DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, MAY 19, 1878,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"Where is the God of Judgment?" Malachi 2:17.
"Then shall you return, and discern between the righteous and the
wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves Him not."
Malachi 3:18.
You were not here, I am thankful to say, last Lord's-Day evening, for
it was your duty and privilege to stay away to give others an
opportunity of hearing. My subject, then, [Sermon #1414, No Difference]
was our heavenly Father who makes His sun to rise upon the evil and
upon the good and sends rain upon the just and upon the unjust. Then I
set forth the universal benevolence of God and the way in which He
stays the operations of Justice to give space for forbearance and
long-suffering. Now this fact, this gracious fact, which ought to lead
man to repentance, has, through the perversity of human nature, been
used for quite another purpose. Men have said, "He blesses the evil as
well as the good. The sun shines on all alike. The rain
indiscriminately enriches the field of the tyrant and the pasture of
the generous heart– where is the God of Judgment? Is there such a God?
Is it not one and the same whether we fear Him or disregard Him?"
Side by side with this has run another circumstance perhaps even more
readily misunderstood. God is, in this life, preparing His people for a
better world and part of that process is effected by trial and
affliction so that it frequently happens that the godly are in
adversity while the wicked are in prosperity. Having no such designs
toward them as toward His people, the Lord permits the wicked to enjoy
themselves while they may, so that oftentimes they are as bullocks
fattened in rich pastures–but they forget that they are fattened for
the slaughter! The righteous, brought very low, are often in poverty,
frequently in sickness and not seldom in despondency of spirit–but all
to prepare them for Glory! From the trials of the godly, which are all
sent in wisdom and in love, shortsighted man has inferred that God has
no regard to human character and even treats those worst who serve Him
best.
In Malachi's days the blaspheming crew even said that God takes sides
with the wicked and they wearied God by saying–"Everyone that does
evil is good in the sight of the Lord and He delights in them." Then
again they uttered the old rude but plain-spoken question, "Where is
the God of Judgment?" Truly Brothers and Sisters, in looking with these
poor eyes upon the affairs around us, they do appear to be a great
tangle and snarl, a mixed medley of strange happenings. We see the true
princes of the earth walking in the dust and beggars riding upon
horses! We mourn as we see servants of God and heirs of Heaven lying,
like Lazarus, sick at the gate of the ungodly miser, while the vicious
libertine is rioting in luxury and drinking full bowls of pleasure!
Until we perceive the clue, Providence is a labyrinth into whose center
we can never penetrate. But there is a clue which opens all its
secrets! There is a God of Judgment, not sitting in Heaven in blind
indifference, but looking down upon the sons of men and working out
purposes of righteousness at all times. At this time I propose to speak
upon the fact that God does put a difference between the righteous and
the wicked and makes no mistake between Egypt and Israel. The Lord
knows them that are His and in His dealings, which we cannot always
understand, He has not confused His people with the world, nor does the
rod of the wicked rest upon the lot of the righteous. He has a right
hand of acceptance for them that fear Him and He has a left hand of
punishment for those that fear Him not.
This distinction is not so apparent, yet, as it shall be, but we shall
now trace the gradual widening of the division between the two classes
and show that still there is a God of Judgment and that, by-and-by,
even the blindest eye shall be able to discern between the righteous
and the wicked, between him that serves God and him that serves Him
not.
I. First, then, THERE ARE SIGNS OF SEPARATION between the righteous and
the wicked. The first sign is seen in the evident difference of
character. "They that feared the Lord" are spoken of. That is to say,
there are still some on the face of the earth who believe that there is
a God, who believe in the Revelation which He has given, who accept the
Atonement which He has provided and who delight to be obedient to the
will which He has declared. How came they to fear the Lord? The answer
is, it is a gift of His Grace and a work of His Spirit wherever it is
found. It makes a distinction very deep, very vital and, consequently,
very lasting, for it shall continue throughout eternity!
