Don't let this happen to you

The Sheep & the Goats

Matthew 25:31-46

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

“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. 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.’

“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“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. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

“They also will answer, ‘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, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

The Holy Bible, New International Version. Pradis CD-ROM



Depart from me you evildoers

Matthew 7:21-22

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’


The Holy Bible, New International Version. Pradis CD-ROM






These are some of the most frightening passages in the entire Bible. So why does it scare me?

1.) It’s a description of people going to eternal punishment in hell, which is scary all by itself.
2.) Hell is a horrible place, with terror beyond your capability to imagine.
3.) In these verses, it looks like some of the people think they have a right to heaven. It’s tragic that they are so self-decieved.

For the purposes of this scripture, we can break humanity into 3 classes: The Righteous, The Unrighteous, and The Deceived. The Righteous go to heaven, and we’d all agree with that. The God Haters, The Evil, and The Unrighteous are going to hell, and we all understand that. But what scares me is the fate of these Deceived people.



THE DECEIVED

These people were not as bad as you think, in fact, I’ll bet our churches our filled with these people. Look at what they say, “Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? And in your name drive out demons and perform miracles.”

Jesus doesn’t even argue with them about whether they did these things, so we can assume that for the most part they were telling the truth.

These people would have been studs in most churches. They did the big works. No doubt people knew who they were and respected them for what they did. They looked highly spiritual. In spite of what they did, they were sent to eternal punishment in Hell.



DON’T BE DECEIVED YOURSELF

It’s really pretty simple. Matthew 7:21 says it all, “not everyone that says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.”

It’s obvious that one of the things the deceived believed was that their big works were proof that they were right with God. Don’t be deceived yourself. Don’t trust in the fact that you’re a church member, an elder, a good person, used in healings, or whatever – it won’t matter when you get to judgment.




WHAT WILL MATTER AT THE JUDGMENT?

All that’s going to matter is your relationship to God. Are you doing what he tells you to do? I don’t care what Calvinists say, your works will matter. You’ve got to have a changed heart, and you have to bring forth fruit. Don’t think that you’ll get to the judgment and tell the Almighty God that you once prayed a prayer for salvation, but didn’t bother to say, “hi,” to God since then – don’t be fooled, it won’t get you in.

The only way to get to heaven is to humble yourself and repent. You must have a total and complete change of heart and affection. You’ve got to be serving the Lord Your God will all your heart. If you’re serving him with only part of your heart, you’re not serving him at all. You can’t serve two Masters. (Matthew 6:24)

God wants your entire being. Anything less than entire consecration is disobedience to God. Our churches are full of people that think they can live the way they want and still make it to heaven.

The Bible clearly says, “be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48) And if you think I’m being too tough on you, look at what Jesus said to the Rich Young Ruler, “if you want to be perfect, go sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and then you will have treasure in Heaven. Then come follow me.” (Matthew 19:21).

Moral perfection doesn’t just come from the sacrifice of Jesus. Forgiveness of sins and sanctification come from the death of Jesus. Moral perfection and holiness also must come from what you do.

If you are a liar, a thief, or dishonest, heaven holds no place for you. If you are sexually immoral, you will not make it into heaven. God is looking for a holy people and a righteous people.



CONCLUSION

If I’m scaring you, it’s because I intend to. I would rather scare you with the truth while you’re still on this side of death, while you can do something about it. It will be too late to change your course when you stand in front of the judgment seat. Here you can change. Now you can repent, and the angels will rejoice.

If you wait until the judgment to completely submit to God, it will be too late. I don’t want myself, my friends, or my readers to hear, “Away from me you evildoers.” What terrible words.



Sincerely,

John Wheeler