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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, on this last Sunday, it is the parable of the sheep and the goats as the text for the sermon. You may be seated. The last several weeks, as you remember, have been texts and hymns that talk about Judgment Day. And in fact, the last two Sundays, the parables have been all talking about life in the last days, except today’s parable. Today’s parable, it’s over. Time is over. All of the world and the cosmos has been destroyed, and there is only Jesus and His people. All of the people He ever created. And they’re gathered before Him in the judgment room. Paul says, and as you heard the text, then separation occurs. And it’s not as if it’s a line down the middle. It’s a separation here and there, scattered abroad in this mass of humanity are all the sheep separated from the goats. But not a word has been spoken. That’s important because once that separation has taken place, there’s your judgment. There’s your judgment. That’s Judgment Day. That’s it. There is no surprise. There is nothing to fear. It is that separation.
Only after the separation has taken place, only after all of the sheep are over here and all of the goats are over here on the left, only then does the Lord, the Good Shepherd, the Great Shepherd speak. But He doesn’t speak to the goats first. No, no, no, no, no. He speaks to His sheep first. Now it’s obviously that the sheep are believers. They have been obedient to their shepherd by faith. They have trusted in the shepherd’s righteousness for them. They were disobedient. All of the sheep have been disobedient to themselves. On the other hand, the goats, who are the unbelievers, are ones who have been disobedient only to Jesus. The goats have been obedient to themselves and to all of their accomplishments, unlike the sheep.
Here is when the speaking begins between these two groups. But the first thing that we should ask is, Why has this separation taken place when it doesn’t look like there’s any difference between any of these people in the mass of humanity? Because the sheep don’t look any worse than the goats and the goats don’t look any better than the sheep. How can that be? Because what separates the sheep and the goat isn’t found on the outside, is it? What separates the sheep from the goat is what’s found on the inside that you and I can’t see, but only God can. Well, I should say this. You can see, but who alone can you only see? Yourself, whether you are a believer or not.
When this separation takes place, there has to be a reason. How does that work that God did in you come about? What made you a sheep to begin with? Again, this is all before the speech that Jesus proclaims has been proclaimed. The only way a sheep can be a sheep is what God has written about the sheep. Namely this, as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. You now wear the white wedding garment. You now wear the robe of salvation. You now wear His righteousness, not your own. You now wear His great work. Not your works. You do not adorn yourself with your works. You adorn yourself with the one and only work that matters to you. His work. His work.
Now the goats, on the other hand, they completely deny it. Even though Christ died for them, as much as He died for the sheep, they deny the grace given to them. They do not believe that they’re heirs, according to the promise. Yes. The sheep, that’s all they’re trusting in. After this separation, and now you know why that separation took place, now there’s words spoken. But notice, the words that are spoken do not change nor invalidate in any way the separation that’s already occurred, does it? In fact, if anything, the words spoken confirm the separation that has already occurred in silence.
Jesus says to the sheep, “Come you who are blessed by my Father.” Why are they blessed? Because they have Christ. They wear Christ. Inherit. Take what is yours as my rightful children. Inherit the kingdom prepared for nobody else but for you. And the sheep said, Hear those words and are dumbfounded, but then Jesus adds more dumbfoundedness to the sheep when he says, “Because you visited me, you fed me, you clothed me, you gave me drink,” and so forth. Upon hearing that, the sheep do not argue with Jesus. They merely ask a question, “When? We don’t remember.” And Jesus does not go into great detail explaining it to them, does he? He just says, “You did it to me,” period.
So where is the sheep trusting in? Their works or the work of Jesus in them and the words of Jesus to them? They’re trusting only in the work of Jesus in them and the words of Jesus to them. Nothing else, period. And notice, who has the final say in this conversation? With both the sheep and the goats, the shepherd has the final say. And notice that the final statement by Jesus only confirms what happened in silence before anything was said by the shepherd.
Now come the goats. Now in that conversation, the same things are said. In other words, “Cursed are you,” which is the opposite of “Blessed are you.” Why are you cursed? Because you didn’t feed, clothe, take care of me or anything. The goats, instead of that finding them dumbfounded, the goats hear that and they’re ready for a fight. Even in their condemnation, they continue in their sin, justifying themselves before their God, saying, “How dare you, God, convict me of this sin? Mistake! I am not guilty!” That seems insane, and you’re right. It is insane. And in fact, think about hell as being perpetual insanity. Perpetually blaming God. Perpetually not taking responsibility for anything. Perpetually denying what was done for you. That’s hell. That’s hell.
Which is the exact opposite of the sheep. The sheep are kind of like most sheep, fat, dumb, and happy. And all they do is entrust themselves into the hands of the shepherd. Because what did Jesus say? Whether we live or whether we die, we belong to the Lord. We’re gods. And the only thing that sustained the sheep in this life is that they entrusted themselves into the hands of a loving shepherd. The goats, they despise the grace of God. They despise the love of the shepherd. They completely focus on themselves and their works. And they prove that they laid up for themselves treasures not in heaven. They laid up for themselves treasures on earth. Like the rich man and Lazarus, where the rich man had all of his glories in this world and goes to hell. Whereas the poor man, Lazarus, goes to heaven. Not because he had poorness, but because he was humble and entrusted himself to the shepherd to take him home.
It’s interesting because the sheep see the shepherd as loving and just, and the goats see the shepherd as being mean, harsh, and judgmental. How interesting. And that’s how all in hell see God continually. This parable is full of grace. It is not exhortation to give you guilt. It is full of courage. It is not full of fear. This is supposed to encourage you to wear Christ. If you are Christ’s, wear Him. It’s to encourage you to bear the cross that God has laid upon you and not to shove it to the side. To bear it with confidence that He will carry you as you carry His cross. That He will watch over you as you bear it.
Now, it’s kind of interesting. This parable was spoken to the apostles two days before Jesus died on the cross. Just two days before he died on the cross. And two days later, the night that he was found in the garden, when Judas betrayed him with the kiss, do you know what Jesus was doing as he got ready to die? He was praying for his sheep. It’s in John chapter 17, the high priestly prayer. It’s his prayer for you, the night of his betrayal.
Listen to these five points that I want you to remember as the sheep, who you are, bear your cross in this world as his. First thing he said, “They, my sheep, are not of this world. Holy Father, keep them in your name.” You were given the name at your baptism. He’s praying for you to trust yourself into the shepherd who claims you as his own. Secondly, “Keep them from the evil one.” Lord heaven, we need that because he’s alive and well and he’s in our house every single day. “Sanctify them,” meaning you, “in the truth. Your word is truth.” Make them holy by your word, O Lord. Let it be what they are covered in.
This one’s probably the most profound. “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” That’s His prayer for those sheep in this parable of whom you are counted. His prayer for you is that you may see Him in His glory.
Now as you bear the cross, you will encounter things in this world that are heinous and horrible. One of our sister Lutheran Church Missouri Synod churches in Chester, Virginia had a horrific thing happen to that congregation. They’re in a vacancy. They don’t have a pastor right now. They have an interim pastor. But the youth pastor, who’s in his late 50s, slaughtered his entire family in his house on Thanksgiving Day. Can you imagine gathering today, just three days after that? I don’t know what I would say to you all, hardly. And yet the shepherd prays for us as he prayed for them. He prays for us to be confident of his adoption, even in the midst of terror and fear and horrific, heinous works.
Be confident and entrust yourself into the hands of a shepherd who says, “My beloved, come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you.”
In the name of Jesus, Amen. The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.