AT THE TABERNACLE,
MOORFIELDS
After the Admission of a number of new Members
to the fellowship of the Church
Modernized by Cliff Collins
Everyone is or should be interested in the following points.
I.
WHAT IS IMPLIED IN MAKING A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION?
II.
WHAT ARE THE REASONS FOR MAKING SUCH A PROFESSION?
III.
WHAT ARE THE REASONS ASSIGNED BY THOSE WHO NEGLECT TO MAKE SUCH A PROFESSION,
AS A JUSTIFICATION OF THEIR CONDUCT?
IV.
WHAT IS IMPLIED IN NOT MAKING A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION?
Everyone
is interested in discussing these questions, whether they feel like it or
not. Everyone really has a deep
interest in understanding these particular points. I will not use any passage from Scripture tonight, and will be
compelled, for lack of time, to be as brief as I possibly can. Therefore, I can’t go into detail on these
points. The field suggested by each
point is vast , and each of these topics could easily fill an entire
evening. And so, we must briefly ask:
I.
WHAT IS IMPLIED IN MAKING A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION?
First:
it is publicly admitting a hearty confidence in 1) the facts revealed in the
gospel, and 2) in Jesus Christ, together with all the things that are said
about Him in the Bible. This is implied
in making a public profession of religion: it is publicly admitting your faith
in Jesus, and a sincere and hearty belief of the facts and principles of the
gospel.
It
is also publicly surrendering to Christ, or submitting to Him. It is publicly admitting your submission and
consecration to Christ in His relationship with mankind. It is, I say, a public act of submission,
and a surrendering of everything up to Him as the only Savior of the world.
This
profession is a public admission of sympathy with Him in the great work that He
is engaged in, the work of bringing about the salvation of men.
It
implies publicly renouncing self and the spirit of self-seeking. It is publicly professing our self-denial in
this sense: that we no longer live for ourselves. It is therefore professing our universal devotion to God.
This
profession also implies dependence on Him in all the relations in which He is
exhibited. It also implies confessing
that we can’t be saved by our own righteousness, not that we can’t even begin
to be saved by our own righteousness.
It is publicly admitting that it is impossible to be saved by the law,
and therefore it is a public declaration of the fact that Christ is the only
possible way a man can be saved. All
profession then is designed to be a public admission of confidence in the
truths of the gospel, of submission to Christ, and of dependence on His
authority.
It
is publicly renouncing of the spirit of the world; for a man can’t be in love
with the world and be in love with Christ at the same time. It is an oath of allegiance to Christ. It is a publicly proclaiming that He is your
God and Savior.
This
profession declares that you are a representative of Christ. By the very act of making a public
profession of religion you profess that you have received the Spirit of Christ,
and therefore, you intend to exhibit it to the world. By professing religion you virtually say to the world, “I will
give you an illustration, in my life, temper, spirit, and actions, of what
Christianity is”. Nothing less than
this is implied in making a public profession of the Christian religion. There are many other things that I could mention,
which are implied in a public profession, but I don’t have time. We shall therefore proceed to look at:
II.
SOME OF THE REASONS WHY PEOPLE SHOULD MAKE SUCH A PROFESSION.
First:
Simple honesty! The fact is, to not do
so is to be guilty of the worst wrong to God and Christ, to your own soul and
to the world at large. The facts of the
gospel should be admitted, because they can’t reasonably be denied; to
acknowledge them is simply an act of honesty.
Men are not their own, they have been bought with a price, and therefore
it is only honest that they should publicly acknowledge this. In short, everyone can see that the facts
about Christ, His nature, His relations, His atonement, makes it a simple
matter of honesty, that every man to whom the gospel is preached, should
immediately acknowledge that these things are true, and acknowledge his
confidence in them, his sympathy with them, his dependence on them, and his
submission to them. It is easy to see
that this is a mere act of simple honesty, and that no individual has a right
to call himself an honest man who does not openly and publicly acknowledge
these facts that are as true as heaven itself is true.
A
public profession of Christianity is essential for self-respect. No person who understands the Christian
religion, and does not publicly profess it, can respect himself; he has not,
and cannot have any solid self-respect.
He is, and must be ashamed of himself.
