But whoever denies Me before men will be denied before the angels of God. Sermons
I. THAT CHRISTIANITY CENTRES IN THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. Our Lord taught us much concerning ourselves - the inestimable value of our spiritual nature; the real source and spring of evil in our own souls; the true excellency of a human life; whom we should regard as our neighbor, etc. But he taught us still more of himself - of his relations with the Divine Father; of his essential superiority even to the greatest among mankind; of his sorrow and his death on behalf of the human race; of his mission to enlighten, to redeem, to satisfy the souls of men. And he not only affirmed, but frequently and emphatically urged, the doctrine that, if we would enter into life, we must come into the very closest personal relation with himself - trusting in him, loving him, abiding in him, following him, making him Refuge of the heart, Sovereign of the soul, Lord of the life. Not his truth, but himself, is the Source of our strength and our hope. II. THAT JESUS CHRIST DEMANDS AN OPEN CONFESSION OF OUR FAITH IN HIM. More than once (see Mark 8:38) he insisted upon a clear recognition of his authority and regal position. He will have us "confess him before men." How shall we do that? 1. In a heathen country, by avowing the Christian faith, renouncing Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, etc., and declaring before all that Jesus Christ is the one Teacher of truth and Lord of man. 2. In a Christian country, by making it clear that we have accepted him as the Lord whom we are living to serve. We shall probably think it right to do this by attaching ourselves to some particular Christian community; also by regular, public worship of Christ; but certainly, in all cases, (1) by paying honor to his Name; (2) by upholding against his enemies the truth and worth of his religion; (3) by translating his will into active human life in all its departments - domestic, social, commercial, political, ecclesiastical. III. THAT COMPLIANCE WITH HIS DEMAND WILL SOON PROVE TO BE AN ACT OF THE FIRST IMPORTANCE. The day draws on when we shall meet our Master: then will he tell us what he thinks of us. Then, if we have failed to honor him, he will refuse to honor us "before the angels of God." What is involved in that denial? The worst of all exclusions - exclusion from the favor, from the home, of God. And then, if we have honored him, he will acknowledge us as his own. And what will that include? 1. Acceptance with the Judge of all. 2. The expression of his Divine approval - the "well done" of the Lord. 3. Admission to the heavenly kingdom, with all its advancing glory, its deepening joy, its extending influence, its enlarging life. - C.
He that denieth Me before men. I. HOW MANY WAYS CHRIST AND HIS TRUTHS MAY BE DENIED; AND WHAT IS THE DENIAL HERE CHIEFLY INTENDED. Here, first, in general I assert that we may deny Him in all those acts that are capable of being morally good or evil; those are the proper scene in which we act our confessions or denials of Him. Accordingly, therefore, all ways of denying Christ I shall comprise under these three.1. We may deny Him and His truths by an erroneous, heretical judgment. 2. We may deny Christ verbally and by oral expressions. Now our words are the interpreters of our hearts, the transcripts of the judgment, with some farther addition of good or evil. He that interprets, usually enlarges. 3. We may deny Christ in our actions and practice; and these speak much louder than our tongues. To have an orthodox belief and a true profession, concurring with a bad life, is only to deny Christ with a greater solemnity. Belief and profession will speak thee a Christian but very faintly, when thy conversation proclaims thee an infidel. Many, while they have preached Christ in their sermons, have read a lecture of atheism in their practice. As for the manner of our denying the deity of Christ here prohibited, I conceive it was by words and oral expressions verbally to deny and disacknowledge it. This I ground upon these reasons — 1. Because it was such a denial as was " before men," and therefore consisted in open profession; for a denial in judgment and practice, as such, is not always before men. 2. Because it was such a denial or confession of Him as would appear in preaching; but this is managed in words and verbal profession. But now, if we take the words as they are, a general precept equally relating to all times and to all persons, though delivered only upon a particular occasion to the apostles (as I suppose they are to be understood), so I think they comprehend all the three ways mentioned of confessing or denying Christ, but principally in respect of practice, and that —(1) Because by this He is most honoured or dishonoured.(2) Because without this the other two cannot save.