Prophecies of Jesus Part 1
Prophecies of Jesus • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Sheep and Goats
Sheep and Goats
I do not write these things to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel. I urge you, then, be imitators of me. That is why I sent you Timothy, my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.
We have decades of spiritual words but little instruction of the Lord. Building your faith on commentary and snippets is like trying to assemble a jet engine by looking at a few pictures.
Look at the church with ministers falling, marriages failing, generations abandoning the faith in Jesus Christ because their fathers were absent in the faith. Why? Because we have lost the instructions of the Lord. Instead of the instructions of the Lord, when it comes to eternal faith, we wing it. Instead of true instruction of God, we follow our own opinion of the Scripture and call it God’s instructions. To most people who call themselves believers of Jesus Christ, living His life is not even a requirement, their assumed title alone will suffice. Their faith is no more than a condiment to assist in the added flavor of their fast food faith combo meal deal.
Because there are no true spiritual fathers in the Body of Christ, there are men who calls themselves shepherds of God’s flock but care not for the sheep. This is what God said about such through the Prophet Isaiah:
The dogs have a mighty appetite; they never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding; they have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all.
God cares tremendously about His sheep. And they are His sheep and belong to no one else. As a Pastor (Shepherd), I am simply a sub-contractor to the Master of the sheep. Listen to the Law of God:
“If a man steals an ox or a sheep, and kills it or sells it, he shall repay five oxen for an ox, and four sheep for a sheep.
Four every one sheep that is stolen, four are restored. I believe God is serious about His sheep. In fact, He loves them so much that He became the Sacrificial Lamb bearing all of our sin and guilty stain for all of us according to the Law of God. He was the one.
And one sheep from every flock of two hundred, from the watering places of Israel for grain offering, burnt offering, and peace offerings, to make atonement for them, declares the Lord God.
As much, He commands us to reach the one sheep that has not known this great love of this amazing Shepherd. (Read Dad’s poem: Where is the One).
Unfortunately, so many sheep have gone astray from the Good Shepherds pasture. They have become free range sheep living dangerously in their own way, not His. They eat whatever the world is feeding on. And they are stained with the stains of sin once again. They have strayed so far from the Shepherd’s voice that they cannot hear His great love calling in the distance.
When sheep live outside the flock they forget the voice of the Master. Some sheep convince themselves that they are the keepers of the gate, not the Shepherd Himself. But the gate belongs to the Shepherd not the sheep. As well, most sheep refuse the sheering of the Shepherd. They do not understand it is part of God’s process to keep them healthy. They do not realize that through the process, they live and do not die. But outside of the process, as free range sheep, they become entangled and spiritually immobile and vulnerable to the ravenous wolves around.
But sheep who live in the peace of the Good Shepherd find no need to wander from His feet. Instead, they stay close. There motive is not to seek their own but to live in the way of the Master.
In Matthew 25:31-46 Jesus gives us a prophecy in the form of a parable. This is a prophecy of His return for those who are His sheep in His flock in His pasture.
It starts with this prophetic opening statement:
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 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. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.
Do not be mistaken about this phrase “he will sit on His glorious throne”. This is not a statement of inactivity. It is an idiomatic phrase that when He establishes His sovereign authority over all other authorities in this world. And when He does, His first act is to separate the sheep from the goats. Now unless you understand something about shepherding, you cannot appreciate the context of this Kingdom action.
Why would a good shepherd separate sheep from goats in his pasture?
For starters, goats require more copper in their diet. This is one reason they are separated from the sheep because the copper is toxic to the sheep. Thus, the diet of the goats reflects upon the contrasting nature from that of the sheep. In addition, goats are browsers and will eat almost anything, including things that are poisonous. Sheep, however, are grazers and eat only that which the Shepherd feeds them or leads them to. Goats hate enclosure. They cannot stand restraint and demand independence in their behavior and attitude. Goats often tend to want to be loaners and keep a distance from the rest of the flock. Goats are more aggressive and will even sometimes attack and kill their smaller counterparts or sheep. Goats have a unique fighting nature of raring up on their hind legs and coming down forcefully for the head butt. When in the same pasture, goats tend to naturally want to dominate over the sheep while stealing their feed. This leaves the sheep malnourished if left together.
So, these are just a few reason that a Good Shepherd would separate the sheep from the goats. And, unfortunately, it sounds very much like something many of you may have experienced even in the church. Outside of the Shepherd’s fence, the Law of God, there are wolves, clifts, briers and all kinds of dangers. But within the flock, there are goats. But when Christ returns, He will separate His sheep from the goats according to this prophecy of Jesus. Hear what Jesus says to the sheep:
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. 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, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
This sounds very familiar to me as if I read something very similar that Jesus said once before.
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed,
But look at the response of the sheep:
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 welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
They did the very things Jesus commanded of His love and they did not even account for it as a score for themselves. Their motive was not to earn a place in heaven or recognition or personal gain. Theirs was a sincere motive of pure and unselfish acts of love.
And the Shepherd responds:
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.’
But it is not so for the goats. Those with that self-serving faith. That poison eating, independent, I will not be shepherded or sheered, sheep dominating nature. They did not rebel against a pastor but against the Good Shepherd.
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’
Oh, they will try the same argument but with no excuse. They will try in that moment to once again sound like sheep but the tone of they argument will not stand before a just and holy Lord.
Then they also 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 minister to you?’
Hear the prophecy of Jesus Christ that is near at hand. The weeds have grown with the tares. The darkness has spread across the face of the earth. The outcry of the Bride of Christ is yearning. The trumpet will soon sound. The wolves are all around and the pasture is filled with goats who even seized the pulpits. But the day is coming when He will separate the goats from the sheep. Which will you be? Which one are you? Do you love the Good Shepherd enough to find the one lost sheep? Do you love the way of the Good Shepherd? Do you love that which He feeds or are you eating anything and everything the world offers like a goat? Do you sound like a sheep but act like a goat?
Then he will answer them, saying, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.’ And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Don’t be free range sheep. Be His sheep and don’t be a goat.