Synoptics - Matthew 25 Sheep & Goats

We are in Matthew chapter 25. We're going to finish this up and then we actually get to sort of move over to John for a while before we get into some of the...

I mean, we could skip the John passages, but I like going through those, so...

Last of the parables Jesus is told, we started back in 23 with the annunciation of the

Pharisees, 24, the coming of the Son of Man, destruction of Jerusalem, and then the transition into these discussions of readiness, and now the final judgment.

And we have the separation of the sheep from the goats.

Before Him will be gathered all the nations. He will separate them from one another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

And He will place the sheep at His right hand, but the goats to the left. And so there is a division.

Sheep and goats may look a lot alike to some of us, especially. Doubt I could tell much of a difference, but there is a fundamental difference and the shepherd knows that.

And you have two different things said to the two different groups. The king says to the sheep, come,

O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

In comparison, to the left hand, depart from me, you cursed, in the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

So we immediately notice one thing, that the kingdom is prepared for you, but then in verse 41, the eternal fire is not prepared for you, it is prepared for the devil and his angels.

Now, some have taken this to mean, in various interpretational schemes, that well, you know, this shows that God really wasn't planning on the fall.

And you know, this is sort of a, it's an unnatural thing for the people that God, for human beings, whom

God expected to always be in communion with him, to go to an unusual place.

Of course, you could then make the same argument. Well, do you really think that Satan and his angels were created in such a fashion or wasn't there a fall of those as well?

I think the reason that you have the fire described as prepared for the devil and his angels, is that it's the devil and his angels that have been the means by which deception has been brought that brings other people there.

It's not that, well, human beings were never intended to go there or anything along those lines.

It's really not even addressing that. The kingdom is where the father is, and hence there will be communion with him.

Those who do not want to have communion with him, the only people they can have communion with is the devil and his angels. Even though I would point out that there's not a lot of description of the nature of punishment in scripture.

It's mentioned. There's not a lot of description. And we've got to be very, very, very, very careful. I've noticed over the years, the last thing

I want to become the apologist for is the apologist for hell. Oh, I know him.

He's the guy that defends hell. It's bad enough to be dealing with subjects

I'm dealing with right now. Writing books on homosexuality, Islam, there's a good combination right there.

I mean, it's just, there's enough unpleasant stuff that I have to listen to on a regular basis.

I don't want to have to do that. But I have had to engage that subject.

And given how the concept of punishment is becoming less and less popular in a postmodern society, obviously, and hence in a postmodern church that very much reflects the society it's in, rather than functioning as salt and light to change the society it's in.

But at the same time, in my studies of it, because I did do a debate with some conditionalists on the

Unbelievable Radio broadcast a couple years ago, and I spoke on the subject at a conference this last year.

I'm concerned that a lot of conservative Christians, Bible -believing Christians, hold views of punishment that are primarily derived from Dante, not from Daniel.

Or John Milton, rather than John the Apostle, something like that. Whenever you see someone running around, you know,

I'm a big cyclist, I'm a big fan of the Tour de France, which is coming up in a couple weeks, and always on some of the mountain stages, there'll be this, the camera will catch this guy running along next to the cyclist, wearing red leotards and horns and a pitchfork.

And it's the devil running up the mountain. Of course, you'll see a lot of really weird things when they're in the mountain stages.

But, you know, where does that come from? Well, it doesn't come from Scripture. And a lot of the pictures we have in our minds don't necessarily come from Scripture at all.

And one thing that I've certainly pondered is, you know, a lot of people say, well,

I want to go to hell, because that's where all my friends will be. I don't see any evidence.

I don't see any evidence that there will be any recognition of anyone else, acknowledgement of anyone else, even the knowledge that anyone else is there.

It's described as outer darkness. And so I, you know, people think, well, there's so much fire, it'll be very bright.

I don't, what's fire in the eternal state? I mean, what does all that mean?

We certainly will get to this when we look at verse 46 especially, and then we'll go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

That is really the key text. I want to make sure to have enough time to get to that. But I think the fundamental difference between the, there's two sections to this story.

And you have the address to the sheep, and you have the address to the goats. And again, let me just emphasize, there will be people who look at this and say, you determine which one you are.

It has nothing to do with what you are on the inside. You have the natural ability to decide whether you're a sheep or a goat.

But it seems that there is an overriding concept here in Jesus' words, that we have the blessed of the

Father, and then we have the cursed. Come, O blessed of my

Father, verses, the statements of the others, depart from me, you cursed, in the eternal fire, prepare for the devil and his angels.

