Judgment Day

Matthew 25:31-46 Last Sunday a 11-22-20 Judgment Day I can't think of a better year than 2020 for God's people to be fervently praying "Come quickly Lord Jesus!" Come soon and bring an end to this cursed and fallen world. Come soon and bring your justice upon those who have hated You and despised your people. Come quickly to remove that last effects of sin and destroy the final enemy, death, forever. Such a prayer, such thoughts are indeed the theme and focus for the Last Sunday of the Church year - its focus specifically upon the Last Day of History/Time - the Day when the angel's promise to the disciples who had watched Jesus' bodily ascension unto Heaven that He would return the same way (bodily, visibly) is fulfilled. Yet with this difference - He will be returning in His full power, might and glory, accompanied by all the hosts and saints of heaven. He will not be coming in lowliness as a suffering servant, but as the All Powerful, Holy and Righteous Judge. The time of grace will be over, justice at hand, and time will give way to eternity in a new creation. Those alive to see that Day will have one of two reactions - one of utter joy and celebration, or one of abject fear and terrifying realization (of their foolishness). As we heard in our Epistle reading, Our Mighty Lord Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords will destroy every power and authority on this world and of the spiritual powers of darkness. All will be made to bow down before Him and acknowledge His Lordship. All who had previously died will now have their bodies raised back unto life. The Saints of God (whom He calls His sheep in our text), those who trusted in the saving work of Jesus will be raised first, but their bodies changed and perfected, equipped for immortal, eternal life in the new creation. Our new resurrected bodies will then be rejoined with our spirits which will have been with Jesus in heaven, never again to be separated from the body by death, (for death, the last enemy is destroyed forever, for we can never again be separated from our Loving Lord and giver of Life). Then the goats, the unbelievers and rejecters of God's grace in Christ will be raised next from their graves, the bodies restored, but unto shame and death never ending. Their souls which had been in torment in hell will then be rejoined with their pitiful resurrected bodies equipped for suffering and torment without end body and soul that is about to be announced to them. Then every single person who has ever lived will be then gathered before the judgment seat of Christ. The sheep, the 1 believers will be gathered on His right, the unbelievers and rejecters of God's grace, the goats on His left. And then everyone will be judged - have their lives put on display - all of their deeds and words put forth as evidence and they will be judged on what they had done and not done. (Those who have lived God-pleasing lives will be welcomed into the kingdom prepared for them from before creation). Those who had lived sinful lives, will be cast out from God’s presence forever, into the hell prepared for the devil and his angels. But being good solid Lutherans, you may very well say: "But we are saved by grace the faith, not works". How can you say we will be judged by what we have done, our works?" And you would be right. We know from the clear teaching of God’s word that we are in fact NOT SAVED by our works – what we have done or not done. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone. We never, ever, ever could do anything to remove the stain of our sinful guilt before a holy God, or even begin in our fallen nature to love Him or our neighbor. Our sinful flesh is always self-centered and selfish. Any “good” that it appears we do, is tainted with sinful motives. Let me state it again very plainly – we are not saved by our good works, by what we do or don’t do. (We will be judged by them, but that is not what saves us…) I know you know this. Yet we need to be constantly reminded of it, for our sinful flesh that still clings to us, would always have us try to rely on our own strength and deeds, our own “righteousness” and acts of “love” or obedience. We are not saved by works, but by grace through faith alone. What about the standard of judgment on that last day then? Does not our text say that we are judged on what we do – on our good works or lack of them? Yes, we are going to be judged by what we have done or not done. But that is not what saves us from condemnation. Yes, the deeds of our life will be the evidence used in judging us. Good works will be the evidence of life within us and will serve as the basis of God welcoming us home into eternal glory with Him. The lack of good works will be the evidence of the lack of life within someone, and will serve as the basis of God banishing them from His presence for all eternity, to suffer in never lessoning and never ending agony in the hell prepared for the devil and his angels. What then saves us from such condemnation and endless torment? The Blood of Jesus Christ. His Holy Life poured out for us on the cross has washed away the stain of our sinful guilt. That means that every single sinful thought, word, action or motive has been forgiven and completely covered in the holy obedience of Jesus. There are no sinful deeds to be 2 displayed, they are forgiven, gone! That was the forgiving, cleansing flood that was applied to you individually, personally at your baptism. And on top of having been rescued from sinful guilt, spiritual death and constant rebellion against God, we also have been made alive in the power of Christ’s resurrection. We have had a whole new spiritually alive person created within us, with the Life of God the Son flowing in us and through us, enabling us to begin to live in Him and reflect Him again. He has enabled us to begin to love Him, and to do so by loving our neighbor. The good works given as evidence on that Last Day are simply the evidence of the New Life within us – of Christ within us, the evidence that we are living and enabled to continue in Life forevermore. The goats – well the goats are those without Christ’s righteousness of life. They have continued to rebel against God and not love as He would have His children do. Their sinful guilt remains because they do not believe in or trust in Jesus and His saving work for them, and so their evil deeds serve as the evidence of their rebellion and death. They are the walking dead, they are moving around, but are spiritually dead and will inherit eternal death and suffering. So again, good works do not save us, they are only evidence that we have already been saved and made alive in Christ Jesus. We are saved by grace through faith alone, but faith is never alone! It will always produce the fruits of life – namely to love God and our neighbor. Now, the second question before us then, is exactly what are the true good works that we will be judged by? The answer might be somewhat surprising to you. What are to be judged as Good Works in God’s eyes? What mighty deeds might those be? Often when Christians think about such questions, they believe that these are to be noble, spiritual deeds: being a prayer warrior/how much they pray, or how much they give in the offering plate. Perhaps being martyred for the faith would qualify. Perhaps they think of a great spiritual leader like Paul or Peter as an example. Maybe it is how many times they taught Sunday school or sang in the church choir. All of these are of course good and helpful things and can be “good works” of God. But as noble as they may seem, they are not “better” good works. There was a time when folks thought that if you became a monk, secluding yourself and dedicating yourself to a deeper study and worship of God and self-denial, that was a better, more God-pleasing thing to do. But that is not the good works that God has prepared His people to do from eternity. 3 No, the good works of God are simply the caring for your neighbor’s needs – showing a love for God by taking care of your fellow believers as well as the people around you. And again, what God considers true good works might surprise you. The reaction of the Sheep in our text is instructive for us on this: Mat 25:37-39 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? (38) And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? (39) And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' Did you notice that the sheep were not aware of the good works the Lord was listing as evidence of the life in them? Perhaps they didn’t recognize them because they were every day, ordinary tasks – too common, too mundane, or plain.

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