The Condemnation of Unbelievers

“But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” Joun 3: 18.

Curist having discoursed with Nicodemus, in the beginning of this.chapter, about the necessity of regeneration, proceeds to show the reason why regeneration and faith are so indispensably necessary, namely, because there is no other way to set men free from the curse and condemnation of the law. The curse of the law, like the fiery serpents in the wilderness, has smitten every sinner’ with a deadly stroke, for which there is no cure but Christ lifted up in the gospel, ‘‘as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.” Neither does Christ cure any but those that believingly apply him to their own souls. The result and conclusion of all we have in the text and the words preceding, ‘‘He that believeth in him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already.” In this clause we find three parts: ’

1. The sin threatened, namely, unbelief — the neglecting or refusing of an exalted and offered Saviour. Negative unbelief is the sin of the heathen, who never had the gospel nor the offers of Christ made to them; and how shall men believe on him of whom they have not heard? Positive unbelief is the sin of men under the gospel, to whom Christ is offered, but they neglect the great salvation. They receive not Christ into their hearts, nor consent to the self denying terms upon which he is offered. This is the sin threatened.

2. The punishment inflicted, that is, condemnation; a word of deep and dreadful signification; appearing as the

a handwriting upon the wall utno Belshazzar, Daniel 5: 5; a word whose deep sense and emphasis are fully understood in hell. Condemnation is the judgment or sentence of God, condemning a man to bear the punishment of his eternal wrath for sin.

3. The immediate respect this punishment has to the sin of unbelief. The unbeliever is condemned already; he is virtually condemned by the law of God; he is condemned as sinner, by the breach of the first covenant; and that condemnation has been ratified by the sentence of God condemning him as an wnbelever, for slighting and rejecting the grace offered in the second covenant. So that he is already virtually condemned, both as he is a sinner and as he is an unbeliever; as he has transgressed the law, and as he has refused the gospel; as he has contracted sin the moral disease, and refused Christ the only effectual remedy. Unbelief is his great sin, and condemnation is his great misery. Hence,

All wnbelievers are presently and immediately wnder the just and dreadful sentence of G’od’s condemnation.

“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him; the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.” John 12: 48. “He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” John 3: 36.

Three things are here to be illustrated: what unbelief, or the not receiving of Jesus Christ, is; what condemnation, the punishment of this sin, is; and why this punishment unavoidably follows that sin.

I. Waar THE SIN OF UNBELIEF, OR NOT RECEIVING Curist, 1s. By unbelief, we are not here to understand the remains of that sin in the people of God which is mixed with their faith; unbelief is mingled with faith in the best hearts. He that can say, ‘‘Lord, I believe,” has cause enough to ery out with tears, “help thou mine unbelief;” but this does not bring the soul under condemnation. The unbelief here

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spoken of is neglecting to take Christ as he is offered in the gospel.

1. It excludes the saving act of faith, which is the receivine of Christ offered in the gospel, consenting to take him upon his own terms. This the unbeliever will not be persuaded to do; he will be persuaded to accept the promises of Christ, but not his person. He is willing to accept Christ in part, a divided Christ, but not to accept Christ entirely in all his offices. He will accept the righteousness of Christ in conjunction with his own; but he will not accept the righteousness of Christ as the sole ground of his justification, exclusive of his own righteousness. He is willing to wear the crown of Christ, but cannot be persuaded to bear his cross. God will not alter his terms, nor the unbeliever his resolution; and so Christ is refused, salvation neglected, and in effect the unbeliever chooses rather to be damned than to comply with the terms of self-denial, mortification, and bearing the cross of Christ.

2. It excludes the saving fruits and effects of faith. Faith produces love to God, but the unbeliever does not truly love him.. “I know you,” says Christ to unbelievers, “that ye have not the love of God in you.” John 5: 42. Faith purifies the heart of a believer, but the hearts of unbelievers are full of impurity. The believer overcomes the world, the world overcomes the unbeliever. Faith makes the cross of Christ easy to the believer; unbelief makes Christ, because of the cross, bitter to the unbeliever. Thus unbelief excludes both the saving act and the fruits of faith, and consequently bars the soul from the benefits of faith, namely, justification and peace with God.

II. Consider THz PUNISHMENT OF THIS sIN, which is condemnation. ‘Condemnation in the general is the sentence of a judge awarding a penalty to be inflicted upon the guilty person. There is a twofold condemnation. With respect to the fault, it is the casting of the person as guilty of the crime charged upon him. Condemnation, with respect to the punishment, is sentencing the convicted offender to undergo such a punishment for such a fault. This forensic or law word, condemnation, is applied to the case of a guilty sinner cast at the bar of God, where the fact is proved and the punishment awarded. Thou art an unbeliever, for this sin thou shalt die eternally. Condemnation with respect to the fault stands opposed to justification. Rom. 5:16. Condemnation with respect to the punishment stands opposed to salvation. Mark 16: 16.

