Matthew 25:31-46 “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?’
Note that those on the King right are called “the righteous.” Nothing here is mentioned about how they become righteous. There is no mention of their having faith in him resulting in their receiving righteousness from God. Here it focuses on the actions they performed as a result of being “righteous.”
(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.’
The King commands us to watch after and care for His people.
(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.
What distinguishes these on his left from those on his right mentioned in the earlier verses?
(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.’
Again there is no mention of disbelief or rejecting Jesus Christ. The accusation is simply that those on his left did not look after His people.
(46) “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
On the basis of their respective actions the nations will be divided into sheep and goats. Faith here is not mentioned at all. From this we are forced to conclude that genuine saving faith in Christ will in fact lead to good works—in particular looking after and caring for His people. Faith without works is dead. It cannot save us.