When visiting a young man a few months ago who was evidently on his death-bed, I felt some difficulty in reaching his conscience, though he professed to be a believer in Christ and prepared to die. Those who were nearly related to him and had the greatest personal interest in him endeavored to confirm his words with an “Ο yes, dear—is prepared.” With the best intention, no doubt, this was said; the friend was anxious to soothe his mind and keep him quiet, and to make me feel satisfied with his condition. But the religion of the friend was of the same character as his own: generally religious, attentive to the prescribed system of the religious duties of their denomination; but knowing little of sin, or of deliverance from it through the death of Christ, or of the peace which the cross gives.
This is the religion of unsuspecting, unconcerned thousands; and most difficult to deal with. There is nothing clearly defined or fixed in the mind; there is a general belief in Christ, in His cross, in being religious, in belonging to some church, but there is nothing definite to lay hold on. And the world, it will be found, has a large place in the hearts of such. It has never been judged in the sight of God; indeed, it is a common saying with many that, “It is right to enjoy the world in a reasonable way;” but that reasonable way extends to the bent of their own inclination, and is measured by their own thoughts and desires, not by the word of God. This is far, far away from the religion of Christ, it is like another religion altogether, and it is most difficult to touch the consciences of such professors, their lives being outwardly blameless, and their religious duties being fairly attended to.
After some conversation, I at length said to the dying young man, “Were the Lord to take you away, dear—and you to stand before the judgment-seat of God, what would you say of yourself?” The dear youth simply answered, “I would say, I am a poor sinner no doubt thinking this the most humble and proper thing to say of himself. “But the judgment-seat,” I said to him, “has no mercy or pardon for sinners; it could only condemn such. This would be the right thing to say before the cross, but not before the judgment-seat. If we place a plumb-line against a crooked wall, it does not make it straight, but only shows its crookedness. Christ is God’s standard, and none can be approved before His tribunal who are not as absolutely perfect as Christ.” This led to a conversation on the subject of the cross and the judgment-seat, which I need not attempt to repeat, but would only add a few words for the sake of those who survive the dear, amiable young man, who is now, I trust, resting with the Lord in the paradise above.
The sinner is in his right place when before the cross where God is judging sin in the holy, sinless, Sufferer. It is only there we can learn its evil and malignant nature, and how impossible it is for God to overlook the least stain of sin.
When the sense of sin has thus reached the conscience, the sinner feels that without Christ he is lost forever. But while the cross reveals God’s hatred of sin, it also reveals His love to the sinner; if His righteousness condemns sin, His love provides a Savior for the sinner. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This grand foundation gospel text is divinely fitted to meet the whole condition of the individual sinner, and of all mankind. “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.... There is no difference.” And the more deeply we feel the sense of sin, and how unbearable it is to God, the more deeply shall we feel the greatness of His love in giving the blessed Jesus to die in our stead. John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16); Rom. 3:22, 2322Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:22‑23).
CONVICTION OF SIN.
But here God will have reality; the conscience must be exercised; it is more than an intellectual conclusion—more than a vague, general, apprehension of the “gospel plan,” and being satisfied therewith. There must be definiteness of thought and personal conviction. Sin is a reality; holiness is a reality; the death of Christ is a reality; and the soul’s exercise must be a reality. Not that pardon and salvation depend upon any process through which we must pass; for we read that the look of faith saves the soul. “Look unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else.” (Isa. 45:2222Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:22).) It is not said that we shall be saved for looking, or after looking, but in looking; as in the case of the serpent-bitten Israelites. “And if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived.” (Numb. 21) Not merely was he cured, but lived—a new life in the very circumstances of death. The blessed Lord applies the same truth in John 3 “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have eternal life.”
At the same time, while we rejoice in the glorious freeness of the gospel, we must still affirm that the sinner cannot be too deeply exercised about his sins before God, or in too close quarters with Him as to his guilt. If he has not this kind of exercise before he is saved, he must have it afterward. Without it we could not appreciate the love of God in the gift of His Son, or the value of the Savior’s blood. It was this that led David to cry out in the bitterness of his soul; “Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight.” He lost sight, for the moment, of those against whom he had so grievously sinned, and saw his sin only as against God. And this is the sure way of receiving the immediate forgiveness of all our sins. As David further says, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.” We must be whiter than snow to be approved before the judgment-seat of God.
But there is no question, blessed be God, when the sinner stands before the cross, as to the amount of his guilt. Grace meets him: the rich, free grace of God meets him without a question, and says, “Thy sins,” not may, or will be, but “are forgiven.” The sinner may be on his death-bed, like the thief on the cross; or he may be in the bloom of blameless youth; the one may owe fifty and the other five hundred pence, but both are “frankly forgiven.” Every case of conversion we read of in the New Testament, clearly proves this, and the most hopeless case of all—the thief on the cross—is the finest conversion on record. This is grace, the grace of God, on the ground of the work of Christ to the chief of sinners. Without a word of reproach he is assured of being with Jesus that very day in paradise. And so it was with the Father, and His prodigal son: without a word of reproach, without a reference to the past, the Father fell on the prodigal’s neck and kissed him. The heart was too full for utterance. Words would have been poor indeed, compared with that silent kiss of peace, and with the ring—pledge and seal of eternal love.
THE GROUND OF RECEPTION.
But how is it, some may ask, that God can thus receive the sinner without any reference to the past? The cross alone explains this; redemption was fully accomplished there; every requirement of heaven, and every need of the sinner were fully and perfectly met in the obedience unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. “It is finished,” were his last words in testimony on the cross; so that God is just, and righteous, while He is the Justifier of them that believe in Jesus. “When the sinner comes before God as a true believer in the precious blood of Christ, which was shed on the cross and sprinkled on the mercy-seat—what can God say to him? Were He to condemn him for the past; that would be to deny His own word and the efficacy of the blood. What then will He say to him, what will He do with him? He will receive him in the full credit of the Person and work of His beloved Son; and that means, He will meet him with all that is due to Christ Himself. Oh! wondrous, vast, measureless blessing! To be blessed with all that is due to Christ! His place in heaven and His welcome there: His life, His righteousness, His dignity, His honors, and His glories, as the risen and exalted Man are all ours in Him, and that forever and ever. Amen! Amen! cries responsive faith. The heart is broken and healed, and bows in the meltings of worship, adoration, and praise.
And this too, observe, dear reader, is the righteousness of God. Most truly it is mercy, wondrous mercy; grace, boundless grace; compassion, deep compassion; but God is pleased to call it His righteousness: “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all [set before all] and upon [actually upon] all them that believe: for there is no difference.” And again, as the apostle says, “We pray you in Christ’s stead be ye reconciled to God. For be bath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” Surely the righteousness of God is a divine title to the glory of God, and this we most plainly have in Christ. Rom. 3 Cor. 5:21.
But if the reader will turn to 1 John 4:9-179In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. 14And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. 15Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. (1 John 4:9‑17), he will have the cross and the judgment-seat before him in a plain and most blessed way. In verses 9, 10, we have the cross, its immediate results, and the love of God as the source of all our blessing. “In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” Here we have “life” and “propitiation.” By the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ, all that was ours as children of the first Adam, was put away. He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. “Knowing this that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed.” (Rom. 6) That means, the whole system of sin in which we stood is destroyed, judicially, yet absolutely to faith.
We have also life through His death on the cross. “That we might live through him.” He gave Himself for us. Not merely His blood or His life, but Himself. Thus it is, all glory to God! All that was ours, as guilty and ruined sinners, He put away; and all that is His as risen and glorified, He makes ours, as the fruit of God’s love, and on the ground of accomplished righteousness. When this is clearly seen, we shall not be surprised, or find any difficulty, with verse 17, which says, “Herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world.” Surely, if He has put away all that was ours, and has given us all that is His, we must be as He is, we could not be anything else. And this is true to faith now, though still encompassed with many infirmities, and surrounded with the evil of this world; and the blessed Lord in the very center of heaven’s brightest glory! yet the marvelous truth remains the same, “As he is, so are we in this world.”
This is true preparation for a sick-bed, a death-bed, the judgment-seat; or, for the Lord’s coming to take us up collectively to be with Himself. There is nothing vague or indefinite in the word of God. All truth is absolute and positive. The intelligent believer can say,—As Christ is in the glory, so am I, though still in the world; he may be feeble and suffering, poor and needy, or active and vigorous in service, and surrounded with innumerable mercies, the truth remains unchanged and unchangeable. As He is, so are we in this world. This alone gives boldness in the day of judgment.
Oh, that all who read this paper may lay these truths seriously to heart! Nothing less will secure a happy eternity! But what must that heaven be when all are perfect as Christ, and one with Him in His dignities and glories! All that we were as guilty sinners, root and branch, the cross has completely taken away; all that Christ is as the risen and glorified Man is made ours through faith in Him; He gave Himself for us.
What an overwhelming thought this truth gives of a believer’s entrance into heaven! To enter in the full credit of Christ Himself; and that, whether we go up individually or collectively, is more than we can realize. It is difficult to grasp, to believe, yet it is the plain truth of God. We may assent to it when another repeats it; or we may learn to say it ourselves, but do we live in the power and enjoyment of it? If so, the world will soon find its true place in our sight, and Christ His right place in our thoughts and affections.
But this paper has been written chiefly for those who are unprepared for a death-bed and the judgment-seat. Leave not, my dear reader, this all-important question until the doctor has pronounced your case hopeless. Then you may be unfit to think of anything seriously. Surely it is a solemn thing to die! All feel this. But it is a terrible thing for the unprepared! To stand before the tribunal of God in all thy sins, what must thy sentence be? There can only be one—“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.” The curse of God is inseparable from sin. And there is no appeal from this tribunal; the sentence is final; and thou must take thy place with those evil angels in the depths of woe, woe, unutterable. No friendly smile will ever greet thee there. None of the inhabitants of that region of despair ever smile; they only weep and wail and gnash their teeth in self-reproach, and blaspheme the God of holiness. Think, oh think of this now, my dear reader! Thou hast seen what a state of unmingled blessedness the believer enjoys after he leaves this world; but for the unbeliever, there is nothing but eternal misery. The thought is overwhelming; my heart breaks for thee. Neglect not, I beseech thee, this great salvation. It is full, it is free, it is everlasting, it waits thy acceptance! reject not the Savior of sinners, or thy portion may be amongst the lost, the desolate, the forsaken, where no friendly voice will ever be heard, where no ray of hope can ever enter, and where thy soul must sink beneath the weight of thy sins in endless despair. Turn, oh turn to Jesus now; look, oh look to Jesus now; believe, oh believe in Jesus now; trust, oh trust to Jesus now; then that word will surely be for thee, “ Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.” Psalm 2.