1. Condemnation is the sentence of the great and terrible God, the omniscient, omnipotent, supreme, and impartial Judge, at whose bar the sinner stands. The law of God condemns him now: he has one that judges him. It is a dreadful thing to be condemned at man’s bar; but courts of human justice, how awful soever they are, are trifles compared with this court of heaven, and conscience, by which the unbeliever is arraigned and condemned.

2. It is the sentence of God adjudging the unbeliever to eternal death. What is a prison to hell? what is a scaffold and an axe to, “Go, ye cursed, into everlasting fire?”

8. Condemnation is the final sentence of God the supreme Judge, from whose judgment there lies no appeal, for execution certainly follows condemnation, Luke 19: 27. If man condemn, God may justify; but if God condemn, no man can deliver. If the law condemn a man as a sinner, the gospel may save him as a believer; but if the gospel condemn him as an unbeliever, if a man finally reject Jesus Christ whom it offers, all the world cannot save him. O then what a dreadful word is condemnation. All the evils of this life are nothing to it. Put all afflictions and miseries of this world into one scale, and this sentence of God into the other, and they will be all lighter than a feather.

III. Turs coNDEMNATION MUST FOLLOW THE SIN OF UNBEuigF. As many unbelieving persons as are in the world, so many condemned persons there are in the world. For,

1. Let us consider what wnbelief excludes a man from.

It excludes him from the pardon of sin. “If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.” John 8: 24. He that dies under the guilt of all his sins must be in a state of wrath and condemnation for ever; ‘‘for the wages of sin is death.” Rom. 6:23. Ifa man be saved without pardon, then may the unbeliever hope to be saved.

Unbelief excludes a man from all the saving Jenefits of the sacrifice or death of Christ. For if faith be the instrument that brings home to the soul the benefits of the blood of Christ, as unquestionally it is, unbelief must exclude a man from those benefits and leave him in the state of condemnation. Faith is the instrument by which we receive the saving benefit of the blood of Christ. “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood.” Romans 3:25. ‘By grace are ye saved through faith.” Eph. 2:8. So then if the unbeliever be acquitted and saved, it must be without the benefit of Christ’s death and sacrifice, which is utterly impossible.

Unbelief excludes a man from the saving efficacy of the gospel, by shutting up the heart against it and opposing the main drift of it, to bring men to the terms of salvation. To persuade them to believe is its great design, the substance of all its commands. 1 John 3:23; Mark 1: 14, 15; John 12:36. It is the design of its promises; they are written to encourage men to believe. John 6: 35, 37. So that if the unbeliever escapes condemnation, it must be in a way unknown to us by the gospel, yea, contrary to its established order. For the unbeliever obeys not the great command of the gospel, 1 John 3:23; nor is he under any one saving promise of it. Gal. 3:14, 22.

Unbelief excludes a man from wnion with Christ, faith being the bond of that union. Eph.3:17. The unbeliever may as reasonably expect to be saved without Christ as to be saved without faith.

2. Let us next see what guilt and misery wnbelief includes men wnder.

It is a sin which reflects the greatest dishonor upon God: “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.” 1 John 5:10.

Unbelief makes a man guilty of the vilest contempt of Christ, and the whole design of redemption by him. All the attributes 6f God were manifested in the work of redemption by Christ; therefore the apostle calls him “the wisdom of God, and the power of God.” 1 Cor. 1; 24. And what does the neglect and rejection of Christ imply, but the weakness and folly of redemption by him.

Unbelief includes in it the sorest spiritual judgment that can be inflicted upon the soul of man; even spiritual blindness and the fatal darkening of the understanding by Satan, 2 Cor. 4:4, of which more hereafter.

Unbelief also includes a man under the curse, and shuts him up under all the threatenings written in the book of God, among which is the terrible one, “He that believeth not shall be damned,” Mark 16: 16; so that nothing can be more evident than that condemnation follows unbelief. This sin and that punishment are fastened together with chains of adamant.

InrerENCE 1. If this be so, how great a number of persons are in the state of condemnation! So many unbelievers, so many condemned. That is a sad complaint of the prophet, “Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?” Isa. 58:1. Many talk of faith, and many profess it, but there are few in the world unto whom the arm of the Lord has been revealed in the work of faith with power. It is put among the great mysteries, that Christ is believed on in the world. 1 Tim. 3:16, O what a terrible day will be the day of Christ’s coming to judgment, when so many millions of unbelievers shall be brought to his tribunal to be solemnly sentenced! They are condemned already; but then that dreadful sentence will be solemnly pronounced by Jesus Christ, whom they have despised and rejected. Then shall that scripture be fulfilled: “Those mine enemies that would not that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them before me.” Luke 19: 27.

