THE OBJECT OF THE GOSPEL.
By Eld. N. Fuller
TEXT.— “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.” John iii, 16. This, as well as many other portions of divine truth, lead us upon disputed territory. One class of religionists tells us that God loved the world so well that he sent his Son to save all men irrespective of character; that they could do nothing to prevent their final salvation in the kingdom of God. I refer to those calling themselves Universalists. Has God ever said this? If he has, I ask, Where? And a voice from the entire class calling themselves “Orthodox”—swelling so loud that all nations have heard—answers, Nowhere in the word of God; to which I respond, Amen. That voice is truth; because it agrees with the word of God. The very commission that Christ gave his apostles is averse to this doctrine. “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Mark xvi, 15, 16. This corresponds with the words of our text, “Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” I might extend my remarks upon this point, and bring many texts to prove that such a doctrine is nowhere found in the word of God; but I leave it by asking two questions: 1. Has Christ ever changed the commission to which I have already referred? The answer is, “I am the Lord, I change not.” Mal. iii, 6. 2. Have the apostles anywhere changed this great commission? Let the chiefest of the apostles answer: “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie; that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” 2 Thess. ii, 11, 12. This great error has been discovered by the class calling themselves orthodox, and it has frightened them; and no wonder. It is to be feared. Thousands would fain be rescued from this gulf of ruin when it is too late, and some of them cry for mercy even upon a dying bed. The horse would be frightened if you should drive him where he could gaze into the dreadful chasm of Niagara; even if he saw it above the bridge, what would be the result? Would he stop to think that a more fearful gulf awaited him on the other side? No. Were it not for the iron railing and the strong posts that resist his strength, you must accompany him as he takes the dreadful leap, and fall breathless into the mad waters below. Here let me say to my friends who hold the doctrine of the eternal conscious misery of the wicked, Stop and think. There is a gulf either side of the bridge; and while the former has engulfed its thousands in the whirlpool of security; and they have crossed the line of probation with their sins upon them, preparatory to hearing the sentence, “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his angels,” Matt. xxv, 41, the latter has drowned its tens of thousands in the dark waters of infidelity—unbelief in the word of God—denying that the God of the Bible is a God of justice, believing such a God to be a cruel tyrant, having all vengeance, but no mercy. I ask, then, as I appeal to my text, for what purpose did God send his Son? Did he so love the world that he gave his Son that all men should be saved whether they believed or not? No. “That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Again, did he send his Son to die that whosoever believed should be saved from being tormented eternally in misery that cannot be described by language? No. “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” Who says this? Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal God, who came to declare the will and purpose of the Father. John vii, 16. Who has said that the object of this gift was something else? Men. Whom shall we believe? Let Paul answer: “Let God be true, but every man a liar.” Rom. iii, 4. But let me for a few moments inquire: If God had not given his Son a sacrifice for sin, what would have been the result of man's fall? I imagine him left, after he had fallen, to suffer the consequences of that fall. What were to be the consequences of that fall? Were they to be tormented eternally? Did Jehovah know what would be the consequences of that transgression? Let him speak: “For in the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” Gen. ii, 17. Then the consequence of sin in Adam's day was death. If not atoned for, would it not have been eternal? Where is the evidence that man would ever have been brought back from that death? Let theologians answer; they are silent. Echo answers, Where? Was it a spiritual death? Then universal salvation is inevitable. To die spiritually would be to lose the favor of God by disobedience. That he lost the favor of God I do not deny; but is this what is meant by “death” in the above text? Then hear Paul tell the result: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” 1 Cor. xv, 22. If what was meant, Gen. ii, 17, was to lose the favor of God, then we may read 1 Cor. xv, 22. As all lost the favor of God through Adam, all shall be restored to this favor through Christ; and it must follow that all will be saved. But stop my Universalist friend; there is no such weapon as they propose to put into your hands, by which you could bring to nought all opposition to your theory. But what is meant by “dying?” Let Gen. iii, 19, answer: “For out of it [the dust] wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt thou return.” Then, in consequence of Adam's transgression, all were to go to the dust. What does Paul say? 1 Cor. xv, 21: “For since by man came death [the man Adam], by man came also the resurrection of the dead” [the man Jesus Christ]. What is the subject matter of this chapter? A literal resurrection of the dead. See verse 12: “How say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?” See the conclusion, verse 18: If there be no resurrection, “then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” The seeds of mortality were sown by eating of the forbidden fruit, and without a resurrection through Christ, that death would have been eternal. Would it have been endless torment? It would not. But we learn from John v, 29, that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and of the unjust; “and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation.” Christ saves those who are true believers in him, from death, through the merits of his blood, and by the power of his resurrection. Then, I inquire, What becomes of the rest? They must suffer the penalty for sin, which is death. Was it vicarious? Yes, he suffered in the sinner's stead.” He died, “the just for the unjust.” 