Goats

Jojo4124

Well-Known Member
Can someone please explain who the goats are in the judgement? They said they did works in Jesus' Name but God says He never knew them.

How do I know that God KNOWS me and that through abiding in Him any works I do to the least of these will please Him? How can ppl do works in His Name and still be an unsaved goat?

Thank you for any insight...
 

Misty S

Member
I think there are a few doctrines mixed up in those questions to make a point that turns out to be a dilemma of the Gospel itself. Works salvation is the antithesis of the actual Gospel, full stop. Bing, bang, boom, it really is that simple. It is a false gospel and a lie that will absolutely make sure that it kills you forever.

People tend to have this odd belief that working for salvation and doing "good" is the narrow way, when in reality, an insane amount of mono and polytheistic religions teach this very thing. Works salvation has more in common with Islam, Judiasm, Buddhism, Hinduism, and so on. It is the wide path; you dragging or dare I say, as some tend to believe about themselves, them leaping across the canyon of death into God's own arms by virtue of them not commiting the sins that they are not tempted by, while gleefully ignoring the other six hundred sins that will kill you. This idea has mauled and laid to waste humans for generations.

Works salvation is the exact opposite of the narrow way and will happily drag you straight to Hell. Jesus is the narrow way. Christ crucified, spilling his pure and untainted blood for the eternal and atoning remission of your sins and He rose from the dead to give the dead hope. Through no effort of your own do you finish this saving grace, nor do you maintain it for that reason, as it was finished in full on the cross. Tetelestai!

Get the Gospel right and produce good works through growth in Him along the way, until we are set free in the actual sense of completion of our dispensation on earth and the reality that sin is long behind us in the actual aspect of not comitting it any longer in the true and realized presence of our God.
 

Andy C

Well-Known Member
Can someone please explain who the goats are in the judgement? They said they did works in Jesus' Name but God says He never knew them.

How do I know that God KNOWS me and that through abiding in Him any works I do to the least of these will please Him? How can ppl do works in His Name and still be an unsaved goat?

Thank you for any insight...
You are asking about 2 different areas and timeframes in scripture.

Matthew 25 covers the sheep and goat judgement, which takes place at the end of the tribulation. The church will have been raptured before the start of the tribulation, so we will have no part of this judgement.

In Matthew 7, Jesus tells the unbelievers to depart from Him, He never knew them.
Misty has a good post above about the meaning of this section of scripture.



Matthew 25:
31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne.

32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

34 “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,

43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

46 “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”


Matthew 7
21 "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.

22 Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?'

23 And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'

24 "Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock:

25 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.

26 But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand:

27 and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall."

28 And so it was, when Jesus had ended these sayings, that the people were astonished at His teaching,

29 for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
 

Wings Like Eagles

Well-Known Member
Can someone please explain who the goats are in the judgement? They said they did works in Jesus' Name but God says He never knew them.

How do I know that God KNOWS me and that through abiding in Him any works I do to the least of these will please Him? How can ppl do works in His Name and still be an unsaved goat?

Thank you for any insight...
The problem is that there is no such thing as salvation by works--the Old Testament is clear on that point as well as the New Testament. We are told in both Testaments that "no one is righteous--no not one" and that "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God". Salvation is by FAITH alone. The only salvation ANYONE has is through the shed Blood of Christ--both before His first advent and now, during the Church Age or in the future Millennial Kingdom. That is why Jesus said, "Abraham delighted to see my day..." For those incapable of making a faith commitment (ex. young children or those who are mentally incompetent) they are STILL saved by the Blood of Jesus.

I was raised in a liberal "social gospel" church--and yet I was not saved. We were trained to do good deeds in Jesus' name, and we were also taught that He was "a good man and a son of God". Since we were taught that we could also be "good people" and already were "children of God" then there was no particular need to seek Him or know Him (let alone love Him). This is in direct contradiction to what the Bible says in both the Old and New Testaments. Were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob free of sin? NO. We have the record of their lives and they were NOT free of sin. BUT, they did have FAITH and that was "accounted to them as righteousness". The "Hall of Faith" is recorded in Hebrews chapter 11 and it should have ended the discussion of Faith vs. works in Christianity, but it did not.
 

Everlasting Life

Through Faith in Jesus
Welcome Jojo4124! :welcome I'm so glad you felt comfortable to ask some questions. :) Below is a resource that may help you with many questions you may have, with a great search aspect in the link. Of course ask away here as well. :) I've included the link and the portions of this good article that may best answer your question, along with great posts here. I'd read the whole article if you have the chance.

https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/the-sheep-and-goat-judgment-matt-2531-46/

......Question Two​


Since this judgment is clearly post 2nd Coming, the Church cannot be the answer to question 2, “Who is being judged?” No matter what your preference is for the placement of the rapture in the End Times scenario, proponents of all the major positions agree it happens before the 2nd Coming. (I should mention that “Post-Tribbers” have a big problem here because if the rapture occurs just before the Lord’s return, there won’t be any “sheep” left for this judgment. They would all have just been taken in the rapture.) And since one of the things that happen in the rapture is the instantaneous perfection of believers, no judgment subsequent to that would be necessary.


