Romans 2:16
“In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.”
It is impossible for any of us to tell what it cost the
apostle Paul to write the first chapter of the epistle
to the Romans. It is a shame even to speak of the
things which are done of the vicious in secret places;
but Paul felt it was necessary to break through his
shame, and to speak out concerning the hideous vices of
the heathen. He has left on record an exposure of the
sins of his day which crimsons the cheek of the modest
when they read it, and makes both the ears of him that
heareth it to tingle. Paul knew that this chapter would
be read, not in his age alone, but in all ages, and
that it would go into the households of the most pure
and godly as long as the world should stand; and yet he
deliberately wrote it, and wrote it under the guidance
of the Holy Spirit. He knew that it must be written to
put to shame the abominations of an age which was
almost past shame. Monsters that revel in darkness must
be dragged into the open, that they may be withered up
by the light. After Paul has thus written in anguish he
bethought himself of his chief comfort. While his pen
was black with the words he had written in the first
chapter, he was driven to write of his great delight.
He clings to the gospel with a greater tenacity than
ever. As in the verse before us he needed to mention
the gospel, he did not speak of it as "the gospel," but
as "my gospel." "God shall judge the secrets of men by
Jesus Christ, according to my gospel." He felt he could
not live in the midst of so depraved a people without
holding the gospel with both hands, and grasping it as
his very own. "My gospel," saith he. Not that Paul was
the author of it, not that Paul had an exclusive
monopoly of its blessings, but that he had so received
it from Christ himself, and regarded himself as so
responsibly put in trust with it, that he could not
disown it even for a instant. So fully had he taken it
into himself that he could not do less than call it "my
gospel." In another place he speaks of "our gospel;"
thus using a possessive pronoun, to show how believers
identify themselves with the truth which they preach.
He had a gospel, a definite form of truth, and he
believed in it beyond all doubt; and therefore he spoke
of it as "my gospel." Herein we hear the voice of
faith, which seems to say, "Though others reject it, I
am sure of it, and allow no shade of mistrust to darken
my mind. To me it is glad tidings of great joy: I hail
it as 'my gospel.' If I be called a fool for holding
it, I am content to be a fool, and to find all my
wisdom in my Lord."
"Should all the forms that men devise Assult my faith
with treacherous art, I'd call them vanity and lies,
And bind the gospel to my heart."
Is not this word "my gospel" the voice of love? Does he
not by this word embrace the gospel as the only love of
his soul-for the sake of which he had suffered the loss
of all things, and did count them but dung-for the sake
of which he was willing to stand before Nero, and
proclaim, even in Caesar's palace, the message from
heaven? Though each word should cost him a life, he was
willing to die a thousand deaths for the holy cause.
"My gospel," saith he, with a rapture of delight, as he
presses to his bosom the sacred deposit of truth.
"My gospel." Does not this show his courage? As much as
to say, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for
it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that
believeth." He says, "my gospel," as a soldier speaks
of "my colours," or of "my king." He resolves to bear
this banner to victory, and to serve this royal truth
even to the death.
"My gospel." There is a touch of discrimination about
the expression. Paul perceives that there are other
gospels, and he makes short work with them, for he
saith, "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any
other gospel unto you than that which we have preached
unto you, let me be accused." The apostle was of a
gentle spirit; he prayed heartily for the Jews who
persecuted him, and yielded his life for the conversion
of the Gentiles who maltreated him; but he had no
tolerance for false gospellers. He exhibited great
breadth of mind, and to save souls he became all things
to all men; but when he contemplated any alteration or
adulteration of the gospel of Christ, he thundered and
lightninged without measure. When he feared that
something else might spring up among the philosophers,
or among the Judaizers, that should hide a single beam
of the glorious Sun of Righteousness, he used no
measured language; but cried concerning the author of
such a darkening influence, "Let him be accursed."
