Introduction:
Are You a Sheep or a Goat? (Matthew 25:31-46):
- Jesus Knows who is who. (Matthew 25:31-33)
Hebrews 9:27 - And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment...
- Sheep are known by their Compassion . (Matthew 25:34-40)
Ephesians 2:8-10 - For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Revelation 22:12 - Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done.
Am I Compassionate? 3 Marks You Have True Compassion:
- You take Action .
- You aren't doing it for people to Notice .
Matthew 3:8 - Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.
- You aren't looking for something in Return .
Philippians 1:6 - And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
- Goats are known by their Lack of Compassion . (Matthew 25:41-45)
2 Thessalonians 1:9 - They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might...
Matthew 7:21-23 - Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
- Your destination is Eternal . (Matthew 25:46)
Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANK
Hint: Highlight blanks above for answers!
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01:06-01:15
Matthew chapter 25, we're going to be picking up in verse 31 today in our series called "Intentional Hope." What are we waiting for?
01:15-01:20
And in Matthew 24 and 25, it's known as the Olivet Discourse.
01:20-01:30
And these are the words from our Lord Himself describing the signs that are going to lead up to His second coming.
01:30-01:35
So, what are we waiting for?
01:36-01:48
Many years ago when I was an associate pastor up north at North Street Christian Church in Butler under Pastor Bob Huber, he and I were under, we were on our way rather to a pastor's prayer meeting.
01:50-01:57
And it was only a few blocks, but on the way we were, do you ever have conversations with your friends about words that annoy you, right?
01:57-01:58
You know what I'm talking about.
01:58-02:01
There's some certain words that kind of get under your skin.
02:02-02:03
Chill, like chili, right?
02:04-02:04
Like chili.
02:04-02:15
We were, this was more of a church theme discussion though, Andrew, in that I said, you know what word I don't like is reverend.
02:16-02:24
Well, when people call the pastor reverend, that's just, that makes me gag a little bit because only God is to be revered.
02:24-02:25
And I just don't like that.
02:26-02:27
I just don't, thank you very much, Julian.
02:28-02:29
I just don't like that term.
02:30-02:34
And pastor Bob said, You know what word I don't like?
02:35-02:36
He said, I don't like the word clergy.
02:37-02:39
He goes, that word just rubs me the wrong way.
02:39-02:42
It just sounds so like, I don't know.
02:42-02:44
It just sounds so like high church.
02:44-02:46
He goes, I just don't like the word clergy.
02:47-02:51
So we get into the parking space and step out of the car.
02:52-02:54
And it was like a scene right out of a sitcom.
02:54-02:57
This man walks around the corner and he goes, hi, I'm Reverend Oden.
02:58-02:59
I'm here for the clergy meeting.
03:00-03:10
And Bob and I were like, "What, what?" But you know, people love to label themselves.
03:11-03:11
Do you notice that?
03:12-03:14
People love to label themselves.
03:14-03:15
You hear it all the time.
03:15-03:17
Like, "I'm an introvert.
03:18-03:23
"I'm a Sagittarius." Or, "I'm just a middle child.
03:24-03:28
"And that's why I act this way, "is because I'm a middle child."
03:28-03:29
(audience laughing)
03:30-03:34
But what we're going to look at today is this, my friends.
03:34-03:37
In the end, your titles don't matter.
03:38-03:43
And what you call yourself and how you refer to yourself really doesn't matter.
03:44-03:48
What's going to matter in the end is how Jesus labels you.
03:51-03:54
That's why the title of this message is simply this, there are only two options.
03:55-04:01
And when it comes to Jesus putting a label on you, there's only two options.
04:01-04:05
You're a sheep or you're a goat.
04:07-04:08
So let's just bow our heads for a moment.
04:08-04:13
I'm gonna ask you to pray for me to be faithful to communicate God's word.
04:13-04:20
And I will pray for you to have a heart open to receive the word of God.
04:24-04:29
Father, we are all susceptible to self-deception.
04:29-04:31
Your Word makes that so clear.
04:33-04:39
So I pray today that we can take an honest and sobering look at reality.
04:43-04:56
Let the words from your Word bring great conviction and encouragement, however's appropriate today.
04:57-05:01
In each heart, Father, we pray in Jesus' name, amen.
05:03-05:12
Really chapter 25 in Matthew, the whole chapter is a warning and the warning is just simply this, he's coming again.
