Scarcely Saved # 2

Scarcely Saved # 2

"The ungodly and the sinner." Why are there two words instead of one? On purpose, it would seem, to take in sinners of all sorts - the hardened transgressor, the man who lives in habits of sin, the bold wicked man - the weak and wavering man, the light and careless, the worldly, the empty professor - all who are living without God in the world, all who are not washed in the blood of Christ and renewed by the Spirit. It is quite plain that the apostle means here all who are not righteous; he puts the righteous on one side, and the ungodly and the sinner on the other side; and on one side or the other, he means to take in everybody. It is just the same as if he had said, "If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall all the rest appear?"

Now, ask yourself honestly, whether you are among the righteous. The question is not whether you are better or worse than your neighbors; that has nothing to do with it - but are you righteous? Does what was said at the beginning apply to you? Are you converted? Do you believe with the heart? Are you seeking daily to live to God? If not, then this question about the ungodly and the sinner is for you.

Perhaps you do not like either of these words. You do not pretend to be righteous - yet you are not so bad, you think, as those who are called ungodly or sinners.

Then, reader, I ask you, if neither righteous nor ungodly - what are you? Put your finger on that word in the Bible which describes you. You cannot. There is nothing in the Bible between righteous and unrighteous, godly and ungodly, reconciled and unreconciled. And if you are not righteous in God's sight, then before Him - whatever you may be in your own eyes or in the eyes of the world - before Him, you are ungodly or sinful. I beseech you - weigh this well.

And now we come to the question itself, "Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?" But this question must not be taken by itself, it hangs upon what has gone before about the righteous: "If the righteous one is scarcely saved - then where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?"

The full meaning is this. Seeing that even the righteous man is scarcely saved, that his dangers and difficulties are great; that he finds it necessary to put on the whole armor of God", to press toward the mark, to strive to enter through the narrow gate, and that, though saved to the uttermost by Jesus Christ - yet it is as one is rescued from the water or the flames - seeing all this, what will become of the wicked?

Shall the righteous be scarcely saved - and you so easily? Shall he reach Heaven by so rough a road - and you by one so smooth? Shall he go in by the straight gate and the narrow way - and shall you choose the broad gate and the wide road, and yet find it leads you at last to the same happy place? Shall he take up his cross and follow Christ - and shall you follow nothing but your own will, and yet win Christ in the end? Never repenting, never turning, never believing - and yet saved? Finding without seeking; not running the race, and yet winning the prize; wearing a crown, though never having taken up the cross?

Impossible! Reason says so - conscience says so, and, as plainly as words can speak, God Himself has said so. Have you never read of the wheat and the tares (Matt. 13:30), of the sheep and the goats, of the right hand and the left (Matt. 25:33)?

I spoke just now of a broad road and a narrow road, a straight gate and a wide gate; do you remember what the Bible says about them, and about the places to which they lead? Here are the words - our Lord's own words: "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14).

The righteous and the wicked are traveling different roads - and will come to different ends. It is true, they are mixed now, as plants growing in one field are mixed; but it will not always be so. A great separating day is coming, when every plant which God has not planted shall be rooted up; and all refuges of lies shall be swept away (Isaiah 28:17), and the true sheep of Christ from every quarter shall be gathered together into one fold, into which no mere pretender shall ever come.

To that great day, this question itself seems to point, "Where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" Appear when? Why, on that very day when the Lord Jesus shall appear in His glory, and the saints who slept appear with Him, and His waiting people on earth shall appear with joy to meet Him. Then, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? Appear they must, somewhere. They cannot hide themselves. "Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, even those who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him" (Revelation 1:7).

Oh, sinner! Careless and stout-hearted now - where will you appear, and how will you feel then? In vain you call upon the mountains and rocks to fall on you, and hide you. You must come forth - you cannot escape from that all-seeing eye - you must meet the Judge. Where will you appear?

No true believer shall be lost. "Come with us." Turn from sin and the world. Leave the broad road and begin to walk in the narrow way. It is a safe way, the only safe way. Oh, set out on this road without delay! Too much time has been lost already - lost no more. No longer run the risk of appearing among the ungodly and the sinners at His coming - flee to Christ at once; be instant and urgent at the mercy seat; pray for the Holy Spirit, for light, pardon, grace, and strength; and ask that, for Christ's sake, you may even now be reckoned among the righteous, and be saved in the day of the Lord! 

~Francis Bourdillon~

(The End)