We have a sample introduction to the lesson for you, as well as a suggested outline of this week’s text, with some teaching highlights, some illustrations you can share, some potential discussion questions you can ask your group — and especially spiritual life applications you can make from this passage. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

Have your members discuss what they think about this quote from English writer Samuel Johnson:

“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” 

Then transition to the lesson by saying that today in Matthew 25, Jesus shows us just how important the way we treat “the least of these” really is!

CONTEXT:

Jesus is in Jerusalem, in His last week on earth before He goes to the cross. Last time we saw how, after Jesus chewed out the Pharisees in Matthew 23, Jesus and His disciples were on their way back to Bethany. The disciples asked Jesus about the Temple buildings they saw, and He told them that not one stone there would be left upon another which would not be torn down. They ask Him when “these things” would happen, as well as the sign of His coming, and the end of the age — and Jesus responds with what’s called His “Olivet Discourse” (because He spoke it from the Mt. of Olives) which comprises Matthew 24 & 25. As we talked about last time, there’s not really a “break” in between those two chapters; Jesus is just continuing to speak in Chapter 25 about the end times, which He had started in Matthew 24. So we should see them together as one “big message” (like Matthew 5, 6, & 7 make up another of His messages, “The Sermon on the Mount”). 

Matthew 25 begins with the Parable of the Ten Maidens (:1-13), which we talked about last time, which remind us of the need to be ready when our “Bridegroom” comes for us. Then He shares The Parable of the Talents (:14-30) on the importance of being a good steward with what He gives us until He comes — which brings us to our “focus passage” for this week: Matthew 25:31-46, “The Sheep and the Goats.” 

OUTLINE:

I.  The Judgment That Is Coming (:31-33)

II.  The Fruit That Is Inspected (:34-45)

III. The Destinations That Are Decided (:34, 41, 46)

TEXT:  Matthew 25:31-46

I. The Judgment That is Coming (:31-33)

:31 “But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; 33 and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on the left.

NOTE: THIS IS NOT A “PARABLE.” It’s not the “parable” of the Sheep & the Goats. It begins “And when the Son of Man comes in His glory …”. Jesus describes this as a very real event. It’s not a “story” or parable that illustrates something. Jesus is saying, This is what is will happen in real history! Just as surely as He came the first time, He’s coming a second time in His glory, and the events we read about here will really take place!

A. The Glorious Judge: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory”:

Remember “the Son of Man” does NOT means that Jesus is trying to somehow hide that He is the Son of God by saying He’s the “Son of Man.” I’ve heard that said a lot. Rather the term “Son of Man” is overtly Messianic. It comes from Daniel 7, which as every Jew knows, prophesies: “One like a Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory …”. So He’s not “hiding” anything here. Using “Son of Man” is a bold claim to be the fulfillment of Daniel 7. 

— And Jesus says the events of this text will unfold “WHEN the Son of Man COMES in His GLORY.” This refers to His return, which He has been speaking about in Matthew 24. “When He comes …”. Jesus’ return won’t be in “secret,” but publicly and gloriously.

— Revelation 19:11-16 describes it: 

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. 13 He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. 15 From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. 16 And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”

When He returns, the Bible says He will sit on His glorious throne (He is KING: see :34, “Then the King will say …”, and :40, “Then the King will answer …”. So Jesus is the King. Not just king of a particular nation, but King of the whole universe!

B. The Universal Judgment: “all the nations”

And what does it say He will do on His throne? He will judge the nations. 

Some believe this is a judgment of “nations” and how they treat the Jews. :32 says “all the nations will be gathered before Him.” But that word “nations” is just the Greek “ethne” — we get our word “ethnic” from it. 

It just means all the peoples of the world. And notice how individual the judgment here is: Jesus doesn’t say “You’re condemned because your country built gas chambers for the Jews.” Every example He gives here is not of countries or groups of people, but of individuals and how they minister to people, or do not. So I believe the scriptural evidence here points to the judgment of individuals.

We’ve talked about this individual judgment several times in the past weeks. But the Judgment is a major theme in scripture. Some of the verses you could share include:

— Ecclesiastes 12:14 “God will bring every deed into judgment”

— Hebrews 9:27 “it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment”

— II Cor. 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ …”

— Romans 14:12 “Each of us must give account of himself to God”

One of my favorite ILLUSTRATIONS of Judgment:

President Andrew Jackson once told a group of men aboard a boat in New York harbor a story about his deceased wife:
“‘She gave me the best advice, and I have not been unmindful of it. When the people, in their sovereign pleasure, elected me President of the United States, she said to me, “Don’t let your popularity turn your mind away from the duty you owe to God. Before Him we are all alike sinners, and to Him we must all alike give account. All these things will pass away, and you and I, and all of us, must stand before God.’ I have never forgotten it, Doctor, and I never shall.’ Jackson wept at the memory.”

