The Oberlin Evangelist

Lecture XV.

July 29, 1840

THE GOSPEL THE SAVOR OF LIFE OR OF DEATH

by the Rev. Charles G. Finney

Modernized by Cliff Collins

“Now thanks be to God who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and through us diffuses the fragrance of His knowledge in every place. For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death, and to the other the aroma of life to life. And who is sufficient for these things? For we are not, as so many, peddling the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ.” (2 Cor 2:14-17)

In commenting on this passage, I will show:

I. God has great delight in the Atonement of Christ.

II. Properly sharing Christ publicly will do a lot of good, whether men are saved or lost.

III. Properly sharing Christ publicly will produce great and obvious changes in the character of those who hear.

IV. God will be just as honored in the damnation of those who reject Christ, as in the salvation of those who receive Christ.

I. God has great delight in the Atonement of Christ.

1. We know this from the testimony of scripture. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” (Phil 2:5-11)

From this passage, it appears that God was highly pleased with the Atonement of Christ Jesus, because “He highly exalted Him, or gave Him a name which is above every name”.

“Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put Him to grief. When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. He shall see the travail of His soul, and be satisfied by His knowledge. My righteous Servant shall justify many, for He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He poured out His soul unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors, and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.” (Isaiah 53:10-12)

In this passage, the Bible represents God as being so pleased with the Atonement of Christ that He gives Him a great reward for His labor of love.

Our passage today also contains the same doctrine, and so do many other passages that I could quote.

2. God has great delight in the Atonement of Christ, because He sincerely desires the salvation of everyone. He knew it was impossible to save them on the principles of His government without an Atonement. And His delight in the Atonement of Christ as the means of their salvation is equal to His desire for their salvation.

3. Christ’s self-denial must have greatly pleased His Father. What virtuous father would not feel greatly honored by the public showing of the spirit that Christ manifested in dying for His enemies? When God saw His Son willing to leave the realms of glory, to take on Him the form of a servant, to deny Himself even unto death for the sake of making the salvation of His enemies possible, this must have been infinitely pleasing to a God of love.

4. His whole life and death, under the circumstances in which He lived and died, must have been infinitely pleasing to God. His life, under circumstances of severe trial, was so spotless, so meek, and so godlike. What a wonderful public demonstration of what God is like! His death, so submissive, so godlike, it must have come up before his Father “as a sweet smelling aroma”. (Eph 5:2)

5. The bearing of the Atonement on the universe must have given it great value in the sight of God.

II. Properly sharing Christ publicly will do a lot of good, whether people are saved or lost.

1. Properly sharing Christ fully reveals and demonstrates the infinite love of God for the universe. Suppose a province of an earthly king rebelled because of slander. Suppose the slanderers insinuated that the government was selfish. Wouldn’t it be highly honorable for the king, instead of sending out his army to crush and slay them, to send out his son to reason earnestly with them, to instruct, and insure them of the unselfish love and good-will that the government has towards them. Now, suppose that this son of the king should go forth, not at the head of an army, but alone, unarmed, unattended, and unprotected. He travels from town to town on foot, taking unwearied pains to instruct them, healing their diseases, spending whole nights in prayer for them, and when he is persecuted in one town he goes to the next town. Suppose that he continues this course of teaching, earnestly reasoning with them, and praying for them. However, after all this takes place, they rise up to murder him. But, he meekly allows himself to be crucified, rather than injure one hair of any one’s head! Wouldn’t this awesome demonstration of the love and unselfishness of the government, cause its enemies to be ashamed, and greatly honor the king? Who cannot see that it certainly would?

2. A full public demonstration of the Atonement, must do a tremendous amount of good whether sinners are saved or lost, because it fully contradicts the slander which drew our race away from their allegiance to God. The serpent influenced our first parents to rebel by insinuating that God was selfish, because He would not allow them to eat from a certain tree. Therefore, God needs to thoroughly repel and refute this slander. The infinitely great and unselfish love of God that is demonstrated in the Atonement is the most impressive refutation of this slander.

3. The full public demonstration of the Atonement of Christ must do a lot of good because it fully justifies God. It shows that God has always acted under the influence of perfect love, and it condemns sin as being infinitely unreasonable, inexcusable, and abominable.

4. Such a public demonstration of the Atonement must do a lot of good because it demonstrates God’s great willingness and desire to save his enemies, whether they will be saved or not. It rolls the responsibility of their salvation or damnation on them. It proves that while they have forfeited their lives, God has no desire to accept this forfeiture without doing something about it. It proves that while they deserve to die, He has no pleasure in their death.

