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{Sermons on Ephesians 5:15
The Doctrine Explained
Precisians Are Proved to Be Not Fools
They Will Not Be Deemed Fools at the Last Day}
The second reason Precisians are not fools is that they will not be accounted fools at last, either by God or by people. We must only view as fools now those who will be deemed fools at the last day. At present, people’s eyes are blinded; they cannot discern between light and darkness or between wisdom and folly, and thus they are subject to great mistakes. But at the last, people’s eyes will be opened, and this blind world will then see and look with another eye than they do now upon all the ways and transactions of people here below and upon all the various states and conditions of the different kinds of people in the world. When the designs, ways, and actions of people will be brought to their issue; when all masks will be pulled off; when all faces and hearts will be made bare, naked, and open; then everyone will see who has behaved themselves wisely and who has played the fool. “Every man’s work will be made manifest” (1 Corinthians 3:13). By this, every person will be revealed; the day will declare them. If you ask what day, I answer that it is the last day, the day of judgment, which is a day of both trial and recompense. All people will have finished their work. It will be a day of trial because all will be examined and proven what they are. It will be a day of recompense because all people will be rewarded according to their work. Let this now determine the question: those people who will be considered fools on that day by both God and people, by both good people and evil people—let them be considered fools now. And, let those people be accounted wise now whom God and all the world will account wise on that day of trial. At the present time, people in the world are divided in their judgment; some think Christians are fools and others think them wise, but at the last, all the world will be agreed and of one mind. Those who, by the common judgment of all, will be judged fools then—let them be deemed fools now. But you will ask, how does this help our present judgments? How can we tell now who will then be accounted wise or fools? My answer is that the Word is before you; it is the law by which that judgment must be made. You may easily learn from the Word how people will be judged. Besides this, let every person appeal to his own conscience. There are two kinds of people in the world. One kind are those who, in this world, acknowledge God to be their God, follow God, follow the Scripture, and withdraw themselves from the loose and vain ways of the wicked. They spend much of their time praying, hearing sermons, and meditating on God. They exercise themselves in holy watchfulness over their hearts and all their ways. They labor in all things so that, both here and hereafter, they may be accepted and approved by God. The other kind of people live at their ease and pleasure and mind their farms, oxen, and bellies. They hope they will do well enough hereafter, but they do not much trouble themselves or take any care or pains about it. Let every person ask his own heart: which of these two kinds of people do I think in my conscience will be found fools and which wise in the day of judgment? Beloved, will you speak [according to] your consciences in this thing? If it were made your choice, among which of the two kinds of people would you wish to be found and take your portion at last? What choice do you think you should make? Would you wish to be found with those who spend their days in ignorance or those who seek the knowledge of God? Would you wish to be among those who labor and strive to make sure of the love and favor of God or among those who take no care about it, but leave the matter uncertain? Would you wish to be among the vain or the serious, among the diligent or the slothful, the heavenly minded or the earthly minded? Dare any of you say: “Let my soul stand among the drunkards, gluttons, dandy merrymakers, and revelers; among the covetous, proud, loose, and careless ones of the earth; among the formalists,89 mockers, and scoffers against the pure ways of the Lord. Let my portion be with them and my place be with them. Let my sentence be according to their sentence”? If you dare not make this your choice or desire to be found among such people on that day, you may thus perceive what the verdict of your own conscience is in this case. Whatever you say of them now, your conscience tells you that these wicked people will be found to be the only fools at that last day, and that you would rather choose to stand only among those who are wise.
89A formalist may be one who, by conviction, adheres to specific rites, movements, gestures, vestments, ceremonies, and so on as being important in worship, as having merit before God, or as being actual worship in themselves. The biblical sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper are not in view here, but these sacraments may be performed in an unbelieving or formal manner. As used here, a formalist may also be one who, due to ignorance or tradition, worships in a formal or merely outward manner, but with little or no worship from the heart.
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