SERMON XXXII.

THE CONDEMNATION OF UNBELIEVERS.

He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John iii. 18.

CHRIST 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 offer 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.

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2. The punishment inflicted, that is, condemnation: word of deep and dreadful signification; appearing as the hand-writing upon the wall unto Belshazzar, Dan. v. 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 a sinner, by the breach of the first covenant; and that condemnation has been ratified by the sentence of God condemning him as an unbeliever, 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 this

DOCT. That all unbelievers are presently and immediately under the just and dreadful sentence of God'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 xii. 48; "He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but

the wrath of God abideth on him," John iii. 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. WHAT THE SIN OF UNBELIEF, OR NOT RECEIVING CHRIST, IS. 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 cry out with tears, help thou mine unbelief; but this does not bring the soul under condemnation. The unbelief here spoken of is, neglecting to take Christ as he is offered in the gospel.

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1. It excludes the saving act of faith, which is the receiving 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 v. 42. Faith purifics 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 THE 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. v. 16. Condemnation, with respect to the punishment, stands opposed to salvation, Mark xvi. 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?"

3. Condemnation is the final sentence of God, the supreme Judge, from whose judgment there lies no appeal, for execution certainly follows condemnation, Luke xix. 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 condemned him as an unbeliever, if a man finally rejects 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. THIS CONDEMNATION MUST FOLLOW THE SIN OF UNBELIEF. As many unbelieving persons as are in the world, so many condemned persons there are in the world. For,

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

(1.) It excludes him from the pardon of sin: "If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins," John viii. 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. vi. 23. If a man be saved without pardon, then may the unbeliever hope to be saved.

(2.) Unbelief excludes a man from all the saving benefits 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 unquestionably 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," Rom. iii. 25; "By grace are ye saved through faith," Eph. ii. 8. So, then, if the unbeliever were acquitted and saved, it must be without the

benefit of Christ's death and sacrifice; which is utterly impossible.

(3.) 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 iii. 23; Mark i. 14, 15; John xii. 36. It is the design of its promises; they are written to encourage men to believe, John vi. 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 iii. 23; nor is he under one saving promise of it, Gal. iii. 14, 22.

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(4.) Unbelief excludes a man from union with Christ, faith being the bond of that union, Eph. iii. 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 unbelief includes men under.

(1.) It is a sin which reflects the greatest dishonour 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 v. 10.

(2.) Unbelief makes a man guilty of the vilest contempt of Christ, and the whole design of redemption by him. All the attributes of 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. i. 24. And what does the neglect and rejection of Christ imply, but the weakness and folly of redemption by him.

(3.) 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. iv. 4; of which more hereafter.

(4.) Unbelief also includes a man under the curse, and shuts him up under all the threatenings written in the book of God, amongst which is the terrible one: “He that believeth not shall be damned," Mark xvi. 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.

INFERENCE 1. If this be so, how great a number of