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The sermon presents God as a righteous Judge whose condemnation of sin is justified by His complete knowledge of human actions, motives, and thoughts. It distinguishes the believer’s present conviction of sin—which leads to confession, pardon, and peace in Christ—from the final condemnation of the impenitent. Eternal punishment is presented as the rightful consequence of unrepented sin, making the sermon intensely warning-oriented. Yet its closing appeal is evangelical and tender: needy sinners are urged to come freely to Christ, while salvation is affirmed to be God’s gracious work.
Theological center: God’s perfect justice exposes and condemns sin, while salvation from condemnation is found only through Christ and God’s gracious work.
Applications: Come to Christ for Salvation · Consider God’s Justice · Recognize Sin’s Deserving Punishment · Solemn Fear Before Judgment
Primary texts: Psalm 51:4 · Matthew 22:12 · Isaiah 55:1
“Against thee, thee only have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.” Psalm 51:4 YESTERDAY was to me a day of deep solemnity. A pressure rested on my mind throughout the whole of it, which I could not by any possibility remove, for at every hour I remembered that during that day one of the most fallen of my fellow creatures was launched into an unknown world and made to stand before his Maker. Some might have witnessed his execution without tears. I think I could not even have thought of it for long together without weeping at the terrible idea of a man so guilty, about to commence that endless period of unmingled misery, which is the horrible doom of the impenitent, which God has prepared for sinners. Yesterday morning the sun saw a sight which sickened it—the sight of a man launched, by a judicial process, into eternity, for guilt which has rendered him infamous and which will stamp his name with disgrace as long as it shall be remembered. There is now agitating the public mind something which I thought I might improve this day and turn to a very excellent purpose. There are only two things concerning which the public have any suspicion. The verdict of the jury was the verdict of the whole of England—we were unanimous as to the high probability, the well-nigh absolute certainty of his guilt. But there were two doubts in our minds—one of them but small, we grant you, but if both could have been resolved, we should have felt more easy than we do now. The one was concerning the criminal’s guilt and the other was concerning his punishment. At least some few of our fellow countrymen have been afraid, lest we may not have been justified when we spoke against him, and quite clear when he was judged. Two things were wanted—we should have liked to have had his own confession, and certainly we should have preferred something more than circumstantial evidence. We desired to have had the testimony of an eyewitness, who could swear to the deed of murder done. But moreover, there is also a strong feeling in the mind of many that the severity of the punishment is questionable. There are some who pronounce authoritatively that the murderer’s blood must be shed for murder. But there are some who think the Christian dispensation has ameliorated the law and that now it is no longer, “eye for eye, tooth for tooth.” Many persons in England have shuddered at the thought of executing a penalty so fearful on any man, however great his crime, seeing that it puts him beyond the pale of hope…