I am aware that the Puritan divines drag in the law even here and will have it that Christ, in illustrating the certainty of salvation for those that believe in Him, shows on the contrary the condemnation of unbelievers to be twofold, one by the law and the other by the gospel. Their idea is that the unbeliever is here declared to be condemned already by the sentence of the law; which they still lie under and have it confirmed by the gospel, since they do not by faith lay hold on the offered and only remedy in Christ.
But there is no trace of such a scheme either here or anywhere else in scripture, which teaches expressly that “as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law; and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.... in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ;” (Rom. 2:12-1612For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; 13(For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified. 14For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves: 15Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;) 16In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel. (Romans 2:12‑16).) Paul's doctrine therefore excludes the assumption that every unbeliever is already under the law, which would surely involve his being condemned by it, law affecting only those under it, whilst those who have it not are dealt with on their own ground. With this entirely agrees the language of our Gospel, which does not say a word about the law, even where a teacher of it was before the Lord inquiring into eternal life and salvation. It is solely a question of Christ. “And this is the judgment that the light hath come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than light; for their works were evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light and cometh not to the light lest his works should be convicted; but he that practiceth the truth cometh to the light that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God.” (Ver. 19-21.)
Inasmuch as the true light now shines—no longer the law in Israel, but the light come into the world, a criterion is in force which decides for every man. There is a far deeper question than a man's own state or conduct. Indeed this too is already decided: man is no longer under probation, as the Jew was under law. He is lost: be he Jew or Gentile, he is alike lost. It is therefore a question of believing in Jesus, Son of God and Son of man, who (as we saw before) has been sent of God, not as He will be shortly to judge the quick and the dead, but that the world (not the elect nation now, but the world, spite of its ruin, in His grace) may be saved through Him. This tests to the core. All thus depends on believing in Him. If one believes not, one has been already judged. It is, not merely to fail in duty, but to fight against the grace and truth come by Jesus Christ. It is to reject life eternal, and the perfect love of God, in the only-begotten Son of God whose name one disbelieves or makes light of.
It is vain to complain of lack of light. The very reverse is true. “This is the judgment that the light hath come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light; for their works were evil.” Terrible revelation of their state! Alas! it was our state, our affections so utterly corrupt as to prefer the darkness to the light, and this for the guiltiest reason, for a bad conscience. For our deeds were evil. Assuredly the trumpet gives no uncertain sound. Have we heard its clear warning above, beneath, the din of this world? Have we submitted to the sentence of Him who knows what is in man, no less than what is in God? Or are we unbroken still in self-righteousness and self-conceit? Do we dare to dispute the solemn and plain—too plain to be mistaken—words of the Lord? Would we put off the decision till the great white throne? And what will He then judge of the unbelief which thus virtually gives Him the lie? For no man that believed these words of His now would put off till then, but surely cast his soul on Him who, if the Judge then, is Savior, and nothing but a Savior, to the lost one that now believes on His name.
But when eternal judgment does come, it is not true that then it is a question simply of man's unbelief. From the divine account we are given, we learn that the dead are judged according to their works. There is no such thing at any time as salvation according to our works; there will be for all who reject Christ judgment according to their works. They had refused the Savior, they had despised the grace of God through religiousness or irreligiousness, through opposition or indifference. They are not found written in the book of life, they are judged out of the things written in the book according to their works. They are cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire, the end of all who loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil. Is not their judgment just? What is the Lord's moral analysis? “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light and cometh not to the light lest his works should be convicted.” How could such an one suit the portion of the saints in light? He hates the light which has come here: would he suit it or love it better on high? He is inwardly false and dishonest, deliberately and decidedly preferring to go on in his sins, instead of submitting to their complete detection by the light that they might be blotted out and forgiven by the faith of Christ's blood. Is this truth in the inner man? Does it not rather prove that such as refuse Christ are of the devil as their father and desire to do his lusts, instead of hearing the word of God and being subject to His Son?
On the other hand, “he that practiceth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be manifested that they have been wrought in God.” For the faith that is of God's elect is never powerless but living, not only productive of results while among men, but such as savor of their divine source and sphere. None makes more of the truth or of knowing God than John; none has a deeper horror of Gnosticism. It is life, eternal life; that one should know the Father, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom He sent; but His commandment is life everlasting, as our Lord could say of Him who gave to Himself what He should say and what He should speak. If we know these things, we are blessed if we do them. Unblessed is the forgetful hearer, who does not practice the truth nor come to the light, but is rather gone away after considering himself and straightway loses all remembrance of what he was like. Is it not too plain that his works are at best impulsive and natural? But he that practices the truth comes to the light; walking there, he seeks to walk according to the light, trying by it his inward thoughts and feelings, motives and objects, words and ways. The realized presence of God imparts its color to his works. They were manifestly wrought in God. They bear His image and superscription. Hence when all that are in the tombs hear the Lord's voice and go forth, it is for those that have practiced good to a life-resurrection, for those that have done evil to a judgment-resurrection. There was life in the one case, not in the other. He that heard the Savior's word and believed the God who sent Him had life eternal, and hence practiced good. He who rejects the Son of God has no ground but man, and can have no power but Satan's; he has refused Him who is God's wisdom and God's power. He might not like to be lost and judged but he despises the only way of salvation open to him, the crucified Son of man, the life-giving Son of God. He will not be able to refuse or despise His judgment by-and-by.