401. Embarrassed About Religion

Embarrassed About Religion

Luk_9:26 : ’93Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’92s, and of the holy angels.’94

One night, well on toward nineteen centuries ago, there was a stir in the hostlery of an Eastern village. The excitement was caused by a birth-cry. Ring all the bells of earth and heaven! Jesus in the manger. At that point he started out to bless all the world. The smoothness of his forehead, the lustre of his eye, the color of his cheek, the symmetry of his poise, a perfect type of a perfect soul. The loveliest being, the most unselfish being, that ever lived; he could not make a piece of bread so large as his finger to appease his own hunger, but he must make bread for five thousand. He could not cook one little fish on the banks of Gennesaret to feed his own hunger, but he must fill the net of the disciples until the net broke.

With so much sorrow of his own, he might have cried all his lifetime; yet, he cannot see a funeral pass without breaking it up, and restoring the dead young man to his mother. Everywhere he went sprinkling sunlight on the blind eye, music on the deaf ear, touching the dropsical limb until it subsided to its natural proportions; and when one day the wing of God’92s wrath shut out the sun, he died for you and me, not lying on a couch, nor seated in a chair, but an upright stake for his dying bed and a pillow of his own broken heart. Dying at twelve o’92clock, noon, still dying at half-past twelve, dying at one o’92clock in the afternoon, at half-past one, dying at two, dying at half-past two’97dead.

Whom had he killed, that they should kill him? Whom had he stabbed, that they should stab him? Whom had he hurt, that they should so dreadfully hurt him? Of what crime had he been guilty? Of only one crime had he been guilty’97the crime of dying for his enemies. Oh, my soul, was there ever such a crime? Was there ever such a criminal? And thousands in every land are unanimous in assuring me that Christ was the loveliest, the grandest, the gentlest, the most self-sacrificing, the best being that ever walked the earth. Yet, my text intimates that there are some people actually ashamed of him.

In the first place, there are a great many people ashamed of Christ’92s name. How they flush up with excitement when you intimate that they are serious about their souls; and the man says, ’93When did you ever hear me pray? What makes you think I am getting pious? I am not a Christian; I never professed to be.’94 There are some men who would consider it an insult if you associated the name of the Lord Jesus Christ with their souls. For his precious name’92s sake Annie Askew went from her home to prison, and from the prison to the rack, and from the rack to the stake; and while she was burning at the stake, and they asked her to surrender her religion, she said, ’93No; I did not come here to deny my Lord.’94 For his precious name’92s sake Jerome, of Prague, died in the flames, crying, ’93O Christ, my body on fire I give to Thee.’94 For his precious name’92s sake Solicitas and Perpetua, two gentle women, were denuded in the public street and gored to death by mad cattle, while the mob clapped their hands. For his precious name’92s sake people were bedaubed with combustibles and set on fire to light up mansions in parks and palaces, or were devoured by dogs, or were sewed up in bags with reptiles. For his precious name’92s sake timid girls were fastened on the beach at low-water mark, so that as the waves came up their souls were floated to glory; glad to die for Christ’92s sake. Under Dominican, for Christ’92s sake, forty thousand perished. Under Diocletian, for Christ’92s sake, nine hundred and forty-four thousand Christians perished. Yet here, O heaven, and earth, and hell, there are people who, though not called upon to endure the fire or the flood for Christ, cannot even afford to be laughed at. These men and women went through fire and through flood, but there are those now who cannot bear to have the finger of scorn pointed at them. They are ashamed of that Christ for whom the martyrs perished. There may be among those I address many who are ashamed of the name which was the last word on the lips of a dying father, and which was in the song with which your mother sang you to sleep before the evil days came when you forgot her counsel, and broke her old heart.

There are, again, people who are ashamed of Christ’92s friends. Some one says, ’93Who was that you were walking down the street with? Why, that is a member of the church. I did not know you went into that kind of society.’94 ’93O no,’94 says the young man, ’93I just happened to meet him. I do not go into that kind of company. I am a man of the world.’94 Ashamed of Christ’92s friends! Yes, ashamed of Christ’92s Book, these people are, of whom I speak. If they were found with a novel, or a history, or a poem in their lap, they would not apologize for it; they would not be embarrassed. But if sometime you should find them with the Bible open, they would tell you they were not reading it; they were examining the pictures; they were looking at the binding; they were looking at the beautiful book-mark; but as to reading the Bible for the salvation of their immortal souls, they would not be found doing any such thing. Ashamed, not only of Christ, but ashamed of his friends; ashamed of his Book. There are people who have been found in all circumstances and in all positions, save on their knees. There was a time when they prayed. The child was sick. The doctor shook his head as he came out of the sick-room, as much as to say, ’93There is no hope.’94 That man went to his room, he locked the door, and he got down and prayed for the life of his child. He would not dare have had any one suspect he was down on his knees. Or, one day he became a little anxious about his soul; he went to his room, he locked the door, he knelt down, but he wanted to be pretty sure the door was locked, and he got up and tried the door, and then he knelt, and after he had wept over his sins he looked at the mirror to see his face. His eyes were red; he would not have had anybody know for anything that he had been weeping over his sins. Ashamed, ashamed.

Ashamed of Jesus, that dear friend,

On whom my hopes of heaven depend

No; when I blush be this my shame,

That I no more revere his name.

