THESE verses, beloved reader, are solemn and searching. They show the necessity of being real, for “the hypocrite’s hope shall perish.” How different all is as to the path and hope of a real Christian. This is sweetly given to us in Romans 5:1, 21Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: 2By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. (Romans 5:1‑2): “Therefore being justified by faith, we (real Christians) have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”
A Christian’s present portion and hope are here described; he is justified, has peace with God, stands in grace, and rejoices in hope of glory. This belongs to every simple believer in the Lord Jesus.
Do you say, “Oh, that is worth having”? You never said a truer word in your life; and now I would ask you one question: Would you like to have it? “Whom do you mean?” do you ask. I mean you, dear unsaved reader. I am not speaking to those who are Christians, but to those who are not. “That is a very straight line,” you say. It is, but which side of it are you? Do you say, “We are all professing Christians”? I do not care a bit what you profess; the devil does not mind a bit your being a professing Christian; nay, more, he will help you to be such. Are you a professing Christian, and nothing more? Then you are a hypocrite! Are you a professor of Christ, and not a possessor of Christ? Then I want to show you your hope. “What hope?” you say. The hypocrite’s hope.
We have seen in Romans 5:2 The Christian’s hope, viz., “the glory of God,” and he rejoices in that hope. We see the hope of the man who is not a Christian in the verses at the head of this paper. It is a false hope. Before the sharp sickle of death comes, and you are carried from time into eternity, see to it, my reader, that your hope is not this. Is it mere profession without reality? There is no root then; nothing to sustain the profession; you are like the rush, or the flag without water―wither away you must.
Mark the 13th verse: “So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish.” “So;” mark that word. “Ah,” I hear someone say, “I am not a hypocrite.” What are you then? A Christian? “No, I have not cared anything about these things.” Totally careless are you? Well, you shall perish in just the same way. “SO are the paths of ALL that forget God.” This sweeps the scene entirely; there is not one left; not one. If you are not in full association of life with Christ Jesus, you, too, shall perish; “All that forget God;” i.e., every simple, careless, unconverted man or woman.
Do you say, “Oh! but I am not this careless person?” What are you then? “I make a profession of Christianity; in my earliest days my mother instructed me, and as I grew older I became a teacher in the Sunday-school, and member of a church, and now that I am advanced in years I have a good hope.” What is your hope? Are you converted yet? Have you received Christ? Has your heart tasted the sweetness of knowing His love? Has your soul been washed through the cleansing power of His blood? If you have not been savingly brought to God, the Word of God classes you on the same ground as the openly careless. If it is profession merely with you, and not possession of Christ, it is only hypocrisy; and remember, “the hypocrite’s hope shall perish.”
Oh, what a thing for you to wake up by-and-by in the lake of fire, and then discover that you have been all wrong! Is it not better to get a burning word of warning now, and wake up in time, while still you can turn round, while still you can get off this road, that, notwithstanding all its pretensions, leads straight down into the pit? Would to God I could tear away the garment of external form from every unsaved, unconverted soul, that all might see where they are, and whither they are going; and that nothing―no form, no external rites, no profession of Christianity―nothing but a saving knowledge of Jesus, will avail them anything. Knowing something about Him will not do, you must know Him; this only is eternal life Is it not better to have the conscience cut to the quick here, and the remedy applied now, than to have the conscience cut to the quick in the light of eternity, and to find out then that you are, what REALLY YOU ARE Now, an utterly lost person? What an awful thing to find this out when it is too late, when there is no remedy!
But, dear reader, I hope you have no desire to be a hypocrite, and at least from this moment, if never before, will be in real earnest about the salvation of your precious soul. Are you anxious to be saved? then hearken to the Word of God I now quote “For when we were yet WITHOUT STRENGTH, in due time Christ died for the UNGODLY. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth, his love towards us, in that, while we were yet SINNERS, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when we were ENEMIES, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement (reconciliation—margin)” (Rom. 5:6-116For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. 11And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. (Romans 5:6‑11)). God has received the atonement, we receive the reconciliation.
