THE KING IN JERUSALEM (TALK 9/12: JUDGMENT)

THE KING IN JERUSALEM (TALK 9/12: JUDGMENT)

SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

CONNECT: What are three talents that God has entrusted you with? What are the opportunities you have each day to use them in anticipation of Jesus’ return?

WARM-UP 1. How have you seen decisions made in the past have a dramatic effect the future? 2. Why do you think people feel awkward about talking about judgment? Should we?

READ Matthew 25:31-40 3. What are the things that we can be certain of about the return of Jesus? How will he return? How is it

different to Jesus’ first coming? 4. By what authority does Jesus judge? How should this shape our view of Jesus? 5. What is the difference between an inheritance and a wage? What does this say about how and why we

receive blessings from God? 6. Summarise the list in verses 35-36. What does this list represent? What is the role of these good works

in the lives of those on Jesus’ right? 7. What does the surprise of the righteous tell us about their motivation? What should be our motivation in

caring for others? 8. Specifically, who is Jesus referring to when he says, “the least of these brothers and sisters”? Does this

mean we can neglect the needs of others? 9. How can we assure ourselves of our entrance to the Kingdom?

READ Matthew 25:41-46

10. Those on Jesus’ left are told to depart. Where to and who was this place prepared for? 11. How does Jesus describe the punishment in this passage? What other images does the Bible provide

us of hell? What can we be sure of about this punishment? 12. What is the importance of living lives that are consistent with the faith that we profess and the life of the

one we claim as our Lord? What does this passage say about neglecting opportunities to love? 13. What is the ultimate decision for people on earth and how will it affect their eternity? 14. What has stood out for you over the past weeks from Jesus’ discourse to his disciples in Chap. 24-25?

APPLY: What are three ways that you can provide support to fellow believers this week?

PRAY: Gracious Lord, you are our ultimate judge who loves us so deeply that you gave yourself for us. We are sorry for when we haven’t lived as you want us to live, for things left undone that we ought to have done. Thank you for your amazing grace and mercy, for the assurance of forgiveness through Jesus. Transform our lives to continually reflect the life of your son, Jesus. In his name we pray, Amen.

For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

THE KING IN JERUSALEM (TALK 9/12: JUDGEMENT)

GOING DEEPER RESOURCES On Your Front Line this Week

• How does your response in times of uncertainty point to your trust Jesus?

For Families

• Download some of the family resources to use at home: stbarts.com.au/livestream

Listen & Watch

• AUDIO: “Choose your Friends” a sermon by Willian Taylor: https://www.st-helens.org.uk/resources/talk/50971/audio/

• AUDIO: “Its Certainty” a sermon by Simon Manchester: https://www.st-thomas.org.au/podcast/its-certainty/

• VIDEO: “The Sheep and the Goats” a sermon by Don Carson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4IOxqLrhz0

Read

• ARTICLE: Sheep and Goats Series by Trevin Wax: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/sheep-goats-series/

• ARTICLE: “9 Ways to Love your Neighbour During this Pandemic” by Justin Earley: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/love-neighbor-pandemic/

Other Helpful Resources (For Series)

• BOOK: “Erasing Hell” by Francis Chan and Preston Sprinkle. https://www.koorong.com/product/erasing-hell-francis-chan-preston-sprinkle_9780781407250

• STUDY GUIDE: Download our Study Guide on Matthew: https://stbarts.com.au/matthew

• BOOK: “Matthew: A Great Light Dawns”: https://bit.ly/37KC8rX

• ONLINE: Introduction to the Gospel of Matthew (Fuller): https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/introduction-to-matthew/

• VIDEO: The Bible Project, Matthew Overview: https://thebibleproject.com/explore/matthew

For sermons and additional resources, visit STBARTS.COM.AU

• Passage: Matthew 25:31-46 • Series: The King in Jerusalem • Location: St Bart’s Toowoomba 730, 930, 1800 • Big Idea: Jesus will return to judge all people in accordance with their consistency of life to their

faith. • Aim: For people to renew their hope in the gospel, that it may spur them on to love and care for

God’s people • Structure:

• All People Judged (31-33) • Righteous Blessed (34-40) • Wicked Cursed (41-45) • Result Eternal (46)

• I’m not usually into board games but at the end of last year a group of mates and I started playing a game called, ‘Pandemic’ - and yes, I get the irony there.

• But the thing about this particular version is that was ongoing. This meant that decisions you made a few games ago will have an impact on the games ahead. It is really fascinating!

• So if you made a bad decision in January, it will have a negative impact when you are in March! The decisions have consequences.

• Similarly today we are going to see that our decisions that we make here on earth, aren’t just going to affect the next few months, but in fact our eternity - whether we enter into eternal life, or eternal punishment.

• Over the past few weeks in these chapters of Matthew, Jesus has been warning his disciples many different things, about the tough times ahead, about the fall of Jerusalem, of the great distress, of his return, and how we are to BE READY for his return! And now we get a more crystallised picture of what will happen when he does return.

• The lens is coming into focus, the picture is getting clearer, and there is no other passage clearer on judgement than this.