(3) Because those who are ready enough to confess Him both in judgment and profession are for the most part very prone to deny Him shamefully in their doings. Pass we now to a second thing, viz., to show — II. WHAT ARE THE CAUSES INDUCING MEN TO DENY CHRIST IN HIS TRUTHS. I shall propose three. 1. The seeming supposed absurdity of many truths. Upon this heresy always builds. The seeming paradoxes attending gospel truths cause men of weak, prejudiced intellectuals to deny them, and in them, Christ; being ashamed to own faith so much, as they think, to the disparagement of their reason. 2. The second thing causing men to deny the truths of Christ is their unprofitableness. And no wonder if here men forsake the truth and assert interest. To be pious is the way to be poor. Truth still gives its followers its own badge and livery, a despised nakedness. 3. Their apparent danger. To be resolute in a good cause is to bring upon ourselves the punishments due to a bad. III. We proceed now to the third thing, which is to show HOW FAR A MAN MAY CONSULT HIS SAFETY IN TIME OF PERSECUTION WITHOUT DENYING CHRIST. This he may do two ways. 1. By withdrawing his person. Martyrdom is an heroic act of faith; an achievement beyond an ordinary pitch of it; "to you," says the Spirit, "it is given to suffer" (Philippians 1:29). It is a peculiar additional "gift;" it is a distinguishing excellency of degree, not an essential consequent of its nature. "Be ye harmless as doves, says Christ; and it is as natural to them to take flight upon danger, as to be innocent. Let every man thoroughly consult the temper of his faith, and weigh his courage with his fears, his weakness, and his resolutions together, and take the measure of both, and see which preponderates; and, if his spirit faints, if his heart misgives and melts at the very thoughts of the fire, let him fly, and secure his own soul, and Christ's honour. 2. By concealing his judgment. A man sometimes is no more bound to speak than to destroy himself; and as nature abhors this, so religion does not command that. In the times of the primitive Church, when the Christians dwelt amongst heathens, it is reported of a certain maid, how she came from her father's house to one of the tribunals of the Gentiles, and declared herself a Christian, spit in the judge's face, and so provoked him to cause her to be executed. But will any say that this was to confess Christ or die a martyr? He that, uncalled for, uncompelled, comes and proclaims a persecuted truth for which he is surely to die, only dies a confessor to his own folly, and a sacrifice to his own rashness. Martyrdom is stamped such only by God's command; and he that ventures upon it without a call must endure it without a reward. Christ will say, "Who required this at your hands?" His gospel does not dictate imprudence; no evangelical precept justles out that of a lawful self-preservation. He, therefore, that thus throws himself upon the sword, runs to heaven before he is sent for; where, though perhaps Christ may in mercy receive the man, yet He will be sure to disown the martyr. IV. Having thus despatched the third thing, I proceed to show WHAT IT IS FOR CHRIST TO DENY US BEFORE HIS FATHER IN HEAVEN. Hitherto we have treated of men's carriage to Christ in this world; now we will describe His carriage to them in the other. These words clearly relate to the last judgment: and they are a summary description of His proceeding with men at that day. And here we will consider — 1. The action itself — "He will deny them." 2. The circumstance of the action — "He will deny them before His Father and the holy angels." (R. South, D. D.) 1. We deny Christ when we advocate opinions which tend to lessen the authority of His religious teachings.2. It is denying Christ to represent Him as a mere man. He Himself said, "I and My Father are one. He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father." And He commended Thomas for addressing Him as " my Lord and my God." How can any one affirm that He was only a man without the guilt of denying Him? 3. We may often deny Christ by silence. No doubt some well-meaning people at times do harm by introducing religion into conversation under unsuitable circumstances, or by harsh polemical replies to what some unbeliever has said. But most of us are in far greater danger of a culpable silence when Christ's truth ought to be vindicated, and Christ's own claim to reverence and trust ought to be earnestly and lovingly declared. 4. We may deny Christ by appearing at places and engaging in pursuits which irreligious people themselves recognize as unsuitable for an earnest Christian. 