Which in some ways, might indicate that by the life that they live, and by the desires of their hearts, and by their evil, they are some of the messengers of the devil himself.

The very ones used by the enemy of God to accomplish, well, the devil's purposes, but obviously overridden by God's purposes as well.

But there's a fundamental difference between the two. And there are those who look at that, and they say, this is prescriptive.

This is how you become a sheep, versus you become a goat by your actions.

And of course, I emphasize the need to look at this descriptively. And that is, here is a description.

Who is the blessed of the Father? How can they be described? Well, here's the things that they did.

And yet, they did it naturally. Because what's their response? When did we do that? We were just doing what was natural to us to do.

I mean, you put this with the rest of the New Testament. And what is Paul's teaching? Paul's teaching is that the person does what he does, because the new creature in Christ naturally does this kind of thing.

It is, you are renewed after the image of Christ, and therefore you're going to want to follow him.

You're going to want to do what is right in his eyes. And the person who loves the world, the person who is fixated upon the world, that person does what their nature indicates that they're to do.

This used to be a pretty obvious concept, and certainly it can be abused. I mean, the legalist can use this and, you know, wrap his robes of pharisaical righteousness around himself.

There's always a balance. Any scriptural truth is going to be wide enough to stand on, but narrow enough to fall off of.

Okay? Any scriptural truth can be wide enough to stand on, but narrow enough to fall off of. And the concept of holiness, and that's really what

Jesus is describing here. You acted in a way that reflects the fact that you are the blessed of the

Father. You did these things. You weren't just focused upon yourself.

You were involved in ministry. And they're like, but we were just doing what's natural to us. I think their question's honest.

When did we see the estranger welcome you, and make it, and clothe you, and when did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?

And the king answered, well, when you did the least of these. Which would be actually amongst what's odd here, is the least of these almost makes us think of some third group out there someplace.

But, how does Jesus consistently use that language? Well, you know, if you offend one of the least of these, it's better if one of the least of my people, better if a millstone are hung around your neck, and you're drowned in the depths of the sea, and so on and so forth.

So, we don't know who Christ's people are, in the sense of having some infallible knowledge.

I've said many times, it'd be great to have glasses that would make the elect glow green, but it doesn't work that way.

And so, they were just naturally doing what their nature as sheep would have them to do.

And the goats were just naturally doing what their nature as goats would have them to do. It's descriptive of what they're all about.

This has sort of been a given, and like I said, I realize it can be abused, because there are people who will, like the

Pharisees, say, yes, we are the sheep, and we don't want to have anything to do with anybody else. Now, Jesus, of course, becomes our example.

He does not run away from the harlots, and the publicans, and the drunkards.

But when He is amongst them, He is not partaking of their deeds. And the first words on His lips are words of proclamation of the gospel, and calling people to repentance, and to find forgiveness and peace with God.

So, that's where the balance is. There seems to be a lot of people today who either will have nothing to do, will not even, you know,

I will not, I would just not have anything to do with the world around me. You know, that's the monastic impulse.

Let's go away into our little enclave, and just let the world do its thing. But then on the other side, there's a real dangerous movement,

I think, in the church today. Where it's, hey, let's look as much like the world, and talk as much like the world, and think as much like the world as we possibly can.

And there are certain churches that just throw the doors open, and, you know, the big thing of taking, you know, taking current pop songs, and flattering a little

Jesus on them, you know. And, you know, that way you can get people to come in, and they'll feel all...

Actually, I think most people come in and hear that and just go, you people aren't really serious, are you? But anyway, people think that that's going to somehow make the unbeliever really warm, and comfy, and cozy.

As if people become Christians by having been made warm, and comfy, and cozy. When you really experience repentance, and regeneration, you realize it wasn't because someone made you comfy, and cozy.

It's because someone made you uncomfy, and uncozy. But that's the idea that's there, and I tweeted out something.

Yes, I know, I tweeted it out. But, you know, it's nice to be able to say something to thousands of people.

It's just one shot, you know. If you've got the opportunity to do it, you might as well do it. But I was...

Again, I was reading some... And I'm not trying to pick on you young folks, I'm sorry.

But the fact of the matter is, you young folks are...

You know, the next generation, you're going to be facing a world that I can't even begin to imagine what it's going to be like.

And, you know, I'm reading a book right now by the head of the Alliance Defense Fund called The Homosexual Agenda.

Have any of you ever read The Homosexual Agenda? Anybody? Highly recommend it. In fact, I highly recommend

The Homosexual Agenda, and A Queer Thing Happened to America. I mean, especially if you're going to be raising kids, if you want to know what the folks out there want to do with your children.

This is why, up in Canada, and it's happening here too, they want to demand that you teach certain things, even if you homeschool.

Even if they can't get rid of homeschooling, which they want to do desperately. Because they want your children. They want to control what your children are taught.

They're demanding that these certain things be taught. It's an amazing thing.

But I was reading some of the younger generation and how, in essence, they want to hold on to the religious part of Christianity.

They like the idea of having a creator, and they like the idea of transcendent values in the sense of Christ loved me so much that he would give himself for me, and things like that.

They like that part. What they don't like is the unchanging revelation of God's will for man, and this idea of God's law and morality and ethics that flow from that.

I could not help but think of that text in James 4 .4.

Friendship, do you not know? James asks. It's a rhetorical question. This is a duh question.

When it's rhetorical, the answer is supposed to be, duh, to use our modern parlance.

Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

Enmity, that's not a word we use a lot of. It's hostility. So who do you want to have friendship with?

The world, which in its very language and expression and everything is opposed to God because we don't want you.

We don't want your rulership. We will not bow down before you. I'm going to do my own thing in my own way.

Or do you want friendship with your creator? You can't have both. And Jesus said, do not be surprised if the world hates you.

Don't be surprised. It's hated me. And if you look like me, if you reflect me to the world, guess what?

The world's not going to appreciate you any more than it's appreciated me. And I don't know if any of you saw it.

It unfortunately sort of got around. But I saw, again, one of the most horrific videos

I've ever seen. The first video I ever saw online years and years ago was a Muslim Indonesian mob killing a

Christian with machetes. There was nothing hidden. This week, the video that's going around was a convert, a

Christian convert in Malaysia, I believe, who was executed on camera by being beheaded.

And unlike Hollywood where you go, oh, that type of thing, that doesn't happen.

It takes a long time. And it takes a lot of work. And what was amazing is this young man did not fight back.

And it looked to me like he was praying as they did their deed. And you sit there and you go, why?

What is the source of this, this utter hatred and detestation?

And I can give you all the, I mean, they were chanting various verses from the Quran before they did it, and I knew what all the verses were.

I can show you right where they were. I understood the Arabic enough to know exactly what they were saying. But where does that hatred come from?

Well, Jesus told us not to be surprised. When we reflect by the way we live, and the sheep will do this, when we reflect the

Father, the one that they are in rebellion against, even if it's a religious rebellion, that can be the worst.

Religious rebellion is the worst because it's the most hypocritical. It's the rebellion of the people who say,

I love God. But what did Jesus say to the Jews? You claim to be a follower of God?

You're the follower of Satan. If you really knew the Father, you would not be doing to me what you're doing. And yet these were people who possessed the actual real scriptures, not even fake scriptures.

You know, Stephen, Paul, stay in there. Ever seen stoning?

It's not pretty. They're not throwing little rocks. Ooh, ah, ooh. It doesn't work that way.

If you're going to kill somebody that way, it's got to be close range. It's got to be big. It's got to be bad. It's got to be bloody. And Paul stands there, and you go, why?

Well, there is enmity of the world against the Creator. And when we reflect the

Creator, that enmity is going to come against us as well. And so it just, it very much concerns me that especially the younger generation has got this idea that, well, you know,

Christians would be loving. And loving means this redefinition of the word tolerance.

You need to understand, the word tolerance is being used today. It has absolutely nothing to do with what the actual word means.

It is one of those many words that has been completely redefined. I don't think that word means what you think it means.

And yet they just use it all the time. Well, if we're going to be loving, then we can't offend.

No. You can't offend for the sake of promoting yourself. You can't offend by putting your ego out there and making yourself.

That's true. But there is necessary offense when you walk in the truth amongst the people who love a lot.

Absolutely necessary offense. And you are showing them absolutely positively no love.

In fact, I would say you're showing them no respect when you back off and when you just go along with the flow.

And there's lots of ways of doing that. You might say, well, I've never actually denied the gospel. I mean, when they've asked me,

I've said I believe the gospel. Okay. But do you live that way? Do you live that way?

Or do you purposefully go along with their behaviors, their ways of dress, their ways of thinking, their ways of talking?

And in essence, you're denying the gospel silently. That's the question you've got to ask yourself.

And so, coming back here, it's a description.

The blessed of the Father, that's how they live. Those cursed, that's how they live.

They're focused upon themselves. And Jesus' response to both is,

Shall I say to you, as you did or did not do it, to least one of these, you did it not to me.

And the final words of verse 46 are probably one of the key texts in all the

New Testament in reference to the reality that this life isn't all there is.

Most of the people in our society live their lives under the assumption that when this body stops working, and we all think it's going to be an old age, nobody ever expects it, you know, it's going to be the sudden car accident, the sudden onset of disease, the freak accident that happens.

Even though, isn't it amazing how fascinated we are about the ways that people die? I mean, there's an entire television series,

A Thousand Ways to Die, that's all just based upon either really stupid things that people did, you know, the

Darwin Award type stuff, or just, I mean, like, it's rare, but there have been people who've been struck by meteors.

I mean, seriously, you know what I mean? Or things falling off of airplanes, you know?

I got killed by a defective landing gear that fell from 35, I mean, if they tried to drop it from that distance and kill you, they couldn't do it.

So when it actually does happen, you're sort of like, okay, I guess my time was up. And, you know, that kind of thing happens.

We're fascinated by it, but none of it, we never ever think it should happen to us. It always happens to somebody else.

But most people, and I'd say a large majority of evangelicals in our day, live as if this is pretty much it.

Because I think if we just honestly ask ourselves the question, am I really living my life in such a way that I really think there is an eternity, and that what

I'm doing in this life is going to have impact in eternity? Or am I primarily focused upon tomorrow, next week, this

Saturday, the other thing, you know, as if there is no eternity, and there is really nothing after this life?

Just questions we have to ask ourselves. But you'll notice, verse 46,

And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Short, pithy, not really difficult to understand.

The original languages do not present us with any particularly difficult things. The term Colossus that is used for punishment, some people will tell you, well, that actually meant to cut off, pruning.

Yeah, about 200 years earlier, it had. But by the time of the writing of the New Testament, it had one meaning.

Punishment. In fact, if I recall correctly, maybe

Mike remembers this, does the New World Translation say everlasting cutting off here, I think? That's ringing a faint bell, but it's been a while since I've...

It does say that? Oh, okay, alright. That's one of those places where a little

Greek is a dangerous thing. I'm not referring to you, I'm sorry. That's a joke.

A little Greek is a dangerous thing. I had to explain that.

But the Watchtower Society, what they do is they'll take a classical Greek lexicon, which is talking about the

Greek as it existed prior to the New Testament, and they'll import their meanings from that, rather than what the word had come to mean at that particular time in Koine Greek, when the

New Testament was being written. That way you can get around stuff. And I see this on the Internet constantly.

Much more so, interestingly enough, about the Hebrew Old Testament than the Greek New Testament. There's all these

Hebrew word movement thingies. Oh my goodness, the Internet. And for some reason, they all have the same really, really, really bad website designer.

I mean, it's just... They just all have these, you know, the 1990s whirling gifs and sparkly stuff, and it's just, oh, it's horrible.

But there's all these websites out there where people are coming up with weird and wacky theologies, all based upon what the original

Hebrew actually says and stuff. I guess there's a real market for it or something.

But anyway, the words are clear. Eternal punishment and eternal life.

And they're put in parallel to one another. And if you want to say that eternal punishment is simply punishment that has eternal ramifications, so it can be a punishment that's right now, but it has eternal ramifications, do you see what the parallel is?

Because you can be given life now, but if eternal life isn't life that is eternal, then where's the promise that it will be everlasting?

They're clearly put into parallel with one another. Again, I would say that of writers today, theologians today, that are writing in the scholarly realm, we're in the minority.

We're in the minority now. No question about it. Some of you have heard of John Stott, who died just, what, about six months ago?

Something like that. Maybe a little less. A British theologian. Wrote some good stuff. Had some good insights.

Didn't believe that punishment's eternal in the sense of ongoing.

It's eternal in the sense that it has lasting consequences, but not that it's ongoing.

And big names, big, big names, you could list, that likewise would fall into that category.

Now, it's not my intention here to go into some long, as I said, apology for hell, but just as there was purposeful, clear, intentional, and meaningful parallels between what is said to the sheep and what is said to the goats, you can't break that in verse 46.

And if eternal life, if there's anything there about its duration and its character, then there's something there about the duration and character of punishment as well.

You can't break the two up. Yes, ma 'am. Well, I think there is a, this does get us directly into the subject

I said we were going to get into, but for a lot of folks, it doesn't matter anymore.

The idea is that when you annihilate someone, you simply take them out of existence.

They are denied eternal life, and that's the end of that. Now, the question that normally is, there's two questions

I think that need to be raised. A, is the dissolution of, the destruction of the wicked in a moment, just calling them out of existence, does that fulfill

God's law in regards to the nature of the commandment that they have violated?

That's the first question I think needs to be addressed. Most Christians have said the reason that punishment is ongoing is because of the nature of, and the value of the person against whom the sin has been committed.

