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THE RULE OF GOD’S FUTURE JUDGMENT
IN reading the apostolic writings we should attend, not only to the doctrines that are inculcated, but to the manner in which they are inculcated; for writing, as the Apostles did, entirely under the influence of love, they have given us many valuable lessons, which escape the notice of the superficial observer, but amply repay the search of those who investigate them with deeper attention, and desire to imbibe their spirit. It is of no small importance to learn how to combat prejudice with success. This is rarely done by an open and direct attack: it is far better to attempt it by a more circuitous mode, namely, by establishing such truths as shall serve to give juster views to the mind. In this way the fabric of error, which would have withstood any rude assault, is undermined, and falls, ere the person who defended it is aware of any opposition. The Jews were strongly possessed with the notion, that no Jew could perish, except through apostasy or idolatry; and that no Gentile could be saved, but by subjecting himself to the institutions and observances of the Mosaic ritual. To counteract this error, the Apostle shews, that the Jews, no less than the Gentiles, stood in need of a Saviour, and must embrace the Gospel in order to their final salvation. But to this conclusion he comes by gradual, and almost imperceptible, advances; shewing, that God, as a righteous Judge, will deal with all according to their works, without shewing partiality to any on account of their external privileges, or leaving any to suffer on account of their external disadvantages, but awarding equally to all such a sentence as their respective characters shall require. This is a truth so obvious and incontrovertible, that they could not but acquiesce in it; and, by a due consideration of it, they would be prepared to embrace all that the Apostle was about to advance on the subject which he was especially commissioned to proclaim, the admission of all, both Jews and Gentiles, on an equal footing, into the Church of Christ.
But, in stating the rule which God would observe in the future judgment, the Apostle designed further to convey the most important information to the whole world: for, as all must one day stand at the judgment-seat of Christ, it is of infinite importance for all to know on what grounds their eternal state will be determined.
To leave no doubt on this subject, he fully states,
I. The character and end of the godly—
Mark,
1. Their character—
[The godly man is known by the object he pursues. Nothing less than “glory, and honour, and immortality” will satisfy him: not the glory and honour which pertain to this life; not the immortality which consists in posthumous fame: those he leaves for others: his ambition soars to higher things; the things worthy of an immortal soul; even to the everlasting possession of all the glory and felicity of heaven. This is the prize which he sees held out to him in the Scriptures: and for the attainment of it he strains every nerve. He well knows how richly it will recompense all his labours and toils; and every thing in comparison of it is regarded by him as the small dust upon the balance.
He is further known by the means he uses to attain it: he seeks it “by a patient continuance in well-doing.” Whatever he believes to be the will of God, he does. Has God commanded him to humble himself as a sinner, and to flee to Christ as to the refuge that is set before him? he does it; he does it heartily; he does it humbly; he does it continually. Has God further ordered him “no longer to live unto himself, but unto Him that died for him and rose again?” he endeavours to consecrate all his faculties and all his powers to the service of his adorable Redeemer. He is not satisfied with doing such good works as the men of this world are wont to perform; his efforts extend to all the most difficult and self-denying duties, as well those which are loaded with opprobrium, as those which elevate us in the good opinion of mankind — — — And this he does with “a patient continuance,” prosecuting, like the sun in the firmament, his destined course, and causing all who behold his light, to glorify God in his behalf. There are times indeed when the difficulties and discouragements which he meets with oppress his mind: his hands sometimes hang down, and his feeble knees seem as if they would no longer sustain the weight they have to bear. But he looks up to God for help: he obtains fresh supplies of grace and strength from above; and, with vigour renewed like the eagle’s, he resumes his course, determined never to stop, till he has obtained the prize.
In accomplishing the work assigned him, he finds also opposition from without. Much as the ungodly world profess to honour good works, they do not like such works as Christ performed, or such as all his faithful followers perform: they do all they can to obstruct the Christian’s path; and if he will proceed in it, they will revile and persecute him, even as they did the Lord of Glory himself. But he “endures hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ,” and “counts not his life dear to him, if only he may be enabled to finish his course with joy,” and to complete the work which God has given him to do.]