Let us bless God that in the worst times He still has a remnant
according to the election of Grace! And when blasphemers grow bold in
sin and say, "Where is the God of Judgment?" there are at least a few
hidden ones who nevertheless look up and behold the Lord exalted above
the rage of His foes. There will always be a band who bow the knee and
worship the Most High because their hearts stand in awe of Him. God is
beginning to separate His chosen from the world when He gives them an
inward sense of His Presence and a consequent holy fear and sacred awe
of Him. The dividing work begins here–in the bent and current of the
heart.
This difference in real character soon shows itself in a remarkable
change of thought and meditation. According to the passage before us,
those who are said to, "fear the Lord," are also described as those
who, "thought upon His name." Their thoughts are not always towards the
transient things of this world, but they are much engaged with the
eternal God and His truth–they are not always groveling after the
creature, but soaring towards the Creator. The Hebrew word has the idea
of "counting"–they reckon the Lord as the chief consideration when
they count up their arguments for action. Others do not take Him into
the reckoning, they act as if there were no God at all. But the
righteous make much of Him and account Him to be the greatest factor in
all their calculations–they fall back upon God in trouble– and joy
most of all in Him when they are glad.
They reckon not without the Lord of Hosts. They say, "The best of all
is, God is with us." And concerning any action, if it is contrary to
His mind, they reject it. If it is according to His will they think
upon Him and they delight to carry it out. This makes a great
difference in their course of life and also in their happiness. Dear
Hearers, I trust there are many among you who can truly say that your
meditation of God has been very sweet and you have been glad in the
Lord. This, then, is working out a distinction between you and the
wicked who forget God. You fear the Lord and you take delight in
meditating upon Him in secret, but this, the worldling cannot
understand. This makes a distinction between you and the careless which
does not long exist without operating in a further direction–you grow
weary of their frivolous conversation and they cannot endure your
serious observations! And so two parties are formed, as of old there
were two lines–the sons of God and the children of Cain.
You will soon see Ishmael and Isaac, Esau and Jacob living over again
if you watch the thoughtless worldling and the pious Christian and mark
how much they differ. Therefore there grows out of this difference of
thought and feeling a separation as to society. "Then they that feared
the Lord spoke often one to another," which shows that they often met
and that they delighted in one another's company. Each man felt himself
feeble in the midst of the ungodly and, therefore, he sought out a
Brother that he might be strengthened by association. Each man felt
himself to be like a sheep in the midst of wolves, but knowing the
nature of sheep to be gregarious, each one sought his fellow, that they
might make up a flock, hoping that, as a flock, they might gather round
the Good Shepherd. Yes, and in the ungodliest times there are not only
gracious people here and there, but these chosen souls, by some means
or other, make mutual discoveries and come together and so form the
visible Church of the living God!
In Rome, in the days of the Caesars, when to be a Christian meant to be
condemned to die without mercy, if Believers could not meet in their
houses, they would meet in the abodes of the dead–in the
Catacombs–but they must meet. It is the nature of God's children that
they do not like going to Heaven alone, but prefer to go up to the
temple in bands and companies–and the more the merrier, as the proverb
has it–for they delight to go with the multitude that keep Holy Day
and they rejoice to fly in flocks like doves to their windows. There is
a Divine sweetness in Christian communion and every true saint delights
in it! The essence of our religion is love and he that loves not the
Brethren, loves not God and lacks an essential point of the Christian
character.
By the exercise of holy Brotherhood the Lord continues to call out His
own people and thus to create a manifest separation. Likeness of
character and thought produce a mutual affection and so a corporate
body is formed and the solitary secret ones become manifest in the
mass. The chosen stones are quarried and are built into the similitude
of a
palace–what if I say that they come together bone to His bone to
fashion the spiritual body of the Lord Jesus Christ? This distinct
association leads on to a peculiar occupation–for, "they that feared
the Lord spoke often one to another." They heard others speak against
the Lord and they resolved to speak, too. Of others the Lord
complained, "your words have been stout against Me, says the Lord," and
these men felt that it would be a shame if they were silent. They did
not cast their pearls before swine, yet they wore their pearls where
those who were not swine, but saints, could see them! In society where
the Truth of God would be appreciated, they were not backward to
declare it–"they spoke often one to another."
