 The sheep and the goats. In the last third of Matthew 25, Jesus talks about the separation of the sheep and the goats. And this is widely understood by most Christians, rightly so, how Jesus will separate the saved from the unsaved. So the sheep are saved and they go to heaven, and the goats are unsaved and they go to hell. Because the God of this world has blinded the minds of those who believe not, many Christians use this passage to teach a workspace salvation. They will say, you must do the works, otherwise you will be counted among the goats. But once we study this passage and using common sense, think about the implications of what Jesus is saying here. We will actually see that the opposite is true. We will see, with perfect reasoning, that it is incredibly and utterly ridiculous and moronic to use this passage to teach a workspace salvation. This passage actually disproves work salvation and establishes grace through faith for salvation. So in Matthew 25, verse 31 introduces us to the idea to Jesus dividing the sheep and the goats, in the manner that a shepherd is able to divide two similarly-looking but slightly different animals, and the sheep go on the right hand and the goats on the left hand. And in verse 34 it's the sheep on the right hand and they will inherit the kingdom, which is synonymous with entering into heaven and having everlasting life. The Bible uses that terminology interchangeably in other passages like, for example, John chapter 3. We then see in verses 35 to 36 that Jesus commends the sheep for their works. You gave me food, you gave me drink, you clothed me, etc. In verses 37 to 39 we see how the righteous answer, asking, when did they do these things? And in verse 40 Jesus clarifies why he commends their work. So he gives extra context to this. In verse 41 the goats are then cast into everlasting fire. And in verses 41 to 43 Jesus rebukes the goats for failing to do the works. And in verse 44 we see how the unrighteous goats respond just as we saw how the sheep responded. And in verse 45 once again we have further clarity from Jesus explaining why he is casting this judgment, why he is rebuking them. And so in verse 46 he summarises how the goats are the ones going into everlasting punishment or hell if you like, and the sheep are going into everlasting life or heaven if you like. So because the sheep are commended for their works, and the goats are rebuked for their failure to do the works, people will say, well look, so you have to do works to be saved. But what legalists do is they only look at the verses where Jesus commends or rebukes their works, they completely ignore the verses where the sheep and the goats question Jesus about his judgment, and what Jesus says when he clarifies why they are being judged. Right before Jesus commends the sheep for their works, he explains that their inheritance was already prepared for them, from the foundation of the world, and that they are blessed of the Father. So if the Bible says that something is prepared from the foundation of the world, and this is, if you like, predestination-esque language, Christ already knows who his sheep are before the sheep are even born for a start. And the problem with work salvation, particularly when it includes the potential to lose your salvation, is that it's retroactive, or it's reactive. You could be a sheep today, maybe you'll be a goat tomorrow if you're not careful, but who really knows? You could flip between the two, and we don't really know how you're going to end up. But the inheritance has already been prepared from the foundation of the world. There's no question that the sheep are going to be sheep. They won't just wind up as a goat circumstantially, because their preparation is already established, or not established, from the foundation of the world. So let's go back to verses 35 to 36 again, and let's see how Jesus commends the sheep. There are several works here that Jesus commends them for, and they're all related to caring for his needs. Now just to compliment my repentance in a nutshell series, I just want to point out here that he doesn't commend them for repenting of all of their sins and living a changed lifestyle. That's not what he commends them for. The works in this list are great indeed, but they're quite specific in category. They all have to do with how your faith helped Jesus when he was in a time of need. Now in verses 37 to 39, this is where it gets interesting, look how the righteous answer him. When did we feed you? Or when did we give you drink? Or when did we take you in? Or when did we clothe you? Or when did we come onto you in your sickness or prison? So don't miss this. The sheep did not even realize that they did any of these things. They are asking for clarities to why Jesus is commending them for doing these things. So look how Jesus answers. He says, In so much as you have done it onto one of the least of my brethren, you have done it onto me. The sheep are commended in their works just for only doing one work, ministering onto the most insignificant, least worthy person among Jesus' brethren. So let's get this into perspective here, OK? You think of the least worthy person in the Kingdom of Heaven so not an apostle or a disciple or a mighty evangelist just the most insignificant, unimportant nobody as far as heaven is concerned, but somebody that's still a brethren of Jesus, he's least in the Kingdom of Heaven. The sheep ministered onto this person and they don't even remember doing it, Lord. When did we do this? They have no recollection of doing so and yet Jesus commends them just based on helping this one person. So then when we get to the goats, Jesus rebukes them for not doing these same things. They didn't meet Jesus' needs. They didn't feed him when he was hungry or gave him drink or clothed him, etc. And then look how the goats respond, Lord, when did we see you hunger or a thirst or a stranger or naked or sick in prison? When did we see you in this state and did not minister onto you? So the goats did not understand why Jesus is rebuking them for their works. They cannot remember when they failed to do works. They are sure that they ministered onto Jesus when he was in need. And we see Jesus' answer as expected. You did not do it to one of the least of these and so you did it not to me either. So the goats did all of these works, they ministered onto the sick, they fed the hungry. They may have helped those who were great in the Kingdom, you know, maybe they helped some mighty apostles like Paul. They fed the hungry evangelists that passed them by the wayside on his way somewhere. They gave money to a church in a desperate time of crisis. But because they failed to minister to the most insignificant, worthless nobody among Jesus brethren, they failed to minister even to Jesus himself. So in conclusion, the people who didn't even know they did any works were commended simply for helping one insignificant person. The person who thought they did all of the works were rebuked and damned simply for failing to help one insignificant person, regardless of how many mighty works they did. So those of you that are regular viewers on my channel and you understand that salvation is by grace. Even though you know that works are not a part of salvation, many of you probably still have that guilty bit inside of you that you don't feel like you do these things that Jesus is talking about. You know, you want to feed the hungry but we're in comfortable 2023 America or Europe. It's not like we really know a lot of people that are hungry. You've probably never seen a naked person in the desert begging you for a drink. You want to visit the prisoners but you don't know anybody who has been innocently imprisoned for the cause of Christ. You want to visit the sick but maybe you don't know any brothers or sisters in Christ who are currently sick. But without even knowing it, you might have already ministered to the most insignificant person in the kingdom and thereby you've done it to Jesus and you probably don't even realise that you ever did it. Whereas those people who love to brag about their works and insist that you have to have this changed lifestyle of repentance and all these works to be saved and they love to tell you how they've turned from all of their sins and they've surrendered their life to his lordship, of course they're going to think that they've done all these works that the goats also thought they did and they think God's going to pat them on the back for living such a godly life and being so wonderful and they're so much greater than all of these greasy graces who were just fruitless and they donated their hard-earned money to Jesse Murrell and Rubin Israel's ministry and yet they're rebuked and thrown in hell just for failing to do one single tiny thing for the least important person in the kingdom and so you know these work salvation idiots how can they just sit there and say I believe that the Bible is the word of God and I'm a true Christian and then look at this passage and say this passage is teaching a workspace salvation. You're a liar is what you are if you think that. You are a false prophet if you think that. You are not in the truth. You do not believe the Bible. You believe in Satan. This is no nonsense Christianity reminding you that it's by grace through faith that you saved and not of yourselves.