AT THE SURREY TABERNACLE, BOROUGH ROAD
“For God sent not his Son into the world, to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.” John 3:17
THERE is scarcely in all the Scriptures a word which has a greater variety of meaning than the word world. This word occurs three times in our text, and yet, it has not precisely the same meaning in any one of the times in which it is mentioned. “God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;” therefore, world here in the first place will mean simply the world as a dwelling place. And secondly, the world will mean a world that is to be condemned; “He sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world;” that is, it was not Christ's mission then; but there is a time coming when the world will be condemned, when Christ will come and condemn the world. And then, the word world, the third time, mentioned in our text, relates especially, to the salvation of the Lord's people, “that the world through him might be saved.” And shall the world, through him, be saved? Certainly, it shall. What says the word of God concerning the coming of Christ? Does it not say, “This is the will of him that sent me, that of all that he has given me, I should lose nothing.” And Christ came to do the will of God; and if he came to do the will of God, he came to save the world and he did accomplish the salvation thereof; and that world most certainly shall be saved? Now, you will find that the word Israel, and the word world stand in their meaning in close analogy, the one to the other. The word Israel, in some places, will mean all the twelve tribes of Israel, the literal descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and so, the word world sometimes will mean the whole human race; as where it is said, “By one man sin entered into the world;” there, it means the whole human race; because all have sinned in Adam, and come short of the glory of God. But then, the word Israel, when it pertains to eternal things, will mean not all the literal descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but only some out of each tribe; if you turn to Revelation 7, you will find there, the clear explanation of the word Israel, and the word world, as pertaining to eternal things. You find in that chapter, that there are some sealed out of every tribe; and therefore, they were God's Israel, a spiritual Israel among a literal Israel, or among an Israel after the flesh. There, in that same chapter, a number that no man could number, out of all kindreds, and tongues, and nations, and people; there you get the explanation of the word world. There you will see that the word Israel, when it refers to Israel after the flesh, will mean all the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and so the word world, when it refers to the population of the globe, will mean the whole human race; but the same word when applied spiritually, or in relation to eternal things, will mean all the spiritual descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Thus, then, as the word Israel, when taken in relation to eternal things, will mean some, as shown in Revelation 7 out of all kindreds, and nations, and tongues, and people. I think that these two words, throw a light, the one upon the other. Now, I will not say more upon this matter, because I do desire, if I am spared, to preach three sermons from this text. I shall notice, first, a world saved; then a world judged; and lastly, a world lost.
I wish, therefore, to take up the verse, not in the exact order in which the clauses lie before us, but to take it up according to the subjects which it contains; first the salvation of the world; secondly, the judgment of the world; and thirdly, the ultimate condemnation of the world.
First Part: I shall, therefore, now notice the last clause of our text, "God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.” Therefore, our subject this morning is the salvation of the world; the salvation of that world which the Lord Jesus Christ has saved and will prove at the last are saved. And the great question again comes before us in this matter, where are we? Are we a part of that world that is saved, or are we a part of that world which is lost? These are matters which will come pretty clearly before us this morning.
Now then, where is this salvation found? First, in the love of God the Father; secondly, in the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ; and, thirdly, in the work of the Holy Spirit.