In fact, a gentleman of this city told me this fact about himself only
today; that before he became a Christian, the minister, whose preaching he
listened to, used to deliver an annual sermon, in which he brought out the
facts concerning the attendance of the members of his congregation at the
communion table. He announced how many
had celebrated the ordinance once, how many twice, or three or four or how many
times. Many of them did not attend at
all. Once these facts were brought out,
the gentlemen said, “why, our minister took notice of those people who did not
partake of communion, and I became so ashamed of myself, since I frequently
stayed away altogether. I felt
thoroughly ashamed of myself, that I could go to a Christian church, hear the
word of God, mingle with the congregation, and with God’s people, and yet,
after all of this, never publicly confessed my attachment to Christ, never
confessed my belief in the table, and in the gospel.” Now under these circumstances, a moral agent does not, and cannot
sincerely respect himself if he knows that he is dishonest; that he sustains
such an infinitely important relationship with God, and yet refuses to acknowledge
that relationship; such a man, I say, cannot respect himself. He has no solid self-respect whatever. He knows that he is dishonest to God,
ungrateful to the Savior, and foolish to himself. I say, therefore, that all people to whom the gospel is preached
should understand this, that a public profession of the gospel is essential to
true self-respect. Furthermore, it is
also essential to true peace of mind, because if a man does not make this
public profession of what he knows to be the truth, he does not comply with the
fundamental law of his own conscience, and his own being.
Such
a profession is, from every point of view, because of Christ. Everyone, who knows that Christ “tasted
death for every man”, is bound to acknowledge it. Christ will become the advocate of everyone who submits his cause
to Him, and he is therefore bound to acknowledge his obligation to Christ. A great many sinners seem to forget that
they receive their daily bread from heaven in consideration of what Christ has
done for them. Everything they have in
this world, every drop of water with which they cool their tongue, is granted
because Christ has appeared on their behalf, and given Himself to die for the
world. God would no more give the
blessings that He does give to the wicked, than He would give to devils, if
Christ had not undertaken His mediatorial work. Everyone, then, who simply regards the fact that he is out of
hell, whether saint or sinner, is bound to acknowledge his obligation to
Christ, publicly before all men.
A
circumstance, which has just come to my mind, will illustrate this. I think I mentioned this before in this
building, but that doesn’t matter. A
man lived many years, in fact his entire life, under the sound of the gospel,
and had made a profession of religion, but he was not satisfied that he had
ever given his heart to Christ, although he knew the truth. He had a dream one night, in which it seemed
to him that he and his brother were journeying to a certain place, when a messenger
from heaven met them and said, “as you travel along you will come to a place
where the roads branch off, one to the right, and the other to the left, and at
that spot you must separate. You will
be told which road you must each take. The one that takes the road on the right will go to heaven, while
he who takes the road on the left must go to hell!” Well, they continued on their journey, and his mind was greatly
agitated, until they came to the roads that the heavenly messenger had told him
about. Then it was announced that he
was to take the left road. Filled with
the greatest consternation, he turned around to take the path he was told to
take, and as he was about to part from his brother, he said to him, “well, farewell
brother, you are going to heaven, you have been a very good man, but I am going
to hell! I will not see you anymore,
but I want you to tell the Lord Jesus Christ that I am greatly obliged to Him
for all the favors I have received at His hands, for all the good He has done
for me, and for all the good He would have done if I had been willing. I have no fault to find, and no excuses
make, but since I will never reach heaven to see the Lord Jesus, I want you to
carry this message to Him, that I am greatly obliged for all that He has done
for me, and even for what He now appoints.
I have nothing to accuse Him of although I have failed of heaven, for it
is my own fault.” With this he burst
out into loud weeping, woke up, and there stood before him, in a manner most clear
and bright, his own true relationship to Christ. The dream seemed to prepare his mind, and probably the Holy
Spirit was involved in it, for a full reception of the truth. And it so broke his heart all to pieces,
that he immediately surrendered himself to Christ. Now, observe! He
recognized the fact, although he was going to hell as he supposed, that because
he had received so many favors from God because of Christ, he therefore owed a
deep debt of gratitude and obligation to Him.