Every heart that would see men blessed whispers an
"Amen" to the apostolic malediction. No greater curse
can come upon mankind than the obscuration of the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul saith of himself and his
true brethren, "We are not as many, which corrupt the
word of God;" and he cries to those who turned aside
from the one and only gospel, "O foolish Galatians, who
hath bewitched you?" Of all new doctrines he speaks as
of "another gospel, which is not another; but there be
some that trouble you."
As for myself, looking at the matter afresh, amidst all
the filthiness which I see in the world at this day, I
lay hold upon the pure and blessed Word of God, and
call it all the more earnestly, my gospel,-mine in life
and mine in death, mine against all comers, mine for
ever, God helping me: with emphasis-"my gospel."
Now let us notice what it was that brought up this
expression, "My gospel." What was Paul preaching about?
Certainly not upon any of the gentle and tender themes,
which we are told nowadays ought to occupy all our
time; but he is speaking of the terrors of the law, and
in that connection he speaks of "my gospel."
Let us come at once to our text. It will need no
dividing, for it divides itself. First, let us consider
that on a certain day God shall judge mankind;
secondly, on that day God will judge the secrets of
men; thirdly, when he judges the secrets of men, it
will be by Jesus Christ; and fourthly, this is
according to gospel.
I. We begin with the solemn truth, that ON A CERTAIN
DAY GOD WILL JUDGE MEN. A judgment is going on daily.
God is continually holding court, and considering the
doings of the sons of men. Every evil deed that they do
is recorded in the register of doom, and each good
action is remembered and laid up in store by God. That
judgment is reflected in a measure in the consciences
of men. Those who know the gospel, and those who know
it not, alike, have a certain measure of light, by
which they know right from wrong; their consciences all
the while accusing or else excusing them. This session
of the heavenly court continues from day to day, like
that of our local magistrates; but this does not
prevent but rather necessitates the holding of an
ultimate great assize.
As each man passes into another world, there is an
immediate judgment passed upon him; but this is only
the foreshadowing of that which will take place in the
end of the world.
There is a judgment also passing upon nations, for as
nations will not exist as nations in another world,
they have to be judged and punished in this present
state. The thoughtful reader of history will not fail
to observe, how sternly this justice had dealt with
empire after empire, when they have become corrupt.
Colossal dominions have withered to the ground, when
sentenced by the King of kings. Go ye and ask to-day,
"Where is the empire of Assyria? Where are the mighty
cities of Babylon? Where are the glories of the Medes
and Persians? What has become of the Macedonian power?
Where are the Caesars and their palaces?" These empires
were forces established by cruelty, and used for
oppression; they fostered luxury and licentiousness,
and when they were no longer tolerable, the earth was
purged from their polluting existence. Ah me! what
horrors of war, bloodshed, and devastation, have come
upon men as the result of their iniquities! The world
is full of the monuments, both of the mercy and the
justice of God: in fact the monuments of his justice,
if rightly viewed, are proofs of his goodness; for it
is mercy on the part of God to put an end to evil
systems when, like a nightmare, they weigh heavily upon
the bosom of mankind. The omnipotent, Judge has not
ceased from his sovereign rule over kingdoms, and our
own country may yet have to feel his chastisements. We
have often laughed among ourselves at the idea of the
New Zealander sitting on the broken arch of London
Bridge amid the ruins of this metropolis. But is it
quite so ridiculous as it looks? It is more than
possible it will be realized if our iniquities continue
to abound. What is there about London that it should be
more enduring than Rome? Why should the palaces of our
monarches be eternal if the palaces of Koyunjik have
fallen? The almost boundless power of the Pharaohs has
passed away, and Egypt has become the meanest of
nations; why should not England come under like
condemnation? What are we? What is there about our
boastful race, whether on this side of the Atlantic or
the other, that we should monopolize the favour of God?
If we rebel, and sin against him, he will not hold us
guiltless, but will deal out impartial justice to an
ungrateful race.
