When the Son of Man Shall Come

In Nomine Iesu!

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

Sermon Text: St. Matthew 25:31-46

“‘But when the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit on the throne of His glory: and before Him shall be gathered all the nations: and He shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats.’”

Prayer in Pulpit before Sermon:

O Lord + Jesus Christ, Who wilt come again in majesty to judge the quick and the dead, and call forth all who sleep in the graves, either to the resurrection of life or to the resurrection of condemnation: we beseech Thee to be gracious unto us, and to raise us from the death of sin unto the life of righteousness, that, when we shall depart this life, we may rest in Thee, and, having been found acceptable in Thy sight, may on the Last Day be raised up to life everlasting, inherit the kingdom prepared for us from the foundation of the world, and give Thee glory and praise, world without end. Amen.  

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior + Jesus Christ. Amen. 

My dear friends, the world has reduced religion down to doing good works. Ask any person off the street about what it takes to get to heaven, and they will most likely tell you that it is all about being a good person; about doing good works. This is why the world is very adept at doing good works. The world does philanthropy better than the Church. It is because they believe that this is the way to obtain heaven. There are even religions that promote this idea. Buddhists, Islamists, the Jews, and any other worldly religion, which are not the true religion promote the idea that in order to get to heaven, one must need to be a good person, and do good works. There are even Christians, who while giving lip-service to the Lord + Jesus, also reduce Christianity down to doing good works. 

This concept is reinforced by TV shows and movies. Even so-called “faith-based” movies push a concept of being a good person in order to be a “good Christian.” And, doing good works is a good thing. The Lord God does not want us proving our faith by acting like the evil, sinful world. We are saved from sin and death, in order that we might do the will of our heavenly Father, by His grace, and with the help of the Holy Ghost. But, Christianity should never be reduced down to a religion of doing good works. There are enough other religions in this world pushing that false notion. The real danger is when a church over emphasizes doing good works to the detriment of the Gospel. 

The Gospel is that our Lord + Jesus has already fulfilled all good works necessary for our salvation. No works are required of us for salvation. They are only required to prove that faith in the Lord + Jesus Christ’s works is alive and well in us. The religion of the world—that we are saved by our good works, and by being a good person—has not the Lord + Jesus as their Savior. They have no faith in Him. Many do not even believe He ever existed. And if they acknowledge His existence, they view Him as just one more important expounder of good works. This is why the Church should never adopt this philosophy of the world as its own. We have the Lord + Jesus for our Savior. We do believe that He perfectly fulfilled the Law on our behalf, because we are not able to do it perfectly. This is why we should not supplant the works of the Lord + Jesus with our feeble good works. Apart from the Christ, our good works are as nothing before the Lord God. Apart from faith in the Christ, our works are useless and vain. Just as are all the good works of the world, and those Christian Church bodies which have reduced Christianity down to being a good person and doing as many good works as one can.

They have replaced the Christ with their works. They have made salvation all about what they do, and not what He has done for us. People who are so consumed with doing good works, have lost the Gospel. Those who put their faith in the works and merits of the Christ, on the other hand, do good works naturally, without any thought or promotion of it. Good works just naturally flow from them. Whereas, those who rely on their good works, who make their good works the key to salvation, put so much focus on them, that they have removed the Lord + Jesus, the Christ, from the mix. This is the problem with many so-called “faith-based” movies and TV shows. They may mention the Lord + Jesus, but they never truly get at the heart of why He came down from Heaven, and took upon Himself our flesh; why He was willing to suffer and die for our sins upon the tree of the holy cross. 

He did this for us, because we are not able to do it for ourselves. He saves us, because we cannot save ourselves. He did the good works necessary for our salvation, because we are not able to do enough good works to earn salvation on our own. This is why we repeatedly teach that we are not saved by our good works, but we are saved by faith. Faith in what? Not, faith in our ability to do good works, but faith in the fact that our Lord + Jesus has already fulfilled all that was necessary for our salvation. We need do nothing to earn salvation, for the Christ has already done it all. 

This is what the parable from the Apostle and Evangelist St. Matthew for today is all about. We are presented with sheep and goats. The sheep are the ones on the right hand of the Son of God, the Lord + Jesus. They are those who have inherited eternal life. What did they do to deserve this? Well, our Lord + Jesus gives a whole list of things that they did in order to receive the prize of eternal life: they fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, welcomed strangers, clothed the naked, visited the sick and those in prison wrongfully. It would appear at first reading that they are indeed saved by their good works. But we are informed how wrong this is by the second group: the goats.