That is why he told his brother to thank the Lord, for those favors he received
from Him. Now I suppose many of you
have not even done as much as that! Did
you ever send such a message to Christ, or tell Him yourself that you thanked
Him for all His favors?
It
is right and reasonable, that you should publicly acknowledge Christ, and thus
show that you regard yourself as being under very great and lasting obligations
to Him.
You
owe it to yourselves to make this acknowledgement. You owe it to those who are related to you, and over whom you may
exert any influence. You cannot live
without exerting some influence.
Therefore it is your duty to those who are likely to be influenced by
you, that you should publicly profess Christ, proclaim your loyalty to His
cause, and thus give them the full benefit of your example. Their interests demand this, and you are
under an obligation to give it. Think,
if you are parents, what an influence you have on your children; and almost
everything will depend on the example that you set before them.
You
owe it to the church of God. The church
has been praying for you, and, no doubt, you are indebted to them for the
blessings of life. If you read your
Bible, you will find that the prayers that God’s people introduced, are
continually mentioned as the reasons and conditions why God spares sinners. It is to the church that they owe the means
of grace, and a great many of the blessings that they enjoy. Therefore, they owe it to the church to make
a public profession of religion.
You
owe it to the world at large, because the world is infinitely interested in
this matter, not to take the wrong side.
Therefore, you have a right to claim the whole benefit of all that you
might do to save the world if you did your duty.
Christ
expressly encourages everyone to publicly acknowledge Him. The gospel clearly commands men to profess
the name of Christ before the universe.
This is one of the clearest commands in the Bible. Another reason why people should publicly
commit themselves to Christ is that it is useful to them. It is shutting the door of their heart
against sin. Who does not see how
important this is that the mind should, as much as possible, be closed to sin
and temptation? A public profession
helps protect the man who makes it. It
fortifies his mind against those influences that might lead it away. The standing illustration of this principle
in the Bible is the institution of marriage.
There are many reasons why it is extremely important that those two
parties, who want to live together, should publicly commit themselves to each
other. They would otherwise be much
more exposed to temptation; and it is very important to the parties
themselves. What a safeguard it is for
the wife that she can stand forth as a married woman, against being approached
by other men, and the same is true with the husband. The same is true with those who publicly commit themselves to
Christ. It is proclaiming to the world
that they no longer expect the world’s sympathy: They are now committed to Christ, and the door is closed against
the world and sin.
The
public profession of any individual presents an inducement for Christ to watch
over him, and by God’s grace, to secure his perseverance in a holy life. For example, if you think that you are a
Christian, and yet you make no public profession of Christ, what honor do you
bring to Christ, and what inducement is there for Christ to watch over
you? People see that you live a
consistent life, and since you make no profession of Christ, all the credit for
your conduct is ascribed to nature, and not to grace. The world will give all the credit to you, and not to Christ, to
whom you really belong. Now what does
Christ have to do with you? Here you
are, deeply indebted to Christ for everything good that you possess, but you
never publicly acknowledge it. Thus,
you don’t honor Christ. Why then,
should Christ continue to watch over you?
Why should your candle remain lighted, if it is always kept under a
bushel? I say then, that when a man
makes a public profession of Christ, and thus acknowledges his dependence on
God, he presents an inducement for Christ to continue to give him grace. The Psalmist frequently mentions the fact
that he had not kept his righteousness within his own heart; he had not
concealed it from the great congregation.
And there is something reasonable as well as scriptural in this. When a man fully commits himself to Christ,
he engages and ensures the protection of an Almighty arm; he throws himself on
the grace of Christ.
Look
at Peter in the boat. When Christ came
walking on the water, Peter said, “if it is You, ask me come to You on the
water”; and as soon as the Lord said come, Peter did not hesitate, but he
simply threw himself on the protection of Christ. (see Matthew 14:26-32) Did
He let Peter sink? Oh no, Christ did
not let him sink when he had fully committed himself. So when an individual, from right motives, announces his
attachment to Christ, he can depend on being preserved: Christ will never forsake
him. Let him do this with all humility,
and what an argument it would put into his mouth! “Oh Lord Jesus, didn’t I commit myself to serve you, and illustrate
Your religion before the world. Didn’t
I depend on You for grace, and now shall the light that is in me become darkness. Shall your grace be withheld, so that I can
crucify You afresh, and put You to an open shame? No, indeed! This shall never happen!” Wouldn’t that be an argument that would
likely prevail with Christ? Yes! And it will have power with Him if it is made
in good faith.
