IV. Unbelievers are poor indeed.
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It is a dreadful thing to lack bread. Yet man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. It is sad to see a human being without reason. Yet some godly people have become insane, and never waked up in their right mind until they were in the presence of the Lamb.
But in his unregenerate state, man's case is far more pitiable. Of all such, Paul says they are without Christ. They have no Savior, no infallible Teacher, no atoning High-priest, no Advocate with God, no King ruling in righteousness over them and their enemies. Without Christ, sinners are nothing. He is all and in all. Well did an ancient say, "I had rather fall with Christ than reign with Caesar." Nonexistence is not so dreadful as a Christless state. "We are captives, and cannot be delivered without the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.
Fools as we all are, we cannot be instructed without wisdom, and all the treasures of wisdom are hidden in Christ Jesus. All plans and hopes not built on him must fall, for there is no other foundation. All working without him, will be cast into the fire, where it will be consumed. Without him, all riches make themselves wings and fly away. A dungeon with Christ is a throne; and a throne without Christ, hell."
He is life and light, and the delights of the sons of men. Yet unconverted sinners are without him. They are also aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. They have no lot in Jacob. Christ's cause may advance, but it brings no joy to them. His kingdom may be set up in a whole nation, but they care not for that.
His honor may be great, but they have no share in it. His praise may be sung in high anthems and hallelujahs, but to them it is as the voice of foreign minstrels. Prayer may be offered for him, but they never heartily join in it. They are not at home in secret devotion, in public worship, or in the celebration of the ordinances. They would be even less at home in the adorations of heaven. They have no inheritance in the church.
They are outcasts, castaways, reprobate silver. They are not sons of God. They are not heirs. Their prospects for eternity are no better than if God had no church at all. And so they are strangers from the covenants of promise. They have nothing to rely upon for time, nothing for eternity; nothing for this life, nothing for that which is to come. Their heavens are never spanned by the rainbow of a rich variety of promises, divinely girt together by the faithful word and unimpeachable oath of Him who cannot lie.
One of the most gifted among them, even while living in a gospel land, said, "The present is a fleeting moment, the past is no more, and our prospect of futurity is dark and doubtful." Such men are lost. They have no heavenly guide, no safe rules of conduct, no sure word abiding forever. Of course they are without hope. They may have false dreams of future good, but these will all vanish like the mist. Their delusive expectations are constantly failing. They indulge them only to awake to a keen sense of agonizing misery.
They are like the vine of Sodom and the fruit of Gomorrah. To hope, as an anchor to the soul; sure and steadfast; to hope, as entering within the veil; to hope, that does not mock our miseries; to hope, that shall not perish—they are utter strangers. One half hour's exercise of such hope as animates the believer would bring more that deserves the name of happiness, than all the poor sinner has ever enjoyed. Now without gospel hope, at any moment he may be in total and absolute despair.
Such are also without God in the world. A godless man is an undone man, and has a rueful eternity before him, whether he is a godless tyrant, a godless slave, or a godless noble; whether he glitters in gold or crawls in debasement. He has no communion with his Maker, no confidence in Jehovah, no blessing from the Lord, and no righteousness from the God of salvation. When nature is falling headlong, or is smitten with affliction, the believer exults, and shouts, "My Lord and my God!" The poor sinner cannot do this. He has no God; he knows no God; he loves no God; he trusts in no God; he has no hope in God.
How poor and wretched and miserable and lost is an unconverted sinner! How rich and free and undeserved is the mercy which saves sinners! How loud is the call, and how great is the obligation—to do all we can to save dying sinners! How inconceivably, dreadful it will be to go to eternity an unrenewed sinner! How infinite is the debt we owe to him who has given us access to God by his own most precious blood! Were there ever such needs among mortals as the needs of a perishing soul? Oh, sinner, turn and live!
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