Still, though such judgments proceed every day, yet
there is to be a day, a period of time, in which, in a
more distinct, formal, public, and final manner, God
will judge the sons of men. We might have guessed this
by the light of nature and of reason. Even heathen
peoples have had a dim notion of a day of doom; but we
are not left to guess it, we are solemnly assured of it
in the Holy Scripture. Accepting this Book as the
revelation of God, we know beyond all doubt that a day
is appointed in which the Lord will judge the secrets
of men.
By judging is here meant all that concerns the
proceedings of trial and award. God will judge the race
of men; that is to say, first, there will be a session
of majesty, and the appearing of a great white throne,
surrounded with pomp of angels and glorified beings.
Then a summons will be issued, bidding all men come to
judgment, to give in their final account. The heralds
will fly through the realms of death, and summon those
who sleep in the dust: for the quick and the dead shall
all appear before that judgment-seat. John says, "I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God;" and he
adds, "The sea gave up the dead which were in it; and
death and hell delivered up the dead which were in
them." Those that have been so long buried that their
dust is mingled with the soil, and has undergone a
thousand transmutations, shall nevertheless be made to
put in a personal appearance before the judgment-seat
of Christ. What an issue will that be! You and I and
all the myriad myriads of our race shall be gathered
before the throne of the Son of God. Then, when all are
gathered, the indictment will be read, and each one
will be examined concerning things done in the body,
according to that he hath done. Then the books shall be
opened, and everything recorded there shall be read
before the face of heaven. Every sinner shall then hear
the story of his life published to his everlasting
shame. The good shall ask no concealment, and the evil
shall find none. Angels and men shall then see the
truth of things, and the saints shall judge the world.
Then the great Judge himself shall give the decision:
he shall pronounce sentence upon the wicked, and
execute their punishment. No partiality shall there be
seen; there shall be no private conferences to secure
immunity for nobles, no hushing up of matters, that
great men may escape contempt for their crimes. All men
shall stand before the one great judgment-bar; evidence
shall be given concerning them all, and a righteous
sentence shall go forth from his mouth who knows not
how to flatter the great.
This will be so, and it ought to be so: God should
judge the world, because he is the universal ruler and
sovereign. There has been a day for sinning, there
ought to be a day for punishing; a long age of
rebellion has been endured, and there must be a time
when justice shall assert her supremacy. We have seen
an age in which reformation has been commanded, in
which mercy has been presented, in which expostulation
and entreaty have been used, and there ought at last to
come a day in which God shall judge both the quick and
the dead, and measure out to each the final result of
life. It ought to be so for the sake of the righteous.
They have been slandered; they have been despised and
ridiculed; worse than that, they have been imprisoned
and beaten, and put to death times without number: the
best have had the worst of it, and there ought to be a
judgment to set these things right. Besides the
festering iniquities of each age cry out to God that he
should deal with them. Shall such sin go unpunished? To
what end is there a moral government at all, and how is
its continuance to be secured, if there be not rewards
and punishments and a day of account? For the display
of his holiness, for the overwhelming of his
adversaries, for the rewarding of those who have
faithfully served him, there must be and shall be a day
in which God will judge the world.
Why doth it not come at once? And when will it come?
The precise day we cannot tell. Man nor angel knoweth
that day, and it is idle and profane to guess at it,
since even the Son of man, as such, knoweth not the
time. It is sufficient for us that the Judgment Day
will surely come; sufficient also to believe that it is
postponed on purpose to give breathing time for mercy,
and space for repentance. Why should the ungodly want
to know when that day will come? What is that day to
you? To you it should be darkness, and not light. It
shall be your day of consuming as stubble fully dry:
therefore bless the Lord that he delayeth his coming,
and reckon that his longsuffering is for your
salvation.
Moreover, the Lord keeps the scaffold standing till he
hath built up the fabric of his church. Not yet are the
elect all called out from among the guilty sons of men;
not yet are all the redeemed with blood redeemed with
power and brought forth out of the corruption of the
age into the holiness in which they walk with God.