Another
reason why we should make a public profession of religion is, that we need to
be in the river where His covenant blessings flow to His people. If we want these blessings we must comply
with God’s order.
Making
a public profession of religion gives those who do it a special interest in the
sympathies and cares of the whole church militant. It is not true that people who belong to different denominations
make up so many different churches. The
fact is, they are all branches of the one church of God if they are true
Christians. They may differ in certain
forms, and minor things, but they are, in heart, essentially one. Every genuine disciple of Christ then, who
confesses his attachment to Christ, sustains an intimate relationship to the
entire church militant, and the church triumphant too, for they are both
one. The head of the church is in
heaven, as well as those who have gone on before us; while those who yet remain
below completely sympathize with those who are made perfect in heaven. Every visible member of Christ, then, brings
himself by his public profession, under the watchful cares, the sympathy, and
the prayers of the entire church of God.
And is this a small thing?
Please understand, I am not speaking of those who just hang onto the
church, and there has always been plenty of these in every age, but I speak of
the true church in whatever denomination it is found.
Another
reason for making a public profession is, that when individuals come out and
are entirely honest with themselves and with God, they then can respect
themselves, for they have peace with God.
They then have fellowship with the Father and with the Son, and they are
not the individuals to shrink away from public responsibility. But I can’t dwell any longer on this part of
the subject. Let us now consider in a
few words:
III.
SOME OF THE REASONS THAT ARE GIVEN, PUBLICLY OR PRIVATELY, FOR NEGLECTING THIS
DUTY.
One
person says, “I am not a Christian”.
Well, is that a good excuse for not doing what you are supposed to
do? You are only assigning one sin as
an excuse for another. Why aren’t you a
Christian? Suppose a man should attempt
to justify himself for having committed some horrible crime by pleading that he
was very wicked and loved sin. That, certainly,
would not be regarded as a good excuse!
No! No! It will never do to plead that you are not a
Christian, expecting that such a plea will excuse you, for it only aggravates
your guilt.
Another
says, “I don’t make a profession of Christ because I am afraid that I might
disgrace Christ and His cause”. Indeed! Is that a good reason? Is it a true reason? I fear there must be something wrong in
that. Are you so afraid to dishonor
Christ’s name and cause, that because of that, you abstain from making a public
profession, lest by it you should dishonor Him? Is that what you said?
O.K.! Fine! But, isn’t it a dishonor to deny Him? Do you love Him so much and fear to dishonor
Him and His cause so much, that you are willing to dishonor and deny Him by not
making a profession lest you should dishonor Him? Indeed! Then, why aren’t
you afraid to sin by denying Christ, which you do by refusing to acknowledge
Him?
“Ah,”
Says another, “I am afraid of such a responsibility”. Indeed! And is there no
responsibility in the other direction?
You fear the responsibility of professing Christ? Well, don’t you fear the heavier responsibility
of denying Him? Is there no
responsibility in taking sides with His enemies, and refusing to obey His
commands? Yes, indeed, there is a
solemn, awful responsibility.
Another
says, “It is such a solemn thing”. Yes it is!
But isn’t it also a solemn thing not to make a public profession? It is a solemn thing, you say, if what I
have said is actually implied in making a profession. Isn’t it a solemn thing?
Yes, it is; but it is still more solemn to refuse to do it when Christ requires
it, and reason, conscience, and the entire universe asks you to do it.
Another
reason often given is, “I can be saved just as well without it”. What does this mean? Just as well be saved without it! Is salvation nothing more than a mere
question of gain or loss with you? Is
your great goal simply to be saved, no matter how? Do you even care about sympathy with Christ? Don’t you even care about obeying His
commands? As long as you finally gain
salvation at last; is that all you care about?
