DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, DECEMBER 4, 1870,
BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"He that believes on Him is not condemned. But he that believes not is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God." John 3:18.
I MAY have preached from this text before. I may have done so several
times. If I have not, I ought to have. It is the whole Bible in
miniature. We may say of it so many words, so many volumes, for every
single syllable here is charged to the full with meaning. We may read
it, and re-read it, and continue still to read it day and night, yet
ever find some fresh instruction in it. It is the essence of the
Gospel. The good news in brief. When our Lord Jesus Christ shall come a
second time, before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall
separate them one from another, as the shepherd divides the sheep from
the goats.
That will not, however, be the first time in which the Presence of the
Lord Jesus has acted as a separator. It is always so wherever He comes.
Men are as one body in their fallen condition–all alike estranged from
God until He appears. But His coming finds out the chosen and calls
them apart, and on the other hand, the unbelievers are discovered. Two
camps are formed out of the once-mingled multitude. Each goes to each,
each one after its own kind finds its fellows, and between the two
fellowships there is a deep gulf which divides them as clearly as light
is distinct from the darkness, or death is divided from life.
Other distinctions sink into insignificance in the Presence of
Jesus–riches or wealth, learning or ignorance, power or weakness–are
matters of too small account to divide mankind in the Presence of the
great Discerner of spirits. Only these two characters–Believers and
unbelievers–stand out in clear relief. As it is in our text, so is it
as a matter of fact in the entire universe–the only two really vital
distinctions for time and for eternity are just these–Believers and
Unbelievers, receivers of Christ and rejecters of Him.
Furthermore, as today the Presence of Christ divides the masses, and
gathers men into assorted companies, so also does that Presence ensure
a present judgment. It is written that He shall say to them on His
right hand, "Come, you blessed," and to those on His left, "Depart, you
cursed." And even so at this moment His Presence, with equal certainty,
produces a judging. For here in the text we find Believers not
condemned, or in other words, acquitted, and we find Unbelievers
condemned already.
The, "Come, you blessed," is anticipated in the non-condemnation, and
the, "Depart, you cursed," is, as it were, already heard in the
verdict, "Condemned already." I charge you, therefore, this morning,
while the Word is preached in your hearing, to remember that a clear
and all-important division will be worked while this sermon is being
delivered. This day the Son of David holds His Throne, and in this
house He sits in judgment. In the preaching of the Gospel at this
moment His majestic voice divides the sinners from the saints, and if
sensitive to His Presence, we shall either tremble or rejoice.
God grant that while this division shall go on, as it must go on, for
He will be this day a savor of death unto death or a life unto life to
every one of our souls, we may all be found among Believers, and none
of us shut out as condemned already by being Unbelievers.
I. I shall ask you, this morning, first, to CONSIDER TO WHICH OF THE
TWO CLASSES MENTIONED IN THE TEXT WE BELONG. "He that believes on Him
is not condemned." Have we a share in that character? Let us see to it.
What is meant by believing on Him, or rather in Him, for the word "eis"
is rather in Him than on Him. If I mistake not, the word, "believes in
Him," means a great deal more than most of us have seen in it.
I think I see many shades of believing. There are some who believe
concerning Christ, that is to say, they believe that He is the Messiah
and is the Savior of men. Many accept this for a Truth of God because
their fathers did so, and it is to
them a matter of unquestioned tradition. They are born in what is
commonly thought to be a Christian country, and therefore have they
taken up with the Christian faith, and theoretically and notionally
they believe that Jesus is the Son of God and the Redeemer of the
world. They would not hesitate to stand up and say, "I believe in Jesus
Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was begotten of the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified,
dead and buried," and so on.
But remember, you may believe all that is orthodox concerning the Lord
Jesus, and yet it will be no token that you are justified in Him. No
one may dare to say that a belief in the Athanasian creed will ensure
us of salvation. If you reject His Deity, if you deny His Atonement,
such errors will be conclusive evidence that you are not a believer in
Him, because you are not a believer of the Truth of God concerning Him.
Therefore you must take your place among unbelievers, who are condemned
already.
But on the other hand, if you hold the Scriptural Truth, and believe
accurately concerning the Lord Jesus, yet if you go no further, your
mere faith about Him, or concerning Him, will not bring you salvation.
To know Christ is of no avail, unless it can be said, "Flesh and blood
has not revealed this unto you."
