“The Most Important Pasture of All”

(Matthew 25:31-46)

Series: God’s Fulfilled Promise [on screen]

Rev. Matthew C. McCraw, EdD

First Baptist Church, Bartow, Florida

September 27, 2020

The Passage

Matthew 25:31-46

31 “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 one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by 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 took me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited 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 When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’

40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire 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 didn’t take me in; I was naked and you didn’t clothe me, sick and in prison and you didn’t take care of me.’

44 “Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or without clothes, or sick, or in prison, and not help you?’

45 “Then he will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Introductory Comments:

Over the last two weeks, I have have been able to enjoy a meal from two of my favorite restaurants in our area. In both cases, I ordered a salad as part of my meal. While doing so, I was dejected to find, upon receiving my salads, that they were tainted with a foul ingredient: olives. I believe every olive in the world should be used to make olive oil, which is delicious, and the refuse should be thrown out into the outer darkness. Well, upon seeing the olives, I didn’t make a scene (I’m not much for the dramatic), so I picked them out. I sorted out the salad as the part to be enjoyed and the part to be discarded. 

Well, today we’re going to continue our study of the Olivet Discourse and learn about a divine sorting that will take place by Jesus.

Before we get into this passage, let’s pray and ask God to supernaturally bless us as we study the passage.

(prayer)

We’re continuing our series in the book of Matthew and Jesus’ discussion on the Mount of Olives, called the Olivet Discourse. This is the last little section before we get into the events leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus. 

This passage is utterly important because we must understand that there are some objective truths in this world, which present opposing realities. You are either with Jesus or you are not with Jesus. You will either go into eternal life or eternal punishment. We’ll see these truths emerge in today’s passage.

As we look at this passage, we must understand that this is not a parable. Although it speaks about sheep and goats, we should still view this passage as something that is true and will actually happen. People are compared to sheep and goats as a metaphor, but this will really happen. 

As we look at Matthew 25:31-46, we will discover three actions that will t