The Sheep Were Not Saved by Their Works

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the Gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg.

The Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25

The Holy Gospel according to St. Matthew, the 25th chapter. Jesus said, 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. 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. Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, Lord, when do we see you hungry, and feed you, or thirsty, and give you drink? And when do we see you a stranger, and welcome you, or naked, and clothe you?

And when do we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you? And the King will answer them, 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 into the eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry, and you gave Me 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 do 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.

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Judgment Day Is Not the Hanging Judge for Christians

Alright, it's the end of the world. We've been talking about it for weeks now. Just going on and on and on about the end of the world. Don't let anyone ever tell you that Lutherans don't have a good, rich theology regarding eschatology.

We have three to four weeks every year dedicated to talking about it, so the rumors are not true. But all that being said, I will continue to point out that when it comes to the day of judgment, it sounds like an ominous and terrible thing, and for some it will be.

But the point is, for those of you who are in Christ, and I'm assuming that you all are in Christ, that you are forgiven, you believe that Jesus is the Son of God who bled and died for the sins of the world, then note this.

Your judge is the one who loved you so much that he laid down his life so that you would live rather than perish eternally. If you think about it this way, when somebody commits a crime, or maybe they have to go into some kind of civil litigation, always and again the attorney will take into consideration which judge it is that's going to handle the trial.

And it's usually a bad sign when your attorney says to you, yeah, we got that judge. They call him the hanging judge. You're not so keen on that, but understand this. Your judge is not the hanging judge.

Your judge is the one who loved you so much, so much, that he took your sin upon himself and died in your place, suffering the wrath of God in your place so that the day of judgment is not something that you should fear.

The Sheep Are Not Saved by Their Works

In fact, as you kind of walk through this text with me, you'll note that there's some kind of funny things going along here, and we're going to note that one of the common ways in which this final parable of Jesus gets twisted is that people will turn it into a text that somehow teaches that we are saved by how we treat the poor or the needy.

That's not what this text is saying at all. Think of it this way. If you're going to take this text and turn it into a text that teaches that we are saved by our works, well, that's like having a toilet that's backing up and all the sewage is coming out the wrong way.

That's a bad thing. You don't want to do that with this text. And we'll pay attention to some of the details because when you see it, it'll actually be quite comforting. So here's what our parable says.

Jesus said, The Son of Man, when He comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, 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 a lot of people miss this, even exegetes, who are careful to try to rightly understand God's Word. And the point is this, is that once this happens, the judgment has taken place. It's over. It's done with.

It's like when you go to the CVS pharmacy to get your annual flu shot. I don't like getting shots. And so have you ever noticed that people like me, they have a tendency to turn away. I just don't even want to see it.

Because if I see it, I'm all anxiety-ridden. And so what ends up happening when I go and get a shot? Over and again, I avert my eyes. I talk about the weather. So how about them Vikings? Well, that's a terrible topic.

Let's talk about something else. And while I'm looking away, the woman gives me the shot. Oftentimes, I don't even feel it. And she says, all done. And I go, that's it? It's all done? I feel like a five-year-old kid.

I want a lollipop afterwards. But anyway, you get the point, is that the judgment has already taken place. Jesus says, all right, all you sheep over here,.

That way, that way.

You goats, you over there. The judgment's taken place. You are either a sheep or you are a goat. And those who are in Christ, who trust in Him for the forgiveness of their sins, through the mighty working of the Holy Spirit, through His word and sacraments, have been brought to penitent faith in Christ, they have been transformed from goats into sheep.

If you remember our epistle text talking about how in Adam, everybody has been brought into death and to sin. Not one of us is a good person. Not me, not you, not anybody, with the exception of Christ.

As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. And so you'll note then that being born dead and trespasses in sin, it's God who has to raise you to life in Him. And so that being the case, once He's done that, you're a sheep.

And once you're a sheep, well, on the day of judgment, you've got nothing really to fear. And you're going to note this, that sheep aren't exactly the brightest animals out there in the animal kingdom.