It is a step further when we have come to believing Him. This is
sometimes mentioned in Scripture–believing Him. "I know whom I have
believed." Believing concerning Him that He is God's Christ, His
Anointed, His Sent One, His Messiah, we therefore should, as a matter
of course, accept whatever He says as being true. And if with our
hearts we do this, I think we are saved. But we may think we do this
and notionally may give our assent to His teaching, and yet,
notwithstanding, we may not have attained unto His salvation. We may
still be condemned Unbelievers, though we may think, and say, and
profess that we believe Him.
Frequently in Scripture there is another form of the believing which
clusters about the Greek word, "epi," believing upon Him. Our
translators seem to have placed the word "on" here as though it were in
our text, but it is hardly so in the Greek. There is a difference
between believing on Him and believing in Him. To believe on Jesus is,
indeed, a saving faith, for He that believes on Him shall not be
confounded. To believe on Him is, as it were, to lean upon Him, to
receive Him as God has set Him forth, and, in consequence, to make Him
the foundation of our hope.
Believing concerning Him, and believing Him, we then come to repose
upon Him, and to make Him our confidence. We believe that He can save
us, we trust in Him to save us, and this is the essence of saving
faith–to believe upon the appointed Redeemer. But in this particular
case our text speaks of believing in Him, and this is something more
than believing upon Him. Every man who really believes upon Christ will
before long come to believe in Him. But there is a growth–believing in
Him is more than believing upon Him.
How is that? If I thoroughly believe in a man, what is the result of
it? Is he an advocate, and am I immersed in law? Then I trust my case
to him–I leave the affair in his hands without fear–for I believe in
my advocate. Very good. So far that may be believing upon him. But now
he gives me directions and rules of action. If I believe in him I shall
certainly follow those rules to the letter, being fully convinced that
they will lead me to a right issue. I commit the matter practically as
well as theoretically to the man whom I have chosen to represent me,
and I do so cheerfully, for I believe in him.
I am like a man on board a vessel–I believe in him who is the captain.
What then? If he bids me do this, or that, or the other, I may hear
someone call his orders foolish, but I believe in him, and I do, at
once, whatever he bids me. His bidding may appear absurd to one who has
no faith in him, but to me it is wise and right. Suppose there should
be raised up at this juncture for poor unhappy France, a man of high
military genius, a man who shall be capable with such material as may
come to hand to meet the terrible foe, and to disperse the cloud which
now hangs over the capital city.
If the people shall believe in the man, what then? Why they will
surrender the direction of affairs to him. They will implicitly follow
his lead. Does he command a sortie, does he bid the army advance? They
believe in him, and the sortie is made, and the troops advance
gallantly to the conflict. Should he counsel delay, and the avoidance
of a great battle, those who believe in him will entrench themselves,
or retire before the foe.
If they are absolutely sure in their hearts that he is the man who
guarantees victory, they will be certain to obey his orders. He will be
their oracle, their dictator, and that most joyfully on their parts. So
that to believe in our Lord means this–that I believe Him to be the
Son of God, and believe all other Truths of God concerning Him. That I
also believe whatever He says to be the Truth of God. In other words, I
believe Him. Yet more than this, I cast my soul upon His atoning merits
that He may save it, and so believe upon Him.
And furthermore, having so done I give myself up entirely to the
Savior's holy guidance. I believe Him to be infallible as the director
of my spirit. I feel a union with Him. I come to be in Him–His cause
is my cause, my cause His cause–I believe in Him. Now this is the Man
of whom the text says, "He that believes in Him is not condemned," and
the question I put this morning to myself and to you is, Have we
believed in Jesus? Do we really take Him to be our All in All? Do we
consent that He should guide and lead us till He brings us to eternal
felicity?
The connection of our text will help us to form a judgment as to
whether we are, indeed, Believers in Jesus. Brothers and Sisters, have
you realized, by a true exercise of faith, what is meant by the
fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the present chapter? "As Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be
lifted up: that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have
eternal life." As the serpent-bitten Israelite looked to the bronze
serpent when it was uplifted, have you, in the same way, looked to
Jesus and found healing through looking to Him?
