[Note: This is Part A of the third and final sermon on Matthew 25:31–46. Delivered 13 December 1981, Montreal. Part B continues directly.]
Today we continue to study the teaching of our Lord Jesus, returning for the third time to our passage in Matthew 25:31–46. There remain important matters in this passage that we have not yet dealt with. I shall not read this section again, but perhaps we can look at the picture we did not manage to see last time. You can see, though the sheep has faded somewhat during the week — there is the dog, there is the goat, and there is the sheep. All three are very cute. I would have thought the dog is perhaps the cutest of them all. But the sheep has become quite spiritualised in the meantime, approaching invisibility now.
What we saw last week, in this section of the Lord's teaching, is that the dog represents the non-Christian in scriptural picture language. The goats represent those who have made a step in the direction of the sheep family, but the transformation was only partial. The result is that in order to become a sheep, many times they have to go through another drastic transformation — indeed as drastic as from dog to sheep — and we saw how essential it is for us to understand these things very clearly. Today we concentrate entirely on the subject of what the Lord Jesus taught about judgment. This is the third time, and perhaps the last time for the present series, that we will look at this passage. There is such riches in the Lord's teaching that it is always difficult to know how to exhaust it all.
Today we look at this matter under several headings. The first is to consider: who is the judge? Judgment has to do with justice, and it would be a tragic thing to live in a world in which there was no hope of justice — where the innocent must suffer and the wicked seem to prosper. Just this past week, there was a girl who had worked in a bank for only four months when a gangster, in his nervousness, shot her to death. She was completely innocent. Even if he were apprehended, that does nothing for the girl who was killed. Her life does not return to her, and for the victim, no justice is done in this world.
How are all these accounts to be set right? It is a clear fact that this cannot be settled in this life. And so the question arises: how many of these brutal men live in comfort while righteous people suffer? Is there any kind of moral order in this world? That is the kind of question that judgment has to deal with. Without confidence in justice, we would truly be left without hope.
There is also a strong connection between justice and love — something many people do not see. If we felt there was no chance of justice being vindicated in this universe, it would be very hard to love. I can love a person who does me wrong because I know that God's justice will prevail. I do not have to seek vengeance. I can turn the other cheek — why? Because I know that we live in a universe in which God's justice will be fulfilled. I can get on with the business of loving because the business of judging is in God's hands.
Consider the case of Christians who are persecuted quite wrongfully, thrown into jail for nothing more than being a Christian. You begin to have a sense of injustice, of resentment: I have loved my country all my life, and now because I am a Christian, you put me in jail. I think of a brother Henry Tsui in China, a research chemist who made his contribution to his country — and the thanks he received was to be put in jail for being a Christian. When you have that sense of injustice, you become bitter. And when you become bitter, you cannot love. So you can see the connection clearly: the stronger and clearer your concept of the Lord's teaching on judgment, the more you will be released to love.
I can love and forgive and be patient with an enemy because I have absolute confidence that God will settle the whole account. If somebody steals from me, I can almost feel sorry for him — because God's justice is a fearful thing, and when you realise how severe it is, you feel almost pity for the person who will have to face it. I came out after a New Year's prayer meeting once to find the nose of my car bashed in — someone had smashed into it and driven away, leaving me with four hundred dollars of damage. If you do not have a sense that this world is ruled by a God of justice, you feel quite bitter. But when you have the deep sense that justice is with God and everything will be settled, you can say: let's pay the four hundred dollars and never mind, and may God forgive the person who did it.
Now, with this in mind, let us look at who the judge is. In Matthew 25:31, we read that when the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will sit on his glorious throne. One of the chief functions of a king was to exercise judgment — the king in those days was the supreme court; the case that could not be settled in a lower court would finally be taken to the king. So Jesus is the judge. We find this very constantly in the scriptures. Acts 10:42 records Peter preaching that God commanded them to testify that Jesus is the one ordained to be judge of the living and the dead. John chapter 5 makes this equally clear: verse 22 says the Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son; verse 27 says that authority to execute judgment is given to Jesus because he is the Son of Man; and verse 28 says that the hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come forth — those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
Now, who are the people being judged? There is a common misconception in many Christian circles that judgment is only for unbelievers, that Christians will not come under any sort of judgment. This is in complete contradiction to scripture. Paul says in Romans 14:10, speaking directly to Christians and including himself: "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of God." He says the same thing in 2 Corinthians 5:10: "We shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." And Peter says that judgment begins at the house of God.