Goats are pretty clever. They're really smart. Sheep, not so much. So then the king will say to those on his right, his sheep, come you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

That's an important word, by the way, inherit. I've said it before and I'll continue to say it. An inheritance is not something you earn. An inheritance is something that is given to you as a gift. And we always hear stories, oftentimes it'll show up in a movie or in a book, of some fellow who has a rich uncle he didn't even know he had, who was a bazillionaire, rich beyond his wildest imagination, and upon his uncle's death, his uncle has given the entire estate to him.

What is he going to do with that? It's an amazing gift. So think of it this way. Part of the job of a pastor is I get to do the job of one of those attorneys who, well, divvies out the will, the inheritance.

And so think of us right now, we're gathered around the conference room table, and maybe I'm wearing a tie rather than a collar. And so I'm looking at the will, and well, I've got good news for you who are in Christ.

Your names are right here. And you're sitting there going, really? Yeah, yeah, your names are in the will. And I've got even better news for you. He's given you the whole estate. He's given you land, property.

He's given you a place in a world without end. All of this he's given to you for free. Think of it this way. Jesus, knowing that he was going to die and die for our sins, took advantage of one of those loopholes that we have here in this world, that people who die can will their things to others.

And since Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, and he is the one who possesses and who has made and who owns the heavens and the earth, he has chosen as his last will and testament to make it so that you, by grace, through faith, can inherit the world without end.

And so he's given it to you completely free. And when he returns, that will be the day when you will first see your inheritance and you will first see your great benefactor face to face. And this kingdom has been prepared for us since the foundation of the world.

Those are interesting words because you recognize then if this has all been prepared for us since the foundation of the world, that when Adam sinned and fell into sin, God didn't come up with plan B. He knew all of this was going to go down long before it ever happened.

And then now, having declared to them that they are receiving an inheritance, having separated by what they are, now then good works come into play. And we have to make a distinction here. The good works being mentioned here are of a unique type, not a general type.

So when I talk about a general type of good work, note this, that scripture is clear, that we are tasked by God to not only care for those who love us, but we are to pray for and meet the needs of even those who are our avowed enemies.

So scripture is clear. When your enemy is hungry, you feed him. When your enemy is thirsty, you give him something to drink. When your enemy's ox has strayed and gone off his property and is wandering the highways of Oslo, you help your enemy to recover his animal.

That is the general thing that we are called to do. We are called to love our neighbors as ourself, and if you're not sure who your neighbor is, just anybody who's breathing will do, period. But these works here are unique.

They're different. Because this gets at the heart of the matter. What do you do with those who bring the gospel to you, with those who are the saints, the ones who have been made holy by the blood of Christ?

What is your disposition towards those who confess humbly that they are sinners and trust Jesus for the forgiveness of all of their sins and for life eternal given as a gift? What is your disposition towards them?

Jesus says to them, I was hungry, you gave me food. I was thirsty, 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.

And boy, that's quite the litany here. And then listen to this next part. Then the righteous will answer Jesus. Don't let that word pass you by either. The sheep are righteous, not because they have done good works enough to earn salvation and have made themselves righteous.

But again, I remind you, Scripture is clear that by grace through faith, we receive the righteousness of God, the righteousness of Christ, which covers up our unrighteousness and our sin. And here it says, Christ says of the sheep that they are the righteous.

So the righteous will answer Jesus. And this is kind of dumb sheep talk. Well, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you a drink? Oh boy, yeah. It's hard. See, when sheep do sheepy things, they kind of forget that that's kind of a unique thing.

Sheep do sheepy things because they're sheep. Goats do goaty things because they're goats. But here you got the sheep doing the sheepy things, and Christ is rewarding for the sheepy things.

And they're going, huh?

Huh?

All right.

So when did we see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer them.

Truly I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, and here's the important words, my brothers, you did it to me. Who are the brothers of Christ? Well, earlier in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus makes that very clear.

Those who believe in him, those who are his disciples, those who trust in him are his brothers. And so, as you did it to the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me. So a good way to think of it then is how then are you sheep fulfilling this and doing this?

Well, by how you care for each other. And I would even note that as a pastor, I come to you and my needs have to be met by you. And so because of your generosity and your disposition towards the one who brings the word of God to you and preaches the Gospel to you, you give me money so that I can clothe myself and my wife and when my kids live with me, my kids were clothed as well.