First. The word world stands connected with the Three Divine Persons; and therefore, I have adopted this line of things, which I have just presented to you as the basis and foundation of what I have to say this morning upon matters of salvation. First, then, the love of God, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Let us then look at the mission of Christ in the light of this testimony. “God so loved the world.” There are six or seven very interesting contrasts in the text which I have just named; and I will for the sake of clearness notice this part of the subject contrastively. “God so loved the world.” Now Satan is called “the god of this world;” but it cannot be said of him that he loves the world; But “God so loved the world.” Here is a contrast, therefore, a contrast between Satan and the blessed God. And hence you will find that our preparation for eternity is attributed in one Scripture to the Father; “Giving thanks unto the Father, who has made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Now how has the Father done this? We know how he has done it provisionally; but he does it operatively; for it says, “Having delivered us from the powers of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins.” Here then, is the first feature I will notice, the contrast to Satan. Satan is spoken of as “the power of darkness;” for there is nothing he so much dreads as the shining into our souls of the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God. Now just notice how God the Father prepares us, by delivering us from the powers of darkness, and translating us into the kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins; so, then he prepares us for the inheritance of the saints in light, by bringing us where there is eternal redemption; by bringing us to where there is forgiveness of sins. What a sweet position is that to be brought into, delivering us from the powers of darkness. We were ignorant of our thralldom, and therefore sought not after the redeeming blood of the Lamb, sought not the enjoyment of eternal redemption; he brings us to where there is redemption; and that redemption is by the precious blood of Jesus Christ; and the forgiveness of sins; and that prepares us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. And this redemption is by price and by power; Christ having paid the price, has set the prisoner eternally free. And hence the Lord makes the poor sinner feel when he takes him in hand, that he is by nature in a pit of death, and in a pit of corruption, and in a pit of darkness; and there he is shut up till the command comes, “Turn you to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope.” What stronghold is that? That which the Lord declared in the previous verse, “As for you also, by the blood of your covenant, I have sent forth your prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water.” Just where we have this redemption by the blood of Christ, there we have all the forgiveness to which that blood can entitle us. Then he says concerning it, and I was going to say, that if one testimony can rise higher than another in heaven, there is none that will rise higher than this, “The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin.” Ah then, let me be made acquainted with my need of this redemption, and let me receive in the love of it the truth of this redemption, and let me meet the everlasting God on redemption ground; and on the same ground where we have redemption, we have also forgiveness of all our sins. That man is prepared for eternity; that man can bear the scrutiny of justice, of holiness, of integrity, of a heart-searching God: for it is by redeeming and cleansing blood, it is by redeeming and forgiving mercy, that that man stands prepared for eternity. Then, happy that man whose eyes are opened to see his need of this redemption; whose eyes are opened to see the suitability of this redemption; and constrained to look to the Lord thereby. The second contrast is a contrast of love, “God so loved;” that stands in contrast to the law. The law is the ministration of death, the ministration of wrath. Where is God's love? Not in the law, there is wrath there; condemnation there; anguish there; tribulation there. What is there there? An infinity and an eternity of accountability to God: accountability to God according to his holy law; and that man that dies under that law, and is found there, will have to account for every one of his sins: original sin, heart sin, lip sin, life sin; and he has nothing wherewith to account for it; that man is lost, lost forever; there is nothing but wrath there. But the contrast to this is the love of God in Christ Jesus, there is a Surety that takes away my accountability; I am no longer accountable; he has paid the debt, I am no longer accountable; the yoke is gone, the burden is gone; the prison, I will not say, is broken open, no, I will say, it is opened legally, opened lawfully, opened rightly, and opened eternally; and the prisoner is set free; there our accountability is gone, and the great Redeemer was and is our Surety. Here then, we have salvation; first in God; then in the love of God in contrast to the law. And we cannot keep these two points too distinct and clear, the directly opposite; namely, the law and the Gospel, directly a contrast one to the other. The apostle in so many places in the New Testament is so clear upon this. Take Romans 5, see how he contrasts there what we are by the law, and what we are by grace. And then take 2 Corinthians 3, and see there how he contrasts the ministration of the law, and the ministration of the Gospel. And then take 1 Corinthians 15, and see how he contrasts what we are under the law in the first Adam, and what we are in the second Adam under the Gospel. Take these three together, and that will give you an idea of the contrast of what we are in the wrath of God, and what we are in the love of God. If you take Romans 5, you will see what we are in the wrath of God, and what we are in reigning, grace; if you take 2 Corinthians 3, there again, you see wrath, tribulation, and woe in contrast to the Gospel; if you take 1 Corinthians 15, and there again the contrast appears. This is the great thing lacking in the present, day; people make a loud profession of religion; but you may depend upon it, that if we are not driven to it for want of a shelter, if, we. have not come into this truth of God's everlasting love from an assurance that there is no refuge anywhere else; that refuge must be had somewhere if we are to be saved, but there is refuge nowhere else, then you may depend upon it that your religion is not the right one. Thus, then in the love of God we have salvation. Then, thirdly, here is possession contrasted with destitution. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.” Here is possession. Now, then if I possess Christ, if I receive Christ, I mean the Christ of God, I do not mean the Christ of man, for there are many false Christs in our day, and ever have been since Satan began to corrupt the gospel, if I possess Christ, I have everything I need. But he that has not the true Christ; he that has not that Christ that is the end of the law for righteousness; he that has not that Christ who stands as the surety of a poor sinner, he that has not that Christ, is a poor destitute creature. Works are no use; nothing can do but the Lord Jesus Christ. Being brought into possession of the Lord Jesus Christ, then I have light, and life, and justification; in a word I have everything. And after all, the Christian stands complete nowhere but in Christ Jesus the Lord. Therefore, let me have Jesus Christ, let him be my hope, let him be my whole hope of glory, then I have all that will enable me to live happy, to cast all my burdens upon him, and to die happy, and to be happy throughout eternity.
