There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.
The barrier
I. The word of exclusion. This is no arbitrary decree, it is a solemn declaration to which all holy spirits give their willing assent and consent; an ordinance of which even the excluded themselves shall admit the justice.
1. For, first, it is not meet that so royal and divine a corporation as the glorified Church of God should be ruined by defilement. God forbid that “her light, which is like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal,” should ever be dimmed by the breath of sin.
2. There can be no entrance of evil into the kingdom of God, for it is the very essence of the bliss of the glorified Church that evil should be excluded.
3. Furthermore, consider that there is an impossibility of any sinful, unrenewed person ever entering into the body corporate of the glorified Church of God--an impossibility within the persons themselves. The sea cannot rest because it is the sea, and the sinner cannot be quiet because he is a sinner.
4. Our own hearts forbid that evil should so enter. You know how a few rags from the East have sometimes carried a plague into a city; and if you were standing at the quay whena plague-laden ship arrived you would cry, “Burn those rags; do anything with them, but do keep them away from the people. Bring not the pest into a vast city, where it may slay its thousands!” So do we cry, “Great God, forbid it that anything that defileth should enter into Thy perfected Church! We cannot endure the thought thereof.”
II. The word of exclusion working within the soul--within my soul, within yours. No person who defiles, no fallen spirit, or sinful man can enter. And as no person, so no tendency, leaning, inclination, or will to sin can gain admission. No wish, no desire, no hunger towards that which is unclean shall ever be found in the perfect city of God. Nor even a thought of evil can be conceived there, much less a sinful act performed. Nothing shall ever be done within those gates of pearl contrary to the perfect law, nor anything imagined in opposition to spotless holiness. Consider such purity, and wonder at it. It is altogether perfect! And, mark well, that no untruth can enter--“neither whatsoever maketh a lie.” Nothing can enter heaven which is not real; nothing erroneous, mistaken, conceited, hollow, professional, pretentious, unsubstantial, can be smuggled through the gates. Only truth can dwell with the God of truth. Bethink you that not only does actual sin shut men out of heaven, but this text goes to the heart by reminding us that we have within us inbred sin, which would defile us speedily, even if we were now clean of positive transgression. How can you and I enter heaven while there is unholy anger in us? There shall in no wise enter into heaven a hasty temper, or a quick imperious spirit, or a malicious mind; for these defile. But then look at the other part of the difficulty--that is, the making of your own heart pure and clean. How shall this be done? Have you tried to master your temper? I hope you have. Have you managed it? Your tendencies this way or that, you have striven against them, I hope, but have you mastered them? I cannot overcome myself, nor overcome my sin. I will never cease from the task, God helping me, but apart from the Divine Spirit the task is as impossible as to make a world.
III. The word of salvation, which just meets the difficulty raised by the sentence--“There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.” But, first, my past sin, what of that? “Washed in the blood of the Lamb!” This is our first great comfort, “He that believeth in Him is not condemned.” But here is the point, there is still no entrance into the holy city so long as there are any evil tendencies within us. This is thework, this is the difficulty, and since these are to be overcome, how is the work to be done? Simple believing upon Christ brings you justification, but you want more than that; you need sanctification, the purgation of your nature. Faith in Christ tells us of something else beside the blood. There is a Divine Person--let us bow our heads and worship Him--the Holy Ghost who proceedeth from the Father, and He it is Who renews us in the spirit of our minds. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Heaven
I. Into heaven shall enter nothing that defileth. Every one, andeverything whatsoever that is tainted with any impurity shall be utterly excluded. Not merely that eventually heaven will be cleared of such blemishes, but such shall never enter there. Absolute truthfulness and perfect purity, without any admixture of defilement at all, these are what God requires in all who cross the threshold of His home above. Better to be blind to the glory altogether than to gaze longingly upon it, if we must also gaze with despair on the forbidding regulation that those defiled, as we are, shall in no wise enter.
