It was in Jerusalem—the city of solemnities, in the midst of the ancient people of God, of those who had the law and the prophets, where these events occurred. There was not then for Jews a single idol in Jerusalem. I dare say the Roman soldiers, as their manner was, worshipped their standards, and may have had some of their little gods in the castle or elsewhere. Ah possibly you have got some little idols in Montrose. At any rate they are to be found in most places throughout this country. What is worshipping a wafer? That is a little enough god, I am sure. Think of angels, saints, the Virgin, the crucifix, or any relic of that kind! It is of no use saying that people do not worship them. There is a great deal more worshiping of Mary than of the true God in the Roman Catholic body; and it is in vain to tell me that they are not professing Christians. They are; and this makes it truly awful: real idolatry among professing Christians I
I do not wish to allow an unkind thought about them, and I have not one. There is no Roman Catholic in the world I would not serve so far as I could for God's glory, without the cheat of torturing or burning heretics, and calling it an act of faith and God's service. I could not be expected to join them in what I believe to be wrong: for why should one do wrong for any person under the sun? But to do good to them—or even for that matter to a Turk or a Jew—surely that is the business of a Christian man in this world; to magnify the Lord Jesus in well-doing to others, and in bringing the truth to bear upon them. But take care to do so in a loving way, and not so as to hinder the very truth you desire to commend to their consciences. Such was the way the Lord Jesus took with this poor man. For is it not absolutely certain that there is not a single sheep ever brought to God that the Lord Jesus does not personally pursue? does He not go after till He finds it? does He not lay upon His shoulders, and bring it home rejoicing?
Would you like to have the Lord Jesus laying you upon His shoulders, and bringing you home with joy? Why not now—this night? Why not have the blessed Savior your Savior, and know it? You may tell me, Oh, but the man was in such danger! It was no wonder he turned to God. I tell you that if you were crucified, you would not think it a nice time for conversion. You do not know what it is to be in the agonies of the cross. It was one of the most cruel and shameful forms of torture; one reserved for slaves only. But then it was, while the man was suffering such agonies, that the Lord Jesus won his soul to God.
But this also I would point out to you: people of every sort think this is quite an exceptional case. It is altogether a mistake. Granted that there is a grandeur and simplicity about it that exactly suits the cross of the Lord Jesus; but I maintain that the way whereby the man was brought to God is that in which you must be brought to Him: not of course by the outward agony, but by the word of the Lord; by the Holy Ghost applying the word to your conscience, and by your submission to it as the grace of God that bringeth salvation. It is no use to say it has not appeared to you. The grace that bringeth salvation hath appeared to “all men.” It is not meant that all men have seen it. A man may plunge his head into a dark cave and cannot see the sun shine; but the sun shines over the rest of the world for all that. There are men that do not see the sun. It may be that they are blind, and there is such a thing as moral blindness; and above all there may be a willful turning away from God. But still the true light already shines.
The Lord Jesus, by the grace of God, tasted death for every man (or everything). This does not mean that every one will be saved. But every man ought to have that grace presented to his soul. It is true that the church of God has not been faithful; that the servants of the Lord have not done their duty. Even very real Christians are too often content with doing a little now and again, instead of all living only and always for Christ.
The Lord's charge was that the gospel should be preached to the whole creation. Thus nobody should be shut out from the bright light of the gospel—no class so bad that they are excepted. And just as there were these two men on either side of the Lord Jesus, so there are always two classes in the world now—those who believe, and those who refuse. On which side are you? Have you been won to God through hearing the blessed word of Jesus? “He that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath eternal life.” The law of Moses would not suffice. It could not give life. Law could not set free. “He that heareth My word.” Now, this is what one poor robber did, as the other did not. Yet physically both heard. Externally one robber was just as near as the other. And you too have been just as near the gospel. Have you heard with your soul? Have you taken those words as good for you, valid and sufficient for salvation? The converted robber believed the word. He heard the word of Christ, and believed God that sent Him—gave Him credit for truth, gave Him credit for love, in sending the Savior of sinners; and he reaped the blessing.
And look at his testimony. He could give the lie to all the world; for all the world had said that Jesus was a malefactor, and treated Him as such in the most gross and shameless manner. Alas! we do not find that even the two robbers were hurried to death in the way that Jesus was. Then His trial was one of the most scandalous transactions of its kind. They rose early in the morning to do their bad work, and rushed it through as if their very salvation depended upon their injustice to that Blessed One. This was done by the Sanhedrim; the highest council in Israel. But what an awful thing this world is without Christ! Take care that you are not arrayed against Him, and on the side of the devil.