05:14-05:15
And we don't know when.
05:17-05:25
And we've seen the last couple of weeks, Jesus laid out some parables, a parable of the virgins, and then the parable last week of the talents.
05:25-05:33
And we learned from these parables that we should wait prepared and we should work productively.
05:33-05:40
And as we close here, this passage we're looking at today isn't really a parable, it's a narrative.
05:43-06:00
When Jesus comes in judgment, He's going to separate his people from those who are not his people, sheep and goats.
06:02-06:05
There's one question today as we examine God's word, which one are you?
06:07-06:08
Simple, right?
06:10-06:11
Eternal ramifications.
06:12-06:13
Which one are you?
06:14-06:17
because Jesus is going to do a sorting.
06:17-06:18
Which one are you?
06:19-06:22
So on your outline, jot some things down here.
06:22-06:23
Are you a sheep or a goat?
06:25-06:29
Number one, you gotta be sure about this.
06:29-06:31
Jesus knows who is who.
06:32-06:34
Jesus knows who is who.
06:34-06:35
Look at verse 31.
06:36-06:44
Jesus says, "When the Son of Man comes in his glory "and all the angels with him, And then he will sit on his glorious throne.
06:45-06:47
Before him will be gathered all the nations.
06:48-06:57
And he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
06:58-07:04
And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
07:06-07:06
Stop there.
07:06-07:10
This scene here, going through the chronology of this passage.
07:10-07:12
This is the end of the tribulation.
07:12-07:17
Jesus is going to set up his millennial reign on earth.
07:18-07:22
That's a period of history that a lot of people, a lot of Christians seem to forget about.
07:23-07:30
For a thousand years, Jesus Christ is going to live here personally and personally reign over his creation.
07:31-07:32
That's what he's talking about here.
07:33-07:36
The end of the tribulation, the beginning of the millennial reign.
07:37-07:39
He says he's going to sit on his glorious throne.
07:39-07:45
That's in Jerusalem, but he has one order of business that has to be taken care of before we get into the millennium.
07:45-07:50
And that order of business is the final judgment.
07:52-08:06
And again, I have to remind you, as we've done just about every week, that we cannot detach ourselves from the passage to say, well, this is talking about the end of the tribulation and we're not there yet, so I guess maybe I'll cross that bridge if I come to it.
08:06-08:10
Because the reality is this, my friends, Judgment's coming for all of us.
08:12-08:30
Even if you don't make it to this exact scene at the end of the tribulation, you know, the Bible says, Hebrews 9:27, "Just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment." When you die, you face judgment.
08:31-08:32
So the principle applies.
08:34-08:36
That sin is going to be judged.
08:38-08:39
You've got to mark that down.
08:39-08:40
Sin will be judged.
08:43-08:47
And if you're a born-again follower of Jesus Christ, you have nothing to fear.
08:48-08:53
You see, because the Bible says when Jesus was on the cross, He took God's wrath on our behalf.
08:53-08:56
He took the punishment that we deserve.
08:59-09:08
Otherwise, if you have not received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you're going to have to pay the penalty for your sin.
09:08-09:11
You are going to have to face God's wrath for your sin.
09:14-09:22
And in this picture here that Jesus gives, he talks about the shepherd separating the sheep from the goats.
09:23-09:32
Now I know for probably most of us here that we've never seen that, or it's a concept we're not super familiar with, but I'm sure the disciples were very familiar.
09:33-09:47
Because you see in those days when, you know, a shepherd would have this large flock of animals, when it was time to feed the animals, or it was time to have the animals rest, the shepherd had to separate the sheep from the goats.
09:47-09:48
Why?
09:49-09:51
Have you ever been around sheep and goats?
09:52-09:54
They are two different animals, aren't they?
09:55-09:56
Sheep are docile.
09:58-10:02
Goats are hyper, right?
10:04-10:08
That's my favorite part where you go to living treasures or one of these little zoos or whatever.
10:08-10:13
My favorite part is the goats, 'cause they're just constantly running around headbutting everything.
10:13-10:14
I love that.
10:15-10:15
I want a goat.
10:16-10:19
Then I heard how they smelled and I had a second think that.
10:20-10:31
But that's the point is the shepherd's like, I can't have these peaceful, calm animals, eating and resting with these maniac animals.
10:32-10:34
So the shepherd would separate the sheep and the goats.
10:34-10:38
And that's the picture that Jesus is adopting here.