The goats are placed on the left side of the Lord + Jesus. And our Lord, the Son of Man Who has come in all His glory, tells them that they have not done any of the things which the sheep have done. They have not fed the hungry, or given drink to the thirsty, or welcomed strangers, or clothed the naked, or visited the sick and those in prison. What is their response? Shock! ‘What do you mean we did not do these things? We spent our whole lives focusing on, and doing good works. When did we not do these things?’ And our Lord + Jesus gives them the answer, “Ye did it not unto Me.” In other words, their works were worthless because they were not done in faith. This is what that phrase means, “Ye did it unto Me.” Their works were done for themselves, and for their own fame and fortune. They did not do them in faith. They did not do them while trusting fulling in the works and merits of the Lord + Jesus, the Christ.

This is why they will inherit a place in the eternal fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels. It is because they lack faith in the Lord + Jesus. For any work done apart from faith in the Lord + Jesus is useless and vain. The greatest philanthropist on the earth, if he does not possess faith in the Lord + Jesus, will not earn heaven on account of his good works. Even though the world will praise him for all the good things he does for the world and society, in the Lord God’s eyes, he has done nothing. For his works cannot cover over the stink of sin that clings to him from birth. Only the works and merits of the Lord + Jesus can cover over our wretchedness. And this leads us to the final point.

The goats, the unbelievers, cannot believe that their good works were all done for naught. Those who place their focus on their works, are often those who gloss over, or flat out ignore, their sinfulness. They imagine that their good works compensate for the sins that they commit. They may not be openly sinful, they may even be good people, and not evil people pretending to be good. But they neglect to admit, or realize, that there is a thing called “original sin.” This original sin so corrupts their nature, that no good work can compensate for the wretchedness that dwells within us. People who focus on their good works do not see the evil that dwells within them.

This is not the case, however, for the sheep, the believers in Christ. This is why they are so shocked to discover that they did all of these good works that the Lord + Jesus lists for them in the parable. A broken and contrite heart sees only the sins that it does. A penitent person only sees the sins he possesses, and in faith clings with all his heart to the works and merits of the Christ, because he sees nothing good living in him. In his repentance, he only sees salvation in the works and merits of the Christ. His focus is on the Lord + Jesus, the Christ, and Him alone. He is not focused on his works or merits, because he does not believe that his works are truly worthy of any praise or reward. A person who believes in this way has the one, true religion. He has a religion that truly saves, for its focus is not on him and his works and abilities, but the focus in solely and alone upon the Lord + Jesus, the Christ, Who atoned for the sins of the whole world by His innocent suffering and death upon the tree of the holy cross.

Therefore, my dear friends, let us daily remain in contrition and repentance. Let us daily confess our sins, and look to the cross of our dear Lord + Jesus, our Redeemer and Savior. For He has done all works necessary for our salvation. It is in Him which we dwell by faith. If we are in Him, then He is in us, and if He is in us, then He gifts us with His works and merits. What is His is ours. This is why we can daily arise each new day, and end each night, by making the sign of the holy cross as a remembrance of our Holy Baptism. For in those waters, we have been clothed with the works and merits of the Christ. We bear His righteousness. And it is His righteousness that covers over all the sin and wretchedness that dwells within us. Our good works avail us none when we are discussing salvation. Our good works are not going to make payment for our corrupt nature.

But our Lord + Jesus, the Christ, has already perfectly fulfilled the Law of God by His works, so that we can trust in Him and His works. In so doing, we will perform the works that prove our faith naturally, just as the sheep in the parable from today’s Gospel pericope. This is why we can rejoice in our Good Shepherd, for He has prepared for us from the foundation of the world a kingdom for us to dwell in for all eternity. And when the Son of Man shall come in all His glory on the Last Day, He will give us new and glorious bodies, and welcome us into the eternal realm of heaven, where we will join with all of our loved ones who have died in the faith. There we will enjoy forever and ever a kingdom which knows no sin or death, only joy and eternal life. Grant this, Lord, unto us all! In the Name of our Lord + Jesus, the Christ. Amen.

Prayer in Pulpit after Sermon:

Almighty God, be pleased to accompany Thy Word with Thy Holy Spirit and grant that Thy Word would increase faith in us; bring into the Way of Truth all such as have erred; turn the hearts of the unrepentant; and for sake of Thy Name grant succor to all heavy hearts and those who are heavy-laden, that they may through the mercy of the Lord + Jesus Christ be relieved and preserved so that they succumb not to the temptation of despair but rather that they gain the victory over the world, the flesh, and the devil; through the same + Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with the Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.

The Votum:

The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through Christ + Jesus. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria!