The Surprised Goats

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

33And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left.

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

42For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink,

43I 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.’

44Then 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?’

45Then 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.’

46And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Matthew 25:32-33, 41-46

I recently had a conversation with a dear friend who has a difficult time believing that her salvation is genuine. Regarding the passage above, this person said, "I always identify with the surprised goats at the end, who thought they were saved, but they weren't." Her fear was that this doubt itself was a deal breaker to God.

I wanted my friend to understand that stories of doubt about the genuineness of conversion are very common among believers and to know that God isn't put off by our doubt. He knows our frailty and loves us through it. 

In the Bible, right off the top of my head, I  think of Moses, who doubted that he could speak well enough to do what God asked him to do, even though God went overboard to reveal that it was actually GOD, right there in front of him, telling him that he could do it; but, instead of striking Moses dead for doubt and insubordination, God just let him take Aaron. 

There was Peter, who literally lied about knowing Jesus instead of trusting God when things got tough, but who was not only forgiven but commissioned by Jesus to go and "feed my sheep." 

Then, there was poor "Doubting Thomas," ever identified by his weakness, but who saw Christ and then became a stalwart apostle.  

There was also the poor father who desperately just wanted his son to stop being tormented, who famously said, "Lord, I believe! Help, my unbelief!" He speaks for all of us.

Apart from stories in scripture, I would suggest that most of those who "made a decision" for Christ at some point in their conscious lives will tell you their sad stories about their doubts regarding their sincerity, primarily fed by false teaching about the supporting evidence we are supposedly going to be able to see when we look at our ever transforming lives after that decision. The lack of that "evidence" leads us straight to doubt and fear. 

The thing is, we will never find the assurance we need when we look to ourselves! All we will ever have when we look inward is doubt, for one simple reason: People always mess up! 

Most of us have experienced enough disappointment and dysfunction in our lives to condition us not to trust, because, bottom line, people just aren't trustworthy! 

The proverbial rug gets pulled out on us. The people who are supposed to love us and take care of us frequently not only don't do the bare minimum properly, but they inflict serious damage. The things we all should have been able to count on, have all too often turned out to be just dangling carrots. It is almost inevitable that we will transfer our learned lack of trust to God! As a result, there is a part of every Christian that fears we will be a surprised goat!

The only antidote for that fear is hearing the gospel from the lips of another over and over and over, ad infinitum. I say we need to hear it from another because that truth is easier to believe when someone else says it to us than when we say it to ourselves. It just is. 

That, right there, is the primary reason for the need of a group of at least two or three! We must have continual outside confirmation and reassurance that the gospel is true and that we are safe and loved by God, or we will soon succumb to fatal doubt and die...or worse, we will revert to the default and fatal belief in the need to earn God's approval by being good enough, which is spiritual death. 

As brothers and sisters in Christ,  our greatest privilege is to remind each other daily that we are safe and loved not on the basis of our own merit, but solely on the basis of Christ's righteousness, credited to us, and our punishment, borne by Christ for us. 

The fear that this gospel is too good to be true will never, ever be grounds for him to take it away! Your fear that it will be just another rug pulled out from under you, won't either. 

Those surprised goats were the ones who thought they deserved salvation! They never doubted! They were certain that they were good enough...and that was their problem. 

Only those who know for certain that they don't deserve God's gift when they look at themselves are the ones who are accepted in the end. They, too, are surprised, but with joy, because they know there is only One who is worthy, and they aren't him!

My friends, you are safe and loved, on Christ's account. 

Let's keep reminding each other!