It was a time of noise and tumult. It was a time of speaking very
bitterly against the Lord. Therefore when they met together they spoke
for the Lord and each one opened his mouth that the Lord might not lack
for witnesses. I take it that the expression means that they renewed
and repeated their testimony. "They spoke often one to another." They
said, "Ah, we can answer what the ungodly are saying! Our experience
testifies that they speak not aright. It is not a vain thing to serve
God. How do you find it, Brother?" Then the Brother would say, "I find
it exceedingly comforting and cheering to my soul. They have said, What
profit is it that we have kept His ordinances? But I have found it
exceedingly profitable, for in keeping His commandments there is great
reward." Then a third would say, "It has enriched our souls to walk
according to the mind of God and in the blessed ordinances of His house
our souls have been fed and exceedingly nourished."
A fourth would add, "The ungodly say it is in vain that we have walked
mournfully before the Lord of Hosts–do you find it so, Brother?" The
reply would be, "No, my mournful days have often been most profitable,
like the days of shower and cloud which have most to do with the
harvest." "Besides," said another, "we do not walk mournfully before
the Lord as a rule, for we rejoice before Him, yes, in His name we do
exceedingly rejoice!" Thus, you see, by their testimony, the one to the
other, they supported each other's minds against the popular
infidelities of the time. They set their thoughtful experience against
the vicious falsehoods of unbelieving men and so they both honored God
and benefited each other.
When they "spoke often one to another" I have no doubt they expressed
their affection, one for the other. They said, "Let us not marvel if
the world hates us! Did not our Master say, 'It hated Me before it
hated you'? Did He not tell us to beware of man? Did He not remind us
that our worst enemies should be those of our own household." "Yes,
Brothers and Sisters," they would say, one to another, "let us love one
another, for love is of God." The elders would speak like John the
Divine and say, "Little children, love one another." And the younger
ones would respond by acts and words of loving respect to the older
saints. Their mutual expressions of love would increase love! As when
we lay live coals together, they burn the better, so loving
intercommunications increase the heat of affection till it glows like
coals of juniper which have a most vehement flame!
No doubt, for we know by what we see, this speaking, one to another,
assisted each other's faith. One might be weak, but they were not all
weak at once! One and another would be strong just then. We all have
our ups and downs, but the mercy is that when one is sinking, another
is rising! It will frequently happen that if the sun does not shine on
my side of the hedge, it is shining on yours, and you can tell me that
the sun is not snuffed out but that it will shine on me, too,
by-and-by. Commerce makes nations rich and Christian communion makes
Believers grow in Grace. Speaking often, one to another, with the view
of helping the weak hands and confirming the feeble knees is a means of
great blessing to the souls of Christians!
When they met, one would tell what he knew which his Brother or Sister
might not know, and a third would say, "I can confirm that statement
and add something more," and so the first speaker would learn as well
as teach. Then a fourth Brother would say, "But there is yet another
Truth which stands in relation to that which you have stated, do not
overlook it." Thus by communion in experience and each one expressing
what the Lord had written upon his heart, the whole would be edified in
righteousness. Now, Beloved, it is in proportion as the children of God
speak often, one to another, in this way that the Church is brought out
into a visible condition. A silent Church might grope through the world
unobserved, but a speaking Church–speaking often within itself–is of
necessity soon heard beyond the doors of the house in which it dwells!