10:39-10:53
He goes, "On that last day, I'm going to be just like a shepherd and say, 'Oh no, no, I'm gonna put the sheep over here and I'm gonna put my goats over here.'" Jesus is going to make a separation.
10:54-11:03
And as far as I can tell from the passage, There's no time in this moment to make up your mind.
11:04-11:10
That Jesus comes back and says, "I'm going to separate the sheep from the goats." And you're like, "Hold on a second, Lord, hold on.
11:10-11:18
I wanna think about this." I don't see that in the passage or anywhere else in the scripture.
11:18-11:25
I also don't see Jesus separating the sheep from the goats and stopping individually and say, "Is that your final answer?
11:26-11:28
You're a goat, okay, is that your final answer?
11:28-11:28
Are you sure?
11:29-11:30
I don't see that.
11:31-11:33
I don't see any, you know what?
11:34-11:37
I've lived my whole life in complete disregard to Jesus.
11:38-11:40
I think I'll bow the knee now.
11:40-11:42
I don't see it.
11:42-11:43
You know what I do see?
11:44-11:45
It's over.
11:47-11:49
The issue is settled.
11:53-11:58
I think it's so interesting that Jesus didn't talk about separating the sheep from the wolves.
11:59-12:02
That seems like a more appropriate picture, doesn't it?
12:03-12:05
Or separating the sheep from the snakes.
12:06-12:07
He didn't say that either.
12:08-12:10
So why did he say sheep and goats?
12:10-12:12
And I thought a lot about that this week.
12:12-12:15
You know why I think he used that picture?
12:18-12:21
It's because of how similar sheep and goats really look.
12:22-14:20
If you've been driving by and see a pasture land and a bunch of animal, I know I slow down what kind they are. I don't know why I do. I always do though. Because you can't tell by glancing and you know I think that's Jesus point. Is this scene is a lot like church, isn't it? You know if we took a field trip and we walked across the street to Northway, we couldn't tell by looking at people who was a true follower of Jesus and who wasn't. And they couldn't do that walking in here either. And I think that's what Jesus is driving at, is Jesus knows who is who. It might not be so readily obvious to us, but Jesus knows. So the real question maybe for us this morning is how do I know which one I am? I mean Jesus knows, that's a given, right? Jesus knows. But is there any way that I can know? I'm so glad you asked because number two on your outline, sheep are known by their Look at verse 34. Jesus goes on to say, "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. 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?
14:21-14:26
And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?
14:27-14:38
And the king will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.
14:41-14:42
Sheep are known by their compassion.
14:44-14:48
And you can look at this passage and you You can say, wait a second, hang on a second.
14:49-14:53
This sounds like you're saying whether we're saved by our works.
14:53-14:56
No, we just covered that.
14:57-14:59
No one is saved by works, no one.
15:00-15:04
Because good works can't take away the guilt of your sin.
15:06-15:07
They can't do it.
15:07-15:09
Only Jesus can do that.
15:11-15:16
But we have to understand what it really means to be saved.
15:20-15:36
Because I think, especially in the church and our culture, if you ask an average Joe Pucitor, "What does it mean to be saved? How do you get saved? What does it mean to be a Christian?" They say something like, "Well, you know, you've got to acknowledge Jesus Christ.
15:37-15:40
You believe that Jesus saved you from hell.
15:44-15:51
And you understand what happens in regeneration is so much deeper than that.
15:52-15:55
We went through this, we went through the book of James.
15:57-15:58
Quick call back to that.
15:58-16:02
But we said over and over how true faith changes you.
16:03-16:06
Do you know what happens when you truly receive Jesus Christ.
16:06-16:09
The Bible says that God's Holy Spirit indwells you.
16:10-16:20
And you're gonna tell me that the God of the universe, the Holy, awesome, majestic God of the universe comes and resides in your heart and you're no different?
16:20-16:22
You haven't changed radically?
16:28-16:31
The Holy Spirit changes your appetites.
16:32-16:36
You used to naturally hate righteousness and love sin.
16:37-16:43
And when you receive Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in you, you hate sin and you love righteousness.
16:47-16:49
You have a faith that makes choices for you.
16:49-16:51
I do this because of Jesus.
16:52-16:55
And there's things that I won't do because of Jesus.
16:55-16:56
The faith makes your choices.
16:58-17:03
So you can't look at this passage and think, Well, it's teaching it, you're saved by your good works.