5. The full public demonstration of the Atonement manifests the great value of their happiness in His eyes, and His great reluctance to punish them. It shows us that His love for them was so great that He gave His only begotten Son to die for them. God considered the death, even of his own Son, to be a lesser evil than their destruction, even though they infinitely deserve to be destroyed.

6. A full public demonstration of the Atonement of Christ must do a lot of good whether sinners are saved or lost, because the Atonement forever establishes the confidence of all holy beings in God. If it wasn’t for the Atonement, the universe might have been open to think that something may not be exactly right in God’s dealings with the inhabitants of this world. But the unselfish love of God, manifested in the Atonement, must forever put His character entirely and infinitely beyond all suspicion.

7. A full public demonstration of the Atonement of Christ must do a lot of good for the universe, whether sinners are saved or lost, because it reveals to sinners, to the whole world, and to the universe, the sincerity of God, by exhibiting the fullness of the provisions of grace. It demonstrates that His provisions are ample, that there is love and grace enough in God’s heart, and ample fullness in the provisions of the gospel for the salvation of every sinner; and this stops every mouth, and leaves the sinner with the responsibility of his own damnation.

III. Properly sharing Christ publicly will produce great and obvious changes in the character of those who hear.

1. The character of those who hear must change because they must either receive or reject it. If they receive it, it will make them holy, fill them with love for God and men, and mold their whole character into the image of Christ. If they reject it, it will confirm their selfishness and depravity, harden their hearts, and place them in an attitude of greater and more daring, hateful and shameless rebellion than before.

2. The public demonstration of God that is made in the Atonement, must either subdue or greatly aggravate our spirit of rebellion and hostility against God’s government. It is impossible that this should not be true. If this public showing of love does not subdue a sinner, it is because of his unbelief. And he cannot disbelieve the infinite and unselfish love of God in view of the Atonement, without virtually charging God with the most abominable hypocrisy, and with everything that is hateful. His soul must take this attitude, or he must consent to the truth as it is revealed in the Atonement. Now the consent of his heart to this truth will fill his soul with love, and will fill his life with holy conformity to God’s law. But the rebellion of his heart against this truth, will greatly deepen and strengthen, and forever confirm the reign of sin in his heart and life.

3. The great change of feeling that will result from an understanding of the Atonement of Christ must be seen in one’s behavior and life. With but little knowledge about God, sinners may continue indulging in their lusts, without being aware of any direct hostility towards God. But when God reveals His love to them in the Atonement, they will either take a strong stand against Him, or they will repent, abandon their sin, and give up their whole being to His influence. This knowledge must produce an immense change in the attitude of their minds towards God. Before, they knew and perhaps thought little about Him. But after understanding the Atonement, they cannot but know and think a lot about Him. And the attitude of their minds must be either ferocious resistance and rebellion, or gentle and Christ-like obedience. This change of behavior is so profound, that it will manifest itself in some way in their life.

4. When we fully preach Christ, people must either be fully subdued, or confirmed in sin. I say FULLY preached. It is amazing to see how many sinners have sat under what they believe is the gospel, and yet have little more knowledge of Christ than a heathen. They have never even conceived of the idea of the love of God as it is exhibited in the Atonement, and so they remain as quiet, and as self-complacent as a Pharisee, without ever being stirred up on one hand to oppose, or on the other hand to submit. But when Christ is preached in such a way that it forces the light of God on the sinner’s conscience, and compels the sinner to fully understand the doctrine of the Atonement, the offices, relationships, and the love of Christ as a sin pardoning, and sin subduing Savior, their soul must be soon subdued, or confirmed in sin.

IV. God will be just as honored in the damnation of those who reject Christ, as in the salvation of those who receive Christ.

1. God will be just as honored in the damnation of those who reject Christ, as in the salvation of those who receive Christ because everyone will know, that God did everything He could possibly do, to save those who are lost. Even when the lost had forfeited their lives because of sin, He did not destroy them and send them to hell. But while they infinitely deserved damnation, He pitied, spared, and sent His Son to die for them. However, they not only refuse salvation by the law, but they also refuse salvation by the gospel. They refuse to obey the law. They refuse to repent and allow God to forgive them. Therefore, nothing that God’s infinite love can do for them will persuade them to accept salvation.

2. By sending them to hell after manifesting such a great desire to save them, God will most impressively demonstrate and illustrate His holiness and justice. So great is His pity and love for them, that He would rather die Himself, in their behalf, than send them to hell; and yet so great is His holiness and justice, that when they refuse salvation on the only principles that can reconcile justice and mercy, He does not hesitate to send them to the depths of hell. If an earthly king should order his own children to be executed for rebelling against his laws, wouldn’t this be an impressive public demonstration of the King’s regard for public order, and of his attachment to the principles of his government? In the Atonement, God manifested an amazing reluctance to sending sinners to hell. And after such a public demonstration of His bleeding mercy, if He must send them to hell, it will be an infinitely honorable public demonstration of His holiness and justice.

