The popular image of Jesus is that He is a benign person who loves everybody and will not harm anybody. Certainly He is not in any way bad or malignant; and He does love all that He has made (Psalm 145:9). But He will also be a righteous judge: patient yes, but indulgent, no. All the people who do not love Him will be separated out and their destiny will be the same as that of the devil and the demons. If that seems like strong language, it is exactly what Jesus said in these verses.
 
Judgement and salvation are the two sides of the same doctrine. Jesus is the King and so He has the right to rule. The people who despise or ignore His authority will be banished from His presence to a place where there is no goodness, only undiluted evil. It is a terrible prospect, but an essential truth to keep us focussed in our dependence on God’s grace, on our worship, obedience, service and witness. We are only kept from hell because of our faith in Jesus Christ and His sacrificial death for us.
 
Some people think that these verses are telling us that if we do enough good deeds, then God will spare us from hell. No, that is not right. The wicked (everybody who chooses to ignore God's call on their lives – however hard they try to be good) do not love God's family, because they do not love Jesus. Why should they then trouble themselves to relieve the suffering of some Christians' lives? That is why their attempts to live 'good lives' have no weight in heaven. It is not so much what we do, but why we do it that counts.
 
If every Christian would contemplate the hellish fate of apparently nice, honest, moral people who do not know Jesus, what would be the result? We might be more grateful for our own undeserved salvation, the presence of the Holy Spirit and the promise of heaven – it would spur our worship. We would be more aware of our obligation to serve the needs of our Christian brothers and sisters – it would spur our work for the Lord. We would be much more committed to living with integrity and telling our friends and colleagues how they may be saved – it would spur our witness. Otherwise our faith can become a personal comfort and selfish indulgence. Today, worship and work as a person who has been promised heaven; and witness as a person who understands the awesomeness of Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:11).