2. Their end—
[God never suffers his faithful servants to be disappointed of their hope. Do they seek “eternal life” as their one object? “eternal life” shall be theirs: “the glory and honour” which they sought shall be awarded to them, and shall be enjoyed by them in a degree, of which, whilst here, they had no conception. “Peace” also, even a perfect freedom from all those conflicts which so often troubled them in this world, will be theirs in full and everlasting possession. Whilst they were here, their “peace passed all understanding, and kept their hearts and minds as in a citadel,” out of the reach of all their enemies: but in the future world, their reconciliation with God will be so perfect, and their rest in God so complete, that their peace will flow down like a river, with ever-increasing amplitude and abundance to all eternity.]
In perfect contrast with the foregoing are,
II. The character and end of the ungodly—
Their character is the very reverse of that before considered—
[It might be thought that an obedience to the Gospel was not intended to be included in the “well-doing” of the godly: but here the want of it is particularly marked as a leading feature of the ungodly. In fact, “the souls of men can only be purified by obeying the truth through the Spirit [Note: 1Pe_1:22.];” and all who are born again of the Spirit, that is, all the children of God, are so purified. But the ungodly are averse to the truth; they are “contentious, and will not obey it:” and this arises, not from any want of evidence in the truth itself, but from the predominance of some unrighteous principle, towards which they feel a decided preference, and to which they yield a willing subjection. Some, through the pride of their hearts, reject the principles of the Gospel: whilst others, through the love of this present evil world, or through the prevalence of unmortified lusts, refuse submission to its precepts: the principles are top humiliating; the precepts too difficult and self-denying. It is not necessary that a person, in order to be numbered with the ungodly, should commit such crimes as are reprobated by the world around him: he may be blameless as to his external conduct in the sight of men, and yet be very ungodly in the sight of God: his aversion to “the truth as it is in Jesus” constitutes him a most flagrant sinner before God, and subjects him to God’s heaviest displeasure [Note: 2Th_1:8 and 1Pe_4:17.].]
Their end will be more awful than either language can express, or heart conceive—
[They dream of being in the favour of God: but they are objects of his “indignation and wrath.” They persuade themselves that they shall be happy in the eternal world: but “tribulation and anguish” will be their certain and unalterable portion [Note: Compare Psa_78:49. with Psa_11:6.]. O! who can conceive what it is to be “cast into a lake of fire and brimstone,” and to “dwell with everlasting burnings?” Alas! what “weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth” will there be in those regions to which the ungodly will be for ever consigned! Yes: “to every soul that doeth evil,” shall this sentence be awarded. “No respect will be shewn to persons” on account of their name, or profession, or rank, or distinctions of any kind. The Jew will have a priority to the Gentiles, both in respect of happiness and misery; of happiness, inasmuch as his peculiar privileges afford him greater advantages for the attainment of holiness; though the Gentile shall not be overlooked on account of his want of those advantages. In like manner the Jew will have a fearful precedence also in respect to punishment, on account of the advantages he has abused: but the Gentiles will according to their measure be punished also, if they have not walked agreeably to the light which they have enjoyed [Note: Luk_12:47-48.]. The possession of privileges will prove a blessing, or a curse, according to the use that has been made of them; but the want of privileges shall neither excuse deliberate wickedness, on the one hand, nor prevent the acceptance of willing, though imperfect, services, on the other hand. If God, on the one hand, will “take vengeange on them that know him not,” he has, on the other hand, declared, that “in every nation, he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, shall be accepted of him.”]