Therefore the Lord waiteth for a while. But do not
deceive yourselves. The great day of his wrath cometh
on apace, and your days of reprieve are numbered. One
day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a
thousand years as one day. Ye shall die, perhaps,
before the appearing of the Son of man: but ye shall
see his judgment-seat for all that, for ye shall rise
again as surely as he rose. When the apostle addressed
the Grecian sages at Athens he said, "God now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because he
hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the
world in righteousness by that man whom he hath
ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men,
in that he hath raised him from the dead." See ye not,
O ye impenitent ones, that a risen Saviour is the sign
of your doom. As God hath raised Jesus from the dead,
so shall he raise your bodies, that in these you may
come to judgment. Before the judgment-seat shall every
man and woman in this house give an account of the
things done in the body, whether they be good or
whether they be evil. Thus saith the Lord.
II. Now I call your attention to the fact that "GOD
WILL JUDGE THE SECRETS OF MEN." This will happen to all
men, of every nation, of every age, of every rank, and
of every character. The Judge will, of course, judge
their outward acts, but these may be said to have gone
before them to judgment: their secret acts are
specially mentioned, because these will make judgment
to be the more searching.
By "secrets of men," the Scripture means those secret
crimes which hide themselves away by their own infamy,
which are too vile to be spoken of, which cause a
shudder to go through a nation if they be but dragged,
as they ought to be, into the daylight. Secret offences
shall be brought into judgment; the deeds of the night
and of the closed room, the acts which require the
finger to be laid upon the lip, and a conspiracy of
silence to be sworn. Revolting and shameless sins which
must never be mentioned lest the man who committed them
should be excluded from his fellows as an outcast,
abhorred even of other sinners-all those shall be
revealed. All that you have done, any of you, or are
doing, if you are bearing the Christian name and yet
practising secret sin, shall be laid bare before the
universal gaze. If you sit here amongst the people of
God, and yet where no eye sees you, if you are living
in dishonesty, untruthfulness, or uncleanness, it shall
all be known, and shame and confusion of face shall
eternally cover you. Contempt shall be the inheritance
to which you shall awake, when hypocrisy shall be no
more possible. Be not deceived, God is not mocked; but
he will bring the secrets of men into judgment.
Specially our text refers to the hidden motives of ever
action; for a man may do that which is right from a
wrong motive, and so the deed may be evil in the sight
of God, though it seem right in the sight of men. Oh,
think what it will be to have your motives all brought
to light, to have it proven that you were godly for the
sake of gain, that you were generous out of
ostentation, or zealous for love of praise, that you
were careful in public to maintain a religious
reputation, but that all the while everything was done
for self, and self only! What a strong light will that
be which God shall turn upon our lives, when the
darkest chambers of human desire and motive shall be as
manifest as public acts! What a revelation will that be
which makes manifest all thoughts, and imaginings, and
lustings, and desires! All angers, and envies, and
prides, and rebellions of the heart-what a disclosure
will these make!
All the sensual desires and imaginings of even the best-
regulated, what a foulness will these appear! What a
day it will be, when the secrets of men shall be set in
the full blaze of noon!
God will also reveal secrets, that were secrets even to
the sinners themselves, for there is sin in us which we
have never seen, and iniquity in us which we have never
yet discovered.
We have managed for our own comfort's sake to blind our
eyes somewhat, and we take care to avert our gaze from
things which it is inconvenient to see; but we shall be
compelled to see all these evils in that day, when the
Lord shall judge the secrets of men. I do not wonder
that when a certain Rabbi read in the book of
Ecclesiastes that God shall bring every work into
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good,
or whether it be evil, he wept. It is enough to make
the best men tremble. Were it not for thee, O Jesus,
whose precious blood hath cleansed us from all sin,
where should we be! Were it not for thy righteousness,
which shall cover those who believe in thee, who among
us could endure the thought of that tremendous day? In
thee, O Jesus, we are made righteous, and therefore we
fear not the trial-hour; but were it not for thee our
hearts would fail us for fear!
Now if you ask me why God should judge, especially the
secrets of men-since this is not done in human courts,
and cannot be, for secret things of this kind come not
under cognizance of our short-sighted tribunals-I
answer it is because there is really nothing secret
from God. We make a difference between secret and
public sins, but he doth not; for all things are naked
and open to the eyes of him with whom we have to do.
All deeds are done in the immediate presence of God,
who is personally present everywhere. He knows and sees
all things as one upon the spot, and every secret sin
is but conceived to be secret through the deluded
fantasy of our ignorance. God sees more of a secret sin
than a man can see of that which is done before his
face. "Can any hide himself in secret places that I
shall not see him? saith the Lord."
The secrets of men will be judged because often the
greatest of moral acts are done in secret. The
brightest deeds that God delights in are those that are
done by his servants when they have shut the door and
are alone with him; when they have no motive but to
please him; when they studiously avoid publicity, lest
they should be turned aside by the praise of men; when
the right hand knoweth not what the left hand doeth,
and the loving, generous heart deviseth liberal things,
and doeth it behind the screen, so that it should never
be discovered how the deed was done. It were a pity
that such deeds should be left out at the great audit.
Thus, too, secret vices are also of the very blackest
kind, and to exempt them were to let the worst of
sinners go unpunished. Shall it be that these polluted
things shall escape because they have purchased silence
with their wealth? I say solemnly "God forbid." He does
forbid it: what they have done in secret, shall be
proclaimed upon the house-tops.
Besides, the secret things of men enter into the very
essence of their actions. An action is, after all, good
or bad very much according to its motive. It may seem
good, but the motive may taint it; and so, if God did
not judge the secret part of the action he would not
judge righteously. He will weigh our actions, and
detect the design which led to them, and the spirit
which prompted them.
Is it not certainly true that the secret thing is the
best evidence of the man's condition? Many a man will
not do in public that which would bring him shame; not
because he is black-hearted enough for it, but because
he is too much of a coward. That which a man does when
he thinks that he is entirely by himself is the best
revelation of the man. That which thou wilt not do
because it would be told of thee if thou didst ill, is
a poor index of thy real character. That which thou
wilt do because thou wilt be praised for doing well, is
an equally faint test of thy heart. Such virtue is mere
self-seeking, or mean-spirited subservience to thy
fellow-man; but that which thou doest out of respect to
no authority but thine own conscience and thy God; that
which thou doest unobserved, without regard to what man
will say concerning it-that it is which reveals thee,
and discovers thy real soul. Hence God lays a special
stress and emphasis upon the fact that he will in that
day judge "the secrets" of men by Jesus Christ.
Oh, friends, if it does not make you tremble to think
of these things, it ought to do so. I feel the deep
responsibility of preaching upon such matters, and I
pray God of his infinite mercy to apply these truths to
our hearts, that they may be forceful upon our lives.
These truths ought to startle us, but I am afraid we
hear them with small result; we have grown familiar
with them, and they do not penetrate us as they should.
We have to deal, brethren, with an omniscient God; with
One who once knowing never forgets; with One to whom
all things are always present; with One will conceal
nothing out of fear, or favour of any man's person;
with One who will shortly bring the splendour of his
omniscience and the impartiality of his justice to bear
upon all human lives. God help us, where'er we rove and
where'er we rest, to remember that each thought, word,
and act of each moment lies in that fierce light which
beats upon all things from the throne of God.
III. Another solemn revelation of our text lies in this
fact, that "GOD WILL JUDGE THE SECRETS OF MEN BY JESUS
CHRIST." He that will sit upon the throne as the Vice-
regent of God, and as a Judge, acting for God, will be
Jesus Christ. What a name for a Judge! The Saviour-
Anointed-Jesus Christ: he is to be the judge of all
mankind. Our Redeemer will be the Umpire of our
destiny.
