Concealed Allegiance
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"If any man serves Me — let him follow Me; and where I am — there shall also My servant be." John 12:26.
The Saviour requires those who follow Him to do so publicly — by confessing His name before men. This is one of the laws of His kingdom which cannot be slighted without incurring His displeasure. Not merely does He forbid open rebellion — but concealed attachment; not merely open enmity — but concealed love. We are not to endeavour to reach heaven by some unobserved or secluded path — but we should go along the King's highway. If we have been made partakers of that religion which is pure and undefined — we should not seek to keep it to ourselves; we should let it be known, on the contrary, to all around us — whose we are and whom we serve.
In all the representations which are given of the followers of Christ, this feature is most clearly involved. They are set forth, not as wandering sheep — but as a flock — and as such they have a fold and a shepherd. They are represented, not as solitary plants growing waste and wild — but in an enclosure; they are a vineyard walled around; they are a garden watched and watered. They are described not as stones, loose on the ground, scattered here and there — but as in a building; they are built up a spiritual house, a habitation of God through the Spirit. They are spoken of not as vagrants, not as wanderers in the highways and hedges — but as fellow citizens with the saints, and composing of the household of God.
When addressing the Romans the apostle says that, "If you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead — you shall be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." These words ought to be seriously pondered by those who have been accustomed to regard a public profession of religion as a comparatively unimportant matter. If believing with the heart is the great concern, and confessing with the mouth an affair of trifling consequence — then it is strange that both should be thus connected together in so close and decided a manner.
Reader, if you would serve the Redeemer, follow Him; identify yourself with His people and His cause — and fight under the blood-stained banner of His cross. If you do so, He will be your present defence, and He will abundantly reward you hereafter. Confessing Him before men — He will confess you before His Father and all the holy angels. He was not ashamed to call us brethren — and should we be ashamed to call Him Lord? Love, gratitude, honour, consistency, unite in exclaiming, God forbid!
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