From this subject then we may learn,
1. What the Gospel is—
[Many imagine that such declarations as those in our text together legal. But the apostle Paul, who surely understood the Gospel, considered these declarations as an essential part of it: and it is worthy of notice, that, in the very epistle where he has most strongly advanced the doctrines of predestination and election, he has brought forward these truths, which are so often set in opposition to them. But the Gospel is not such a partial system as is generally imagined: it neither consists exclusively in those doctrines which are commonly spoken of under the term Calvinism, nor in those which are supposed to have an Arminian aspect. The Gospel exhibits the Deity to us under different views; first, as a merciful Father, who offers salvation to us through the blood and righteousness of his only-begotten Son; next, as an almighty Sovereign, who dispenses his blessings according to his own will and pleasure; and lastly, as a righteous Judge, who will proceed with perfect equity in assigning to every man his proper portion of happiness or misery, according to what he has done in the body, whether it be good or evil. Under all these characters God must be viewed: if any one be excluded, his Gospel is mutilated, and his glory obscured. Let us then be equally ready to view him under any of these characters. Let us look to him for a full salvation through the death of his Son: if made partakers of that salvation, let us give all the glory to his free grace, and his electing love: and then let us walk before him in a conscientious performance of every duty, under a firm expectation, that our final sentence shall be according to the dictates of perfect equity. This is to be in the spirit of the Gospel; and if any restrict it to more partial views, they only betray their ignorance or pride, and will find themselves awfully mistaken in the last day.]
2. How to estimate our own character—
[The persons who have such an exclusive fondness of the deeper doctrines of predestination and election, are ready to pour contempt on evidences, as though an inquiry into the evidences of our conversion were mere legality. A favourite notion with them is, that faith is the only evidence of faith. But this is a grievous error. That faith does carry its own evidence along with it, just as love, or any other grace does, we readily allow. A person who relies simply and entirely on God, has a consciousness that he does so, and may, if this consciousness be confirmed by other evidence, be assured that his faith is genuine. But men may have a full persuasion in their own minds that they are right, and yet may be under a fatal delusion. This was the case with Paul, whilst he persecuted the Church of Christ: he “verily thought that he ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus.” The Scriptures furnish us with unnumbered marks whereby to judge of our state. The Epistles of St. John are full of them [Note: See 1Jn_3:10; 1Jn_3:14; 1Jn_3:19-21; 1Jn_3:24.]; and our blessed Lord cautions us strongly against that presumptuous confidence that would exclude an appeal to them [Note: Mat_7:21-23.]: he bids us judge of ourselves by the fruits that we produce [Note: Mat_7:16-20.]; and assures us, that in this way only can we guard against final disappointment and everlasting ruin [Note: Mat_7:24-27.]. To all then would we say, examine whether you are proceeding in “a patient continuance in well-doing:” for the Judge himself will assuredly at the last day institute a strict inquiry into your works, and determine your state according to them [Note: Mat_25:31-46.]: and “whatever you have sown, that, and that only, shall you reap to all eternity [Note: Gal_6:7-8.].”]
3. How to secure the prize that is set before you—
[Not only is this plainly told us in our text; but St. Paul elsewhere says expressly, “Be not weary in well-doing; for in due season ye shall reap, if ye faint not [Note: Gal_6:9.].” St. John also inculcates the same salutary lesson, as our Lord also does in the parable of the Sower [Note: Luk_8:15. “Bring forth fruit with patience.”], both, in effect, saying, look to yourselves, that ye “lose not those things which ye have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward [Note: 2 John, ver. 8.].” That we must live altogether by faith in the Son of God, is certain; for it is from his fulness alone that we can receive any spiritual blessing: but still we must exert ourselves as much, as if salvation were the fruit and recompence of our own efforts alone. This matter is put in a just light by St. Paul, when he says, “Let us cast away every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith [Note: Heb_12:1-2.].” In humble dependence on him to assist our efforts, and in an entire reliance on his meritorious sacrifice as the only ground of our acceptance, we must press forward in our heavenly course: then may we with confidence expect “a recompence of reward,” not indeed for any merit in our services, but in exact proportion to them. The men of this world may seek for glory and honour, and be disappointed: but no disappointment shall occur to us: “The wicked worketh a deceitful work; but to him that soweth righteousness shall be a sure reward [Note: Pro_11:18.].”]