In this passage God shows us our natural state in four aspects: “Without strength,” “ungodly,” “sinners,” “enemies.” What a picture of each unsaved soul! Yea, shall I say, of you, reader? It was my state once, but, thank God, it is not now. Is your case too bad for God? No. He perfectly meets your need by His blessed Son. You are without strength to do good, though with plenty of strength to do evil. What then? How does God meet a sinner, “WITHOUT STRENGTH?” Have you learned your own helplessness? Then listen: “When we were yet without strength, Christ died.”
It was after four thousand years of probation, to try if man had any strength for good, then Jesus came. The time when He came was remarkable. He appeared “in due time,” i.e., when it had been proved that man was utterly helpless. “In due time Christ died for the ungodly.” What a word! What is the ground of a sinner’s salvation? “Christ died!” How can I have any hope? “Christ died!” But I am “without strength.” “Christ died!” For whom? THE UNGODLY! Look at it! Oh, look at it! Drink it in in all its sweetness, “Christ died for the ungodly.” Have not you been without God all your life? “Christ died for the ungodly.” Do you care to come in among that class now? Did He die for the godly? Where was such a man to be found? There was not one really godly, not one whose mind and ways met the mind of God; and then, because of that, Jesus came in and died for those who had not met the mind of God, viz., “the ungodly.”
“But,” you say, “how am I to be sure Jesus died for me?” Suppose your name were written there in the Word of God, would you be more comfortable, or sure that Jesus died for you? No! Because the moment you were going to take the comfort of it to yourself someone might step in and say, “There is someone else of the same name, it does not mean you, He did not die for you.” But the title “ungodly” no devil in hell can take from you; he cannot say it is not your character; and, if it is your character, then Christ has died for you. Tell me, did you ever think of this, that Jesus died for you? Oh, did you ever think of it, He died for you?
But God commends His love in a peculiar way, the total contrast of man’s. The apostle names three characters. First, “a righteous man,” that is, a man that one can say nothing against, except that he is rather hard, one who gives every man his due and expects the same in return, who would pay to the last farthing and claim to be paid to the last farthing. Is he one who gains the affection of people? No. Does the heart go out after such an one? No. He may win respect, but will one die for him? “Scarcely,” the apostle says.
But, secondly, give me “a good man,” one like John Howard or George Peabody, one who will sacrifice himself or his wealth for the good of others, what men call a philanthropist; will any die for such? “Peradventure,” he says. But, thirdly, “God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were SINNERS, Christ died for US.” It comes with a sort of gushing warmth about it that goes straight to the heart. Are you a sinner? Christ died for you. Oh! what wondrous love!
And now there is a fourth aspect in which we appear “enemies.” Are you “without strength”? Christ died for you! Are you “ungodly”? Christ died for you! Are you “a sinner” going on in all the lust of the flesh? Christ died for you! Are you an “enemy”? He laid down his life for you, that He might reconcile you to God! Oh, will you not say, “I have been an enemy, but I ground my arms from this hour, for I see that, when I did not ewe for Him, He cared for me; I was exposed to the wrath of God, and His Son bare that wrath for me; Jesus has been my substitute; Jesus died for me! How deep is His love to me; I see it all. No longer can I be numbered among the ranks of His foes. His love has laid hold of me; that cross on which my Lord expired has made peace for me, that cross has delivered me, that cross wins my heart. I have discovered the deep untold love of God to me, my heart is caught, caught by the love of God.” All this a simple believer in the Lord can say. How great the change when you believe? You are “justified by his blood,” “saved from wrath through him,” “reconciled to God,” and can now “joy in God!”
What were we? “Without strength,” “ungodly,” “sinners,” “enemies.” But we have heard and believed the Glad Tidings. What are we? “Justified,” “saved,” “reconciled,” we “joy in God,” and all because “Christ died for us.” These are blessed realities! How different from “the hypocrite’s hope.”
W. T. P. W.