By this you may judge yourselves. Have you been healed of the wounds of
sin and quickened into a new and heavenly life? Have you in very deed
made the crucified Savior your soul's resting place? In the verses
which follow the text, you find such words as these, "He that does the
truth comes to the light." Do you, my Brethren, as the result of having
trusted in Christ come to the light? Is it your desire to know God's
Truth, God's will, God's Law, God's Word? Are you seeking after the
light, and are you desirous that the works worked in you should be seen
to be the fruit of God's own Spirit? By this, also, can you judge
yourself?
It is vain to say, "I trust in Christ," if you have never looked to Him
with that same childlike look with which the Israelite looked to the
bronze serpent–and equally vain for you to profess to be a believer in
Him, unless you desire the light. You may be in partial darkness still,
as doubtless you are, but are you seeking more light, seeking God,
seeking Truth, seeking right? By this shall you know whether the Father
has begotten you unto a new birth, whether you are to a certainty a new
man, no longer a light-shunner but a light-seeker. No longer, because
your deeds are evil, seeking to conceal yourself from the convicting
Word of God, but because your deeds are truthful, seeking to receive
more light, that your works may be made manifest to your own conscience
as being truly worked of God in your soul.
The consideration which I proposed just now has to be taken up with
regard to the second class. Are we Unbelievers? It is to be feared that
there are some such here. If that is so, it may be of some service to
them to know where they are, and what they are. "He that believes not
is condemned already." Some of you here are very inconsistent, because
though you believe not in Christ Jesus, that is to say, do not trust
your souls with Him, nor give yourselves up obediently to serve Him,
yet you believe concerning Him that He is the Christ of God.
And if He were here today and spoke to you, you would believe His
Words, though I cannot say you would so believe them as to act upon
them. It is so very strange that you should believe Him to be the Son
of God and yet should not trust Him! You believe what He speaks is
true, and after He has warned you of the wrath to come you still sit
down in stolid indifference and do not seek the salvation which He
provides. Instead of looking to the bronze serpent, you act as the
Israelites would have done had they sought out another remedy.
You have not believed in Christ, but if you have any belief that you
need a Savior, I suppose your own common reason makes you seek one. You
are evidently, therefore, seeking another salvation than that which God
provides. You are refusing what God has ordained, that you may find
something of your own. There is but one Savior–that Savior this day
you will not trust in–you are refusing Him to your own destruction.
You are this day shutting your eyes to the one only Light, and though
you have some desire towards light at times, yet you love darkness
rather than light, and still continue as you were–dark, dark,
dark–for you do not like to be reproved.
You cannot bear that the Gospel should come too cuttingly home to touch
you in your conscience and rebuke you for your sins. To this day you
remain an Unbeliever and a lover of the darkness. Search, I pray you,
and look! While this heart which now addresses you will pity you, I
trust God's heart may pity you, too, and may you yet escape out of the
condition of the Unbeliever, and yet be numbered with the Believers in
Christ.
Thus much on our first point, which I leave to your earnest
self-examination, hoping that it may not be treated lightly.
II. Now, secondly, and for a very short time, let us CONSIDER THE
CONDITION OF THE BELIEVER. "He that
believes on Him is not condemned." What a joyful sentence is this!
Provided you have ascertained that you do believe in
Jesus, turn this sweet word over and over in your souls, my Brethren.
Is it not delightful to think that you have it from God's own mouth by
inspiration, and to note that the inspiration is of a remarkable kind,
for you have it not only by the Spirit of God, but you have from Jesus
Christ Himself the sweet assurance that you are not condemned!
What joy, what peace this Word should speak unto your soul! Let me show
you for a minute how the Believer escapes condemnation. "He that
believes on Him is not condemned." One reason is because he does not
offer himself for judgment. He that believes in Christ does not present
himself to be tried. He says, "No, my Lord, I have no argument with
You, I plead guilty, I confess the condemnation. There is no need of
trial. You are justified when You speak, and clear when You condemn."
There sits the Judge, and the prisoner should stand opposite to him,
for they are two parties. But behold, in this case the prisoner leaves
the place, declines a trial, falls at the Judge's feet, acknowledges
that the sentence, if carried out, would be just, and pleads guilty.
Having done this the Believer sees that the sentence which he
acknowledges and confesses to be right has been already laid upon his
Surety–and in that Surety he believes. What does he believe about Him?
Why, that God, that He might magnify His Justice and His Grace, was in
Christ Jesus! And that the Son of God did hang upon the Cross, and
bleed and die, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
The Believer confesses the justice of the sentence, and therefore is at
one with God. He comes to the Light, and his deeds are reproved, and he
accepts the reproof, and acknowledges it to be true.
