The judge is coming soon. Everyone who will stand before him is guilty. Where is the comfort in that?

Matthew 25:31-32 (ESV) “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.

Have you ever been in a courtroom? The courtroom is dignified and awe-inspiring; solemn and somber. You can feel the very weight of the law there. There is power present that is brought to bear on those who appear before the bench of judgement. In that place the rule of law works both for and against the accused, to ensure that a right verdict is reached. The judge sits up high. And from the bench he pronounces the verdict based on the evidence that has been submitted. I have been in the courtroom many times, before the judge, as a witness, and as a juror. It was not fun. It was not cause for rejoicing. When you receive a summons to appear in court it is a solemn and serious matter.

On the day that Jesus talks about in his parable (Matthew 25:31-46), all the people in the world are summoned to a mandatory hearing before the throne of judgement. No excused absences. No way out. And it is important to remember that everyone is guilty. The bible teaches that “all have sinned and fall short…” So when the judgement comes, no one can claim innocence and expect to escape. No one. The only hope for anyone is a matter of his or her standing, or status before the judge. Those who have faith in Christ, who died for their sins, will be declared not guilty.

And those who have not believed God’ promise, who have denied the Savior, will receive their just punishment. So the first step in the judgement is to separate into two groups: sheep and goats.

On that day, the sheep will come with a trembling hope. Who would not tremble in the presence of the King of the universe? The sheep will say, “This is what was promised. This is what was written in the scriptures. I pray that I will be found worthy because of my faith.” The goats might be afraid, or they might be indifferent. “What has this spectacle to do with me?” they might ask. I suspect though, that they will come with a growing sense of terror as they see the Living God before them and realize that they were wrong, dead wrong, about their sin, and wrong about their need for God’s grace and mercy. The sheep will be filled with hope; the goats will be without hope.

In his parable, Jesus pronounces a blessing and renders a favorable verdict; to the sheep on the right He says, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom.…” But inexplicably, the sheep humbly protest, saying that they haven’t been all that good. They are right of course. Still, it makes no sense at all to raise an objection when things have already been decided in your favor. If you were in court and the judge immediately pronounced you “not guilty”, wouldn’t it make sense to keep quiet and accept this good news? Would it make any sense at all to say, “Well, thanks your honor, but have you really considered the evidence against me? Is the case for your verdict all that strong?” The sheep protest because they are aware of their own sin; their own shortcomings. They know they were never that good. They know that their own works could not save them. But their faith has saved them. Christ living in them has produced the expected fruit of righteousness. Titus 2:13-14 “… we wait for the blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.”

We become driven by the love of Christ to humble good works, to serve, to love, to give without any thought for reward. We do these things out of a profound gratitude for the mercy that has been given to us.

Understand this: the sheep have no need to work for a reward. Rather, they work out of a sense of gratitude and obedience. The sheep are comforted because the shepherd has provided. He has done for them what they could not do for themselves. The shepherd has already paid the penalty for the sins the sheep. He has already earned for them the rewards of the Kingdom. Philippians 3:20-21 “… but our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.”

The goats hear their sentence and make their own protest. Their lack of fruit comes as a direct result of their denial of Christ as Savior and Lord. They had no faith, they chose not to believe. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 “… since it is just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to give relief to you who are afflicted, along with us. This will take place at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels, when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction…”

The goats are dismissed. They chose not to know the shepherd and He therefore chooses not to know them. He “takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”

How can you “obey the gospel?” It is not an instruction, it is not a rule. The gospel is the announcement of the coming of God’s kingdom. It proclaims the salvation of God for his people through faith in Christ. To believe this is to obey it. Faith is the evidence of obedience.

Without faith, the goats produce no worthy fruit. Their works were all self-motivated and reward oriented. They receive a sentence that is worse than death – eternal fire. Death and oblivion would be welcome, but they don’t get that relief. The judgement is final and eternal.

In this parable, it is more than a little disturbing to see how alike are the sheep and the goats. Matthew Henry in his commentary on this passage says this: “Wicked and godly here dwell together and are not certainly distinguishable one from another; but in that day they will be separated and parted forever.” 

It’s sometimes hard for us to perceive the difference. All people do some good things; all people do some bad things. Good Christians and well-behaved pagans may work side by side at the food bank. But only the Christians have “Obeyed the gospel” and God, by His grace and mercy has provided the gift of forgiveness and life eternal through their faith in His Son, Jesus. The sheep can count on this, as Jesus has said, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

On that day some will receive a sentence of eternal blessing and others of eternal fire. For those of us who have faith in Christ, this is a promise of great comfort. But that comfort should not translate into a life of complacency or indifference. Since we know that those who do not believe face eternal fire, we should be tireless in proclaiming the gospel so that all have the opportunity to receive the good news of salvation. Let the love of Christ so compel us that we may never tire in showing God’s love to the world with acts of mercy, justice, and compassion. On that glorious day, when Jesus returns to judge the nations, we will be blessed because Jesus has done all for us. In the great courtroom of God, we will have the perfect advocate, and the verdict will be, “Not guilty.” Let us respond in this life by giving our all for Him.