1 Pet. iii, 18. How did he suffer for sin? Did he go to hell eternally? Or was it the gnawings of a guilty conscience which some tell us will be the punishment of the unbeliever? Neither. It was death. Our text informs us the object God had in giving his Son was to save those who believe from perishing. Perish. Let us look at the word to understand, if possible, its meaning. “From Lat. pereo supposed to258be compounded of per and eo, to go; literally, to depart wholly. 1. To die, to lose life in any manner, applied to animals. Men perish by disease, or decay; by the sword or by drowning, by hunger or famine.” Webster. Can we better determine the meaning of the word than to examine the connection in which it is used? Verses 14, 15. “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.” What became of those bitten by the fiery serpents in the wilderness? They died. “And the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people; and much people of Israel died.” Num. xxi, 6. Here we find the meaning to be literal death; perished by death. Now all who are bitten by sin must look to the Son of God raised upon the cross, or they must perish. I remarked that sin in Adam's day subjected the transgressor to death. How was it in David's day? “But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs; they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.” Ps. xxxvii, 20. Let us inquire of Isaiah: “And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be consumed.” Chap. i, 28. Ezekiel tells us, “The soul that sinneth it shall die.” Chap. xviii, 4, 20. Malachi says, “All the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall leave them neither root nor branch.” Chap. iv, 1. John the Baptist, speaking of the Son of God, says, “Whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.” Matt. iii, 12. Paul says, “The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. vi, 23. In the Revelation it is described as the second death. “And death and hell (or the grave, hades) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.” Rev. xx, 14, 15. Those only will be found written in the book of life who believe on the Son of God. I know of but one text in the Bible that would favor the eternal conscious misery of the wicked, and that reads: “Ye shall not surely die.” Gen. iii, 4. These were the words of the Devil to Eve. The Lord had previously told her the consequence should be death. Gen. ii, 17. Satan said she should not die. Now suppose the endless-misery doctrine to be true; suppose Eve to be lost, and the Devil certainly will be; suppose them both cast into the hell of which we hear so much outside of the word of God, there to live eternally; the hot billows in which they must bathe to all eternity, roll and dash and sweep their victims here and there, until millions of years down in the ceaseless ages of eternity. Eve and the Devil chance to come where they can converse with each other. Eve says to him, Why did you deceive me in the Garden, and cause me to come to this awful place of torment? The Devil answers, How did I deceive you? Did I not tell you that you should not die? Are you dead? No, nor can you ever die. This theory would prove that the Devil told the truth, and that when the Lord said, “Thou shalt surely die,” it was not the truth. The Saviour said the Devil was a “murderer from the beginning,” “a liar and the father of it.” John viii, 44. Whom shall we believe? The Father and Jesus Christ his Son, or a petted theory first introduced by the Devil? Let God be true; let false theories fall to the ground. Charge them back as falsehoods upon their author. God pitied this poor, fallen race, and sent the Darling of Heaven to save them. Shall we perish when so much has been done for us? How can we see and hear those compassionate words of God, without having our hearts melted to tenderness, saying to us, “Why will ye die, O house of Israel?” This was addressed to the church of God. Was the church in danger of death then? God knew they were; are they not, now? Why will ye sin on and refuse mercy and peace? And my unconverted friends, Why will you perish? Why will you refuse the offers of mercy? Why will you ensure your own death? Are you resolved that the blessed Saviour shall have no glory in your salvation? Is it not enough in your eyes, that angels have sinned, and are reserved under chains of darkness until the Judgment of the great day? 2 Pet. ii, 4. Do you design that the Devil and those who will be damned shall be your company, when they come up on the breadth of the earth and compass the beloved city and perish by fire? Rev. xx, 9. Is death so happy a state that nothing but that will satisfy you? Is it not enough to die once? Are you determined to experience the awful pains of the second death? Oh! do not persist in your folly and perish, but turn and live. When we contemplate the greatness of God's love to sinners, we are compelled to pause and exclaim with the admiring apostle, “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God.” 1 John iii, 1. Oh! the riches of divine grace! Oh! the depth of divine love! How vast, how gracious, and how adequate to the wants of perishing sinners, is the plan of salvation, which God hath devised to save a lost world. It manifests the wisdom, the justice, the power, but above all, the love of God. Amen.