• Jesus will return, and when he does, he will judge all people in accordance with their faith and the consistency of their life to their faith.

• So here is where we are headed today: • All People Judged (31-33) • Righteous Blessed (34-40) • Wicked Cursed (41-45) • Result Eternal (46)

• Firstly, All people Judged • It’s not often that the whole world is impacted by a single event but right now we are gathering in this way because of something which is impacting the entire world!

• And When Jesus returns, he won’t just judge some Australians, or Americans, or whatever, but all the nations will be judged and every person, living and dead. And when he comes, it will be glorious -

• V31- When the Son of Man comes in his Glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him.”

• When Jesus came into this world initially, there wasn’t anything particularly glorious about it. In fact it was the complete opposite of glory! He was born in a food trough, as a dependant human baby, to just some ordinary faithful people.

• But when he returns, he won’t come as a baby but as our glorious, great, and majestic King! • We won’t miss him, and he won’t be mistaken. There will be angels heralding his coming, he will sit down on his throne ready to judge - • Some people like to scoff at God saying, ‘Well, what right does he have to tell me what to do? • He has every right, because he is the one who created the heavens and the earth with his word and he rules over all.

• He is the one who sits on the eternal throne - not like an earthly one that’s used for a coronation every now and then and then put in a museum..but the eternal, glorious throne and he will judge.

• He will judge all nations and that means everyone including you and me! US and every person will have to give an account before God…// • We can only really imagine what this will be like. Every person who has ever lived, from around the world, from millenniums all gathered together before the throne of God.

• And this next part seems like a bit of a logistical nightmare but everyone will be separated to the right and to the left. • The sheep will go to the right - which was the place of honour. The goats will go to the left - the place of less honour. There’s no middle ground. There’s no sitting on the fence. There are no second chances…//

• We can often look around at this world and think ‘what has this all come to? God aren’t you going to do something about it?’ • Well he will. Injustices will be made right, the righteous will be vindicated, and this broken creation will be renewed! • In our series we have seen how there will be wars and famines, and immense suffering. And so the disciples and the early church may have been thinking “How long is this going to happen? How long? Come Lord Jesus”

• The good news is that he will come and judge. We don’t know when, Only the Father does - but he will come and put an end to suffering and pain and sickness and wickedness. He will have the final say.

• But how will he judge, what will be his rulings? • All People Judged (31-33) • Righteous Blessed (34-40)

• Righteous Blessed (34-40) • Christians throughout the world have tried to argue - or have been really anxious - that this passage is about people earning their way into heaven by their good works.

• We could been concerned that Jesus is saying that if people are really good, then they will get into heaven! And if you’re not good, then you won’t. But we can have full assurance that isn’t the case at all. • Look with me at V34 - “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.”

• These people have been blessed - not by their good works or deeds - but by the Father. By God’s sheer amazing grace!

• They are told to take their inheritance which is the kingdom. • Notice that it is an inheritance, not ‘wages’ or ‘earnings’.

• In a normal functioning and fair society, when you work, you are paid. You have earned your wages

• However, you don’t have to work for an inheritance, but it is simply given to you as a blessing from the one you received it from.

• Likewise with the Kingdom, It isn’t earned, we can’t work our way into it, it is simply given to us by the grace of God!

• And unlike an earthly inheritance, which may loose its value and eventually fade away, this inheritance will never fade away!

• The kingdom has been there since the creation of the world! It has stood the test of time and will continue to stand because God has had this in mind for his people all along…// • Over the past few weeks, we have seen the world brought to its knees haven’t we? • People are recognising that this world is fragile,

• that we aren’t in as much control as we thought we were, • that we aren’t immortal, • that money can’t solve all the world’s problems.

• And they are correct. This world is broken, it isn’t what it was designed to be, and what we are experiencing now is a result of the fall.

• But for those who are in Christ, there is something so much better in store. There is a kingdom that will not fall! It will be eternal! And we can be fully assured of that by God’s phenomenal love for us.

• All we need to do is to repent, to ask for forgiveness, and to live for him. • Our actions and deeds will be the evidence that we belong in the kingdom. Not the reason, but the evidence.

• Look with me at V35: • “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, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’”

• This list is given to us four times in this passage so it’s worth taking note of! • There are three main things here - Sustenance, Shelter and Support. • These people on Jesus’ right provided all these things for him, even when it may have costed them something, their safety, their money, and even their health!

• They were called to turn to Jesus and live for him, and they did! They were compelled by the love of Jesus to live transformed lives, providing for the needs of those in need.

• They weren’t doing it to earn brownie points with Jesus. • We can even see this in V37 because they were surprised.

• When did we do all these things Jesus? We don’t remember doing these things at all? • Just like them, we ought to be so caught up in our relationship with Jesus and the Gospel that we don’t even notice the good things we do, that gracious and good works just become a part of who we are…//

• But who were they were serving? • It seems here that Jesus is specifically referring to their treatment of fellow followers of Jesus - their brothers and sisters.

