A JUDAS GOAT

By Rick Mathes

Matthew 25:45 ⁴⁵ “Then He will answer them, saying, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’

When you look carefully at the division of the sheep and the goats in chapter 25 of Matthew, you will notice that it wasn’t what the goats did that sent them to hell; it was what they didn’t do. They didn’t pursue holiness and the effects of genuine works that are not masks of self-gratification.

The evangelicals like to throw around the label “carnal Christians” to describe plastic believers that are attached to the world and measure their faith by what power, money, prestige and influence their church may have. I once preached, “Is Judas still treasurer of your church?” at a large Baptist church. Needless to say, they never invited me back!

Holiness and good works was in the air the Lord breathed. As St. Francis of Assisi once said, “All I want to do is go about the work of the Lord and not know it.” You can’t be a practical atheist for too long before true Christians take your mask off and uncover the horror of your twisted motives: a midnight of your soul in the abyss of endless shock and awe. The hell that is displayed will startle you into insanity if you look long and too hard at the truth of your depraved mind. If you really believed in Jesus, you wouldn’t embrace your favorite sin: it was the weapon that killed God’s only Son!

There was a time in Rome when the dead body was attached to the murderer, chest to chest until the corpse rotted off of him. Such is the sin you willfully acknowledge that you love more than the Savior. It would drive the Roman prisoner over the edge of rationality and you are also on your way to a chaos of mental confusion, such as you may never recover unless you’re repent.

The goat turned his life toward the wider road that led the sheep to slaughter. The Judas goat gets his name from the fact that he is trained to have the sheep follow him to the butcher block. They blindly line up behind him and he returns again for more that dutifully follow him to certain death. The Judas goat isn’t doing evil, he just isn’t doing anything but leading to a oblivion of endless torture without relief, ever!

And so it is also with you not what you are doing as much as what you have not done. No decision to repent is a vote to reject salvation. Following the goat soon transforms into being the Judas goat as others see and imitate your example by what you didn’t do.

When faced with sin, just stop, stand still, turn around and return to Him. No decision is a decision to be a Judas goat. How many souls have you sent to Hell? When is the time to stop? What or who is holding you back?

Slay the goat and line up with the sheep that the Good Shepherd has chosen for His today!