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Of the Last Judgment

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

The Principles and Doctrines of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

Of the Last Judgment}


There will be a Last Judgment. To those who are sincerely godly, different rewards will then be rendered than what will be rendered to all others in the world. This doctrine is not a fantasy, but is a real truth. I am dealing with Pharisees, not with Sadducees,187 and thus will not need to prove either the resurrection or the Last Judgment. My main business here will lie in the proof of the latter part: that in the Last Judgment, the sincerely godly will have a far different reward than all other people. God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness. I hope that you will give me leave to believe that you already are satisfied that this is so. When this day comes, all the people of this world will have run their course. All the elegant fops, swaggering bullies, proud fawning courtiers, and wanton pretenders will have acted their glorious part. The trampled and contented Christians will all have run their weary race. The last scene will be over, the stage cleared, and the curtains drawn. The beggars’ rags, the great people’s robes, the warriors’ swords, and the statesmen’s gowns will be put off and laid aside. The oppressed poor will stand on even ground with their mightiest oppressors. The kings of the earth will have laid down their crowns, and the princes their scepters. The judges of the earth will have broken up their courts; their term is ended. Then the God of Glory will erect His tribunal, before which all people, from the least to the greatest, must make their personal appearance. They will have all their ways and actions examined and considered all over again, and they will receive their sentence.188 “So you will again distinguish between the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve Him” (Malachi 3:18 NASB). “Mankind will say, ‘Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth’” (Psalm 58:11 ESV). This reward for the righteous will be a special reward. You may ask what this reward of the righteous will be, and what will be the difference between their reward and the rewards of all others, whoever they may be? Let the following Scriptures be examined, and they will give the answer: “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek” (Romans 2:6–9 ESV).189 The words refer to the last judgment as is seen by “He will render …” In the following part, we have the dividing of the sheep and the goats (Matthew 25:32–33), both of which are described and have their distinct rewards appointed to them.


We have a description of the sheep and what their reward will be. And by their description, these sheep will be the very same as Precisians, or circumspect Christians. First, they seek for glory, honor, and immortality; that is, they seek a portion of glory and immortality in the world to come. They leave the kingdoms of this world to be shared among the people of this world and seek for that kingdom that cannot be shaken. Second, they are well-doers, good people, and holy people; people of a good and holy life. Third, they continue in well-doing; they are not good for fits and starts, but it is their way of life. Fourth, they patiently continue. Patience is:

This is the description of the sheep, and of all the people in the world, who would these sheep be? Can they be any other people besides those godly people who have been described to you? Well, but what is the reward that the Lord will render to these people in the Judgment? Why, it is eternal life and eternal glory and blessedness. “To those who by patience in well-doing” He will render eternal life. Sinner, this is true; it is no mere imagination; it is a reliable truth and a truth that you yourselves must believe before you can ever come to God. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him” (Hebrews 11:6). Take note of it: “those who diligently seek Him.” The people spoken of in this Scripture text and those spoken of in this sermon are the same people. God will reward these people with a special and glorious reward; this must be understood. God has rewards for the ungodly: you who are proud, persecutors, and despisers of God and his ways, God will reward you for all your doings. But God has a blessed reward for those who seek Him. The text says, “He who comes to God must believe.” Sinners, you will not be persuaded now; you think that these people are foolish, self-deluded people and that the blessed hope with which they feed themselves—that is, Heaven, joy, and glory—is only in their own fantasy. But yet, if you ever change your mind, this is that which you must believe in order to be brought home to God: God is a rewarder, and a glorious rewarder, of those who diligently seek Him. We thus have the description of the sheep, their reward, and the certainty of it. Next, in Romans 2:6–9, we have the description of the goats and their reward. There is a general description of them in the preceding verses as those who do evil, and here there is this threefold description of them:

For the sake of discussion, I will reduce these descriptions to two categories: their contentiousness [self-seeking] and their recalcitrance.


First, their contentiousness is twofold: man against man and man against God. The latter is expressed in Scripture by “contrary” or “obstinate” in Romans 10:21 and by “resisting”: “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you” (Acts 7:51 ESV). It is expressed by “kicking” in Deuteronomy 32:15. This kicking implies opposition against God, opposition joined with scorn and contempt, putting a slight on God and all of His counsels and ways. Now, this latter is the contention meant in the text: contention against God. They will not listen to His voice and will not be obedient to His truth. The Lord commands and calls them to accept His grace and to be obedient to His law, but they reject God, kick against His Word, and refuse to listen to Him.


Second, because of their recalcitrance or [seeming] victory in this contest, after all the striving of God with them, they still hold out and are not moved. They do not obey the truth, but persist in obeying unrighteousness.


By the truth, we are to understand the whole Word of God. “Your Word is truth” (John 17:17). This includes both the Word of righteousness, the law; and the Word of faith, the Gospel. By “obeying the truth” we are to understand submitting to the government of God’s law and accepting the grace of the Gospel.