And so you'll note that this is how we treat each other and you are already doing these good works. And so you'll note that when we treat the brothers and the sisters with kindness, meet their needs when they are hungry and naked, when they are thirsty, when they are strangers or in prison or when they are sick, that you'll note that the good works that we do for each other, Christ takes it personally and he rewards his sheep as if they were the ones who were ministering directly to him.

The Eternal Punishment Prepared for the Devil and His Angels

But now we get on to the scary part. Those are the goats, the ones on the left. To the ones on the left, Christ says, depart from me. You cursed into the eternal fire and do not think for a second that hell is not eternal.

It is.

The whole point of the fire being eternal is the description of the length of time in which hell lasts. And that should sober us up because we recognize then that what we have been saved from is the just, and I do mean just, the just punishment for our sin and rebellion against God.

And our sin and rebellion against God has earned for us an eternity in hell. In all of the ways in which we have not obeyed God, where we have not loved God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength, where we have worshiped false gods that are not gods at all who cannot save, where we have taken God's name in vain, or where we have despised the preaching and the hearing of God's Word, or even despised those authorities whom God has put over us and dishonored them, or in our different ways in which we murder.

And don't think for a second that just because you haven't killed somebody with a gun or with a knife or with a rope or maybe like, you know, you can say it was done by Professor Plum in the library with a hammer.

It doesn't matter how you do it, even if it's physical, it's done even in your heart when you hate another human being. And I want you to think about that. Murder is so deep of a sin and it's ingrained in us that we're all guilty of it to one degree or another.

When we say of that particular group over there, they are despised, they are dogs, God hates them and I hate them. Well, you are guilty of murdering them, of even committing genocide within your own heart.

It doesn't matter which group it is. Maybe it's those illegal aliens. Maybe it's the Germans or maybe it's the Jews or maybe it's the Norwegians or the, you know, name the group, right? So you'll note that Christ says that when you hate somebody, you're guilty of murdering them.

How many of us are guilty of doing that? And then all of the different ways in which we commit adultery and sexual immorality, even with our physical bodies and with our minds. And then don't even get me started on the way in which we lie and steal and covet things that do not belong to us.

Don't think for a second that somehow you stand guiltless before God. You don't. I don't. And you'll note that the just penalty for our sin is an eternity in the lake of fire with the devil and his angels.

And so when we talk about salvation, that's what we're being saved from. But the amazing thing here is that although hell is an eternity, God, according to Scripture, has laid on Christ the iniquity of us all.

And in six hours, on a Friday morning on into the afternoon, the Son of God suffered and bled and died for your sins and for mine and met the just requirements of a holy God so that we can be forgiven.

He accomplished in six hours what no human being can accomplish in an eternity. And so you recognize the depth and the magnitude of the salvation that we are given in Christ. And now Christ turns to these goats and explains to them, and again, this is a very specific type of omission of good works, and this has to do with their disposition towards those who bring the message of Christ to them.

I was hungry. You gave me no food. I was thirsty. You gave me no drink. I was a stranger. You did not welcome me naked, and you did not clothe me sick and in prison, and you did not visit me. It kind of hearkens to those words that Christ spoke to Saul of Tarsus while he was on his way to Damascus in order to round up, arrest, and then beat, flog, persecute, maybe even kill the Christians who were confessing Christ in the city of Damascus.

While on his journey, Jesus himself appeared to Saul of Tarsus and said to him, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? Who are you, Lord? I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. So note then, when we as Christians are persecuted for our faith, our confession of Christ, and we are made to be hungry or thirsty, we are cast out and driven away in such a way that we become strangers to everybody, we are even stripped of our own clothes and made naked or sick or in prison for our confession of Christ, that Jesus takes it personally, and he will repay.

Well, then the goats answer, saying, Lord, when do we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or in prison and did not minister to you? And then Jesus will answer them, truly I say to you, as you did not do it to the least of these,.

The least of who?

The sheep he's pointing to.

The least of these,.