Then he looks to the Cross, and he says, "This very sentence to which I
do subscribe with my own hands that it is just, has been laid upon my
ever glorious and blessed Surety, the Only Begotten of the Father, and
He has been punished instead of me. And I am therefore free, since
Christ died as my ransom." This is the way in which the Believer comes
not to be condemned–he accepts the condemnation, and then sees it laid
upon his Surety! This brings him peace. The Justice of God would have
disturbed his mind. He sees that Justice satisfied, and he declares in
his own heart that if God is satisfied, he is satisfied.
If God's Justice is honored, then conscience feels that all is well.
And now what happens? Why this believer in Christ, not being condemned,
seeks the light–from this day forward he desires more and more to walk
in the light of knowledge, the light of the Divine Presence, the light
of Divine holiness. O my Brethren, there was a time when our souls
inclined after sin! But now, though we sin, we mourn over it, and
because we mourn it we have evidence that "it is no longer I," as the
Apostle says, "but sin that dwells in me."
The very inmost I, the true, most real ego within my soul now desires
holiness. If we could be as we would, we would be pure as God is pure.
Our heart hungers and thirsts after righteousness. We come to the
Light, and now, having believed, we are in such a condition that our
deeds, though discovered, do not bring us shame and confusion. In that
very Light our works are made manifest that they are worked in God–and
we rejoice that God is working in us by His Spirit holy desires,
emotions, and actions–which shall go on increasing until we shall be
perfectly delivered from sin.
This is the condition of the man who believes in Christ! It is a very
happy condition, a very hopeful condition, a very heavenly
condition–who would not desire to be in it? It all hinges upon the
believing, for with the believing in Jesus there comes the new birth.
With the new birth comes the desire after Light. With the desire after
Light there arises a progress towards it–and a manifestation of the
secret working of the Holy Spirit within the soul. Happy Believers,
thrice happy in what you are as well as in what you shall be!
III. And now, thirdly, and here comes our most solemn work–may God's
Holy Spirit help us in it. CONSIDER THE CONDITION OF THE UNBELIEVER.
"He that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed
on the name of the only begotten Son of God." Observe the fact, itself,
which is here stated! "He that believes not is condemned already." Let
me enlarge upon this very solemn Truth of God.
First, the Unbeliever offers himself for judgment. "He has not believed
on the name"–what is the name? It is the Savior, Jesus. He who
believes on Jesus, the Savior, confesses that he needs saving and
declines to stand on the footing of Law. But he who refuses the Savior
does in effect say, "I do not require a Savior, I am willing to stand
my trial by the Law." I tell you, every soul that declines a Savior,
does, in effect, ask to be judged by the Law. There stands the
alternative–are you guilty–will you confess it? If so, accept the
Savior.
But if, on the other hand, you say, "I will not accept the Savior," in
the bottom of your soul there lies the presumptuous conceit, "I can
stand the judgment. I do not want pardon and Grace." Then, Sir, if you
ask for judgment you shall
have it! And behold the result of it–God declares you to be condemned
already. You have not believed, you have asked for judgment, you shall
have it, but it is your ruin.
The Unbeliever, himself, gives personal evidence to his own
condemnation. Do you enquire how he does this? The text points us to
his not believing. Is yonder person a condemned or not condemned man?
Ask him what he thinks of Christ. If he replies honestly, he says, "I
do not accept God's testimony about Jesus Christ. I do not receive
Jesus as my Savior." Either he claims that he does not need a Savior or
else he does not feel that Jesus is the Savior he needs. He rejects the
testimony of God concerning Christ–is not that enough to condemn a
man? If a man, in the very presence of the judge, committed theft or
murder, he would condemn himself. But is it not a still higher offense
than this, in the very Presence of God to do despite to His Son by
practically declaring His work and blood to have been unnecessary?
Is it not the height of daring that a soul should stand in the Presence
of the God of Mercy and hear Him say in His Word, "Behold the Lamb of
God, which takes away the sin of the world," and that the soul should
reply, "I have nothing to do with the Lamb of God"? What further
witness do we want with regard to your enmity to God? He that will not
believe in Christ would murder God if He could. His not believing in
Christ is virtually to make God a liar.
