The Great Account # 2

The Great Account # 2

A captain was within a few weeks of death. A friend was speaking to him of a future state. "Were you to be tried by a Court Martial as to your conduct as an officer and a gentleman - would you be afraid?"

"I would not!" said he emphatically, rising up in his bed as he spoke it. "But you are not to be tried by a Court Martial, but at the bar of Christ, and what shall you answer when He asks: "What have you done for Me?"

"Nothing! I have never done anything for Christ" said the captain thoughtfully. The arrow had reached his conscience. He was now brought to deep conviction, and through it to find rest in Christ.

There will be a "blind guide" - the man solemnly pledged to feed the flock, yet who knew not himself "the unsearchable riches of Christ," nor unfolded them to others.

There will be the faithful under-shepherd, who himself followed the Master, and day by day, in public and in private, exalted Christ and Him alone.

There will be hearers of the Word, who vainly imagined that their duty was done, when for half an hour they had hearkened to the sermon.

There will be doers of the Word, who practiced as well as heard, and only grieved that they did it so little.

There will be those who believe  not the Gospel of salvation. It has come to them, but has not been received. Through prejudice, or presuming upon their own endeavors, or a future repentance - they have put away from them the offered blessing.

There will be those who have believed and embraced it. When speaking of the judgment, Paul excludes not himself or other believers. Though sin be forgiven, though for them there can be no condemnation - yet for the glory of Christ and their justification before a world that has trampled upon them, shall they appear before the Judge.

Of all earth's teeming myriads, not one shall be absent!

However difficult to form a conception of the manner in which it can be brought about - of the locality in which it may take place - of the lengthened period of "that day" - yet of this be assured, not one solitary individual shall escape its awful solemnity.

Within a man's own breast, has God fixed a faithful witness to it. Why is it that within, there is that which chides or approves? Is there not a little judgment seat set up there - I mean conscience - which bears a clear testimony to the judgment to be administered hereafter?

Nor in any way can the guilty one flee from the presence of his Judge. "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment." "For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?"

Behold the Character of the Judgment Which God Has Appointed

In every court of Justice there must be a certain fixed rule of standard, by which people accused may be tried. In our own land, for example, every prisoner is acquitted or condemned according to the code of laws. It is not in accordance with any idea of justice in their own mind - or in that of the judge or jury - but by a clear definite code, known and recognized among us.

So likewise will it be at the Great Day. Various are the standards by which men judge themselves now, so as to quiet conscience and build up themselves in a false security. They cherish certain views of their own, with respect to moral duty, and imagine that if they fairly come up to them, nothing more can be required. Or they judge themselves by the ordinary walk of those with whom they dwell. Or they compare themselves with those who seem greater transgressors than they are - and so they hope that they may not fall far short of the mark.

All such vain imaginations will vanish in a moment before the brightness of Christ's solemn throne. The only standard will be the Word of God. That word contains within it the great rule of duty - supreme love to God, and true genuine love to our neighbor. It reveals also the free promise of life, and eternal salvation to every one who believes in the name of Christ. It declares that true faith works by love, and that none truly believe in the Son of God, who are not led by the Spirit, and bring not forth the fruits of that Spirit in their lives. Such is the rule by which all those will be judged to whom the message of the Gospel has come. Hear the Word of Christ: "He who rejects Me and receives not My words, has one who judges him - the word that I have spoken the same shall judge him at the last day."

Bear in mind not only what is to be the one standard - but that the judgment has respect to the whole course of a man's life.

~George Everard~

(continued with # 3)