A Sermon

A Sermon

(No. 1849)

Delivered on Lord's Day Morning, July 12th, 1885, by

C. H. SPURGEON,

At the [13]Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington

"The day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ
according to my gospel."–Romans 2:16.

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.

Portion of Scripture read before Sermon–John 12:37-50.

Hymns from "Our Own Hymn Book"–93, 12, 518.
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Immeasurable Love