Soon does the sound of Gospel music steal over hill and dale. "Their
sound has gone forth throughout all the earth and their words unto the
end of the world." The speaking together of assembled saints at
Pentecost led to the gift of
tongues and then they spoke so that every man in His own language heard
the wonderful works of the Lord! An increase of private communion among
the saints would lead to a fuller public communication to the outside
and the world would receive a blessing. Thus I have shown you that the
Lord thus gradually begins to separate a people to Himself. The fear of
the Lord in the heart and the thought of God in the mind lead to
association in persons of similar mold–hence arises the Church. Then
the interchange of expression between the godly makes them zealous and
this leads to public testimony and the people of God are revealed!
You will say that this does not prove that God is dealing differently
with them from other men. "Where is the God of Judgment?" is the
question, and how is it to be answered? My reply is, in all this the
Lord is putting a difference. To work His fear in the heart is an act
of Sovereign Grace, but to enable the soul to find deep enjoyment in
meditating upon Divine things is a reward as well as a gift of
Grace–and a reward more valuable than if He gave the God-fearing man
wealth and fame! Christian society is also no small token of the Divine
favor and is another reward of the God-fearing. I do not know how you
find it, but I can truly assert that my choicest delights are with the
people of God. What a great deal some of us owe to Christian
fellowship! People whom we should never have known and never have
thought of speaking to are now our choicest friends and have been and
are incalculably helpful to us. Christian love has enlarged our family
circle wonderfully! We have come to be intertwisted, the one with the
other, and the separate threads have ceased to be such for they have
become a threefold cord which cannot be broken! And this is no small
gift of Divine Grace.
Moreover, the communications which have arisen out of this society in
which we have edified one another, have they not been very precious to
us? Can you not say you had rather dwell for a day in the courts of the
Lord than reign in the tents of wickedness for ages? Is it not so that
when we are able to rejoice together and tell our experiences, we find
a pleasure which makes the wilderness and the solitary place to be
glad? Best of all, it is in the midst of these communications where
holy society yields us gracious fellowship, that God Himself is found!
This is the grand distinction in God's relation to the universe at this
present time–that He is with His people and they know it–while He is
far from the wicked. The Lord listened and heard of old and He still
listens and hears–and the Lord answers the prayers of His children out
of His holy place–and sends tokens of acceptance to those who praise
and magnify His name.
"The Lord of Hosts is with us, the God of Jacob is our refuge." Oh
come, let us exult before Him, for He is not far away, nor has He
hidden His face from us, but He dwells between the cherubim and shines
forth among His saints in the Person of His dear Son and manifests
Himself to us as He does not to the world! Even now, Israel in Egypt is
not Egypt, for God is pitying the sighs and cries of His people! Israel
in the Arabian desert is not Arabian, for, lo, the fiery cloudy pillar,
like an lifted up standard, gathers around it a separated people. Lo,
"The people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the
nations." Even now the faithful, in going out from the world and being
separate, find the promise fulfilled–"I will dwell in them and walk in
them. And I will be their God and they shall be My people." There is
the first answer to the question, "Where is the God of Judgment?" The
separation is already beginning–there are signs of it now!
II. Secondly, THERE ARE PREPARATIONS FOR A FINAL SEPARATION and these
are, at this moment,
proceeding. What these preparations are we learn from the 16th
verse–"The Lord listened and heard it and a book of remembrance was
written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that thought upon
His name." There is a day coming in which He will separate the two
sorts of men, the one from the other, as a shepherd divides the sheep
from the goats. The great net is now dragging the sea bottom–the day
is coming when the net shall be hauled in and drawn to shore. What a
medley it contains of good and bad fish, of creeping things, weeds,
shells and stones–this mass must be separated! Then will come the
putting of the good into vessels and the casting of the bad away.
When that is done it will be executed with great solemnity and care.
There will be great discrimination used in the dividing of the
righteous from the wicked and, as at a trial, everything proceeds upon
evidence, the separating work is being prepared for us every day
because the evidence is being collected and recorded. The evidence in
favor of the righteous might be forgotten if it were not duly preserved
in order that in the day when the separation shall be consummated there
may be no mistake and nobody may be able to challenge the decision of
the great Judge. Remember this, dear Friends, that evidence is being
written down in a book–evidence of fidelity to God in evil times. When
others were thinking against God and speaking against God, there were
some who spoke on His behalf because they feared Him and thought upon
His name–and their conduct was reported upon and chronicled!
