26th Sunday after Trinity + Matthew 25:31-46 + November 18, 2018

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

What makes a person a sheep? It’s tempting to look at Christ’s parable with a quick glance and answer, “Works!” And this is how many see it when Christ commends the good works of the sheep. “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” “Do this and inherit the kingdom.” But their works aren’t what makes these people into lambs of the Lord Jesus. They are sheep because during their earthly lives they heard the voice of the Good Shepherd and believed His word. In John 10:26-28 Jesus tells the Jews, “But you do not believe, because you are not of my sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of my hand.” The Pharisees refused to listen to Jesus as a sheep listens to the voice of its shepherd. They rejected His doctrine and did not believe. So they weren’t His sheep. They were goats. But those who did hear Christ’s words and mixed it with faith, those are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.

Consider what Christ will tell those on His right hand once He has come in His glory and sat on His throne. “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” The sheep have not earned the kingdom. They are invited to inherit it. And no one earns an inheritance. An inheritance is something given, never something earned and merited. The kingdom has been prepared for the sheep from the foundation of the world. Before the foundation of the world God elected the sheep to salvation and promised to provide all things necessary for their salvation: Christ’s atoning death and merits, the preaching of the Gospel, and the Holy Ghost to work justifying faith in their hearts. He promised to protect them in their weakness, support them in their crosses and trials, strengthen them in good works, and finally bring them to everlasting life. He prepared not only the kingdom, the blessedness of everlasting paradise, but He prepared the entire order of salvation so that His sheep might hear the promise of the Gospel and believe so that that faith would be accounted as righteousness in each one of them.

They are sheep by faith. They are sheep because they believe Christ’s Word and follow Him. It’s not their works that make them sheep. The works the sheep do, those are the fruit of their faith. Jesus says in Matthew 12:33, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for a tree is known by its fruit.” God declares you to be good, righteous in fact, through faith in the gospel. Therefore you will bear good fruit: works of righteousness. Those who do not believe the gospel are not good trees so they can only bear bad fruit. The author of Hebrews tells us that “without faith it is impossible to please Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Paul says in Romans 14:23, “Whatever is not from faith is sin.” It is impossible for the unbeliever to do good works because the unbeliever has no faith. They do not listen to the Shepherd’s voice. But you, people of God through faith in Christ Jesus, you will bear good fruit. And the fruit that you’ll bear will along the lines of the works Christ commends. “I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.” These are simple works of love done for your neighbor. These are the good works which sprout forth spontaneously from the faith in your heart for faith works through love.

The goats, on the other hand, are condemned to “the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Why? Not because they lacked works, although they did lack truly good works. But their lack of good works was a symptom of the deeper issue: they lacked faith in Christ. Without faith in Christ they could bear no good fruit. Many of the goats were simply unbelievers who rejected repentance and faith during their lives. But also among their number were the hypocrites who say they have faith but didn’t have good works. The words of St. James condemns them, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (James 2:17). Dead faith is not true faith because true faith hears the voice of Christ in His Word, believes it, takes it to heart, consoles itself with Christ’s promises, and brings forth love for neighbor. They lacked good works and they lacked good works because they lacked faith, the only way we are able to please God. Even the good deeds they did in their life, and I mean the deeds they did that looked good in the eyes of the world, weren’t really good because they didn’t flow from faith in Christ. For there are many who are righteous in the eyes of the world but not in the sight of God. Their end is destruction.

Christ does not tell you this parable so that you fear the day when He “comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory.” The unbelievers have much to fear from that day. Christ’s words call them to repent of their sins, believe the Gospel, and bear its fruits. But to you who are already lambs of the Lord Jesus and sheep of the Good Shepherd, this parable is encouragement. You have nothing to fear from that day. Your Good Shepherd, who has laid His life down for you, is your judge on that day. And He has already judged you and declared you to be righteous because you believe His Gospel. He daily and richly forgives your sins in His holy Christian church. He justifies, that is, declares righteous, all who believe the gospel that for Christ’s sake God is merciful to poor sinners. The devil wants you to hear the judgment by reminding you of your many sins. Satan wants to twist the final judgment in our mind so that you imagine you have to rely upon your own works and self-reformation. But none of this is true. Your sins are forgiven through faith in Christ Jesus so that you are able to say with St. Paul, “Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies” (Romans 8:33).

Because you are sheep of the Good Shepherd and lambs of the Lord Jesus, remain in His word. Hear it often. Hold fast to Christ’s absolving word He speaks when you confess your sins. Come to the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood as often as you feel your weakness. Pursue good works, not to earn everlasting life, but because you have already been promised everlasting life. “Be even more diligent to make your call and election sure,” as Peter tells you (2 Peter 1:10). By this he means to add to good works and virtue to your faith, so that when you see these things you know for certain that you have in fact been called by Christ and elected to salvation. Your good works and virtue are the fruit of your faith and sign to yourself that your faith is a living and active thing. Feed the hungry. Give drink to the thirsty. Take in the stranger and clothe the sick. Visit the sick and the imprisoned, not to become a sheep, but because you are one by faith. Abide in Christ’s word and He will abide in you. Be of good cheer. Today you hear the voice your good Shepherd now forgiving your sins, declaring you righteous, and promising you everlasting life. On the Last Day you will hear Him say those blessed words: “Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.