Matthew 25:31-40 English Standard Version

The Final Judgment

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 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but 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 food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? 38 And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? 39 And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ 40 And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’

Jesus told us that we are to get involved for His sake, not our own. Doing all these things begins with the intention to glorify Him not ourselves. Lost souls will see right through any deception, they view all things with an eye of skepticism. At some point, when they see you have no self interest they will ask, “Why are you doing this?’ Your answer should be, “Because I was where you are today.”

• Ephesians 2:3 among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.
• Ephesians 2:13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

It is important that we know how they feel because while our stories might differ slightly the cause is the same and the answer to their dilemma is the same.

Once we have earned their trust then the real work of the gospel can begin. The plan God the Father set in place to bring His sons and daughters home.

It begins in discovering the One True God for there is no other.

Luke 24:45-47 English Standard Version

45 Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, 46 and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.

Since we are tasked with spreading the gospel throughout the whole world, it would seem only right that we know what we are talking about. Do search on Google by asking what is the gospel. We will discover a variety of answers from “The Good News” to various 30 to 50 page thesis about everything required to understand the gospel.

As we look at our opening verse we see Christ opening the minds of his disciples to understand the “Scriptures”. Those scriptures were not the New Testament, as it had not been written when Jesus preached the good news Himself. We can see this mission was given to apostles that began in Jerusalem, the heart of Judaism. They needed to explain to those who had lived by the Law that they too might see everything they had learned from their teachers was meant to show them that this Jesus of Nazareth was “The Christ” their Messiah.

Now here we are spreading the word to a world that may have no understanding of the Old Testament, any knowledge of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their God of promise. We need to discover a way of preaching the gospel that does not confuse them by requiring them to read and understand the Old Testament as if they were Jews themselves. That is not necessary.

The leading edge of the gospel message is the same for everyone. It is a life lived without God and a regret for the choices we all made. We will find we were in anguish over the results.

The preaching of the gospels begins with a yearning in the heart to end the emptiness in their heart because life has not been fulfilling.

Romans 8:20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

It is not our fault we were born this way. Futility indicates we are helpless to help ourselves. We cannot change ourselves. The “Good News” is that God can.

Mark 10:27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

The gospel message begins with the lost opening up to us the condition of their heart and exploring what they have tried that did not bring them happiness, their futility. The lost will resist opening up to strangers that have not earned their trust. How can we earn the trust of the lost?