This will be, I doubt not, first for the display of his
glory. What a difference there will be then between the
babe of Bethlehem's manger, hunted by Herod, carried
down by night into Egypt for shelter, and the King of
kings and Lord of lords, before whom every knee must
bow! What a difference between the weary man and full
of woes, and he that shall then be grit with glory,
sitting on a throne encircled with a rainbow! From the
derision of men to the throne of universal judgment,
what an ascent! I am unable to convey to you my own
heart's sense of the contrast between the "despised and
rejected of men," and the universally-acknowledged
Lord, before whom Caesars and pontiffs shall bow into
the dust. He who was judged at Pilate's bar, shall
summon all to his bar. What a change from the shame and
spitting, from the nails and the wounds, the mockery
and the thirst, and the dying anguish, to the glory in
which he shall come whose eyes are as a flame of fire,
and out of whose mouth there goeth a two-edged sword!
He shall judge the nations, even he whom the nations
abhorred. He shall break them in pieces like a potter's
vessel, even those who cast him out as unworthy to live
among them. Oh, how we ought to bow before him now as
he reveals himself in his tender sympathy, and in his
generous humiliation! Let us kiss the Son lest he be
angry; let us yield to his grace, that we may not be
crushed by his wrath. Ye sinners, bow before those
pierced feet, which else will tread you like clusters
in the wine-press. Look ye up to him with weeping, and
confess your forgetfulness of him, and put your trust
in him; lest he look down on you in indignation. Oh,
remember that he will one day say, "But those mine
enemies, which would not that I should reign over them,
bring hither, and slay them before me." The holding of
the judgment by the Lord Jesus will greatly enhance his
glory. It will finally settle one controversy which is
still upheld by certain erroneous spirits: there will
be no doubt about our Lord's deity in that day: there
will be no question that this same Jesus who was
crucified is both Lord and God. God himself shall
judge, but he shall perform the judgment in the person
of his Son Jesus Christ, truly man, but nevertheless
most truly God. Being God he is divinely qualified to
judge the world in righteousness, and the people with
his truth.
If you ask again, Why is the Son of God chosen to be
the final Judge? I could give as a further answer that
he receives this high office not only as a reward for
all his pains, and as a manifestation of his glory, but
also because men have been under his mediatorial sway,
and he is their Governor and King. At the present
moment we are all under the sway of the Prince
Immanuel, God with us: we have been placed by an act of
divine clemency, not under the immediate government of
an offended God, but under the reconciling rule of the
Prince of Peace. "All power is given unto him in heaven
and in earth." "The Father judgeth no man, but hath
committed all judgment unto the Son: that all men
should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father."
We are commanded to preach unto the people, and "to
testify that it is he which was ordained of God to be
the judge of quick and dead." (Acts 10:42) Jesus is our
Lord and King, and it is meet that he should conclude
his mediatorial sovereignty by rewarding his subjects
to their deeds.
But I have somewhat to say unto you which ought to
reach your hearts, even if other thoughts have not done
so. I think that God hath chosen Christ, the man Christ
Jesus, to judge the world that there may never be a
cavil raised concerning that judgment. Men shall not be
able to say-We were judged by a superior being who did
not know our weaknesses and temptations, and therefore
he judged us harshly, and without a generous
consideration of our condition. No, God shall judge the
secrets of men by Jesus Christ, who was tempted in all
points like as we are, yet without sin. He is our
brother, bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh, partaker
of our humanity, and therefore understands and knows
what is in men. He has shown himself to be skilful in
all the surgery of mercy throughout the ages, and at
last he will be found equally skilful in dissecting
motives and revealing the thoughts and intents of the
heart. Nobody shall ever be able to look back on that
august tribunal and say that he who sat upon it was too
stern, because he knew nothing of human weakness. It
will be the loving Christ, whose tears, and bloody
sweat, and gaping wounds, attest his brotherhood with
mankind; and it will be clear to all intelligences that
however dread his sentences, he could not be
unmerciful. God shall judge us by Jesus Christ, that
the judgment may be indisputable.