By unrighteousness, we are to understand all of those corrupt principles by which the lusts of people control them. Which principles, I take to be what the apostle means in Romans 7:23 by “the law of sin.” In this and the previous verse, there is mention made of four laws that contend against one another, two on one side and two on the other. The law of God and the law of the mind are set against the law of the members and the law of sin. By the law of God is understood the Word of God. By the law of the mind is understood grace in the regenerate and the light of the natural conscience in the unregenerate. By the law of the members is understood lust or strong desire. By the law of sin is understood those corrupt principles by which lust governs. The law of the mind governs according to the holy principles contained in the Word. Likewise, there are certain principles of unrighteousness by which lust governs. To enumerate and count up all these corrupt principles would be as great a task as to count up all of the doctrines of truth and the righteous commands of God. To each of these holy doctrines and commands, there are directly contrary principles in the law of sin. Now, because it may serve my present purpose, namely helping sinners to understand themselves, I will mention ten of some of the chief of them. You may wish to call them “The Devil’s Ten Commandments.”

  1. Live for yourself. Mind your own things. This is the first and greatest commandment on which all the rest hang. The rest serve this one, which is the same as “Be your own god and your own idol.”

  1. Let your will be your law. You are your own. Your tongue is your own; your time is your own; all you have is your own. May you not do as you please with your own?

  2. Make the best of the present time and of present things. Do not lose a certainty for uncertainties. Who knows what will be hereafter? Eat and drink for tomorrow you will die. Be as merry as you can. Spend it while you have it. Make hay while the sun shines. Death comes, and that is the end of all your happiness.

  3. Stand fast in the liberties of your flesh. Do not come into bondage. Do not be a voluntary slave to a strict and restrained life. When you are able, if you wish, use your own liberty.

  4. Continue in sin because grace has abounded. Christ died for sinners. God is merciful. Why should you then fear to go in your own way?

  5. Do as others do. Go along with the crowd. Mold yourself to the times. Do not stick out. Why should you think yourself wiser than others?

  6. Do no more in religion than needed. Do not be overly righteous. Do not work so hard on spiritual things. A little faith and repentance will meet your needs.

  7. Do not trouble yourself about small offenses. Thoughts are free. Words are just things that happen in life. What man is there who lives and does not sin? Why should you fuss about your sins? Are they not just little ones?

  8. Do not be overly hasty. If you must repent, there is time enough yet. Do not torment yourself before your time. Repentance will be well enough at last; when you are old you will have little else to do. Do not be old while you are young.

  9. Trust God with your soul, but not with your body; fear man with regard to your body. That is, choose iniquity rather than affliction. Venture no further in matters of religion than you may do with safety.

These are some of those corrupt principles that make up the law of sin, to which law all others may be reduced. Obeying unrighteousness is living under the power of any of these or any others of like nature. As the apostle says, “For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). Likewise, a person who lives under the power of any one of the commandments of the devil is, if not under the power of all, as sure a slave to the devil as if he were guilty of all. He whose foot is entangled in one cord of a net is as trapped as one who has the whole net spread over him. If a bird is held by a leg or a wing, it is as sure as if the whole body were in the net. So now you have also a description of the goats: those who are contentious [self-seeking], resisting the Lord and Word of His grace. After all the striving of the Lord with them, they stand stubborn, hold their own, and persist in their disobedience against the truth. They obey unrighteousness and live under the dominion of the corrupt principles that make up the law of sin. Let me demand of you three things here:

  1. Are not every one of these principles [Devil’s Ten Commandments] that I have mentioned obviously principles of unrighteousness? And may they not just as well be called the “Devil’s Commandments” as the devil is called a devil?

  1. Are not those who live under the power of these principles those very people meant by those who “obey unrighteousness” in the text? May they not just as well be called “the devil’s servants,” as those wicked laws are called the “Devil’s Commandments”?

  2. Are not all people who are not precisely godly, in the sense that I have previously described it, obviously held under some of these corrupt principles? Is not your reproachful accusation against the saints this: that they will not live under these, or some of these, evil rules? Is it that they will not take their liberty? Is it that they will not do as others, but must stick out as if, forsooth, they were wiser than their neighbors? Is it that they stand upon every trifle and small matter, and so on?