Look then at the contrast between the blessed God, and Satan the god of this world; look at the contrast between the love of God, and the wrath of the law; look at the contrast between our eternal destitution if we have not Christ, and on the other hand our possession of everything if we have the Lord Jesus Christ.
Fourthly, here is a state of grace contrasted with, a state of nature. “Whosoever believes in him;” believes, what a sweet idea that is, believes; I like it exceedingly much; only we must not mistake mere natural faith for supernatural; we must not interpret the after parts of this chapter in a way that will destroy the first parts of this chapter. “You must be born again.” And therefore, if a man professes to believe, his faith must be put to the test. But more of this presently. But he also says, whosoever, “whosoever believes” That is one of the sweetest expressions in the scripture, whosoever. I know not what I should do in some cases relative to my own experience, and I know not what I should do sometimes in the pulpit, and I am sure I know not what I should do when I am called to visit an ungodly man, or a man who has been nothing but an ungodly man up to the time perhaps of his death bed affliction, were it not for a Scripture of this kind, “whosoever believes.” Therefore, it does not matter who he is, nor what his character has been, nor what the world thinks of him. And hence it is in this sweet Scripture we have had persons go from the drop of Newgate, to the throne of God; a person to my knowledge at Horsemonger Jail, and after they have been brought under sentence of death by human justice, they have been brought to the knowledge of the Lord, and died, though on the gallows, in possession of that peace that passes all understanding; so mighty, so overwhelming, and so glorious is the declaration, whosoever; it matters not; a workhouse, a prison, an hospital; let them be what they may, heathen men, publicans, old or young; let them be ten thousand times blacker than all the devils in hell together; if God brings a sinner to see the greatness of his love, the greatness of the Savior's work, the infinite atonement made, it matters not how great his sins, nor how awful his state may be, “whosoever believes shall not perish, but have everlasting life.” Thousands are passed by that have walked through the world respectably without a blot upon their name, and they are damned at last; for with all their excellency they never felt their lost condition, nor received the truth of God in the love of it; while others, like the thief upon the cross, in the last hour, God has enlightened them and brought them in: whosoever. Nor sin, nor Satan, nor all they were the subjects of, could get them away from that divine conviction which the Holy Ghost brought them under, of the Savior's ability to save. Whosoever. Does that mean that the matter is left with man? Oh no, God does not mean that.
But let us look at another "Shall not perish.” Here is preservation in contrast to destruction. “You turn man to destruction, and say, return you children of men.” Ah, you and I are both going on, rapidly on, towards destruction. What destruction is that? The destruction of mortal life, the destruction of mortal sense, the destruction of all human ties. But if brought to know the truth, what does it say then? “Though the outward man perishes the inward man is renewed day by day.” And so, it is only the coming down of the poor, tottering tabernacle, to make way for that house which is from heaven, and to bring us into possession of that life which surpasses all creature life, as much as the Creator himself surpasses the creature. But look at where we were in a state of nature, on the road to destruction: to the destruction of our souls. Why, I am sure it is one of the keenest reproaches I feel, in my mind, that I am so little alive to what God has done for me. Why, here is God, my God, instead of the devil being my god; here is love, instead of wrath; here is the gift of his dear Son, instead of eternal destitution; and here is faith in his infinite ability to save, instead of no acquaintance with him whatever; and here is preservation, in place of destruction. If Christ thought us worth living for, and worth dying for; if he thinks we are now worth pleading for; if he thinks us worth coming for, and worth exalting to all his glory, if he thinks of us in this way, what should we wish to think of him? Oh, it is very pleasing, when the Lord is enthroned in our hearts, when we can think highly of him, when we can think affectionately of him, think of him until our very souls burn with love to his holy name, for the wonders he has done, in bringing us from so great a death, and making us so savingly acquainted with him! Saved in God! Saved by his love! Saved by the gift of his dear Son! Saved by discriminating grace! And saved by that eternal life that is in Christ Jesus!