2. Hence learn how great a mercy the least measure of saving faith is; for this unites the soul to Jesus Christ; and “there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus,” Rom. 8:1; not one sentence of God against them. “By him all that believe are justified from all things.” Acts 13:39. The weakest believer is as free from condemnation as the strongest; the righteousness of Christ comes upon all believers. ‘Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference.” Rom. 3:22. The faith that receives the righteousness of Christ may be different in degrees of strength; but the received righteousness is equal upon all believers. O the exceeding preciousness of saving faith!

3. How dreadful a sin is the sin of wnbekief, which brings men under the condemnation of the great God. No sip startles less or damns surer: it is a sin that does not affright the conscience as some other sins do, but it kills the soul more certainly than any of those sins. Other sins could not damn us were it not for unbelief, which fixes the guilt of them all upon our persons. ‘This is the condemnation.” Unbelief is the sin of sins; and when the Spirit comes to convince men of sin, he begins with this as the capital sin. John 16: 9.

Estimate the evil of unbelief from its object. It is slighting the most excellent person in heaven or earth: the vision of Christ by faith is the joy of saints upon earth; the vision of Christ above is the happiness of saints in heaven. It is despising him who is altogether lovely in himself, who hath loved us and given himself for us.

It is rejecting the only Mediator between God and man; after rejecting whom there remains no sacrifice for sin,

Let the evil of unbelief be estimated by the offer of Christ in the gospel. It is one part of the great mystery of godliness that Christ should be preached to the Gentiles, 1 Tim. 3:16; that the word of this salvation should be sent to us, Acts 13: 26; a mercy denied to the fallen angels and the greatest part of mankind, which aggravates the evil of this sin beyond all imagination. In refusing or neglecting Jesus Christ are found vile ingratitude, the highest contempt of the grace and wisdom of God; and in the event, the loss of the only opportunity of salvation, never to be recovered to all eternity..

4, If this be the case of all unbelievers, zt zs not to be wondered at that souls wnder convictions of their miserable condition are plunged wmto deep distress. They at Jerusalem were pricked at the heart, and cried out, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Acts 2:37. And so the jailer came in trembling and astonished, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? Certainly, if souls apprehend themselves under the condemnation of the great God, tears and trembling, wearisome days and restless nights are not without just cause. Those that never saw their miserable condition by the light of a clear and full conviction, may wonder to see others distressed in spirit. They may misjudge the case, and call it melancholy or madness; but spiritual troubles do not exceed the cause of them, great as they may be. And indeed, it is one of the great mysteries of grace and providence how such souls are supported under sorrows, which, in a few hours, might break the stoutest spirit in the world. Luther was a man of great natural courage; and yet, when God let in spiritual troubles upon his soul, it is said he had neither voice, nor heat, nor blood appearing in him.

5. How growndless is the mirth of wnregenerate men. ‘They feast in their prison and dance in their fetters. O the madness that is in their hearts! If men did but believe they are condemned already, it were impossible for them to live in vanity as they do. And is their condition less dangerous because it is not understood? Surely not, but much more so. O poor sinners, you have found out a way to prevent your present troubles: it were well if you could find out how to prevent eternal misery. But it is easier for a man to stifle conviction than to prevent damnation. Your mirth prevents repentance and increases your future torment. O what a hell will theirs be, who drop into it out of all the sinful pleasures of this world! If ever man may say of mirth that it is mad, and of laughter, what doeth it? he may say so in this case.

6. What cause have they to rejoice and praise the Lord to etermty who have a well-grownded confidence that they are freed from God’s condemnation! O give thanks to the Father, who hath delivered you from the power of darkness, and translated you into the kingdom of his dear Son. Col. 1: 12,18. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for if freed from condemnation, you are out of Satan’s power, he has no more dominion over you. The power of Satan over men comes in by virtue of their condemnation, as the power of the yazer or executioner over the bodies of condemned prisoners. Heb. 2:14. If you are freed from condemnation, the sting of death shall never touch you, for it smites men only by virtue of God’s sentence: ‘The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law.” 1 Cor. 15:56. If you are freed from condemnation you shall stand with boldness at the judgment-seat of Christ; and verily in this is the love of God perfected. 1 John 4:17. QO it is a privilege in which the grace and love of God shine as élearly as the sun in its full strength. And you will find cause to lie at the feet of God, overwhelmed with the sense of this mercy, when you shall find yourselves free from condemnation, while many others are still under it. Yea, yourselves freed, and others, that had the same external advantages as you had, still in chains. 2 Cor.2:16. O brethren, this is a marvellous deliverance; look on it which way you will, your ransom is paid, but not a particle of it by yourselves; it cost you nothing to procure your pardon; your pardon is full, and not one sin is excepted out of it that you ever committed. You are freed, Jesus Christ procured your discharge; your pardon is sealed in his blood, so that you shall never more come into condemnation. ‘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,

Let them that are so delivered spend their days on earth in praise and obedience; and when they die, let them not shrink from death, it can do them no harm; yea, let them close their dying lips with,

Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ.