III.What connexion will the Judgment have with our future and eternal condition?
Here let us not indulge in vain speculations, but examine simply the word of God. According to the Scriptures, the judgment will result in assigning to menvery different allotments. It will recognise among them two entirely different and opposite classes of character. One of these classes, which the Bible denominates "the righteous," will be graciously acquitted by the Judge, and publicly treated as his friends. The other, comprising all the impenitent, will be as publicly condemned, and driven from his presence. They "will have judgment without mercy." Such is plainly the account which Christ and the sacred writers have given of the final awards to the righteous and the wicked. We have the account in detail. Says the Saviour himself, "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory: and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats; and he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world." "Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." And again; "The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth;they that have done good, unto the resurrection oflife; andthey that have done evil, unto the resurrection ofdamnation". Thus broad and fearful is the discrimination which the great day will make between the righteous and the wicked. So entirely different are the awards in reserve for the two different classes of mankind. The difference will be great, as between holiness and sin; between cheerful submission to the will and providence of God, and unyielding rebellion against him; between cordial faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and wilful rejection of the only Saviour; between the splendour and joy of the celestial Paradise, and the gloominess and misery of hell. No wonder, then, that "as Paul reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled." There will, indeed, be fearful reason for "weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth," with those who shall then "see Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and themselves thrust out."
We are not to forget, my hearers, that these different awards of the judgment day will beirreversibleand literallyendless. All admit this conclusion, with respect to therighteous. But if the righteous arefinally acquittedat the judgment, so are the wickedfinally condemned. If the righteous are said to enter into "life eternal," so are the wicked to "go away intoeverlasting punishment." The Scriptures say not one word of any reprieve from this condemnation, or of any other period of merciful visitation. But they close with the most solemn assurance, that, from that awful day, he that is unjust shall be unjust still; and he that is filthy shall be filthy still; and he that is righteous shall be righteous still; and he that is holy shall be holy still. Other passages, of similar import, might be quoted: but if men will pour contempt on a single declaration of Jehovah—if they willmake God a liar—they would not be persuaded, though his voice from the heavens were a thousand times repeated. Andbecause they receive not the love of the truth,that they might be saved, most justly may hesend them strong delusion,that they should believe a lie, andbe damned.
I have thus endeavoured, with much brevity, to give a scriptural view of the final Judgment. On a subject so tremendously awful, I have chosen to present simply God's testimony. A practical inference from the whole is,—that the present life must be regarded as probationary. We are living here as responsible agents, continually adding to the number of actions, for which we must give account to God. How solemnly interesting, then, is this scene of our earthly pilgrimage! How inexpressibly valuable is time! How infinitely precious are the means of grace!—particularly those invitations of mercy, which meet us in the word of God, and address us from the sacred desk.
You, my fellow sinners, are the very individuals who must stand at the judgment-seat of Christ. You must mingle in that vast multitude, which the voice of the archangel and the trump of God shall assemble. And when your characters are all laid open, you must pass off to the right hand, or to the left, accordingly as it shall appear, that you have repented, and believed on the Son of God, or have neglected this great salvation. And are you diligently preparing for that day? Are you working out your salvation with fear and trembling? Are youagonizingto enter in at the strait gate? Are you escaping for your life?
Fellow mortals, your time of preparation may be far more brief than you now think. A few,very fewmore opportunities for prayer, and reconciliation with God, and your account is sealed up. While you hesitate, the recording angel may be writing your condemnation. In such circumstances, what are worldly honours, or wealth, or all your hopes of enjoyment here? The life, theeternal lifeof thesoul, is theone thing needful—theonlything really important. You will realize this truth, when the last trumpet is sounding through the universe, and, with increasing agony or ecstasy, millions of ages after the final sentence is pronounced. O, then, consider itnow. Prepare for that judgment,now. To-morrow! where is it? Repentto-morrow! You may have far other work to do. God, and conscience, and your immortal interests plead, "To-day, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart." "Behold,nowis the accepted time; behold,nowis the day of salvation."Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. For he cometh, for he cometh, to judge the world, in righteousness to judge the earth, and the people with his truth.
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