I debated about having a message on the resurrection this morning, but decided that since we are just approaching the crucifixion in our study of Matthew, it might be like getting the cart before the horse. Undoubtedly, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ was an extremely important event. But it was only the capstone on a much more important event – the Lord’s crucifixion. It is not through the resurrection, per se, that we are delivered from our sins. As Paul said, “Now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” It was through Christ’s death that we have redemption, and an atonement was made for our souls.
This evening we will reach the first of the final steps toward the cross. “And it came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the passover, and the Son of man is betrayed to be crucified.” And what were “all these sayings” that Jesus shared with His disciples? He was talking about the last days, the penultimate last days and aspects of the final judgment of man.
As I was reading Matthew 25 one final time before moving on, and as I was reviewing my notes… I was appalled to once again discover that I have never preached a message directly from verse 46. I have probably referred or quoted that verse several hundred times over the last forty-five years, but I have not even once taken that verse as my text. That is something which I must correct before I stand before the Lord’s judgment throne. Let’s look at this verse, considering two kinds of people, their two ends, and that there is but one eternity.
The two peoples.
“And THESE shall go away into everlasting punishment: but THE RIGHTEOUS into life eternal.” As I have said many times – there are two kinds of people in the world – those who believe that there are two kinds of people and those who don’t. I join Christ Jesus in saying that there are two kinds of people in this world. And today, I’m not talking about Jews and Gentiles, or men and women, or young and old, or anything as superficial as these.
Jesus has just described for us the upcoming judgment of the Gentile nations. “When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.” Christ, the Son of man, the Son of God, shall divide the people standing before him, according to the way that they have treated His Gospel messengers. When they ask for clarification, He will tell them that their acceptance or rejection of His Ambassadors indicated their true opinion about Him. “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” I have to ask – What is YOUR opinion of Christ, and what is your TRUE relationship to Him?
Once again, I remind you that man was first created in order to enjoy fellowship with Jehovah. But our first father chose to disobey God’s only command. Adam chose to break the trust that lay between himself and his Creator. And as promised, Adam instantly died – it wasn’t a physical, outward death; it was inward and spiritual. And ever since that day early in Creation, all mankind has been born spiritually dead and out of fellowship with God.
Some of you may be scoffing at what I just said. Even though I could read or quote a number of scriptures to prove what I just said about Adam, I am not going to bore everyone else just to reiterate a point which you will ultimately reject anyway. To paraphrase what I quoted from Christ’s lips in verse 40, you don’t want to believe what I just said, because you don’t want to believe Christ and His word. If someone denies this doctrine, one of the basic tenets of the Word of God, then that person proves himself to be living among the goats rather than the sheep.
Twice in the Psalms David says, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are ALL gone aside, they are ALL together become filthy: there is NONE that doeth good, no, not one.” Paul takes up these words and repeats them in Romans 3. These verses say that there is really only one kind of person in the world – the sinful fool. “We are ALL as an unclean thing, and ALL our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we ALL do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” It is the nature of the leaf to be born in the spring, to flourish for a while, to age, fade, and fall to ground only to be blown away into oblivion. It is the nature of humanity to be born, to flourish for a while, to age and to eventually die – to go away into everlasting punishment. Despite the fact that “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and that “there is none righteous, no not one….” it is also a fact that somehow, someway, some of those goats have been graciously transformed by Jehovah into sheep, entering into life eternal.
How can an unrighteous, dead and faded leaf, be transformed into something righteous in the sight of God? How can one segment of sinful humanity be split off into something entirely different? After Paul says in Romans 3, “There is none righteous, no not one,” in chapter 5 his message changes. Romans 5:6 – “For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He goes on reminding us that because of the sin of Adam, we ALL were born spiritually dead. “For the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.”
Paul tells us that in Adam all die, and all are spiritually dead. But through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, many are made righteous and given eternal life. These are the clear and concise declarations of the Word of God. And the man who rejects these words, rejecting the message of Christ – rejects Christ. “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” But make sure that it is clearly understood – it is not the way people treat the gospel messenger which saves their soul. The treatment of the message and the messenger give evidence of whether or not the Lord has made the heart of that person “righteous.”
There are two kinds of people in the world, and they face either one of two eternal destinies.