God's gracious eyes never overlooks one single act of decision for Him
in the midst of blasphemy and rebuke. If the timid girl in the midst of
a Christless family still patiently endures reproach and holds on to
her Master's Truth–though she cannot speak eloquently–behold, it is
written in the book! Though her tears may often be her strongest
expressions, they are in the book, also, and shall not be forgotten!
When the workman in the shop speaks a word against filthy language, a
word for the sacredness of the Sabbath, a word for his Lord, it is all
written in the Book of Remembrance! A commission is instituted for the
collection of evidence as to those that fear the Lord and think upon
His name.
Are you, dear Friends, furnishing evidence, do you think, evidence
which will prove that you are truly godly? Do you clearly stand out
from among your fellows and are you manifestly separate, so that even
Satan himself at the Last Great Day will not be able to challenge the
evidence that will be given, that you did, indeed, fear the Lord when
others reviled Him? This evidence is being taken by the Lord Himself!
There is much consolation in this, because others might be prejudiced
and give an unfavorable view of what we do. But when the Lord Himself
bears witness, the truth will be manifested. "The Lord listened and
heard." It is a very strong expression! He not only "listened," as one
trying to hear, but He did actually hear all that was said! What a
witness God will be in favor of His saints! If we really fear Him and
think upon His name He will set our holy fear, our godly thought and
our gracious talk in evidence on our behalf.
He reads our motives and these are a deep and vital part of character.
Others might err, but He cannot–what He hears is accurately heard and
correctly understood. Evidence is being collected, then, by a Witness
who is Truth itself! This evidence is before God's eyes at all times.
If you notice, "the book of remembrance was written before Him," as if
while every item was being put down, the book lay open before His gaze.
From Him the record is no more concealed than the act itself–past
deeds of virtue are present to His eyes. Every recorded act of Grace is
especially noticed by the Lord. Every separate word of faithfulness and
act of true God-fearing life is noted, weighed, estimated, valued and
safely preserved in memory to justify the verdict of the last grand
dividing day!
Think of it, then, Beloved Brothers and Sisters–all that Divine Grace
is working in you of humble faithfulness to God is being recorded! No
annual report will proclaim it. It will never be printed in a magazine,
nor advertised through the newspapers so as to bring you renown. But a
Book of Remembrance is written before the Lord Himself! There it lies
before Him whose single approval is more than fame! There, read a
page–"Such an one thought upon My name. So-and-So spoke to his brother
concerning Me and helped to the mutual edification of the body and to
the bearing of powerful testimony for My Truth against the assaults of
error."
This evidence, moreover, dear Friends, is of a spiritual kind and this
is one reason why it is taken down by God and by no one else, for it is
evidence concerning the state of the heart in reference to God! And who
is to form that estimate but the Lord who searches the heart? Who is to
know the thoughts of the mind, save God alone? There is an ear that
hears thought. Though it is not indicated by a sound so loud as the
tick of a clock, nor so audible as the chirping of a little bird, yet
every thought is vocal to the mind of the Most High and it is written
down in the Remembrance Book! Certain great actions which every man
applauds may never go into that book because they were done from
motives of ostentation, but the thought which nobody could have known
and which must otherwise have remained in oblivion is recorded by the
Lord and shall be published at the last assize!
Perhaps it ran thus, "What can I do for Jesus? How can I help His poor
people? How can I cheer such-and-such a languishing spirit? How can I
defeat error? How can I win a wandering soul for my Master?" Such
thoughts as these are reckoned worthy of record and they are supplying
evidence which, in His gracious love, the Lord is collecting that the
sentence of His great tribunal may be justified to all. That evidence
concerns apparently little things, for it mentions that "they spoke one
to another." Of course people will gossip when they get together–what
is there in talk? Oh, but what sort of gossip was it? That is the
question! For a holy theme turns gossip into heavenly fellowship! It is
written, they "thought upon His name." Surely it is not much to think?