Oh! how can you be ashamed of him? If you had been down flat with the typhus fever, and after the physician had been with you, and he had almost sacrificed his own life to save you, perhaps catching from you the contagion, but finally had cured you, you were going down the street with a friend you would say, ’93Do you know who that man is over there? That is my doctor; he saved my life. I would not be living now if it had not been for that man.’94 Not ashamed of your doctor, and yet ashamed of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Divine Physician who comes down to you to cure the worst malady that man ever had, the leprosy of his own sins.

When, some years ago, the steamer Atlantic crushed into the Newfoundland rocks, you remember how many perished; but the Rev. Mr. Ancient, rector of the Episcopal Church, standing on shore, saw a man freezing in the rigging, and he says, ’93There is one man left.’94 So he put out with a lifeboat, at the risk of his own life, and he came toward the ship, and he reached that man, put him in the boat, and brought him ashore. Was that man ashamed of the Rev. Mr. Ancient? To this day he talks about it pretty much all the time. He was so glad, so grateful that that man saved his life. And yet, we are floundering in the sea of our sins, and Christ comes down in the thundering surge, and we are ashamed of him. Why, there are people who have been in battle; perhaps they were at Lookout Mountain, or at Atlanta, or at Gettysburg, or Shiloh. You did not flinch; you did your whole duty. You may have been in ten or fifteen battles; no one ever charged you with being a coward; in all matters of the world you are a brave man. But I should not wonder if some who could stand before cannon;and not tremble, in the matters of the soul are cowards who dare not come forward, who dare not rise for prayer, who dare not lift their right hand. Brave for the world, but cowards for eternity. Who are those people, my friends, who are laughing you out of heaven? You are ashamed to have them know you are seeking for God. I think I am describing the condition of thousands of people. I am not talking abstraction’97I do not like abstractions’97I am talking straight to the mark’97Who are those people cheating you out of heaven? You are so afraid of their scorn, and their jeers, and their caricatures. Have they in their hand a charm by which they can keep back sickness or death? Have they so much muscle in their arm that they can fight back the King of Terrors? They strike their elbow against your elbow, as much as to say, ’93Be courageous; do not be impressed with that service; do not yield your heart to God. If you do I will laugh at you, and the world will laugh at you, and a hard time you will have at the store, the shop, the factory, the banking-house, to-morrow.’94 Who are these people who are laughing you out of heaven?

I will tell you who they are. They are going to lie down in a lost world and they want you to lie down with them. When the thunderbolts of God’92s condemnation strike them, they want you to be smitten. When they shriek they want you to shriek; when they groan they want you to groan; going down themselves, they want to take you down. I give you fair warning. I want you to know who they are. You had better say to them, ’93Stand out of my way, I am going to start for Christ and heaven. I had better have you laugh at me than have God laugh at me and my calamity, and mock when my fear cometh.’94

Ah! they are not the people you are going to send for when you come to die. They laugh at you now, and they are full of hilarity as they surround you; but when your dying hour comes, you will not want them. Indeed, they will not come; they will be far from you. You would rather have Christian association then; why cannot you have it now?

The tide is going to turn after a while, and something of the same feeling which the impenitent soul has for Christ, Christ will have toward the impenitent soul. As my text reads: ’93Whosoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he cometh in his own glory, and in the Father’92s, and of the holy angels.’94 Oh, how greatly different the second coming from the first coming. The first coming a cross, the last coming a throne. At the first coming the cattle stretch their mouths out toward the newborn babe; at the second coming all heaven will wheel into line, the trumpet sounding, the dead rising, the archangel proclaiming, all the thunders beating their drum in the grand march to God. ’93Behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.’94 Burn ye mountains, and flame ye seas, and roll back ye heavens! He comes! He comes!

On that day these people who laughed at your religion, where are they? Where are those scoffers? Come now, you scoffers, and help me. You laughed me out of heaven, come now and help me. And the scoffers will say, ’93We cannot help you; we cannot help our own souls. The same doom that has come on you has come on us.’94 And they shall go away together; together, with clenched teeth, traveling the mountains of death, together in one boat, toppling over in an eternal cyclone, together! together!

And yet, there are people who say, ’93I cannot face the world, there is no use in talking about it.’94 Well, my brother, I put before you two groups; you will have to belong to one or the other, and I want to know which group you will like best, and which you would rather be associated with. Here is a group of scoffers, jeering at your religion, who in the store, or office, or shop, or factory, or banking-house would deride your religion to-morrow morning, if you showed any serious signs. That is one group, and the other group, all the Christians on earth and all the saints in glory, all your dear loved ones before the throne; the Son of God, who died to redeem you from sin, and death, and hell; the Lord God Almighty, who invites you to his gracious heart!

Two groups; which will you join? Whose opinion do you most defer to? Oh, why not step right out into the kingdom of God? Why not say to all your hindering friends, ’93Good-bye, Christ calls me, I have heard his voice, I heard it yesterday, I hear it to-night; I am a lost, wretched, undone sinner, but I think he will save me; he said he would save me; I know he will.’94

To the dear fountain of thy blood,

Incarnate God! I fly:

Here let me wash my spotted soul

From crimes of deepest dye.

Cannot you do that? Cannot you take some steps that will show that you are not ashamed of Christ? If you say, ’93I can’92t do that, I can’92t face the world, I can’92t endure its scoffing and caricature;’94 if you say that and take the position, after all that God has done for you, then I give you the text for the funeral sermon of your soul? ’93Whosoever shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed when he shall come in his own glory, and in his Father’92s, and of the holy angels.’94

Autor: T. De Witt Talmage