciously caused them to be. And God was very pleased.
Again, judgment day is coming, whether people want it to or not, and whether people are ready for it or not. Are you ready?
Are you ready to stand before the throne of Jesus and to have your faith and life evaluated? When that day comes, what will your eternal destiny be?
If you’re not sure, you can become sure before you leave here today. You have been blessed by God the Father, and are even now still being blessed by him.
His word of warning concerning your sins and their consequences has also been spoken to you, and you have repented. You should repent again. But the “good word” of God’s peace and pardon has also been spoken, and is still being spoken.
The God who created you does not want you to end up in the place that was prepared for the devil and his angels, and not for you. The God who redeemed you through the death and resurrection of his Son wants you instead to end up in the place that he has prepared for you, from all eternity.
Even if your faith is weak and unsure, God’s love for you is strong and steady. Trust in the good word that he speaks over you, and into you.
Hear and believe what he tells you now, when he says that as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed your transgressions from you. Hear and believe him now, when he tells you that eternal life is yours, through Jesus Christ your Lord.
Then you will know that you are even now a sheep of the Lord’s flock. And you will still be one of his sheep – and not one of the goats – on the last day, and into eternity. Amen.