Here follows a stark warning, call to repentance, and exhortation to Christians from Pastor Martin Luther in his sermon on the Sheep and the Goats according to our Lord Jesus Christ's explanation of Judgment Day in Matthew 25:31-46.
"If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear."
Luther
on Matthew 25:31-46
10. For Christ himself shows that he is speaking of the
works of believing Christians, when he says: "I was hungry and ye gave me
to eat," etc.; "what ye have done unto the least of these my brethren
ye have done unto me." For there is no doubt that he who performs such
works of mercy to Christians, must himself be a Christian and a believer; but
he who does not believe in Christ, will certainly never be so kind toward a
Christian, much less toward Christ, so that for his sake he would show mercy to
the poor, and needy; therefore he will refer to these works at the judgment,
and accordingly pronounce the verdict to both parties, to those who have done,
and those who have not done these works, as a public testimony of the fruits of
their faith or of their unbelief.
11. It seems as though he meant hereby to show that many Christians, after
receiving the preaching of the Gospel, of the forgiveness of sins and grace
through Christ, become even worse than the heathen. For he also says in, Mat.
19, 30, "Many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be
first." Thus it will also be at the end of the world; those who should be
honest Christians, because they heard the Gospel, are much worse and more
unmerciful than they were before, as we see too many examples of this even now.
Aforetime when we were to do good works under the seduction and false worship
of [works’ righteousness to earn salvation and the kingdom of heaven as taught
by] the Papacy [and every false teacher], everyone was ready and willing; a
prince, for example, or a city, could give more alms and a greater endowment
than now all the kings and emperors are able to give. But now all the world
seems to be learning nothing else than how to estimate values, to rake and
scrape, to rob and steal by lying, deceiving, usury, overcharging, overrating,
and the like; and every man treats his neighbor, not as though he were his
friend, much less as his brother in Christ, but as his mortal enemy, and as
though he intended to snatch all things to himself and begrudge everything to
others.
12. This goes on daily, is constantly increasing, is a
very common practice and custom. among all classes of people, among princes,
the nobility, burghers, peasants, in all courts, cities, villages, yes in
almost every home. Tell me, what city is
now so strong and pious as to be able to raise an amount sufficient to support
a schoolmaster or a preacher? Yes, if we did not already have the liberal alms
and endowments of our forefathers, the Gospel would long ago have disappeared
in the cities on account of the burghers, and in the country because of the
nobility and peasants, and poor preachers would have nothing to eat nor to
drink. For we do not love to give, but would rather take even by force
what others have given and endowed. Therefore it is no credit to us that a
single pulpit or school is still maintained. Yea, how many there are among the
great, the powerful, and the rich, especially in the Papacy, who would like to
see nothing better than all preachers, schools, and arts exterminated.
13. Such are the thanks to the blessed Gospel, by which men have been freed
from the bondage and plagues of the [works’ righteousness of the] Pope [and
other false teachers within Christendom], that they must become so shamefully
wicked in these last times. They are now no more unmerciful, no more in a
human, but in a satanic way; they are not satisfied with being allowed to enjoy
the Gospel, and grow fat by robbing and stealing the revenues of the church,
but they must also be scheming with all their power how they may completely
starve out the Gospel. One can easily count upon his fingers, what they who
enjoy the Gospel are doing and giving, here and elsewhere; and, were it only
for us now living, there would long since have been no preacher or student from
whom our children and descendants might know what we had taught and believed.
14. In short, what do you think Christ will say on that day, seated on his
judgment throne, to such unmerciful Christianity? "Dear Sir, listen, you
have also pretended to be a Christian and boasted of the Gospel; did you not
also hear this sermon that I myself preached, in which I told you what my
verdict and decision would be: 'Depart from me, ye cursed?' I was hungry and
thirsty, naked and sick, poor and in prison, and ye gave me no meat, no drink,
clothed me not, took me not in, and visited me not. Why have ye neglected this,
and have been more shameless and unmerciful toward your own brethren than the
Turk or heathen?"
Will you excuse yourself by pleading: "Lord, when saw we thee hungry or
thirsty?" etc. Then he will answer you again through your own conscience:
Dear Sir, were there no people who preached to you; or perhaps poor students
who should have at the time been studying and learning God's Word, or were there
no poor, persecuted Christians whom you ought to have fed, clothed and visited?
15. We ought really to be ashamed of ourselves, having had the example of
parents, ancestors, lords and kings, princes and others, who gave so liberally
and charitably, even in profusion, to churches, ministers, schools, endowments,
hospitals and the like; and by such liberal giving neither they nor their
descendants were made poorer. What would they have done, had they had the light
of the Gospel that is given unto us? How
did the Apostles and their followers in the beginning bring all they had for
their poor widows, or for those who had nothing, or who were banished and
persecuted, in order that no one among them might suffer for the necessities of
life! In this way poor Christians should at all times support one another.
Otherwise, as I have said, the Gospel, the pulpit, churches and schools would
already be completely exterminated, no matter how much the rest of the world
did.
Were it not for the grace of God, by which he gives us here and there a pious
prince, or godly government, which preserves the fragments still left, that all
may not be destroyed by the graspers and vultures, thieves and robbers; were it
not for this grace, I say, the poor pastors and preachers would not only be
starved, but also murdered. Nor are there now any other poor people than those
who serve, or are being trained to serve the church; and these can obtain no
support elsewhere, and must leave their poor wives and children die of hunger
because of an indifferent world; on the other hand the world is full of
useless, unfaithful, wicked fellows among day-laborers, lazy mechanics,
servants, maids, and idle, greedy beggars, who everywhere by lying, deceiving,
robbing and stealing, take away the hard-earned bread and butter from those who
are really poor, and yet go unpunished in the midst of their wantonness and
insolence.