• V40 - “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’”

• Now does this mean that we shouldn’t care for people who aren’t Christians? Can we use this as an excuse to not care for other people? Most certainly not. • We ought to love and care for everyone regardless of their backgrounds, and beliefs with also the intent of presenting the Gospel to them in works and in words

• But in this passage, Jesus is referring to other Christian brothers and sisters. And in some way, when we care for each other, it is as if we are caring for Jesus. It’s a beautiful picture. • Now I’m sure you remember the cliche phrase of What would Jesus do? Which works to a point but these verses probably urge us to ask the question What would we do to Jesus? Not in order to win brownie points with him, but because he has won our heart by his everlasting love.

• But what does it look like to not do these things? Well, terrible. The outcome is horrible • All People Judged (31-33) • Righteous Blessed (34-40) • Wicked Cursed (41-45)

• Wicked Cursed (41-45) • Whereas the righteous were told to come and inherit the kingdom, the ones on Jesus’ left are told to depart. V41 - • “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

• These people that are cursed are told to go into the eternal fire that was never designed for people to go into! It was prepared for the devil and all his angels - not for humans. • God doesn’t desire the death of a sinner! He doesn’t want people to go to hell! We were designed to be in relationship with him, not to be cut off from him.

• But he can’t leave sin unpunished because he is just, he is holy and blameless. • If sin was left unpunished, if there was no justice, then what type of loving god would he be?

• And he wants humankind to be in relationship with him so much… • …he loves us so much that he made a way for us be with him through the death and resurrection of Jesus! His death has taken our punishment that we deserve! His life has assured us of eternal life!

• He has done everything he can to help us avoid eternal punishment. - • His hand of rescue is right there!

• - and we reject it, disregard it, and make light of it at our own eternal risk…// • So if we don’t take it seriously and if our lives aren’t transformed and if we don’t repent, then we will be told to depart. • Not because we didn’t do enough to earn entrance, but because we would have mocked and scorned the one who gave us entrance to the kingdom at the cost of his own life…//

• And notice this isn’t just about doing things that are against God’s will but this is about NOT doing the things that we should do. • Yes, the things that we don’t do and the opportunities that we don’t take (the sins of omission) are just as bad as the things that we commit (the sins of commission).

• V42 is the exact same list that we saw before but in the negative. They gave Jesus nothing. There was no invitation in, there was no clothing or basic care at all.

• Their response? • V44 - “‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’” • Notice that they still called him Lord. They called him Lord with their lips but not with their whole lives.

• Their actions didn’t match up with their confession. They were hypocrites! • What they didn’t do to their Christian brothers and sisters in need, they didn’t do for Jesus…and so they are punished. They are told to depart into the lake of fire…into hell. • This doesn’t mean, that we have to be perfect, because we simply can’t! • However, it does mean that if our hearts are hardened and our lives don’t match up to our confession….if we don’t show compassion and grace to others at all - systemically and without repentance - then we are in real danger.

• We reject the mercy of God, and we Harden our hearts to God at our own eternal risk

• All People Judged (31-33) • Righteous Blessed (34-40) • Wicked Cursed (41-45) • Result Eternal (46) • Result Eternal (46)

• V46 - “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” • And this is a hard truth. No doubt there are people who we love who are close to us who haven’t turned to Jesus yet with their whole lives - and it is heartbreaking to see them head into the direction of eternal punishment.

• Because the decisions that we make now will effect eternity. • There will be no second chances. No last minute repentance. No sitting on the fence. • So I want to ask you this morning have you turned to Jesus? Have you repented and given your life to him? He has given you every opportunity to avoid judgement - even at the cost of his very own life!

• And as we have seen - life is so very fragile and we don’t know when Jesus will come again. So don’t put off making this decision.

• Give your life to Jesus - Live for him and eternal life with him is fully assured.

• If you have turned to Jesus we have an opportunity right in front of us. • At the moment, we are in a unique time in history. The coronavirus has seemed to taken over the world, the media, our lives, everything. There is not a single person in our region, in our country or even around the world who hasn’t been impacted by this virus.

• And the fact of the matter is that it is going to leave a lot of people in need. • So far we’ve seen centrelink queues go on for miles, we have seen jobs lost in all industries, we have seen parents having to leave work to look after children, we have seen people die, and we have seen no deceleration in the infection rate.

• And all this can leave us anxious, scared, uncertain, and even in a whole lot of grief. And that’s okay. It’s not sinful to feel these feelings in these times. Pour out your heart to God and ask for his peace and comfort

• But this also leaves us with a certain amount of opportunity to, sensibly and carefully, care for those in need - especially our brothers and sisters. • And yes as we go about it we should trust God but also sanitise our hands, and avoid human contact- but we shouldn’t be so crippled by fear that we only think about ourselves.

• We can think of creative ways in which to love and care for our church family in response to God’s love for us, and in treating them as if we were caring for Jesus - whatever that looks like, whatever the cost.

• And we do this because he so deeply cares for us. • That he would give us himself. • So that we can inherit the Kingdom prepared for us since the creation of the world.