But harken well-for I speak with a great weight upon my
soul-this judgment by Jesus Christ, puts beyond
possibility all hope of any after-interposition. If the
Saviour condemns, and such a Saviour, who can plead for
us? The owner of the vineyard was about to cut down the
barren tree, when the dresser of the vineyard pleaded,
"Let it alone this year also;" but what can come of
that tree when that vinedresser himself shall say to
the master, "It must fall; I myself must cut it down!"
If your Saviour shall become your judge you will be
judged indeed. If he shall say, "Depart, ye cursed,"
who can call you back? If he that bled to save men at
last comes to this conclusion, that there is no more to
be done, but they must be driven from his presence,
then farewell hope. To the guilty the judgment will
indeed be a
"Great day of dread, decision, and despair."
An infinite horror shall seize upon their spirits as
the words of the loving Christ shall freeze their very
marrow, and fix them in the ice of eternal despair.
There is, to my mind, a climax of solemnity in the fact
that God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus
Christ.
Does not this also show how certain the sentence will
be? for this Christ of God is too much in earnest to
play with men. If he says, "Come, ye blessed," he will
not fail to bring them to their inheritance. If he be
driven to say, "Depart, ye cursed," he will see it
done, and into the everlasting punishment they must go.
Even when it cost him his life he did not draw back
from doing the will of his Father, nor will he shrink
in that day when he shall pronounce the sentence of
doom. Oh, how evil must sin be since it constrains the
tender Saviour to pronounce sentence of eternal woe! I
am sure that many of us have been driven of late to an
increased hatred of sin; our souls have recoiled within
us because of the wickedness among which we dwell; it
has made us feel as if we would fain borrow the
Almighty's thunderbolts with which to smite iniquity.
Such haste on our part may not be seemly, since it
implies a complaint against divine long-suffering; but
Christ's dealing with evil will be calm and
dispassionate, and all the more crushing. Jesus, with
his pierced hand, that bears the attestation of his
supreme love to men, shall wave the impenitent away;
and those lips which bade the weary rest in him shall
solemnly say to the wicked, "Depart, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels." To be trampled beneath the foot which was
nailed to the cross will be to be crushed indeed: yet
so it is, God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus
Christ.
It seems to me as if God in this intended to give a
display of the unity of all his perfections. In this
same man, Christ Jesus, the Son of God, you behold
justice and love, mercy and righteousness, combined in
equal measure. He turns to the right, and says, "Come,
ye blessed," with infinite suavity; and with the same
lip, as he glances to the left, he says, "Depart, ye
cursed." Men will then see at one glance how love and
righteousness are one, and how they meet in equal
splendour in the person of the Well-beloved, whom God
has therefore chosen to be Judge of quick and dead.
IV. I have done when you have borne with me a minute or
two upon my next point, which is this: and ALL THIS IS
ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL. That is to say, there is
nothing in the gospel contrary to the solemn teaching.
Men gather to us, to hear us preach of infinite mercy,
and tell of the love that blots out sin; and our task
is joyful when we are called to deliver such a message;
but oh, sirs, remember that nothing in our message
makes light of sin. The gospel offers you no
opportunity of going on in sin, and escaping without
punishment. Its own cry is, "Except ye repent, ye shall
all likewise perish." Jesus has not come into the world
to make sin less terrible. Nothing in the gospel
excuses sin; nothing in it affords toleration for lust
or anger, or dishonesty, or falsehood. The gospel is as
truly a two-edged sword against sin, as ever the law
can be. There is grace for the man who quits his sin,
but there is tribulation and wrath upon every man that
doeth evil. "If ye turn not, he will whet his sword; he
hath bent his bow, and made it ready." The gospel is
all tenderness to the repenting, but all terror to the
obstinate offender. It has pardon for the very chief of
sinners, and mercy for the vilest of the vile, if they
will forsake their sins; but it is according to our
gospel that he that goeth on in his iniquity, shall be
cast into hell, and he that believeth not shall be
damned. With deep love to the souls of men, I bear
witness to the truth that he who turns not with
repentance and faith to Christ, shall go away into
punishment as everlasting as the life of the righteous.
