Welcome to the Pastor's Study.
If you go to Paris and you go to the famous Notre Dame Cathedral,
built around 1220 AD, as you walk in the door, you will see
this big sculpture on top of the door. And it's a picture
of Jesus on the judgment throne. These are the saints. And then
on this side are the saved, joyfully looking up, going to heaven.
On this side are the damned, with sorrow, being led into hell. And for 800 years, if you went
to church at Notre Dame, you'd look at that as you walked in
the door. That's a Catholic cathedral.
I'm a Lutheran. I served at Hope Lutheran Church
for 29 years. They have a big stained glass
window of Jesus coming down at the second coming in the clouds
and it's judgment day. And for 29 years before I would
get up to preach, I'd have to look at that stained glass window.
That was good for me. What I want to do for this program
is put before our eyes what is going to happen on Judgment Day. Would you take out your Bible,
turn to Matthew chapter 25, Jesus said these words three days before
he died, and let's learn about Judgment Day. Let's pray first.
Father, we pray for anyone watching this program who is not ready
for that last day, and it could happen today. We never know when
the end will hit. Lord, we pray that each of us
who know Christ will be strengthened in our faith, and those who don't
know Christ who are watching this program would come to believe
in Him even today. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Matthew chapter 25 starting at
verse 31. Jesus said, But when the Son
of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will
then sit on his glorious throne. Notice the word glory twice.
Here's the first lesson today. Being with Jesus is glorious. I've said before on this program,
when we get to heaven, we're going to look back and say, why
did I scratch and claw to stay down there? It's going to be
glorious. Verse 32. and all the nations
will be gathered before him. And he will separate them from
one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Here's
the next lesson. Jesus is the judge. On Judgment
Day, the one you look in the eye is not God the Father or
the Holy Spirit. God the Father has given all
judgment to the Son, and Jesus will judge everybody, Christians
included. You know, some people think,
well, because Christians are saved we don't have to go through
Judgment Day. That's not true. Paul the Apostle writes in 2
Corinthians 5, To Christians, quote, we must all appear before
the judgment seat of Christ to receive according to what each
has done in the body, whether good or bad. Therefore, knowing
the fear of the Lord, we persuade men. So everybody will be judged
by Christ on the last day. Verse 33, and he will put the
sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Here's the next
lesson. You're either on the left or
the right. There's no in between. You're
either a sheep or a goat or you're not. I think it was on TV, I heard
this Christian evangelist sharing Christ with the woman, and he
was taking her through the Ten Commandments, and showing her
that in thought, word, and deed, we break them all. And at the
end, she knew she was guilty, and he said, are you a sinner?
Yeah, I guess I am. So do you believe you deserve
to go to heaven? No, I guess I don't. Well, then do you understand
you deserve to go to hell? Well, I don't think that either. And he said, well, where do you
think you go when you die? Well, I think I'll go someplace
in between. And he said, there is no in between. When you die, it's heaven or
hell. Which leads to the next lesson.
The first criterion on Judgment Day is who you are, whether you're
a sheep or a goat. Now, coming up, the second criterion
is what you do. But the first criterion on Judgment
Day is, are you a sheep or a goat? That determines your eternity.
I mean, here were eight boys, teenage boys, that go to a good
Bible-preaching church. And somebody asked them, how
many of you boys know you're saved? Two hands went up. Kind of broke my heart. Listen,
if you're sorry for your sins, you're trusting Jesus alone for
your salvation, you're a sheep. Do you know who you are? Do you
know right now if you're a sheep or a goat? You got to settle
that. Verse 34. Then the king will
say to those on his right, the sheep, come you who are blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. Next lesson, God has everything
planned out. from the foundation of the world. That speaks of predestination.
The Bible does teach predestination. And I never say good luck anymore,
because I don't believe in luck. I believe God has everything
planned out. Jesus said a bird doesn't fall
out of the nest apart from our Father in heaven. Look at verse
35. Come to heaven for I was hungry
and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave
me drink. I was a stranger, you invited
me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was
sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came
to me. Here's the next lesson. Sheep
act like sheep. I mean, if you're truly a follower
of Christ, you care about the hungry and the naked and the
hurting in the world. And if you never care about that,
you never do anything about that, are you a sheep? I bought a cuckoo clock at a
garage sale. It kept time, but it never cuckooed. I do remember,
maybe once every six months, I would hear, cuckoo, and that
was it for months. And the deep theological question
I want to ask you is this. If a cuckoo clock never cuckoos,
Is it a cuckoo clock? And if somebody says they're
a Christian, but they don't live like a Christian at all, are
they a Christian? I'll tell you what I did. I threw
that cuckoo clock away and I bought a new one that cuckoos. And God
the Father has the same right. If somebody says they're a Christian,
but there's no change in their life, there's no true fruit,
God can throw them away. So let me ask you the big question
from this story. Do you ever feed the hungry?