5. We deny Christ by neglecting efforts to spread the saving knowledge of Him at home and abroad. The Confederate general, Albert Sidney Johnston, in the last letter he wrote before he fell at Shiloh, said, "The popular test of a military man's merit is success. It is a hard test, but it is the true one." We do not believe that success is always the true test of merit, but beyond question it is the popular test. Now, many irreligious people consider that Christianity is upon the whole a comparative failure. Large portions of the world it has never even nominally conquered. Some countries in which it once existed, including the Holy Land, have long been Mohammedan. And in the countries called Christian, a large proportion of the people are not really the subjects of Christ's spiritual reign, The hasty observer is wrong in concluding that Christ's work in the world is a failure; but must we not feel grief and shame at the thought that he has right plausible ground for such a conclusion? Just in proportion as we fail of any effort to spread Christ's spiritual reign, we give men an excuse for rejecting His authority and neglecting His salvation. And thus to act is in a distressing manner to deny Christ. 6. In fact, a Christian is always and everywhere either confessing Christ or denying Him. Every wrong act performed, every duty disregarded or imperfectly discharged, every indication of a character not conformed to His will and likened to His image, is, by the very necessity of the case, a denial of our Lord and Saviour. (J. A. Broadus, D. D.) Note here —1. That not to confess Christ is, in His account, to deny Him and to be ashamed of Him. 2. That whosoever shall deny or be ashamed of Christ, either in His person, in His gospel, or in His members, for any fear or favour of man, shall with shame be disowned and eternally rejected by Him at the dreadful judgment of the great day. Christ may be denied three ways — doctrinally, by an erroneous and heretical judgment; verbally, by oral expressions; vitally, by a wicked and unholy life — but woe to the soul that denies Christ any of these ways. (W. Burkitt.) In the seventeenth century, David Straiton, a Scotchman, was one day in a solitary place Where the New Testament was being read. When the words of this verse sounded in his ears, he threw himself on his knees and said, "For Thy mercy's sake, Lord, let me never deny Thee or Thy truth for fear of death or corporeal pains." At his trial he firmly defended the truth, and not only died for it himself, but greatly cheered his fellow-martyr, Norman Gourlay.What would the Queen think of her soldiers, if they should swear they were loyal and true, and were to say, "Your Majesty, we prefer not to wear these regimentals, let us wear the dress of civilians! We are right honest men and upright, but do not care to stand in your ranks, acknowledged as your soldiers; we had rather slink into the enemy's camp, and into your camps too, and not wear anything that would mark us as being your soldiers." Ah! some of you do the same with Christ. You are going to be secret Christians, are you, and slink into the devil's camp and into Christ's camp, but acknowledged by none?(C. H. Spurgeon.) People Jesus, Peter, SolomonPlaces Road to JerusalemTopics Angels, Anyone, Denied, Denies, Denieth, Disowned, Disowns, Messengers, Presence, SaysOutline 1. Jesus preaches to his apostles to avoid hypocrisy13. and warns against covetousness, by the parable of the man who set up greater barns. 22. We must not worry about earthly things, 31. but seek the kingdom of God; 33. give alms; 35. be ready at a knock to open to our Lord whensoever he comes. 41. Jesus' disciples are to see to their charges, 49. and look for persecution. 54. The people must take this time of grace; 57. because it is a fearful thing to die without reconciliation. Dictionary of Bible Themes Luke 12:9 6232 rejection of God, results 2309 Christ, as judge Library October 23 MorningA man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.--LUKE 12:15. A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked.--Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.--Godliness with contentment is great gain. Having food and raiment let us be therewith content. Give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: lest I be full, and deny thee, and say, Who is the Lord? or lest I be poor, … Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path March 29 Morning March 26 Morning May 14. "But God" (Luke xii. 20). Stillness in Storm The Servant-Lord Fire on Earth The Rich Fool Anxious About Earth, or Earnest About the Kingdom The Equipment of the Servants Servants and Stewards Here and Hereafter October the Nineteenth Ready! True Harvest Joy. On the Words of the Gospel, Luke xii. 15, "And He Said unto Them, Take Heed, and Keep Yourselves from all Covetousness. " On the Words of the Gospel, Luke xii. 35, "Let Your Loins be Girded About, and Your Lamps Burning; and be Ye Yourselves Like," Etc. And On the Words of the Gospel, Luke xii. 56, 58, "Ye Know How to Interpret the Face of the Earth and the Heaven," Etc. ; and Of On Worldly Folly On Divine Providence The Use of Fear in Religion. Darkness Before the Dawn Hypocrisy Our Requests Made Known unto God Lii. Concerning Hypocrisy, Worldly Anxiety, Watchfulness, and his Approaching Passion. Christianity Misunderstood by Men of Science. 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