Ah Brethren, thinking and speaking are two very powerful forces in the
world and out of them the greatest actions are hatched. Thoughts and
words are the seeds of far-reaching deeds and God takes care of these
embryos and germs–men do not even know of them and if they did know,
would not esteem them–but they are put down in the Book of Remembrance
which lies always open before the Most High!
Now, all this is going on every day and every night as certainly as
time's sands drop through the hour-glass. Letter after letter, stroke
by stroke, the story is being written in the Book of Remembrance and
though men see it not, the evidence is being gathered up to be used in
that dread solemnity in which, amidst the pomp of angels, the great
Infallible
shall separate the blessed of His Father from those who are accursed!
Thus every day the God of Judgment is working towards the time when
even the most careless shall discern between the righteous and the
wicked.
III. This brings us to the third point that IN THAT SEPARATION GREAT
PRINCIPLES WILL BE
MANIFESTED. I shall only have time to mention them rapidly. First, the
principle of election will be displayed. God will have a people who are
more His than other men can be. "They shall be Mine, says the Lord of
Hosts, in that day." "All souls are Mine," says God, and His witness is
true, but He rejects some souls because of sin and says, "You are not
My people." As for His chosen, they are His portion, His peculiar
treasure, His regalia, His crown jewels and they shall be His forever.
Then will special love and peculiar choice be manifest, for in the day
of the separation it shall be seen that the Lord knows them that are
His and while He counts others to be as mere stones of the field, He
has set His heart upon the saints who are the gems of His crown.
And then will come, as the next principle, the fact of essential
value–namely, that the Lord's people are not only His but they are His
jewels. There is something in them which Grace has put there, which
makes them to be more precious than other men. "The righteous is more
excellent than his neighbor." God's Grace makes His children to be
purer, holier, heavenlier than the rest of mankind–and they are
rightly divided from the impure and worthless mass. They will at the
last, by evidence, be proved to have been jewels among men and nobody
shall be able to question their worth. They shall be confessed by all
men to have been precious stones and pebbles, gold and dross.
Then will come up the next principle of open acknowledgment. They were
the Lord's and they shall be acknowledged as such. "They shall be Mine,
says the Lord of Hosts, in that day." He Himself will declare the fact,
for it is written, "He is not ashamed to call them Brethren," and in
that day the Lord Jesus will say, "Here am I, and the children that You
have given Me." Oh, what a joy it will be to be thus openly confessed
by Jesus Himself! Now we are unknown if we are God's people, for the
world knows us not because it knew not our Master Himself. We are dead
and our life is hid with Christ in God. But when He who is our Life
shall appear, then shall we, also, appear with Him in Glory! "Then
shall your righteousness shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their
Father." Then shall be carried out the principle that there is nothing
hid which shall not be known and those who were secretly servants of
the Lord shall have evidence of that fact read aloud before assembled
worlds–and God, the judge of all–shall not be ashamed to declare,
"They are Mine, they are My peculiar treasure."
But even in their case the principle of mercy will be conspicuous. I
want you to notice very specially. "When I make up My jewels they shall
be Mine, and I will spare them." Sparing applies to those who, under
another mode ofjudgment, would not escape. Had it been a question of
merit as under Law, they would have been doomed as well as others, but
the Lord says, "I will spare them." O God, even though You have made
Your chosen to be Your treasure, yet You do spare them, for the
evidence does not prove them meritorious, but shows that they were
saved in Christ Jesus and, therefore, taught to fear You. When the
Apostle had received great kindness from a friend whom he had valued,
he offered a prayer for him which you may be sure would be a very
earnest and comprehensive one, but it was this–"The Lord have mercy
upon him in that Day."