II. This is true; but, God be thanked! it is not the whole truth. For, note--the lamb was slain to cleanse the defiled. There would never have been found in heaven a “Lamb as it had been slain,” unless it had been God’s intention that some poor defiled creatures should get rid of their defilement and be found there too. We could not have climbed that frowning wall; we could not have burst through those glorious gates; a flaming sword of cherubims would have kept us, the defiled, from entering. But where Christ our atonement goes, there, clinging to His feet, we may go too. If He mounts to heaven, we may follow Him.
II. He sits upon the throne of God, there, too, our dwelling-place shall be. The transgressor may be sunk in the guiltiest pollution; but if in his distress he casts his sinful soul into the forgiving arms of the Redeemer, he shall surely be forgiven. Out of his great tribulation he shall come, and wash his robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb, and therefore he, too, once defiled, and banished, and despairing, shall be found before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.
III. Those recorded in Christ’s book of life, and washed in His blood, shall enter into life. But we stand here in our pollution, full of abomination, and falsehood, and defilement. The antagonism is frightful, the exclusion complete. But the Lamb is in the midst of the throne, and His blood cleanseth from all sin. In that fountain, “whosoever will” may wash and be clean. Being justified by faith he has peace with God. The Holy One will regenerate and sanctify his soul. (T. M. Herbert, M. A.)
The impassable gulf
The other day our Australian colonists were urging us on to what might have been a very formidable struggle with France. They pleaded, andthat justly, that it was almost fatal to the well-being and security of the communities on the east coast of Australia that France should have its convict station in such close proximity. Men steeped in triple murders and every unnatural abomination made their way across from New Caledonia from time to time to a colony planted with fair and virtuous homes. Of course we all sympathised with the colonists; we should resent the existence of a passable gulf between our homes and culprits of that sort. If by an income tax of sixpence in the pound we could make the strip of sea an impassable gulf, we should all be ready to do it. When man has passed impenitent into eternity, his sin is just as much an abomination to the God of light and the children of light as the crime of the French convict is to us. How is it that we sympathise with the colonist, but question God’s right m fixing this impassable gulf? Had He no right to protect His children in their newhome? Heaven would be no heaven if the proud Pharisee could come sweeping by, wounding some poor saint of God at every step, and seeking to press God’s emancipated sufferers into new serfdoms. (T. G. Selby.)
Future punishment retributive
I wonder that men should have such faith in the reformative effect of punishment. When we call to mind that forty-five per cent of the convictions in our police courts are the convictions of people who have been sentenced before, andthat ninety-five per cent of sentences to penal servitude are passed upon people who have previously had an acquaintance with the pains and rigours of prison life, it does not seem very reasonable to hope much from the reformative tendency of the punishment that will overtake the wicked beyond the grave.(T. G. Selby.)
The Lamb’s book of life.--
The Heavenly Church Book
I. The register. The Infinite One must know everything--what it is, where it is; its nature, character, and uses. But it is not said that there is an indiscriminate register for all, but simply for the holy and true. Not for the wicked. Are you enrolled in that book among the saints? If in Christ, you are, you must be--no one can keep you out of it. If not in Christ, you must be out of it, and no one can put you in.
II. The registrar. “The Lamb’s book.” The Book of Life must be the most difficult to keep. What wisdom--discrimination and justice are required! The combined intelligence of heaven and earth could not keep it; even archangels would make mistakes, but the “Lamb” cannot. Think of His high qualifications. His wisdom is perfect, His omniscience unfailing, His justice unsullied, and His love deep and eternal.
III. The registered. To be in that book is to be safe. To be there is to have heaven for an eternal possession. To be there, is to be among the highest and the best. What honour can be comparable with this? (Homilist.)
The heavenly register
I. The book referred to--
1. The book of life.
2. The Lamb’s book.
(1) As the author of life.
(2) As the Head of the Church.
(3) As the final Judge.
II. The names recorded--
1. Repentant sinners.
2. Living believers.
3. Sanctified disciples. Of all ages--countries--dispensations--conditions.
III. The privileges of the registered.
1. Divine honour.
2. Divine riches.
3. Every good.
4. Heavenly glory.
Conclusion: The subject should produce--
1. Unspeakable joy.
2. Entire confidence.
3. Holy circumspection.
4. Fidelity and obedient perseverance. (Homilist.)