Second Part: I notice secondly that the world here spoken of, is saved in the mediation of Christ. And how are they thus saved? By a way that my very heart rejoices to tell you. “Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world.” Where did he take the sin from? Why, from two places. “He takes away the sin of the world.” Where was it? Why, the sin of the world was with God, and it was with the people; and so, he took it away from God; carried it away like the scapegoat that was to go away into a land of oblivion and take the sins away from the presence of God. The Lamb of God took them away. My hearer, what do you say? Have you been brought to see and feel that sin has in it the strength of God's eternal law? that it is that kind of thing, that you never took away a sin in your life yet? We often attempted that, some of us, many years ago, when we knew not better, to take our sins away from before God; we actually increased them, instead of making them less. It was so with me; I made resolutions, I would be holy, I would be good; but, instead of that, my evil heart, my beastly heart, my hard heart, my devilish heart, sent forth what the Savior says; nothing but evil thoughts. I grew literally worse. But the Lamb of God has taken away sin, taken it away from me, so that it shall not be laid to my charge; and taken it from God, so that when I come into the presence of God, my sin shall not be there, not a fault of mine shall be there. Christ is there; he is gone to appear in the presence of God for us. Oh, what a glorious place to be brought to! Christ is there. But where are our sins? They are gone but there is the atoning Lamb. Yes! John saw the Lamb, in the midst of the throne; and therefore now, in the presence of the blessed God, he looks like a Lamb that, has been slain and wears his priesthood still. “He takes away the sin of the world.” You may depend upon it, sin was never taken away yet, but by the atoning Lamb of God.
Secondly, not only takes away sin, but there is the non-imputation of sin. You see we are dealing with the word world this morning: “To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.” Bless his dear name for ever and ever. And look at the argument the apostle connects with it, “And has committed unto us the ministry of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you, by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be you reconciled to God;” that is in his dealings with you; you are reconciled to him in the great, matter of the non-imputation of sin; but be reconciled to him, in his dealings with you. Some of them seem very mysterious, but they are all to make you more and more see the blessedness of that truth, that your reconciliation unto him must be by the nonimputation of sin; by his having imputed all your sins to Christ. And now notice the apostle's argument, to reconcile us. It is one of the most powerful arguments in the Bible, “For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him;” as though the apostle would say, if Christ was reconciled to that, if he were willing to be made sin for us, if he were willing to be made a curse for us, if he were reconciled to that, oh, then, be you reconciled unto God in your temporal afflictions, in your personal afflictions, in your business perplexities, your worldly losses, how much more may we be reconciled to those crooks and trials, which, after all, form a part of the all things that shall work together for good to us. Thus, then, here is salvation in the putting away of sin: salvation in the non-imputation of sin.
But let us have the word world again. “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world.” World again, you see. Our second sermon, when we come to that, will open up some, of what we call, the critical points; not that I am going to enter, in any of these sermons, into a dry controversial argument. No, I desire to dwell on this subject in real solemnity, as though we met here to converse with one another in the sight of God, about our condition before God; praying personally and unitedly, that the God of heaven and earth may meet with us and help us to profit by his blessed truth. Well, then, look at the word world here again. What does propitiation mean? Why, it has three meanings. In the first place it means atonement. You recollect that scripture, where it is said, that “In all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation.” The same word that is in other places translated “propitiation,” is here rendered “Reconciliation for the sins of the people.” I think “reconciliation” here, refers especially to what we may express by the term reparation. Hence the Savior says, “I restored that which I took not away.” Now the law demands a perfection of holiness and righteousness; the Lord Jesus Christ has rendered that; and that in a way that no mere creature could. He has embodied in his atoning death all the penalty due to our sin; he has reached the end of our hell; he has reached the bottom of our hell; he has reached the shore, shall I say, of our hell; he has reached the full extent, in every way, of our hell; he has gone through the whole of it; endured the whole, and therefore, he has made ample reparation. And, in this way, he is a sure foundation, a precious corner stone; and “He that believes in him, shall not be ashamed;” therefore, it means reconciliation. What a lamentable thing it is to hear men talk as though repentance were reparation or reconciliation. Your repentance is no part of your reconciliation; that is, not equitably speaking. Repentance is exalted in our day into something like Popish penance; and there are people, who actually want to persuade us, that the people of God repent of every one of their sins. That's not true. Oh, well, I think it is, sir. Just let me come