The second lesson at Evensong today was Matthew 25:31-46,
the Sheep and the Goats.
Here are my sermon notes:
Gospel : Matthew 25:31-end
Here is the Hope of Justice and the Triumph of Grace..
The Allegory of the Sheep and Goats. The Judgment of human nations:
externally on a basis of Works (inasmuch as you did it/did it not) 40;
internally on a basis of Grace (before the foundation of the world) 34,
when Calvary was planned (Rev 13:8) and the saints elected (Eph 1:4)..
Here we have an eternal life, and an equally eternal punishment. 46
1. THE BLESSED OF THE FATHER 34
"You have My Father's blessing : enter the Kingdom prepared for you."
a. Heaven is NOT for the Angels (although they are there)..
Angels are ministering spirits, waiting on God: serving Him and servicing us
on His instructions..
b. Heaven IS for the Sheep (i.e. for humans)..
"All we like sheep have gone astray. . . but the LORD has laid on Him the
iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6). Jesus is the Lamb of God slain before the
foundation of the world (Rev 13:8). We are now "the people of His pasture and
the sheep of His hand" (Ps 95:7). Heaven is a Kingdom prepared for you..
2. THE CURSED OF THE KING 41
"Depart, you cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels (demons)."
a. Hell is NOT for the Goats (although they are there)..
A sacrifice avails for the goats too, if they will! A lamb from the sheep or
a kid from the goats sufficed at Passover (Ex 12:5). In Leviticus 16 two goats
are required: one is slain; one is banished. The slain=Jesus; the other=Azazel
the scapegoat. Azazel is the name of a Pseudepigraphical fallen angel (1 Enoch
10:6), who was cast into the fire (1 Enoch 10:13). God doesn't want any
human being to go there (1 Timothy 2:4-6). He has no pleasure in the death of
him that dieth, but rather that he should repent and live (Ezekiel 18:23)..
b. Hell IS for the Demons..
Lucifer and his angels were expelled from heaven to earth. They will be
arrested, condemned and executed in the Lake of Fire (Rev 20) ~ together with
any stray goats. Hell is not a Kingdom ruled over by Satan, but a place of
execution prepared for Satan and his fallen angels (demons). Isaiah compared
it to the municipal trash heap outside Jerusalem, where "their worm shall not
die, neither shall their fire be quenched" (Isa 66:24). Jesus repeated this
dirge three times (Mark 9:44-48). Stray goats had better watch out..
Don't be a stray goat - be a saved sheep in the Good Shepherd's Fold!
Any goat can be born again, and become a sheep in the Father's Hand..
In Christ,
Ben
--
Revd Ben Crick, BA CF
232 Canterbury Road, Birchington, Kent, CT7 9TD (UK)
http://www.cnetwork.co.uk/crick.htm