Some of these anti-Precisians, if they are compared with those evil commandments, do touch them in every point throughout. You may well title them “Hell through Comforts” or “The Devil’s Best Subjects.” Sinners, the whole generation of you who are of such a spirit, even every one of you who have a word to speak against preciseness of godliness and godly people, come and look into this mirror which is set in front of you. Do you know your own faces when you see them? Are not these evil principles the very pictures and express images of you? If you say they are not, it is because you do not know your own faces. If they are not, let me be rejected for a liar and a slanderer. But if you are, even all of you, these very people, then look a little further and you may see what your reward will be in the Judgment. Why, what is it? Read on and you have it: “to those who … do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil” (Romans 2:8–9 ESV). You may say to me that this is just my opinion; in all of this I may be mistaken; you hope to fare as well as the best of us in spite of all our great words. Is it just our opinion? Why, is it never just your opinion also? Do you never doubt? Are you never afraid this may be true and that this will be your portion? Has your own conscience never preached to you these same things? But whether it did or not, this is true: that indignation and wrath will be the portion of every soul of you thus living and dying. This is as true as that God is righteous. The righteousness of God is engaged to render to every man according to his works. Therefore there will be indignation, wrath, and so on to those who do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness. And by this time you may see that there is some difference between the rewards of the godly and the rewards of all others in the world, as much difference as there is between life and death, mercy and wrath, everlasting joy and peace and everlasting anguish and tribulation. If Heaven and Hell differ only in imagination, and if there is not as great a difference between the rewards of the godly and all others as the difference between Heaven and Hell, then once more I tell you we will be content to be called fanatics. And are you not yet done with talking of our fantasies and vain imaginations? Is it just imagination that there will be a judgment? Is it just imagination that it will then fare better with the sheep than the goats? Or that those who are Christ’s sheep hear His voice, follow His steps, and stay by the Good Shepherd’s tents? Is it just imagination that it will fare better with the friends of Christ than with His enemies? Or that those who are friends of holiness are the friends of Christ? Is it only in imagination that it will fare better with the servants of Christ than with strangers? Or are those the best servants who waste their talents or bind them up in a handkerchief? Will Christ say on that day:

Away, you faithful servant, away from me, you workers of righteousness! You have loved Me too much. You have pleased Me too well. You have followed Me too closely. You have given yourselves to too much praying, too much praising, and too much fasting. You have been too conscientious, too tender, too watchful, too holy. You would not be merry, idle, and vain. You would not go along with your neighbors to their gambling, revels, and pleasures. But you had to deny yourselves, take up your cross, and follow me. You could not be content with an earthly happiness, but you had to have glory, honor, and immortality. You could not be content to venture on a groundless hope of glory, but you had to make sure of it by patient continuance in well-doing. Away from me, you workers of righteousness. You who have followed me,191 get you gone; get you down to everlasting destruction.

Will this be the voice of the Judge on that day? Will He call to sinners, “Come, you wantons, come you winos, come, you foul-mouthed, liars, scoffers, and customers of prostitutes. Come, you blessed mob, inherit the kingdom”? All this must be so if godliness is only a fantasy. Do you not see, sinners, what “men of reason” and what “men of judgment” you are, and how much truth or weight there is in your charge against the saints? Oh, Christians, I hope you sufficiently see how little ground you have to take the least notice of or discouragement from these confident adversaries. In proclaiming you fanatics, they must proclaim themselves to be either heathens or idiots. Thus I have shown that the principles of godliness are not fanatical. The Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy

{Sermons on John 1:47

The Doctrine Confirmed

Duties and Comforts of Godliness Are Not Fantasy}


The duties and comforts of godliness are not fantasies. I will discuss those duties and those parts of duties that are most targeted by the censure of fantasy. These are the most spiritual duties and the most spiritual parts of duties. Since these are most out of sight and out of the reach of the carnal world, they are censured most of all. I will mention only two, which indeed are comprehensive of all.

187Both the sect of the Pharisees and the sect of the Sadducees had serious spiritual problems. Both sects are repeatedly seen in the Gospels and Acts. The Sadducees openly denied many teachings of the Old Testament, and denied the existence of angels, spirits, and the resurrection of the dead. The Pharisees professed to believe the Scriptures, but were typically hypocrites who sought to earn God’s favor, and especially people’s favor, by external actions and religious exercises. More could be said, but this will serve to explain Alleine’s references. As before, for those unfamiliar with or new to Christianity, the editor refers them to the resources in Helpful Notes to the Reader.

188Alleine, not improperly, speaks of groups of people here. But let the reader know that he or she will one day personally stand before God. Alone, individually, and in person, each will give an account of his or her life to God (Psalm 62:12; 1 Corinthians 3:13; Galatians 6:4; 1 Peter 1:17).

189Greek: symbolic of all gentiles.

190The Greek ἐριθεία [eritheia] originally meant a self-seeking quest for political office by foul means. In Romans 2:8, the KJV translates it as “contentious”; the NKJV, HCSB, and ESV translate it as “self-seeking”; and the NASB translates it as “selfishly ambitious.” Alleine reads it as “contentious,” and the editor preserves that choice. Certainly contention arises from self-seeking, but one may be self-seeking without being contentious, especially if the lack of contentiousness is due to fear, relative weakness, or timidity.

191Alleine has “you who have followed me in the regeneration.” This would be misleading as KJV, NKJV, NASB, ESV, and others place a comma after “followed me.” The reference is generally understood to be the time after the Last Judgment, the time of the new heavens and earth.

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