and live, in your house three days; that will be enough, especially if you are at home all day; especially if your business happens to be there; let me watch your old man and let me see if you are broken-hearted and really distressed at every deviation. What do you say to that? Oh, well, that's too close. Not at all: let us have facts. No, my hearers, repentance means a change of state, repentance means submission to God's way of saving a sinner. All our sins were atoned for. Christ suffered for them; he has made the reconciliation, it is done; and the work of the Holy Spirit now is to bring us into that reconciliation which Christ has made; that is the work of the blessed Spirit to bring us into that which he has made. Therefore, propitiation means reconciliation. Secondly, propitiation means mercy. Hence, the mercy-seat is called by that very name in Hebrew; it is the same word translated mercy-seat which is in another place translated propitiation: Therefore, he is the mercy. Mercy for our sins; say you; that does not appear to make good sense? I think it is. Here is a poor sinner, there is mercy for you as a sinner; for that is the idea. Whatever pardon you need, there it is; and whatever sympathy you need, there it is; and whatever help you, need, there it is; and whatever favor you need, there it is; for mercy knows no bounds; innumerable are the mercies of the blessed God. Therefore, it will mean, I say, reconciliation; also, mercy or mercy-seat: there is the mercy seat for the sinner. Thirdly, it means, a covering a propitiation means a covering. Now, the mercy-seat, as you are aware, was made of pure gold, and was laid upon the ark; and under this pure golden mercy-seat were the tables of stone, the tables of the covenant, the tables of the law: so that this mercy-seat was the same in dimensions with the length and breadth of the ark, and entirely covered the tables of the law. Now do you understand it. Here, then, Jesus, Christ entirely covers the law; that is the idea of it. Where there is no law there is no transgression: so, that he, by walking over all the precepts of the law, fulfilling them all, and enduring all their penalty, he covers the whole law, so, that God. comes to us not on law grounds; the mercy seat covers the law; Christ's work covers the law; and, where there is no law, there is no transgression. Here, then, is salvation. “Blessed is the man whose transgressions” is not only “forgiven,” but “whose sin is covered.” The mercy seat, we have said, was made of pure gold, to denote its purity and its preciousness; and pointed to Christ Jesus in the purity of his work, and in the preciousness of his work, “Unto you that believe he is precious.” Take then, this propitiation, friends, for the sins of the whole world, to mean reconciliation, to mean mercy, to mean a covering; sins covered. Sin can condemn the sinner only by the law, and therefore, it is covered. Thus, then, Christ is the gift of the Father; he saved the world by his propitiation, putting away sin, and, by his being made sin, and being a propitiation, he accomplished salvation.
Third Part: Now, third, the work of the Holy Spirit; for the Lord Jesus Christ does not save without the Father; he came to do the Father's will; and the Lord Jesus Christ does not save without the work of the blessed Spirit. No: it is the joint work of the Eternal Three. Now let us hear what is said of the blessed Spirit then in this matter, “He shall convince the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; of sin, because they believe not in me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father; and of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.” The question arises: is unbelief sin, or is it not? We are charged with saying that unbelief is not sin; we are charged with saying that to reject Christ is no sin at all; and a variety of other things of the same kind we are charged with, and that very publicly. Well, I shall try to be as plain as possible this morning on this part of my subject. That a disbelief of God's word is sin, no man for a moment in his right mind would deny. The Lord, in order that he may go low enough to take all his people up into mercy and into salvation, reckons them after the lowest order. Mark the apostle's words, “He has, concluded them all in unbelief, that he may have mercy upon them all.” And then again in the Galatians, “He has concluded them all under sin, that the promise by faith in Christ Jesus might be given unto them that believe.” Thus, then, you will find here that that which in one place is called “unbelief” is in another place called “sin” Now let us see if we cannot clear ourselves; we do not expect to stop other people's mouths, but if we can satisfy our own consciences, that is something. Well, “He shall convince them of sin, because they believe not in me.” What kind of belief in Christ does this refer to? Why, I have often said, (and I may say it ten thousand times, and it will make no difference to those that still persevere in charging us with what we do not hold), I have often said, that it is the duty of all men to believe in Jesus Christ. It was the duty of the heathen to believe in the supremacy of the Most High, and to walk according to the light of conscience which nature gave them; it was the duty of the Jews to believe in God; and Jesus Christ is God, and he has appeared in the world; and it is the duty of all the world to believe in him; there is no question about this whatever. And therefore, when the Jews rejected him, and denied him, why, that was their sin. And men now that despise the Savior, despise the Bible, despise ministers, and so on, why, all this is wrong. And, therefore, there is no question whatever, that it is the duty of all men, as accountable beings, accountable to