Do you ever clothe the naked? Do you ever visit the sick? Are
you concerned about lost people? Do you ever talk about Christ
to anyone? If you never do any of that, are you a sheep? Now, I'm not talking about perfection
here. We all still sin in thought,
word, and deed. But we don't talk perfection, but we do talk
direction. The direction of your life changes.
You won't be perfect till heaven, but has the direction of your
life changed? And if it hasn't, you're a goat. There's a very wonderful Christian
college, I won't name it, but it's really good. And years ago,
I was asked to come preach to these college students. And I
did. And I preached on 1 Corinthians
6. Fornicators don't go to heaven.
And I said to the college students, that means sex outside of marriage
is a sin. So if you're engaging in that,
you need to repent of that. Because if you don't, if you
live in that sin, Fornicators do not inherit the kingdom of
God." 1 Corinthians 6. So I sat down and after the service,
a little handful of college students came up to me. They were upset.
Well, Pastor, all right, I was living with my boyfriend, but
I know I was saved because I had prayed and accepted Christ. I
said, well, I mean, we all sin if you repent. There's forgiveness
through Christ. But if you're living in sin,
there's hard heart. Fornicators will not inherit
the kingdom of God. My point is, if you're living
in penitent sin, you might say you're a Christian, but you're
a goat. Look at verse 37. Then the righteous
will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry and
feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see
you a stranger and invite you in, or naked or clothe you? And
when did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? And the
king will answer them and say to them, truly I say to you,
to the extent that you did it to one of the least of these
my brothers, even the least of them, you did it to me. I want
you to notice there. It's not just a general being
nice to the poor people. It's what you did to the brothers.
I think in this context, the apostles. Did you accept the
apostles in their teaching or did you reject them? So here's
the next lesson. The way you treat Christians
is the way you treat Jesus. We now have a lot bigger audience
because we're on Facebook Reels and YouTube Shorts. So we have
lots of people commenting about our TV show. Some of them are
very appreciative. Some of them use foul language
and hate what I preach. I've never gotten so many insults
in my whole life as I have in the last year. But I got to remind
myself, Tom, don't get upset because ultimately they're not
mad at you. The way you treat Christians
is the way you treat Jesus. Verse 41. Then he will say to those on
his left, the goats, depart from me, accursed one, into the eternal
fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. Here's the next lesson. Jesus
will send people to hell. Jesus is not being nice in this
verse. He's sending people to hell. You know, I have a friend, pastor
friend of mine, both of us were in the liberal branch of Lutheranism,
and we've both left for more conservative branches of Lutheranism.
But we put up with a lot of liberal false teaching when we were still
in the ELCA Lutheran Church. And one day he said he went to
a conference where a conservative Lutheran pastor was preaching
about the mess that had happened to the Lutheran Church. And the
speaker said, let me give you the three pillars of liberal
theology. Pillar number one, God is nice. Pillar number two, we too should
be nice. Pillar number three, isn't that
nice? Well, Jesus is not being nice
in this verse. He's sending people to hell. I mean, I remember some years
ago, I had a sabbatical in the summer, and so I didn't have
to preach in my church for, I think, like three months or something.
So I was able to visit a Catholic church, a Lutheran church, a
Presbyterian church, etc. And, well, I didn't hear any
clear false teaching or heresy in those sermons. But I never
heard the gospel either on how to be saved. But you know what
the main content of all those sermons was? Let's be nice. Well, yeah, let's be nice and
loving. OK. But Jesus sends people to
hell in this verse. I will tell you, here's a lady
and her husband that joined the church I served, and she said,
Tom, let me tell you why we're coming to this church. Our liberal
pastor at our liberal Lutheran church got in the pulpit one
Sunday and said, today I preach on John chapter 14, where Jesus
said he's the only way to God the Father. And I don't know
why Jesus said that. We know our God is bigger than
that. And she said, I turned to my
husband and said, he's correcting Jesus from the pulpit. Let's
get out of here. And that's what landed us here
at Hope Lutheran Church. So according to this verse, Jesus
will send people to hell. Look at verse 42. For I was hungry, here's why
they go to hell. I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat.
I was thirsty, you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger, you
did not invite me in. Naked, you did not clothe me.
And in prison, and you did not visit me. Then they themselves
will answer saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take
care of you? Then he will answer them, truly
I say to you, to the extent that you did it not to one of the
least of these, you did it not to me. Now, do you see a problem in
that verse? I'm a Lutheran. Lutherans are
big on the fact that we're saved by grace alone and not by good
works. That is what the New Testament
teaches. But in this text, people go to heaven or hell based on
what they did or did not do, not believe, But do? So, does the Bible teach we're
saved by grace, or does it teach we're saved by our good works?
Well, let me try to put it together. I think this will help. Are we
saved by grace alone? Only by what Christ did on the
cross? Yes, hallelujah. Paul writes
in Romans 3, we are justified by faith apart from works of
the law. Grace alone, hallelujah, only
the blood of Christ saves us. But once you're saved by grace
alone, God gives you the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit starts
cleaning up your life. And you start doing things like
you never did before, like helping people that are hurting, and
feeding the hungry, or witnessing to the lost. And you're not going
to be perfect this side of heaven. We still sin. But again, the
direction, we're not talking perfection, but the direction
of your life changes. And you're different. And if
there's no change in the direction of your life, then you weren't
saved by grace alone. I heard something at a conference.
Yes, we are saved by grace alone, hallelujah, but grace never is
alone. It always affects your life,
to a degree anyway. Again, we're not perfect, but
there used to be a bumper sticker that said, if you were arrested
for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict? That teaches that even if you
think you're a sheep, If there's no evidence of Christ in your
life, you're a goat. Last lesson is verse 46. And
these, the damned, will go away into, get the words, eternal
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Here's the last lesson. Both
heaven and hell are eternal. When I was a senior in high school,
I think I was a Christian, but rather messed up, I tried to
believe in something called annihilationism. Seventh-day Adventists are annihilationists. And annihilationism teaches,
if you die without Christ, you're just wiped out. Don't go to hell
for eternity. There's no eternal atonement.
When you die, you just die, period. You're wiped out. Well, then
I go to college, and I join a Bible study. And the people in my Bible
study, I kept arguing with them on this, and they said, Tom,
eternal punishment is in the Bible. Reread your Bible. And
so I did. And I still have the papers.
Every time it mentioned hell, I wrote it down. And by the time
the year was done, my mind had started to change. And when I
started believing in eternal hell, I talked to my high school
friends some about Christ. Now I talked deeply to my friends
about Christ. According to verse 46, there
are two options when you die, heaven or hell. There's no other
option. There's not a purgatory. There's
not annihilationism. There's not reincarnation. When
you die, you go to heaven or hell for eternity. I just wrote
someone who grew up in a Christian home, is now rejected at all,
and he's 61 years old, and I said, I'm going to be praying for you.
You don't want to spend eternity in the wrong place. Well, I'll close with this. There was a week where two different
people came to me, and one was, you know, my dad's dying in the
hospital. He doesn't go to church. Pastor Tom, would you go talk
to him? And then somebody else, maybe it was the uncle. My uncle
isn't a believer, and he's very sick. Would you go to the hospital
and talk to him? And honestly, I get a little nervous. I mean,
they don't know who I am, and I'm not invited. Hi, it's the
pastor, you know, and you haven't been in church for 50 years,
but how you doing? So it's nerve-wracking, but I
say my prayers. And I went into both men, and
I shared, you know, I'm just here because I want to pray with
you. Most people say, sure, you can
pray with me. And I said, but first, Just in case you don't
make it, we're all sinners, and we have a Savior though who died
on the cross for our sins, and if you believe in Him and trust
in Him, there is forgiveness for those who know the Lord.
I did that with both men. I don't know what they did with
it, but my point is this. If there's an eternal heaven
and an eternal hell, we got to pray for people and we got to
talk to people. And I just want to ask you, as
we close now, can you think of somebody you need to pray for
tonight who's on the wrong path? And then can you maybe think
of somebody the Lord wants you to talk to about Christ? Amen.