And secondly, it raises another issue, and that is when most people think of the issues of sin and punishment, they assume that at death, sin ceases.

Now, a person is still a sinner, but they will not be continuing to commit acts of sin. And so the idea,

Rob Bell brought this out in his book a year ago now or so, if a teenager at 17 dies, they haven't had a whole lot of life to do a lot of sinning.

And so how can there be eternal punishment that seems to be completely out of character?

What's the assumption in that argument? When they die, they're going to stop sinning.

That somehow there's going to be some instant sanctification of everybody when they die. So even the sinner, the

God -hater, will now, oh, God does exist, oh, I'm so sorry, and will just be consumed with repentance, and there's no indication that that's the case.

And in fact, if we recognize biblical parameters, God is restraining the evil of the heart right now.

There's a time when he lets go. And in fact, I have suggested more than once, I think,

I don't think God has to be sitting there, you know, going, you know, firing arrows of wrath down to hell for eternity.

I think when you're made in the image of God, and all restraint is let go in your rebellion against God, you become so twisted that what do we see when someone becomes, when

God lifts his hand of restraint even today? Do they become more likely to enjoy and experience life, or do they become self -destructive?

They become self -destructive. And we think of cannibals in Miami, and the gay porn star in Canada that they finally trapped, they finally got him in Germany or something this week, but sending body parts to government offices in Canada, and you see complete self -destruction.

And so I think when God removes his hand of restraint, and allows the rebellion to just become what that person is,

I think that's more than sufficient punishment. And, you know, God doesn't, you know, the idea of Milton was sending, you know, angels down, and they're skewering you as you're running around the fire and stuff like that, as if that's something that is needed.

I don't see any reason for that whatsoever. So, the false assumption being that sin ends.

I think what we see in the punishment of the wicked is what happens when they are totally left to themselves.

Their utter self -destruction. Yes, sir? Well, they get past it by saying that everything in Revelation needs to be seen as purely metaphorical and symbolic.

And they'll say, for example, that the smoke of their torment arises up forever and ever, and that, since that's likened to Gehenna, where the garbage of Jerusalem was burned.

Well, the garbage was gone. All that was left was sort of like the corpses or something like that, but the smoke would keep going.

Well, of course, it wouldn't actually keep going forever. It eventually would go out. But, you ask how they get around it, that's how they get around it.

I think a lot of it does take us back to asking questions of ultimate justice, the nature of the atonement, why

Christ had to be who he was to make the sacrifice. It's a big area, and I don't think any one verse is going to be the be -all and end -all of answering that question.

But, at the same time, I think it's a whole lot more likely that we are going to want to get away from what the

Word says on this for all sorts of different reasons. That is, that we've created a false teaching that no one would ever find attractive at all, when you get right down to it.

Yes? Ion Ionos definitely has uses in the

New Testament that are temporal and chronological. I don't think you can totally dismiss the fact that it can also be used in such a way as to describe the character of that life, which is utterly different than mere temporal life.

But, it always has that connection. You can't get away from it. That's true. That's true.

Yes, ma 'am? Well, I think a lot of it goes down to, we want to see people in the

Church, we want to see people confessing faith in Christ, but we just don't trust God to actually get that done.

And so, we're very, very, very concerned about the kind of God that we present to the world. And we know that they're going to be much more likely to embrace a warm, fuzzy, grandpa -ish

God than they are the God of the New Testament.

And so, I made up a phrase a long time ago, at least I think I did. I've never heard anybody else say it, but the

Gospel is not ours to edit, but to proclaim. And I think we really just don't trust that God can actually take the

Gospel and make that come alive in people's hearts and minds. And of course, from an Arminian perspective, it's fully and easily understandable why you would want to compromise on this point.

Because you're trying to convince people to do something that, in essence, they don't want to do. So, you've got to really sweeten the pie a little bit, in essence.

And I think that's really been the source of a lot of the collapse on this particular issue.

It really is. Okay, so, great keeper of the notes. We will basically be starting with John chapter 12, so section 302.

So, we actually get to be in John for a little while before we get into the crucifixion narratives. So, we'll go from here.

Okay? Alright, let's close the Word of Prayer. Our Gracious Heavenly Father, we have touched upon some difficult subjects today, but we would ask that you would help us truly to understand what your

Word has said and what you call us to be in this world. May we recognize that friendship with the world is enmity with God.

And that you call us to be separate. You call us to follow you in a way that would force us to always look to you for our joy and our fellowship and look to your people as well.

We do thank you for this time and your Word. We ask that you be with us now as we go into worship. We pray in Christ's name.