their Maker, to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; for all judgment, and all power are committed unto him; and thousands, by the moral influence of God's word, do believe in Christ, as far as the natural man can. Now the Holy Ghost shall convince all the people of God of the sin of disbelieving in Christ; of the sin of infidelity; of the sin of disbelieving in God's Word; but then what of this? If the Holy Ghost stopped here, there would be nothing saving in this; this is not saving faith, that faith of which the natural man is capable, and which is a duty to render to his Maker. For instance, you Christian men who have families, would you not feel if your children were to rise in infidelity, and declare that they would not hear a chapter of the Bible read, because they did not believe it was true, would you not feel that they were given up to the devil himself? Now then, he shall convince all his people of this sin of disbelief in God's Word. Now let me come to your conscience; when you were first convinced of eternal things, the first thing that was fixed in your conscience was an assurance that the Bible was true, that its judgments and its mercies must be fulfilled. But then, my hearers this is not saving faith; if the Holy Ghost stopped here, not a soul would be saved, in this faith under the influence of which thousands are brought. Why, the preaching in our great cathedrals now tends to bring men, at least I hope it has, into a natural belief of God's Word; and this is all; and it has the evil, on the other hand, of deluding souls by thousands, putting them off with a mere natural faith; instead of describing and insisting on that faith which accompanies salvation. Condemn Cain as long as you please, for his murderous intentions and conduct towards Abel, but do not condemn Cain because he had not a saving faith like Abel; don't do that; I cannot condemn a man because he is not regenerated; I do condemn man for disbelief of God's Word, but I cannot condemn a man for not having saving faith in Christ; you cannot do that; If I did, I should be met with the apostle's question, “Who makes you to differ from another? and, what have you that you did not receive? now, if you did receive it; why do you glory, as if you had not received it?” If you boast or talk to others, as though they could put themselves into the possession of that saving faith which none, but God can give, you are boasting as though you had not received it. Condemn Ishmael, as long as you please for his contemptuous conduct to Isaac and mocking and despising him; but don't condemn Ishmael because he was not Isaac; for God alone could make Isaac what he was. Condemn Esau as long as you like for his profanity, and for attempting to take Jacob's life; but do not condemn him because he was not loved the same as Jacob was; for that was no fault of his, certainly not. Condemn Judas as long as you like for doing as he did, betraying the Savior, and acting in the awful way he did; but don't condemn him because he had not the same faith that Peter had; grace made the difference. I repel with contempt the charge that we hold unbelief is not sin, the charge that we hold it is no sin to reject Christ; you have no right to reject the Bible from your houses; people have no right to reject the Bible from the world. Hence, the Mahometan religion is decidedly a religion of persecution to Christ; so is the Roman Catholic religion, and so is the Russian religion; all these reject Christ, and they put human authority into the place of the authority of Christ; and in doing so they sin; it is their duty to do otherwise; but if they did otherwise, that would not make them real Christians; it would make the world better, and make their state socially and morally better; but it would not make them real Christians. Oh no. Now then, while the Holy Spirit will make the people of God feel, the sin of this disbelief of God's word, he will not stop there; he shall convince them also “of righteousness;” he shall go on with his work; “Because I go to my Father.” That will include various things, two or three of which I must mention, and then close, as my sermon last Sunday morning was rather too, long. “Righteousness” because “I go to my Father.” Now Christ went to his Father by resurrection, and by ascension, and as the Representative of the people; and he when righteously. Wherein lay the righteousness of Christ's resurrection. In this, that “he has brought again from the dead through the blood of the everlasting covenant that great Shepherd of the sheep.” Now if the Holy Ghost be your teacher, you will see that the righteousness of Christ's resurrection, the righteousness of his going to the Father, lay in the perfection of his atonement, the blood of the everlasting covenant; but if your faith be, merely natural, you will stop in the letter; you will stop short of that truth; you will not enter into it. And wherein lay the righteousness of his entering heaven? On the same ground, “Not by the blood of calves and goats, but by his own blood he entered into the holy of holies, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Thirdly, as the high priest under the law represented the people before God in the holy of holies, that which the sacrifice constituted them, not what their works constituted them; it would have been a motley representation if he had represented them by what their works were; but represented them on his breastplate by what the atonement had constituted them; so Christ enters heaven, represents the church there without spot, or wrinkle, or blemish, or any such thing.
But I must say no more this morning, except that I hope the Lord will enable me to go on with this subject, to give you two more sermons; a world saved, a world judged, and a world lost.