You didn't do it to me. And very firm words, these will go away into punishment eternal. That's how long it lasts. And here's the thing, I don't have to convince you of that. We all already know that.

We all already have those fears those night sweats, those times when we wake up in the middle of the night with a start and we take that deep breath and we recognize that we're going to have to stand before God someday.

We all already know this. This isn't some revelation that has to come from outside of us. We all know that this is.

What we've earned.

But the righteous, those who have been gifted, the righteousness of Christ, these go into life eternal. Well, brothers and sisters, this is an ominous text, but I would remind you what is said in Psalm 95.

Psalm 95 is a wonderful psalm and it says these words. You may be familiar with them. O come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. You'll note that praise goes up to our Lord God, to Yahweh Himself, because He is the rock of our salvation.

The worship continues. Let us come then into His presence with thanksgiving. Ah, thanksgiving. That's this week, isn't it? But we're coming into His presence with thanksgiving. For what reason? Because He is the one who has saved us.

So let us make a joyful noise.

To Him then.

With songs of praise. And the reason why is because the Lord, He is a great God. He is a great King above all gods. And in His hands are the depths of the earth. The heights of the mountains are His also.

The sea is His, for He made it. And His hands form the dry land. So come, let us worship and bow down, and let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and we are the sheep of His hand.

Brothers and sisters, if you believe that Christ has bled and died for you, then you are the people of His pasture. You are the sheep of God's hand. And notice it's already now. We are not sheep in potentia, hoping that someday we can be transformed from goats into sheep.

We're not like Pinocchio hoping someday to become a real boy. We are who are in Christ. We are now His sheep. And so consider then our Old Testament text in this context. For thus says Yahweh Elohim, Behold, I Myself, I will search for My sheep, and I will seek them out, as a shepherd seeks out his flock when he is among his sheep that have been scattered.

So I will seek out My sheep. I will rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds and thick darkness. Note then that your good shepherd, Jesus, has made it clear that on the day of judgment He personally is going to seek out each and every one of His sheep.

And you who are in Christ are already that. And He says, I will bring them out from the peoples, gather them from the countries, I will bring them into their own land. Ah, this is a good bit too, by the way.

I know we're all Americans here. I think we're all Americans at this point. But we serve some people online who are joining us from the United Kingdom and other places from around the world. And you'll note here that this reveals to us that although we might have passports that say one of the nations from the world that we live in right now on the passport, but our true land is the one that is coming, the world without end.

And in that world without end, in the new earth, there are no borders. The whole thing is the kingdom of God. You won't need a passport to travel from one area to another because there will only be the kingdom itself.

And this is our true homeland. God goes on to say, I will feed them on the mountains of Israel by the ravines and all the inhabited places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture and on the mountain heights of Israel shall be their grazing land.

And in the book of Revelation we learn one of the things that's on the menu for us in the new earth is that we will be permitted to eat of the fruit of the tree of life itself, which yields its fruit.

Once a month.

Twelve times a year. That's what's on the menu, life eternal for us. They shall lie down in good grazing land on rich pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep and I myself will make them lie down,.

Declares the Lord.

These are good,.

Comforting words. And so brothers and sisters, we who are in Christ, we have nothing to fear on the day of judgment. We've already been sheeped.

Is that a verb?

Can you make sheep a verb?

We've been sheeped. We've been sheeped.

By Christ Himself. We are already His. And so He then ends with these words, I will rescue my flock, they will no longer be a prey. I will judge between the sheep and the sheep. And I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David, and that's Jesus.

The one who is the descendant of David who will sit on the throne of David forever. He shall feed them. He shall feed them and be their shepherd. And I, Yahweh, will be their God and my servant David shall be a prince among them.

I am the Lord. I have spoken. So, bad, self-righteous preaching at this point would say, well, what are you doing to make sure that you can become a sheep?

Bah humbug.

I declare to you what the Word of God.

Already says.

You have received the inheritance. You who trust in Christ, you are already His sheep. And so the day of judgment is not something we should fear. It's something we should look forward to. So congratulations.

You have once again survived the end of the world. In the name of Jesus.

Amen.

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Amen.