That is all we can expect and, blessed be God, it is all we need! The
matter of justice is settled by our Great Substitute and to us mercy
comes freely! The brightest saint that ever reflected the image of
Christ on earth will have to be saved by mercy from first to last! "I
will spare them," He says, for He might have dealt otherwise with them
had He taken them on grounds of Law and judged them apart from the
mercy which flows through the atoning Sacrifice! True, they were jewels
and they were the Lord's own treasure. But if He had laid up their sins
as evidence, instead of their marks of Grace–if that Book of
Remembrance which is written before Him had contained an account of
their shortcomings and their transgressions as the basis of
judgment–it would have gone otherwise with them. But now He calls to
remembrance their godly fear, their sacred thoughts and their holy
conversation and He spares them!
They will be dealt with on the principle of relationship, also. "I will
spare them as a man spares his own that serves him." You spare your son
when you know he is doing his best to serve you. He has made a blunder
and if he had been a mere hired servant you might have been angry, but
you say, "Ah, I know my boy was doing all he could and he will do
better, soon, and therefore I cannot be severe. I see that he is
imperfect, but I see equally well that he loves me and acts like a
loving son." The word here used signifies pity or compassion, "Like as
a father pities his children, so the Lord pities them that fear Him."
He will at the last look upon us with a love which has pity mingled
with it, for we shall need
it in that Day. He will "remember that we are dust" and will accept us,
though cognizant of all the faults there were and of all the
infirmities that there had been.
He still will accept us because we are His own sons in Christ Jesus
and, by His Grace, desire to serve Him. We do not serve Him to become
sons, but because we are sons. It is a sweet name for a child of God–a
son-servant–one who is a servant to his father and, therefore, because
he is his son, serves not for wage, nor of compulsion, but out of love.
Such service is mentioned as evidence of sonship and not as a
claim–and we shall be saved through Grace, our holy service of sonship
being the proof of that Grace..
Beloved, on these principles will God make the final division. He will
say, "You are Mine–I chose you. You are My saints and there is a
gracious excellence in you. I acknowledge you as Mine and I am not
ashamed to do so, for you bear My Nature. I chose you in mercy and, in
consequence of My having chosen you, I have made you to be My
son-servants and so I accept your holy conversation as the token of
your sincere love to Me and I receive you into My Glory to be Mine
forever and ever.
IV. And now, lastly, comes the sure truth that THE SEPARATION, ITSELF,
WILL BE CLEAR TO ALL. Then
shall you mourn, you sorcerers and adulterers, you that oppress the
hireling and turn aside the stranger from his right, you false swearers
and enemies of God! You now can go on your way and say, "God cares
nothing about righteous or wicked, He deals with all alike, or even
smites His children worst of all." But you shall look another way,
by-and-by. Compelled to turn your heads in another direction from that
of this poor fleeting world, you shall see something that will astound
you! For though you wish it not, even you and much more the godly shall
then "discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that
serves God and him that serves Him not." The division will be sharp and
decisive!
Wherever you read in the Bible you find only two classes. You never
read of three–you find the righteous and the wicked–him that fears
God and him that fears Him not. A certain order of persons puzzle us in
making division here below because we do not know to which party they
belong. But when the Book of Remembrance is finished and shall be
opened, there will be no sort of difficulty in knowing them–the two
classes shall roll apart like the two portions of the Red Sea when
Moses lifted up his rod–and there shall be a space between. On which
side, my dear Hearer, you that are hesitating between two opinions–on
which side will you be?
There will be no border land, no space for non-committal and
neutrality–you will, then, be among the fearers of God or among those
that fear not His name! Who may abide the day of His coming? That
coming may be very speedy, for none of us knows the day nor the hour
when the Son of Man shall appear. The separation will be sharp and
decisive. There will be no undecided ones left. And it will obliterate
a host of pretensions, for the day comes that shall burn as an oven and
all the proud shall be as stubble. The Pharisee who thought he took his
place among those that were the jewels of creation will find that the
coming of the Lord will burn up his phylacteries and his broad
hems–and utterly consume all his boasts as to fasting thrice in the
week and taking mint and anise and cumin–for these things were never
written in the Book, nor worth recording there.
