Who Will Dare to Follow Christ?

The religion of Jesus Christ never was, nor ever can be, the religion of this present evil world. He has chosen a people out of the world who believe it, but the world itself has always hated it. Did not our Lord tell us (John 14:17), concerning the Spirit of truth, that the world cannot receive him, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him?

Whenever you find a religion which unites itself with pomp and show and worldly power, if there be any truth in it at all, it has, at any rate, deteriorated from the standard of its purity, and is not according to the mind of Christ. But there are some who are so fond of everything that is fashionable - everything that is great and famous - that, if the Lord Jesus Christ be despised and rejected of men, they despise and reject him too. Ah, but I hope that I address some to whom the Lord has given a nobler spirit. Some men and women I hope are here to-night who will never reject the truth because it is unfashionable, or refuse to follow Christ because he is despised. No, but the noble spirit says, “Is it right? Then I will espouse it. Is it true? Then I will believe it in the name of God. Though it may mean poverty and shame, yet that is the side on which I will enlist.”

There is a lordlier chivalry than all the chivalry of war: it is the chivalry of the heart that dares be nailed to the cross with Christ sooner than turn aside to seek flowery pathways and follow the trail of the serpent. Yet many do reject Christ because of the humbleness of his exterior. Who is on the Lord’s side, and will dare avow it before a scoffing world?

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Offended With Christ." Image by seyed mostafa zamani on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

When the Children of God Mix with the World

The chosen family was intended by the divine purpose to dwell alone and maintain a peculiar walk of separation. The seed of Abraham was ordained to be in the highest sense a Nonconformist tribe, a race of separatists. Their God meant them to be a distinct people, entirely severed from all the nation among whom they dwelt; and so they must be, but the inclination to be like their neighbors was very manifest in Jacob’s family....

Children of God cannot mix with the world without mischief. The world does hurt to us and we to it when once we begin to be of the world and like it. It is an ill-assorted match. Fire and water were never meant to be blended. The seed of the woman must not mix with the seed of the serpent. It was when the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair, and took of them as they pleased, that the deluge came and swept away the population of the earth. Abundant evil comes of joining together what God has put asunder.

From a sermon by Charles Haddon Spurgeon entitled "Family Reformation." Image by Jöshua Barnett on Flickr under Creative Commons License.

If you belonged...

The Christian’s life is a matchless riddle. No worldling can comprehend it; even the believer himself cannot understand it. He knows it, but as to solving all its enigmas, he feels that to be an impossible task. Dead, yet alive; crucified with Christ, and yet at the same time risen with Christ in newness of life! Do not expect the world to understand you, Christian, it did not understand your Master. When your actions are misrepresented, and your motives are ridiculed, do not be surprised. “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.” If you belonged to the village the dogs would not bark at you.

From a sermon entitled "Christus Et Ego," delivered November 17, 1867. Image by Marilyn Peddle under Creative Commons License.

Bearing His Reproach

You have heard how He was reproached for you: are you unwilling to be reproached for Him! You have heard how He went without the camp in that shameful manner: are you unwilling to go without the camp for Him? Too many Christians try to be Christians in the camp, and it cannot be done. “Be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your minds.”

There is so much of worldly conformity among us; but the promise is not to worldly-minded Christians, but “Come ye out from among them; be ye separate; touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you.” How much we lose by affinities with the world! How much of distance there is between us and God, because of the nearness there is between us and the world! Come out, ye lovers of the Savior, and tread the separated way which your Savior trod before you!

From a sermon entitled "The Sin Offering," delivered March 10, 1867. Image by Tela Chhe under Creative Commons License.

Outside the camp

There have been times, and the days may come again, when faithfulness to Christ has entailed exclusion from what is called “society.” Even now to a large extent the true Christian is like a Pariah, lower than the lowest caste, in the judgment of some. The world has in former days counted it God’s service to kill the saints. We are to reckon upon all this, and should the worst befall us, it is to be no strange thing to us. These are silken days, and religion fights not so stern a battle. I will not say it is because we are unfaithful to our Master that the world is more kind to us, but I half suspect it is, and it is very possible that if we were more thoroughly Christians the world would more heartily detest us, and if we would cleave more closely to Christ we might expect to receive more slander, more abuse, less tolerance, and less favor from men. You young believers, who have lately followed Christ, should father and mother forsake you, remember you were bidden to reckon upon it; should brothers and sisters deride, you must put this down as part of the cost of being a Christian. Godly workingmen, should your employers or your fellowworkers frown upon you; wives, should your husbands threaten to cast you out, remember, without the camp was Jesus’ place, and without the camp is yours.

Oh! ye Christian men, who dream of trimming your sails to the wind, who seek to win the world’s favor, I do beseech you cease from a course so perilous. We are in the world, but we must never be of it; we are not to be secluded like monks in the cloister, but we are to be separated like Jews among Gentiles; men, but not of men; helping, aiding, befriending, teaching, comforting, instructing, but not sinning either to escape a frown or to win a smile. The more manifestly there shall be a great gulf between the Church and the world, the better shall it be for both; the better for the world, for it shall be thereby warned; the better for the Church, for it shall be thereby preserved. Go ye, then, like the Master, expecting to be abused, to wear an ill-name, and to earn reproach; go ye, like him, without the camp.

From a sermon entitled "The Procession Of Sorrow," delivered March 1, 1863. Flickr photo by James Jordan; some rights reserved.

We need God's wisdom in a world such as this

A man must be prudent in such a world as this. He will soon cut his feet if he do not pick his steps. He will soon tear his garments with thorns and briars if he do not choose his way. This is a land full of enemies; we must be wise, or the arrow will suddenly find out a vulnerable place in our armor. We must be cautious, for we are not travelling in noon-day on the king’s highway, but rather at night-fall, and we may, therefore, be attacked by robbers, and may lose our precious treasures. He who is in a wilderness, and in a wilderness infested with robber bands, must handle matters wisely
if he would find good.

From a sermon entitled "Trust In God - True Wisdom," delivered May 12, 1861. Flickr photo by Angela Sevin; some rights reserved.