17:03-17:06
No, you're not saved by your works.
17:06-17:15
You are not saved by good works, but you are saved for good works.
17:17-17:19
Don't get the smoke before the fire here.
17:19-17:21
Look at Ephesians chapter two.
17:22-17:31
It says, and notice how, I know people were having a hard time deciding which TV to look at.
17:32-17:33
So we took out a couple.
17:34-17:36
Narrow your choices down.
17:39-17:43
That isn't the, that isn't really what happened, but I think that's our official narrative for today.
17:47-17:51
Hey, look, if you have bad eyes, you're gonna have to sit in the front.
17:52-17:57
And I know, that's anathema, right?
17:58-18:00
sitting in the front in the spit pit.
18:02-18:08
Ephesians two verses eight through 10, "For by grace you've been saved through faith.
18:09-18:19
And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." All right, you can't be saved by your works.
18:20-18:24
If you could, we'd have something to brag about, but we can't, so we don't.
18:25-18:26
But look at the rest of this here.
18:26-18:29
He says, "For we are his workmanship." Ah, here it is.
18:30-18:44
"Created in Christ Jesus for good works, "which God prepared beforehand "that we should walk in them." And this is a call back to the talents from last week.
18:44-18:49
Remember last week's message was, Jesus expects productivity.
18:50-18:50
Why?
18:51-18:55
Why does he give you skills, resources, opportunity?
18:55-19:01
Why does God choose to have His Spirit dwell in your hearts?
19:03-19:10
Some people think it's to sit and watch, but that's my spiritual gift, criticism.
19:11-19:12
That's not one of them.
19:14-19:19
Some people think it's to applaud the people who are serving Christ, and that's not it either.
19:21-19:31
When you're truly saved, when you're truly born again, God puts his spirit in you so that you can be the ambassador of Jesus Christ during your life here.
19:35-19:48
All that to say, listen, my friends, in the end, your works are going to be evaluated because your works prove whether you walk by the spirit or you did not walk by the spirit.
19:51-19:53
Jesus is going to evaluate your works.
19:56-19:58
It comes at the very end of the whole book, right?
19:58-20:17
Revelation 22, 12, Jesus said, "Behold, I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me." Oh, here it is again, "To repay each one for what he has done." In the end, it's not gonna be about creeds.
20:20-20:25
Jesus isn't gonna say, "Well, you know, in order to evaluate if you should go into heaven.
20:25-20:27
Let me see a doctrinal statement.
20:28-20:30
It's not about your Bible knowledge.
20:30-20:33
It's not about church attendance or membership.
20:33-20:42
And look, all those things are important, but none of those things are evidence of salvation.
20:44-20:49
What Jesus is evaluating is a faith that naturally and joyfully moves you.
20:52-21:01
And here, specifically, the work that Jesus is talking about is compassion for people in need.
21:04-21:05
Are you a compassionate person?
21:07-21:09
Here's the thing, here's the thing.
21:09-21:22
Look, you know, the preacher gets up here and says, "Are you a compassionate person?" that's really a stupid question because everybody thinks they are. Everybody does.
21:23-21:42
There's nobody sitting here or listening to this or watching this that's like, "Not me. I have no compassion for anybody or anything." Nobody, nobody really thinks that about themselves. But the reality is some people are compassionate and some people are not.
21:44-21:49
So got a little test for you, according to Jesus criteria, right?
21:50-21:53
According to Jesus criteria, am I compassionate?
21:53-21:59
Here's three marks that you have true compassion, that you're actually really a genuinely compassionate person.
22:00-22:06
If you are, here's three marks of that, according to Jesus from what he said here, if that matters, and I think it does.
22:07-22:11
But letter A, here's the first mark of compassion is you take action.
22:13-22:14
You take action.
22:16-22:21
Do you see the words that Jesus used when he described the compassion of these sheep?
22:22-22:29
The words gave, welcomed, clothed, visited, all of those things are deliberate actions.
22:32-22:35
Because compassion isn't just feeling bad.
22:35-22:38
And that's what people wanna reduce it to.
22:39-22:39
Do you have compassion?
22:40-22:48
Like, "Yeah, I have compassion." You know, like when they show the commercial, you know, with the dogs, with the logging chain and Sarah McLachlan.
22:50-22:52
That touches me deep down where I'm soft like a woman.
22:53-22:53
That touches me.
22:56-22:58
Like, that's not compassion.