(Jon Meacham, American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, p. 262)

Jackson was right. We will all stand before the Lord, and we too, like Jackson, need to make sure we don’t forget it!

C. The Decision of Judgment: “He will separate them …”

A key element of this section is that Jesus says He will “separate” these peoples, the way a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. The word: “separate” is “aporizo.” “apo” = “from,” and “horizo” = “boundary” (we get our word “horizon” from it.) So a “boundary” will be established; a “dividing line” will be marked out: Jesus will “separate” these into two groups.

One thing this makes clear: we are NOT “all going to the same place”! That’s a very common belief in America and many other places in the world today: “We’re all going to the same place.” 

ILLUSTRATION:

I know of a preacher who ran into a person like that. He had just preached a message Sunday about how Jesus is the only way to heaven, and later that week, he met a woman in the post office who saw him and said: “I visited your church Sunday, and I heard your message, but I disagree with it. She said, all the different religions are just different roads to heaven; you can take any of them, and we will all end up in the same place.” She said, “It is just like this Post Office: you and I came by different roads to get here, but we both arrived at the same place.” The pastor said: “There’s only one problem with that: when I die, I don’t want to go to the Post Office!” He went on to say: I want to go to heaven, and Jesus clearly teaches that only HE is the way!

Jesus definitely did NOT teach that “we are all going to the same place.” He tells us here that a real judgment will take place, and people will be separated, and assigned to one of two eternal destinations based on His judgment.

II.  The Fruit That Is Inspected (:35-45)

34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; 36 naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? 39 When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’”

41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; 42 for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; 43 I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ 44 Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ 45 Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ 46 These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Jesus shows us in these verses what some of the “fruit” is that we will be judged by on that day. And He does it in a very compelling way: He tells of a “conversation” that He’ll have with two different groups of people on the Day of Judgment. First, He says He’ll bless those who ministered to Him in various ways in this world, and then He’ll curse those who did NOT minister to Him in those ways.

Both lists, of those who did and didn’t help, include the same 6 groups in need:

— hungry

— thirsty

— stranger

— naked

— sick

— in prison

(Blomberg summarizes these as: food, shelter, and companionship, what he categorizes as the 3 basic human needs. 

Jesus says those will be blessed who helped Me with these things, and others will be “accursed” who did not.

Notice that NEITHER group recognized that they had ministered (or did NOT minister) to Jesus: “When did we do this for You?” “When did we not take care of You?” Jesus answers the righteous in :40, “to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’” And He answers the wicked in :45, “to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.”

So He teaches the principle, that we will be judged by the way we treat others in this world, as if they were Jesus Himself. (AND NOTICE: it was not what the “goats” DID that condemned them, but what they DIDN’T DO! “Sins of omission”! That should be a sobering thought for many of us!)

ILLUSTRATION:

Martin Luther has a great example of this in his Christmas Sermon from the 1500s: 

“(Mary’s) time came as they were drawing near, and Joseph sought room for them in the inn. But there was no room in the inn. Of course there was! There was all the room in the inn, but nobody would give up a room! Shame on you, wretched Bethlehem; you should’ve been burned with brimstone!       

(Then Luther added:)

And don’t let you people in this congregation think you’d have done any better if you were there. I can just hear you say, “Oh, we would have loved to take care of the Baby Jesus. We would have washed his diapers.” No you wouldn’t!  If you’d been there you wouldn’t have done a bit better, and if you think you would, why don’t you do it for your neighbor in your midst, who is Christ among you?”

That’s what Jesus is saying here, isn’t it? If you want to do something for Him, do something for the people He loves. He shows us here in Matthew 25 that this IS in fact what we are doing, when we do or do no care, for people around us today.  

Significantly, Jesus teaches that the “sheep” and the “goats” (the righteous and the unrighteous) will be identified by the way they treat other people in this world. Remember Jesus said in Matthew 7:20 “You will know them by their fruits.” The way we minister to other people in Jesus’ name is a big part of the “fruit” that will demonstrate that we are truly His.

Be sure to emphasize here: THIS PASSAGE DOES NOT TEACH THAT WE ARE SAVED BY OUR WORKS! We know that clearly from many other scriptures, like Ephesians 2:8-9, “by grace are you saved, through faith … not of works …”, and so on. NO we are not saved by what we do or do not “do.” But if we are truly saved by grace, as the oft-neglected :10 of Ephesians 2 says, then we will walk in the works which God prepared beforehand for us. Our works don’t save us, but when we do good works, like caring for others here in Matthew 25, they are “fruit” that demonstrates that we really are saved by faith. It’s an important distinction that we need to make sure everyone understands.

NOW: there is an explanatory phrase here that we should take note of: Jesus said as you have done it to one of the least of these “My brothers” — “brothers” indicates that Jesus is specifically speaking here about the way we treat CHRISTIAN people in the world. 

BUT having said that, just because Jesus primarily refers to Christian brothers here, does NOT give us a “free pass” to ignore everyone else in the world! In Luke 10 in the story of the Good Samaritan, the Law expert tried to “get off the hook” of loving your neighbor by asking,“Who is my neighbor?” Jesus showed us that the answer to that is, “Whoever the Lord brings across our path,” Christian brother or not. So don’t try to “take refuge” in saying, “Well, I don’t have to help them because they’re not Christians.” NO, we are still accountable to God how we treat everyone. 

(Here’s a helpful “hint”: if we are trying to “justify ourselves” like that man in Luke 10, it’s usually a pretty good giveaway sign that we really know we aren’t right about something. You know you’re responsible to help your fellow Christian brothers & sisters. You know you’re responsible to help whoever God brings across your path. Don’t try to justify yourself and evade your responsibility. Let’s show the good fruit of true followers of Christ.

???DISCUSSION/APPLICATION QUESTION???

“Who might some of ‘the least of these’ be in our church?” 

And:  “Who might some of ‘the least of these’ be in our community?”

— maybe those with physical impairments or mental disabilities.

— perhaps those poorer members

— maybe the elderly in some cases

— or a child. Or a youth that’s not in the “cool group.” 

— maybe it’s the church staff member or employee that everyone is down on.

— perhaps those with a foreign background. 

— because Jesus is speaking specifically of “brothers,” there must be a special sense in which it refers to His servants, pastors, missionaries, and others in need.

We can think of plenty of real-life examples, like:

Who do you go sit by in the Fellowship Hall on Sunday or Wednesday night? Someone who might “make you look good”? Or someone who might be blessed that YOU cared enough to sit by them? Do you look for someone “popular,” or someone who might be in need? 

We encounter many instances like this every week. If we don’t think about how we are treating other people, then we’d better start! We need to take Jesus’ words here seriously. The way we treat others — especially “the least of these My brothers” — is a big part of the fruit that will demonstrate whether we are really saved or not!

III. The Destinations That Are Decided (:34, 41, 46)

Three verses in this passage tell us about the destinations that are determined for those involved in this judgment:

— :34 “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

— :41 ““Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels”

— :46 “These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

So :34 says the righteous will come to His Kingdom; :41 says the wicked will “depart” from Him into eternal fire, and :46 sums it up that the wicked will go to eternal punishment, and the righteous to eternal life. 

Take special notice here that BOTH of the destinations indicated are “eternal”: “eternal punishment,” “eternal life.” This is no temporary destruction or life, whatever destiny one has, it is very clear that it is “eternal.”

A. The Destiny of the Wicked

Notice three specific things these verses tell us about the eternal destiny of the wicked:

1) “Depart from Me” — so they will separated from Christ. This is just what Jesus indicated in Matthew 7:23: “I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.” 

2) “into the eternal fire” — Jesus does speak of hell as a fire. This is repeated throughout scripture:

— Psalm 11:6 says of the unrighteous: “fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup.”

— Mark 9:48 Jesus says hell is “where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” (A quote from Isaiah 66:24, which talks about the new creation — but references there the eternal punishment of the wicked.) Again hell is described as a fire.

— and as Isaiah and Mark indicate, that fire is “Eternal.” 

Revelation 20:10 says “and there they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.” 

— Make the point: some speak of hell as a “fire;” others as “just” “separation from God.” We see here that BOTH are true, don’t we? It is “eternal fire,” and it is “departing” from Him. So it is both separation from God, and eternal fire. 

3) “which has been prepared for the devil and his angels.” God did not design hell for us. This passage specifically says He created it for the devil and his angels. But those who follow their lead in rebellion against God will find themselves in that place. It is NOT God’s desire to send anyone there. He did all He could to give us a way out — including the ultimate humility of coming to this earth as a puny man, and enduring unfathomable agony on the cross to pay for our sins. He has done all He can. But those who reject the only way of salvation will indeed find themselves cast into that place He “prepared for the devil and his angels.” 

