“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. 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.’ 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?’ [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.’
“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.’ 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?’ 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.” – Matthew 25:31–46 (ESV)
Grant Osborne writes:
In our “seeker-sensitive” environment, we are often guilty of elevating seekers to a third type of humanity – those who reject Christ and are headed for eternal damnation, seekers who are almost there, and believers who are headed for heaven. This is wrong; “seekers” actually belong to the first group. We might add to this the “quasi-Christians,” those who attend regularly but show no fruit of this in their lives. Some belong to the first group some to the second. There is no middle ground. Every person on earth is going either to heaven or to hell. Moreover, the decision will be made in this life, so it is essential that every person be confronted by the gospel and challenged to make a decision. There is no neutrality, and nothing in life is as important as this question, because it determines every person’s eternal destiny!
MEMORY WORK – Shorter Catechism Q/A 55
Q. 55. What is forbidden in the third commandment?
A. The third commandment forbiddeth all profaning or abusing of anything whereby God maketh himself known.