“And THESE shall go away into everlasting punishment: but THE RIGHTEOUS into life eternal.” Remember that the Lord Jesus has just described a huge throng of people, standing before the King. They are divided into their proper category – goats or sheep. There are other descriptions given of these two groups – things like wheat and tares, wicked and righteous. Matthew 13:40 – “As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” Paul tells us that soon “Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.” If you disagree with or hate what I have just read to you from the Word of God, remember that you are admitting yourself to be in the camp of the goats. “And these shall go away into everlasting PUNISHMENT: but the righteous into life eternal.”
At the point when verse 46 takes place, there will be no going back. There will be no excuses heard, and probably none will be given. All the goat’s bleating and pleading will be silenced. There will be no room for people’s protests – “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?” There will be no higher court to which your lawyer can take a man’s case – this is the Supreme Court. No one will be able to argue that he hadn’t been given his Miranda rights – the Word of God is all the Miranda that people will hear.
Every one of those Christ-denying, Gospel-rejecting, God-hating and self-loving people will go away into “ever lasting punishment.” The Greek word which is translated “punishment” is rendered only one other way – “torment.” The basic root of the word, as found in secular literature, speaks of “pealing” or “pruning.” This punishment will not be unlike the very slow pealing of one’s skin or flesh, inch by inch starting at the top of the head to the bottom of the feet, and when that is done, the process will start over again. This punishment will not be unlike the torturer who slowly cuts off the end of one finger, then one toe, then back to another finger.
“And these shall go away into everlasting punishment.”: These people will go away, but not willingly. They shall be “cast… into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
But in contrast to those people, the righteous shall step into life eternal. They shall enjoy the complete antithesis of punishment. And the opposite of punishment is not pleasure – as Islam seems to suggest. The antithesis of punishment will be joy and glory. “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
I won’t try to expand or explain the character of that eternal life, because I am not up to the task. “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory: Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
The wicked – those who reject Christ and His message – shall be punished with everlasting judgment. But those who have been made righteous through the grace of God’s salvation shall enjoy eternal life. These are the two primary points of my message this morning, but there is one other thing which false doctrine forces me to address once again. There are two kinds of people in this world – the saved and the lost; the righteous and the unrighteous. And there are two ends awaiting them – “these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.”
But there is one eternity.
The words “eternal” and “everlasting” are the same – both in the original Greek and in English. Some people might dislike my reference to the languages in which the Bible was originally written. I can understand that, because I too believe that God has preserved His Word in English in our King James Bibles. I don’t make reference to Greek or Hebrew in order to change what you are reading in English, but only to enhance its meaning and our understanding of that meaning. And many times, the original doesn’t change a thing – as in this case.
But there are people who think that God’s punishment of the wicked, while very long, it will eventually end. And some of those people will point to the original Greek word as their argument. Perhaps they think that God will peal back the skin of the heart sufficiently to reveal its native gold, and at that point the sinner will have become a saint and worthy of Heaven. So sir, the Bible indicates that the heart of man’s heart is not righteous, but corrupt and desperately wicked. No amount of pruning, pealing or rehabilitation will make a sinner into a saint. Only by the sovereign grace of God can the wicked be made clean – can the sinner be made righteous. And as the Bible says, “today is the day of salvation,” not at some point in the eternity of hell.
The Bible clearly states that God is eternal. “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms: and he shall thrust out the enemy from before thee; and shall say, Destroy them.” This verse from Deuteronomy 33 reflects what our text from Matthew 25 suggests – eternal punishment and eternal life. But it begins with the eternal God. For the punishment of the wicked to be less than for ever and ever, then God too must be less than eternal. For the eternal life of the righteous to end sometime in the future, then God Himself must come to an end.
Moses taught Israel a wonderful song in Exodus 15, and at one point he sang, “The LORD shall reign for ever and ever.” David, the great Psalmist, of Israel picked up the refrain and sang, “The LORD is King for ever and ever: the heathen are perished out of his land.” “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.” The words “for ever and ever” are found again in the New Testament. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.” “To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”
The same words are used to speak of the everlasting punishment of the unbeliever. “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” The same words are used to speak of the everlasting joy and peace of the righteous. “And there shall be no night there (in Heaven); and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.”
For all practical purposes, your eternity could be determined today. What will it be? – everlasting punishment or life eternal? Your eternity hinges on your relationship to the resurrected Christ Jesus. Kneel before Him; repent before Him, acknowledging your willful sinfulness and your many sins. Take a look a the blood which He shed as an atoning sacrifice. Plead and trust that blood for your redemption and salvation. Trust no other means for your salvation – because nothing else atones.