A man commits a crime, is arrested, brought to trial, and formally charged with the crime; witnesses are produced, and tender their evidence. The judge sums up, and the jury retire. They bring in a verdict of Guilty, and the judge solemnly passes sentence on the wretched man and the case is closed. I ask, Is such a man now on probation? No; he has been, and failed. Is such a man now on trial? No; he has been tried, and found guilty. Probation is ended, the trial closed, the result known. A few swiftly-passing hours, and the sentence will be put into execution.
Child of Adam’s race! “thou art the man!” Whether king or subject, nobleman or peasant, master or servant, rich or poor, moral or immoral, learned or unlearned ― whatever thy name or station, “thou art the man.” God has had man on probation, and he has failed. The result is known, for the verdict has gone forth. “Guilty!” All the world guilty before God. God, the judge of all the earth, has spoken out. He has already made known His judgment of man ― all men. There need be no waiting till the day of the great white throne to know God’s judgment; there need be no doubt, no uncertainty as to this solemn, all-important question. God’s verdict is, “Guilty!”
“There is no difference: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:22, 2322Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: 23For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:22‑23)). Your self-righteous heart may disclose itself by rebelling against the truth, you may throw down this paper with disgust; but, nevertheless, the truth remains, and will face you once again ― in the day of the execution of the wrath of God Almighty. That day is fast approaching, bearing down upon the guilty with irresistible force, like some mighty avalanche, which will carry you into eternal perdition ― the lake of fire, where their worm dieth not ― tormented throughout the eternal ages with the ever-present remembrance, “I was warned of this, and closed my ears against it; fool that I was!” Oh! the agony of that moment when you discover that it was all real, all true, and that you have been deceived, cheated, sold. Oh! the remorse that will take possession of you then, when the wrath of God, of which you were often warned, comes upon you in all its terrible reality. The very thought of it is oppressive; what, then, the reality?
Again, I repeat, man’s probation is at an end; you have been weighed in the balance and found wanting; God has tried man, and the result is already known. “Guilty.” Here is God’s charge, Romans 3:9-199What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; 10As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: 11There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. 12They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. 13Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: 14Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: 15Their feet are swift to shed blood: 16Destruction and misery are in their ways: 17And the way of peace have they not known: 18There is no fear of God before their eyes. 19Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. (Romans 3:9‑19); read it, and remember it is what God says. “We have before proved... that they are all under sin;” that is, no future thing to be yet proved, but already it is proven. And then, in Romans 3:1010As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: (Romans 3:10), it is written, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” Who could say that but God? Who could make such a sweeping statement but God? See Psalm 14:22The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. (Psalm 14:2): “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God.”
Here you have man on probation, on his trial, and the Lord Himself looking to see the result; and what is the conclusion arrived at? what is God’s judgment? Listen! “They are all (mark, all) gone aside, all become filthy (mark, all filthy): there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” Remember this is what God has concluded; this is His judgment of man, already come forth. God says, none good, all filthy. Man may flatter himself that he has something to his credit before God, like the Pharisee in Luke 18:10-1410Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. 11The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. 12I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. 13And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. 14I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18:10‑14); but God puts him in the dust with “none good, all filthy.” Yes, even man’s (your) “righteousnesses are as filthy rags” in the sight of God (Isaiah 64: 6).
This is terrible evidence to be produced against self-righteous men. The heart may rebel against it, the lip of pride may curl as you read it, but it remains nevertheless. You may refuse to bow to it now, but you will meet it again under different circumstances, when the One who is now the Savior of guilty sinners fills the throne of judgment; then you will cry out, “Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man of unclean lips, and mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts” (Isaiah 6:55Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)).
But there is more in the charge than even this: “Their throat is an open sepulcher” (Romans 3:1313Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: (Romans 3:13))—a sepulcher, where rottenness and corruption hold sway. God compares man’s throat to that, sending forth its foulness, polluting the moral atmosphere. See the words of the Lord Jesus in Matt. 15:18, 1918But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. 19For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: (Matthew 15:18‑19): “Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies;” corruption enough, surely! But there is more than this, black as it is: “With their tongues they have used deceit, and the poison of asps is under their lips.” Terrible testimony against man, the noblest of God’s earthly creatures but how fallen! Oh! the misery and the sorrow, the burning pain, that the deceitful, the lying lip of man has caused; but it will surely meet its doom at the hands of a righteous though long-suffering God. “And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone” (Rev. 21:88But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)).