Has Satan insinuated into the heart of any of you to refuse the Savior to-night? This is as great an insult as you can do Him. Now He is seeking to bless you. Now He is appealing to your souls. He wants you to rest upon His precious blood, just as the poor robber did. Oh, beware of turning away from Him! Remember those solemn words of the apostle Paul, “How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation?” One of the robbers did, the other did not. Many a one has said he would not like to be with a robber in heaven. Would you prefer to be with the other in hell? This is what it comes to. With one or other of the robbers you must be. Nobody can help that. If you were a king, you could not avoid it: but what folly of men to refuse to be saved on the only ground on which men can be saved—God's absolute sovereign grace in Christ!
But it is not grace without righteousness. Where is the righteousness? It is God's in Christ. In yourselves you are not righteous. I know few in this hall; but I do know this of every one of you, that there is no righteousness here that could stand in the presence of God. Where is it? In Christ Jesus only. Oh! to have the righteousness of God by faith of Christ, to have righteousness fit for the throne of God. That righteousness is ours if we believe in Him, for “God made to be sin for us Him who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” Have you, then, got it, or are you content to live without it? Without it you must be judged; and if you are judged, you are lost forever. Do you deserve to be saved? Dare you say so?
There are two things in Scripture—judgment and salvation. The people that are judged are not saved; and the people that are saved are not judged. It is not that they do not tell out all that they have done here below. Every person must do that—saved or lost. Every man must out with what he has done in the body, and out with it to one Man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the Judge, not God the Father. All judgment is committed to the Son. It was the Son who was insulted; it is the Son who is to judge. Men turned upon the Son of God because He became man; but as man He will judge all mankind. All emperors, kings, and commanders—all the mighty men that have ever lived—must bow down before that one Man. So must you; no man so obscure, no man so hidden in the crowd of this world, as to escape. If a man be buried in the deepest abyss of ocean, it must give him up—Hades give up his spirit, and the ocean give up his body. For we must all stand to tell out all our lives to the Savior. But if you have not got Him as Savior, you will meet Him as Judge.
Those who believe have Him now as Savior; and when they tell all out, they will do so to One who loves them with perfect love, to One who shows them the secrets of their heart, to One who explains every difficulty. We shall know then as we are known. We shall assuredly learn, from that wonderful transaction before the throne of the Lord Jesus, the depth of His love, the extent of His goodness towards us, and our own inexcusableness. We shall then see perfectly how nothing but His work could have saved us.
But if you refuse Him now as Savior, then His unsparing judgment will fall upon your guilty heads—spirit, soul, and body. For every man has got all this complex being. It is a mistake to suppose that it is only believers who have got spirits as well as souls. All this is merely the description of a man. The believer has a new man, which is another thing. He has in Christ a new life, a new nature. The spirit, the soul, the body, are characteristics of men, no matter where they are or what they are. And there is the solemnity of it. If man had only a body of flesh and blood, or if he had only an animal soul, we could understand his carelessness; for a merely animal soul will never appear in the resurrection. Precisely, because MAN alone, of all animals on the earth, has got a reasonable soul, a soul that came from the inbreathing of God—therefore it is that he only is to rise, as his spirit returns to God who gave it. Brutes do not rise—man must. But those who are Christ's will rise in all His beauty and glory; and those that are not Christ's must rise to be judged, not merely to give account. The believer will have to give an account, but not as a criminal. A criminal has to give an account no doubt, or at any rate an account is taken of what he has done; and he is judged. The believer is not judged. The words quoted show this, particularly as given in the Revised Version of John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24), as many knew it long before, I refer to it now, not that I have a very high opinion of that revision, but it is often right. “He that heareth My word and believeth Him that sent Me hath life eternal, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life.” Our old version had “condemnation;” and many of us used to say that it was not exact, and the Revisers say so too. “He that heareth My word... cometh not into judgment.” How blessed! There would be no sense in judging a man who is already saved. Till a man is saved, he is under judgment; and when he is saved, he is taken out of judgment. Only theologians talk of putting him into the dock again. The whole thought is a mistake. The believer is justified while in this world. Where is the sense of his being judged afterward? Would it not be a denial of his being now saved? The mistake arises from nature always denying grace.
Do you know how it is that in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred people are mistaken about the teaching of the Bible? It is because, being not right about the gospel, they are not sound as to the first foundation. Everybody knows that if a foundation is faulty, the building is sure to have cracks in it, and is not to be trusted anywhere. May grace keep one from finding fault; but I do want Christians to understand how it is that they are not more happy. Is it not for the same reason that poor anxious souls are kept, for years perhaps, in misery and doubt? It is for want of seeing the fullness of the grace of God that meets them in our Lord Jesus. Scripture knows no such a thought as that people should wait for weeks, or months, or years before knowing themselves saved. You have only to read the Acts of the Apostles and see men that knew nothing at all before, who were saved the same hour. Look, for instance, at the gaoler at Philippi, or at the Ethiopian treasurer to Queen Candace. It does not matter where you turn, to Jew or Greek, they were through faith blessed at once.
( To be continued, D.V.)