Hell is a horrific destiny. It is troublesome to many — and as we’ll see in a moment, there is a sense in which it OUGHT to be troubling! What it ought NOT to do is cause us to doubt the word of God. Kirk Cameron made headlines recently by sharing his recent disbelief in an eternal hell. I understand why someone might not want to believe in it. It’s an awful thing. But if you believe the Bible, the scriptural evidence is too strong. We’ve looked at several of these scriptures today already. Add to that, there is NO indication whatsoever of any kind of “temporary punishment” in the Bible. As we’ve seen, it clearly says it is “eternal.” 

Think of the story the Rich Man & Lazarus in Luke 16. There was NO hope given that the rich man might someday get out. Only that there was an unbridgeable gulf that separated them. And Jesus did NOT indicate that this was a “parable.” In :19 Jesus said “NOW THERE WAS A RICH MAN.” It’s true and horrible story. And the most horrible part is that Jesus told that story 2000 years ago, and the man in that story, is still in those flames today. That is the eternal destiny of the wicked.

ILLUSTRATION

Thomas Clarkson was a friend of William Wilberforce, and worked on his Committee for the Abolition of Slavery in the late 1700s. The Committee decided they needed to gather as much information on slavery as they could, and Clarkson did much of the work. Amazingly, he traveled to England’s slave ports and interviewed 20,000 sailors. He determined that 25% of the slaves died on board the slave ships, due to being stacked almost literally on top of each other, and the resulting illnesses. He discovered that one slave captain flogged his slave for 2 hour and 15 minutes. Not surprisingly, the slave died. Eric Metaxas write in his book Amazing Grace, “Stories like this piled up, until the strain began to tell on Clarkson. ‘I was agonized to think that this trade could last another day,’ he wrote. ‘I was in a state of agitation from morning until night.’” 

The real-life horrors of slavery kept Clarkson agitated “from morning until night.” The reality of hell should do that for us, too. It is a real place, and real people we know are going there. That should bother us. 

???DISCUSSION/APPLICATION QUESTION???
“What should our response to the doctrine of a real eternal hell be?”

— First of all, we need to make sure that we ourselves are not going there! Challenge your class: make certain of your salvation today!

— Then it should drive us to pray fervently for those we know who are lost. Paul said “My heart’s desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.” (Rom. 10:1) That should be our fervent prayer too.

— It should also motivate us to share the gospel with others. Tell them how they can avoid this! 

— And it should cause us to give to Kingdom causes, especially missions and outreach programs, that people might be saved.

B. The Destiny of the Righteous

:46 says “but the righteous into eternal life.” Verse 34 says they’ll “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

NOTICE THE KEY WORD: “the righteous.” Re-emphasize that none of us are righteous in ourselves. We are only made righteous through Christ. (II Cor. 5:24). The works we’ve seen in this passage are the FRUIT of the righteous. The fruit doesn’t save them; the righteousness of Christ does. 

But we see here that the destiny of the righteous will be the opposite of the wicked:

— the wicked are separated from the Lord. The righteous will be with Him. Jesus said in John 17:3, “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the One True God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” So we’ll know Him, and be with Him. Psalm 16:11 says “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.” Make no mistake: GOD HIMSELF is the great reward of heaven. He will feed us with pleasures from His right hand that are unimaginable on earth. 

— And the place we will inhabit has been prepared for us from the foundation of the world! Jesus said in John 14, “I go to prepare a place for you.” We referenced last week how the Jewish bridegroom would leave his intended and go build a home, or an additional room to his father’s house, for his bride to live in. Then he would return to bring her back to it. This is what Jesus is doing for us! He is preparing a place that is literally beyond our imagination. We will dwell in New Heavens and New Earth, the New Jerusalem, with pleasures from His right hand, forever! 

How little, and how tritely, we often think of being with the Lord. Sometimes we hear people say things like, “Well, I’m so old and sick, I guess the only thing left to do is go to heaven …”. Are you kidding me? We should have a higher view of glory than that!

ILLUSTRATION

C.S. Lewis begins to capture the idea with this analogy from my favorite sermon, “The Weight of Glory”:

“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.” 

Here we are, sitting with our “mud pies” — all the things we love so much in this world — when eternal glory and pleasure and joy are waiting for us in the presence of the Lord! So let’s don’t be “half-hearted,” as Lewis says. Let’s be people of faith, who haven’t “seen” this country we’re heading to — but who really believe in it, and who are truly looking forward to it as we should. AND, as this lesson in Matthew 25 encourages us: let’s live so that the way that we treat others is the fruit that proves that one day we will really be going there!

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