23:00-23:03
Compassion isn't about just feeling something.
23:04-23:08
Jesus pointed out very clearly, Compassion is when you do something about it.
23:09-23:10
That's compassion.
23:13-23:22
It's actually giving, actually serving, actually getting in your car and showing up to do something.
23:22-23:24
That is compassion.
23:25-23:26
It's not just feeling.
23:29-23:35
Letter B, mark of compassion.
23:35-23:37
you aren't doing it for people to notice.
23:39-23:41
You aren't doing it for people to notice.
23:42-23:56
Do you notice three times when Jesus, you know, he says to these sheep, you know, "I was in this situation and you came and you did this and you did this." And do you notice three times in verses 37 through 39, they were like, "When?
23:56-23:57
When did we see you?
23:58-23:58
When did we see you in prison?
23:59-24:02
When did we see you hungry?" That's humility.
24:04-24:05
It's humility.
24:09-24:15
That tells me that these acts of compassion that Jesus was pointing out, it wasn't for attention.
24:16-24:17
It wasn't for attention.
24:19-24:21
And that's one of the bummers about social media.
24:25-24:27
We've seen this so often.
24:28-24:31
People put on Facebook, you know, I'm off to do charity.
24:31-24:33
They take some selfie at some place.
24:34-24:35
Look at this charity I'm involved in.
24:35-24:36
Look at this charity I'm doing.
24:36-24:38
Isn't this big of me?
24:38-24:40
Isn't this really big of me to do this?
24:42-24:43
I'm pretty generous, huh?
24:44-24:45
I'm a pretty selfless person.
24:47-24:48
I am pretty amazing.
24:49-24:51
And it's putting the spotlight on me.
24:55-24:57
And that's what we see here with true compassion.
24:58-25:11
These people weren't doing it for any kind of recognition because when Jesus pointed out what they did, they're like, "When did we do that?" Here's the thing, my friends, they weren't considering that they were doing something special.
25:11-25:20
They're like, "We were just doing what we do "because we love people." So would you do it?
25:20-25:24
Even if you knew for a fact, nobody else would ever find out about it.
25:26-25:28
That's a sign that you have true compassion.
25:28-25:30
You're not doing it for attention.
25:30-25:32
You're not doing it so people notice.
25:33-25:38
Letter C, you aren't looking for something in return.
25:40-25:42
That's a true act of compassion.
25:43-25:57
Verse 40, Jesus says, "Whatever you did to the-- you see that the least of these." See, compassion moves me to love and serve people without any thought of reciprocation.
25:59-25:59
(congregation laughing)
26:02-26:07
Because sometimes we help people and in the back of our minds, we're like, you know what, I'm gonna do this for him.
26:08-26:13
And then he's gonna kind of, he's gonna kind of wanna, he's gonna owe me one like down the road.
26:13-26:15
So if I help him now, he's gonna be able to help me later.
26:15-26:18
We kind of have that in the back of our mind.
26:18-26:28
But when you do something for someone that could not possibly repay you, people that Jesus referred to as the least of these.
26:30-26:30
That's compassion.
26:34-26:40
So Jesus reminds us that selfless love is evidence of a born again life.
26:42-26:46
Specifically, he's talking about love to fellow believers.
26:48-26:54
That's why he says, "My brothers." And at this point, I would be remiss if I didn't commend this church.
26:56-27:04
This church is absolutely astonishing when it comes to meeting needs of people in here.
27:08-27:36
And I started to put a list together and I don't have time to give an exhaustive list, but over the years, and this church has always been like this, but over the years, I've seen whether it's people needing a furnace or a new transmission for their vehicle or a new vehicle, or they need help moving, or somebody is in the hospital, or people that take care of yard work for people that are in the hospital, or taking care of each other's kids in times of need.
27:36-27:47
I have seen it over and over and over that when there's a need in this church and people find out about it, it does not remain a need for very long.
27:48-27:49
And I love that about this church.
27:54-28:02
Because what we see here is Jesus takes such conduct very personally.
