John 12:47-48 And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.… I. CHRISTIANITY MAY BE REJECTED NOW. It is possible to accept Christ's creed and to reject His authority. II. THOSE WHO REJECT CHRISTIANITY NOW, MUST BOW TO ITS JUDICIAL FORCE HEREAFTER. "The last day" is the retributive period that awaits us all. Then the "Word" which has been trodden under foot will rise from the dust and take the throne. 1. There is nothing arbitrary in the decision or procedure of the last judgment. The glorious words of mercy which are rejected will spring from their graves, and conscience will invest them with judicial authority. 2. Man should be profoundly cautious as to how to treat the words of Christ now. His words are not sounds but things — terrible things. They must live forever in every soul into which they have fallen. Old sermons will be preached again by memory many ages on. "How shall we escape." (D. Thomas, D. D.) The word that I have spoken, the same shall Judge Him. I. THERE IS A LAST DAY. The world shall not always roll on. God shall interpose at length. In one sense there is no last day either to righteous or wicked. But in reference to the existing order there is a winding up, a reckoning. "Tomorrow" shall then cease, and that word of mystery and procrastination and suspense be known no more. II. THAT DAY SHALL BE ONE OF JUDGMENT. The long unsettled cases of earth shall be settled then. Time's riddles shall be solved and its wrongs righted. The oppressed shall be vindicated and the evil-doer be put to shame. The judgment shall be just, undoing the evil and establishing the good. III. CHRIST'S WORD SHALL JUDGE US. Not that the word is to supersede the Judge, but it will form the ground of judgment. We can imagine in connection with that word such questions as these: 1. Did it reach you? 2. Did you listen to it, or spend your lives in listening to someone or thing else? 3. Did you treat it as a true word? Professing to receive it as true, did you treat it as untrue? 4. Did you treat it as Divine? by reverence and submission. 5. Did you accept it as suitable, as meeting your case? or did you reject it? By this word, then, let us judge ourselves now, that so we may not be condemned by it at the great day. (H. Bonar.) Parallel Verses KJV: And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. |
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