Still further, he that believes not in Christ gives evidence against
himself, for he rejects "the name." Observe the text, "He has not
believed on the name." As I had already hinted, that name is Jesus, the
Savior. The man says, "I will not have the Savior." Many of you have
not said so much in words, but you practically say it. For you do not
believe in the Savior. You remain at this moment Saviorless–out of
Christ–without hope, without pardon, without mercy. And you have
continued to do so under the preaching of the Gospel now for many
years.
What more evidence do you want? If a man will reject God, even as a
Savior, there must be a dreadful venom in his heart against God. If God
appoints Christ to be King, and I reject Him, that rejection shows that
I dislike God. But when He appoints Him to be a Savior, the errand
being one entirely of mercy and goodness, if I reject Him I must in my
soul have an amazing depth of enmity against God. By this clear proof I
condemn myself!
My Brothers and Sisters, if you look at the text again you will see
that he who believes not, rejects a most exalted Person. For he has not
believed on the name "of the only begotten Son of God." What a word is
that, "On the Jesus, who is God's only begotten Son." I wish I had
language suitable for the utterance of a thought which presses down my
very spirit, as it did last Sunday evening. That God should send a
Savior, and for a Savior the Only Begotten, the Lord of Heaven and
earth, without whom was not anything made that is made, and that He
should come with testimony of love, the love of God to sinners, and
seal that testimony with His blood. And that men should refuse to
believe in Him!
It is the most monstrous iniquity that could be imagined! I cannot see
that Satan, himself, with all his blasphemy, has ever gone this length.
He was never placed where he could reject, as a Savior, the only
begotten Son of God. When men rejected Moses they perished without
mercy, for he was sent of God. But when a man despises the Only
Begotten, in whom dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, we may
well say–"Call no witnesses against the man, rake up none of the
details of his past life, this is quite evidence enough."
If he has not believed on such a One as this, he is condemned already.
There is no need of a trial. Unbelief itself is the vilest of all
treasons–out of his own mouth the sinner is condemned. Do you not see,
O Sinner, how the matter stands? The infinite Lord of Mercy, that you
might not perish, has devised a wondrous way of salvation which has
astonished cherubim and seraphim, and made Heaven ring with song, and
this you utterly reject! The plan so stupendous in conception is
briefly this–that the Creator should suffer that the created rebel
might escape–that the Infinite should come into this world and be put
to shame that the guilty might be clear! And all you are asked to do,
all that is demanded of you is that you submit to be saved by this
plan–that you do but trust in the Jesus who is Divine, who is also
Man–do but trust Him to save you.!
Will you not? Oh, will you not? Sirs, will you spurn almighty love? Can
you turn away from boundless mercy? Then what shall I say of you, but
just what the text says–you condemn yourselves, you are "condemned
already"? You must be infinitely wicked! You must be enormously,
monstrously, diabolically at enmity with God, or else, surely, a
benefit so precious you would not slight! Surely a plan of mercy so
adapted to your condition you could not have the impertinence to
reject! "Condemned already because he has not believed on the name of
the only begotten Son of God." Solemn words! Hear them and tremble!
From the verses following the text we gather that you Unbelievers go on
to give further evidence against yourselves, for every man who rejects
Christ, the true Light, always goes on to reject other forms of the
Light of God's Word, God's Spirit, and his conscience. He loves
darkness rather than light, and comes not to the Light lest his deeds
should be reproved. You quench the Spirit, I know you do, if you reject
the Savior. You turn a deaf ear to your conscience, you do violence to
your own judgment. The Truth of God you do not wish to learn. It is not
possible that you can be a candid seeker after light if you refuse to
receive Him who is Truth's central Sun.
Your further rejection of Light is confirmatory evidence that you are
condemned already though your not believing is, in itself, evidence
enough. And now solemnly, and in the name of Him that lives, and was
dead, and is alive forever-more, speaking for that Christ who, though
once He was slain, now sits at the right hand of God, I ask those who
are under this second character to listen to these simple but weighty
words of admonition. Consider, I pray you, O Unbeliever, that the
condemnation which is pronounced upon you already is no matter of form.
Our judges sometimes read out sentences of death upon a certain order
of criminals. And the sentence is recorded though it is never intended
that the sentence shall be executed.
But from God's bar there never proceeds a sentence that is meant
needlessly to alarm. You are condemned already, and as surely as you
live, and as surely as God lives, He will not let His Word remain a
dead letter. That sentence shall be no idle threat! In your proper
person you shall be made to know what the power of His wrath is. "Who
knows the power of your anger?" says the Psalmist. They only know it
who feel it, and you will feel it before long, for the sentence will
assuredly be fulfilled.
The Lord has power at this or any moment to fulfill His sentence. What
power have you to resist it? Who is there that can help you to
withstand Him? You are utterly in His hands, you cannot escape from His
prison. If you climbed up to Heaven He is there. If you dove to Hell He
is there. The whole universe is but one great prison for an enemy of
God. You cannot escape Him–neither can you resist Him. If your bones
were granite and your heart were steel, His fires would melt down your
spirit. Against Him you can no more stand than the chaff against the
fire or the dust against the whirlwind. O that you would feel this and
desist from your insane rebellion!
Remember, there is no promise given to you that He will not execute the
sentence of His wrath this very day. You have no warrant either from
His Word or from His angels to assure you that God has suspended the
sentence even for the next hour. You are living by His forbearance,
spared by the Divine Sovereignty. Some rave against Sovereignty, but in
this case it is not Justice that spares you, it is the mere will of God
that for awhile keeps you out of Hell. You tell me that nothing
endangers your life at this moment–how do you know that?
The arrows of death often fly imperceptibly. I have stood in
congregations preaching on two occasions when the unseen darts of death
struck one of my hearers, so that one died on each occasion while
listening to the Word of the Gospel. God needs no miracle to put His
sentence into execution at this moment. He need not disturb the natural
order of affairs for you to die instantly. And if He so willed it, your
soul's destruction would, without the slightest effort on His part,
take place at this very moment, even where you are.
Remember with deep concern that God is angry with you right now. This
statement is no invention of mine–it is written by the pen of
Inspiration that, "God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turns
not He will whet His sword. He has bent His bow, and made it ready."
God is more angry with some of you than He is with some in Hell. Are
you startled by the assertion? "It shall be more tolerable for Sodom
and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for you." The sins you have
already committed are greater than those of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the
anger is in proportion to the guilt.
An angry God holds you over the gulf of Hell. Justice demands that you
fall into it–and it is nothing but His merciful will that keeps you
out of it. He has but to will it and you who are condemned already
would be forever where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched,
before next time the clock shall tick.
Up to this time, let me remind you, you have done nothing to appease
the Divine wrath. You have gone on sinning. Or if you tell me you have
reformed, that you have thought of these things, that you have
prayed–do you think that such things will remove the Divine wrath? The
Lord has told you that the only way of salvation is to believe in
Jesus, but you try to find another. Do you think that such conduct will
please Him, that such a procedure will make Him less angry
with you? You insult His Son when you suppose that you can save
yourself by your tears and prayers–will this turn away the Lord's
anger?
When you imagine that your Church attendance and Chapel attendance will
save you, you set a low estimate upon what Jesus did. You do despite to
the Cross as long as you remain Unbelievers. You say, "We are doing
what we can." You are doing nothing, I tell you, that can appease the
anger of God! You are rather, by these very actions of yours, which you
think to be good, setting up in opposition to Him an Antichrist upon
which He will look with abhorrence. He says He will save by Christ, and
no way else. And so long as you seek another way, you, as it were, spit
into the very face of the Only Begotten by the insolence of your
self-righteousness.
Meanwhile, let me remind you that God's wrath, though it comes not on
you yet, is like a stream that is dammed up. Every moment it gathers
force–if it bursts not the dyke–yet every hour is swelling. Each day
and each moment of each day in which you remain an Unbeliever, you are
treasuring up wrath against the Day of Wrath when the measure of your
iniquity is full. How earnestly would I persuade you to escape from
condemnation! If you dream that to be condemned of God is a trifle,
undeceive your souls, for those who have passed where the sentence is
executed, could they come back to you, need not tell the tale of woe,
the very sight of them would convince you that to be lost is an awful
thing!
On their heads must fall the wrath of God, who, by softening down the
punishment, become the means of hardening sinners in their sins. It is
not within the power of thought to conceive what God's wrath is. No
language, even though it should make both ears tingle, can ever fully
express it. I am not one of those who would so delude your poor souls,
O Unbelievers, as to make you think it a light thing to fall into the
hands of the living God.
O turn, turn, turn! Why will you die? Why will you reject Him whom you
have such reasons to receive? Concerning whom His very Person is the
best argument for love? The Christ of God must be worthy of our hearts'
affections–His very errand on earth, as it seems to me, would, if we
were not mad, ensure our confidence. For He came to SAVE, to PARDON, to
pass by the sin of the past! Oh, why do you stand out against Him, and
in this way pull down upon your heads the wrath of an angry God?
Let me point out to you the way to escape. The only way of escape for
any man or woman here is to believe in Jesus Christ. "I am praying
about it," says one. My text says nothing of the sort. "I will think of
it." Think of it? You will think yourself into Hell before long!
Immediate faith is what I, as God's ambassador, demand of you in the
name of the Christ of God–immediate, instantaneous faith in Jesus!
Behold the emblem of the Gospel minister and of his message! Moses
lifted up the bronze serpent in the wilderness upon the great central
standard in the very midst of the camp where men were dying all around
him. They are bitten with the serpent, and what has Moses to declare to
them as a remedy? He bids them look and live!
Some of them will think of it, some of them will consider it, others of
them will pray about it. But he has no commission to console any of
these–his one command is an immediate look–he has no promise to those
who will not look. Even thus is Jesus lifted up among you. There is
life in a look, life now, life at this moment. I cannot guarantee you
that the serpent's bite shall not be your eternal ruin if you linger
for a single hour. The Prophet's one word is, "Look now." Today, God in
mercy sends to everyone in this house this message–"The times of your
ignorance God winked at," but now commands all men everywhere to
repent. He sends His Gospel message, "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and you shall be saved."
That message I cannot be certain will ever come to you again. "Now is
the accepted time, now is the day of salvation." Every moment you do
not believe, you are sinning against God by that unbelief. I cannot,
therefore, tolerate that you should wait a moment. Jesus is God! He
became Man! He died! He lives and bids you trust Him–promising that
you shall live. Trust Him now, then! He is worthy of your confidence.
Sin not against Him. Sin not against your own souls by rejecting Him.
Remember what it was which Moses lifted up–it was a serpent–the image
of that same serpent which bit them.
Were they healed by looking to that which poisoned them? Assuredly they
were. What is that which has poisoned you, Sinner? It is the curse of
sin. What is that which I hold up today in the Gospel? It is Christ
made a curse for us! He takes upon Himself our sin! Though in Him was
no sin, yet He was made sin for us–and if you trust Him to be the
sin-offering for you, to suffer for you, to bleed for you–and so trust
in Him as to take Him from now on as your standard,
resolving to follow the uplifted Crucified One throughout life, even
until He brings you to God Himself in Heaven, you are NOT condemned!
But if Jesus is lifted up and you refuse to believe, on your heads is
your guilt, I say, with trembling solemnity, on your own heads is your
guilt! Those words of mine, O Unbelievers, will be swift witnesses
against you at the Last Great Day. As truly as ever Christ came to
Jerusalem, so truly does He come to you, this morning, in the preaching
of the Word. I am a poor feeble man, but I speak to you as best I can.
Nevertheless, if you refuse my word it is not me you reject, that were
nothing–you reject the Gospel which I preach to you. In the name of
Him that made Heaven and earth, that made you, and holds you in life,
against whom you have sinned, these terms of mercy are presented to
you–will you have them?
This Grace is brought home to you, and I am bid to press it upon you,
even as the Word says, to "compel them to come in." If you reject the
only begotten Son of God there must still abide against you this solemn
sentence, "He that believes not is condemned already, because he has
not believed." Did I hear you say, "I hope I shall believe." Sir, I
have nothing to do with that, and I have no hope for you. "I hope I
shall repent one day." I despair of you while you talk so. It is TODAY
that God separates this congregation into the two parts, the Believer
and the Unbeliever.
Today He blesses the Believer and testifies that he is not condemned!
Today He curses the Unbeliever and tells him he is condemned already.
My business is not with tomorrows, nor can I promise that the white
flag of mercy will be hung out tomorrow. Today the Cross is the banner
of Grace. Look to it and live! It is the ladder which reaches to
Heaven. The crucified Savior is the gate of salvation. O that you would
receive Him! May God grant you may, and He shall be glorified by you in
this life and in the world to come. God bless you. Amen.
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Purging Out the Leaven