28:05-29:29
You see, to Him, to Him, it's as if when you meet a need, when you show compassion need to Jesus. It's like he was the one that had the need and you provided for him. Wrap your brain around that. It's like Jesus said my car broke down and you got me a new car. It's like Jesus saying my furnace went out and I was freezing and you put a furnace in my house. Like who wouldn't line up to put a furnace in Jesus house. And Jesus says, "When you do that, I take this very personally. It's like you're doing it to me." So church, do people's needs move you to act? Or are you content to just sit back and feel bad and hope that someone else does it. Like, oh, that's a shame. Well, if that's you, if you're the, gosh, I hope I don't have to get involved. I hope somebody else does it. I, if that's you, I got some news for you. You, you, you're a goat. Number three on your outline, goats are known by by their lack of compassion.
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Look at verse 41.
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It says, "Then he will say to those on his left," now we're addressing the goats, "Depart from me, you cursed, "into the eternal fire prepared for the devil "and his angels.
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"For I was hungry and you gave me no food.
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"I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.
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"I was a stranger and you did not welcome me.
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"Naked and you did not clothe me.
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"sick and in prison, and you did not visit me." And 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?" And 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." Wow.
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Look at the first word that Jesus says to the goats, to the people who did not show compassion.
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Look at the first word that he says to them, depart.
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Can you imagine?
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Because some of you are going to experience this.
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And it's an absolutely horrifying thought to stand before Jesus Christ.
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And the first thing he says to you is, "Get away from me.
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I don't know who you are.
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Out.
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If the spirit of God isn't moving you now, Jesus is going to move you then." You're like, "To where?" He says, "The eternal fire." That's hell.
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Hell is a place of conscious suffering.
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The pain is described as being on fire and it never ends.
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In hell, you are eternally being destroyed, but never destroyed.
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This is exactly what Paul's talking about in 2 Thessalonians 1:9.
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He says, "They will suffer the punishment "of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord "and from the glory of his might." That's what hell is.
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It's away from the presence of God.
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That Jesus says, "Depart from me, get away from me." And he puts you in a place outside of his presence.
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That's what hell is.
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And that is why hell is so horrifying.
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It's a place where God has chosen not to be.
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And there are some people that are going to be shocked.
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They're gonna be shocked to be labeled as a goat and sent away.
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If we look at Jesus' words from Matthew chapter seven, we see there's gonna be people that on this day, and there's probably some people sitting here and listening to this that are gonna be like, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, there's gotta be some kind of mistake.
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Depart from me into eternal fire.
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No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
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This can't be.
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Look what Jesus says, Matthew 21.
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Again, parallel passage.
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Jesus says, in your name and cast out demons in your name and do many mighty works in your name.
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And then I will declare to them, I never knew you.
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Oh, there it is again.
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Depart.
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Go, go away.
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Depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.
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See, Jesus, Matthew seven says, on this day, there are going to be people that are going to say, Wait, wait, I can't be a goat.
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No, no, no, no, look at the stuff that I did.
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Do you see it in the Matthew seven passage?
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You know, he's, Lord, we prophesied, we cast out demons.
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We did works in your name.
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Look at all these things that we did.
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Do you know what this tells me?
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That those kinds of things are not the signs of a redeemed life.
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But looking at Matthew 25 here, what I see is the signs of a redeemed life are simple acts of kindness that anyone can do.
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You know, I've never performed a miracle, but I'm capable of feeding a hungry person.
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I don't know if I've ever cast out a demon.
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I don't think I've ever done, I don't know.
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If I did, I guess it wasn't intentional, but I'm able to visit somebody who's sick.
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You see, those are the signs of a redeemed life.
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And you see what Jesus is saying to the goats, like the five oil less virgins, like the one talent guy, it's not about what you did.
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It's about what you didn't do.
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Goats, every time you saw a need, You turned your head.
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Every time you saw an opportunity to help someone and you knew, you knew you could do something about that.
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And you just ignored it.
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And you just got really good at justifying.
35:54-35:58
If I help this person, if I give them money, they'll probably waste it.
35:58-36:09
If I, you know, do this, You come up with all kinds of excuses to justify not getting involved.
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And look, nobody's accusing you of like hating poor people, okay?
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That's not the issue here.
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Like, well, no, I love everybody, man.
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Are you saying that I hate poor people?
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Nobody's saying that, that you hate poor people.
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Nobody's saying that.
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Nobody's thinking that you avoided helping out of disdain, I think it's just simply this, you just couldn't be bothered.
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You made your excuses, look, I'm too busy.
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Everybody says that, by the way.
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I'm so busy, I'm so busy, I was too busy to help.
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I saw there were needs, but I was too busy to help.
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Hope you're not banking on using that on this day, it's not gonna fly.