3. The damnation of the finally unrepentant will greatly increase public confidence in God. God is such a glorious magistrate. He infinitely desires to avoid a public execution, and yet He is so attached to the principles of His government, so in love with order, so high and holy in His regard for the public interests, that He must sentence His own children to an eternal hell if they persist in rebellion. These are the same children for whom His love is so great that he laid down His own life for them! What must the universe think of a sovereign that would do this! What an infinitely holy and glorious king is this! And how such a public demonstration as this must establish forever the confidence of all holy beings in Him and His government.

4. The damnation of the wicked, as rejecters of the gospel, will give to the law of God great power. The death of Christ has magnified the law, and made it honorable. The death of Christ has manifested God’s great regard for the law, and demonstrated that, rather than repeal the law, or allow it to be trampled under foot, God would have His own Son die, that a way might be opened for setting aside its penalty that is consistent with its honor. The damnation of the wicked will greatly strengthen the power of His law, by showing that God’s regard for the law is so high, that when so costly a means for setting aside its penalty fails to subdue the sinner, God will execute His penalty on the sinner in spite of the fact that His love and compassion for that sinner is infinitely great.

REMARKS.

1. This subject exposes the error of those who claim that God the Father was angry with Christ, and sought vengeance on Him. It also exposes all similar representations. The Bible disagrees with such nonsense. God says, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. (Matt 3:17) Instead of God being angry with Christ, He was infinitely pleased with Him for undertaking the work of redemption.

2. We see that sinners cannot rob God of His glory. Sinner, don’t think that the Atonement will be lost to the universe just because you reject it. It may be worse than lost to you. But to God and to the universe, it will never be lost. Christ did not shed one drop of His blood in vain. And whether you accept the Atonement or not, God’s government will receive the full benefit of Christ’s Atonement.

3. We see the error of those who believe in a limited Atonement, and claim, as their main argument, that if Christ died for all men, He died in vain for those who are finally lost, and that, for sinners, such a provision was vain and useless. Now, they base this conclusion on the belief that the public display of God in the Atonement has no bearing on God’s character and government in any other world than this. In fact, they base it on such a narrow view of the moral bearings of the Atonement, that they don’t even see, that in the estimation of those who are saved, a real provision for those who reject the Atonement would be infinitely honorable to God.

4. From this subject we see that we must not estimate the value of the Atonement by the number of people saved. If not one sinner was saved, if all mankind persisted in rejecting it, the public demonstration of that love which is made in the Atonement, would be infinitely important to the universe, in confirming holy beings, and strengthening the power of God’s government.

5. We see that we should not determine the usefulness of ministers to God’s government by the number of persons saved under their ministry. Look at today’s passage, “for” says the Apostle, “we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. To the one we are the aroma of death to death, and to the other the aroma of life to life.”

When ministers fully and properly present Christ, God is just as honored when men reject and are damned, as when they believe and are saved. Godly ministers are useful to the universe in proportion to their faithfulness. Their usefulness concerns God and His government. To the sinner these ministers may be “an aroma of death unto death”. But to God they are the sweet fragrance of Christ not only in those who are saved, but also in those who perish. They present the love of God in Christ. God is glorified in this, and Christ is preached. In this, the ministers “do rejoice and will rejoice”, (Phil 1:18) and all holy beings will also rejoice, sinner, whether you are saved or lost.

6. The opposition excited by preaching Christ will glorify God just as much as the holiness produced by it. I am not talking about the degree in which one or the other will glorify God. But God will be glorified in both. If the preaching of Christ produces holiness, God will be glorified by it. If sinners rise up and oppose the gospel, it will only further illustrate the nature of sin, the character of sinners, and more impressively illustrate His justice in their damnation.

7. Neither God nor ministers aim at the damnation of sinners nor rejoice in their destruction, when God must send them to hell. But, they do rejoice in the triumph of justice, in that infinitely glorious public display of God’s character, which is revealed in their destruction.

8. The more earnestly God and ministers desire and labor for the salvation of sinners, the more their final damnation will glorify God if they are lost. If God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, if ministers and Christians all labor earnestly and honestly with all longsuffering for the salvation of sinners, and they refuse to be saved; then sinner, remember when you go weeping and wailing along down the sides of the pit, that the more God and His people tried to save you, the more glorious will God’s justice be.

