DO not know how many witnesses might be called upon to give evidence against the sinner, but I can name three whose testimony is overwhelming. The first leaves him "without excuse;" the second declares him "guilty before God;" and the third pronounces him "condemned already.”
Now these verdicts are rather the sentences of a judge, after full examination, than the mere evidence of witnesses; yet, whilst this is true, the judge acts upon the statement of the witnesses, and forms his judgment. Let us listen, then, to the voices.
The prisoner at the bar has said, “There is no God," and is arraigned on that charge. He has denied the existence of God, though admitting of a substitute, which he describes as "a first cause.”
He cannot but own effects; and for an effect there must be a cause; for all effects, a first cause. But, then, this first cause, whatever it may be, is not God. You see, the idea of God is suggestive of intelligent authority, power, omniscience, and many other qualities, which may fairly be denied to a “first cause." This may be a mere germ of life, all productive, and, perchance, widely beneficent; but that is not only a source of life, possessing, necessarily, perfect intelligence and power; but a moral Being, who discriminates between right and wrong, good and evil, and who orders His moral universe according to rules of perfect equity. The idea of God is, therefore, distasteful, intolerable, and it is accordingly abandoned for the splendid substitute—” first cause.”
But "creation" declares " his eternal power and Godhead; "and, in" first cause," what is there that is eternal, or that can be described as Godhead?
Nothing, surely! It is only a conception of the mind, that may mean anything, but which at all events aims at getting rid of the obnoxious word God.
Creation, then,—the visible universe,—speaks loudly of these two things, and leaves the sinner “without excuse." What greater miracle need God perform in order to carry the conviction of His being to our minds, than what we see around us by day and night? We live amid miracles we are miracles; and yet “The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God!" It is true that creation does not tell us all that God is, but it does tell us of His power, design, and Godhead; and with such evidence the unbeliever is well called a "fool.”
He is left "without excuse.”
Our second witness is the law. Now the law was given by Moses to Israel, and it contained the measure of human righteousness on earth. God took up that nation as a sample of all others, and made them the world-wide illustration of the fact that man cannot keep his commands. What is true of one, is true of all; as the sample, so the crop; as Israel, so the world. “By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." This is solemn, for it shows the effect of the law, and the utter impossibility of salvation on that principle.
It stops every mouth, and brings in all the world as guilty before God.
Did you ever try, my reader, to obtain righteousness by keeping the law? If so, you learned your folly. The law is "holy," but you are unholy; the law is "just," but you are unjust; the law is “good," but you are thoroughly bad, and there is not the smallest relationship between you. In fact, fire and water would agree more readily than the law and the sinner. There is no compatibility.
The very best way to learn what you are, is honestly to measure yourself by the law. Your mouth will soon be stopped, and you will plead "guilty," for "guilty before God" you certainly are, and all the world along with you!
Ala I this second witness bears a vast evidence, and testifies against many who appear insensible to its voice, yet the world is "guilty before God.”
Our third witness is the Gospel. Hearken, "He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God " (John 3:1818He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)). Here we have discrimination,—some "not condemned," others "condemned already," and the reasons given for these two different states. Faith in the Son of God brings about the perfect acquittal of the one, unbelief condemns the other. The name of the Son of God is the test. In that blessed name is embodied full salvation, and the rejection of it involves condemnation. Now God spoke in one way by creation, in another by the law, and in a third by the Gospel; in the first we see His power, in the second His holiness, and in the last His love,—a three-fold cord!
If people refuse the voice of creation, then, perhaps, they will tremble under the thunders of the law. If they still turn a deaf ear to the law, then, surely, they will yield to the winnings of love! Must they pass from court to court? from “being without excuse," to "guilty before God"? then from "guilty before God," to "condemned already "? What a downward course!
Depend upon it, dear reader, God means that you should listen, and He will hold you responsible for all you see, and hear, and know of His works, and ways, and Word. Creation is a distinct witness to the fact that God is. The law makes known His holiness, and that He cannot tolerate sin. The Gospel—the good news—tells of His heart; its love, its care, its sympathy; the gift of His Son, and of that precious blood which cleanseth from all sin; of present acquittal, of eternal life, of “no condemnation; " of all God has done for the guilty who trust in Jesus.
Believe, oh, believe, and live! J. W. S.