What was put there was fearing the Lord and thinking upon His name and
speaking one to another. Ceremonials and niceties of observance are not
thought worth a stroke of the recording pen! There is nothing in the
Book to act as evidence for the proud, but everything to condemn him!
Therefore the Day shall burn him up and utterly consume him and his
hopes! That division will be universal, for all they that do wickedly
shall be as stubble, not one of them escaping. Though they hid their
wickedness and bore a good name. Though they concealed their sin even
from those who watched them. Though they entered the Church and gained
honors in it as Judas did in the college of the Apostles, yet that Day
shall discover all that do wickedly! Talk how they may and speak as
they please, their outward conduct will be the index of their inner
alienation from God–and in the hour of their judgment the fire shall
consume them from off the earth!
Then shall both classes perceive that the distinction involves two very
different fates. Once the righteous were in the fire and, according to
the third chapter and the third verse, the Lord sat as a refiner and
purified them in a furnace like silver! But now the tables are turned
and the proud–and they that do wickedly–are in a more terrible fire!
The Day shall burn as an oven! The righteous were profited by their
fire, for they were good metal–and to part with the dross was no loss!
But the wicked are such base metal that they shall utterly fail in the
testing fire. The tables will be turned,
again, for the righteous were under the feet of the wicked–they
ridiculed and mocked them and called them "cants and hypocrites."
But then the ungodly shall be laid low and the righteous shall tread
them as ashes under their feet. The cause of evil will be a worn-out
thing–it will be burnt up and there will be nothing left of it upon
the earth but memories of its former power and of the fire by which it
perished. That Day comes and let the mighty ones among the sons of men
who rebel against God know it! They shall no more be able to resist the
terror of His Presence than the stubble is able to stand against the
blazing fire. When they pine forever in the place where their worm dies
not and their fire is not quenched, they will know the God of Judgment
and see how utterly He consumed them out of the land!
Look at the lot of the righteous. When Christ, the Sun of
Righteousness, shall arise upon the earth and gild it with His own
light, there shall be a new Heaven and a new earth–and the righteous
shall go forth and leap for joy like cattle which, before, had been
penned in the stall! No works of the ungodly shall be left. As far as
this world is concerned, they shall be utterly and altogether gone.
There shall then be no tavern songs or ale-house ribaldry. There shall
be no village profligate around whom shall gather the youth of the
hamlet to be led away by his libidinous and blasphemous words. There
shall then be no shameless reviler who shall provide a hall where
blasphemers may congregate to try which can utter the blackest
profanities against the Lord of Hosts. There shall be no shrine of
virgin, or of saint, or idol, or image, or crucifix. Superstition shall
be swept away!
There shall be no congregations where pretended preachers of the Gospel
shall deal out new philosophies and suggest newly invented skepticisms,
or which at least they hoped men would accept as new, though they were
the old errors of the past picked off the dunghill upon which they had
been thrown by disgusted ages! Sin shall all be gone and not a trace of
it shall be left! But here shall dwell righteousness and peace! The
meek shall inherit the earth and the saints shall stand, each one in
his lot, for the Lord Himself shall reign gloriously among His
ancients! From every hill and every vale shall come up the one song of
Glory unto the Most High and every heart that beats shall magnify His
name, who at last has answered the question, "Where is the God of
Judgment?"
Then, cast into the nethermost Hell, in the place appointed for the
devil and his angels, the ungodly shall never ask again, "Where is the
God of Judgment?" And saints, triumphant in their Lord, with whom they
shall reign forever in eternity, shall also perceive that He, "discerns
between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serves God and
him that serves Him not." Beloved Hearer, where? O where will you be?
Where shall I be in that Day?