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I. ON A CERTAIN DAY GOD WILL JUDGE MEN.

1. A judgment is going on daily. Every deed is recorded in the register of doom.

(1) This session of the heavenly court is like the daily sessions of our local magistrates, and does not prevent but rather necessitates the holding of an ultimate great assize.

(2) As each man passes into another world an immediate judgment is passed upon him; but this is only the foreshadowing of the final judgment.

(3) There is a judgment also passing upon nations, for as nations will not exist as nations in another world, they have to be judged now, and history shows how sternly justice has dealt with empire after empire, when they have become corrupt. Where is Assyria, Babylon, Rome, etc.? The world is full of monuments of the mercy and justice of God: the very monuments of His justice being proofs of His goodness; for it is mercy to put an end to evil systems when, like a nightmare, they weigh heavily upon mankind. We have often laughed at the idea of the New Zealander sitting on the broken arch of London Bridge sketching the ruins of St. Paul's. But is it quite so ridiculous as it looks? What is there about London that it should be more enduring than Rome? If we rebel, God will not hold us guiltless.

2. Though such judgments proceed every day, yet there is to be a day in which more distinctly and finally God will judge men. We might have guessed this by the light of nature and of reason. Even heathen peoples have had a dim notion of a day of doom; but we are solemnly assured of it in Holy Scripture.

(1) By judging is here meant all that concerns the proceedings of trial and award.

(a) There will be a session of majesty, and the appearing of a great white throne, surrounded with pomp of angels and glorified beings.

(b) Then a summons will be issued, bidding all men come to judgment.

(c) Then the indictment will be read, and each one examined.

(d) Then the books shall be opened, and everything recorded there read.

(e) Then the great Judge shall give the decision, pronounce sentence and execute it.

(2) This will be so, and it ought to be so: God should judge the world, because He is the universal ruler and sovereign.

(a) There has been a day for sinning, there ought to be a day for punishing.

(b) It ought to be so for the sake of the righteous. The best have had the worst of it, and there ought to be a judgment to set these things right. Besides, the festering iniquities of each age cry out to God that He should deal with them.

(3) Why doth it not come at once? And when will it come? It is idle and profane to guess at it, since even the Son of Man, as such, knoweth not the time. It is sufficient that it will surely come; sufficient also to believe that it is postponed.

(a) To give space for repentance.

(b) That the Church may be completed. The Lord keeps the scaffold standing till He hath built up the fabric. Not yet are all the redeemed with blood redeemed with power and brought forth into the holiness in which they walk with God. But do not deceive yourselves. The great day of His wrath cometh on apace, and days of reprieve are numbered.

II. GOD WILL JUDGE THE SECRETS OF MEN.

1. By these are meant —

(1) Those secret crimes which hide themselves away by their own infamy, which are too vile to be spoken of.

(2) The hidden motives of every action; for a man may do that which is right from a wrong motive, and so the deed may be evil in the sight of God, though it seem right in the sight of men. Oh, think what it will be to have it proven that you were godly for the sake of gain, that you were generous out of ostentation, or for love of praise, etc.

(3) The sensual desires and imaginings.

(4) Secrets, that were secrets even to the sinners themselves, for there is sin in us which we have never yet discovered.

2. Why God should judge the secrets of men. Because —

(1) There is really nothing secret from God; for all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.

(2) Often the greatest of moral acts are done in secret. The brightest deeds that God delights in are those that are done by His servants when they have no motive but to please Him, and when they studiously avoid publicity. It were a pity that such deeds should be left out at the great audit. Thus, too, secret vices are also of the very blackest kind, and to exempt them were to let the worst of sinners go unpunished.

(3) Besides, the secret things of men enter into the very essence of their actions. An action is, after all, good or bad very much according to its motive. So, if God did not judge the secret part of the action He would not judge righteously.

(4) The secret thing is the best evidence of the man's condition. Many a man will not do in public that which would bring him shame. That which a man does when he thinks that he is entirely by himself is the best revelation of the man.

III. GOD WILL JUDGE THE SECRETS OF MEN BY JESUS CHRIST. This will be —

1. For the display of His glory. What a difference there will be then between the Babe of Bethlehem's manger and the King of kings and Lord of lords; between the weary man and full of woes, and He that shall then be girt with glory, sitting on a throne encircled with a rainbow! From the derision of men to the throne of the universal judgment, what an ascent! This, too, will finally settle the controversy about our Lord's Deity.

2. Because men have been under His mediatorial sway, and He is their King. We have been placed by an act of Divine clemency, not under the immediate government of an offended God, but under the reconciling rule of the Prince of Peace.

3. That there may never be a cavil raised concerning that judgment. Men shall not be able to say, Vie were judged by a superior being who did not know our weaknesses and temptations, and therefore judged us without a generous consideration of our condition. The Judge was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. He is our brother, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, partaker of our humanity, and therefore understands and knows what is in men.

4. This judgment by Christ puts beyond possibility all hope of any after-interposition. If the Saviour condemns, and such a Saviour, who can plead for us? If He that bled to save men at last comes to this conclusion, that there is no more to be done, but they must be driven from His presence, then farewell hope.

5. Does not this also show how certain the sentence will be? for this Christ of God is too much in earnest to play with men. If He says, "Come, ye blessed," He will not fail to bring them to their inheritance. If He be driven to say, "Depart, ye cursed," He will see it done, and into the everlasting punishment they must go.

6. It seems as if God in this intended to give a display of the unity of all His perfections. In Christ you behold justice and love, mercy and righteousness, combined in equal measure. He turns to the right, and says, "Come, ye blessed," and with the same lip, as He glances to the left, He says, "Depart, ye cursed,"

IV. ALL THIS IS ACCORDING TO THE GOSPEL. There is nothing in the gospel contrary to this solemn teaching. Men gather to hear us preach of infinite mercy, and our task is joyful; but oh, remember that nothing in our message makes light of sin! There is grace for the man who quits his sin, but there is tribulation and wrath upon every man that doeth evil. The gospel is all tenderness to the repenting, but all terror to the obstinate offender. The background of the Cross is the judgment seat of Christ. "According to my gospel," saith Paul; and he meant that the judgment is an essential part of the gospel creed, and in times of righteous indignation its terrible significance seems a very gospel to the pure in heart. I have read this and that concerning oppression, slavery, the treading down of the poor, and the shedding of blood, and I have rejoiced that there is a righteous Judge. Thousands of men have been hanged for much less crimes than those which now disgrace gentlemen whose names are on the lips of rank and beauty. Where this is not preached, I am bold to say the gospel is not preached. It is absolutely necessary to the preaching of the gospel that men be warned as to what will happen if they continue in their sins. Surgeon, you hope to heal the sick without their knowing it. You therefore flatter them; and they die! Your delicacy is cruelty; you are a murderer. Shall we keep men in a fool's paradise? Shall we lull them into soft slumbers from which they will awake in hell?

(C. H. Spurgeon.)

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KJV: In the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel.

WEB: in the day when God will judge the secrets of men, according to my Good News, by Jesus Christ.