Where did this idea come from, that Christians will not be judged? It appears to come from Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus." This has been taken to mean that because there is no condemnation, there is no judgment. Such reasoning is both illogical and contradictory to scripture. To be judged and not condemned is not the same as having no judgment at all. "Not condemned" means you are judged and found innocent — acquitted. Moreover, Paul in Romans 8:1 is not speaking of future possibilities — he is saying that our past sins have been forgiven. Romans 3:25 makes this explicit: because of the blood of Christ, your past sins are passed over, remitted, when you repent. But this does not mean that future sins will not be taken into account. No Christian should imagine that because the past has been wiped clean, there is no future accounting.
In fact, in Matthew 25 itself, the chapter we are studying, judgment in the Lord's teaching consistently refers to the judgment of those in a covenant relationship with God. We saw this clearly in the previous two parables: the judgment of the ten virgins — all equally virgins — the judgment of the servants — all equally servants of the same master. Matthew 25:31 is connected to what precedes it by the Greek particle *de*, which in English is unfortunately left untranslated, giving the false impression that verse 31 begins an entirely new subject, when in fact it continues the same sequence.
Verse 32 says that before him will be gathered all the nations. But the meaning of "all the nations" is determined by context. In Matthew 24:14, we read that the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all nations before the end comes. And in Matthew 28:19, the Lord commands: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations." In the original Greek, the phrase "all nations" there is exactly the same as here. If you have made disciples of all nations, then of course all nations will stand before God in judgment. And judgment in the Bible is always of each individual person — you cannot hide behind the crowd. Judgment is not by nation as a whole; it is of each person in those nations who have been disciples, according to Matthew 28:19.
The Lord's consistent concern throughout this whole chapter is with the genuineness of disciples, not merely conversion. Everywhere I study in the Lord's teaching, that is his primary emphasis — not "have you become a disciple?" but "are you a genuine disciple?" He is speaking not to non-Christians but to covenant people, to sons of the kingdom. In fact, when you read the whole New Testament, there is no book in it that addresses non-Christians. Every book is warning Christians of judgment, warning them to live in such a way as to glorify God. Whether in the Old Testament it is the covenant people of God, or in the New Testament, the focus is the same. Even the Samaritans, whom the Lord Jesus addressed, shared virtually the same faith as the Jews — they believed in the same God, read the same Bible, and adhered to the five books of Moses absolutely.
Why does the Lord stress genuineness so heavily? Because genuineness is the key to world evangelism — something the church has not understood. People want to rush out and send missionaries here and there, but the Lord's concern is this: if every Christian were genuine, the gospel would reach the world with power without any missionary gimmicks or endless conferences. I have many times been thrilled at what the light of Christ can do simply by being present. When I taught in a school for six months, something seemed to affect the whole school — the teaching staff, all the students — without my saying anything. Three years after I left, they were still talking about it. It was nothing in me that was exceptional; it was what God had made me to be. When I stayed on a ship, it seemed to affect all the passengers. Because you are salt and light, you do not need to plan it — God works through it automatically.
What grieves me is the contrast with what I see from missionary organisations, who are forever sending pamphlets about missionary conferences and missionary finances and raising hundreds of thousands of dollars. So far, one such organisation, with all those hundreds of thousands of dollars, has managed to send out four or five missionaries. From our church alone, without begging anyone for money, without sending circulars, without publicity — simply going forth to serve the Lord — how many have we sent? They simply went forth to do the job the Lord called them to do, and that is all they needed.
[Continues in Part B]
# The Judgment of God — Matthew 25:31–46 (Part B) — Theophilus; Evil Doers Gathered from the Kingdom; Two Judgments; Amillennialism Rebutted; Judged for What We Failed to Do
[Note: This is Part B of the third and final sermon on Matthew 25:31–46, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered 13 December 1981, Montreal.]
It is remarkable, is it not? Now you can see why the Lord's teaching is this way. Everywhere the Lord Jesus warns us that the judgment will be based on one thing: genuine faithfulness to God. When we understand this, we shall accomplish the task. Hence, when you look at the New Testament, you must recognise that no book is written for non-Christians. Which book would you give to a non-Christian to read? The book of Acts, for example — Luke opens it by addressing it to one person called Theophilus. The very name Theophilus means someone who loves God, a friend of God. So even the book of Acts is addressed to God's people. The Word of God is constantly addressing us as God's people.
Now, this being the case, let us come to the third point. Seeing that Christians are the first to be judged, are non-Christians then not judged? Of course they will be judged too. But the question is: are they judged at the same time as Christians, or at a different time? Is there only one great judgment, or more than one? Let us turn to Matthew 13:37–43, where the Lord Jesus explains the parable of the tares. He says: the Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evil doers. Notice this very carefully — where will they be gathered out of? Out of his kingdom. You cannot gather them out of his kingdom unless they were first in it. And how do you get into his kingdom? John 3:3 and 3:5 are unmistakably clear: you cannot see or enter the kingdom of God except through being born again. Therefore, the evil doers who will be judged at the close of the age — at the coming of the Lord — are born-again people who are already in the kingdom. This teaching is hard to take, but I earnestly desire to be corrected if I have misread it. The scripture says plainly: they will gather the evil doers and all causes of stumbling out of his kingdom.
Now, where then is the reference to the judgment of non-Christians? We find it in Revelation chapter 20. There we find a judgment that takes place not immediately at the close of the age, but quite some time later — after the thousand years. In Revelation 20, there is a first resurrection, then there are the thousand years, and then at the end of the thousand years there is what is called the Great White Throne Judgment. The first resurrection takes place before the thousand years, at the coming of the Lord Jesus, at the close of the age. Then, after the thousand years, verses 11–14 describe the Great White Throne: the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, books were opened, and the dead were judged by what they had done. "By what they had done" is stated twice. So the scripture speaks of two judgments: one at the close of the age for those in the kingdom, and another after the millennium for the remainder.
Now let me say something very quickly about these thousand years. I was reading this past week the message of a well-known evangelical preacher who died around 1940 or 1950, who argues that the millennium is not to be understood literally. His reason: Revelation 20 is the only place in the Bible where the thousand years is mentioned. He says: do you find it in Matthew? In Mark? In Luke? In John? In Acts? No. Therefore, since it is only in Revelation 20, it is not to be taken literally. What absurd reasoning. Because a thing is mentioned only in one chapter, it is therefore not to be taken literally? If that were so, consider this: in the entire Old Testament, the only verse that speaks of the resurrection is Daniel 12:2. Shall we follow this preacher's reasoning and say that because there is only one verse in the Old Testament about the resurrection, it is also not to be taken literally? That would be the same logic — and it is utter nonsense. Resurrection is taken literally as a most vital truth, despite appearing only once in all thirty-nine books of the Old Testament. So the teaching called amillennialism — that there is no literal thousand years — is utterly unacceptable.
There seems to be a pattern here that many have noticed: roughly two thousand years before Abraham, two thousand years from Abraham to the coming of the Lord Jesus, and two thousand more years from his first coming to his second — six thousand years in total. The millennium then makes a cycle of seven thousand years in God's plan of salvation, fitting very well with the patterns of seven throughout the book of Revelation. Whatever the full explanation, there is certainly no reason whatever to deny that the thousand years are a thousand years simply because they appear only in Revelation 20. By the way, Daniel 12:2, which I mentioned — "And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" — is reflected almost directly in Matthew 25:46: "And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Now let us look at one last thing before we close. We have seen again and again that judgment will be based upon what a person has done or has not done. But notice very carefully: in relation to the non-Christian, he is judged by what he has done. All sin is sin, but not all sin is of the same seriousness. In the judgment of non-Christians, many factors will be taken into account. Their good deeds will be taken into account. Most importantly, whether they heard the gospel and rejected it, or never heard the gospel at all, will be a central question. Those who heard the gospel and rejected it will be judged far more severely than those who never had the chance to hear it. The Jews will be judged by the higher standard of the law. The Gentile who has not had this long history of spiritual teaching will be judged, as Romans 2:15–16 says, by the law of conscience. And we must not assume that all who stand in the second judgment will be condemned. In Revelation 20, it says that books were opened, and whether a name was found in the Book of Life was examined. God does not desire any person to perish, and if there is one slight possibility of forgiving anyone, God will gladly do so. Nobody will be condemned without a very fair trial. Not all at the second judgment will be lost — that is a point to bear in mind.
Now, whereas the judgment of the non-Christian is based on what he did, the judgment of disciples in the first judgment will be based on what he did not do. Look carefully at Matthew 25 and you will see this clearly. The wicked servant did not do anything bad — he simply put his one talent in the ground and returned it when the Master came. His crime was doing nothing. The goats are not charged with murder, theft, or fornication. The only charge laid against them is that they failed to do something good: inasmuch as you did not feed, clothe, or visit one of the least of these my brethren, you did not do it to me. There is the vital distinction between the first and second judgments: the first has a higher standard, and you do not escape simply by saying "I didn't do anything bad." If you did nothing, that is also your condemnation. Many Christians will find themselves in trouble with the Lord on that day not because they did something wrong, but because they did nothing. How does your life measure up to that? Make sure that you have something to show on that day that is required before God's purpose. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.