This is according to our gospel: indeed, we had not
needed such a gospel, if there had not been such a
judgment. The background of the cross is the judgment-
seat of Christ. We had not needed so great an
atonement, so vast a sacrifice, if there had not been
an exceeding sinfulness in sin, an exceeding justice in
the judgment, and an exceeding terror in the sure
rewards of transgression.
"According to my gospel," saith Paul; and he meant that
the judgment is an essential part of the gospel creed.
If I had to sum up the gospel I should have to tell you
certain facts: Jesus, the Son of God, became man; he
was born of the virgin Mary; lived a perfect life; was
falsely accused of men; was crucified, dead, and
buried; the third day he rose again from the dead; he
ascended into heaven and sitteth on the right hand of
God; from whence he shall also come to judge the quick
and the dead. This is one of the elementary truths of
our gospel; we believe in the resurrection of the dead,
the final judgment, and the life everlasting.
The judgment is according to our gospel, and in times
of righteous indignation its terrible significance
seemeth a very gospel to the pure in heart. I mean
this. I have read this and that concerning oppression,
slavery, the treading down of the poor, and the
shedding of blood, and I have rejoiced that there is a
righteous Judge. I have read of secret wickednesses
among the rich men of this city, and I have said within
myself, "Thank God, there will be a judgment day."
Thousands of men have been hanged for much less crimes
than those which now disgrace gentlemen whose names are
on the lips of rank and beauty. Ah me, how heavy is our
heart as we think of it! It has come like a gospel to
us that the Lord will be revealed in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that
obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess.
1:8) The secret wickedness of London cannot go on for
ever. Even they that love men best, and most desire
salvation for them, cannot but cry to God, "How long!
How long! Great God, wilt thou for ever endure this?"
God hath appointed a day in which he will judge the
world, and we sigh and cry until it shall end the reign
of wickedness, and give rest to the oppressed.
Brethren, we must preach the coming of the Lord, and
preach it somewhat more than we have done; because it
is the driving power of the gospel. Too many have kept
back these truths, and thus the bone has been taken out
of the arm of the gospel. Its point has been broken;
its edge has been blunted. The doctrine of judgment to
come is the power by which men are to be aroused. There
is another life; the Lord will come a second time;
judgment will arrive; the wrath of God will be
revealed. Where this is not preached, I am bold to say
the gospel is not preached. It is absolutely necessary
to the preaching of the gospel of Christ that men be
warned as to what will happen if they continue in their
sins. Ho, ho, sir surgeon, you are too delicate to tell
the man that he is ill! You hope to heal the sick
without their knowing it. You therefore flatter them;
and what happens? They laugh at you; they dance upon
their own graves. At last they die! Your delicacy is
cruelty; your flatteries are poisons; you are a
murderer. Shall we keep men in a fool's paradise? Shall
we lull them into soft slumbers from which they will
awake in hell? Are we to become helpers of their
damnation by our smooth speeches? In the name of God we
will not. It becomes every true minister of Christ to
cry aloud and spare not, for God hath set a day in
which he will "judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ
according to my gospel." As surely as Paul's gospel was
true the judgment will come. Wherefore flee to Jesus
this day, O sinners. O ye saints, come hide yourselves
again beneath the crimson canopy of the atoning
sacrifice, that you may be now ready to welcome your
descending Lord and escort him to his judgment-seat. O
my hearers, may God bless you, for Jesus' sake. Amen.
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