Sermon notes from Matthew 25:31-46

This parable in Matthew 25:31-46 does not teach that people are justified before God on the basis of works. The sheep receive their blessing and inheritance from the Father before a single word about their good works is spoken. Matthew 25:34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’” Scripture teaches that people do good works in God’s sight only after they have come to faith and been justified by Christ. Good works are the result of salvation, not its cause.

Only justified people, who are led by the Spirit of Christ, can do good works. Without faith and Christ as Mediator, good works do not please, according to Hebrews 11:6: “Without faith it is impossible to please God.” (Apology of the Augsburg Confession V 251)

Verse 37: Interestingly, those called righteous by the Lord are surprised at what is being said about them. Far from being boastful about the good deeds worked in them by God’s Spirit, they are completely ignorant of them.

Verse 40: As we serve others, we served our Lord who is Immanuel, “God with us.”

Verses 42-43: The undone works are only a symptom of the real problem: lack of faith. If they had called upon the Lord in faith, He would have forgiven them, prepared them, and completed good works in them.

Luther writes in his Large Catechism: God rightly calls all people murderers who do not provide counsel and help in distress and danger of body and life. … This means: You would have allowed Me and Mine to die of hunger, thirst, and cold. You would have allowed the wild beasts to tear us to pieces, or left us to rot in prison or perish in distress. What else is that but to rebuke them as murderers or bloodhounds? For although you have not actually done all this to someone, you have still, so far as you were concerned, let him wither and perish in misfortune. … It is just as if I saw someone navigating and laboring in deep water, or one fallen into fire, and could extend to him the hand to pull him out and save him, and yet refused to do it. How would I look, even in the eyes of the world? Just like a murderer and a criminal. (Large Catechism, 191-192)

The difference between those who are in Christ and those who stand outside His forgiveness cannot be stated more clearly. The difference is as great as heaven and hell. (See Augsburg Confession XVII)