Let us read the remainder of the charge: “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, their feet are swift to shed blood: destruction and misery are in their ways; and the way of peace have they not known: there is no fear of God before their eyes.” What a terrible picture, and yet how true! The first man that owned his state before God, and took a sacrifice, and was accepted by God, was murdered by his own brother. That was the beginning of man’s probation, and the end of it was when man murdered the only One with whom God could say He was well pleased (Hebrews 11:44By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh. (Hebrews 11:4), and Acts 7:5252Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the Just One; of whom ye have been now the betrayers and murderers: (Acts 7:52)). The trial of man is closed, and God has given us His verdict.
Every mouth stopped, and all the world guilty. Mark it well, as one who has to give an account of himself to God. He says, “All guilty!” How awfully comprehensive God’s sentence is; and then He has all power to put it into execution. Who can stand in the day of His wrath?
Traveler to eternity, ponder thy steps, read the word God has given, mark well, and learn; for if God has revealed His mind and pronounced all guilty, is it not the most foolish of all follies ― is it not ruining, soul-damning madness for you to have thoughts of your own, or to listen to the thoughts of others? Is it not simply the father of lies seeking to blind you to the true state of affairs, as he did Eve, when he said to her, “Ye shall not surely die,’” and she believed his lie rather than God’s truth, and she did die.
God has said, “All guilty.” Sentence has gone forth; you are simply awaiting the execution of it, which is approaching with awful swiftness. And is Satan, aided by your own deceitful heart, blinding you to your helpless, hopeless state, and leading you on to that blackness of darkness, the eternal dungeons of the damned, where not a ray of hope or mercy ever enters? Awake! awake! The day of vengeance is at hand, and you are still unsaved. God says, “All guilty.” What is to be done? To speak of improvement or reformation is mockery to one under sentence of death; he might weep from morn till night, and from night till morn, tears of bitterest remorse and sorrow, but still there is that terrible hour approaching nearer and nearer. His own efforts are useless, for justice is relentless; he is shut tip to judgment or sovereign grace. And oh, blessed news! God comes forth in grace, asking nothing from man, but providing for him.
Listen to God, who, in sovereign grace, stands in the presence of the guilty one, and speaks thus: “You have been convicted?” “Yes.” “And sentenced?” “Yes.” “And that righteously?” “Yes.” “I have come to tell you that I have found a way to save you. My own Son has died, having been made sin; the claims of a broken law have been met, justice is more than satisfied in His death, and He is alive again, and in His name I offer you a full pardon (Acts 13:38-3938Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: 39And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. (Acts 13:38‑39)). You have no righteousness ― I will accept you in Him; the only condition is, that you submit to be saved altogether by Him, letting your own name go,’ and believing in His name (John 1:1212But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: (John 1:12), and Romans 10:3-43For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. (Romans 10:3‑4)).”
This is the free, sovereign grace of God, in which He is enabled to act through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,” whom God hath set forth, a propitiation through faith in his blood’’ (Rom. 3:24, 2524Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: 25Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:24‑25)), not only pardoning sin and justifying from all things, but making us the righteousness of God in Christ. And it is all ours the moment there is faith in the One whom God has set forth, condemning ourselves and believing God’s glad tidings concerning His Son (Rom. 1:1-31Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, 2(Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,) 3Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; (Romans 1:1‑3)), even as we read, “Unto all and upon all them that believe” (Rom. 3:2222Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: (Romans 3:22)).
Thus, is the question of righteousness settled for God and for man: Jesus comes down, takes the sinner’s place, and bears all consequences; and believing in Him, we get His place, and share all the blessing in which the second Man and last Adam stands. Truly, this is grace worthy of God ― thus proposing to take the guiltiest, and set him in His own presence in all the acceptance of His Beloved Son (Eph. 1:66To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Ephesians 1:6)). Well may the apostle designate it “so great salvation,” and ask how shall we escape if we neglect it (Hebrews 2:33How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; (Hebrews 2:3)).
Careless one-religious, unsaved one-beware! Gentle and simple, beware! God has written “Guilty” against all the race of Adam; there is no difference. That same God has provided this great salvation; how shall you escape the wrath of God, eternal damnation, if you neglect it? Justify God by condemning yourself: Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be eternally accepted in all the acceptance of Christ: “It is no more I, but Christ,” was Paul’s’ confession. Doubt no more; the judgment is past as well as the probation, for the believer (John 5:2424Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life. (John 5:24)).
G. R.