No, the ones being judged here are those people of Earth who’ve survived the Great Tribulation. As we’ll see, some of them have come to faith, but were too late for the rapture. And don’t let the word nations fool you. It’s only used to explain that this is a worldwide event. The Greek word for nations also means, multitudes, people groups, or simply Gentiles. The Lord holds everyone personally accountable for his or her behavior.


“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’


“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’


“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me’
(Matt. 25:34-40)......


.......

And The Final Question​


The way the standard for judgment is explained can also be a little misleading. “Whatever you did (or did not) do for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did (or did not) do for me.” On first blush it appears that people are being rewarded for their good works, and punished for their failures. But the external actions He describes are simply tangible evidence of a faithful heart. The situation for Jewish believers in those days will become progressively worse and worse until they’ll be dependent on the charitable acts of others for their very survival. And those who reach out to help them will do so at their extreme peril, since they’ll be aiding and abetting a declared enemy every time they do. This is a crime punishable by death.


To make matters worse there will be snitches everywhere. What a perilous time! “It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear; as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.” (Amos 5:19)


Only those whose hearts are fully dedicated to the Lord and know that He’s on His way back for them will risk their own skins to help a stranger, especially when that stranger is an officially designated enemy. Only they will remember the Lord’s answer to the question, “What is the greatest commandment?”


“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind,” He replied, “And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:37-39).


In helping these strangers they’re fulfilling both commandments, and the Lord, seeing their faith in action, will reward them accordingly. “Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.”


Non-believers, having fallen for the deception of the antichrist and his false prophet, will have nothing to do with their leaders’ enemies, and in fact many will be proud to act as volunteer spies, informing on them or even worse. They’ll fulfill the Lord’s own words, “A time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God” (John 16:2). They’ll be sent to the place of eternal punishment prepared for the devil and his angels. The Sheep and Goat judgment then, is not a parable, but a clear warning to Tribulation Survivors that once the Lord returns, the time for accepting Him as their Savior will have ended and the consequences will be severe and eternal.


But notice how even after it’s too late they call Him Lord? Read Paul’s words from Philippians 2:9-11. Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And in Zechariah 14:9, The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.


When He returns there will be no doubt anywhere as to Who He is. Everyone from the highest place in Heaven to those in the lowest place under the Earth, which includes Satan’s domain, will bow before Him, agreeing that He’s the Lord.


But those He likened to the goats will have refused to accept Him as their Savior and will be sent away to eternal punishment. Having turned down His offer of pardon in favor of making their own way, they will now have eternity to contemplate the folly of their actions.


“I have told you all this in advance,” the Lord says, “So that you would know.” The Sheep and Goat judgment stands as an unmistakably clear look into the future so that all who will may come and be forgiven. The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. (Rev 22:17) Better do it right now, while there’s time. For if you listen closely you can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 06-06-04
 

Everlasting Life

Through Faith in Jesus
By the way, one who is not in the tribulatin is one who's repented (changed their mind about sin, agreeing with God in regards to sin) and placed their faith in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin and salvation of souls:



They replied, “We want to perform God’s works, too. What should we do?”

Jesus told them, “This is the only work God wants from you: Believe in the one he has sent.”

John 6:29


Around midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there was a massive earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations. All the doors immediately flew open, and the chains of every prisoner fell off! The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, “Stop! Don’t kill yourself! We are all here!”


The jailer called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”


They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, along with everyone in your household.” And they shared the word of the Lord with him and with all who lived in his household. Even at that hour of the night, the jailer cared for them and washed their wounds. Then he and everyone in his household were immediately baptized. He brought them into his house and set a meal before them, and he and his entire household rejoiced because they all believed in God.

Acts 16:25-34
 

mattfivefour

Well-Known Member
Ty for the welcome and great answers! I am looking up that article.
How can the goats prophesy and perform miracles n exorcisms in Jesus' Name...still not be saved? Is it because unsaved people use the power of Jesus for their own glory?

I really appreciate your time and answers! God bless you all!!
Lots of people use the name of Jesus, but they do not know Him. I can use the name of the Queen of England, but I don't know her. And, more importantly, she doesn't know me.

In your first post you asked "how can I know that God KNOWS me and that through abiding in Him any works I do to the least of these will please Him?" The answer is very simple. If you truly know you will never be good enough to go to Heaven or even good enough to simply please God and, having heard the gospel, you are resting your your entire hope for going to Heaven in what Jesus did for you at Calvary, then you ARE saved and God definitely knows you. You are, in fact, as Scripture says, His child. Therefore whatsoever you do will only be to share his love and goodness with others and you will no longer have the thought that somehow those works will earn you favor with God.

Does that help?
 
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