But, what can you mean by that, “Can just as well be saved without it”? Can you be saved by disobeying Christ as
well as by obeying Him? You refuse to
publicly acknowledge Him, and yet you expect to be saved by Him? What does Christ Himself say to you; “He
that is ashamed of Me before men, of him will I be ashamed before My Father and
the holy angels”. (Luke 9:26) Now I suppose it is true that where
individuals have no opportunity to confess and acknowledge Christ before men
they may be saved without it; but if men neglect to perform their duty where
opportunities are available to comply with it, they will not be excused. To say that people can be saved without
publicly acknowledging Christ when they have every opportunity to acknowledge
Him, is equivalent to saying that they can just as well be saved in sin as by
breaking off from it. What is sin but a
neglect of duty? Can a man live and die
in sin and yet be a Christian. “Oh,
but,” some may say, “This is only one sin”.
Well, suppose it is. If you live
in that sin deliberately, you live in sin, because, if you indulge in any form
of iniquity, you don’t renounce sin from your heart. Now, can you recognize God’s authority in anything if you don’t
recognize God’s authority in everything?
What does the Bible say? For
whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of
all.” (James 2:10) I believe that many people make a serious
error on this subject. A great many
people think that they can neglect this duty, although they know that it is
true, and still get to heaven as if they complied with it. If you believe this, you are completely
mistaken, for you live in known sin if you neglect to do what you know you’re
supposed to do; and how can you be saved if you live in sin? It is impossible!
A
public profession of religion is the way to have the evidence of acceptance
with God. How can you expect to realize
the promises without publicly committing yourself to Christ? It is faith that inherits the promises, not
unbelief. The fact is that many people
are waiting for evidences that God accepts them, while they are unwilling to
obey Him. Furthermore, a great many
people who have had a clear hope in Christ have put off making a public
profession until they have grieved the Holy Spirit and brought darkness over
their own mind. The path was once
clear, but they neglected it, and now, listen!
They will, in all probability, die in that darkness, or be obliged to
make a public profession of religion before God will restore to them the light
that they seek. I have known a great
many cases of people who waited for light, but never obtained it until they
made up their minds to obey God; and when they have obeyed God, then the light
came.
Another
reason given is, “I don’t like to publicly commit myself”. Now that excuse, on the surface, is evidence
that your heart is not right; for if your heart was right you would not
hesitate for an instant, to commit yourself before the world. No!
You would be anxious, as publicly as possible to attach yourself to
Christ.
Another
reason, which is sometimes given by individuals, is that it will subject them
to be scrutinized. “People will watch
me to see how I live.” Ah! And do you shrink away from that? “If I don’t make a public profession, not as
much will be expected of me.” Indeed! And is that a good reason why you should not
make a public profession? What should
be expected of you?
But
another one says, “I might be persecuted”.
Indeed! And is that a good
reason for not making a public profession?
Did Christ shrink back from coming to rescue you because He would have
to be persecuted? Was He never
persecuted for you? Then can’t you
afford to bear some persecution for Him?
Surely, shouldn’t the servant be as his Lord, and the disciple as his
Master? If Christ had held back from
your salvation because of persecution, where would you have been? But He did not withhold His cheek from the
smiters, and from those who ripped off His beard; He was maligned, slandered,
and murdered for your sake. (Isaiah 50:6-7)
How then does it benefit you to talk like that?
Some
people, I am ashamed to say, don’t make a public profession of religion,
because if they did they would be expected to support the institutions of the
gospel. And is that a good reason why
you should not support the cause of Christ, because that by doing so you would
be expected to do your part in this great work? O shame, that anybody should ever have such a thought! Who do you belong to? And to whom belong all your
possessions? Can’t you afford to be a
professing Christian? Afford it? Could Christ afford to die for you? Suppose He had said, when He found what your
salvation would cost Him, “I can’t afford it!”
Where would you and I be tonight if Christ had said that He couldn’t
afford to save us?
Another
says, “it will subject me to greater restraint than I like. I won’t be able to go to this place or that
place. I sometimes like to visit the
theatre, but that is no place for professing Christians. Now I can occasionally gratify myself this
way; but if I made a public profession, such a course would damage the cause of
Christ.” Then you intend to indulge
yourself, and therefore you do not like the restraints that Christ would impose
on you. Fine! And do you expect to secure heaven while you indulge in your
sinful gratifications? You want
gratifications that are inconsistent with Christian character, and yet you hope
to be saved. Friends! Don’t deceive yourselves, I beg you!
Another
says, “I fear I shall be sorry if I do”.
What will make you sorry? Do you
think that if you make a public profession, and then live as you should live,
that you will be sorry? Some people, I
fear, mean by this excuse to say, “I want to be out of the church of God
because I won’t like to live the kind of life that will be demanded of
me”. Now if you feel that way, it is
clear proof that you haven’t committed your soul to Christ.
But
another says, “I don’t know what church to join, there are so many
denominations and churches to choose from”.
Can’t you make up your mind?
Consult Christ, then, and see if you can’t get some light. Is there nowhere that you can have Christian
sympathy and fellowship? Oh yes, you
can find a place! There are those who
have prayed for you, and earnestly sought the Lord to distill upon you the dews
of His heavenly grace, and if you seek, you will find them.
“It
is a dreadful thing to make a false profession”, some say. Yes it is; but isn’t it
just as dreadful to make no profession at all!
“Oh, but I can live a Christian life without it!” Well, suppose you tried! I have already shared that this is another
form denying Christ, and refusing Him his proper due. Man gets the praise for his consistent walk, although it is the
effect of the water of grace that Christ has distilled on his heart. This is giving credit to nature, and robbing
Christ. When the communion table is
spread, he keeps away; and what does this say to the world? Why, something like this, “do you see how I keep myself? You can see I have no need for Christ. You can see how good I am, but I owe nothing
to the grace of Christ!” This is
false! It is false! You cannot be a Christian and make no profession
of Christ! I will only touch briefly on
the question --
IV.
WHAT IS IMPLIED BY NOT MAKING A PUBLIC PROFESSION OF RELIGION.
First,
it is publicly denying and rejecting Christ; and it is also the most emphatic
type of denying Christ. It is a denial
of the LIFE. It is a denial of our
dependence on Him. It is a denial of
our obligation to Him. And it is a most
emphatic denial, because it is a denial, not in words but in DEEDS! It is professing that you aren’t interested
in religion. It is denying the truth in
relation to Christ. It is a publicly acknowledging
your unbelief, or infidelity, which is unbelief. It is publicly proclaiming that, in your view, the Christian
religion is a delusion and Christ is an imposter! Perhaps you don’t say this or truly intend it. Perhaps you never thought that this was
implied by not making a public profession, but it is true nevertheless. Not professing Christ is publicly admitting
sympathy on the other side. Now I know
that many people aren’t aware of the things that are involved in standing aloof
from a profession of Christ, and this is why I state these things, so those who
hear me may no longer be ignorant.
It
is a public profession of impenitence as well as unbelief. Everybody makes some public profession! Don’t think that because you don’t make a
public profession in favor of religion that you therefore make no profession at
all, because you do. When you refuse to
profess Christ, you take a public stand against Him. His friends are on one side, and His enemies on the other, and
you must belong to one side or the other; and if you are not committed to Him
you voluntarily subject yourselves to the doom of the enemies of Christ.
I
must close with just one or two remarks.
1)
Professing Christians should watch over each other with a fatherly love; that
is, they need to watch over each other for good and not for evil. I am sorry to say that I have sometimes
witnessed a spirit opposite of this. I
have seen old professing Christians looking for younger Christians to
backslide. Oh! I trust it will not be true in this
church! But, that you will set
yourselves to be brothers and sisters indeed; and that the fathers will
sympathize with the youth!
2) New professing Christians should always remember
that they voluntarily place themselves in such a position that it draws the
eyes of the world on them, as well as the eyes of the church. They are the spectacle of angels and of
men. Let them remember this!
3)
Don’t let them be deterred from witnessing for Christ because of the great
responsibility it involves. Christ
said, “My grace is sufficient for you”, therefore do not hesitate to put
yourselves in the position that Christ requires. He will give you strength equal to your day.
4)
Identify yourselves with every Christian effort. Let all young Christians, who have now become assembled in the
fellowship of the church, and others who will do so when they are admitted, identify
themselves fully with the people of God.
Always display your sympathy with every good work, and everything that
belongs to God’s cause. You have
publicly proclaimed it; let it possess your heart. Let all your actions witness that your profession is not an empty
profession!