Boldness in the Day of Judgment
In John 12: 44-48 we read as follows: “And Jesus cried and said, He that believeth on me, believeth not on me, but on him that sent me. And he that beholdeth me beholdeth him that sent me. I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me may not abide in the darkness. And if any man hear my sayings, and keep them not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the last day.” Because God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us in his Son, if we reject him, and receive not his sayings, these words will be our condemnation. While God sent his Son into the world to save the world, the very sending of his Son judges the world. When light shines, it is that we may not be in darkness, yet the darkness deepens if we do not give heed to the light. Light rejected, deepens our darkness. “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness?” The revelation of the will of God in Jesus Christ in the gift that he has made for us, made in order to save the world, judges the world, when it does not receive it. The grace of God given in Jesus Christ for salvation, becomes the wrath of the Lamb to those who reject divine grace and mercy. Mercies piled mountain high, favors not acknowledged, and light not walked in, become so much the greater condemnation in the judgment. In this very movement for a greater revelation of light and truth, a movement which will not stop until the latter rain is poured out upon God’s people, a movement which means an equipment for service to go to the ends of the earth,—in this very movement there is danger to every one who turns away from the light that has shone out to us. This is an hour of privilege, and an hour of danger. To refuse what God is holding out to his people now means greater darkness; and we are now, as it were, at the parting of the ways. God has reached the time when he says, “There shall be delay no longer.” God has reached the time when he has set his hand to do a great work in this generation. After these years of delay, after these recent years,—years of more or less uncertainty and confusion, until many hearts have become sad over the situation, and many minds have become confused, and have questioned whether this is the work that we have believed it to be, and whether the times are really so momentous, and, after all, whether this is the people of God,—God has spoken a word to this people, and called them for the last time, and says, “There shall be delay no longer.” And he now is inviting this people, this very people, to rise and receive power for service. This is an hour of great privilege to this people, and let us not by our attitude toward it make it an hour of condemnation. Let us remember that in the day of judgment we are condemned as sinners, and yet the real basis of our condemnation, in view of the provision that God has made, is not simply the fact that we are sinners, but because we refuse to be anything else. God has made provision so that there is no sin under high heaven that cannot be pardoned, except the sin that refuses to be pardoned, and that is the unpardonable sin. Not because God is not willing and able to pardon any sin, but because some sinners rise up in rebellion before God, and refuse to be pardoned; and even in dispensing his divine grace, God does not override the will that he has given to us. He says, “Choose you this day whom ye will serve.” Let this thought stay in our minds. We are not condemned in the day of judgment because we are sinners, but because we refused to be anything else than sinners. Passing from that, let us read another scripture: “Father, glorify thy name.” That prayer meant the cross. That prayer meant his death for us. “There came therefore a voice out of heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again. The multitude therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it had thundered: others said, An angel hath spoken to him. Jesus answered and said, This voice hath not come for my sake, but for your sakes. Now is a judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all unto myself. But this he said, signifying by what manner of death he should die.” This was just before his crucifixion. He is talking about his death on the cross. And in view of the revelation that was to be made that day on the cross of Calvary, he calls it a judgment of the world. “Now is a judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” The whole plan of salvation finds its climax in that one day, that one experience on Calvary. When we take out of gospel history and gospel fact that one day on Calvary when the Son of man was lifted up in behalf of humanity, we have no more the gospel of Jesus Christ. The climax of all that God has done or can do for mankind, was seen that day. That day on Calvary demonstrated both to fallen and unfallen worlds that God is love, and that God’s love for man was such that rather than see him left under the sin which he brought on himself, He would put Himself under the load, and He would put Himself under the penalty, and He would die for man whom He loved, the Creator for the creature, the just for the unjust. And when those words were spoken that day, “It is done,” they echoed through all space, and reached all worlds, and unfallen beings were bound unto God in heaven by that day’s display of love. God had said that he was love, and humanity had not believed it. But when God put that saying into action so that human eyes could see, and human ears could hear, and human hearts could feel that truth, it was demonstrated that God is love. But when God demonstrated that day that he is love, he gave such a demonstration as in itself is a judgment of the world. And on that day Satan’s fall was assured; the death of the destroyer was made certain; and that day which looked like a day of defeat, that day when they all forsook him and fled, that day when there was only one man, and he a malefactor, who recognized him as God and prayed to him, only one who recognized him as King,—that day was a day of glory and triumph for the universe. That was the day when it was demonstrated to the universe that God is love. But such a demonstration demonstrated some other things. That day demonstrated what the service of the devil means. That day demonstrated that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son to die for the world; that day demonstrated that the devil so hated the Son of God that he put him to death upon the cross. We are to-day under the shadow of the same cross, and it is judging us, and we are being judged by the attitude that we take toward that gift of God on the cross. Now the time has come for us to decide our attitude toward this cross of Jesus Christ. The time has come for us to take our position positively on the side of Jesus Christ and his cross. The hour of his judgment is come. The ungodly shall not stand in the judgment. We may have boldness in the day of judgment because of the provision that God has made in the gift of his Son to humanity. What6shall we say, as we face the cross? Shall we say, as they did of old, “Not this man, but Barabbas”? Will any one this day say, “Not this man”? Will any heart steel itself against the offer of divine mercy which is now made to us? “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation?”. May the Lord impress upon his people a sense of the solemnity of this hour of judgment, and grant them such an experience as will give them boldness now and when our blessed Saviour shall appear.