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Or I've done enough.
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Someone else can handle that.
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I got my own problems.
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Well, now you've got a big one.
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Because Jesus views your snubbing those in need as snubbing him directly.
37:15-37:15
Wow.
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Jesus here is saying, well, you obviously aren't a sheep, because if you were, I would have seen some compassion from you.
37:26-37:29
But since I saw zero compassion from you, You're not a sheep.
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That's how goats are known.
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And then finally, number four, your destination is eternal.
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Look at verse 46.
37:46-38:00
Jesus says, "And these," meaning the goats, "these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Eternal, eternal.
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You know, he talks about eternal punishment, and then he talks about eternal life.
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Did you know in the Greek, that's the exact same word?
38:15-38:17
Do you understand what that means?
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That means hell lasts exactly as long as heaven.
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You know, there's some people that teach you hell is temporary, that you go there for a while and you're punished, and then there's people that teach at that point God annihilates you, you no longer cease to exist, or whatever.
38:45-38:47
But hell's just this temporary place.
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God would not send somebody to this place of suffering eternally.
38:58-39:03
And I would say, well, not according to Jesus, because right here, he said that hell is just as eternal as heaven.
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You know, what's interesting about that is in all my years of hearing people, you know, Welch out all kinds of goofy theology.
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You know what I've never heard?
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I've never heard somebody teach that heaven is a temporary place.
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I've never heard that one.
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Have you?
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Have you heard the guy that's like, yeah, in Jesus you die and you go to heaven and you're there for a while, and then you cease to exist.
39:35-39:37
Have you heard that?
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I haven't.
39:43-39:57
But it's interesting that the number of times I've heard people try to say that about hell, but Jesus right here said the duration of hell is equal to the duration of heaven.
39:59-40:08
And if you're hearing this and you haven't received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, listen to me.
40:09-40:16
This is the note that Jesus ended on, and this is the note that we need to end the series on, someday is going to be too late for you.
40:19-40:22
And this sermon is going to haunt you for eternity.
40:23-40:36
You realize that if you're hearing this message right now, you're going to have all of eternity suffering to let this haunt you.
40:39-40:40
To say I knew what I needed to do.
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I just kept putting it off.
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I just didn't let the ramifications of the consequences sink in.
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You know, I knew this day was going to come, and I did nothing about it.
41:01-41:03
So I'm pleading with you.
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I don't make up the message.
41:08-41:09
I just broadcast it.
41:10-41:21
And I'm pleading with you not to wait another day because Jesus made it very clear through these chapters that he is coming back.
41:24-41:29
And the question he put on all of our laps is this, are you ready for him?
41:33-41:34
Your destination is eternal.
41:37-41:40
We could have our worship team come up in our communion service.
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We're going to conclude this series by gathering.
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Don't close your Bibles yet.
41:47-41:50
We're gonna conclude this series by gathering around the Lord's table.
41:50-42:03
The reason I told you not to close your Bibles yet is because you know, when we do this, we look back to remember the price that was paid for our redemption, the blood that was shed for our sins.
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Absolutely, but you know, we not only look back, but around the Lord's table, we also look ahead.
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Because did you know there's a glorious future promise tied to communion?
42:22-42:30
Just go over to Matthew 26, you're already in Matthew 25, just go to Matthew 26 and look at verse 26.
42:33-43:28
It says, "Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing, He broke it, and He gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.' And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'" Then look, verse 29, he says, "I tell you, I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." So when Jesus Christ establishes His millennial kingdom, we're going to have the awesome blessing of sharing this with Jesus Christ personally.
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So my friends, this is not just a looking back.
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This is also by faith, looking ahead.
Small Group Discussion
Read Matthew 25:31-46
What was your big take-away from this passage / message?
We are judged based on our works (See Revelation 21:12.) Since we can’t be saved by our good works, why are works the basis for judgment? How does this tie into Jesus' teaching in Matthew 25:31-46?
What kinds of works will Jesus evaluate on this day of judgment (Matt 25:35-36,42-43)? Since Jesus is speaking to believers at the end of the Tribulation, how does this principle apply now?
How would you respond to this statement:? “If hell is real, it’s only temporary. Eventually God either brings everyone to heaven or just wipes out of existence those who have rejected Him.”
Breakout
Pray for one another.
Want more eschatology teaching?
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through Revelation
Catch up on the previous verse by verse teaching through 2 Thessalonians