16. This I say, that we may see how Christ will upbraid the
false liars and hypocrites among Christians, on the day of judgment, and having
convicted them before all creatures will condemn them, because they have done
none of the works which even the heathen do to their fellows; who did much more
in their false and erroneous religion, and would have done it even more
willingly had they known better.
17. Since now this terrible condemnation is justly pronounced over those who
neglected these works, what will happen to those who have not only neglected
the same, have given nothing to the poor Christians, nor served them; but
robbed them of what they had, drove them to hunger, thirst and nakedness,
furthermore persecuted, scattered, imprisoned, and murdered them? These are so
unutterably wicked, so utterly condemned to the bottomless pit with the devil
and his angels, that Christ will not think or speak of them. But he will
assuredly not forget these robbers, tyrants, and bloodhounds any more than he
will forget or pass over unrewarded those who have suffered hunger thirst,
nakedness, persecution and the like, especially for his and his Word's sake. He
will not forget those to whom mercy has been shown, even though he speaks only
to those who have shown mercy and have lent their aid; for he highly and nobly
commends them, when he says. "Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my
brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me."
18. On account of this judgment fear and trembling might well seize our great
spiritual prelates, as they call themselves, the popes, cardinals, bishops,
canons, priests, and then whole diabolical rabble of the anti-christian crowd
at Rome, and everywhere, in their monasteries and brothels, if they were not
altogether hardened and deliberately given to Satan, body and soul. They think
and act as though they were especially appointed to snatch to themselves every
thing that belongs to the poor church, and in their own wantonness to consume,
spend, waste, squander, in dissipation, gambling and debauchery, in the most
shameful and scandalous manner, whatever has been given for the maintenance of
students, schools and the poor people. They mock God and man, 2 Pet. 2, 13;
yea, they publicly murder innocent, pious people.
19. Yea, woe, another and eternal woe, to them and to all who side with them.
For it had been, better for them, had they never been born, as Christ says of
Judas. Therefore they ought rather to wish that their mothers had drowned them
in their first bath, or that they had never come forth from the womb, than that
one of them should have become pope or cardinal or a popish priest. For they
are nothing else than merely desperate and select ones, not highway robbers,
but public country-thieves, who take, not the goods of the mighty and the
powerful that really have something, but of the poor and wretched, of the
parish churches, schools, and hospitals, whose morsels are snatched from their
teeth, and whose drink is torn from their mouths, so that they are unable to
maintain life.
20. Therefore let every man beware of the Pope, the bishops, and the
priesthood, as he would beware of those who have already been condemned alive
to the abyss of perdition. Truly Paul did not prophesy in vain, 2 Tim. 3, 1,
that in the last days perilous times shall come. Yet all the world moves along
indifferently and gives no heed to this terrible judgment that has already been
decided against such unmerciful robbers, thieves, and murderers of poor
Christians, but especially against those who pretend to be Christians, who
after having received grace slide back again, and like a dog eat their own
vomit, or as the swine wallow in their own filth, 2 Pet. 2,20-22, and thus,
having been first, become last before anyone is aware of it….
34. Right unwillingly do I prophesy; for I have often
experienced how it came true; but the same conditions, alas, prevail now
everywhere; and I fear and must almost resign myself that Germany may have the
same experience as Sodom and Jerusalem, and will be a thing of the past; it
will either be destroyed by the Turks or it will crumble by its own hand,
unless the last day overtake it soon. For the present conditions are altogether
unbearable and so exceedingly bad that they cannot become worse; and if there
be still a God, he cannot thus let matters go on unpunished.
35. And now the world will not take heed, nor recognize that it must die and
stand before God in judgment, but it rages against recognized truth. Let us
give heed and take it to heart, that the wrath of God may not also sweep us
away. For what else would God need to do to that end, than let loose both the
Turks and Satan against us. The Turk would be compelled to cease doing what he
has done and is still doing, were we not so hardened in blindness and
impenitence, and so completely ripe for judgment. The reason is that we rage so
blasphemously against God's Word and his proffered help, and then in addition
make our boast against the Turk.
36. And I hold that, if we Lutherans, as they call us, were only dead, the
whole world would immediately cry, "Victory," as though they had
already devoured every single Turk. But it shall happen to them also that a
hundred shall be slain by one Turk. And when the cry of murder is once heard,
how unmercifully the Turks will cut in pieces all people, men, women, and
children. Then shall we also begin to cry and lament. It shall come to pass
that we shall do as did the Jews, put Christ out of the way. When he has been
crucified, we shall be able to take care of the Turk, as Squire Caiaphas and
the Jews took care of the Romans; thus the younkers at Jerusalem thought, if
they could only put the prophet Jeremiah out of the way, they would surely be
safe from the king of Babylon. What happened? After they had cast Jeremiah into
the dungeon, the king came and led them all into captivity.
Thus I can also see that God has spun a web over Germany as it is determined to
be guilty in the same manner of willful blindness, defiance, wickedness,
contempt, and ungratefulness in opposing the precious Gospel. It is determined
to be guilty of foolishness before God, for which it will have to pay dearly. May God preserve us, and grant us and
our little flock that we may escape this terrible wrath, and be found among
those who honor and serve our dear Christ, and await the judgment at his right
hand joyously and blissfully. Amen.