9. To promote the salvation of men and to honor God in their damnation, ministers must have strong and clear sympathy with God. The more strongly they sympathize with God the more fully they will exhibit His great desire to save men. And the more fully they exhibit God the more thoroughly they strip the sinner of every excuse and show that his damnation is urgently demanded by the principles of eternal righteousness.

10. The more ministers preach and demonstrate the whole gospel the more they glorify God. If they pour out before the sinner the whole heart of Christ, if they exhibit Christ in all His love, relations and offices, if they unveil the fullness of His compassion and grace, they are removing the sinner infinitely far from every excuse, and making his damnation at every step, a more illustrious and impressive public demonstration of the holiness of God.

11. Although you do not want it, you should expect opposition when you preach Christ. Although the damnation of the sinner will glorify God, his salvation is always preferred, since his salvation would glorify God, as much if not more than his damnation. His salvation is also a real good in itself, and a good that God and all holy beings greatly desire.

12. Fellow ministers, if sinners oppose, don’t be discouraged by it and feel as if you are wasting their time. My brother, if you are really preaching Christ, and demonstrating Him in your pulpit, in your life, and in all your ways, you are certainly doing good. In fact, you are doing a great good to the universe, and you are greatly glorifying God. If every sinner in your congregation goes down to hell, don’t be discouraged, my brother. “Hold up the hands that hang down, and strengthen the feeble knees.” (Hebrews 12:12) But do you say, “My compassions are moved for them, I cannot bear to be to them a savor of death unto death? How shall I meet them in the Judgment and see them sent to hell; my neighbors, the people of my prayers and my tears, the souls for whom my heart has groaned, and agonized, and bled?” My brother, God pities them more than you do. Christ’s heart has bled for them more than yours has. They are the people for whom He has not only prayed and wept, but for whom He has actually died. Oh, He will meet them in the Judgment, and weep over them as He wept over Jerusalem, and said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing! If you had known, even you, especially in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.” (Matt 23:37, Luke 19:42) Or, as He said, “How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I make you like Admah? How can I set you like Zeboiim? My heart churns within Me; My sympathy is stirred.” (Hosea 11:8) Oh my brother, lift up your thoughts to the compassionate but infinite holiness and firmness of Christ. He knew how these sinners would treat His Atonement. In spite of this, He was willing to die for them. He knew that He would be to them a savor of death unto death; yet, He knew that He would greatly glorify God by dying for them and offering them mercy.

Now my brother, be willing to exhibit in your body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Be willing to demonstrate in your self-denying labors and sufferings for their salvation, the sufferings of Christ that remain, that through you, God may be glorified! “For we are to God the fragrance of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15)

13. Here, we have the true ground of consolation, when we see men harden under our ministry. If, in revivals of religion, we estimate the good that we do only by the number of conversions, we overlook one important item: the amount of glory that will return back to God. The truth is, that in revivals of religion, ministers are not only a sweet savor of Christ in them that are converted, but also in them that are hardened. To the one group they are a savor of life unto life, and to the other group, they are a savor of death unto death. In both situations, God is greatly glorified.

14. Everyone can know, and must know what effect the gospel produces on himself, and whether it is to him the “savor of life unto life or of death unto death”.

15. We should observe what effect the gospel has on our families, and carefully observe its influence on the minds of all around us, and pour ourselves out with all our might, to make it the savor of life unto life. But, if through the perverseness of the sinner’s heart, he will make it the savor of death unto death, let us rejoice not in his hardness nor in his destruction, but in the fact that the holiness and justice of God will be gloriously demonstrated in his damnation.

16. Sinner, where do you stand? Did you ever realize the serious circumstances and responsibility that God has placed you in today? Do you know what you are doing? Do you understand the relationship that the gospel ministry has in your life? Don’t you tremble when you see your minister, and know that God has unalterably ordained that he shall be unto you the “savor of life unto life, or of death unto death”? Do you know that he is the messenger of God to your poor soul? That you can no more prevent his being to you a savor of life or death, than you can prevent your own existence. Sinner, Christ has not died in vain. Ministers do not preach in vain. Christians do not pray in vain. The Holy Spirit does not strive in vain. Heaven from above does not call in vain. Hell from beneath does not warn in vain. God’s mercies are not in vain. All these influences are acting on you. They will act; they must act. They must be to you the “savor of life unto life or of death unto death”. How infinitely solemn and awful are your circumstances. How dreadful is your responsibility! How short is your life! How near you are to your death! Are you prepared for the solemn judgment? Are you prepared to stand before your Creator in judgment? Sinner will you drop down instantly on your knees, and offer up your whole being to God, “before wrath comes on you to the uttermost”? (1 Thess 2:16)